can't stop, won't stop.

I officially have one week left in Paris. Somehow, I'm just not sure that's true. This whole experience has been filled with ups and downs, pros and cons, goods and bads. Was every single moment what I thought it would be? No. Did I learn a lot about myself, living in a city, and makin' it on my own? Yes. The days seemed to last forever but the weeks and months flew by, suddenly making the end of the program in single digits.
But regardless of what's behind me, I'm currently trying to live my last couple days to their fullest. Yes, it's almost finals, but luckily I've done well this semester so my grades don't depend on them so much. This means I've been enjoying paris as it's meant to be seen, in the sunshine and warm. I've had tons of picnics and wandering days. But no matter how much I do, just like everyone said it would be, I have tons of things that are not crossed off on my to-do list. Which explains why I'm writing this entry on my phone on the metro - there's too much to do to just sit around!
My fam gets here Friday and thus begins the epic France vacation 2010.
But now I've gotta get off the metro and go live!

springtime in paris.

As most of you surely know, the weather drastically affects my mood. I'm unsure why I thought Boston was the right town for me. Regardless. It's now, finally, springtime in Paris. What I've been waiting for this whole time. My nose is pink with sunburn and I am blissfully happy. The flowers are blooming all over - tulips (my favorite). I can run outside without getting frostbite. In essence, spring here is everything the songs say it is.
As it has been getting warmer, I've been doing more and more walking. It's become my favorite part of being here - walking from place to place means you get to see a lot more than just the inside of a metro stop / a museum. In fact, for those of you that visit here, I highly suggest walking as opposed to taking the metro. The famous part of the city (excluding Monmartre) is very walk-able. You can walk Notre Dame to the Eiffel tower in a morning and see all the sights along the way. I have tons of pictures, per usual, but I'm exhausted from this weekend. My friends from Tufts came to visit, and it was so nice to have them here! Lindsay and I spent all day Friday and Saturday on the go, walking around, seeing things, laying in front of the Eiffel Tower, etc. I'm really starting to feel at ease here. Unfortunately, I'm leaving three weeks from today to start our French vaycay. But, it is nice to say that I feel like I really got to know Paris. Et, bien sur, je l'aime. (And, of course, i love it.) It is a really wonderful place with so much to offer.
It has been hard, though, fighting the American stereotype. You don't quite realize how bad American tourists are until you look around. There are little cultural things that make us look really bad - like the fact it's incredibly impolite not to say hello to someone (in a restaurant, a store, etc). I've made that faux pas a couple times and the frenchpeople were not pleased. I never quite realized how presumptuous it is to assume that everyone's gonna speak English.
Also, since I feel like I haven't talked about her enough, I LOVE my host mother, Mimi. She is incredibly warm and inviting and I like to think of her as an aunt. I live a very independent life from her, but she's always interested (and patient) as I tell her stories from my day. I really feel at home here and I'm so lucky for that.
I think this post was a little of this and a little of that, but nothing really exciting has happened recently. I'm 3/4 done with my Sorbonne work, which is really encouraging. I only have one paper left, and now that I'm FINALLY comfortable with the french set-up, I feel like I can do it. But mostly, my life is as routine as it can get when you live somewhere like Paris and the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Luxembourg Gardens are just around the corner.

just a short jaunt around paris

So Thursday I did a lot of walking. This is what happens when you do a lot of walking around Paris and casually snap some photos with your phone.

promise #1

SPAIN!

