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.