A bientôt Paris

I have obviously been putting off this update for a long time.  If it's any consolation, this wasn't my intention.  I thought that I would have some free time during our "Jewels of France" tour to update on all the beautiful places we'd visited and all the fun times we had.  I knew that this hope was crushed on our first official "tour meeting".  In the bottom of the Hotel Forrest Hill-La Villette our tour guide Simeon explained that the Jewels of France was not a holiday, but a tour.  I thought that this was just a cautionary statement.  Wrong.  We had very little free time and if it was your final week in L'Hexagon what would you do: Go to your room and blog?  or Hang out at the hotel bar with your mom and sister?  Duh.

With all that being said, if you'd really like to hear about Tammy, Katie, and Kristie's whirlwind tour of France then you'll have to ask in person.  We do ask that you have a few hours of spare time and are proficient in rapid banter of three overly excited women.  I don't think that's too unreasonable.  It is my only disclaimer, however, because of our "reunion" dinner with Dad.  His eyes started to glaze over with the intake of too much information all at once.  I kind of felt sorry for him.  He had no idea what he was getting into when he asked, "How was your trip?".  I do find that the 'live show' is considerably more enjoyable than all of our tales written down.  It would be like have three renditions of every picture taken in France, which we have.  Now that is additional three hours on top of our scheduled show.  Don't say I didn't warn you....

So, in my ten days back in the United States I have been re-acclimating myself to the rich American culture.  No, I haven't experienced any reverse culture shock, even though it has taken me time to not say "pardon" when running in to someone or "merci beaucoup" when ordering food.  Ordering food has actually been quite enjoyable.  I can read the menu and know what I'm getting myself into when I order at a restaurant, which is an act that I would never have considered so fulfilling.  I'm enjoying lazy mornings with cups upon cups of coffee with over processed, nondairy creamer.  Yumo.  I now have working, reliable Internet and plenty of hassle-free outlets to plug any and every kind of American appliance into.  I have finally been reunited with my iPhone, which is both wonderful and an unexpected burden at the same time.  I'll admit, it was very liberating to get lost by myself and not have to worry about letting people know where I was or consult my GPS for an easy route home...  I'm enjoying being able to lay on the couch for hours in the evening, fighting for Pepper Ann's attention while watching wedding and home improvement shows.  Even more than that, I love being able to watch the news in the morning and evening.  I find it ironic that I now know more about DSK and the Tour de France now than I did while I was over in France.  And, of course, it is so nice to be reunited with friends and family and to be able to sit on the porch for hours and just talk (in English!).

Unfortunately, the list of things I miss about France is quite larger.
I miss THE FOOD.  While I love my mother's cooking, there is just something about the fresh, GMO free food that I love about le France.  I mainly miss the bread.  The warm fresh baguettes from L'Imperial (my favorite neighborhood boulangerie) and the flakey croissants I would eat for breakfast with a hearty Nutella spread just cannot be recreated here in the US of A.  And it isn't just the food itself but the whole eating culture.  I would love to order a pichet de vin with every meal, but the only option is a similarly priced glass of *ugh* Italian wine.
Amongst the other things I miss are:

• Windows without screens.  
• The accessibility of the Metro
• Clubs/bars that you can stay at until the Metro opens at 5:30 AM
• Taking the Night Bus when you couldn't wait for the Metro
• The hushed tones that everyone speaks in
• "People watching" over lunch at a cafe
• Spending afternoons with ice cream and watching the children and ducklings play in the Parc de Montsouris
• The two old women who would sit at their ground floor window in the building next to mine and "people watch" each time I went to l'Imperial for my evening baguette/Monoprix run
• Cigarette smoke
• Shopping on Rue de Rennes in Montparnasse 
• Petite cafés 
• The two-toned sirens of ambulances
• My dirty hole-in-the-wall of an apartment
• The loud Arabic-speaking workers who woke me up every morning at 7 (even if I did hate them at the time....)
• The church bells that would ring every evening at 6:30 from the next street over
• The cute courtyard below that made taking out the garbage much more enjoyable and scenic
• Our orange kitchen where half the appliances were broken
• Rive Gauche 
• Especially the 14th arrondissement 
• Diabolo Menthes 
• Spending an afternoon walking around a cemetery 
• The fashion and lusting after everyone's clothes, shoes, accessories 
• Being able to give tourists directions
• The funny small Euro bills and coins (but not the exchange rate)
• The music
• About 10,000 other things that I realize on a daily basis.

Well then.

Now that I've gone and depressed myself I am going to finally say goodbye to Paris and pray that I don't forget all of my French before class starts in a month.  

A bientôt Paris parce que au revoir est trop long.

