Hey everyone,
So I've decided to delay further posting until after I get back to the states. Why? The only time I can really post pictures and sometimes even a blog is at school, and lately I have not had the time. I could stay after late, but honestly I would rather explore Paris. My posts have been getting more synoptic and I would love to have them overflowing with interesting information and opinions...right now they are so dry. So I'll make sure to keep track of what I'm doing here and then I will come back once I am home to tell you all about it. Sorry to keep you waiting!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
6th week
Friday, October 30th
I started my day out by going around the Luxemboug Gardens. Again, the fall colors were just brilliant here and there were also so many statues!
My favorite part of the gardens was a very cozy part full of a lot of trees, and in the middle was a gorgeous fountain and pond. I would have loved just to sit there and read or something, but I decided I would rather get some more discovering done.
I walked around a good bit and then, not really knowing where the metro was again, I ended up walking around practically the entire perimeter of the gardens, which was gigantic!
I traveled next to the Pantheon, which was full of pretty empty space on the inside but with really enormous paintings and statues. In the middle of course was Foucault’s Pendulum, which was actually pretty cool.
I then took the stairs down to the crypt, another attempt to celebrate Halloween I suppose. The layout of the crypt was really amazing and the light from the sconces against the stone really did make the entire crypt very creepy and thus very awesome!
I think I was able to walk around the entire crypt, but then again it was very maze-like and everything basically looked the same, so who knows. I did, however, pass by Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Rousseau, Marie Curie, Jean Moulin, and other highly praised and famous people.
As I started to leave I noticed a large group of people on the bottom floor of the Pantheon, and to my delight they were waiting for the last tour to the top of the Pantheon, for free! After waiting just a few minutes I was able to join the tour to the second floor within the building, to one of the higher levels outside the building, and finally to the very top where I had a 360 degree view of Paris!
However, there were two downfalls. For one, the city was really cloudy and foggy, so not only was it a little sad-looking, but it was also difficult to see too far. Also, it’s really difficult and a little awkward taking pictures of yourself, and I had to do this since I went alone. Oh well. I hope to go back there again with some people when it is sunny!
Saturday, October 31st
Saturday was a beautiful day, so I took the metro to Place Monge and walked to Rue Mouffetard in order to get a crepe from a small creperie famous for large and relatively inexpensive ones.
I found Au Petit Grec quite easily, but I had to wait in line for a very long time to get a crepe. I decided to go all out and get a ham, cheese, and egg galette, since crepes are famous in having ham (although I am definitely not a big fan), and since I had never had a galette before.
Let’s just say I wish I hadn’t had ham and I wish I had gone with a crepe instead of a galette. Nonetheless, it was still really delicious and definitely gigantic!
After I finished eating the galette I had planned to try to hit up some of the parks in Paris, especially since it was so beautiful outside. However, I wasn’t really feeling well so instead I took the metro back to school.
However, instead of going inside I decided to take a walk in the park across from my campus, a park featured in the last clip from ‘Paris, Je t’aime.’ The park was huge and absolutely gorgeous, with endless paths going up and down the hill, with a huge pond at one end of the park near the bottom of the hill, and with a very small, but pretty, waterfall.
The aura about the park was very youthful and it was really fun to just watch the people, whether it was from the old man walking in front of me by himself, or the endless groups of people playing badminton, or the organ grinder and actors playing for the little children. Absolutely beautiful!
After taking a nap and making dinner, I hung out for a good part of the night and then luckily convinced Melanie (many of my other friends traveled this weekend) to come with me to a Halloween party. The costumes at the party were quite insane, with most girls trying to dress up as Japanese Lolitas or some kind of Japanese doll super-hero thingy. Not only were the costumes insane, but they were just downright awesome!
The music was great and although we didn’t stay for too much of the main act since it was getting so late, it was still a pretty amazing time. Props to 8-bit Project, Dead Sexy Inc., and Tokyo Decadance…as well as that amazing (and pink!) first DJ.
Sunday, November 1st
Sunday’s weather was pretty miserable, and since I had a lot of work to do I decided just to take a small trip to Berthillon’s (famous ice cream) and Paul’s (famous chain bakery I have been wanting to try). However, I unfortunately found both places closed, so I decided instead to treat myself to another amazing Crème Brulee from Avenue General LeClerc, afterwards making myself dinner for the night.