spain blog

you-lano, me-lano, we-lano

So, I woke up super early Friday morning (read: 5am), got on one of the first metros, got on a train to the airport, took off, landed, all before 10am. And then all of a sudden it hit me: I was in ITALY. Home of gelato, pizza, pasta, gnocchi, and all other things delicious. And that feeling never quite went away, as this weekend was one of the best I've had maybe in my whole life.
Friday, after I dropped my bag off at the hotel, I took a short day trip up to Bergamo. The train was easy, I got by with no Italian, and I got a tourist map and info brochure in English. Because Milan is a notably industrial city in Italy, perhaps THE industrial city in Italy, I wanted to go somewhere out of the city to get a better taste. Bergamo didn't disappoint. It was a beautiful city with TONS of history, noteable for it's "Old City" on the top of the hill - you had to take a cable car to get to it. The city is walled in with walls from the Middle Ages. This height allows you to get amazing views of the Italian country side and the walls mean you won't ever get truly lost. It was also, I realized, one of the first times I'd been out of a real city since I'd been abroad. I think it was something about being on a hill that made the air seem cleaner or better smelling or something. It was very nice to have a day to myself. (Please, nobody ever look to see how many times I use positive adjectives in this blog. It would be horrendous and embarrassing.)
A great day, made even greater by the fact that Lindsay and Gillian from Tufts and their friend Jacob (on their Geneva program) got there that night! Too tired to go experience nightlife, we went to sleep.
The next day, I can very proudly say, Linds, Gillian and I ate our way through all of Milan. Pizza, bruschetta, pasta, pesto, gelato, brioches, nutella, you name it, we ate it. We also saw the castle, the world's oldest shopping mall, the Basilica, and the Duomo, stopping frequently for snacks and coffee. It was a great, relaxed day with a little shopping, no serious agenda, and the ability to stop and say "hey, let's go in here" without any trouble. There were plenty of charismatic people along the way, especially when we went to la banque, a Milan dischotecha, but was such an incredibly successful day that I didn't even mind.
Sunday was cut short by travelling, boo, but I can already tell that I'm going to want to go back to Italy in my life time. Probably more than once. But now I'm back to real life, which is, I suppose, not so bad when you're living in Paris.
Yes, yes, the promise of pictures remains. But I have my first Sorbonne paper due Tuesday.

a little of this, a little of that.

You, as a frequent and obsessive reader of my blog, may notice that my posts are becoming more infrequent. That is not because Paris is starting to be worse (au contraire, mes amis, the weather is finally becoming beautiful!), but it is because I am actually starting to fall into a routine. Luckily, I shook myself out of that routine a couple times this week.
Wednesday, the weather was absolutely beautiful. Patrick, who seems to be in charge of booking for the fam when they're here, sent me a link to an apartment in Les Halles area of Paris, which I had never really explored before. So between my noon Sorbonne class end and my 2:15 IES class start, I decided to go check it out. I ended up walking around for almost that entire time. It is a really great area of Paris, parts that feel very much like Paris should and parts that feel like I'm in NYC. It was so nice to be able to walk around aimlessly and not lose feeling in my toes. As I get more and more comfortable here, I get more and more willing to get lost, wander around, and just BE in Paris, as opposed to constantly feeling pressure to get on and off the metro at a certain place, see certain landmarks, etc. I can't say I've conquered Paris (can anyone really?), but I feel past the superficial knowledge you glean from only a month here (has it really been two?!).
Tonight, I went to a wonderful dinner in the Latin Quarter and had Indian food!
Tomorrow, I'm getting up VERY early (yes, Dad, 5:00 is early) to fly to Milan to meet some Tufts friends. I'm not going to get very much sleep, but that's not what abroad is about, is it?!

cathedrals, champagne, etc.

So today, I went to Reims (pronounced rein-ssss) with IES for a school sponsored excursion, which is why I apologize if any of my facts are slightly off. The tours were in French.
We toured the Notre Dame Cathedral there, which was where they used to coronate the kings (before the revolution, bien sur). It was a cool experience and we had a guided tour, which was nice. I probably did not profit from it as much as I could have because I was freeeeezing, tired, and hungry. But I got a lot of the main points. They're massively restoring it again - unsure how many times they've done so, but once was with money from Rockefeller/Rockefeller Jr., which is nice to see that their money went to good use. Though it was built in the Middle Ages, it tries to "blend" that art style with modern art - all of the stained glass windows are new, and there's even a set that was designed by Marc Chagall.
Then, luckily, we ate lunch in a restaurant with heat, and I got caffeine. All previous complaints erased, we headed over the the Pommery Champagne Caves. It was a cool experience - we got to walk through the caves with a tourguide who told us all about how you make champagne, the differences between the champagnes, how you can buy a super huge bottle for 500euro (serves 86 glasses!). Overall enjoyable. (Fun Fact: Europeans do not consider, nor is it legal to call, any sparkling wine that is not produced in the Champagne region true champagne.) We had a glass at the end of the tour as a "tasting", but ended up being more of a drink a glass of champagne while hanging out with your friends. It was nice to see a region of France that isn't Paris - very different.