I feel like expressing myself

If it was your last Friday night in Paris what would you do?  Drink along the quai or going to some chic club felt so "been there done that" when Kaley and I tried to make plans.  Anna and the boys were all preparing for Gay Pride the next day so it would just be us and we wanted to do something fun, fabulous, and totally French.  Well, duh!  We had to go to a Jazz Club.  I researched it and it looked like the best Jazz Club on the Rive Gauche was Le Caveau de la Huchette, located about a stone's throw from Notre Dame in the Latin Quarter.  C'était incroyable!

Kaley and I got all dressed up (I considered it a big night so I even ventured out to wear heels, which I never do with the amount of walking this city requires) and headed out to Le Caveau.  We quickly discovered how this club got its name.  While the ground floor might be an everyday looking bar, the downstairs was quite literally a cave!  It was kind of creepy and felt very prohibition.  There was a live band playing some fun jazzy tunes and the place was packed with dancers!  Now, I expected more of a sit and listen to the music kind of atmosphere, not a full on jump and jive session.  It was amazing how many amazing dancers there were in this place.  Kaley and I fought for a seat just to sit and watch them all on the dance floor.  They were amazing.  It was then, about half way through my mojito, that an older gentleman, Jean-Marc came and asked if I would dance with him.  I was about to say no, but then I remembered my personal mantra for this month being "Pourquoi Pas?" and I headed out on the dance floor with him, excusing myself in terrible French about how bad of a dancer I am.  Despite all of this, Jean-Marc took me out on the dance floor and spent the majority of the night teaching me how to do the "Handkerchief".  It was so much fun!  And even though I am a terrible dancer, I learned a lot!  By the end of the set I had the majority of the moves down!  I'm still beaming with pride. 

Drinking, dancing, and jazz!  A perfect last Friday night in Paris.  As far as my final weekend in Paris?  It's been quiet and enjoyable.  I went to the Musee d'Orsay on Saturday and spent some time in the Parc de Montsouris.  It's funny, actually.  For the past three weeks it has been nothing but overcast and rainy and finally, on my last weekend here, the sun is shining and it is warm and beautiful!  I guess Paris was saving the best for last.   

  P.S.
  I know that I've been saying for a while that I will update you with pictures, but it turns out this will not happen.  My computer is now choosing this wonderfully inconvenient time to be "full" on files, and thus not accept any attempts for me to upload pictures or sometimes even open my email.  I just purged and deleted about 1000 emails, but pictures aren't that easy to delete in order to free up space.  So, unfortunately, you will all have to wait until I'm back in the States to see my wonderful pictures.  And in the meantime, I will freak out over my camera in hopes that I will forever save the 700+ pictures that are stored on there currently...  

Starstruck

I had a conversation the other day over lunch about Twilight.  It was with my friends Kaley and Teresa and we were talking about those crazy insane fans who stalk, scream, and practically wet themselves when they see Rob Pattinson.  I can't blame them, he is a dream boat, but I always thought I'd be that cool fan.  You know, the one who quietly goes up to them and says, "hey, I love your work" or something like that.  Well, as it turns out, I'm not one of those easygoing fans who can keep their cool while chatting up a celeb.  In fact, I wasn't even "chatting up" anyone.  It was just me a few tables over, camera in hand, sweating profusely, and practically squealing because the sexiest man on Planet Earth was breathing the same air that I was. 

It was our farewell dinner for CEA.  We all met up at Le Mosquée de Paris, which is a super cool restaurant that is actually in a Mosque.  Apparently it's a must-eat in Paris and I understand why, because the food was seriously amazing.  I never thought that I could be so full on couscous and hot honey tea.  It was absolutely delectable and that was only the food *wink*.
A bunch of us were sitting at our table waiting to order when Anna said "Man, that guy looks like Usher."  I immediately checked him out and I was in disbelief.  We were all like, "No way, that can't be Usher.  What would he be doing in a Mosque in Paris..."  But after further inquiries, it was decided that yes, in fact, Usher and his rock hard abs were sitting a few tables over.  Then I began to hyperventilate.  I'm not even kidding.  All that 'easy going' bullshit went right out the window and a psychotic fangirl took her place.  It was an out of body experience.  I kept thinking that this was not me.  I did not plainly take pictures of other people in restaurants and practically scream at my friends with excitement, and then he waved....ah!

I guess we were being really obvious.  All of us were swooning and giggling for about 30 minutes.  It was totally unreal. 

Of course, both tables (CEA and the Usher posse) got their food and we all quieted down.  That didn't mean that I didn't watch him my entire meal, but the queasiness subsided and I was able to take my eyes off of him (occasionally).  He was with the oddest group of people.  The really big guy was his bodyguard I'm assuming, but the two other women were just odd.  One looked like Kimora Lee Simmons, but I doubt it was her.  She was just this fabulous tan Asian lady who wore her sunglasses the whole time.  Then he was with another women (in the most adorable cheetah maxi dress) who didn't look like anyone special.  I'll have to do some serious research and figure out Usher's social life and see if I recognize anyone...But anyway, it looked like they were having a good time.  He was on his Blackberry most of the time, but the conversation looked interesting.  Man, do I sound like I have a problem. 