Monday, November 2nd
The only thing (I think) that really happened on Monday was that we had a get-together between our French classes and some French students from one of the local colleges. It was interesting, but I wasn’t a big fan of the two guys in our group, who were okay, but slightly boring. There was free flan and other goodies such as Orangina, so that was my focus of the day, haha.
Tuesday, November 3rd
After class on Tuesday, Emily, Benny and I decided to go to dinner at a place Emily wanted to try. The restaurant was very tiny but the staff were really nice. I had delicious Confit de Canard, shared a bottle of really good wine, and treated myself to a Tart Tatin, which, although it could have been warmer, was one of the most delicious apple goodies I have ever tasted. The apples literally melted in my mouth!
Wednesday, November 4th
After class on Wednesday my professor organized a trip to La Picotheque (sp?), where they had a special exhibition on paintings from Vermeer, Rembrandt, and other painters of their time. Although I really loved to see both of these famous painters’ works, the place was really crowded and stuffy, and I actually had a hard time breathing. I felt really claustrophobic so I went through the gallery a little faster than I might have otherwise.
Afterwards I met up with two of my classmates and headed for my mentor’s place. UChicago has a Paris Alumni Program, and some of their members volunteered to host some of us students, whether it was for a night out to dinner, some kind of cultural dinner, etc. Our mentor, Samuel, the president of the Paris Alumni Program, invited us to his place on Wednesday.
As soon as we walked through the door we were all impressed. Samuel’s place was really tasteful, had a magnificent décor, and was just really impressive. He was really easy to talk to and pretty awesome, and his brother was also with him…and quite a character (really nice though).
Samuel made dinner, with a sour cream/egg cheese thingy for the entrée, salmon and mushroom risotto for the plate, and he offered some cheese but we declined. Not only did he make all of this incredibly delicious food, but it looked like 5-star food, with food and syrups decorating the plates and just overall amazingness. I wish I had a camera! He even had a spice rack in his kitchen that was absolutely glorious!
Here’s the ticker. Samuel asked us if we wanted desert and I don’t think he expected we would say yes. However, we did, and he was gone for about fifteen minutes, making mini chocolate lava cake things…off the cuff! He just randomly made it all, and it was perhaps the most delicious chocolate desert I’ve had here, with powdered sugar and a piece of chocolate adorning the plate. It was…pretty damn impressive.
Along with dinner we had some wine, and afterwards we had a digestive, something strong and pear-tasting, quite interesting. After dinner we talked for a very long time and listened to a lot of French music, and although we had arrived at his place around 8:30, we didn’t leave until around midnight!
Thursday, November 5th
After class and making dinner on Thursday I had to go back to class to watch a movie, Colonel Chabert, and then finally headed with Benny to go to our conversation session. I was so excited because we were going to see ‘Micmacs à Tire-larigot,’ a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, A Long Sunday, etc) starring a bunch of famous French actors, including my favorite Dominique Pinon.
Although the movie was entirely in French, it was one of those typical AMAZING French comedies where even just the physical acting not only lets you know what’s going on, but is exceedingly hilarious. It was definitely one of my favorite movies I have seen, and I hope to see it again as soon as possible…but with subtitles! So, so, so good!
Friday
On Friday I had to start my take home final, yet Emily, Melanie, and I took a study break where we went to L’as du Falafel (again) where I ordered a chicken curry sandwich. I was not as impressed this time because the chicken wasn’t as good as the falafel, but mainly the sandwich just wasn’t hot enough. However, this time they added some yummy coleslaw, and with the shug by my side I was happy.
We then took a walk to walk off the food and headed towards Berthillon’s, where we had some absolutely delicious mango ice cream, which kind of reminded me of sorbet. It was yummy! Berthillon’s was nearby Notre Dame, which I got to see for the first time during the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, but the others took some pictures for me and hopefully I will be able to take another trip back there, especially since the bridges and the river are absolutely gorgeous.
Although it was such a nice day we had to get back to continue working on our final…which had me up till 4:30am!
----
I woke up today without an alarm, and instead of reading over my essays just yet I decided to update this blog. But now I have to finish my final and then start packing for Italy, which I head for this afternoon!
See all of you in a week! (When I will put pictures up…haha)
I started my day out by going around the Luxemboug Gardens. Again, the fall colors were just brilliant here and there were also so many statues!
