Joyeux Noel tout le monde!

How on earth is it already Christmas?! We've had a lovely Parisian Christmas -- a bit more low-key than usual, but quite nice none the less.

Last night, we actually had a Christmas Eve dinner of frozen pizzas -- oh well. It was bound to happen at some point. With dinner, we began watching one of my all time favorite movies -- White Christmas, which my dad had brought with him. Apparently, it was the first time that Dan had seen it!

We had heard that going to a Christmas Eve service at Notre Dame isn't really a "French" thing to do. Well that may be, but every tourist likes to go to Notre Dame for their Christmas Eve services. We got there around 10:40 for the 11pm service...which was a bit too late. We found ourselves near the end of a very long line that began moving shortly after we arrived. When we had made it about halfway up, two men came rushing up, briefly flashing an armband reading "POLICE", and told us to follow them...which seemed fairly suspicious. My dad was quick to follow them which was surprising. Some how, by following them, we ended up getting right into Notre Dame which, indeed, was PACKED.

We stood on the right side and watched the service on a tv screen that was behind an enormous column -- we could still hear fairly well though. It was a great experience, but for whatever reason, the majority of the music that was sung or played wasn't familiar. It was only at the end that they sung "traditional" Christmas songs. It was a little disappointing, but it was still Christmas Eve. At Notre Dame.

Today, we tried our best to recreate Christmas a la francaise. We had our usual sausage breakfast casserole - where we substituted ham chunks (or bacon) for the sausage! Not bad at all! A bit "breadier" than usual, but still pretty good. The grits that my mom makes all the time tasted delicious, but the consistency was a bit different than what we're used to....oh well. And of course, we had some French pastries from the boulangerie just up the road.

After our late brunch, we watched Love Actually, which is always amusing. And that was followed by a lovely stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens! There was  a surprisingly large of people out and about for a Christmas day. I am now sitting on the couch watching Holiday Inn with everyone -- Mom, Dad, Dan, Becca, and my friend Louisa who came to spend the day with us! It's kind of hodge-podge of activities -- trying to clean up for our departure tomorrow morning, cooking various things while having a tiny oven, blogging, etc.

A few highlights from the past couple of days:

Monmartre : quite an incredible place. We went for the first time on Thursday, and got off at the Chateau Rouge metro station off of the Ligne 4 -- warning to those who approach Sacre Coeur from this metro -- it's quite a different place.....But we had a fun time wandering through the Christmas markets and through the square that was full of quite the variety of artists...

Le Ribouldingue : Friday night, Dan found this restaurant called Le Ribouldingue which was not too far away -- just across from Notre Dame -- which specializes in dishes that aren't terribly common....They claimed to have had a selection of "normal" options, but were mysteriously out of all but one helping of the scallops....My appetizer was delicious -- it was a puree of pumpkin and bacon with a layer of white foam on the top. Really yummy. I had the lone order of scallops that was left which was good -- not incredible, but good. And then for dessert, I had a rice pudding that was flavored with vanilla, and then there was a little pot of thick caramel sauce to go on top -- soooo good.

That's all I can think of right now -- lamb and potato gratin dinner being served up soon! Tomorrow we're off to Normandy, Brugge, and then Budapest for New Year's! Should be a fun week.

Here are quite a few pictures courtesy of my wonderful father:

Band playing on the steps of the Opera Garnier:

Laduree decked out for Christmas:

Tree in front of Notre Dame:

Me and Dan in front of the Louvre:

A bientot! J'espere....Joyeux Noel a tout le monde!

Ma familly, Une compet de natation, VACANCES!

Apologies for the lack of blog entries....my family's been taking up quite a bit of my time -- how dare they! I'm going to make this quick, but I thought that I'd just give a quick update....

We just got back from a wonderful steak frites dinner at Le Relais de Venize in the 17th arr. Absolutely superb. It's the only thing they serve there and they just come around with big plates of french fries and steak in this buttery sauce and even come around to give second helpings! We got an assortment of desserts -- profiteroles for my dad, my mom and I split this tower of meringues with ice cream in between smothered in hot chocolate sauce -- delicious. And Becca, my brother's girlfriend got the chocolate cake which also looked delicious. We're all somewhat over-pleasantly full, but it was definitely worth it.

Over the past few days -- I swam in a swim meet this past weekend where I qualified for the "meetings nationaux" which as I understand, are a series of national meets? But I'm still kind of working on what exactly that entails...

We've been to the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, walked ALL OVER the place -- Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, Opera Garnier, etc. And also eaten lots of delicious delicious food!!

Here's a picture of the Swett family reunited last night at dinner chez une amie!

Hope everyone is well, and a bientot! (Maybe....)

Finis, Finis, Finis, Finis....Kind of...

Sooooo it's vacation! I wish that meant that I was done with the semester, but I suppose I'll live...

But I spent the last few days really working on this report on the Nigerian economy which I am actually moderately proud of. It was supposed to be a minimum of 15 pages and a maximum of 30...and with the bibliographie and all of the introduction pages, I got to page 20! Not too bad. I'm pretty sure it's relatively coherent, has a thesis, and hopefully the format isn't completely wrong....

So now I have off from classes until the 3rd of January! Which for me, seems like an ETERNITY. I'm so excited! And my parents get here tomorrow!

Here are some photos -- one is the Christmas tree in the Opera Gernier gift shop that's covered with little ballerina mice...and the other is Pastel helping me with my paper the other day! He's so thoughtful...

A bientot!

AHhhhhhh

I was so busy working on this 18 PAGE PAPER ABOUT THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY that I almost forgot to post a picture for today! Which would have been TRAGIC.

Ok, so this isn't necessarily a "Christmas" picture, but I'm considering it one! These are the candles that were at ND de Fourviere in Lyon this past weekend. They were just so pretty, I couldn't resist!

More tomorrow -- I promise! This is the last last last thing between me and my vacation! And there are less than 36 hours before I see my parents! How crazy is THAT!?

Bon nuit a tout le monde!

Photo du Jour!

I'm busy trying to finish this last paper that stands between me and my vacation! So here's today's picture:

This is the Christmas tree that's in our lobby! Quite a nice way to be greeted every time I come home.

Bon nuit!

Le photo d'aujourd'hui!

Christmas market in Lyon!

Lyon!

So of course, I'm a bit behind with my photos, but hopefully today's will somewhat make up for that!

Let's see..Friday night, I went to see Cedric Andrieux at the Cite Universitaire Theater which was for my theater class. It was actually really interesting -- it was this dancer (Cedric Andrieux) who told the story of his life and career, in particular when he was working with choreographer Merce Cunningham in New York City. Throughout, he did little demonstrations and solos so that we could see what he had been doing when in NYC, and then what he's been doing after his return to France.

Yesterday, we left to go to Lyon for the Fete des Lumieres last night -- let's just say that it was an interesting experience....The train got there around 3pm, and we took the metro into the old part of the city -- the entire place was completely mobbed the entire time. From the metro stop, we took the tram up the side of the hill Fourviere so that we could see some of the Gallo-Romain ruins and then go to the Notre Dame de Fourviere cathedral, which is really incredible. It was finished at the end of the 19th century, and then inside in entirely covered with mosaics. It's really beautiful.

