Live off the wall.

What a great conclusion to a great trip.

Tonight I went with Kathryn, Jen, Rebecca, Allison, Jama, Jen's mom, and Jen's mom's best friend to eat crepes and reminisce about our trip. We ended up right next to the Tuilerie gardens at a random little cafe. We wanted to go to Angelina's, but unfortunately it was closed tonight. Anyway, we all had a drink and ate our crepes and sat and talked about our crazy metro stories, along with all of our just in general crazy stories. It made for such a nostalgic time. I really am glad that I had the guts to come overseas to study abroad, even though I knew I would miss Colin like crazy. I knew I would make it and I've actually done more than that. I've learned a lot about myself and have met people I never would have met had I not come on this trip with them. I really have had a magical time.

HOWEVER, let me just list a few things that I'm going to do when I get back to the states.
Ahem:
1) Give Colin and bbbiiiggggg hug and kiss when I see him in Atlanta.
2) Turn on the air conditioning to the point where my eyelashes freeze.
3) Drive my car and decide when and where I want to be and not rely on other people/methods of transportation to get me there.
4) Enhance my personal space bubble. (I want no one to touch me for at least a week when I get back.)
5) NOT get on a metro for a good solid year.
6) Not spend any money.
7) WORK.
8) Cook some good ol' American food.
9) Say hello to my fish.
10) Go to USI motors and laugh at them because I've seen way more fancy cars than they could ever imagine having in their lot.

Woo. I'm pretty sure there are about 049823420934 other things I will do when I get back, but those are all that I can think of right now.

The next time I post I will either be a) waiting in the airport, or b) back in Knoxville! I'll probably try to keep up my blog for another week or so just to let everyone know how I'm getting over the jetlag.

AU REVOIR PARIS!!!! JE T'AIME!!!!

L'Arc de Triomphe and my bloated French ego

So I didn't update yesterday because I honestly didn't have time. Yesterday the class went to the Arc of Triumph (Arc de Triomph) to ascend to the upper viewing deck. However, because of my extreme fear of heights I decided I would just take pictures from the ground. I know that everyone will say that I should have gone to the top but honestly, for me, climbing 240 stairs in a cramped staircase with 50,000 other tourists and then having to stand atop a super high monument just sounds like a full hour of misery. Anyway, so I decided to do a little Champs-Elysees walking and then headed home to get ready for dinner.

WAIT. I want to tell everyone about my HORRIBLE metro experience yesterday. So okay. I knew there was going to be a strike because Mme Dugan had mentioned it the day before. So Kathryn and took the bus to school and that was miserable because it took us an hour and a half to get to class when it usually takes us about 20 minutes. So after that we all went and did the Arc of Triumph thing, but the metro line we had to take to it was operating normally. After the Champs promenade I was fooled into thinking that taking the metro would be fine, even though I have to get on one of the most crowded lines to get home. I guess I just wasn't thinking. So anyway the first line I got on was great. I got a seat immediately and there were no crazies. The second line I got on was MISERABLE. There were people so crammed into this car that there arms and legs were almost hanging out of the doors and windows. It was terrible. I have never felt so claustrophobic in my life. To make matters worse it was at least 80 degrees in the tunnel which sounds not so bad, but when you're trapped in between so many people and there is literally no fresh oxygen to breath everyone starts to get a little panicky. So anyway, that wasn't even the worst part. So after all of this horror, a freaking fight breaks out. Someone got on the train and got pushed so whatever he was mad and started screaming at the guy who had pushed him and then they started throwing fists in the middle of the god-awful crowd. Talk about a nightmare. Eventually the two managed to get separated but that didn't stop them from screaming at each other from opposite ends of the car. After I reached my stop I literally bolted out of the train and ran up the stairs so I could breathe fresh air again. I hope I don't have to ride a metro like that again in my life. So when I get home Kathryn said that her metro experience was equally as horrible and we decided to take a taxi to dinner. We met up with a few other girls in the Tuileries gardens and in lieu of walking to the restaurant we took these epic bike taxis. Mine and Allison's taxi was the best! The guy played this American rap for us to listen to as he toted us uphill towards the Charles de Gaulle Etoile. I swear I have never seen so many irritated French people, but I didn't care. I was rockin it. Anyway, we were 15 minutes late to dinner but it was totally worth it to experience something as crazy as that.

Last night's dinner was the farewell dinner for the group. It was great fun. I had a salad with shrimp, salmon, and a pesto cream dressing, salmon for my plat principal, and for dessert I had sorbet. It was alright, but honestly I was disappointed with the meal in general because it was my last big dinner in France and I didn't have anything that blew my mind. After dinner there were some people who wanted to go out but I decided to go home. Since Kathryn and I had sworn off the metro for the day, we took a cab home. It was fun, as always. We also finished packing last night.

So today for our class the 491 class walked around the quarter that surrounds the Centre Pompidou. We gave these mini-speeches about various places and then we all sat down for lunch with Romeiser. It was a surprise because he paid for everyone's meal! We were all really excited. After lunch I headed to the Centre Pompidou and sortof did a speedy tour of it because my head is getting more and more congested every minute I stay outside. I'm hoping that I'm just having extreme allergy problems, but I really think I'm getting a dreaded summer cold. The good news is that I'll be home TOMORROW so if it gets any worse I'll be able to sleep it off until I work again on Wednesday.