My favorite part of the gardens was a very cozy part full of a lot of trees, and in the middle was a gorgeous fountain and pond. I would have loved just to sit there and read or something, but I decided I would rather get some more discovering done.
I walked around a good bit and then, not really knowing where the metro was again, I ended up walking around practically the entire perimeter of the gardens, which was gigantic!
I traveled next to the Pantheon, which was full of pretty empty space on the inside but with really enormous paintings and statues. In the middle of course was Foucault’s Pendulum, which was actually pretty cool.
I then took the stairs down to the crypt, another attempt to celebrate Halloween I suppose. The layout of the crypt was really amazing and the light from the sconces against the stone really did make the entire crypt very creepy and thus very awesome!
I think I was able to walk around the entire crypt, but then again it was very maze-like and everything basically looked the same, so who knows. I did, however, pass by Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Rousseau, Marie Curie, Jean Moulin, and other highly praised and famous people.
As I started to leave I noticed a large group of people on the bottom floor of the Pantheon, and to my delight they were waiting for the last tour to the top of the Pantheon, for free! After waiting just a few minutes I was able to join the tour to the second floor within the building, to one of the higher levels outside the building, and finally to the very top where I had a 360 degree view of Paris!
However, there were two downfalls. For one, the city was really cloudy and foggy, so not only was it a little sad-looking, but it was also difficult to see too far. Also, it’s really difficult and a little awkward taking pictures of yourself, and I had to do this since I went alone. Oh well. I hope to go back there again with some people when it is sunny!
Saturday, October 31st
Saturday was a beautiful day, so I took the metro to Place Monge and walked to Rue Mouffetard in order to get a crepe from a small creperie famous for large and relatively inexpensive ones.
I found Au Petit Grec quite easily, but I had to wait in line for a very long time to get a crepe. I decided to go all out and get a ham, cheese, and egg galette, since crepes are famous in having ham (although I am definitely not a big fan), and since I had never had a galette before.
Let’s just say I wish I hadn’t had ham and I wish I had gone with a crepe instead of a galette. Nonetheless, it was still really delicious and definitely gigantic!
After I finished eating the galette I had planned to try to hit up some of the parks in Paris, especially since it was so beautiful outside. However, I wasn’t really feeling well so instead I took the metro back to school.
However, instead of going inside I decided to take a walk in the park across from my campus, a park featured in the last clip from ‘Paris, Je t’aime.’ The park was huge and absolutely gorgeous, with endless paths going up and down the hill, with a huge pond at one end of the park near the bottom of the hill, and with a very small, but pretty, waterfall.
The aura about the park was very youthful and it was really fun to just watch the people, whether it was from the old man walking in front of me by himself, or the endless groups of people playing badminton, or the organ grinder and actors playing for the little children. Absolutely beautiful!
After taking a nap and making dinner, I hung out for a good part of the night and then luckily convinced Melanie (many of my other friends traveled this weekend) to come with me to a Halloween party. The costumes at the party were quite insane, with most girls trying to dress up as Japanese Lolitas or some kind of Japanese doll super-hero thingy. Not only were the costumes insane, but they were just downright awesome!
The music was great and although we didn’t stay for too much of the main act since it was getting so late, it was still a pretty amazing time. Props to 8-bit Project, Dead Sexy Inc., and Tokyo Decadance…as well as that amazing (and pink!) first DJ.
Sunday, November 1st
Sunday’s weather was pretty miserable, and since I had a lot of work to do I decided just to take a small trip to Berthillon’s (famous ice cream) and Paul’s (famous chain bakery I have been wanting to try). However, I unfortunately found both places closed, so I decided instead to treat myself to another amazing Crème Brulee from Avenue General LeClerc, afterwards making myself dinner for the night.
Monday, November 2nd
The only thing (I think) that really happened on Monday was that we had a get-together between our French classes and some French students from one of the local colleges. It was interesting, but I wasn’t a big fan of the two guys in our group, who were okay, but slightly boring. There was free flan and other goodies such as Orangina, so that was my focus of the day, haha.
Tuesday, November 3rd
After class on Tuesday, Emily, Benny and I decided to go to dinner at a place Emily wanted to try. The restaurant was very tiny but the staff were really nice. I had delicious Confit de Canard, shared a bottle of really good wine, and treated myself to a Tart Tatin, which, although it could have been warmer, was one of the most delicious apple goodies I have ever tasted. The apples literally melted in my mouth!
