La Sorbonne, Une greve, et Carrot Cake!

So I'm sort of falling asleep at the moment -- but I thought I'd report on just a few things!

The first week of classes continues and I had my first class at Paris III (also known as La Sorbonne) today. I left the house about an hour and a half early just to be on the safe side, and luckily, I have been there before, so I knew how to get there, but beyond that, it was pretty unknown. I started in the main building which happened to be the right one -- and there was a big board of papers with all of the courses for today and what room they were being held in. I found mine pretty easily and went up to the 3rd floor and had a nice 45 minute wake before my class at 12:30.

The building is a bit like a high school -- covered in kind of a mint green color and the whole place smells like a school lunch thanks to the cafeteria on the ground floor. It's not bad by any stretch, it's just kind of amusing. But I will say that the difference between Institut Catholique (a private school) and Paris III (a public school) is quite large....The professor, however, was fantastic. It's a class about the literature during the 16th century -- which was around the time period of the religious wars in France. We got a bit of a background today -- and we start analyzing text tomorrow! It's amazing the difference that one semester can make - I remember the first week of the semester in the fall, and how my head hurt each day and how it was pretty difficult to understand the professors. Today, I could understand everything perfectly (mostly) -- and it was just like any other class!

After my class got out at 2:30, I went to Gilbert Joseph (an enormous book store) to get the book by the poet Ronsard that we needed to read some of for tomorrow. On the way there, I experienced my first real Parisian "greve" (a strike) -- I have absolutely no idea what it was for, but there were tons of people with signs and balloons and noisemakers and the like -- actually it was quite intimidating.

I had a quick lunch when I got back and then headed off to swimming at La Plaine at 6. Practice was pretty uneventful -- I actually did about 6300 meters which felt good. When I got back, Marilu had made this DELICIOUS casserole of eggplant slices, tomatoes, ricotta, and pesto. It was incredible. And then after dinner, her mother wanted to learn how to make carrot cake -- so the three of us made a carrot cake! We used a recipe that my mom had sent me last week -- I think it will be pretty good based off of the anonymous batter and frosting taste tests.....

Ok! It continues to be winter here in Paris which is kind of good news bad news. It would have been nice a month ago but now that tomorrow is FEBRUARY (wait, what??!), we should be on our way to warmer weather!

Here's the picture of the strike I took today - I'm afraid a little picture doesn't do it justice!

A bientot!

Brrrr!

So it's now officially become winter in Paris -- it only took until the end of January! Imagine that. I really shouldn't be complaining -- as I'm writing this, the thermometer on my laptop says Paris is a balmy 32 degrees (Fahrenheit). But I'm afraid that the mild weather that's been here for the past few weeks has really spoiled me, and now it's a bit of a rude awakening. It's kind of funny to see everyone suddenly bundled up with layers upon layers and rushing from one place to the next to stay out of the cold.

I'll consider today as my "real" first day of school -- or class? I left a little early to step my Monoprix to pick up some more notebooks, and then I took the metro to Institut Catholique for my Geographie de l'Union Europeenne class. I stood outside the room with the other 25 or so students for the professor to finally arrive at around 11:15 (for a class that was supposed to start at 11) -- he didn't seem too concerned.

I don't know if I used this analogy before -- but the first day at Institut Catholique (or maybe at any French school?) feels exactly like the scene in Legally Blonde where Elle Woods is at her first class at Harvard Law School (if you are struggling to recall this scene -- take a minute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZIonnMTLUA). But literally, I sat down and took out my notebook (which, don't worry -- was NOT heartshaped in any sense) and looked around at almost everyone who was taking out a little laptop. The professor frequently mentioned the work that "we" had all done last semester -- a reference to which was utterly moot to me. But it gradually got better -- the professor is really great and I think that the course will be very interesting. I got a little nervous when we were told that each one of us would be doing an expose in front of the class.....me - speaking French - alone - in front of 25 other French students. Yikes. Luckily, I have some time to prepare.

From Catho, I took the metro to Middlebury for my Union Europeenne class -- speaking of great professors -- the two and a half hour class truly goes so quickly and really just seems like story time. She knows so much about the history and the European Union and it's refreshing that she doesn't need to read it from her notes and that she is so enthusiastic about Europe.

I went on a search for a new swim bag after class -- I stopped by the store Decathlon which is an enormous sport store near Madeleine that has literally anything relating to sports you could ever want. There was actually was an aisle dedicated to swimming things (which I was somewhat surprised about) -- and so I found a nice little bag that zipped closed (the main qualification) that was only about 13 euros. I was about to walk away to make my purchase when the woman standing next to me said "You need to find another color because that one's too bright". I kind of looked around a bit confused -- I mean, that was the only color of that bag....she asked me what I was using it for, and I said to hold my swimmings -- I guess she thought that a blue bag was a recipe for disaster and was going to attract every thief in Paris. After a bit of back and forth, I finally said "merci" for her input and quickly walked towards the check-out.