So today is my last day in Paris and I'm spending it sitting in my bedroom with the windows open, writing cards, uploading pictures, blogging, and napping. I'm content. Hopefully, if I feel better I'm going to go to dessert with the group at a place called Angelina's (named after Angelina Jolie because it's her favorite place to eat in France), but if not I'm just going to rest until tomorrow when I catch my plane!!

A demain!

I totally forgot to mention why I have a bloated french ego. So here, when you go into museums you can either pay a student fee if you're from outside of Europe, or if you're from the European Union you can get in for free. I managed to tromp both the Rodin Museum and the Centre Pompidou just by telling them I'm french and presenting my student card. I win at speaking french.

Montmartre

Today was a great, busy day. Again, the day was started with class. We talked about religion in France, which always turns out to create an interesting conversation. Anyway, to avoid that subject is very American, so that's what I'm going to do.

Anyway after class I went to lunch and did another formule for 13 euro. I had a pizza "con carne" without onions which actually ended up being a pizza with ground beef on it, but it was still very yummy. After lunch I had an apple tart, which was probably the best apple tart I've ever eaten.

After lunch I went to a bookstore and loaded up on classic french novels written by prominent french authors like Proust, Sartre, and DeBeauvoir. I need something to do in the airport while I wait for the plane to get there, and reading a french novel seems like a pretty good time-passer.

After the bookstore I went to Montmartre with the group. Talk about a pretty area of France. I actually learned today that Montmartre is outside of the city limits of Paris, and that the people who live in Montmartre get offended when you call them Parisians. I thought that was pretty funny, because a lot of the goal of this trip is for the students to blend in and become Parisians and here is this group of people who get really mad when you call them what we're aspiring to be. Anyway, Montmartre is astounding. We walked up the hill to the Sacre Coeur but on the way we found (thanks to our guide) all of these interesting historical places, like, for instance, a place where Renoir painted one of his most famous paintings. That was pretty fantastic, we also found Picasso's first studio in Paris, or at least what's left of it.

My roommate and I were supposed to go see Les Miserables tonight, but after our walk to the Moulin Rouge (we did that after Montmartre because it's very close to there) we were both too beat to even imagine staying up until 11 and then navigating the metro to get home that late.

So now I'm just sitting here trying to finish my presentation for Friday, and trying to study for my test tomorrow simultaneously. It's terribly hard, hence the blogging.

I have two days left in Paris! I will be back in K-town on Saturday. For everyone who is going to wonder where I am when I get back, I'll probably be sleeping. I've heard the jetlag is even worse when you get back to Knoxville because it's so lame compared to Paris.

I'm sure it can't be that bad because at least I'll get to spend time recovering with Colin :)

Caen, Rouen, et Les Invalides

So I have a lot to write about. The end of this weekend was very busy, and honestly I'm beat!

So I think the last time I wrote was on Saturday night after my birthday dinner, so I'll start on Sunday. So Sunday we were again in Caen, but we traveled to the D-Day museum and also the beaches that US troops stormed during WWII. That was quite a moving experience. The museum was cool and all, but the part that really choked me up was the American Cemetery where about 1/3 of the US soldiers who died were buried. There were about 9,000 graves there which means there were almost 27,000 dead soldiers on the beaches of Normandy after we stormed them. Wow. So anyway as I was walking through the cemetery I got really sad because I kept thinking about how much my grandfather would have loved to be where I was standing. I can't imagine the excitement he would have experienced just to hear that I had been to those beaches. I really wish that he was alive so I could tell him about the odd silence of the cemetery that was interrupted only by the waves of the beach where the former soldiers were killed. I wish he could have walked with me on the beach and told me one of his war stories. All in all that day put me in a really sad mood and I really just wanted to go home and be sad by myself. Anyway! After the cemetery we drove to Pont du Hoc which is where the American soldiers had to scale 100-foot cliffs to fight the German soldiers. We got to walk down into craters where shells had exploded and where planes had dropped bombs onto the soldiers. Wow, talk about an amazing thing to see. After the Pont du Hoc we drove to a cider farm where I realized that I had lost my cell phone. I didn't drink any cider or calvados because apple juice makes me sick and I wasn't going to risk drinking it. The whole group had to go back to the cemetery and get my phone after the tasting! After the tasting we headed home and I went out to dinner with Professor Romeiser, Gabriel, and a few other students. We had some really marvelous couscous with chicken and vegetables. SOOOO good. I think when I get back to Knoxville I'm going to try to establish a couscous scene. I love it so much.

Anyway, on Monday we went to Rouen and saw the place where Jeann d'Arc was burned at the stake. That was sad, but also really interesting. The neatest church I have ever seen rests right next to her grave, and we also managed to find a 5 euro lunch before we left the city.

Today was just like any other day in Paris. We went to class this morning, but before that I bought several french fashion magazines and one french philosophy magazine. After that a small group of us found a cheap restaurant where, for 10 euro you could get a 3-course meal. I had onion soup for my "entree", an omelet with ham and cheese for my "plat principale" and chocolate cake for my dessert. It was all fabulous, and super cheap. After lunch we walked to the Notre Dame and actually went inside to see the fantastic architecture, sculptures, and rose windows. We did a fast tour of the Notre Dame and then headed to meet the rest of the group at Les Invalides, which is the building that houses the tomb of Napoleon. That was pretty rad. I didn't stay there for long because honestly after I saw Napoleon's tomb I was ready to go. I've been so military-d out after this weekend that I was ready to see some more art. Jama and I headed to the Rodin museum to look at a lot of sculptures and paintings by him. We also did a super fast tour of that and now I am home. I'm so tired. It's actually warm today so my allergies are acting up and the heat is not helping. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I get home to 100-degree Knoxville weather. EW. Anyway, I'll try to update tomorrow! Bonne nuit!