Wednesday, November 4th
After class on Wednesday my professor organized a trip to La Picotheque (sp?), where they had a special exhibition on paintings from Vermeer, Rembrandt, and other painters of their time. Although I really loved to see both of these famous painters’ works, the place was really crowded and stuffy, and I actually had a hard time breathing. I felt really claustrophobic so I went through the gallery a little faster than I might have otherwise.
Afterwards I met up with two of my classmates and headed for my mentor’s place. UChicago has a Paris Alumni Program, and some of their members volunteered to host some of us students, whether it was for a night out to dinner, some kind of cultural dinner, etc. Our mentor, Samuel, the president of the Paris Alumni Program, invited us to his place on Wednesday.
As soon as we walked through the door we were all impressed. Samuel’s place was really tasteful, had a magnificent décor, and was just really impressive. He was really easy to talk to and pretty awesome, and his brother was also with him…and quite a character (really nice though).
Samuel made dinner, with a sour cream/egg cheese thingy for the entrée, salmon and mushroom risotto for the plate, and he offered some cheese but we declined. Not only did he make all of this incredibly delicious food, but it looked like 5-star food, with food and syrups decorating the plates and just overall amazingness. I wish I had a camera! He even had a spice rack in his kitchen that was absolutely glorious!
Here’s the ticker. Samuel asked us if we wanted desert and I don’t think he expected we would say yes. However, we did, and he was gone for about fifteen minutes, making mini chocolate lava cake things…off the cuff! He just randomly made it all, and it was perhaps the most delicious chocolate desert I’ve had here, with powdered sugar and a piece of chocolate adorning the plate. It was…pretty damn impressive.
Along with dinner we had some wine, and afterwards we had a digestive, something strong and pear-tasting, quite interesting. After dinner we talked for a very long time and listened to a lot of French music, and although we had arrived at his place around 8:30, we didn’t leave until around midnight!
Thursday, November 5th
After class and making dinner on Thursday I had to go back to class to watch a movie, Colonel Chabert, and then finally headed with Benny to go to our conversation session. I was so excited because we were going to see ‘Micmacs à Tire-larigot,’ a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, A Long Sunday, etc) starring a bunch of famous French actors, including my favorite Dominique Pinon.
Although the movie was entirely in French, it was one of those typical AMAZING French comedies where even just the physical acting not only lets you know what’s going on, but is exceedingly hilarious. It was definitely one of my favorite movies I have seen, and I hope to see it again as soon as possible…but with subtitles! So, so, so good!
Friday
On Friday I had to start my take home final, yet Emily, Melanie, and I took a study break where we went to L’as du Falafel (again) where I ordered a chicken curry sandwich. I was not as impressed this time because the chicken wasn’t as good as the falafel, but mainly the sandwich just wasn’t hot enough. However, this time they added some yummy coleslaw, and with the shug by my side I was happy.
We then took a walk to walk off the food and headed towards Berthillon’s, where we had some absolutely delicious mango ice cream, which kind of reminded me of sorbet. It was yummy! Berthillon’s was nearby Notre Dame, which I got to see for the first time during the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, but the others took some pictures for me and hopefully I will be able to take another trip back there, especially since the bridges and the river are absolutely gorgeous.
Although it was such a nice day we had to get back to continue working on our final…which had me up till 4:30am!
----
I woke up today without an alarm, and instead of reading over my essays just yet I decided to update this blog. But now I have to finish my final and then start packing for Italy, which I head for this afternoon!
See all of you in a week! (When I will put pictures up…haha)
Monday, November 2, 2009
Mussels, Care Packages and...Famous Dead People of Course!
On Tuesday was another day of long classes, and instead of coming home and studying all night for my oral midterm, Benny, Emily and I all went to Leon's for mussels. I ordered Provencal Mussels and out come a gigantic pot of amazingly tasty mussels along with fries and later a Belgian waffle with lots of chocolate. Benny ordered Leon's mussels and Emily ordered the original, and all were really really tasty.
Unfortunately, my stomach has shrunk a lot during these last few weeks and I couldn't take all the food I had on Tuesday, and let's just say only about have my food actually stayed in my stomach (ew, I know, disgusting) and I felt sick for awhile after that. Oh well, it was still yummy...haha.