From there, we descended into the old part of town and walked through the streets while listening to our history lesson. Lyon really was just incredibly crowded the entire time. Martine had told us that we probably wouldn't be able to find a place for us all to eat dinner together, but we actually did! We asked at this one little restaurant which was advertising that they had 50 seats downstairs if they could take us...at first they said no, but when we offered to eat right away (at about 6pm), they showed us downstairs. We all got the entree-plat-dessert option which was quite lovely. I chose the onion soup to start which was very good -- the only negative was that we all had to share this one small bowl of cheese to put on top....For my second course, I got the sausage which was fairly large, and came sliced on my plate in a red wine sauce and some potatoes gratin on the side. All very delicious! Even though the specialty dessert of Lyon is a praline tart, I decided to go for the gooey chocolate cake which came sitting in a little puddle of cream sauce -- yum!

From dinner, we all split up and walked all over the city to look at the displays of lights. There were bridges that were decorated, buildings that were all lit up, lots of displays in front of restaurants -- who were all serving cups of hot wine, which smelled heavenly. We wove our way through the streets and finally arrived at this adorable Christmas market which was near where we were supposed to meet the bus. We spent a while there -- lots of different things to buy -- everything from crepes to roasted chestnuts to santa hats to you name it!

This is when things started to get interesting. We all arrived in front of the Brasserie Georges to get on the bus, and amazingly were all there EARLY, and so we left around 10:45. Martine had warned us that our "hotel" would be a bit different than our other excursions, but I don't think we really knew what to expect. We pulled into the "F1" about 20 minutes later and went in to check into our rooms. F1 is the lowest level hotel in the Accor family of hotels - apparently you can come at any time of day and give them your credit card and they'll give you a room.

Well, first of all, the lobby was more like the lobby of a rental car place. The guy behind the counter was actually incapable of using the computer and had NO idea what he was doing. Martine and Madame Stevens went back and forth with him for quite some time -- lots of "there's no problem here" and "yes, there's a big problem", and the like...we were all pretty tired, and as frustrating as it was, most of us couldn't help but find it a bit entertaining.

Finally, we got little slips of paper with our room number and code (yes, code, not key), and went up to find our room. Well it didn't take us long to realize that yes, he had given us 11 slips of paper with codes on them, but about 4 of those slips were duplicates of other slips...so I found myself sharing two twin beds (small beds) with 3 other girls....wasn't going to work. So it took us about another 15 minutes to get new rooms assigned and figure all that out....finally, my roommate, Cynthia, and I got a room to ourselves -- no bathroom in the room, just a bed, sink, and a tiny little tv.

I don't think anyone slept particularly well, but we got up and went to the "breakfast" they were serving in the lobby. Again, an interesting experience. You truly do get what you pay for....

The bus picked us up at 9:30, and we took a little driving tour around Lyon before going to the train station -- where we almost got stuck in some major traffic and missed our train -- but luckily, we made it. The train ride back to Paris was fairly uneventful - I worked on my expose on Cedric Andrieux which I have to present tomorrow. And then there's this 15 page report on the economy of Nigeria which is due on Thursday.....which is SLOWLY coming along. Emphasis on the slowly. It's hard to focus when it's Christmas, and lights, and PARIS.

Here are some pictures from Lyon and then one of Pastel who was hiding in a bag last week, and I just find it too funny to not post....

Above -- they were playing pinball in lights on the side of this building which was very cool...

One of the main plazas in Lyon.

A bientot!

Xmas Photo Numero ?

Here's the entire Christmas Tree at Institut Catholique -- all those days where I posted more than one picture were mistakes....I should have kept them in storage! Oh well, I guess I need to work a little harder at finding some good Christmas photos.

Bon nuit!

Et la saison de Noel continue....

Here's today's Christmas-y picture...it's me and my friend Jennifer in this little plaza near where our France/Afrique class is held -- very upscale and quite beautiful. Which can also be seen with the storefront of the Chanel store....(minus the random woman who got in my way).

A bientot!

Fatiguee...

Ok, I'll admit that I'm not in the most stellar mood as I sit down to write tonight. It's just been a stressful few days, and I've found it difficult to de-stress myself.

Yesterday, I had my architecture final -- which I suppose I should just be happy that I'm done with that class! It wasn't that bad, just lots of dates, names, buildings, years, etc. Lots to retain in my tiny little brain. Just after that class, I had to meet Martine in front of the Pantheon to go meet an economics professor who teaches at a private school called FACO -- a smaller university in Paris. We discussed certain courses that I might be able to take next semester to fulfill my economics credit requirement...but he was pretty intimidating. I also had a paper due for my theater class which I foolishly didn't revise until the last minute, and as a result, I didn't really get a chance to revise the whole thing...lesson learned! But both were steps closer to Christmas break and to the end of the first semester. Crazy.

Today was a fairly normal Tuesday -- well, kind of. Normal in that it was my "busy" day. I swam from 7 to 8:30 this morning which was pretty difficult. My coach has started to give me sets like 6x200s backstroke, holding a fairly quick pace -- and then only giving me 15-20 seconds rest. So for example, this morning he wanted me to hold a 2:50 pace, and had me going on the 3:10 -- which to put into yard terms -- holding about a 2:25 and then leaving on the 2:45. Backstroke.

After that, I ate my yogurt as I walked to the metro station and took the 12 line to Rennes and then walked to Institut Catholique. Of course, because today's class was technically a make-up class, it was not in the normal classroom -- and I could only find that out minutes before class was to begin by looking at the big television screen in the entrance which shows all of the classes happening on campus at that moment, who's teaching it, and where it's being held. I saw that it was in B27 today -- luckily, it was in the same building, just up two floors and through a Harry Potter-type maze. But I found it! My professor also offered me the choice of writing a final paper instead of taking the final oral exam....and I happily chose the former.

I came home to drop off my swim stuff and to have some lunch with Marilu before heading off to my medical exam appointment which is a requirement because I'm here with a long-term stay visa. Just about all of the students from my program had the same appointment time(s), and after taking the bus across the city, I finally found this building where I was greeted by burly security guards who asked me why I was there. I made my way up to the first floor and found the waiting room overly full with people from just about every ethnicity you could imagine...and then the long line of Hamilton kids out the door.

We ended up being there abour 2.5 hours in all. Or I was there for about 2.5 hours. After the first waiting room, we were called into a second waiting room where we were called individually to get our eyes tested (20/20 vision! I don't think the nurse believed me when I said I didn't wear glasses...), height and weight taken, etc. Then it was back to the waiting room. And then it was in to take a chest xray (WHICH, I do indeed have with me now -- just in case you were wondering. I'm sure I could arrange to have some copies made if you're looking for a creative piece of art to give as a Christmas present). After the chest xray, back to the waiting room, and then finally, I was called in by one of the doctors to ask me general health questions....and then after that, I had to wait AGAIN to be called to hand in some paperwork and proof that I had paid the 55 euro fee online. It was exhausting.

From there, Emily Heckman and I took the metro back to Institut Catholique for our last Economie du Developpement class -- which I could have sworn lasted about 7 hours (although it was only 2). I dined alone this evening as Marilu and Alain were out at a friend's house. I made myself a piece of chicken, and then finished up some leftover corn and green beans. Seemed like quite the summer meal....

ANYWAYS, Christmas seems to be in full swing here which is always nice to see. Here are some more Christmas pics -- the trees being put up in front of the Pantheon yesterday, and then the decorations on the tree in the courtyard at Institut Catholique!