St Malo and Mt St Michel

Wow, what a busy past few days.

I'll start with yesterday. I had a great birthday! We rode 4 hours to our destination in St Malo, Bretagne, France. It was the cutest little city, and it was walled in which made it ultra cool. Once we arrived we had time to eat lunch, where I ordered my first drink as a 21 year old: a flute of champagne. I had mussels to eat, and they were quite possible the best mussels I've ever had. After that the group met up to go on a walking tour of the city. We got to walk on top of the walls of the city, which provided us with the most amazing view of both the city and the ocean that surrounds it. After the wall-walk we ended up at the beach...and I can officially say that I've been in the English Channel. Woo! It was entirely too cold so I didn't swim, but a lot of people chose to take a dip. After the beach I went wandering with some friends and we ended back up at the hotel bar for my birthday drinks. We ordered a bottle of wine, and after that I had a mandarin mojito. After we had drinks we went to this mussels place and I had my second serving of mussels for the day, and some oysters as well. Dad, I followed your advice. I didn't eat the raw oysters, I asked them to steam them for me. They were a little under-done for my taste, but it was still a great time. After dinner I went to bed because we had to get up SUPER early to go to Normandy the next day.

So that brings me to today. We rode the bus to Normandy, and proceeded to head towards this beach that would take us to the Mont St Michel. Let me first describe the weather to you. It was about 50 degrees this morning, with random rain/drizzling and it was extremely overcast. Instead of canceling the walking tour, the ISA people and our professors decided to forward the weather and continue with the original plan of walking 4 miles to the castle like the pilgrims used to do. Well that would have been fine if it wasn't like -4 degrees in the water. Anyway, I'm going to quit whining. After our 2/3 hour trek across the salt flats, we made it to the church. And it was beautiful. I wish that I wasn't so tired so that I could have enjoyed it more. Anyway, so we walked around this amazing abbey for an hour or so and by that time I was so tired I could hardly stand. After the walking tour we went down to the bus and headed to our surprise of the day: a cookie tasting. By this point my stomach was severely irritated at me, so I didn't eat anything. However, I slept the entire way back to the hotel. Upon arrival we had just enough time to change and meet down in the lobby for dinner. We ate at this really cute restaurant, but again my stomach was icky so I just had a salad. The coolest part though was that Gabriel, the ISA leader of our group got the DJ to play "happy birthday" for me over the radio and bought me ice cream with a sparkler in it!!! I was so excited!!! It was the nicest birthday ever!

Now I'm sitting in a McDonald's (McDo) leeching free wifi and trying to upload all of my pictures from this weekend to my flickr. Everyone should check the pictures out to make it worth all the effort and time it takes me to do it!

Academie de la biere

So I didn't post yesterday, but my teacher is killing me with stupid homework and tests to study for every single night, so I didn't have time.

Yesterday I went to lunch at this weird pasta place. They serve you your pasta in a box with a dessert and a drink for 4.9 euro. I chose the pasta with the bolognese sauce which ended up not being that great and it's still messing with my stomach today, but the cookie and orangina I had were awesome! After that we went to this bar to have a glass of wine but somehow the patron thought we meant we wanted a bottle? So we downed a bottle of wine and then headed off to the catacombs to meet up with the group. The catacombs are absolutely a must-see in Paris. There's a huge history behind them but essentially they were built to prevent the original burial sites of all these bodies from oozing into the basements of the houses of Paris. Sick, huh? However, it's really neat. The government moved all of these bones to these old limestone quarries and they're still there. How sweet! So anyway, we walked around these crazy catacombs for about an hour and then a huge group of us went to and have a drink and dessert before we wandered off to the professor's house for a conversation over wine and cheese. So anyway, after the professor's house Kathryn and I came back for dinner at Mme Dugan's house. She made us chicken and potatoes, and for her and Kathryn she had a sour cream sauce. It was very good, and just what I needed after a day like the one I had.

This morning again I headed to class with Kathryn. We talked about a really interesting topic today: family and sexuality. It was different than any other classes because everyone (of course) has an opinion about stuff like that. It was a very interesting and involved conversation. After class a few girls left to go to Euro Disney, but I chose to remain behind and hang out with the group. We ate lunch at the Academie de la Biere (Academy of Beer) again. I had a different kind of mussels, they were in a sauce made from Gueuze (a weird type of beer) and they were FANTASTIC. After lunch I decided to go shopping with Jama and Allison (the Ginger Club), because I needed a small duffel bag to both carry with me to Normandie, and also to tote all of my souvenirs back to the States on the plane. Anyway, I ended up with a really cute dress for 29 euro and a cute, trendy duffel that was also 29 euro. I was very proud of my purchases today.

So, the best part of my day is that it's almost my birthday!!! I'll be 21 tonight at midnight!!! In the states it will be 6 PM so please call me and say happy birthday!!!