My oral midterm went pretty well on Wednesday (I hope!) and when I came home I found out I had a package. Thinking the huge box was from my mom (think about it, who else sends me extremely huge packages all the way from overseas) I opened the box, but then say the card addressed from Adam!
The box was full of orange and black streamers and tons and tons of substantial food. One of the best gifts I have ever received, this care package was a lovely Halloween treat full of happy surprises!!!!
After I made myself some dinner I headed to the Louvre with my class for a little tour with my professor, which was a little long, but fun, and showed me once again how insanely gigantic the Louvre is and how I'll never probably be able to see it all...
After class on Thursday I took a trip with Melanie to Pere Lachaise, one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. It was one of the most lovely spots of all of Paris in my opinion, and with the sun low and the leaves changing color and falling, the beauty was just riveting! We walked by the graves of Fontane, Moliere, Edit Piaf, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison, and also just passed by whatever part looked beautiful and interesting.
A reporter at Wilde's grave asked her why she thought everyone kissed the grave, and while Melanie thought it was because Wilde evoked that type of passion (and because Paris in general brought that out in people), there I was screaming inside my head, "No way. Even I am tempted to kiss the tombstone and I can't even recall what Wilde has written. It's a social phenomenon. So many people have kissed it, there's history, there's a social pull." Well, the reporter didn't want to hear from me, so I had to leave my sociologist/psychologist inside my head.
Melanie headed to her conversation session and I stayed a bit longer at the cemetery, where I took another trip back to Wilde's grave to read the intoxicating message left there about Wilde being an outsider. After that I wanted to wander around a little more and find some more graves, but it was starting to get very dark and I felt very uncomfortable by myself in the middle of a dark cemetery (but yay for a small celebration of Halloween!), so I left and headed for my own conversation session.
During conversation we finally spoke some French, and I was able to ramble on a bit and felt slightly proud of myself, so that was nice.
Okay...I should do some work...I will continue later!
Unfortunately, my stomach has shrunk a lot during these last few weeks and I couldn't take all the food I had on Tuesday, and let's just say only about have my food actually stayed in my stomach (ew, I know, disgusting) and I felt sick for awhile after that. Oh well, it was still yummy...haha.My oral midterm went pretty well on Wednesday (I hope!) and when I came home I found out I had a package. Thinking the huge box was from my mom (think about it, who else sends me extremely huge packages all the way from overseas) I opened the box, but then say the card addressed from Adam!
The box was full of orange and black streamers and tons and tons of substantial food. One of the best gifts I have ever received, this care package was a lovely Halloween treat full of happy surprises!!!!
After I made myself some dinner I headed to the Louvre with my class for a little tour with my professor, which was a little long, but fun, and showed me once again how insanely gigantic the Louvre is and how I'll never probably be able to see it all...
After class on Thursday I took a trip with Melanie to Pere Lachaise, one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. It was one of the most lovely spots of all of Paris in my opinion, and with the sun low and the leaves changing color and falling, the beauty was just riveting! We walked by the graves of Fontane, Moliere, Edit Piaf, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison, and also just passed by whatever part looked beautiful and interesting.
A reporter at Wilde's grave asked her why she thought everyone kissed the grave, and while Melanie thought it was because Wilde evoked that type of passion (and because Paris in general brought that out in people), there I was screaming inside my head, "No way. Even I am tempted to kiss the tombstone and I can't even recall what Wilde has written. It's a social phenomenon. So many people have kissed it, there's history, there's a social pull." Well, the reporter didn't want to hear from me, so I had to leave my sociologist/psychologist inside my head.
Melanie headed to her conversation session and I stayed a bit longer at the cemetery, where I took another trip back to Wilde's grave to read the intoxicating message left there about Wilde being an outsider. After that I wanted to wander around a little more and find some more graves, but it was starting to get very dark and I felt very uncomfortable by myself in the middle of a dark cemetery (but yay for a small celebration of Halloween!), so I left and headed for my own conversation session.
During conversation we finally spoke some French, and I was able to ramble on a bit and felt slightly proud of myself, so that was nice.Okay...I should do some work...I will continue later!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Ladurees!
I know, I know, I'm awful!
Okay, so back to last week!
Last Friday we had civilization class, which usually doesn't occur on Fridays. It was to supplement our lack of class tomorrow (November 2nd). After class was our class trip to Chateau de Chantilly, a few beautiful building with really unique stained glass windows, endless chandeliers, and one of the most beautiful and cozy libraries I have ever seen!