Bon nuit!

Photo de Noel a Paris Numero 1....

A quick Christmasy photo before heading to bed -- here's the street that I cross en route to and from the pool! Very pretty this time of year -- not sure I really understand the jellyfish shape of the lights, but maybe it's a French thing....

Bon nuit!

DECEMBRE! Comment est-ce que c'est deja decembre?!

Ok, well this might be a brief one -- I have my architecture final exam tomorrow which consists of lots of names, dates, facts, etc., and I've finally finished my study sheets -- now I just need to study them! Along with all of the Powerpoints that our professor has showed throughout the semester. But at least then I'll have one class down -- and no more class on Wednesday! (Until next semester).

Anyways -- this past week was fairly hectic!

Wednesday night, we had our next play for my theatre class, which to put it mildly -- was extremely bizarre. It was called Ex Vivo/In Vitro, and was about making babies, and the roles of parents and surrogates, and definitely went into more detail even though I couldn't understand the entirety. There was even a naked man wearing a pregnancy belly! Who would have thought...My architecture visit was cancelled for the day because our professor was sick -- so I went to the market with Marilu instead...

Thursday, I began preparing for the Thanksgiving Partie Deux that took place at my house on Friday night (an event that Marilu and Alain do every year with the student that they are hosting). I made my chocolate cheesecake, grasshopper pie, cornbread from scratch (one to put into the stuffing, and one to eat), and oatmeal bars (my dad's favorite)! Busy morning, but I was pretty efficient....We had an interesting class discussion about the movie we had watched on Tuesday evening (L'ennemi Intime) -- it seemed that everyone was pretty shocked about how things went while France was occupying Algeria...and also, that France didn't recognize it as a war until 1999.  Thursday night, I swam with the younger kids so that I could meet MADDIE GIEGOLD (Amherst '13) and have dinner with her. I met her at the metro station at around 9:30, and we came back and ate some cheese tarts and had a wonderful time catching up.

We both went to swimming early on Friday! It was really fun for me to show her where I'm swimming, who I'm swimming with, and introduce her to my coach! I think she'll be pretty much the only one who will actually see the comparaison between my experience at Amherst and my experience here in Paris.

To make up some classtime that we missed, my architecture class met at the Musee Carnavalet at 11 for a visit and a basic overview of everything we've learned this semester. It's a really cool place -- it takes you through the history of the city of Paris. We had a break for lunch around 12:45 and went to our professor's favorite falafel restaurant -- L'As de Falafel -- where we all ordered the Falafel Special and some frites to share among us. Well. I've decided that I really don't like falafel. I don't know if it was the sauce filled with coriander (or cilantro) that made it difficult to eat (well, I'm sure that didn't help) -- but it wasn't one of my more favorite things I've tried in Paris (or elsewhere). We went back to the museum, via a really neat used book store, and spent about another hour wandering around until about 3 when he said that we had finished.

From the museum, I headed back home and began to cook for my Thanksgiving dinner. I made the same stuffing that I made last week -- with bread, apples, onions, sausage, and pecans -- and added the cornbread which only made it better...And then Marilu started on the turkey (which came in a box...?), and as we got closer to dinner time, I made mashed potatoes, and green beans with some melted butter and toasted pecans. I had about 10 friends come -- and they did quite a good job with leaving us with few leftovers. The cornbread was a big hit, as was the stuffing -- and actually, the green beans! Then we had the cheesecake, pie, and oatmeal bars for dessert. It was a lovely evening, and we all sat around the living room chatting afterwards until we were all tipping over from being so sleepy....

Maddie stayed with me both Thursday and Friday nights which was wonderful, and so we both crashed soon after the guests had left on Friday night...Yesterday, she woke up to go meet some friends, and somehow (I still can't figure out how), I slept until noon -- and was still tired...so that kind of threw me off a bit. I spent the rest of the day beginning my theater paper for tomorrow, studying some architecture, going to swimming, and then having some leftover stuffing and green beans for dessert while watching the Election of Miss France 2012 -- Miss Alsace won, just in case you were wondering.

Today has been a pretty peaceful day as well. Both yesterday and today have been fairly blah outside (interpret as you wish) -- I met up with Maddie and two of her friends around 5 this evening and we walked to the Ile St. Louis so that they could get Berthillon ice cream -- I tried a spoonful, and it was indeed heavenly. I recommend the salted butter caramel...and I think they would say the same. But the island was beautifully decorated and lit up for Christmas -- and we had a nice time wandering through the streets. From there, I followed them to the book store Shakespeare & Co. which was also just as wonderful. It's not a big place, but it's filled to the brim with all sorts of books -- mostly in English, some new and some used. I found two that looked moderately entertaining and bought them for some upcoming bedtime reading -- I'm about done with the one English book I have, and it's difficult for my brain to relax when I'm reading French...

I have quite a few pictures from the past few days -- it's difficul to choose which ones to show! Here are a couple of my favorites...

 As opposed to imitation chicken clothes?

Alain, Me, and Marilu after Thanksgiving Partie Deux!

Berthillon decorated for Christmas!

So I guess that wasn't the shortest entry, but oh well. Lots of fun stuff going on here! My goal is to find at least one Christmas-y thing per day to take a photo of and post it -- I have a few saved up just in case....

A bientot!

Les jours occupes!

Well I just got back from watching this movie for my history of France and Africa class -- it was really an amazing film, but ridiculously depressing. It was called "L'ennemi Intime" and told the story of a French army regiment in the French-Algerian War...and it was quite something. I didn't know that apparently France only declared it to be a "war" in 1999 -- and before that it wasn't considered anything huge. This movie definitely says otherwise -- I would highly recommend it. But make sure to have something happy to do afterwards, and I would suggest not watching it at night....

As good as it was, it was just a long day in general which didn't really help! A good day, but a long one. I started the day off with a swim -- my coach is trying really hard to get me to speed up my arm rotation speed in backstroke....which is kind of working...but after last night's intense IM workout which was quite difficult, swimming quickly was pretty hard.

From the pool, I went to my Pensee Economique class at Institut Catholique -- where I think I finally confirmed that we do not take 15 minute breaks after every 45 minutes for the students' sake, but so that the professor can go smoke a cigarette. Oh well, whatever works I suppose. I took it as a hint when as soon as she said we were going to have a "pause", she grabbed her coat, purse, and bolted for the door.

I'm beginning to enjoy the French university standard: the coffee vending machine. There's one each at Reid Hall and at Institut Catholique -- I've come to really like the "cafe + cacao" option, which for about 50 centimes pops out this little cup of stuff! Which isn't half bad, and sufficiently wakes me up. So I waited in line this morning during our first "pause" for my caffeine fix.

I headed home for some lunch after that via the grocery store where I found, to my surprise, marshmallow fluff! It will be come evident why I needed such an atrocious substance later in the week....but it was the only item I was purchasing, and needless to say, the older gentleman behind me in line definitely had some judgement in his eyes. He doesn't know how delicious it will become....

I finished up the rest of the stuffing I had made for our Thanksgiving dinner last week -- which was still incredible (if I'm being modest...), and then headed off my France/Africa class. After that, it was back to Reid Hall to pick up my play ticket tomorrow, and then off to go walk by the apartment that we're renting over Christmas, and then back to class at Institut Catholique, and then back to the Middlebury center for the movie, and then finally home! Whew.