Oh, and the best part of it all!  We made eye contact!  I'm not even kidding.  He was walking, actually no, that statement is wrong.  Usher does not walk.  He struts or floats or something else entirely that is incapable to the rest of the human species.  I can't put a name to it, it's just distinctly Usher and goodness is it sexy...Anyway, he was on his way to the bathroom, which included him going directly toward our table and I waved at him.  He looked deep into my eyes, gave that boyish smile, and waved back.  I then proceeded to melt into pile of complete goo.  Apparently though, his people arranged for him to not walk through the restaurant to the bathrooms so he did this super cool swivel (I swear, his feet were not touching the ground), and he turned around and went through the kitchen to the restroom.  At that moment he was directly across the table from me.  If I had wanted I could have reached out my hand and easily touched him.  I'm sure his bodyguard would have been on me in 2 seconds, but I'm seriously wondering now if the physical pain and lawsuit would have been worth it...

This was when I first fell in love with Usher 10 years ago.

Oh boy, have I got it bad...

Despite our hysteria, no one else in the restaurant seemed to notice this Appolon (French term.  So fitting).  It wasn't until he got up to leave that the kids at the table directly next to him noticed.  They approached Usher's people while he was using the bathroom and Anna, being just as obsessed and a really good lip reader, saw that he was signing autographs but not taking pictures.  Well, we had pestered him enough during his meal and now, a half hour later, my hormones had finally balanced out and I didn't feel the need to have him sign my french phrasebook or napkin.  I decided to be nice and not draw even more attention to him.  So I guess, in a way, I conquered my inner fan girl.  Perhaps this was necessary for my wellbeing....a test of sorts so that now I am prepared for the elusive Rob Pattinson or George Clooney.  I heard that both Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp have homes in France.  Perhaps they're next!  One can hope!


*Revelation: I must preface this by asking that you please not judge me for this statement.  When Anna and I went to the bathroom after Usher had left, we accidentally used the men's room.  (In France most public restrooms are one room with just separate stalls.  It can kind of get confusing...)  This means that not only did Usher and I make eye contact, breath the same air, and eat the same couscous, but we also used the same toilet.
As sad and disturbing as this epiphany is I feel very content with the amount of contact we had.  And I hereby pledge that this will be last obsessive statement about Usher.  I sincerely believe that after some thought and serious contemplation that I can begin to live my life normally again and slowly become the cool, breezy fan who is friend to the stars.    

Fête de la Musique

For a city with a "Who's Who" list of churches and cathedrals, Paris sure knows how to celebrate a Pagan holiday.  Yesterday was the summer solstice and the Parisians thoroughly welcomed the new season with a huge city-wide party.  Fête de la Musique was a free-for-all for musicians and dancers in Paris to spend the entire day, with the most sunlight, to play, dance, and enjoy free music on the streets.  I have never experienced anything like it.

During the daytime it was mostly metro performers and the odd acoustic guitar on the street corner, but the night was something else entirely.  Oh, and speaking of the metro, I experienced my first Metro strike yesterday as well.  Apparently you haven't experienced 'real' Paris until you've had to deal with a Metro strike.  I find this funny because 1) it was a pain in the butt to get anywhere and 2) it was only a strike on my line.  The train's came about 10 minutes apart and only went to next station where I had to stand in a huge line just to get on a different train that took me practically around the city to go what would be 3 short stops on my original line.  It was a lovely experience.

During the day I set out to enjoy a musical Paris.  After grammar class, Kaley had one last phonetics class so I decided to walk around the Latin Quarter and find a cafe to get some much needed caffeine.  Well, I ended up just wandering along the Seine.  I walked out onto Pont Neuf.  It was really gloomy and kind of rainy so it was almost peaceful sitting out in an island in the middle of the Seine.  I kept on walking for a while and finally decided to stop at a cafe not far from the Musee d'Orsay.  It was really cute and, as it turns out, very expensive.  I was shocked to see that my cappuccino cost almost 7£.  Recovering from my initial shock, I looked at the menu to scope out the other prices and saw a little blurb written on the front.  Le Cafe Frégate was apparently the inspiration for Dumas when he was writing The Three Musketeers.  Well that was unexpected...I know it's a pretty cool historical place and just next door to Volatire's home, but 7£ for a cup of coffee?  No thank you.