We also went to the restaurant at Chantilly, where we dined on quiche, chicken, some cheese, and sweet apples. Pretty yummy!
After we arrived back in Paris a bunch of us all went out to dinner, yet I simply had a plate of fries due to a lack of hunger, before heading for a late night at the Louvre. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea the place was so gigantic. We barely saw anything even though we were there for a little more than an hour. It really is quite amazing, and I plan to spend as much time as I can there in the future.
I saw the ever famous Mona Lisa, which I wasn't planning on being impressed with, and I wasn't when I saw it. It was more interesting watching the crowd in front of the piece, the amount of security, and wondering why on earth it has come to be so popular.
My favorite part, of course, were the statues, as well as the medieval part of the old Louvre. Architecture and statues are always so amazing to me, and they were all so beautiful!
After a little bit of time at the Louvre we all headed to one of the bridges over the Seine to watch the light show (to celebrate the anniversary of the Eiffel) at the Eiffel. We did it up crazy style and climbed up onto a pillar on the bridge to watch the ~11 minute show. Absolutely beautiful, and a really fun time!
On Saturday I decided to explore a bit more and to see things I haven't seen yet, so I started my day out on the Champs Elysees, with that good ol' famous song in my head. Well, it was cloudy and rainy, so maybe the beginning of the Champs Elysees wasn't as beautiful as usual, but it was still a nice walk. And the stores further down were pretty remarkable and crazy expensive.
After walking down the Champs Elysees a bit I hit the Arc de Triomphe, which was a lot bigger than I thought it was. What I loved was that it had several names engraved from French Wars that I learned about a few weeks ago, so everything felt a bit more special because of that.
After the Arc I went to Montmartre again, probably my favorite part of Paris. I was going to order the Sole Meuniere, but the dish was quite expensive and I didn't really feel like eating alone, so instead I got some freshly roasted chestnuts (yum, yum, yum!) near the Moulin Rouge, which I wondered to accidentally, but which I was very happy to see! Of course, it wasn't as fabulous as in the latest movie, but it still brought out good memories. =)
After the chestnuts I decided to indulge in what one of my friends deemed to be the best creme brulee, and indeed it was! It was from a pastry shop on General LeClerc (who I also think has some of the best baguettes). It wasn't like flan (all the creme brulees here taste just like flan to me), but a creamy, sweet, and also slightly crispy yumminess. Heaven!
Instead of grabbing a small dinner that night or cooking something, Emily and I went to Polidor, a very well known restaurant where I ordered some melt-in-your mouth sausage and potatoes with a 10% discount. The place was packed to the brink and looked very western/parlor-ish. A pretty good find if you ask me.
On Sunday, unfortunately the only thing memorable was some yummy soup I made while doing homework. Oh well.
After class on Monday, Emily, Lloyd and I went to Laduree's, a famous patisserie/restaurant/chocolate chain store. We went down the other side of the Champs Elysees than I had previous visited. At Ladurees we all ordered different Mille Fleurs, mine with amazing cream and red fruit jam. It was delicious!
But best of all was the hot chocolate we ordered, enough to give me a whole two cups. It was thick and hot and one of the best things to ever touch my tongue. Insanely delicious!
Okay, well my internet is running slow so I will continue to catch you all up later and hopefully I will be able to put up some pictures tomorrow.
=)
Okay, so back to last week!
Last Friday we had civilization class, which usually doesn't occur on Fridays. It was to supplement our lack of class tomorrow (November 2nd). After class was our class trip to Chateau de Chantilly, a few beautiful building with really unique stained glass windows, endless chandeliers, and one of the most beautiful and cozy libraries I have ever seen!
We also went to the restaurant at Chantilly, where we dined on quiche, chicken, some cheese, and sweet apples. Pretty yummy!
After we arrived back in Paris a bunch of us all went out to dinner, yet I simply had a plate of fries due to a lack of hunger, before heading for a late night at the Louvre. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea the place was so gigantic. We barely saw anything even though we were there for a little more than an hour. It really is quite amazing, and I plan to spend as much time as I can there in the future.
I saw the ever famous Mona Lisa, which I wasn't planning on being impressed with, and I wasn't when I saw it. It was more interesting watching the crowd in front of the piece, the amount of security, and wondering why on earth it has come to be so popular.