It's been wonderful to see that Christmas has truly come to Paris -- there are lights everywhere, and being that it's been pretty dreary out the last few days, the lights even during the day are spectacular. The window displays have been pretty amazing too!

Well I'm going to head to bed -- it's been a fairly tiring couple of days! But luckily my week slows down for the remainder...except the end of the semester is coming up...and I have an architecture final to study for on Monday! It's always something....

Here's a picture of my favorite spot in Reid Hall -- which overlooks the courtyard:

A bientot!

Les courses, un film americain, le marche, et tastespotting.com....

So this was a fairly lowkey weekend in Paris, which was pretty nice!

Yesterday, I miraculously slept until about 11:30 (after turning my alarm off at 9:30) which was great. Marilu told me that she was going to go be "Pere Noel" and do some shopping and she invited me along, and I gladly accepted her invitation!

We first went across the Champs de Mars to a natural food store called Naturalia, which is actually a chain. It's a pretty cool store -- they have just about anything, and they even have a fresh bread section! We got a couple of rolls that had dried fruit and nuts in them -- they were good, but almost too nutty....from there, we went to this little store that sells cheap odds and ends, and we perused the Christmas decorations that were lining the outside of the shop. We continued on to a thrift store where Marilu asked if they had any Hermes bags -- the woman had one Hermas bag which was hidden behind the counter in some special cover -- and it was still over 2,000 euros.

We came home for lunch, and then went back out again! This time we took the metro to the Alesia stop in the 14th arrondissement -- I had never been there before (near that metro stop, that is). There's this really cool road that has all these discount stores along it -- clothes, shoes, an enormous furniture warehouse. Everyone was out doing some holiday shopping! Marilu found a beautiful dress and jacket to wear for Christmas at one of the stores (but Pere Noel left emptyhanded...).

I headed home after our little tour of this one street -- I went to swimming which turned out to be pretty nice because practically no one was there! There was a swim meet yesterday so a bunch of the kids were swimming in that instead of coming to practice.

After swimming, I met my friend Katie back at my house, and we made pasta with pesto and I roasted some artichoke hearts which were delicious. We had a nice and relaxing evening and watched a movie (yes, en anglais) -- I Heart Huckabees, which is really a bizarre movie, but hysterical none the less. It was a wonderful way to spend the Saturday night.

I forced myself to get up around 9:30 this morning -- which shouldn't have been difficult but it was. I puttered around for a while and ate breakfast and then Marilu called me after they were done with church and I went to meet her so we could go to the market together! We made the "regular" tour -- Portuguese stand, the same fruit stand, eggs, and then there was a used book stand that she found a bunch of books for her grandchildren. Always lots of fun stuff!

We came home and had lunch -- delicious Portuguese shrimp half moons (I have no idea what they're actually called, but that's essentially what they are). The rest of the afternoon -- which was gray and chilly - was spent on my couch doing (or "doing") work -- I successfully completed my family's Christmas letter (after a 6 year absence) AND photo collage before actually getting to what I needed to be doing...I believe that deserves some sort of procrastination prize...

Marilu bought premade Croque Monsieurs for dinner which were tasty and we then got rather distracted by one of my favorite sites -- www.tastespotting.com -- I highly recommend it...We planned out the Thanksgiving dinner (part deux) that we'll be having here on Friday night wheich I'm very excited about, and now I'm heading to bed! Going to be a busy week!

The beginning of the Christmas market along the Champs-Elysees the other day --

A bientot!

Le medecin, Le Grand & Petit Palais, un maladie d'ordinateur, et le France-giving!

Well, this time I mostly have a good excuse (or good excuses) for not writing for so long....first, I was actually sick (or finally decided to really be sick) and then my computer clearly caught whatever I had and went to the "doctor" for a few days...but now we're both better and ready to go!

This week was a bit odd in a few ways. Or I guess just different!

First, I began my week with a trip to a French doctor! Or actually, a clinic. Apparently, I looked pretty sick on Monday morning, because Martine told me that I needed to go see a doctor. She gave me the name of the clinic which was only about a 10-15 minute walk away, and so I went after class. A bit challenging -- she told me it was on the 4th floor....it was definitely on the first (which in America would be the 2nd...) -- and it's kind of like the Wegman's deli counter, in that you take a number and wait for your turn. It was surprisingly much easier than I had expected -- I was one of the first to be called and a very nice lady called me into her office and shortly determined that I had some type of "infection" that refused to go away (for all intents and purposes, I'm pretty sure it was bronchitis or a sinus infection) and so I am now on my last day of taking Zithromax! Which has worked wonders.

So I spent Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday in bed/around the house. Unlike at Amherst where you can walk across the quad to get to a class, going to class here means at least a 20+ minute commute with some portion of that being on the metro...probably not the best thing to expose yourself to while sick.

Wednesday, I began to feel much better, and I decided to go to my architecture visit which was at the Champs Elysee-Clemenceau metro stop so we could visit both the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais! Both of which were built for the International Exposition around the turn of the 20th century. Very cool buildings, and a very different architectural style that most of the other things that we've seen! It was also  very cool to see all the little Christmas stands set up along the Avenue Champs Elysees -- lots of fun Christmas stuff and food and music. I'm sure I'll make it back there as we get closer to Christmas.

Yesterday, I believe was probably the first day I was legitimately homesick. Most of us were not too happy to be going to class on Thanksgiving. I tried to go to swimming in the morning, but we were informed promptly at 7am that there was some sort of technical problem, and as a result, there was not enough chlorine in the pool, and we couldn't swim. Apparently, that happens. So I turned around and came home and went out for a little run while it was actually still dark! It was surprisingly warm.

But yes, it was a bit difficult to think of what I would have been doing had I been home and to think about my family and missing the Macy's Day Parade and helping cook and all that stuff. Don't worry though, we did have our very own Thanksgiving! Which I like to call "France-giving", but it's basically all the same. I spent Wednesday making my mommy's wonderful stuffing with sausage and onions and apples (yum!) and brought it along -- everyone did such a wonderful job making different side dishes and desserts to make it truly like Thanksgiving! It was at Martine's apartment (which is GORGEOUS) and she had set out 3 different long tables so that all 31 guests would have a place to sit! She ordered a turkey -- and then spent quite a while reheating everything because the oven was so tiny! I've decided that clearly there's nothing like Thanksgiving here because their kitchens are too small. Or I guess you could reverse that statement...you choose.

But it really was wonderful, and I think Martine even pretended not to hear when we were speaking English some of the time....(how could we not??). But I came home feeling quite well fed -- and actually had to stay up for a bit to digest so I could fall asleep...clearly, France-giving = success. I would describe all of the dishes we had -- but it would literally take numerous paragraphs, so I'll let your imagination do the work!

I'm spending this weekend in Paris and actually have quite a bit of work to get going on. I have a final exam coming up and also a 15 page paper that's due in less than 3 weeks (because it's due before my parents get here, and my parents get here 3 weeks from today!).

Here's a picture from my architecture visit, and then one of my best bud -- who's just too cute for me to resist taking a pcture of. This was today when I came in and found him lying on the couch in my room....

A bientot!