In another direction, I've begun a picasa account through google that will let me upload photos to my computer, put them in a certain folder, and they sync with this web address:

paris blog

I promise to upload Spain pictures soon too!
Now, it is time to watch some American TV and sleep - we left for Reims at 7:45.

spring break, whoooo!

If you didn't get the overall sentiment before, I really liked Spain. Both Madrid and Barcelona were amazing cities, very different from Paris for many reasons. I liked Barcelona more, just because it was warm and a beach city - relaxing, less to do, etc. I got to see a bunch of Tufts friends along the way (OH HEY to you all!), which was VERY nice. What they don't tell you about abroad is though it is a great experience, it is HARD to be without the people you're habituated to seeing every day. I'm very used to walking around campus and seeing a friendly faces all over the place (and every 10 feet if it's prorow). Paris is much more anonymous than that. Regardless, more details about Spain!
First of all, there were a series of unfortunate events that resulted in me getting to Madrid about a day late. But I got there and that's what matters!
Madrid: Whew, I went to Alcala the first night I got there to see where the Tufts-in-Alcala kids go to school, which was fun. Very cute, many tapas. The rest of the weekend was a blur of sights: the Royal Palace (fat cherubs), the Prado, the Reina Sophia, tapas tapas tapas, some Madrid nightlife, some thousand year old ruins, Puerta del Sol, Place de Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel, an upside down elephant, and les Jardins de Buen Retiro. I even took a day trip up to Toledo, which was, per usual, absolutely beautiful. Most of the time the weather was even good.
Barcelona: Speaking of good weather, Barcelona's was beautiful, like its architecture. We spotted many Gaudi buildings accidentally and went to the Gaudi Museum. Honestly incredible stuff. We also took a long time to walk down Las Ramblas, which is a huge market street. There were street performers (the kind that stand like statues and the kind that move) everywhere who all had very elaborate costumes, a wide variety of animals for sale - I thought about taking a bunny for only 10euro, and so much more. I got a fresh fruit juice that, although it was full of seeds, tasted like summer was coming. We hiked up to the Gaudi Park - Parc Guell, which was amazing itself but the view was even better! More tapas, etc.
Overall, spring break was GREAT, but it is nice to be back in France where I speak some semblance of the language and back to routine. I've got many weekend trips planned (Milan, Amsterdam, and hopefully London and Greece), so I'll keep you updated. Special shout out to my brothers, Ashley, Benjamin and Sarah, who are coming at the end of my trip, to travel around France!
I promise to upload pictures soon, or at least make an album with a link!

me encanta espana.

Do not worry, blog friends. I am alive and well and in BARCELONA! for the next couple days. Long Spain update later. Short version: tapas, sangria, warm, museums, Tufts friends.

quick like a bunny

So, this is a quick update before I go to SPAIN for spring break. The last couple days have been very school filled. Last weekend I was sick (thanks, winter), so I spent a LOT of time in bed. I did go to Luxembourg Gardens and The Pantheon (just another weekend in Paris).
Luckily, this week the weather seems to be turning into rainy, warmish spring. Everyone knows how much I hate winter, so I'm pleased that Paris is beating Boston, where it is still wintery-mixing.
I am SO excited to be embarking on my first real travelling adventure. Though Paris is great, I'm itching for something new and different as well as looking forward to the feeling of returning "home". The first weekend in Spain I'm meeting a big group of TUFTS friends and I'm ecstatic. It's strange to part from your best friends for months at a time and I'm pleased I'll get to reunite with them, even for a just a couple days. Then, I'm staying in Madrid for a few more days (hopefully with a day trip somewhere), and then continuing south to Barcelona, where neither my English nor my French nor my limited Spanish will do me any good, as they speak Catalan. I've printed my tickets, checked for my passport, and reserved my hostels. Au Revoir, Paris, Hola Espana!