I continued walking down to the Musee d'Orsay where I sat for about 10 minutes and listened to a jazz quartet.  They were playing some of my favorites and all four of the musicians were smoking while playing their instruments.  It was so French!  What was even more French though was the sign on the front of the Musee d'Orsay.  It said (and I quote) "We may not open today".  No definitive statement, no explanation, just French...  Disappointed about the d'Orsay, I was still determined to find some kind of landmark or museum to visit.  I trekked some more down along the Seine to the Invalides.  I walked around there for a moment but decided that I didn't want to spend even more money to see Napoleon's tomb, at least not today anyway.  I walked back to the Seine, across Pont Alexandre, and over to the Champs-Élysées where I caught a fully functional Metro to the Opera house.  I decided then that this would be my main visit of the day.  The Opera was gorgeous.  Unfortunately, the auditorium was closed because of a rehearsal, but being the creeper that I am, I found a tiny open window on a door that showed all the ballerinas practicing.  It was beyond cool.  I think that is my one wish in life.  I want to be a ballerina more than anything.  Watching Black Swan kind of put this dream of mine into perspective though.  Oddly enough, the soundtrack and dvd for Black Swan were being sold in the gift shop of the Opera Garnier.  I was shocked to see these mementos but not the Phantom of the Opera.  My dreams were crushed.  As if I hadn't walked around that entire building humming the soundtrack to one of my favorite musicals set in that very place...Well, now I'm glad that I didn't reenact Masquerade on the famed staircase...

After the Opera house I took the long train home (literally) and met up with Kaley to go back out to experience the true fête.  We got to Saint Michel about 7:30 and it was already a madhouse.  People and music everywhere.  We stopped in front of the Fountain Saint Michel for a while and watched some break dancers dance to some African music.  It was too cool.  For the next 6 or so hours we hopped from street to street, band to band.  It was amazing.  We danced, made friends, drank, and had a blast.  After a while, I got it in my head that I was going to be truly Parisian.  While dancing and listening to music I went out of my comfort zone and started talking to random people.  Of course, the Parisians do this by walking up to strangers and asking for a cigarette.  I'm not kidding.  You'll just be sitting at a cafe, in a metro station, or walking on the street and people will come up and ask if you have a smoke and stay and chat for a while.  My attempt was hilarious.  While I was practicing my French, my wingman Kaley was giving out fake names to men and pretending she was British.  It was a blast.  The clouds lifted and it was light until almost 11 pm and warm for the entire night.  Something just came over the city that was unlike anything I'd ever seen.  Everyone was singing and dancing, some even dancing in the beautiful Fountain St. Michel.  I can barely even describe how amazing and crazy it was.  Take the most insane frat party you've ever been to, multiply it by 150 million, and then apply it to millions of people in one of the most exciting cities in the entire world.  Like I said, crazy fun.

Going back to Saint Michel-Notre Dame the next morning (a few short hours later) was shocking.  Everything was cleaned up and it looked like nothing had happened.  It was raining again, like it does every morning, and it was almost sad.  Back to real life, class, and the crazy traffic on Île-de-Cité on a Wednesday morning.  If it clears up though, we were all thinking of making our own fête at the top of the Eiffel Tower. 
Tomorrow is our farewell dinner from CEA.  When did that happen?  The Global Campus-Gay Paris kids all leave at the end of the week, so I guess it's only fitting to have it then.  I'm hitting the one week mark til my vacation and I'm excited but sad that this is all coming to a close.  On the bright side though, I hit up about 3 things on my Paris bucket-list yesterday.  Now if I can only keep up the momentum and keep on dancing through Paris this next week, then I will be a very happy girl.                      

Town & Country

I can't believe it's already been a week since my last post!  I feel incredibly guilty for neglecting writing this past week.  This week wasn't even that busy, aside from everyday school stuff, that is.  I absolutely need to write down the fun things I did this week like the boat tour of the Seine and shopping in the Latin Quarter, but first I need to tell you all about this weekend.

It.Was.Incredible.  CEA put together an excursion this weekend to Burgundy.  It is about 2 hours South/East of Paris and incredibly beautiful.  I felt so Parisian escaping the city to the countryside (again). 

All 15 of us (17 if you include the two CEA staff members who came) met at Gare de Lyon early on Saturday morning to catch the train to Dijon at 8:30.  Two hours later we were in Dijon (yes, like the mustard).  Only it wasn't the mustard that attracted me to the town so much.  Coincidentally, Dijon is the city of owls!!  No, I'm not kidding.  Yes, I practically wet myself when I stumbled upon all the owls adorning the city.  They are on the sidewalks, on the sides of churches, t-shirts, you name it!  Of course, my squealing and excitement quickly spread throughout the group and I explained that owl, or as the French say La Chouette--which literally translates to cool/super (yeah that's right, Chi Omega)--is something very special to me.  This meant that all Saturday I was constantly being called over to examine yet another owl memorial or really cute owl oven mitt.  Needless to say, I was so in my element.