I was the ONLY one at swimming tonight -- which normally would have a been a refreshing change of pace, but I was more in the mood to be swimming with other people. But it was nice to not have to fight with 27392 other people who don't know how to swim in order to swim a full length.

I believe that's about it for today -- apparently, it's supposed to only get colder (yippee) which should make the coming days fun...Today's picture is one that I took last week -- I had slept in until about 11 in the morning and woke up to an interesting odor -- and found this!

With Marilu's mother here -- it's been very interesting to see what's cooking in the kitchen (literally). Like this! Certainly keeps me on my toes.

A bientot!

La compagne!

So I just got back (well, a little while ago) from a wonderful time at my host family's country house. It's an absolutely charming place -- and I can't wait to go back.

We left around 11am yesterday and drove about an hour and a half out to the middle of nowhere -- I had woken up early to swim, and so I basically slept the entire way there. It was pretty chilly and luckily, the sun was shining when we got there! We had stopped at the Carrefour (grocery store) on the way there to get some lunch supplies and such which was torture since I was already starving!

Anyways, we got there and opened up all the shutters and got the radiators going and put the frozen pizzas in the oven -- it was just nice to have a hot meal for lunch! After lunch, we got a nice fire going in the enormous brick fireplace, and I settled down and started to read the book I brought with me. It was great to just relax and have nothing to do!

After a bit of reading, we all headed outside to do some lawn work! My job was to pick up all the branches and sticks that had fallen on the driveway and in the yard and pile them next to house to help with the fire. After about an hour, it started to rain, and so we headed back inside next to the fire (which was fine by me) and I continued with my book.

For dinner, I was introduced to a specialty from Bretagne called "Raclette". There's actually this special contraption thing that is made for heating the cheese in these little pans -- and then you pour the melted cheese over basically whatever you want -- usually it's boiled potatoes and different types of ham, which is what we had. It was interestiing! Probably not my favorite, but it was definitely good to try. For dessert, Marilu made a "Crumble" in which she had cooked apples with brandy and other delicious things and covered it with a butter/sugar/flour mixture...so. good.

After dinner, we spent more time by the fire and I read and then finally turned in for the night. I slept until the glorious hour of 11:30 this morning -- it was wonderful. I made myself a bit of breakfast and then went out for a bit of a walk down the road. It was pretty foggy and so it was difficult to see very far -- but I made some new cow-friends who decided to stare at me as I walked by -- it was actually very unnerving...

Basically, the pictures show the weekend best, so I think it be best to just jump there...truly a wonderful place -- couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend away.

La maison!

FIRE:

New best friend.

Weird trees.

A bientot!

Also -- today marks 5 months since coming to France!! So crazy.

Le printemps, et une journee culturelle?

Well I've had quite the cultural day (in my opinion) -- I checked two things off of my "Paris To Do" list which was very exciting!

The past two days, I've been pretty terrible at waking up at a reasonable hour -- both days I had good intentions to get up early, and both days I turned off my alarm and went back to sleep. Anyways, I spent yesterday making some travel plans for the end of February, and then I went to swimming last night -- not too exciting of a day! But it was nice to have some time to breathe.

Today, I woke up around 10:30 (I'm continually amazed at how late I can sleep here...), and had a quick breakfast. Luckily, the weather was cooperating and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and so I made up my mind to go up the Eiffel Tower. It took all of 5 minutes to walk over, and at first it looked like the line was really long -- but that was only to take the elevator. I opted to take the stairs and so I only had about a 5 minute wait (if that). I took the stairs up to the first floor which was already pretty impressive, and then from there took the stairs up to the second floor. Unfortunately, the top top was closed today because of work they were doing up there, but it costs an extra 10 euros to go all the way up anyways, and so I just decided to go ahead and go today! I can contemplate if I want to go back or not.

The view, even from the 2nd floor, was pretty spectacular. It was fun to be able to walk all the way around and see Paris from all directions. It was also pretty cool to do it after I already have a good sense of the city and so I know what I'm looking at. But now I can check that off my list! I probably won't go back up to the very top -- I'm sure it would be cool, but I think I could a pretty good view from where I was.

I came back home for lunch with Marilu and her mother -- I had a piece of leftover tomato, pesto, and ricotta quiche that we had had for dinner the other night -- it was absolutely delicious. And for dessert I had one of the chocolate chip madeleines that I made yesterday -- also not too bad if I may say so!

I took the metro to Trocadero to meet my friends Harry and Luke who I persuaded to take part in my day of cultural activities. We decided on the Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine -- which for students under 26 is free! (Well, for the permanent collections). I had been once before to see the Hotel Particulier exhibit for my architecture class last semester -- but hadn't been to the other part. It was really interesting -- basically it's just filled with all of these molds/replicas of incredible structures from all over France. It's so cool. Then, there's more modern architecture upstairs -- but it's a really interesting museum. Not to mention there's a fantastic view out of the windows on the Eiffel Tower...

The rest of my afternoon was relatively uneventful -- relaxed a bit, swam but was feeling particularly unmotivated, etc.

Hard to choose pictures from today -- I got so many great ones from my climb up the Eiffel Tower! Here are a few -- they don't quite do it justice though....