Le dejeuner libonais, et un diner de dinde

So since the past few nights have been a little crazy with dinner, I'm excited to say that today everything I ate was very yummy.

Before class I had a bowl of Special-K-like cereal with chocolate flakes and soy milk (Lait du soja). After that I headed off to class and after we were in there for about an hour the class decided (well Romeiser decided and the class followed) to walk towards the ancient roman arenas that are still left standing in Paris. Sure enough we found it (there are pictures on my flickr) and then after that we decided to go to a Lebanese restaurant for lunch. There were several options for different menu prices, but because I'm sortof running out of money I got the cheapest one which was 11€ where I got three mini-appetizers of Hummus with sesame oil, Baba-ganoush, and a salad with this killer dressing. After that the server just brought out a mixture of the various entrees we could choose from and those were also super yummy. We ate a spinach-filled pastry, a lamb-filled pastry, and falafel. Everything was super good!

After that we went to tour the Musee d'Orsay where there are TONS of Van Goghs and various other impressionists and post-impressionists and wicked awesome paintings and sculptures. After that I went with Kathryn and Colleen to the Champs-Elysees where I saw a Rolls Royce Silver Spur and a Bently coupe. We went there to look for a purse for Kathryn but sadly we didn't find it :(

Anyway, when we got back home it was pretty early so we just sortof waited around and did homework until dinner. At dinner we had turkey, a mixture of cauliflower, broccoli, and peas, and rice. Yum! Mme Dugan bought a bottle of wine the other day and I had another glass with my food tonight. After dinner she served us Camembert with sourdough bread and a "Compote" which is actually apple sauce but it's way better than American apple sauce.

Anyway, tomorrow I have another test so posting my blog was sortof my break from studying so I hope everyone is having a great night and that you have to study significantly less than I do this evening :)

Spam and Potatoes; hard boiled egg and spinach.

Wow. So let me just say that the last few dinners here have been crazy. I've already written about what I've done (with the Loire Valley and things like that) so now I'm just going to write about what Mme Dugan has been serving me for dinner.

Last night I was super hungry and tired after a long day of riding on the bus and walking around chateaus and various things like that. I was hoping for a super rad dinner that would fill me so full I could just immediately go to sleep but that was not what was in my future. I walked out of my room with Kathryn to find plates full of potatoes and (what we thought) was pork or steak. Non, after the first bite we knew that it was not either of those meats, but in fact it was Spam. I've never even had Spam, so honestly I'm hoping that's what it was because I have no earthly idea what else it could have been. Don't get me wrong, I ate every last bite, but I really hope I never have to eat that again. It was dry and just plain old icky. The good news was that, like almost every other night, she had this really great salad that was strictly lettuce tossed in an invisible dressing that is most likely homemade.

Tonight was even crazier. I was super hungry, and even ate a salad before dinner because I was so tired and hungry after walking around all day that I didn't even think I was going to make it to 8:30. So dinner time came and I was still hungry, even after my salad. So I walk out to the bar area where we eat to discover on my plate, a huge pile of spinach and a hard boiled egg. That's it. I like spinach, if it's on pizza or in a pasta sauce or mixed with noodles or something but what I don't like is a huge pile of it. I ate about 7 bites of spinach before it wouldn't go down anymore, and ate about 2 bites of the egg before I had to stop. Fortunately, like always, she had bread. I ate 2 pieces of bread and I'm hoping that can tie me over until morning. For that to be the case though, I'm going to have to go to bed very soon.

Anyway, I finished buying pretty much all of my presents today. I want to buy two more I think...but those should be easy to find. I'm going to run out of money I think before I get back so I'm hoping that everyone in my family is sending me money and letting my parents put it in my account! My birthday is in 4 days so think of it as an early present!

Le vallee de la Loire

Wow! It's been so long since I've posted, but I've just been so busy. Let's see, what happened after the last time I posted?

Oh! So the night after I posted the last one (Friday night?) I went out again to the same bar. That was fun, but the real fun starts the next morning.

So we were all supposed to meet down at ISA by 8 AM on Saturday morning. Kathryn and I BARELY made it, with about 5 minutes to spare. Anyway, we all hopped on a bus and headed to the Loire Valley. The bus ride was about 2.5 hours, but I was totally fine with that because I hadn't seen any green in Paris and I finally saw some in the countryside of France. Paris I suppose is just like any other big city, you have to go outside of it to find the pretty green places. Anyway, so we made it to the Loire Valley. When we got there we went to see this really tiny chateau called Chateau de Chenonceau. All that was left of it was one tower, this gigantic bridge, and these really lovely gardens. So we toured the area and ate lunch there, and after that we headed off to our surprise of the day: a wine tasting.

At the wine tasting we saw how this specific vineyard made their wine. We saw the vats, the fermentation processes, the bottling process, and all of these really nifty things about the actual process of making wine. Then we went down to this really cozy room and drank wine. We tried...ummmm I want to say 6 different kinds! To start we had a really sweet white, then a rose, 2 different reds, a drier white, and then finally a champagne. Wow! Everyone was really buzzed by the time we left there, and I was waaayyy to tired to go out to dinner so I just stayed in the room and went to sleep at about 10 while everyone else went out to the restaurant. I woke up at 3 AM and was ready to go, but I managed to go back to sleep until around 8 when we went downstairs to eat breakfast.