Amherst, Le Chateau de Vincennes, Cendrillon, et Une Compete de Natation....et comment le monde est petit.

Alright, I don't know how far I'm going to get because I'm pretty much comatose at this point, but I'll do my best. The past few days have seemed surprisingly busy for a weekend that I thought I didn't have many plans for....

Thursday night, I went to a reception for Amherst alums living in Paris and for current students who are studying in France! It was actually just up the road from my house which was extremely convenient! Lots of nice people and good food and a gorgeous apartment! It was very interesting to meet the Amherst alums and learn more about what brought them (and keeps them) in Paris.

Friday was mostly a lazy day -- well, kind of. I went to swimming in the morning and my coach asked me if I came because I couldn't come that night, and I said no, so I kind of got guilted into going again on Friday night...whoops. During the day I did some work and hung around -- I still am not feeling stellar, so I gave myself permission to lounge about the house a bit.

Yesterday, I finally got to sleep in! Henry Weaver (Amherst '13) had come up from Bordeaux for the Amherst reception on Thursday, and so we met up and went out to the Chateau de Vincennes which is just on the outskirts of Paris. It was really interesting! And an absolutely beautiful day. We saw the "donjon" which is where the "maitre" of the chateau would have lived, and then because the chapel didn't open until 3 (we couldn't figure out why), we ended up taking a nice walk through a park right next to the Chateau which had lots of odd buildings with plant displays in them -- but they were all closed...The signs said the "Parc Floral de Paris", so we assumed that's what it was...but it was bizarre. Also, lots of bikers.

Around 3, we made our way back to the chapel which was indeed quite beautiful -- a bit simple, but very attractive none the less. We decided to head back into the city after that and made our way to St. Germain des Pres. From there, we wandered around a bit -- we even made our way into this wine store (which happened to be run by a woman from LA and a guy from New Zealand?) and we got to chatting with them and even got to taste some wine! Pretty cool.

Henry had to meet up with someone around 4:30, so I dropped him off in front of the church and then headed back home. I briefly went to swimming and then went out to Porte de Clichy to the Ateliers Berthier theater to see Cendrillon (also known as Cinderella!) for my theater class. It was quite an interesting spectacle -- very different from any rendition I've ever seen -- or thought of, but overall, it was extremely entertaining. The theater was different from the others we've been to -- quite stark and simple. But we'll certainly have a lot to talk about in class tomorrow. I would definitely recommend the play to someone who's looking to see some theater in Paris -- while it might be easier to understand knowing French, it's fairly easy to follow just knowing the fairy tale (at least I would think it would be).

TODAY, I competed in my first French swim meet! Hooray! I woke up to Marilu and Alain's granddaughters calling out for Marilu this morning around 6:30, which was roughly when I had to get up anyways...and then I met one of the swim team families at the Porte de Versailles metro station so that they could give me a ride to the pool! It took about 25 minutes to get there, but it was really nice to be in a car for a change, and see the neighborhoods around Paris. I swam the 100 IM this morning (in short course meters) and came in 3rd. No touch pads or timing system of any kind....it was very much a YMCA-style meet.

After the morning session, I bought a sandwich at the concession stand along with Matthieu (my coach) and some of the other swimmers -- and you could tell it was a French concession stand because they were making crepes of all kind as well as sandwhiches (or half-baguettes with 1 piece of ham and 1 piece of cheese). We all walked across the street to a beautiful park -- again the weather was spectacular -- and walked to the top of the hill where we sat and ate, and then eventually most of us fell asleep for a while.

Around 2, we headed back to the pool for the afternoon session. I swam the 100 back and came in 2nd, and then I anchored the 15 x 50 free relay....yes. 15 people each doing a 50m free. The timer for my lane told me that I should have been disqualified because I had done a relay start beginning at the back of the block and then stepped forward before diving in (with my feet still on the block when the girl touched the wall) -- and he was convinced that I wasn't allowed to move AT ALL on the block until the girl ahead of my had touched the wall. Although I didn't believe him, I acquiesed and said that I would look out for that next time. It turns out that he was indeed the one that was mistaken, and he actually found me in the pool lobby as I was leaving to tell me that I was correct and he thanked me for helping him learn a new rule....

The other interesting story of the day was when I was talking to one of the swim dads at the pool in French, and he asked if I was American to which I replied yes....and I then said I was from Rochester but I went to school in Massachusetts. He asked me where in Massachusetts, and I said Amherst -- he looked a bit dumbfounded, and then told me that he was Amherst Class of '86. Small world! It was really nice to have made that connection though!

It took us over an hour to get home because of the traffic, but it was still fun because I got to chat with the girls in the car! They were nice enough to drop me off chez moi! I took a nice bath when I got home, and Marilu fixed her amazing pasta dish, but with REAL Italian pasta -- which was amazing.

OK! I believe that's about it. It's been a wonderful few days! I would really like to start feeling better though -- and so I'm going to head to bed now. But Paris is treating me quite well, and I do truly feel like I am coming home each night, which is a wonderful feeling.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday -- it was the kind of day that just made Paris seem like the best place to be in the whole world.

A bientot!

Ou est la Tour Eiffel? Et oh mon dieu! L'Opera Garnier est magnifique...

After a glorious 11 hours of sleep last night, I woke up to my alarm which went off at 9:02am -- I hate setting it for "normal" times. I had a nice breakfast alone -- and while I was fixing it, I looked out the kitchen window, and the Eiffel Tower wasn't there! (Seriously.) I kept craning my neck around, which seemed odd because I hadn't remembered it being that far out the window. Well, it wasn't. It was just so foggy that I could only barely see it! It was crazy.

For my architecture visit today, we met again at Opera -- and luckily, this time it was open! All I have to say is that it's DEFINITELY worth seeing -- whether by just going on a tour or seeing an actual show (typically opera or ballet). It's an absolutely incredible building. A bit over the top, but incredible none the less. Since I got there a bit early, I walked around it and found on the back side the "Galeries LaFayette" which was covered in white lights for Christmas. I decided to wander through -- which again, was incredible. It's basically one big open store but with lots of little stands and boutiques in it -- Longchamp, Chanel, Hermes, etc. You can bet if it's expensive -- it's probably there. They too were set up for the Christmas season with an enormous tree in the center of the mall (picture to follow) and window decorations (mostly aimed towards kids, but entertaining none the less).

After the Opera visit, I headed home to have some lunch -- it was pretty chilly again today, so I was craving something warm. I ended up reheating some of the mushroom risotto and salmon stew from last night which certainly hit the spot!

I swam this afternoon and was finally feeling a bit better in the water which was nice. It's been odd to have the weather change so quickly from being a bit brisk to being really quite cold (by Parisian standards I suppose...but still). I came home from practice and had a bit of hot chocolate (since chocolate milk is such a great recovery food!) and am currently trying to start my architecture paper...which is due Monday, and seeing as I don't have any other work to do for this week, there's really no reason why I shouldn't get started on it now....

Finally, some pictures! I am SO SORRY that I didn't post this first one earlier! This was the wonderful package that I received last Thursday from my AMAZING Aunt Jen. And yes, it is what you think it is -- brown sugar and chocolate chips. Is she the best or what!

And here's the Christmas tree in the center of the Galeries LaFayette -- I'm assuming that this year's theme is "Rock'N Mode" -- or something along the lines of "rockin' fashion"....The building itself is also pretty impressive.