Bon weekend a tout le monde et a bientot!

Attendez -- IT'S THE END OF JANUARY?!

So seeing on the calendar that today is the 25th of January kind of made me freak out a bit -- HOW HAS IT ALREADY BEEN A MONTH SINCE CHRISTMAS?! This is crazy.

I FINALLY finished all of my work for the first semester. I had this one last paper to get out of the way, and I dropped it off today at the secretary's office at Institut Catholique -- and ta daa! Finally on to the second semester.

I had my first class of the second semester on Monday -- the History of the European Union -- which is at the Middlebury center near Madeleine. This sounds a bit silly -- but it was odd to have a woman as a professor after last semester when all of my professors were men (well, except for the Mexican one...but that doesn't really count). But she's really wonderful, and clearly she knows a lot about the history of the EU which is what counts! I found out that the other class I was supposed to have tomorrow was cancelled, and so I'll start that one next week along with all the rest.

This morning, I went to the Louvre with a bunch of people from my program. Mme Palmer (the art history professor for the Hamilton program) was nice enough to spend some time with us there, and she gave us quite a bit of background! Unfortunately, we had some issues with the tickets, so we only had about an hour instead of a full hour and a half. Martine stayed after with me and the other Emily, and we went to go take a look at all of the Egyptian antiquities -- of which there are TONS. Definitely requires a trip back to see them all.

After that, I went to Reid Hall to print the paper and took it to Catho. From there, I took the metro up to the library near Porte de Clignancourt which was where I had gotten the book I used for my paper -- not the most convenient location, but the book has been returned! I was on a hunt for some stationery after that -- and Martine suggested that I check out Le Bon Marche near the metro Sevres Babylone. It's this enormous high-end department store -- which will again, requre a trip back -- but everything was beautiful. I made my way to the second floor "paperterie" section which made me feel like I was in HEAVEN. Goodness. Everything was incredible -- and also incredibly expensive. I found some nice embossed note cards with an E on them which were perfect -- and somewhat reasonably priced!

Other than that, things have been relatively quiet -- I've been swimming at La Plaine which is a pool over by Porte de Versailles. It's actually a pretty good facility. It's 25 meters and surrounded by palm trees which is a bit odd. It feels like I'm swimming in the jungle -- but next to the highway? It's an interesting setup.

Alrighty -- it's bedtime for me! Here's a picture of Pastel the other day when we actually got himself underneath a stack of blankets, and then one of the Louvre this morning. Who knew that the Louvre pyramids had their own cleaning thingies.....

A bientot!

Amsterdam!

Sorry for the delay -- but I didn't feel like it was appropriate to write while I was actually in Amsterdam -- especially since I didn't have a way to upload my photos!

I got back yesterday after a wonderful 3 nights in Amsterdam with my friend, Louisa. We had a great time -- filled with TONS of walking, lots of amazing food, and some interesting museums!

We left on Wednesday afternoon and took the train to Amsterdam (via Bruxelles, Antwerp, and Rotterdam). We arrived to some pretty icky weather -- it was raining and windy and chilly, but we made the trek out to find our hostel -- which wasn't just any old building in the city, but it was a houseboat! So we had about a 15 minute walk until we found the dock where the boat was and were greeted by a long-haired hippy-ish guy who, luckily for us, spoke pretty good English.

We deposited our luggage in our "cabin" - which was fairly cozy, but had bunk beds, a sink, a little cabinet, its own porthole, and a lock! There were probably about 15 cabins on the boat and we shared the bathrooms at the end of the hall -- which were actually pretty clean. But it was a heck of a deal at 20 euros per person per night which included quite the breakfast buffet each morning.

From there, at the recommendation of Louisa's parents, we headed off in search of a restaurant called Le Zinc...et Les Autres (http://www.lezinc.nl/) , which was a charming little place right on one of the canals. We sat upstairs and were soon greeted with a small amuse buche of a shrimp mixture in a little breaded patty. Bad description, but it was delicious. We also got a small bowl of warmed mixed nuts and marinated olives for the table which were equally as delicious. Louisa ordered the pumpkin vegetarian entree and I ordered the "Young Beef" which was a tender piece of meat on top of some leafy vegetables and had a little potato cake on the side. Very yummy! For dessert, we split what they called the "Chocolate Caviar" which was this little tin (which the waiter actually opened in front of us...it only took him about 5 minutes) with a layer of chocolate mousse topped with little chocolate crunchy things -- think Dip 'n Dots. On the side was a small scoop of milky ice cream which was a nice balance to the chocolate! We left extremely satisfied -- the food, atmosphere, service, and presentation were all wonderful.

Thursday, we woke up around 8:30 and had breakfast in the main cabin upstairs. We decided to go to the Anne Frank House to meet our cultural activity quota for the day, and so we set off to find it! The weather still wasn't cooperating (and continued to be unpleasant through most of our visit), but we finally found it and paid the whole 9 euros to go in. It was an incredibly interesting and moving museum -- and it was laid out very well. It was amazing to see the house where the Frank family actually hid for 2 years, and to learn all the history around it as well. It's hard to even imagine being that type of situation, though. Very difficult indeed.