After breakfast we headed off to another chateau called Chateau Chambord. This was really fun! We toured the chateau (this one was much more complete than the other one) and then ate lunch at this little cafe. I had a really gross version of a Croque Monsieur and a few potato chips, and then I was ready to get on a bike and ride around the grounds. We had a huge group of people with us, but somehow I ended up with a motorized bicycle that was unlike anything I'd ever seen. It didn't have a motor you could rev, but rather one that was charged by how much I pedaled. So basically I had to do half the work of everyone else I went 3x as fast. That was really, really fun because we went through all these back trails and just had a really good ride. After that we had a cookie tasting. That was our surprise for the day. We tasted cookies that are made at this chateau, and everyone else had Kir, which is Chambord liqueur mixed with white wine. I stayed away from that because I was just not feeling like drinking any more wine. We did have some really unique cookies though, but sadly I only liked one of them.

Finally we all made it back to Paris and Kathryn and I have started on our quest to finish all of our homework and study for our super hard quiz in the morning. I hope I can get all of this done!

Mojitos

This post can't be very long because I'm supposed to be getting ready for class, but I had such a good night last night!

There are 3 redheads in the group: me, Jama, and Allison. Allison doesn't drink, but Jama does and I hadn't gone out with her yet and wanted to, so I invited her to come nearer to my house and we'd troll around and find a bar to sit at. So I met her at the train station and we walked down to this place...I can't remember the name exactly but it's something like Dottie's Bar or something? Anyway it has blue lights, pictures of Snow White, Audrey Hepburn, and other things like that in it. It was also blasting really, really awesome music. So anyway we sit down and the bartender asks us what we want and I told Jama to order for me because I've never been able to order mixed drinks or anything before so she ordered me a mojito. She also paid for the first round and said I should just get the next round. So I like mojitos! I probably couldn't drink 6 of them, but I really did like them. After that I told the bartender we wanted a surprise and that he should make whatever he wanted. He made a semi-mojito but it was way sweeter and more delicious. Anyway, so that was a good night.

Yesterday I saw Notre Dame (but for some weird reason we didn't go inside?) and the Latin Quarter by a guided tour. That was really neat, we saw all the old roman roads (or at least where they had been) and we saw one of the only streets in Paris to survive "Haussmanization" which I don't want to explain, but if you're interested look up Haussman.

Anyway, I took WAY too long writing this so I'm going to go get ready for class. Hope everyone has a good day!

Le louvre et le champagne

I am realizing every day that this trip is going to be exhausting. Every day I wind up with 50,000,000 things to do and not that I don't enjoy it, because I do, it's just a lot to manage.

This morning I got up and my roommate and I wandered our way down to class. We made it very quickly, as usual, and sat around until Romeiser decided to start. We talked about the urbanization of Paris and a little bit of the history. Yeah, it was pretty dull, but I mean, history is better than geography.

After class we left and went to lunch at this little french cafe down the street where I had a salad with a balsamic vinaigrette, lettuce, tomatoes, and what appeared to be beef jerky. It was very strange, but very good! I also had two glasses of the house champagne, which I have decided is growing on me. I didn't use to like champagne but it was very good this afternoon. I have also taken into consideration that this could be because I'm in France and all the wine is going to be superior than the wine in the US. After that, one of the other girls got a crepe with nutella and I ate the last few bites that she didn't want. I was really excited to have my first crepe in France, but I was also excited because the crepe I ate was very similar to the texture and taste of the crepes I made! Yay!

Anyway, after lunch I bought all the souvenirs for everyone in the states. Then we met up with the group at le Louvre and wandered around with an insanely-educated tour guide for about 1 and a half hours and saw everything you're supposed to see. I wish I could have stayed longer but honestly I was so tired after trekking through camps of tourists to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo that looking at any more art was just not going to happen.

I've made it home now, and am about to start my homework and eat dinner after that. I'm thinking about finding something to do tonight but I'm so tired after all of my walking and champagne that I could go to sleep right now!

Full days in Paris!

Oh my goodness, these past 2 days have been crazy. On Monday I went to class in the morning and then afterwards I went to lunch with Kathryn, and two other girls. I ate an entire pizza (I mean it was WAAAYYY tinier than any other pizza in the United States, and it was significantly less greasy than any pizza I'd ever had) but anyway, it had ham and mushrooms on it along with some sort of white cheese and a really thin crust. I had a "pichet" of red wine and a fruit salad for dessert also. After that us four girls started on a walking tour around Paris. Let me tell you, we ended up in a crazy zoo! I saw in this guide that we were given at the ISA orientation about a UNICORN FOREST and I was trying to find it. However, au lieu of that we found a "menagerie" full of very, very weird animals. I have never before seen squirrels and raccoons in a zoo, other than them running rampant, but I guess in France the squirrels are different than in the United States, and there aren't any raccoons here. So weird. Also, if you've never heard of a Takin, look it up. That is the coolest animal I've ever seen, not to mention it burps at you about every minute and a half.

For dinner last night Mme Dugan prepared us chicken with a really yummy glaze and a mixture of broccoli, sweet peas, and snap peas. Our bread last night was sourdough, and let me just say, when you buy bread fresh every day it is so much better than storing it for a long time in a plastic bag.