This is the chandelier and ceiling of the Opera -- which doesn't nearly do it justice, but you can get some kind of idea...

And since I already know that I'm having quiche for dinner, I don't have to wait until after to write about it because I know it will be suberb! Ham and cheese! Yum! And I believe there's still some homemade applesauce lying around....:)

A bientot!

Je peux sentir l'hiver dans l'air!

Sorry for the sporatic entries -- I've been sick and then being in London and all kind of threw me off a bit! Going to try and get back to writing more regularly (hopefully).

So the rest of the weekend in London was pretty lowkey -- in a very good way! But between me being sick, and it just being the weekend, we hung around a bunch! Saturday, we went to this wonderful restaurant called The Modern Pantry for brunch. We walked in and asked for a table and the hostess said that it was our lucky day because a party of 3 had just cancelled its reservation! I had a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice in hopes of it helping my cold (but it was also just delicious), and then for brunch, I ordered scrambled eggs with smoked bacon, roasted tomatoes, and buttered mushrooms (which were pretty much just as they sound), and toast! It was extremely tasty -- as was Marion's risotto which had butternut squash, some type of pesto (it wasn't basil), and topped with a piece of mozzarella in a pastry filling. Al had the croissant French toast, which also looked pretty good!

From there, we went for a walk over towards where Al's old flat is and then ended up taking a cab back to his current apartment. Marion and I went out to Waitrose and Marks & Spencer (grocery stores) to get some fixings for dinner -- some chicken noodle soup for me, and some cheese and crackers for Marion (and me, too). So we stayed in and watched some British tv and a movie while Al and Kerstin went out (they had already made plans).

Sunday -- Marion and I watched the Remberance Day parade on tv and I went out to get some raw materials for brunch -- which turned out to be French toast and some sausages from the market up the road. Pretty good! We got a slow start to the day, and then around 3, we headed out for a walk -- it was beautiful out -- and walked by the Cenataph and over to Buckingham Palace and then back! I ate a quick pasta dinner, and then around 7:30, Al and Marion walked me to the train station to come back to Paris.

The only eventful (somewhat) thing that I can think of from yesterday was that my practice's location was changed last minute to the pool at Montparnasse -- which actually worked out because I was already at Reid Hall, so it was only about a 12 minute walk -- the only difficulty was actually finding the pool once I got there...which took a few minutes. I was a little late, which wasn't a big deal, but my group was practicing with the masters' group in the "far pool" and with one of the other coaches. Well, it turns out that the pool we practiced in wasn't 50 meters, or 25 meters, or even 25 yards, but it was 33 meters! Of course! So instead of 50s, we did 66s, and 133s instead of 100s, and then 200s worked out...but it surely was an interesting experience.

Today, I really noticed the first winter-ish chill in the air! I walked to the pool this morning, and for the first time, I really thought it was chilly! I swam until about 8:15 (because when the pool's director is there, everyone has to be out by then), and then took the metro to my class at Institut Catholique. Today's class was only two hours -- a bit more confusing than last time, but I think I was understanding more than some other people. It's been pretty funny to watch the size of the class dwindle as the semester goes on...I did meet someone new today though! Her name is Clemence -- and she speaks practically perfect English because she lived in LA for 4 years during middle school.  Segolene, who was sitting next to me, had asked her to translate something into English for me, and so we got to talking! I always feel so accomplished when I meet "real" French people!

After class, I came back home (after for the first time getting on the metro going the wrong direction...whoops. Luckily I wasn't in a hurry. Oh, and the best part to that was that I didn't even realize it until 3 stops later...) to drop of my swim things and eat some lunch with Marilu. We also went down to the "cave" to get my winter coats! I felt it was an appropriate time to be getting them out...

I had my France/Afrique class and then went to the "foyer" at Institut Catholique to do some work -- basically, it's this random staircase in the middle of the courtyard which leads down to this room with some vending machines and a bunch of lime green tables and chairs where people do work. Just before 6, I went up to my Economics of Development class which went until 8.

Dinner was quite yummy tonight and practically waiting as I walked in the door! Marilu made this stew with salmon, broccoli, and onions and then she heated up some rice with that! And then she had made some homemade applesauce for dessert. My favorite!

Alrighty, to bed in hopes of getting better soon! Sorry for lack of pictures, too. I'll try to get back on track with that tomorrow with my architecture visit...

A bientot! (for real this time)

Christmas in Londres!

So while I'm sitting here with Al and Marion having a fairly lazy Saturday morning -- which is more than okay considering that I'm still not feeling very well, I thought that I would write a little bit about yesterday!

Marion and I ended up sleeping in a bit -- Al had woken me up around 8:30 before he left for work, and then I promptly turned back over and went back to sleep until about 10. We got a somewhat slow start to the day, which again, was perfectly fine with me! We walked to the Underground and took it to Marble Arch so that we were near Oxford Street (the big shopping street). I had asked to visit the enormous Primark (think Target -- but almost better?) and so we, along with the rest of London, had a happy time perusing the ridiculously low priced clothing.

It was really fun to have all of the Christmas decorations out -- seeing as there's no Thanksgiving here, they can start decorating the day after Halloween. We wandered along Oxford Street and went in a few other places like Selfridges -- which was great fun. After an hour or two of perusing, we went north to try and find  a place to get some lunch. Funny how when you're actually trying to find a restaurant and know there are tons around but then you can't actually find one? After a while of looking, we finally settled on an Italian chain called Strada -- Marion had penne with tomato sauce, olives, tomatoes, peppers, and mozzarella cheese -- very tasty, and I had a pizza with mozzarella, gorgonzola,  and spicy Italian sausage which was also delicious!

From there, we walked to the Wallace Collection, which was just around the corner, and strolled through for a bit -- very cool stuff. Armour, paintings, china, etc. Plus all in an incredible house! After that, we decided to head back to Al's apartment, and we decided on walking back! It was a nice walk -- probably about 3 miles or so.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was dinner! Which Al had made a reservation for at the Hawksmoor -- which just opened a few weeks ago. It was so so good. It's a steakhouse, but you order the steaks by increments of 100g -- and the waitress would say the pieces that she had (so she would have 600g of the sirloin and 900g of the Chateaubriand) but then she could also "trade" with the other servers if there was a different sized piece that we wanted. Crazy! We all ordered cocktails -- mine was quite good -- it had gin and another something and then gingerale and pieces of fruit in it (yes, a very girly drink I admit). And Al ordered steak tartar which I tried for the first time! It wasn't bad at all -- but I had to just not think about the fact that I was eating raw meat...We ordered a Chateaubriand and a ribeye steak for the table along with some sides -- triple-cooked chips, chips that had been dipped in meat drippings, buttered greens, onion rings (which were outstanding), and a little pot of mac and cheese! All were absolutely delicious. The steaks were juicy and tender and flavorful -- and I especially enjoyed them with the bearnaise sauce. Yum!

We were all quite full after dinner and so after we took a cab back to the apartment, Al and I went for a nice walk around his neighborhood! Pretty wonderful day!

Et puis, en angleterre encore....

Why on earth would I stay in Paris for more than 10 days?! That would just be silly! Completely kidding -- but I'm absolutely delighted to be back in London for the weekend in honor of Al's (my cousin) 30th birthday -- and to see my wonderful Auntie Marion! Who arrived in London this morning.