From there, we headed off in search of a cafe called Winkel (again, courtesy of Louisa's parents) -- http://www.winkel43.nl/ -- which we were told had the best apple pie in Amsterdam -- so of course, we had to check it out. We each ordered a piece of the apple pie and some hot chocolate (which was actually just warmed chocolate milk, but oh well). The pie was soooo good. It was a bit different than the "traditional" apple pie in that it had a full layer of crust on the top, and overall, it was much more cake-like than what we would think of a pie being. But nevertheless, it was delicious.

After Winkel, we wandered around for a bit and then we split up for a bit and I got in a quick swim while Louisa headed back to the boat. It was interesting to see the Dutch and how they interact with pools -- it only reaffirmed that the French are ridiculous when it comes to all of the rules they impose at les piscines.

For dinner, we chose a vegetarian restaurant called De Bolhoed (again, thanks Mr. & Mrs. Savage!) -- http://www.vegguide.org/entry/1036. Although, I'm not a vegetarian, I was interested to see what a Dutch vegetarian meal would entail. It didn't disappoint. Louisa ordered the vegan platter which came with about 7 different things on it. I had the casserole which was a dish filled with tons of vegetables mixed in a tomato-like sauce and then baked with cheese on top and came topped with a mound of basil. There was also a nice side salad and the grain of the day which was  couscous of some kind. All of it was absolutely incredible. So so good.

Let's see -- Friday we headed down south to the Van Gogh museum which, in my opinion, lived up to expectations. Despite it costing a whopping 14 euros per person (with no student discount), the museum was very cool and the lay out was really interesting. It really gives you the opportunity to follow Van Gogh's career as a painter and watch how his style evolves through the decade (or not even) that he was an artist.

With the yucky weather, we weren't inclined to keep wandering around outside, but we had heard about fresh made stroopwafel at the Albert Cuyp Market which wasn't too far, so we went! It was quite the market with everything from candy to dish soap to clothing. It definitely gives the one that's close to chez moi a run for its money! But we did find the lone fresh stroopwafel maker and each ordered one. Stroopwafel is two very thin pieces of waffle that have melted caramel in the middle. And I got mine with chocolate on it. Yum. Yum. Yum.

We then went off in search of real food (what a novel idea) and found a wonderful little place called Letting Cafe (http://www.letting.nl/) which had great soups and homemade bread which was exactly what we had been looking for. I had the potato and leek soup while Louisa had the sweet potato (I think -- or was it pumpkin? I can only remember it being very orange and having cilantro!). And for dessert, we each got a cookie that was called a "Lady Kiss" which was these two thick almond cookies with a chocolate filling. Again -- yum on all accounts.

That afternoon we walked around some more -- Louisa wanted to stop back by this particular shop, I wanted to go to the Starbucks to get my souvenir mugs, and then we went by this incredible fine food grocery store (think Whole Foods but BETTER) and got some fixings for a picnic dinner back at the boat. We got some fresh bread, cheese, pears, cherry tomatoes, etc. I'm not able to remember the name of this grocery store at this moment, but I'm hoping it will come back to me! It was right by Rembrandt Square.

We made our way back to the boat (we had had quite the tour in trying to find this grocery store which we had found the day earlier) and decided to watch the movie Crazy, Stupid Love (which is one of my new favorites -- I highly recommend it), and had our picnic dinner which was delightful after a day of chilly and rainy weather!

Yesterday morning, before we left, we met up with one of Louisa's friends, Gloria, at a cafe called Screaming Beans (http://www.screamingbeans.nl/) which is where Gloria works a few days a week. It was a great little place -- great mocha, and we also got sandwiches to go -- a wonderful goat cheese, walnut and honey on this crunchy multigrain roll. Absolutely delicious!

The train ride back was mostly uneventful minus the fact that there was a 1 hour delay due to an accident somewhere on the tracks! So it ended up being almost 4.5 hours instead of just under 3.5. Oh well!

Alrighty - bedtime for me! We had a really great trip though -- we both loved the architecture and the style of houses in the city -- and yes, we did take a stroll through the Red Light District and saw stores like the "Condomerie"...but that's an entirely other story...

Hard to pick pictures for this -- but here are a few!

Apple Pie at Winkel:

The Amicitia -- our hostel houseboat (or houseboat hostel?):

A deee-lish veggie dinner:

I definitely recommend Amsterdam as a place to visit -- just a very cool vibe and feel to the whole place. Much smaller than Paris which was also a nice change of pace. Just make sure that if you go into a "Coffee Shop" -- that it actually sells coffee! Because lots of them don't....

A bientot!

Quelques nouveaux etudiants, la natation disorganisee, et je ne sais pas?

I feel like I always need three things to put in the title -- but I couldn't think of another one, hence the "Je ne sais pas."