So on our way to class this morning my roomie saw an old man get pick-pocketed!! She said that he actually got pick-pocketed twice, that the first time the pickpocket took his phone out of his pocket, realized it was crappy, and gave it back to the old man. After that there were two pickpockets and they distracted the man and his wife and one of them unzipped the old man's camera bag and tried to take whatever out of there. AH!

Anyway, so we had class today. Romeiser let us out early, of course, and we headed to lunch. We had to go to the opposite side of the city to go to the ISA office and then head to La Flamme (which is a memorial of where Princess Diana died) which is on yet another side of the city. Our metro rides today were almost as long as the time we spent at every place we went. Anyway, we stopped for lunch at this super nice cafe and I had a salad with chicken, green beans, tomatoes, and a side of french fries. Not surprisingly, the fries here are about 32492039423948290348290384x better than the fries in the US. Also, outside of our cafe we saw a demonstration! I've heard that there were a lot in France, but this was the first one I've actually seen. It had something to do with doctors wanting to get paid more. Uhh....okay after that we went on a really really pretty boat ride down the Seine and saw (yet again) all the famous places in Paris. After that I went with Colleen to this Monet museum that's actually someone's house that is just jam-packed with tons of the most famous Monet paintings. It was really nice! Then after that we headed to the Champs-Elysees to meet up with the whole group who was down there having drinks. I sat and had a "pichet" of Beaujolais-Villages and then headed back to the house for food. Mme Dugan got (I'm not sure if she made them or not...) quiches for us and made us a salad with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese to go along with it. Tres bon diner!

Anyway, I'm still working on this ridiculous amount of homework for this class tomorrow and then I have to write my journal and all this ridiculous stuff so anyway I'm going to get off here. Bonne nuit!

Bienvenue Diner

Wow. What an interesting night.

Well today started out with cereal and coffee with my host mom, and then my roommate and I headed out to the ISA office for our mandatory orientation. We sat through this thing telling all of us how to not attract attention and various other things like that. After the meeting we took a bus tour through Paris and saw all of the crazy sites that you're supposed to see, but it was all a little fast. I took as many pictures as I could and am posting them to flickr right now.

After the bus tour we headed to this restaurant called Parnasse 138 for our all-expenses-paid dinner. We ordered the traditional three courses and for my three I chose: the escargo with the lemon butter, the duck confit with scalloped potatoes, and for dessert I had strawberry sorbet. Yet again, everything was wonderful.

After dinner my roommate, I and a few other people headed out to hit up a bar and have a drink. We sat outside of this cute little Irish pub right outside of the train station at Les Halles and drank our drinks and then split up our separate ways to go home.

I am so tired! I'm really excited about today though, it was really nice and now that I have figured out the Francophile train system I feel like I can do anything.

Rice Salad, mmmm!

So last night was cool. After my roommate Kathryn arrived, we sat around and talked for awhile and then Mme Dugan came in to lay down the rules and things of that nature. Her rules are similar to the rules at my parents' house: no food/beverages in the room, pick up after yourself, don't leave clothes laying on the floor, and don't drink too much. Haha. Okay so the last rule wasn't exactly a rule at my parents' house, but it makes sense. Mme Dugan said she had two girls before Kathryn and me who left tons and tons of wine bottles around the room...she said they would drink 5 a week! I mean, I've definitely done that before but honestly I would feel so crappy all of the time that I would never be able to do anything during the day. I mean how did they make it to class?

Oh anyway! After the rules had been laid down and things like that she started making dinner. I'm relieved that her and her son eat earlier than a lot of people because sometimes I've heard that the French eat around 9 or 10 at night! But she said that she will have dinner ready for us around 7:30 every night. Anyway! The dinner! I would love to figure out how to replicate this, but I have zero ideas about what her homemade dressing was. Anyway, here is it: rice, corn, tomatoes, crab meat, lots of seasonings and a homemade dressing. She mixed the crab, corn, tomatoes, corn and seasonings all together and allowed us to pour the dressing at our own leisure. I'll have to say that even though I don't like tomatoes, I ate them when they were mixed with everything and this was an amazing salad! I never thought of using rice in a chilled salad like that, because usually in America we use a short pasta, but she used rice. I'm going to for sure do something like this for Colin and myself when I return.

So today I have to travel with my roommate to the ISA office for our orientation where I will finally get to see the other french students and my favorite professor: John Romeiser. After that we will be going on a bus tour of Paris and believe me I will take tons of pictures and post them all as soon as I possibly can.

Oh, mom, one thing you'll like. Kathryn doesn't drink. She said she's willing to try stuff but she doesn't like wine and she's not really a big drinker anyway so she's going to play DW (Designated Walker) if I get too drunk. Which I shouldn't, but it's a nice thought that someone will be there with me if I do.

Bonne journee mes amis!

I'm sick of counting post numbers!

I have so much to write about it's insane. This post will be super long: just fyi to anyone who doesn't have a lot of time to read.