oh, i'm proud to be an american

Now what I'm about to say may sound slightly ridiculous, but is nonetheless true. I have recently become acutely aware of the fact I speak English (and the fact I am an American). Yes, absolutely shocking, I know. But I speak English fluently. Without, for the most part, errors. And effortlessly.
This, for someone who is in France, is both a burden and excellent. It's the first because everywhere I go, people respond in broken English. They pretend like just because I speak French with an American accent that I can't get any further than "je prends..." Which means "I'll have...(a croissant! a chocolate bread! a crepe with nutella!)" Newsflash France, I'm here to learn. On the otherhand, my innate knowledge of English also seems to an enviable ability. There are posters in every subway that read "learn wall street English" and a particularly funny one with a nurse and a man with bruises that reads "stop massacring English, take care of it!" My host sister was just talking the other night of how jealous she was of our English skills, how she was afraid we would judge her for hers (I'm equally envious of her French).
But the most bizzare part for me is that almost nobody in the US thinks like that about any foreign language. Yes, Spanish is useful (though manyvbelieve those who speak it in our country should learn English (not to say that I do and goodness knows I'm not trying to make a political statement but I'm trying to make vast generalizations about a very large country)), and Mandarin is relevant, but in no way do most Americans covet the abilty to speak a foreign language.
I think it might stem from the fact that good ol' 'Merica has decided that English is the dominant language, the popular kid in middle school. While she is surrounded by equally pretty friends, for some reason is the most popular. This metaphor can extend even further - everyone wants to watch what she's watching, listen to what's on her iPod, and wear the same clothes she does. Most movies here are American, for the most part the music in every restaurant/store/bar/club/supermarket I've been in has been American, and they even have American Apparel here. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. American culture is very, very pervasive, which, in a place as proud as France, is still bizzare to me. Luckily, it helps me navigate my way through French culture as I am an expert on American culture (unlike on French culture).

Speaking of, I should probably do a quick update on real concrete life things.
1. Classes continue. And are still exhausting. The Sorbonne is kicking my Tufts butt.
2. Many trips planned. I leave next Thursday for Madrid/Barcelona! More details later.
3. People in France don't cover food they put in their fridge. I think this is weird. They also don't do dryers. Or central heating.
4. I had class in the Louvre today. I sort of felt like I was making a movie about what it was like to study abroad.
5. The guard at the Sorbonne today (where I talk myself in everyday because I don't have an ID) told me I spoke very good French. This simple compliment left me floating on air.
Bedtime! All the cold is finally getting to me...I hope I don't tomber malade! (get sick)

des petits morceaus.

HOLY cow there is a lot that has happened. The longer I'm here, the faster time passes. I'm starting to feel more like a student and less like a tourist. I have a boulangerie I like, we've found the best falafel place near our school, I can finally find most of my classes in the Sorbonne, which is the most confusing building ever built. (For those of you who went to Chaparral, it is even worse than the 200 building.)
Classes at the Sorbonne are peculiar. For one thing, French education is much more methodical than American education. Our professors and lectures, while well put together, are not always structured in the same way. The French lectures all seem to go a similar way - the professor starts with something like "je vous propose" which means "I propose to you" and then outlines their lecture, almost always in three parts. It's a structure that I'm starting to appreciate as it makes it easier to see what the big themes of the class are.
I also got my first taste of American History from a French point of view. The lecture was on the Free Flow of Information doctrine and I had to contain myself from laughing out loud. American History taught in the United States is often presented as "And then America did the best thing ever for the world..." finished with whatever we believed was right. The Sorbonne professor, however, pretty much put it like this: "and then the Americans decided to do this because they thought it was best." When he talked about the French history though, WHEW, talk about patriotism.
Overall the Sorbonne has been a great experience and I'm learning A LOT, even though it is very hard. I'm sort of at an advantage because I don't have to take finals and because a big chunk of academic research has been done in English, so some of my classes even have English readings (English seems to be almost required in university here). I've made a Swedish friend who I've had great conversations comparing the US education system to the Swedish system. They get paid 300 Euro / semester if they finish all their credits on top of the fact their education is free. Think about that, Tufts!
In an IES class today I had moment where I forgot the lecturer was speaking a different language because I understood it so well. I guess that means my French is improving, which is a good thing.
Now for the tangible things I've seen and done in the last week. I've done a lot of wandering around both the Latin Quarter and Le Marais, two of my favorite areas of Paris. I've eaten a lot of crepes with Nutella. Been cooking a lot of delicious food at my friend's apartment with delicious French wine. Found a coffee to go place that wasn't Starbucks, which is a feat. I saw a very modern art exhibit in which there were piles of clothes everywhere. I went to another 60's "yeah yeah" concert. I had my first bout of real, home/America-sickness. I saw Avatar in French (it was an educational accident.) It has been VERY cold and has snowed several times. Many many pictures later.

an empire, a church and some artists.