I started my day off with a trip to the airport! Because who doesn't love that, right? I actually did have a reason -- I was one of two students meeting the new second semester students when they arrived at CDG at 10:30 this morning. I took the RER B which was packed when I got on, but essentially cleared out once we got passed the Paris border. I made my way to the 2A terminal which was where their flight was due to arrive and waited for a while for Noah (the other student) and Madame Stevens to arrive. Finally, at about 10:50, the new students came out of the arrivals' door with all of the their luggage, and we trekked outside to the vans that were waiting to take them to their Parisian homes.

I rode with two girls from Hamilton and a guy from Amherst -- all were great! It was a weird feeling though to be the "experienced" one of the bunch, and explaining different things to them. In comparison, of course it seems like I've been here a long time, but in reality -- it still feels like I got here last month. I can't believe that it's past the middle of January! Slow down, time!! Stop going to quickly! But I really enjoyed accompanying them as they got dropped off -- and it definitely made me relive, somewhat, the day that I was dropped off at where I now call home. Very odd feeling indeed.

I spent the rest of the day trying to continue my work on this paper that I have very little motivatioin to do. But the sooner I get it done, the sooner it will be over, right? Easier said than done. Much easier said than done.

The swimming schedule has been totally thrown off for the next two weeks while they get rid of the bacteria they found in the showers. Tonight, I swam in the 33m pool at Montparnasse with the masters' team. It was nice to not have to fight my way through the general public, but I always get thrown off with the bizarre length. Instead of 12x50, we do 12x66....it's very weird.

I'm trying to get this paper out of the way so that I can get back to taking advantage of things in this wonderful city. I still have my list but I think I need to post it on my wall so that I look at it everyday and remind myself to get my rear in gear and get out and do things!

Today's photo goes back to one of my repeted subjects: the beloved Pastel. I apologize for those who find him a very boring photo subject, but I do think he's adorable -- as bizarre as he is...he's still frequently on the couch in my room when I get home (especially when there are strange people around the house) -- and whenever I leave an article of clothing on the couch, he makes sure to warm it up and leave me a little fur....he's ever so thoughtful.

So today, he found my jeans rather comfortable:

It's kind of hard to NOT love that face....

A bientot!

Les Francais et la piscine, un grand repas avec la famille, et une biere...je pense?

So I woke up to an email from my swim coach that was sent to everyone in the club announcing that the pool where we usually practice will be closed for the next 15 days. Why? Because they found some type of icky bacteria in the showers. Yippee. When I told Marilu about it -- she nearly had a panic attack and told me that I was forbidden to go to that pool. I told her not to worry, and that they would be testing all the water in the showers before they reopen it in (hopefully) two weeks. She still seemed uneasy...but we'll get to that barrier in 2 weeks. I think they have to "shock" all the water or something like that to kill it all....

So with that, I headed back to Piscine Keller where I've been swimming the past few days. The pool didin't open until 9am, so I got there a little before then so that I could make sure that I was one of the first ones in. I was relieved when I got there to find only about 3 or 4 others waiting -- well that was shortlived as within the next 10 minutes, probably about 30 more people showed up. But I'm terrible number-estimator, so it it could have been anywhere from 15 to 45 most likely.

They decided to let us in a few minutes after 9 -- that's another funny think about the French and their pools -- the opening time is more like an opening guideline. If they feel like opening at 9, then fine. If not? Well too bad for you. They said that there was no one to run the desk up front and that was the cause of the delay. Well it seems like they didn't find anyone to do that job, because they let everyone in for free at about 9:10. I wasn't complaining. I don't qualify for the "Tarif Reduit" at this pool because I have no piece of ID that has my name AND my address in Paris -- and in order to get the lower price, one has to be under 26 and a resident of Pair-ee.

I'll be brief about my swimming experience, as if I drag it out, I'm likely to just get frustrated again. French people really don't know how to swim. At all. And additionally, they have absolutely no swimming etiquette or common sense as to how to share a lane with other people. After about 80 minutes of sort of swimming, doing some abs on the deck, waiting for more lanes to open, I finally called it quits and left.

I came home to lunch preparations -- all smelling wonderful. We had quite the big lunch of Portuguese nature -- different kinds of meat all cooked together and vegetables and potatoes boiled with chorizo sausages and then all mixed together and served. There was also boiled cabbage and I got a fresh baguette from across the street (which was still warm!). For dessert -- perhaps my favorite part (not that that should be surprising) -- Marilu and her mother made riz au lait which was Dee. Lish. She cooked the rice along with a little bit of lemon peel and obviously milk/cream, and then she sprinkled cinnamon on top. It was incredible. We all had a lovely time -- we were 8: me, Marilu, Alain, Nyanya, the twins, and then the twins' parents (so their son and his wife).

I would love to say that I had a productive afternoon, but I would be lying...I couldn't stay awake (I was woken up by the twins calling for Marilu a little earlier than I would have liked) and so Pastel and I took a little sieste on my couch.