First: This morning I had a mini-panic attack. I know that you'll be worried and stuff mom but honestly I think it was because I was so lonely and so confused about where to eat and all of that nonsense. I firmly believe that I am an independent person, but being alone in a country is entirely different than being alone at home or something like that. I just felt like I had no one to talk to that was close to me and the only person I had said any words to (in person) was the receptionist at the hotel. I had also fallen into a habit of sleeping all day and not eating. I would eat breakfast (a very very small breakfast) and then sleep until dinner when I would walk to the market to get a sandwich. That is not a healthy or satisfying way to go about things but honestly I just didn't feel good. Today when I woke up I knew something was wrong so I ate breakfast...everything was way too heavy/sweet so I felt nauseated (this was all exacerbated by the fact that I drank an entire bottle of wine last night) and that always freaks me out. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't and I started freaking myself out and I worked myself into a frenzy. I know that all this is boring, but this has been my day so far. So finally around 11 AM (France time) I decided that all I needed to do was eat and I walked to McDonald's. I know that I will be scoffed at for eating McDonald's in France but when I'm in the midst of a panic attack I want something familiar, fast, and something that doesn't require much communication. At McDonald's I had 1 chicken nugget and about 3 french fries before I felt so sick I couldn't eat anymore. However, by the time I had returned to the hotel I felt much better. I think I was just lightheaded from not eating and that's what brought on the attack. ANYWAY. My mind ended up being SUPER distracted by the idea of having to navigate to the home of Mme Dugan. I got on the RER headed to Paris, got off at Magenta, navigated to the orange line (or line 5) headed towards Place d'italie, got off at Gare de l'est, and finally after 5 minutes of trying to hail taxis and realizing that there was a line for them I was on my way. When I arrived I immediately thought "wow, this is a lot like Bardstown Road in Louisville". The street is full of eclectic shops and bars and things of that nature. Anyway, after a bit more trouble of actually locating the apartment where I was supposed to be I came upstairs with Mme Dugan and she showed me around. When we were talking I presented her with my presents and she chuckled and proceeded to show me about 8 other picture books she has from Tennessee, but when I gave her the whiskey she kissed me on both cheeks and jumped around in the air. She said that in France you can't find actual Tennessee whiskey. She said that a lot of whiskeys say that they are from Tennessee, but actually they're made in various places around France. I was very surprised at her reaction to the whiskey. Oh! Another funny thing about that. Her son is younger than my brother (he was born in '93) and she said "Oh Damien is going to go crazy over this whiskey, he loves it." SO WEIRD. I mean, whose kids know and love alcohol at that age? I mean, I think it's awesome, but still. Weird.

Second: When Mme Dugan was showing me her Tennessee books someone had brought her a recipe book with a bunch of southern things in it. I was flipping through and came upon "Oven-fried green tomatoes" and stopped and told her how good they are. She said that she was unsure of a few things. She didn't know what an egg white was, I think she thought it was with the shell. Also, she didn't know what bread crumbs were. WHAT?! I was so confused. I believe that bread crumbs are a staple of southern cooking, and the fact that she didn't even know what they were was astounding. So I tried to explain it to her...I said it's like if you have a loaf of bread and you crumple it into tiny pieces and coat meat, or in this case tomatoes, with it. She was still confused so I told her I'd help her if she was interested in making dinner with me. I bet she would be shocked at the things I would churn out.

Third: I lied about the tennis shoes thing. I didn't think I was lying, but I was. I guess I was just in a part of France where a lot of people wear tennis shoes because here there is literally no one. Everyone is wearing sandals. I mean, everyone. Even dudes. And they wear super girly sandals, which I chuckle at every time I see. I think I stick out here, but honestly I'm okay with it. I can try all I want to fit in and not be "that American" but honestly I realize now that it doesn't matter. A lot of people here speak english and french so even if I can't communicate fully with them, I can at least get my point across. The point here is to learn, not to know exactly what I'm getting into before I get into it. I'm proud to say that I can now fully navigate the French train system, I can get a taxi (I'm telling you it's way different than getting a cab in America), I can pay in Euros, I can order at McDonald's in French (IF any of you have ever seen Pulp Fiction, John Travolta wasn't lying. They actually call one of their hamburgers here a Royale Cheese), and I can carry on a conversation in French with my hostess.

If you are wondering whether or not you should travel in Europe alone, I would not recommend it. I know that a lot people backpack around places and things like that but if you're actually living in a city and having to figure things out all on your own it's really frustrating, scary, and lonely. I think that's probably why I had the panic attack this morning. There's no lonely like the lonely of being stuck in a country where your native language isn't being spoken.

My roommate has arrived!!! Let's get this party started!

J'ai trouve la paris!!

Bonjour mes amis!

I know my last post was super whiny and for that I apologize, but honestly I felt so bad there was no way to be in a good mood, regardless of where I was. However, last night I managed to sleep through the night (thank you Tylenol PM) and I woke up this morning around 6:15. I know that's still super early, but it's better than 4! Anyway, when I woke up I decided that i felt better and I went to eat breakfast at the hotel. For around 4 euros a day you can have breakfast here, and that is significantly cheaper than anywhere else I've found. So for breakfast I had the usual French fare: a piece of toasted baguette with apricot jam, 2 cups of coffee, a cup of orange juice (I am SOO glad the french like orange juice, it's my absolute fave), and a cup of apple sauce (it may have melon in it too, i'm not sure). Honestly, if I was in the US I would eat 3 or 4 times that for breakfast, but for some reason all that is very filling and I am able to make it until about this time before I get hungry again.