This weekend's excursion was all "inclusive" by CEA.  The hotel, train, and some food were already included for our short 2 day trip.  Translation: everything was really cheap.  We started off our adventures in Dijon with a "self-guided" walking tour of the city.  Ha!  Basically, we were given a little booklet with the "Owl's Trail" of the city.  It was very interesting and gave us the flexibility and freedom to spend extra time at one stop or take a long lunch.  After walking and getting lost in the town for about 2 hours, Kaley and I took a tour break to have lunch with another CEA-Sorbonne student, Maggie.  It was lovely and we timed it just right to miss the random rain storm.  I discovered a new favorite food: Salade de Chevre Chaud.  It consists of a big hearty salad with all sorts of vegetables, but my favorite part (of course) is the toast with melted goat cheese on top.  Yumo.  I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it....One salade and two cappuccinos later I was ready for our "tour" of the gingerbread factory.  Apparently they only give tours of the factory once every 5 years because of the intense sterilization that the plant goes through after thousands of people infiltrate the home of gingerbread so we all sat in a room above a gingerbread store and learned about the process of making gingerbread.  It was fascinating and I really enjoyed it, especially the sample portion.  I thought that mustard was the big delicacy of Dijon, but gingerbread or Pain d'epices is a major competitor and I completely understand why.  This gingerbread is amazing and they make such fun flavors.  My favorite has to be a tie between almonds and oranges.  Yummy.  Oh, and a major plus is that they make gingerbread in the shape of an owl.  It took all my strength not to buy pounds of that stuff.

After the tour we had more free time to walk around the city.  This time we veered off the Owl's Trail a little and just ended up walking around looking at the beautiful architecture.  We actually stopped outside a church and caught the very end of the wedding.  It was beautiful.  It's also a French tradition to drive around town after getting married and honk at everyone.  It was a beautiful Saturday in June so the entire day was filled with honking and tulle.  It was so much fun. 

Another cup of coffee later and we were back at the train station and ready for our departure to Beaune "Capital of Burgundy Wine", which is about 45 minutes south of Dijon by train.  Well, if I thought that Dijon was small then I was in for a surprise with the small town of Beaune.  We got off the train in a small station surrounded by vast fields and I actually thought to myself "Interesting.  This is an odd place to transfer trains....".  Nope.  It was our final destination.  Our hotel was located right across the tracks (on the outskirts of town) so it was easy to walk across the street, up two flights of stairs, and collapse from exhaustion.  Before dinner we all showered and watched an interesting episode of Tous Ensemble, which I quickly discovered was the French version of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  It was riveting.

Dinner was at the small hotel restaurant.  It was delicious.  Three hours and I don't even know how many bottles of Burgundy Wine later, we were all ready to go out and celebrate a friend Carlos' 21st birthday.  Sure, it had way less significance here than in the states, but we all still wanted to go out and celebrate.  There was, however, one small problem.  We were in the middle of nowhere and what self respecting town dating back to the Middle Ages has a night club?  So we made friends with the man at the front desk and found out that there was in fact a night club in Beaune, it was just a 30-40 minute walk.  But we were determined to take Carlos out on his birthday so five of us made the trek out to the chic night club appropriately called "B.O."  I wish I was kidding...

B.O was actually a lot of fun.  A lot different than clubs in Paris.  It didn't cost me a fortune to get in and the people there actually danced.  Go figure!  I had a blast and most importantly so did Carlos.  They played a lot of Latin music with the occasional random American song thrown in there.  I never thought that I would be dancing to Kool & the Gang in a French Club...It was totally worth the lack of sleep for the next day in Beaune.

Aside from it's wine, Beaune is best known for their beautifully well-preserved medieval town.  Perhaps the coolest of these ancient buildings in the town center is the Hotel-Dieu.  Hotel Dieu is this 15th century hospital that was run by Nuns and now is a retirement home.  The majority of the "Palace for the Poor" has now been preserved and frozen in the time of its conception.  It was interesting but very very creepy.  I could just picture hundreds of the sick poor of Beaune all together in this big hall.  They also had this enormous painting of Judgment Day on the back wall, which, in my opinion, would be a tad frightening to look at if you and 60 of your best hobo friends were all dying in a big room...Apparently the painting is very famous, but I found myself creeped out.  After touring Hotel Dieu we had even more free time.  A couple of us went and had (another) long lunch by this little square.  There was a jazz band in the middle of the square who, to my delight, were playing the best of Michael Buble.  I loved it. 

Lunch was followed by a wine tasting at the Marche aux Vins.  It was fascinating.  We were taken down into their cellar and tasted about 8 different wines.  Personally, I've never had wine that is older than 2010 so this was quite an adventure for me.  We were given little saucer-things to drink from and all the wines were absolutely delicious.  There was no way that I was going to even consider spitting out the amazing (and remarkably expensive) wines that we tasted.  I drank it all.  I even bought a bottle too!  Sure, it was the cheapest bottle but it was my favorite of their Chardonnay that I tasted.  I'm planning on sharing it with Kristie and Mom when they get here in 10 days!  It is very tempting though.  I can hear the beautiful bottle calling my name and I know that I must resist temptation.  This is going to be a long week and a half...