Thursday: The last day of classes for the week, Thursday was a "mundane" day in Paris. We went to the Middle Ages Museum - the Musee de Cluny with my Paris Museums class. Though I'm not obsessed with art before Impressionism, it was amazing to be in a room (built in the 1300s) with things from the same era. Welcome to Europe.
Saturday: Went to Les Invalides, which is a whole compilation of things relating to war. Most famously, it is the site of Napoleon's "tomb" if you can call something bigger than most houses a tomb. It was HUGE and gorgeously decorated.

Napoleon is entombed inside that huge thing - in a box inside a box inside a box (etc.). The tomb is surrounded by all the names of his battles (notably leaving out Waterloo).

The ceiling.

Les Invalides is also a war museum, and I got to see armor from many centuries, which was amazing. To think that most of this armor came from before the United States was a country (or even "discovered" by the "civilized" world) really puts world history in perspective.


My favorite armor was children's armor. Though I'm not into child soldiers, it was hilarious to see the small scale version.

Sunday: In a huge contrast to Saturday's war-focused visit, Sunday we went to Montmartre. First, we walked up all the steps to Sacre Coeur and saw the church. While the church itself is very beautiful, what really got me was the view. One photo of each.



We then walked around Monmartre, the surrounding village, which was a huge artist hangout in the late 19th/ early 20th century. While the actual square was pretty touristy - lots of artists profiting off the tourist's desire to be "drawn", we wandered around and found some cool side streets to explore. Overall, absolutely amazing, per paris usual. The side streets were almost exactly what you think about if you try to imagine an ideal Paris. There was also a church from the 1100's that often gets overshadowed by Sacre Coeur, but was equally incredible (albeit much smaller - I appreciated their sign that said something along the lines of "We're a church, not a museum. Please do not walk around taking pictures during services.")




Last night I slept through the Superbowl (sorry, America). This morning I woke up and went to my first class at the Sorbonne. It looked and felt like a normal classroom while I was sitting in class, but then I walked outside and remembered that I was in arguably one of the most famous universities in the world. I'm not sure I'm ever going to get over that.

je suis la kate perdu.

The last few days have been relatively unexciting. I started classes and have been to most only once - they don't seem too bad. I'm taking Paris Museums, which I'm VERY excited about, because it means that I get to visit all kinds of art museums around Paris. This includes the famous ones - the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay - and the not famous ones - a couple visits are to painter's houses. Also at IES I'm taking Women and Conflict and French grammar classes. I'm officially a Sorbonne student now too. Those classes don't start until next week, and they are The Modern Arab World and Media in the US and France (that is sort of cheating, but I figure no more cheating than the French taking French history!). I'm honestly a little nervous about them. I know I can handle anything English classes throw at me, but in French, with real French students...?
I wasn't supposed to be a Sorbonne student, however. I was supposed to be taking a class at the ICP. Alas, I woke up at 7:30 this morning, got on the metro, got to the ICP in PLENTY of time for my class and it was nowhere to be found. I asked two different administrators AND called IES (all of this happened in French, which gets exceedingly more difficult when you are flustered and it is raining). They said there should be a list of classrooms outside the secretary's office. I found said list and my class wasn't on it. I was super stressed out, exhausted, and discouraged. My mom decided I was "Kate Perdu" (like pain perdu, the french words for french toast). If I was, I NEVER want to be Kate Perdu again, once was enough.
This afternoon I went to change my classes because it is unacceptable to miss classes in France unless you are dying, so IES tells us. They also made a point to inform us that staying out late did not count as dying. The registrar, who I really like because she's a. helpful and b. doesn't talk to me like I'm stupid just because French isn't my first language said that this is a fairly common occurrence. We found some classes to switch into and she showed me on the map where each classroom was. More exciting touristy posts this weekend.