I woke up early to swim this morning -- I continue to really enjoy the morning practices with the masters' team -- which occasionally includes some of the other kids from my normal competition group. I met an older gentleman today by the name of Paul -- he's from Montreal but lives in Paris -- he's a photographer! Very nice -- he was laughing because he started swimming at the age of 38, so he's had a bit of a different experience than some of us younger kids.

So I headed home after practice and ate some breakfast -- and then proceeded to fall asleep on my couch for about an hour, and when my alarm went off, I had absolutely zero desire to get up. I hit the snooze button on my alarm (which I NEVER do -- and I think has a bit to do with the fact that I've been feeling a bit under the weather) and finally got back up around 11. I got ready and then took the metro to the Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine to see the Hotels Particuliers Parisiens exhibit -- which we have to write a paper on for my architecture class. The museum is really interesting -- I'm planning on returning in the near future to see the permanent collections (which are free), but I enjoyed the hotel (ie mansion) exhibit that they had. They had it set up as a bunch of different rooms as if it were a real "hotel" in Paris -- and each room was decorated from a different time period. The final room was filled with drawings and floor plans and models of hotels around Paris -- and there was even an interactive touch screen that had a map of all of the hotels in Paris with pictures and info and such.

After my museum visit, I went back home and had some lunch. I tried some of Marilu's carrot soup from her dinner party the other night - which had a hint of orange in it. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it really was yummy. Especially with some good bread....I also tried some of her crab terrine -- interesting texture, but really good flavor!

I gathered my luggage and went to my history class -- and then left for the train station just after. I decided to catch the bus to the station because it's such a hassle to take the metro with lots of stuff. The bus got me to the station at around 5:30 which was perfect -- it was much more relaxing going through the Eurostar "process" having done it before. I spent the two-ish hours on the train listening to podcasts (I've downloaded over 40 Freakonomics podcasts -- which have become quite addicting) and reading a bit.

When I got to London, I found my way to Al's apartment (all by myself!) and was greeted by Marion! We waited for Al to get home and then went to find some dinner. There's a really incredible little street right by his place -- where the bakery that we went to last time is -- and we tried, unsuccessfully, to get a table at a few different - and very cool looking - places. We ultimately decided on a Turkish restaurant which was slightly less crowded -- but still delicious! We all got the set meal -- which included a plate of 7 different starters for each person -- hummous, lamb meatball, a phyllo-dough type pastry, and a some other spreads -- also with some delicious bread! For my entree, I got the lamb shank on top of mashed potatoes and some vegetables -- it was really good! The lamb was extremely tender and fell off the bone, and the combination of the meat with the potatoes was delicious. Mrn and Al both got the mixed grill! For dessert, I got the lemon cheesecake, which was the perfect end to the meal. It was just the right amount, and was very light -- with just a faint lemon flavor. The crust tasted like a mixture of graham crackers and nuts? Not sure -- but it was really delicious too!

Looking forward to a wonderful weekend in Angleterre! Full of wonderful company and probably some pretty yum food as well....

A bientot!

Quelques Observations? Et la fin de Provence....

So about a block and a half down the street, there's a "Petit Casino" which I believe I've mentioned before -- it's part of a chain, but from what I can tell, each one is individually owned, and there aren't just "Petit" Casinos, but other kind of Casinos as well. Anyways, this particular one is run by a couple -- they are the only two that I have ever seen working there -- and the store is open everyday from 9am to 10pm everyday except for Tuesdays, when it's closed for the day. One might think, "Oh! 9am isn't so bad -- wake up around 8, get there by 8:45, etc.". Well, if you're thinking that -- you're probably right! The catch is, that the mornings I go to swim at 7 (so leaving the house around 6:35am) -- they're already there unloading deliveries and setting out the displays of fruits and vegetables that line the outside of the store. So. Let's say they get to the store at 6:15 (they were even there the morning that I left the house around 6:10 to get to the train station), and then they leave work at 10 -- or likely a bit after that. And then they repeat that 6 out of the 7 days of the week. It's difficult to imagine how exactly they function -- and needless to say, I have the utmost respect for the work that they do, and try to give them as much business as possible (unfortunately, their selection is rather limited). But I've just found it interesting as it is a place that I walk by everyday.

I guess I'll give a brief overview of the rainy Sunday in Provence...I woke up around 7:15 and decided to try and go for a run -- it actually was NOT raining when I went running which was nice. It was sprinkling slightly which actually felt pretty nice. Avignon was completely deserted which was a refreshing change, but also somewhat eerie. I decided to just make it an even half hour and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change.

The hotel had a pretty nice buffet breakfast of cereal, baguettes, yogurt, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. And sure enough, as soon as we left the hotel to walk across the plaza to the Palais des Papes, it started to rain again. We toured the Palais des Papes -- which is quite impressive! -- with M. Lecomte's commentary which as always, was interesting. We finished up around noon and then actually went back to the hotel where Martine had ordered lunch for all of us -- quiche lorraine and salad! Yum!

After our lunch, we walked down to the bus and left for the Pont du Gare which despite the rain, was absolutely spectacular. We walked around for a bit and heard some history and took some pictures. After about an hour, we boarded the bus again, and this time set off for the town of Orange to see the enormous Roman theater they have there. Unfortunately, the rain decided to pick up when we were there, whijch didn't exactly make it pleasant....That was about it for the weekend! From there, we went back to the train station in Avignon and got back to Paris around 9:15.

Yesterday was pretty straight foward -- architecture, some work at Reid Hall, theater, and then swimming after that. It turns out that I can really get from Reid Hall to the pool in about 15 minutes which is fantastic. Today was fairly dreary -- colder and gray and rainy which makes it hard to stay motivated! I went from swimming to my Pensee Economique class at Institut Catholique which continues to be an interesting experience. It's clear that the students don't really respect the professor -- which they show by continuing to talk throughout the class...and I would never do that, but I do have to say that I got a bit frustrated when she was trying to fill out a table of numbers and couldn't divide 2 by 3 and vice versa....I know she's from Mexico, but last time I checked, numbers are the same in Spanish...and French....and English.

I ate lunch at home, and then I went to my history of France and Africa class -- and now I've spent a fairly relaxing evening at home which has been really nice. Marilu and Alain have company over for dinner -- who all speak Portuguese -- so I've just been staying in my room after eating my dinner in the kitchen! Which were delicious leftovers from her other dinner party which was this kind of casserole with duck confit, mashed potatoes, and cooked chestnuts? It was really amazing.

Alrighty -- here a few pictures from Sunday!

A bientot!

Pluie, Pluie, et Plus de Pluie.

Well, I would love to say that I just got back from the most wonderful weekend in Provence, but to be honest, it wasn't so awesome. Apparently, there's an annual few days of rainstorms in Provence -- and this past weekend happened to be it.

I got up yesterday at about quarter of six (in the morning) so that I could get to the Gare du Lyon by 6:45. It was clear that there were plenty of late night partiers on their way home from the night before. Our train left from Paris at 7:16, and I fell asleep for most of the time. I finally woke up when we got to Avignon just before 10!