After wine tasting we had even more free time to explore the teeny tiny city, which was spent souvenir shopping and eating amazing ice cream.  We eventually found our way back to the hotel and hopped back on the train to Paris-Gare de Lyon.  Overall it was such a fun trip!  It is a place that I would never have thought to visit, but I am so glad that I did!  It also helped me meet a lot of other CEA students that aren't in the Sorbonne program.  Their program ends in a couple days and it made me realize how little time I have left here in Paris.  We all started talking about how nothing will be the same for us back in the States (mainly the bread) and I began to have a little panic attack on my impending departure from Franceland.  True, I do have an extra 8 days after everyone from the Sorbonne leaves, but I know that time is just going to fly by with Mom, Kristie, and I traversing through Northern France.  Wah.
I can't bear to talk about this though.  Not now.  Not when I have another beautiful 10 days in front of me in my current home.  I guess this means that I have to powerhouse and finish my mini "bucket list" for Paris...
It's going to be a busy week!                  

Côte d’Azur

I didn't come to France with any travel expectations.  I knew that when Mom and Kristie came over we would travel around Île-de-France and regions slightly to the North and West, but other than that I had no plans to see the rest of the country.  I can now say how happy I am that I was wrong in this assumption.  The Parisians have this saying, and while the exact French translation escapes me right now, it goes something like: There is Paris and then there is the rest of France, implying that the rest of this beautiful country just doesn't compare to the capital.  Wrong!  I love Paris and the excitement of the city, but there is something absolutely blissful about leaving it.

I escaped Paris this weekend to go to warm and beautiful Nice.  I'm glad that we all decided to do this trip because, quite frankly, the rain was starting to get to me, and Nice ended up being the perfect destination, considering that it has an average of 300 days of sunlight a year.  Thank goodness.

After an eventful Friday of visiting the Paris Catacombs (Creepy!), the Musee du Louvre, and my first adventure of doing laundry in France, Kaley and I set out on Saturday morning for Nice to meet up with our friends.  We traveled by train, but not just any train, but the TGV.  Every French textbook has a chapter or lesson about travel and the TGV is always included.  I felt giddy being able to actually ride this famed high-speed train throughout the majority of the country.  It was way too cool.  Also, to make everything 20x better was that when we booked our tickets the cheapest seats were in first class.  We were riding in style.  It was an early train however, and I ended up being knocked out for the first 2 hours of the ride, which ended up being much of the French countryside that I wanted to see.  I was a little upset until we started traveling along the coast.  The view was unbelievable.  Traveling between the Alps and the Mediterranean was absolutely gorgeous.  I felt like I was living out an episode of "House Hunters International".  There are so many episodes that take place in that region and they're all gorgeous.  I can just see myself on that show: Single, 20something, and broke, looking for a Villa in the South of France that won't break the bank.  Yeah, right.  I can keep dreaming. 

We arrived in Nice around 3 pm, walked about 2 blocks down the road and were already at our Hostel.  Kaley and I threw down our luggage and quickly put on our swimsuits and headed for the beach.  Oh my!  I have never seen so many different shades of blue in one single body of water.  It was unbelievable.  For about 2 hours we swam and sunbathed.  It was heaven.  We returned to the hostel around 6, showered up, met our 6 other roommates and headed out to dinner with one of them, Peitra, who was an Au Pair from Canada.  She was so nice and took us all around Vieux Nice by the water for dinner.  This is where I instantly fell in love with the city.  The food is amazing!  Just imagine all your favorite French cooking and cuisine with an Italian twist.  Yumo!  I was in heaven.  I had the most unbelievable pasta with zucchini, tomatoes, and pine nuts.  The three of us split this divine bottle of rose wine too.  I was content.  The restaurant we went to was so beautiful and the people were so nice.  They even brought us over these lemon shooters free of charge.  I need to find out where to buy this drink.  It was amazing.  After our delectable meal, the three of us headed back to the Hostel for a champagne party.  Most everyone who was staying there that night was there and we all bonded and chatted over champagne.  It was here that we met up with our other friends as well as made many other acquaintances.  I was shocked by how many Canadians and Australians that were there, but my new favorite friend was this guy Dickson from, none other than UVa.  Small world.  We ended up all going out after the party, Dickson, Peitra, Kaley, and I.  It was a lot of fun and I was exhausted by the end of it all.

Sunday was filled with much of the same activities as Saturday: going to the beach and eating.  Like I said, heaven.
However, here is a short list of things I quickly learned about Nice beaches:

• They don't have sand beaches.  They're all rocks.  It's beautiful but a little tricky to walk on. 
• They are clothing optional.  Wow.
• The sun is very strong.