overview

After two weeks here, it's interesting to see how much I've already been influenced by French culture - I've started to accept things as truth that would have driven me NUTS at home. With Ben and his mom here, we got to eat meals at a lot of delicious places. They were shocked by the amount of time it took for each course to get there, as well as the check. I've learned to accept it. There's something I love about the long meals - or long afternoon coffees. It places an importance on spending time with those you're with instead of rushing through eating just to nourish yourself. I love this concept (though it may be me romanticizing bad service). My host mother loves to have little fetes (parties) with her friends all the time. A couple of times a week they all get together for one of these long dinners and many, many bottles of wine.
In more concrete details, I've been going out a lot and have gotten the opportunity to see a lot of Paris. Thursday, a bunch of friends and I went to our first discotheque - lots of fun dancing and loud music! Friday night we went to a concert of "yeahyeah", which was 60's inspired music. Totally different scene from Thursday, but definitely a fun experience. I'm trying to soak everything in. Saturday afternoon Alison, Mike and I got wonderfully lost after going to the catacombs which were cool but truthfully a little creepy. We walked around and saw some quieter Paris and sat at a cafe and drank tea/coffee and chatted for a long time. I said goodbye to Ben at dinner Saturday night, which was DELICIOUS.
Classes start tomorrow officially, so I'm about to hit French overdrive. Hopefully I'll be able to understand a lot of it...time will tell!

less talking more showing.

I feel a little david after dentist when I say: "is this real life?"

la vie en rose

Whew - time for a quick update (many photos to come, I promise). Ben, my best friend from home, is here to visit this week with his mom. I've been accompanying them on many of the popular tourist excursions. Tuesday, I met them at the Musee d'Orsay, which is a huge impressionist museum with all kinds of famous Monet/Manet/Van Gogh. Very beautiful and amazing to see all these paintings that you've seen your whole life in real life, as opposed to in a flat print. I remembered some of Van Gogh's work from when my family and I went to Amsterdam, but I sure appreciate it more now. Most of what I remember from before was losing a tooth on a very crusty sandwich.
Wednesday evening we went up the Eiffel Tower, which was also breathtaking (I feel like words are falling flat as I'm trying to describe all of these things). I got off the subway stop and started walking to meet them - very confused because I didn't see any large, metal object recognizable by most of the world - and then I turned a corner, and there it was. It was lit up and I could not stop smiling - as cheesy as that seems. Meanwhile, the street vendors were trying to bask in the glow of the tower's beauty by trying to sell me cheap baby versions. I warded off a lot of "Ciao, bella"'s with this new blank "do-not-try-to-talk-to-me" Paris stare I've acquired. I'm practicing it a lot. French girls provide a lot of inspiration. Anyway, the Eiffel Tower is incredible. I can't wait until it gets warm and we can picnic in front of it (oh, what a life I'm living). We then went to dinner and I got my first taste of a prix-fixe menu in Paris. Most restaurants have them - you get an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert for one price. They range from reasonable to excessively expensive, ours was very cute. There was a man outside the front door accosting people walking down the street and we got reeled in.
Today, I went with my school to the Centre Pompidou. It was, to say the least, the most bizarre museum I have ever seen. Their consistent collection was pretty normal - IES arranged a tour for 15 of us, which was very nice. I definitely learned to appreciate some modern art (yes, I now even understand the background behind the bicycle on top of the chair as "art"). Their current installation, however, was very odd. Very, very, VERY "modern". It was an all women's collection. Some of it was thought provoking, some of it was fun to look at it, and some was beyond my comprehension. Ben and his mom happened to be there at the same time, so we browsed together for a bit too. Overall these last few days have been a sweeping overview of what Paris is famous for. I can't wait to delve deeper and see what's hidden behind the masses of tourists. A bien tot!