My favorite part, of course, were the statues, as well as the medieval part of the old Louvre. Architecture and statues are always so amazing to me, and they were all so beautiful!
After a little bit of time at the Louvre we all headed to one of the bridges over the Seine to watch the light show (to celebrate the anniversary of the Eiffel) at the Eiffel. We did it up crazy style and climbed up onto a pillar on the bridge to watch the ~11 minute show. Absolutely beautiful, and a really fun time!
On Saturday I decided to explore a bit more and to see things I haven't seen yet, so I started my day out on the Champs Elysees, with that good ol' famous song in my head. Well, it was cloudy and rainy, so maybe the beginning of the Champs Elysees wasn't as beautiful as usual, but it was still a nice walk. And the stores further down were pretty remarkable and crazy expensive.
After walking down the Champs Elysees a bit I hit the Arc de Triomphe, which was a lot bigger than I thought it was. What I loved was that it had several names engraved from French Wars that I learned about a few weeks ago, so everything felt a bit more special because of that.
After the Arc I went to Montmartre again, probably my favorite part of Paris. I was going to order the Sole Meuniere, but the dish was quite expensive and I didn't really feel like eating alone, so instead I got some freshly roasted chestnuts (yum, yum, yum!) near the Moulin Rouge, which I wondered to accidentally, but which I was very happy to see! Of course, it wasn't as fabulous as in the latest movie, but it still brought out good memories. =)
After the chestnuts I decided to indulge in what one of my friends deemed to be the best creme brulee, and indeed it was! It was from a pastry shop on General LeClerc (who I also think has some of the best baguettes). It wasn't like flan (all the creme brulees here taste just like flan to me), but a creamy, sweet, and also slightly crispy yumminess. Heaven!
Instead of grabbing a small dinner that night or cooking something, Emily and I went to Polidor, a very well known restaurant where I ordered some melt-in-your mouth sausage and potatoes with a 10% discount. The place was packed to the brink and looked very western/parlor-ish. A pretty good find if you ask me.On Sunday, unfortunately the only thing memorable was some yummy soup I made while doing homework. Oh well.
After class on Monday, Emily, Lloyd and I went to Laduree's, a famous patisserie/restaurant/chocolate chain store. We went down the other side of the Champs Elysees than I had previous visited. At Ladurees we all ordered different Mille Fleurs, mine with amazing cream and red fruit jam. It was delicious! 
But best of all was the hot chocolate we ordered, enough to give me a whole two cups. It was thick and hot and one of the best things to ever touch my tongue. Insanely delicious!
Okay, well my internet is running slow so I will continue to catch you all up later and hopefully I will be able to put up some pictures tomorrow.
=)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Beginning of Second Quarter
Alright - so my only excuse is my horrible internet...but that's a pretty good excuse if you knew how horrible the internet was here! I'm currently in the process of uploading my pictures to my last post, so you should check that out!
*Mentally rewinds to last Sunday*
Sunday was full of studying for my two quizzes/tests, so that's not so interesting.
Monday I think I did rather well on the history test with just a few blanks, and I did pretty well on my French quiz with just two or three questions wrong. After class I walked around the shops trying to find a coat but having no luck.
Monday was the first day with my new professor, an old Romanian man who finds unlimited passion in life and who speaks in class as if he is telling a story, speaking softly at times, loudly at others, and laughing at his own comments. A really funny, interesting, and lovely man, but a little hard to listen to for more than two hours straight. I like him a lot though because he is not a typical UC professor, who makes the class talk the whole time.
What I hate about UC is that all I listen to are what other students think. I didn't come here for that. I came here to learn from UC professors, to learn facts and scholarly thought, not what Mr. or Ms. Know-it-all thinks. This is why Pavel, my current teacher, is high on my 'professor list.'
I've also started writing down his really insane comments...
Pavel: "All of us should eat cereal in the morning...with milk...AND EAT A VITAMIN!"
Pavel: "Kant is nicer than I am. All I see when I look inside me is a desire to eat an eclair."
Tuesday was a full day of classes. After classes I stayed at school, working to set up for an event at the nearby library and later take it all down, all to earn 30 euros. Success!!