My only commentary on the *ahem* attire of some of the people there is that the French have no shame.  It is fascinating and I envy them of it.  If I was 250 pounds and 50+ you would not find me in a bikini, let alone topless and a thong.  Not really America's style.  I think we're a lot more reserved about our physical appearance than the French.  Way more reserved, actually.  I've noticed this also applies to men and their attitude towards women here too.  They are not afraid of rejection and if they see something they like they'll go after it.  It's a little disconcerting when some guy comes over and tells you you've got it going on, but at the same time it's something to be admired.  For example, when Peitra, Kaley, and I were walking through Vieux Nice last night two young men came up to us and asked us a simple question.  "Which would you prefer, a man that is cute or a man that cooks for you naked?"  Not only do I not know how to answer this question in English, but my French vocabulary does not even include such phrases.  I had to have Peitra fill me in on my missing vocab, but I got what they were saying.  Now, when they asked which one I would prefer and if we'd all go out to a club with them, we respectfully declined, but thanked them for their originality.  It was no big deal, nothing hurt in asking, I guess.  I can't even imagine this sort of scenario happening in the States without feelings being hurt or rude comments being made.  Maybe that's why I like the French so much.  (It's also a big self-esteem boost.  Haha).

Now I'm back in Paris, burnt to a crisp, and dreading my homework and going back to reality tomorrow.  I quite enjoyed my "Vacation from my Vacation".  This does mean, however, that I have now been spoiled.  I'm damaged goods and now can only vacation on the Côte d’Azur.  I think the French Riviera is quite my style, well except for what they wear or lack there of...It's perfect for me really though.  It's a perfect combination of so many great things: France & Italy, the mountains & ocean, the old and new, etc.  I can see myself getting comfortable with such things.  Now I just have to find the money to make this obsession a reality.  All I know, is that I've only been gone for 8 hours and I already need to go back.              

Rainydays and Mondays (and Sundays and Tuesdays too)

It started raining Saturday night and has barely let up since.  It's been raining cats and dogs!  The French do not use that expression though.  They say "Il pleut des cordes" which literally means "it's raining ropes".  Ha!  In between the momentous downpours, however, there has been some sunshine and the city really is lovely when it is all misty and green. 

Sunday afternoon was supposed to be spent at le Musee du Louvre.  The museum is free the first Sunday of the month and we planned on seeing the Louvre admist all the cheap tourists and students just like us.  When we arrived though our plans quickly changed.  The line was expansive and wrapped around the enormous palace.  No way!  I had not yet forgotten about Versailles the day before and nothing made me feel more uncomfortable and anxious than waiting in line for hours inside and out of the museum.  I've already been to the Louvre and while it is absolutely impressive and gorgeous I also came here to see Paris not paintings that I can see in a book.  And, while I'm being honest, the Mona Lisa is a little disappointing.  It's about the size of a postage stamp and surrounded by missile proof glass, countless bodyguards, and an even larger crowd of people.  The Mona Lisa will just have to wait until another day.

We decided on another touristy destination, but not quite on the maps of your everyday tourists of Paris.  Montparnasse in the 13th/6th arrondissement is quickly becoming one of my favorite and most frequented parts of town that I visit.  It's close to home, has great shopping, and is where my Laboratoire Phonetique is held for the next two weeks at Le Maison des Etudiants.  What makes Montparnasse so special is the famed Tour Montparnasse, which is the only skyscraper in Paris.  Some consider it an eyesore on the horizon, but it's the tallest building in the city so it would naturally have the best view of Paris.  Many people chose to go to the top of l'Arc de Triomphe (which I want to do too, I just don't know how people cross that street...) and the bell towers of Notre Dame.  Newsflash: those famous landmarks are very cool but also very short in comparison to the rest of the buildings.  You can't really see much from the top of Notre Dame, except the Seine and the cafe where you just ate lunch....The expansive Tour Montparnasse, however, can offer you a 360 degree view of the whole capital.  It was beautiful!  We timed it just right too and got our 7 £'s worth of a view of the city in between rain storms.  Perhaps the most fun was buying an overpriced cafe (so that we could actually sit at a table) and looking at our maps, trying to figure out where exactly we lived.  We thought it would be easy since we practically live in the huge Parc de Montsouris, but it was harder than we thought and we ended up choosing a general area in which we lived.

Monday was spent in class.  After our regular grammar class we all shuffled on over to the Phonetics Lab.  It was fascinating but difficult.  Half the class is spent dissecting sentences and the other is in the actual "lab" where we all wear headphones and repeat phrases after the teacher.  I was shocked when they played all the repetitions back at me.  Is that really how I sound?  Yikes.  The phrases that they pick are really hard too.  Right now we're learning about liasons and when to properly use them.  For you non-French speakers, liasons are connecting a usually unpronounced ending consonant with the following verb.  Doesn't seem that hard but it is tricky when they give you these long tongue twisters to repeat.  My problem isn't really the pronunciation but my short term memory.  I can read the phrase fine but when I have to repeat the entire phrase I forgot half the sentence.  Woops.  I basically sheepishly smile at the professor the whole time (who I'm 75% sure is the mean woman who administered the oral portion of my placement exam.  Womp) while she helps me remember the entire phrase.  It's bizarre because she speaks into my headphones instead of directly to me.  I have fun with it though and she smiled at me today so it can't be that bad. 