Oh! The fun part of today! I found Paris. Last time I took the train I got off at Pantin (which I have discovered is NOT a nice place to be). However, this time I decided I would take the train as far as it went because it would take me to a name I sortof recognized: La gare de lazare. Now I know why I recognized the name, it's the main train station in Paris! But I still didn't know that when I got off. Anyway, I managed to wander around until I saw this CRAZY building in the distance and I started walking towards it. I ended up at la place de la concorde! That's where l'arc de triomphe is, and if you want to cross a bridge you can go to the eiffel tower! I walked through this lovely garden and saw Les Invalides, an opera house, a church (La Madeleine, I think?) and all these other super crazy buildings. After I was pooped from walking I headed back towards the train station. I stopped in a place called Quick! which is a little bit like McDonalds, to my disappointment. However, their door said free wifi and I wanted to send some emails and things so I got an espresso and sat down. I ended up staying there for about an hour and then finally went to make my way back to the train.

Anyway, the rest of it is pretty boring, but I made it back to my hotel in Rosny-sous-bois and am chilling my bottle of Gewurztraminer in the bathroom sink because they don't have an ice machine here. WIN! I hope everyone is doing well. Send me an email if you want! I'll respond as soon as I get it!

Seventh Post: Pas de manger

If you would like to know my recommendations for Paris I can't give you anyway. However, if you would like to know what NOT to do, I'm becoming an expert at that topic. Here are some things I've learned about Paris thus far:

1)DON'T stay in random cities outside of the actual city. The money is worth it to stay where you know there's stuff to do and places to eat.

2)Know exactly which train station to get off of before you end up walking 3 miles to see a cemetery that's definitely not worth the trip. Research every stop along the line to make sure you have something else to do if the first idea is a bust.

3)Speak perfect French. Honestly, french teachers are liars. They say that the French people will be so nice to you if you at least try to speak their language. This is not true. I have had so many people be rude to me and simply say "Repetez?" or something to that extent when I can't understand exactly what they say because they speak ridiculously fast, even upon realizing that I very obviously am not a native speaker.

4)Be extremely wealthy. You can walk to train stations and places like that unless you're like me and have a HUGE bag. I had to take 3 taxis and I think so far I've paid 90-ish euros for them. Two out of the three taxi drivers were very sweet. The first one complemented me on my french speaking and asked me a bunch of questions about Tennessee and stuff. The second wouldn't speak to me. The third taxi driver was very nice also. He helped me talk to the receptionist at my new hotel and made sure that I knew when to come back to check in. I wish I could call those two guys all the time to drive me around.

Well that's what I've learned so far. I could tell you what I've eaten today but honestly it's not much. For breakfast I had a piece of salami, a piece of thinly cut ham, a cup of mango/apple sauce, 2 cups of coffee, a marinated salad of apricots and pears, and 2 cups of orange juice without pulp. I have discovered that the number one way to not eat is to get so frustrated with a place that you don't want to support their economy by buying food. Okay, it's not that bad. I'm just really really really really tired and ready to go back to bed. I have extreme jetlag, an empty stomach, and a bad attitude because the beginning of my trip was so awful. However, if I can find a good restaurant here or perhaps a bar or something of that nature I think I'll be fine. I did find a coke machine to ease my stomach, so again at least there's that.

Also!! I have noticed that, contrary to popular belief, a lot of French women wear tennis shoes! Maybe not New Balances or anything like that but I've seen tons of Chuck Taylors, tons of Pumas, and a lot of various other types. People who say that European women never wear tennis shoes are liars!

Okay, I can't check into my hotel for another half an hour, but I'm going to pop over to my flickr site (www.flickr.com/skippertron) to post some pictures I took today and yesterday. I hope everyone is having a great day.

Also, I keep trying to add pictures to this blog but the internet is way too slow. I'll have to add pictures later.

Sixth Post: Duck Fois Gras

Bonjour mes amis!

I am finally in France. After a hellatious adventure to get to Chelles, France I have finally managed to have myself a good meal and a good bottle of wine. I was in the Charles de Gaulle airport for about 2 hours trying to locate my baggage and because I thought they had lost it, I booked a hotel in Paris so they could ship it. Even though the hotel isn't in France, I managed to have an amazing meal at the restaurant that is attached to where I'm staying.

Entree:
Un plat du jambon
There was a think cut, salami, prosciutto, and a deli cut of ham with butter and pickles

Plat Principal:
Duck Fois Gras avec les harictos verts
This duck is cooked in its own fat and is served with green beans (haricots verts). Tres magnifique! This was by far the best meal I have ever had.

Le dessert:
J'ai un sorbet. I had a strawberry sorbet that was fantastic. I assume that the whipped cream that came with it was homemade and it just oozed down my throat with a wonderful taste and texture that has never been matched by anything I've tasted in the United States.

At this hotel they don't just sell you glasses of wine, they sell you bottles. Even though I'm in France, I ordered a 2006 Rioja called VIna Lalceda and it was great! After a few glasses I became curious enough to ask if I could take the bottle to my room and if I could have glass. I can't kill an entire bottle of wine at dinner, regardless of how much I eat. So after dinner I've been sipping on wine and trying to figure out my next move. Tomorrow I will be moving to a new hotel (thanks mom and dad!) and hopefully residing closer to Paris and closer to les bars et les choses de faire. Because here there is literally nothing.

Anyway, I hope everyone who is following me on this blog is having a wonderful day. I'll post tomorrow!!