From the moment we left the train station, it rained just about the entire time. We got on the bus, and Martine tried to figure out how to adjust the weekend's schedule in response to the bad weather. We still went to Uzes -- which is a lovely little town about an hour (?) from Avignon. Prof. Lecomte gave us a short tour of the town and we ended in a little market in the center of town. I had probably about the most "French" lunch possible. I, along with Alex, Cynthia, and Kelsey, bought bread, chorizo sausage (ok, so not so French), and a hunk of delicious parmesan cheese, and divided it all. We found a place to sit underneath the overhang of the buildings, and it was beyond delicious....Afterwards, a bunch of the girls found a cafe to get some hot chocolate -- which given the dreary weather, was a good pick-me-up!

After our drinks, we made our way back to the bus, and again, found out that we had to adjust our plans once again. We set off for Villeneuve les Avignon (across the river from Avignon) where we toured a chartreuse (basically an abbey), and also a factory that produces olive oil! Most of it's made my machine now which wasn't so interesting, but we got to taste two types of olive oil and a balsamic vinegar (which was my favorite).

After that, we drove back to Avignon to check in to our hotel -- which was facing the Palais des Papes (not too shabby!), and we also ate dinner at the hotel -- which was not great, but decent! It was an appetizer of eggplant something-or-other, and then chicken breast with a small portion of potatoes gratin and some sauteed vegetables. And then for dessert -- apparently, Martine had ordered half of one dessert and half of the other. Well, one of them was sliced pineapple, and the other was molten chocolate cake. I'll let you guess how that turned out.

Given that I'm about to literally fall asleep, I'm going to say good night! I'll tell a bit about today tomorrow -- but here are some pictures in the rain -- never been so happy to have my Bean Boots!

A bientot!

Le Lac Daumesnil et Les Bois des Vincennes -- finalement, un paysage a Paris!

Apologies for taking a few days off....it's been interesting trying to adjust to being back in Paris and still sort of be on vacation but also have some things that I need to get done.

Anyways. Monday was spent mostly unpacking and recuperating and then going to my theater class in the afternoon -- I think we were all taken aback when it started getting dark about an hour before class ended (the end being at 6:30) because of the time change over the weekend. Now it feels like we're in class until 8 or 9pm....I had a lovely little food adventure Monday night -- Marilu and Alain were still away on vacation, so I had the place to myself, which also meant I got to cook for myself as well.

I had foolishly forgotten my Navigo card (which gets me on all of the buses and metros for 'free') because I had put it in my jacket pocket on Sunday and had failed to stick it back in my wallet -- so I ended up paying for the bus ride to class, and then made the decision to walk home (only about 40 minutes). I had been pondering what I wanted to make for dinner, and I decided on salmon -- and also had a hankering for sauteed spinach with some feta cheese (sorry -- it's hard to not have a wandering mind in a two and a half hour class...). So, I made some grocery store stops on my walk home -- 3 grocery store stops to be exact. I began with Dia (known to be the cheapest) and found salmon and chicken (to cook for the rest of the week) and some other good stuff, then Monoprix was where I found the sweetener that I like to put in my tea, and FINALLY, Simply came through for me (per usual) with reasonably priced spinach and feta cheese. I was also on the hunt for non-fat plain Greek yogurt -- which I think is an unknown concept in France. There's Greek Yogurt, but it has tons of fat, and is usually flavored. I browsed the dairy shelves at Monoprix, and I decided to purchase a 500g container of "Fromage Blanc" with "0% matieres grasses" -- I have yet to determine the actual English translation (besides the obvious, white cheese), but it tastes kind of like Greek yogurt, and has the same consistency, and is pretty healthy...so I figure I'll stick with it.

So Monday night, I did indeed cook myself a feast of salmon with a bit of fromage blanc on top, on a bed of sauteed spinach and onions and some feta cheese. Oh, and I roasted some brussel sprouts and zucchini in olive oil in the oven, too. Pretty darn good if I may say so myself....

Yesterday, November 1st!, was a "jour ferie" (pronounced jour fer-ee-ay) in France -- All Saints' Day. In other words, pretty much everything is closed, and there are no classes, etc. My theater professor thought it would be a great opportunity for us to go see the play we just read -- Le jeu de l'amour et du hasard -- at the Comedie Francaise. I do have to admit, that it was a rather pleasant way to spend a rainy icky afternoon.

Other than that, Mike Howard (long time family friend from Rochester) arrived yesterday from Copenhagen to stay for a few nights. It's been great having him around and he's mostly been going off and doing his own thing and seeing some other friends, but we've also spent some time together!

Today, I again, didn't have class. I thought that I had swimming this morning from 10-11:30, and so after a quick jog, I walked to the pool. Well. I got something wrong, because the practice either wasn't at the same pool, or wasn't until 6pm tonight. Luckily, the pool was open, and not too crowded and so I got in and did about 5000 to stretch out after my 10ish days off....

I met Mike at the market after that and we had a nice time walking through -- always interesting things to see! I spent the afternoon at the Museum of African Arts and Immigration (or something like that....) which is right next to the Bois des Vincennes and the Lac Daumesnil -- I have a 15 minute presentation on the International Colonial Exposition of 1931 in Paris, so I had gone to do some more research and walk the grounds of what was once the site of the exposition. It was a beautiful fall day -- and the park was full of people walking dogs (or themselves, or children), but it was wonderful to find a place that has lots of grass and a beautiful lake and trails and paths to walk along (the negative is that it's about a 40 minute metro ride from where I live).

So here are some pictures from this afternoon -- amazing fall colors:

A bientot!

Merci, CDG!

Wellll I'm finally back in Paris after a long long day of travel! Most of the hassle resulted from some construction at the CDG airport -- which was very much unappreciated...

I spent the morning packing up all of my stuff at Mel's apartment and cleaning up after myself, and then I set off for the train station about half twelve (as the British would say). I walked across Edinburgh hating myself for having a bag and a backpack...it seemed like I had packed nothing but bricks.

I met Harry at the train station, and we waited for our train to Newcastle which was about 25 minutes late. The train ride was a bit um, restless, to say the least. There was a table of 3 children and their mother, and the kids were running around and screaming....I might be requesting the quiet car on the train from now on...

We got in to Newcastle and found the metro station -- which compared to the Paris metro system, seems like it's from the Stone Age -- and we took the metro to the airport. The Newcastle airport is a bit odd -- they don't post the gate number until about 30 minutes before the plane leaves, and then it's kind of like sheep being herded down a staircase and onto the plane. Also, it was the first time I've taken EasyJet -- think Southwest. There are no seat assignments, and it's a bit chaotic. BUT, what was interesting, was that there is no barrier between the first row of seats and the plane door and flight attendants. It was cool to see them actually shut the door and gossip about the people in the back...

The real fun began after we got off the plane. We tried to take the RER (like another metro -- but it goes out into the suburbs), but of course, the RER station at the airport is closed. How wonderful. So there were lots of people in yellow vests telling us that we had to go take the airport shuttle, and then again, like sheep, we were herded onto buses to a different RER station. Silly me for thinking that it was going to be about a quick 5 minute little ride -- it turned out to be about a 30 minutes ride through the middle of absolutely nowhere....awesome.

After that, we finally made it onto the RER and then connected to the metro to get home. After about a 9 hour day of travel, I'm finally home. It's still odd to consider coming home as coming back to Paris! I get to come home to the city with the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, Notre Dame, and the like!

Alrighty, bedtime! Much too late already! A bientot!