Winter break - Paris

Hey all. Story time! Since I did a lot on my winter break and I like to write a lot, I'ma break up winter break into multiple blogs.

Kgo.

Friday 13th (omgosh! maybe my trip WAS cursed from the beginning) February 

I took the TGV in the afternoon to Paris. It was pretty cool. I slept most of the time. Though when the train would go really fast in the tunnels, my ears would pop, which was crazy.

I arrived in Paris around 7pm and Sam met me at Gare de Lyon. I was so great seeing her after 8 months!!! I bought metro passes and we went to the Fondation des Etats-Unis where she lives. Of course, on the way, we got completely lost in the subway station at Chatelet - which is this ridiculously huge station. Right away, Paris' subway reminded me of New York, very big and confusing and a whole lot of 'em.

We picked up Jill and Gerald and Rebecca D. (another girl from my program who was visiting Jill). We headed to some part of Paris (I was entirely lost the entire time, but Sam was an amazing guide) and ate at Hippopotamus - an amazing resto with a crazy waitress who made Rebecca put on a helmet and apron as a joke. This was also the time I realized I was going to go broke in Paris (the restos are so expensive!).

After dinner, we went to the first jazz club - Caveau de la Huchette - an hypercool swing place, where the band played in an underground tunnel that looked like it was an old war hideout thing. We chilled in a hidden cave and Sam and I caught up for like 2 hours.

Then we headed to the second jazz club, Duc des Ombards, where there was a "jam session" that night. It was a super ritzy looking place and we had a really close aerial view of the stage - so amazing!

Finally went back to the Fondation to "crash" but ended up talking until 4 in the morning! It was so nice being with someone I've known for so long - going on 3 years, craziness!

Saturday, 14 February

Got up and headed to Versailles! We had to take the commuter rail equivalent and got really confused on how to buy tickets but eventually we figured it out. We walked around the gardens and the chateau in amazement until 5pm ish. We walked around the jardins first, down the grand canal, saw Marie Antoinette's "house", then walked in the chateau itself. The RdC (ground floor) wasn't impressive but the first floor was spectacular! There were tons of amazing ceilings (as I would discover, there are everywhere in Europe) and paintings and whatnot.

After I found a Starbucks (omgosh they have Starbucks in Paris! I didn't realize how much I missed my lattes!) and had one on the train back to Paris. Of course, I accidently used both of my commuter rail tickets for the ride there, so I had to sneak on and off the train, (by going with someone through the booth - like they do in Boston - notice how my English is getting worse by staying in France?).

We rested at the Fondation for a bit before heading to the Place de la Concorde. We took a nice walk down the Champs d'Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe - which we tried to get to the middle of (there's a giant rotary around it that's impossible to cross) but we ended up completely walking underneath the Arc from one side to the other. We saw the Eiffel Tower and went on the Carrousel de Paris! It was a double decker carrousel and it was amazing!

After that we made a mad dash to find food before restaurants stopped serving - we found a pizza place and I got delicious pizza and then my first panna cotta. After dinner, we met Radhika, Anna, Emily, and Rebecca F. who were also in Paris. We all went to Cafe Leffe for a drink - I did not get a leffe though :-)

Sunday, 15 February

Sam and I got up at 9am ish and went to the Louvre which was spectacular, fantastic, magnificent, too amazing for words and completely overwhelming. I saw paintings by Delacroix, Gericault & Corot - all who I've studied in l'histoire de l'art!

After the Louvre, we walked around Paris some more, seeing the sites in the daytime. We walked through the Jardin des Tuileries, saw Notre Dame, went to the Pantheon - which we went inside and quasi joined a tour, saw all the tombs and was really cold slash freaked out - went to the Palais de Luxembourg, saw a giant head in the gardens - which was completely random and odd amidst all the old statues.

After walking around, we headed back to Fondation to regroup - see the trend? - we realized my bus was way outside of the city and tried unsuccessfully to print my bus ticket. So we just met Gerald and went to Sacre Coeur. There was a concert going on so it was packed. We walked up way too many stairs, where there was another free concert, singing random American songs. We went into the church, but there was mass going on, so I left pretty quickly, cuz it was weird. 

Then, we walked down the street to Moulin Rouge. The actual walk to Moulin Rouge was more amusing than the actual building. The streets were lined with sex shops, that were in way trying to conceal the contents inside. I saw more stores called "Sex Shop" than every before in my life - actually, I've never seen a store called that, so there you go. 

Finally, we met the girls - R, A, E, & Foff - at Indiana, a French restaurant's take on American food. Dinner was amazing - I had enchiladas and a margarita and a funny incident with one of the waitresses, when I was looking at the drink selection on the happy hour memo - just to see what drinks were, not to order anything else, this waitress reaches over and abruptly says (in English), "Happy hour finished." Well, then. So sorry.

Finally, finally, Sam, Gerald, and I parted with the girls and took the metro to my bus station. I took the overnight bus from Paris to London. How does that work, you wonder? After going through customs, getting really confused about language I should speak, and sleeping a lot, the bus went onto a ferry for an hour, to cross the Channel. I made the mistake of not exchanging my money on the ferry - 10% commission at the train station in London, what?! - and slept a lot more on the ferry in the comfy chairs. 

Arrived in London at 6:30am on the 16th! 

