I have a lot of catching up to do! I have been caught in the whirlwind that is Paris. I suppose I should keep my blog more up to date! Well here's for the whirlwind recap!
Day 0
(yes I did mean 0)
We got our backs packed (miraculously) and mananged to bring one suitcase, one carry-on, and one backpack. I thought I did pretty well (I had to ditch some shoes and purses, but its for the best!), the weighing of the bags commenced and my bag weighed a MIRACULOUS 49 lbs. Jeff was not such a great packer, weighing in at 50.5, but luckily we had a nice flight checker-iner (?) who let it slide. Then we had the teary eyed goodbyes. Saying goodbye is always the hardest part. We boarded the first flight to Chicago where Jeff luckily packed another bag within his bag because the backpacking backpack that he packed was overpacked (say that 5 times fast!) and would not fit in the storage bins. But after a quick scramble of luggage we were settled. We landed in Chicago, but sat on the runway for an hour before we left, but after we took off it was a smooth (but sleepless) sailing towards Paris.
day 1
We arrived to a cold rainy pouring Paris, but I liked that, it felt more Paris-y. Super jetlaged we went for a mini orientation where we got a care "snack pack," (consisiting of chocolate, water, chips, and butter cookies...but really just tastes like straight butter) our first metro tickets, directs to our school and orientation, but no directions back! What a curveball! We then got dropped off to our housing and passed out. After a short nap we braved the boulangerie and ordered un baguette and ate it in the Parc Montesouris .
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| Jeff looking out my bedroom window |
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| looking from the outside in |
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| Parc Montesouris |
day 2
Long day of orientation, but before orientation we had to get there! Luckily a RER station is located directly across the street from us so we don't have to make any connections, but there is also a tram located across the street, which we accidently took. Luckily we realized something was wrong and called CEA and they informed us before we got too far. Unfortunately Jeff forgot his welcome pack in the van that dropped us off at our housing so we had to figure out buying more metro passes on the same day. Luckily its super simple (and in english!). So, we got off the metro and I had to brave my french to ask the information desk on where to go next seeing as we had no idea where we got off the metro. It went perfectly fine though, the french are actually quite friendly (contrary to popular belief). But, we made it...as I find you always do...eventually. So the day was filled with tips on life in Paris, super helpful. The day concluded with a tour of Paris by bus where we saw the major post-card spots :)
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| Arc de Triomphe |
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| Le Notre Dame |
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| where I must spend one day in contemplation |
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| the biggest louis on the champs elysses |
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| and of course Le Tour Eiffel |
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| Le Louvre |
Then our tour guide dropped us off at the Notre Dame where we walked through the flower markets, then headed to the Latin Quarter with a small group to the Jardin des Plants where Jeff and I grew tired very quickly and headed home early...but had to find our way once again. Instead of braving the metro, we took Paris by foot (or as I accidently told the tour guide "J'aime la pied" I like my foot when I meant that I liked to walk by foot which I have found is j'aime marcher). We took a long stroll home through the 13th (china town...although the entire time I think I saw 2 chinese resturants) then through the parc montesouris across the street from our house.
day 3
We went to more orientations about safety, travel, shopping, and everything we needed to know in order to survive Paris. Jeff and I headed out for a schoolbag, but quickly became distracted by the sights and city, and Five blisters, four hours and one store later, we came out bagless, but became more experienced parisians. We headed to the grocery store, where we bought a few things one of which was a cheap cheap (2 euros) bottle of french wine which we've found tastes just like cheap cheap american wine, but very good french wine is only 5 euros. We also got a mini fridge that day which is a little panda (I'll post a picture), which makes it super easy to blend in on the metro carrying a little panda.
day 4 and on...
The last days of orientation where we got done around noon and we finally relaxed. Now, I'm not quite sure what exactly we did for each individual day, but on our friday off we explored more, relaxed some, etc.
Then on Saturday Jeff and I decided to take a "vacation day" where we stopped worrying about the problems of survival and started enjoying Paris. We headed to Luxembourg gardens for a day in the park. We meandered the orange groves, the palace gardens, and my favorite spot, the palace pond, where children can rent little sailboats for 2 euros an hour to sail around the pond using wooden sticks to push the boats around. Before the afternoon shower we got our picnic in of concombre des oeufs sandwich et un pain du chocolate. C'est tres bonne!
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| the palace |
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| the orange groves |
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| fountain within the grounds |
Sunday
One of the largest differences I've noticed between Paris and other large cities is that Paris shuts down. Sunday means that nothing is open. I learned in my french class that it is a law that a shop must be closed at least one day a week except for the champs elysses and the marais district (the jewish quater). So, we decided to make our way to a large street flea market to spend our sunday (since we still needed a schoolbag). We got off the metro stops but (ahem...forgot to get the address of the market) and wandered our way through almost the entire left bank. We made our way from the montparnasse skyscraper
To the the musee armee or invalides? I'm not exactly sure what its called, but Napoleon's tomb is in here.
Then off to the Seine
On the Seine
Then we ended our day at the champs elysses where we ate at "MacDo", where a large in france is a medium in america, with the Arc de Triomphe by our side, along with all the other tourists.
We were looking for the open market, but found Paris instead.
Monday
1st day of classes with Haute Couture and French. Haute couture is super interesting, not only do we study fashion, but the reasons for fashion. I learned the fashion of Marge Simpson and the marie Antoinette's slavery necklace (which I realized that i have one), from the fan's use of covering rotting queen's teeth. From the Kelly bag leading to Grace Kelly's need to hide her pregnant stomach, to the big sunglasses to cover the fact that Grace Kelly's eyes are far apart. To the fact that woman were so pale that they used a deadly paste to cover their faces that caused hideous cancer spots which they then added the fly (the big black spots on the faces). Then french is great because there are only 5 of us in the class so its great.
Tuesday
The first day of architecture and oenology. Where we learned that Paris was rebuilt various times building on top of buildings due to the failure of plaster and wood. If you dig deep enough you can find the original paris beneath. In oenology we learned the care and practice a glass of wine takes, the practice and care it takes to produce a bottle. Wine is a delicate art. Our professor told us about how she went to Provence to get wine from her favorite vineyard but the vineyard was no longer running for the year because one hailstorm ruined the grapes. Wine is a gamble and a world I never knew existed.
Wednesday
Finally bought a bag, sketchbook, journal. Used the monthly metro pass for the first time (and its so convenient!) Also stepped in dog poop for the first time :( But, bought Lady Gaga tickets for her London show to spend all saint's day break!!
Now, you've been recapped, mostly. I will do my best to keep up! I also hope to stray my blog away from touristy entries into some more of my thoughts, philosophies, etc as I figure them out/get inspired and develop some while I'm here.
Short day tomorrow, just one class architecture! Then off to disneyland on Friday and off to a mystery tour on saturday.
Au Revoir.
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