ob-la-di ob-la-da life goes on

Just when you're starting to get down on your French skills, convince yourself that you cannot actually speak the language that you've been taking for oh, 7 years now, you have a delicious dinner in which you manage to communicate more than "oui" "merci" and "s'il vous plait". We had a delicious dinner of "raclette" - which is essentially melted cheese on potatoes. Our host mom, who seems to know what Americans will and will not like, tells us that "tous les Americans l'adorent [all the americans love it]." It's very snacktivity - you melt the cheese at the table on a funny little grill looking thing and put it on top of your potatoes. Also at dinner tonight was Mimi's ami Andre, who is hilarious and seems to have done everything imaginable - including sailing across the Atlantic. Good company, good people, and good music (The Beatles and The Rolling Stones). It was nice that my brain stopped translating everything into English and let me just understand it in French. The rest of today was pretty mundane. Class, course meeting, homework, etc.
Yesterday was a day of walking around. I met a couple IES people at L'Hotel de Ville and we stumbled upon not only great street crepes, but also awesome modern art juxtaposed with old churches and buildings all around it.

We then walked through La Marais, Hotel de Sully, a bunch of parks (all of which seem to have statues), down along the Seine and we went into Notre Dame. Notre Dame is absolutely amazing. Then again, most of the architecture in Paris seems to be that way.


Then I went to "un fete" with my friend Alison at her host family's (famille d'acceuil) house. We had la galette, which is a French tradition. The tradition usually happens around Christmas, but it seems to extend far into January due to popularity. The delish cake is baked with something in it (ours had little animals) and whoever finds it in their slice is the king or queen of the party. Alison was the queen twice. Overall, two good days.

the last few days

Though I've been here almost a week (weird), I'm still on a bizarre time zone. I'm sure once classes start / I'm on some sort of regular schedule, it will be better, but I constantly feel tired no matter how much I sleep. Friday and Saturday nights we went out to some hoppin French scenes and hung out with some new IES kids. We also got our first taste of pushy French men. Whew, good thing I've acquired friends who help me thwart their ever continuing advances. Thrilling as this is, it's more amusing to think about the mistakes I've made since coming here.

1. Preservatifs DOES NOT EQUAL preservatives. It's condoms. I wish someone had told me that.

2. Je suis chaud DOES NOT MEAN I am hot, it means come to my bedroom, I am hot for you (words of seduction).

(Luckily I made the previous two mistakes at our dinner table where Mimi was very forgiving. She finds me amusing and American like. In one case, I said that French food has less condoms than American food. In the other I basically said I was "hot" at night. Go figure.)

3. Just because you can get off a subway stop does not mean you can make your way back to that subway stop. However, getting lost in Paris is nothing to laugh at. Last night, we were walking back to our subway stop, got lost, ended up at the Louvre. This cannot be complained about because it was GORGEOUS. I want to do all my sight seeing at night.

4. Putting your hands under the table while you eat is not acceptable. The French view it as sketchy, because who knows what you're doing with them.

5. Smiling at strangers is not allowed. It just makes the sketchy French men think you're coming on to them. (With the first two mistakes, it would seem like I am...)

un peu.

des petites reflections on paris, part one:

1. the cost of living is exorbitant. though my mom says (don't worry, i bbm her all day every day) that it is because they consume less - and definitely less conspiculously, absolutely everything i buy is much more expensive here. including lotion, which has to be disposable because sometimes you run out.

2. previous statement excludes cheese, bread, and wine - all of which are available for less than 3 euro.

3. the only person who has been rude to me was we were walking down the street, our first 24 hours in paris, totally lost, and laughing about it, an american (or at least perfect, unaccented english) said "girls [which boils my grits to begin with.], if you want to fit in, you better talk quieter." which leads to...

4. people are very nice and impressed (for the most part) if you try to speak french. this includes: waiters at restaurants, homestay families, people that sell you french cell phones, and people on the street. does not include professors in our program, who think we speak too much english.

Some Problems.

The first night I arrived, we were discussing food/our meals (I get three dinners a week with my homestay mother), and it came up that on my form I was a vegetarian. When we were at the group dinner, the other homestay mom said, essentially, she was glad that her homestay student didn't have "that problem". Now, in Scottsdale and in Boston there are not only thousands of pseudo vegetarian options (I do eat chicken, turkey, and fish), but also many of my friends share the same eating habits as I do. Today at lunch they had the hardest time figuring out who the "vegetarians" were- some are like me and some are full fledged veggies - and couldn't figure out what to serve us. Our food came like 10 minutes after everyone else's. It was interesting to see the French servers balk at the word "vegetarien", like it was some sort of taboo. They're big on ham here.