To be continued... :)

Goodbye homesickness, Hello Europe :)

AH! I'm so happy! I just had an amazing dinner with Claude, Christine, and Christine's mom. Jennifer wasn't here because she was going dancing and "couldn't change her plans", whatevs. The food was amazing - rice & veggies, with fish and corn, then a cheese platter and ice cream and little coconut cakes. delish! While there wasn't a lengthy conversation about random, political things and whatnot, like there is when Jennifer is there - where I usually just sit quietly and listen, wahwah. I did have a really nice conversation with Claude about computers and taking apart computers - yeah, nerds! and about why they use real sugar here in sodas but fake sugar in the States. And then, Claude and Christine showed me this crazy contraption that they're making! They're making their own vinegar! How crazy is that! They have a jug of like red wine, with the "mother of the vinegar" which is basically like bacteria from a mushroom (from what I gathered). Claude washed his hands and pulled it out and it was really slimy and all maroonish, cuz of the wine. But it was really cool. And yeah, we had a really nice dinner and they invited me to watch a movie but unfortunately, I'm going to see another movie in t-minus 10 mins with some people, which leads me to my other point. Yeahhh, I finally feel like I'm getting a routine! I was so worried and like, homesick, because I felt like I didn't connect with anyone here, but now I'm finding people I really like hanging out with, and it feels normal and like home. and I love it! yyayy! annd! I leave tomorrow for winter break where I get to see Sam and Gerald and VALLLL!

Anyhoo. I won't have a compy during break but look out for a crazy blog about my adventures in Paris, London, Venice, Florence, and Rome during the next 10 days!

A tout!

Getting settled in - yeaahhh.

Bonjour tout le monde!

I just realized that I don't think I've taken too many more pictures since the last time that I blogged... in other words, nothing happened!

Hah, just kidding. Let's see...

Musée de la Resistance. vendredi, 30 janvier (Friday, Jan. 30)

I only have class until 12:30pm on Fridays (in fact, I don't think there are ANY Friday afternoon classes), so what better to do than go to a museum? So, I went with Andrew to the Resistance Museum. It was insanely huge and really cool, in a weird, depressing kind of way.

Raquettes. dimanche, 1 février (Sunday, Feb. 1)

The whole group got together at 11am to faire des raquettes, i.e. to go snowshoeing!!! We had to bring a picnic in a backpack and because I was lazy on Saturday and didn't go out to buy one, I borrowed one from my host family, and bought some premade food from the grocery store that's across the street (that chain of grocery stores is called Casino, hehe). I was also happy, because the day before I bought a thing of Chips Ahoy! and they were very yummy and comfort food-esque. So, I met the group and we took a bus up Chamrousse, one of the surrounding mountains. The bus ride was about 1 hr, and then we stopped almost to the top to have our picnic. We walked down this long road and emerged in a beautiful spot, with a log cabin. There was also a competition going on, so there were lots of athletes and tents around! We ate and then walked back to the bus and took the bus the rest of the way up. Everyone got their shoes (if they need shoes - we needed waterproof shoes, so I borrowed some) and then our snow shoes! I was disappointed that the snowshoes weren't actually tennis rackets, but they were still pretty nifty. 

After getting our shoes, we then proceeded to hike up the slope and traverse this huge path where skiers and snowboarders were flying across. Our guide was like, yeah, don't everyone go at the same time and go slowly, or else the skiers and snowboarders will be bowling soon. Hah. You're a funny guy, Christian. So after we make it across two of these paths, our big group split into two groups. I was in the "TGV" group, because apparently we were going to go faster, although I think it was just more rigorous slopes and more deadly drop-offs that our guide took us to (new conspiracy theory: BU is trying to kill us). 

On that note, we went to two amazing cliffs. The first was very narrow and was literally us, edge, 800 meter drop. Beautiful. We could see the surrounding mountains and way down below us, a little village, that apparently, being surrounded by mountains, hardly gets any direct sun in the winter :( 

The next cliff was much larger and was more of a plateau at the top of the mountain, where we could allll around it.

Since I can't explain it's beauty well; here are some pictures.

School? Wait, what? mardi, 3 février (Tuesday, Feb. 3)

This was about the time that I realized, oh, hey, I AM in school!

After this epiphany, I promptly went home and did my homework. Yay. :)

French guys. jeudi, 5 février (Thursday, Feb. 5)

I picked up a French guy at the discotheque. :) His name was Nicolas, pronounced Nee-co-lah.

LOL. samedi, 7 février (Saturday, Feb. 7)

It's been raining all weekend, so the general consensus was to see a movie! I chilled at home for most of the day, catching up on work. Also, I showed my host parents the French vocab book that I bought and they were really happy (c'est pas mal. - i.e. really good compliment) and then went out to see a French film! It was called LOL (pronounced Lull) and it was basically Gossip Girl but set in Paris, and it was AMAZING. Also, I told my host mom that was I going to see it and she told me she wants me to give a summary and how I liked about it, at dinner on Monday - yay practicing French!).

Il neige. dimanche, 8 février (Sunday, Feb. 8)

It's been snowing all day and I went to the bank and got some money out and realized my spending habits are larger than my bank account. Hah. Hah. Soo... I'm going to be eating bread and cheese for the rest of February. Yay.

Till next time! A bientôt!