Around 6:30, I took the metro to Grands Boulevards to meet my friends Mimi and Reid for drinks. They had gotten a table at the "Indiana Cafe" which was definitely Native American themed -- and in a very odd sort of way. They had each ordered a beer by the time I got there, and so I did the same. They had yet to try it before I ordered mine, and their facial expressions could not have been more entertaining. When I tried my own, I definitely understood. It tasted kind of like a beer-soda-lime juice mixture. It was very odd. Not terrible, but definitely filled me right up -- and it's probably not anything I'll be seeking out again.

That about sums up the day -- I need to get working on this last little paper, and it's been difficult to motivate myself to do so (surprise!). Maybe tomorrow?

I need to get back on track with taking daily pictures -- I can no longer be looking for Christmas-themed photos which is kind of a bummer! Although many of the festive lights still decorate the city.

I'll keep yesterday's photo theme going for now though...this one's from Lyon a month ago (wow - a month ago?!):

A bientot!

Les "Au Revoirs" sont toujours difficiles.

So I had to say goodbye to one of my good friends who's been here for the first semester -- Alex. He's been my fellow Amherst buddy in the Hamilton program, and it's been fantastic getting to know him. He hadn't been to L'As de Falafel -- a well-known falafel restaurant in the Marais district, so I said of course we should head there (leaving aside that I've eaten there once before and found out that I am not a huge fan of falafel...).

Anyways, this was after I had my little library adventure of the morning. I went to Institut Catholique this morning to check out a book that my professor suggested as a reference for my economics paper -- "Rationalite et Liberte en Economie" by Amartya Sen. Well, of course, the only copy in the Institut Catholique was checked out and not due until the middle of February. How helpful, right? Well, thanks to my iPad, I was able to look up where in the Paris library system I might be able to find this resource. Luckily or unluckily, there was one copy of it (in the ENTIRE PARIS LIBRARY SYSTEM) -- all the way up north of Paris in the 18th, near Porte de Clignancort. I grabbed the metro and took it up to the library -- spent about 3 minutes (if that) getting the book, and checking it out, and then took the metro back to Saint Paul to meet Alex.

We went to L'As de Falafel -- really just at the right time because we were able to sit right down (which is rare). Alex ordered the Falafel Special and I ordered the pita with chicken and veggies, which was absolutely delicious! After lunch, we took a nice stroll down to Angelina's (aka the home of the best hot chocolate EVER) -- which was the parting man's last request. I figured I could splurge given the special occasion. We each got a small cup to go -- a mere 4,20 euros (compared to the 6,50 or so if you were to sit there an drink it), and we went to sit in the sun in the Jardins des Tuileries by the fountain.

It was a lovely afternoon, and when we started to get cold, we began walking towards my house past Les Invalides and the Champs de Mars. Quite the ideallic Parisian stroll!

After I got home, I headed off to the pool -- Piscine Keller again because there's some big problem at our normal pool that they have yet to fix. Apparently, it could be a number of weeks...ugh. I did a little warm up and then Mehdi showed up and so we did the set that our coach had emailed to us. Not too bad, but it's always a bummer to have to fight past recreational swimmers -- it wasn't long before I felt like we had thoroughly annoyed every person in our lane....

I came home to quite the lively household with the twins (they're 4 year old granddaughters) here! They literally do not stop moving for a second, and after painting mugs, watching cartoons, playing with Grandpa, a bath and playing with Nyanya (I don't know how to spell it, but that's how Marilu says it), they still had enough energy to talk non stop through dinner. Seriously. Non. Stop. I think they successfully exhausted all 4 of us by the end of dinner.

That's about it for today! Being done with classes has given me a bit of time to reflect and think about my time in Paris. I've become quite fond of people watching -- especially since I'm in such a prime place to do it! More on that later....

I'll leave you with some artsy photos -- both from the Abbey at the top of Mont Saint Michel:

A bientot!

Le printemps en janvier? Les soldes, mon iPad, etc....

So I really have absolutely no excuse to NOT be writing -- I finished my last final exam yesterday which wasn't too difficult, and now all that stands between me and the official end of the first semester is a paper for my Pensee Economique class which I opted to do instead of taking the examen oral....I figure I'll get to that when I go to the library tomorrow to get the book that she recommended as a source.

After being a bit under the weather, it was nice to not have to set an alarm -- and I checked the clock for the first time this morning at 9:45am....how wonderful! I enjoyed a nice breakfast with Nana (Marilu's mother -- who has been here since before Christmas and basically only speaks Portuguese), where we communicated with gestures and occasional words in French that she recognized. I spent a happy time cleaning and refolding all the clothes in my closet and then cleaning out my desk drawer -- all was desperately needed.

It's been incredible how warm it's been! The past two days, I've only had on a vest as my "outerwear" and have almost been sweating! It's ridiculous. The birds are out and things are almost blooming -- it really does feel and smell like spring! I just hope that is stays fairly moderate -- or else it's going to be a nasty shock!