But the events of today: Marissa and I got VERY lost on our way to the FIAP - an international center - this morning. We arrived very late, wet, and cold. It gets very frustrating not knowing where you are and constantly following other's directions, although already I know some simple things (like which direction to go on the 13, our Metro Line, and how to get home). Today was a placement test, cultural information, information on our classes / how to take classes outside of IES, and information on our trips. Yesterday we covered safety, how to get around, how to get a cell phone (I officially have a European number!), and hundreds of other details. It was a lot of talking at us rather than talking to us, lots of lectures in very rapid French. I'm mentally exhausted because it takes a lot of cognitive effort to understand even simple sentences. Our excursions - we get two included in our tuition - look very cool. Our options are Giverny, Reims, Chantilly, Normandie, Fontainbleau, and Vaux-le-Vicomte. I'm hoping to get Giverny and Normandie, but for Normandie there's a sort of an essay contest to see which 35 students get to go. It's a two day trip to a very popular location, so I think that's why it's very competitive. Today was a long day full of information (just like yesterday, and just like tomorrow), but I know it will get easier like when we settle into classes and some sort of routine.

EDIT: Amazing how a little alone time, a great meal, and a French person telling you you speak good French can drastically affect your mood. A little movie night tonight and I think I'll feel better!

The Real Deal

So...I'VE ARRIVED! Overall overwhelming. And extremely jetlagged. Heathrow was a NIGHTMARE, but I understand their concern for safety. I almost missed my connection to Paris because of delays, but luckily they let me go in the fast line. I think they though I was going to be a pushy American, but hey, I'm not going to complain about not having to reschedule.

Before I sleep (I took a nap this afternoon, too), let me tell you: the French know how to cook. Tonight for dinner we had soup (which I initially thought was the whole meal) and chicken and potatoes au gratin. Then, we had cheese and bread and apple tart. This was over the course of like, three hours. I've met so many people and probably spoken more French than I ever have in my life. I suppose it is good for me! My host mother is wonderful, very nice and relaxed. She speaks English well but is definitely forcing us (me and my host roommate) to speak French (though later in the evening she began to speak English...I think she could tell that we were getting tired). My house is adorable. Will post pictures once I regain my ability to think straight. Just letting you know that I'm safe, sheltered, and good gracious well fed.

The Beginning of the Beginning (and other B's)

Going abroad is not as easy as they made it sound when I first got to Tufts. There are applications, application fees, permission to study abroad forms, leave of absence forms, and transfer of credit forms to name a couple of the initial hurdles. But Tufts made it a cake walk compared to the French government. First CampusFrance, then the consulate...let's just say it wasn't easy. For those of you've spoken to me in the last couple weeks, getting my a visa was a process riddled with problems. Fortunately, it came in the mail on Monday. I got my host family and my host roommate, and IES (my study abroad program) has provided me with their "Welcome Packet." The real challenge now is in pack ing- no easy feat - and emotionally preparing - an even harder task (not to mention pick my boots up from the cobbler, call the bank, activate my phone service and a whole host of other "small" tasks). All together, I'm a both nervous and excited to get this show on the road! My flight leaves Sunday, so that's when the actual abroad portion will begin. It's very bizarre that the mythical study abroad is almost here. I've been talking about it for years now and well, here it is. I feel unprepared and overwhelmed (especially coming out of the best semester of college), but I understand this is normal.

I thought it might be nice for those of you in the US to read up on what I'm doing in Paris (I'm sure I'll be far too busy, important, and French to talk to any of you). In any event, it'll be good to at least have some sort of record of what I did for four months while I'm in Paris. Baguettes, Berets, and Bonjour are three of the time honored cliche versions about Paris - just as studying abroad in Paris is a cliche on it's own. All of this may be true, but I hope I'll get to know the city beyond just the cliches. Whatever ends up happening, I'm sure it will be a big adventure.

Au Revoir for now!