After class on Monday we wandered around the Montparnasse Cemetery.  It was creepy but absolutely beautiful.  We went there because Kaley swore Jim Morrison was buried there.  When we actually got to the cemetery I asked Kaley why his name wasn't on the map.  Turns out she thought that we were at the only cemetery in Paris.  She was wrong by a longshot.  We'll go find his grave someday in one of the dozens of cemeteries of Paris even if I'm not really a big The Doors fan.  Not that I'm not a fan, it's just that I've never really listened to their music.  Perhaps I will have to now.  The Cemetery ended up being a really nice way to spend an hour on a gloomy Monday afternoon.  It was very peaceful and while creepy was very enjoyable.  After our excursion to the Cemetery we went to a lecture on Oenology: Wine tasting.  Success!  The seminar blew my mind!  I thought that swirling your wine around in the glass was just for show, but letting the wine breath changes it's chemical make-up entirely!  It also made me feel guilty for buying my 2 £ bottle of wine and drinking the cheap stuff.  I guess I'll have to indulge in my newfound sophisticated appreciation of French wines.  The question remains however, how many bottles will I attempt to bring back?  During the lecture I envisioned myself bringing back a beautiful bottle of French wine for all my friends/family, but when I asked the professor how much a good bottle of wine cost I quickly changed my mind.  I love you all, but I simply cannot buy a 40 £ bottle of wine for everyone.  Unless you send money, that is....  :) 


Today it rained nonstop and harder than ever.  Class and Phonetics went well and afterwards Kaley and I were planning a lazy rainy day lounged around the apartment and studying for our first French test tomorrow.  Now, I should know by now that all my plans never work out in this fine city.  Planning on going out for a drink with friends ends up spending the entire night at a club, taking a quick metro ride ends up being a debacle with 3 line changes and much confusion, taking a quick 2 hour tour of Versailles turns into an entire day of heat and exhaustion, etc.  Basically, I should prepare to be surprised, but somehow it always sneaks up on me.  So the lazy rainy day did not happen.  Instead I spent most of my day out in the rain running back and forth and stressing out. 

There is a group of 5 of us who are all going to Nice this weekend!  I am very excited!  Kaley and I bought our tickets together while the other three (who all live together in another CEA apartment) bought theirs.  Surprise!  They bought different tickets.  But, wait for it, not just a different time but different days.  So, Kaley and I will be arriving in Nice on Saturday morning and leaving Monday morning whereas the rest of our crew will be getting there Friday night and leaving Sunday afternoon.  Not a big difference, but I still find it hilarious how we had a "planning session" to avoid this problem.  I'm not affected by it, but I swear Kaley is going to have an aneurysm.
So today after class Kaley and I thought we'd take a brief detour to CEA to print out our train reservations since we couldn't pay online.  We asked the lady at the front desk where we could "redeem" our reservation and she informed us that every metro station would be fine.  Ok!  We took her word for it and headed back home thinking we could stop by the front desk at Cite Universitaire and quickly buy our tickets.  Wrong.  The ladies at the counter told us we had to go back to Denfert-Rochererau, which is one station over.  Easy enough.  So we get back on the metro and ride to Denfert-Rochererau.  The very nice man at the counter there told us we could only buy the tickets at the SNCF (travel company) boutique.  He gave me directions and we headed out of the metro and into the rain to find this office.  Lucky for us, it was only around the corner.  Once inside we took a number and patiently waited for 10 minutes.  When I presented my printed receipt to the woman behind the counter typed everything up and I was all set, I just had to pay.  My card got rejected.  Great.  I think it was because the Europeans have special debit cards with really cool microchips in them.  Half of the time my card works and the other half I end up using cash.  I guess this was a cash moment, only I didn't have 280 £ just hanging out in my pocket.  I went back out into the rain and found some random ATM.  My card was rejected there too.  This is about when I started freaking out.  It was also at this time that Kaley came out of the SNCF building.  Her card had been rejected as well.  We went to a different ATM and discovered that if we had multiple transactions of smaller amounts of money that we would be fine.  150 £, 100 £, and a 50 £ withdraw transaction later I had all my money in order, but Kaley's card was still being stubborn so we went all the way back home, walked through the park in the pouring rain to get cash from the apartment and then turned right back and returned to SNCF where we took a number again and waited in line for another 15 minutes.  This trip was successful and I now have two tickets to Nice for the long weekend.  If all this rain has prepared me for anything it is the sunny beaches of the Mediterranean.  I literally cannot wait!!!       


I promise I will upload pictures soon.  Love