Perhaps (sadly) one of the more exciting things that happened yesterday was the delivery of my iPad -- I had it sent to a friend in the US who was here visiting and graciously brought it with him! I've had great fun playing with it thus far -- so far, I've downloaded the Kindle app along with some free classics to read (at some point), I'm reading some of the magazines that my mom gets subscriptions to at home (thanks, mom!), and she also directed me to this really neat app called Zite -- which basically lets you create your own magazine by indicating subjects that you like, and then searching the internet for news/blogs/websites that have info and articles pertaining to those subjects! I've only started to look at it, but it seems really great. Becca (Dan's girlfriend) has also given me lots of suggestions -- Epicurious, Flipboard, Yelp, etc. And of course, I've downloaded some Paris-related apps! I'm really enjoying the ones with the Paris metro and bus maps....is that sad? Anyways, I hope that it continues to be as helpful and interesting as it has been over the past 24-hours! It was a Merry Xmas present largely thanks to my wonderful Grandmother -- merci BEAUCOUP!!

Let's see -- the other big to do in Paris is LES SOLDES. Literally, I have never seen so many sales happening at once. It's ALL OVER PARIS. Every store. Every item. Usually up to 70% off. It's absolutely insane. They started yesterday -- and apparently there was madness throughout (think Black Friday?) -- I didn't dare go out. On the way to pick up my cowboy boots which I just had resoled, I stopped in a few stores to see what all the mayhem was about -- I found a jacket at Gap for just 10 euros! Sadly, it was a bit big -- but for 10 euros, I almost caved....They continue until the end of the month, so it will be interesting to see what else is out there. Marilu clearly knows her way around, so I think I'll have to hit some of the stores with her!

The pool where I normally swim was closed today and will be again tomorrow for whatever reason.   I swam tonight with two guys, Adrien and Mehdi, from my team at Piscine Keller which isn't too far from where I live. Since Adrien knew the lifeguards, we got to swim in our own little lane -- which was actually half of one of the 50m lanes -- oh well. It was hysterical to see the "maitres nageurs" aka lifeguards teach swim lessons -- they would literally drop the kids into the water, and then I saw one shove a kid off of a foam board so that he could learn how to dive....I'm pretty sure most of what they were doing would get them sued by overprotective parents in the US, but hey, this is France!


It's been an interesting few days of reflection as I approach the halfway point of my time in Paris. They really do mean it when they say that the time flies when you're abroad. I'm trying to be proactive with doing and seeing things in and around Paris -- but it's always easier said than done. I have about 10 days off inbetween semesters, and I'm hoping to take day trips to each Chartres and Amiens as well as see some things around Paris! Soo much to see -- and so little time. Okay, well kind of a lot of time. But life always seems to get in the way!

I will end with a few pictures -- again, courtesy of my father -- that were taken over the holidays!

First, me and the Wall of Beer (or whatever it's called) in Bruges -- my father insisted that I take a picture in front of it being the "college girl" that I am...

The magnificent sunset as we left Mont Saint Michel:

And, the thermal baths in Budapest! No, we didn't go for a dip....

A bientot!

Breakfast in America, un peu malade, les examens finaux, etc.

So I love how I become most insistent about writing when I things I need to do -- like study for my final exam tomorrow. It is my last one (thank goodness) which gives me both motivation and lack there of.

I've been a bit under the weather the past few days (I blame my family for wearing me out! -- just kidding...sort of), so not too much has happened. Saturday was fairly laid back -- I slept in and then "studied" and Marilu showed me where the cordonnier was so that I could get my cowboy boots resoled (yippee), so I dropped them off and now I just have to figure out when I can get back there to pick them up! We also browsed in some of the stores because the big SALES start tomorrow -- apparently, they're a really big deal. Like EVERYTHING goes on super sale tomorrow. I envision Paris becoming like one big Black Friday mob -- but no one seems to think it's that bad, so I guess I'll see.

I watched the Amherst/Williams men's meet on Saturday night, too, which was quite exciting! Made me wish I was there! But I'm glad they won -- great meet to watch.

Sunday morning, I met my friend Mimi at the restaurant Breakfast in America in the 5th -- there are actually two locations, the other one being in the Marais district. It's a cute little place, and as advertised, it really does have American breakfasts that are served all day long. There are also burgers and such, but the breakfast is the main attraction I believe. It was difficult to choose, but I saw the home fries on someone elses plate and that made my decision for me. So for about 9 euros, I got an egg-white omelette filled with ham and cheddar cheese, two pieces of toast, and a mound of delicious home fries. Not too bad! It wasn't gourmet, but it was definitely comfort food. What Mimi and I both found entertaining, was that they offer a "Formule" which is a very French thing where you pay one price and then get multiple courses. So in the "Formule" at Breakfast in America, you can start with an omelette (plus all the sides), and then get a second course of a full stack of pancakes (which are actually quite small, but still). I barely finished what was on my plate, as did Mimi, and we both sat there watching the ladies next to us lick their plates clean on both courses....no wonder they think Americans are enormous.

Yesterday,  I helped my friend Louisa move from her old host family in the 8th arr. to her new host mother's apartment in the 5th! Very fun and near death experience as we trekked across Paris in a cab that Hamilton had sent -- my first time in a Parisian cab! What an experience. If you don't like a little thrill in life, I suggest taking the metro. Or walking.

Marilu made a delicious galette des roi on Sunday which is traditional around this time of year. It's sheets of pastry filled with an almond paste, and then somewhere in the middle is a little china figurine and whoever finds it is the "king" or "queen" for the day. Since we ate about a third of the cake, no one was king or queen, but when I had a little piece yesterday, I found the little china queen inside!

Anyways, I should get to studying my theater -- even though he said that if we came to class all semester we wouldn't need to study....Here are two pictures -- one of my brunch at Breakfast in America (actually, it's Mimi's plate...her's was prettier!), and Pastel in my little armoir....he continues to be quite the little comedian....

A bientot!

Et la realite recommence....

So clearly I've gotten quite off track -- and even though I'm kind of falling asleep at the moment, I figured if I didn't write anything now, I would just keep putting it off more and more.

I am back to "reality" -- as in I actually had classes this week, and my family left today, which after 3 weeks of being here, feels pretty odd! We had a great dinner last night back at Le Relais de Venise -- the steak frites restaurant that we visited before Christmas. It was just as delicious as before -- steak was incredible, the fries were amazing, and the sauce that covered it all was so yummy. I asked last time what spices were in the sauce -- and the waitress told me it was a secret...I can see why it's well guarded. For dessert, I split the two chocolate cakes with Becca -- one out of a loaf pan, and the other cut out of a round chocolate cake. Both were quite good, but I was partial to the loaf looking one...But overall, it was a wonderful last meal all together!

I think what's most interesting about the past few weeks, was the time that my parents and I spent in Budapest. It really is just an incredibly different city than anything found in Western Europe. There is definitely still the lasting feeling of the Soviet presence -- and many of the buildings are rather sad looking and dirty. What we didn't know, was that most of the big buildings in Budapest were built right around the turn of the 19th century. Who would have thought? I expected everything to be reallllly old. But even though it wasn't, it was still extremely impressive.

Highlights included the Parliament building -- which is probably the most recognized building in the city. We couldn't go in, but we took a nice walk around it, and I even found a 100 Euro note on the ground...Happy New Year to me! From there, we walked across the river (via a bridge) to the Buda side of the city (in case you didn't know, Budapest is actually made up of two cities -- Buda and Pest...I'm serious) where we climbed up to the Fishermen's Bastion, saw the extremely controversial Hilton hotel, and went into the Mattias Church, which was really beautiful.

The next day -- we ventured farther into the Pest side, which was where our hotel was, to the main park which is just in front of the Heroes' Square, and has a castle, the thermal baths, an amusement park, and a zoo. We wandered around for a bit -- didn't go for a dip in the baths, but did see them! Lots of steam, and lots of larger people wearing smaller bathing suits....We did, however, decide to go to the zoo! Which was great. We saw so much -- wombats, camels, tigers, lions, elephants, hippos, a rhino, giraffes, etc. And what was so amazing was that there's very little space between the animals and the public (many of the setups would never be allowed in the US). For example, what made the hippo come out of the water and show its teeth, was the fact that some little girl was reaching her arm out through the bars right into the hippos' little pool. Duh. Cool for us -- not so cool if he decided to bite her arm off.

Budapest also had surprisingly wonderful food. We had a lovely 4 course dinner at our hotel for New Year's Eve which was delicious -- I tried pig knuckle which was quite good! Perhaps the highlight was the chocolate cake at the end of the meal -- which was basically three types of chocolate mousse covered in a chocolate coating....YUM. We had goulash and fish stew and cabbage soup -- and I had a delicious piece of duck at Klassz, the restaurant that we went to on our last night -- which we had to fight our way through a protest to get to...

But overall, the vacation was wonderful! Many thanks to my family for coming over and making it all happen. Either fortunately or unfortunately, it's rather whetted my appetite for traveling and delicious food -- it's easy to fall into a rhythm of eating the same things and to be content with staying put.

Here are a few pictures that I rather liked -- again, courtesy of my father, who was the one taking all the pictures....Apologies for a bit of photo-overload....

Cool shot of the Eiffel Tower:

American Cemetery outside of Bayeux (in Normandy):

Mont Saint Michel from a distance:

Budapest -- View of the Parliament building from Buda:

 Hungarian Starbucks (which was dirt cheap) - "Emili, El, & Lora":

DUH! Idiot.

The lobby of our hotel in Budapest -- incredible! :  

Hope that everyone is off to a wonderful new year, and I will do my best to keep updating!

A bientot!

Normandy, Bruges, et puis, Budapest!

So the difficult thing about leaving so much time in between posts is now I cna't exactly remember everything that happened between now and Christmas...Well, I have a good general idea...but I also don't really want to write an entire novel.

I wanted to write more tonight, but my parents are both sleeping and so I should probably be headed in that direction myself. We got to Budapest yesterday mid-day after a long day of traveling -- we've done tons of walking around seeing the city, which is very different and really quite incredible.

Here are a few photos from today:

The first two show the Parliament building which is really incredible, and then the last one shows St. Stephen's Cathedral on the other side of the river.

More later! HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!!!