Wednesday was more classes again. Afterwards I stayed for a visit from Peter Brooks (really famous, including directing Lord of the Flies!) and his troop of actors performing scenes from a new play entitle "11 and 12." It was pretty good and had a really interesting incorporation of movement, music, and a dramatic story. It was a little annoying because I could tell a lot of my classmates know nothing about theater, but that's a whole other story. It was really cool to be able to see Brooks though and finally get in some theater in Paris.
Pavel in class: "Poison is like vegetable...you have to eat them fresh."
Thursday was great because I only had one class - yay!
Pavel: "Don't laugh, don't laugh. I KNOW you are corrupt with those pastries!"
Pavel: (Speaking on pastries) "Virtue. On this one I would clearly be executed." "When I was your age I was ready to be shot right away."
Pavel: (Speaking on Burke's ideas) "I would like to unscrew my head and put it under my arm like in a Picasso painting. But for right now my head is here."
Pavel: "We are not perfect human beings and we will not be perfect for...the next two weeks. So be good."
After class Melanie and I went to the Rodin Museum, which I've been wanting to go to ever since I got here. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the museum had some outdoor exhibitions as well as two buildings full of sculptures.
Melanie took some really funny pictures of the two of us posing with the statues, so once she uploads them I will include some of them here. (I took minimal pictures due to battery conservation.)
What was really cool about the museum is that it was amazing to wonder how one single guy could sculpt so many things! It was also cool because he sculpted in a process and they had pieces of the same concept at the museum and then the final outcomes, which was really cool.
My favorite piece was one with a man and a woman together. I don't know why I liked it that much, but it evoked a feeling from me and I actually felt like there was a story behind it. Really quite amazing.
We also saw the famous "The Thinker" (which started my weekend of Touristic Obligation...as you will see alter).
After the museum Melanie and I separated and I walked through the Garden of the Tuileries. It was interesting in the fact that they had older sculptures but also had a lot of modern art exhibitions throughout the gardens, a mixture of the old and new.
When I was walking next to the pond there were these umbrella-shaped constructions in the water and I didn't know what they were until a heard the sound of a percussion instrument. From what I guessed (although I don't know for sure), I think someone threw a rock and I think the shapes in the pond were actually cymbals.
The garden also had these silver foam monster/dinosaur-ish heads...which were a little creepy. Some were scary looking, others just really funny.
After the Tuileries I had planned to go to Pere Lachaise, a really famous cemetery in Paris, but I decided I didn't have too much time, so instead I walked around the Louvre, which I hadn't been around during the daytime and then walked below the bridges and onto Pont des Arts, supposedly the best bridge-view of the city (I think others are better), and one of the scenes for that French song I posted a few days ago. The weather was so nice and the walk was a really peaceful experience.
I came back home and cooked myself some lunch/dinner before heading off with one of my group members Sara to our conversation session. We would have gotten there on time if we hadn't taken the wrong branch of the same Metro train...twice. After we finally got to our group our conversation assistant took us to a bar...but conversation was not productive at all and I didn't learn too much French, so it was kind of a waste of my time. Oh well.
After conversation I decided to head to bed because the next day was to be a huge excursion to Chateaux de Chantilly!
And all of this I will make a separate post later. I have some work to do first. =)
*Mentally rewinds to last Sunday*
Sunday was full of studying for my two quizzes/tests, so that's not so interesting.
Monday I think I did rather well on the history test with just a few blanks, and I did pretty well on my French quiz with just two or three questions wrong. After class I walked around the shops trying to find a coat but having no luck.
Monday was the first day with my new professor, an old Romanian man who finds unlimited passion in life and who speaks in class as if he is telling a story, speaking softly at times, loudly at others, and laughing at his own comments. A really funny, interesting, and lovely man, but a little hard to listen to for more than two hours straight. I like him a lot though because he is not a typical UC professor, who makes the class talk the whole time.
What I hate about UC is that all I listen to are what other students think. I didn't come here for that. I came here to learn from UC professors, to learn facts and scholarly thought, not what Mr. or Ms. Know-it-all thinks. This is why Pavel, my current teacher, is high on my 'professor list.'
I've also started writing down his really insane comments...
Pavel: "All of us should eat cereal in the morning...with milk...AND EAT A VITAMIN!"
Pavel: "Kant is nicer than I am. All I see when I look inside me is a desire to eat an eclair."
Tuesday was a full day of classes. After classes I stayed at school, working to set up for an event at the nearby library and later take it all down, all to earn 30 euros. Success!!
Wednesday was more classes again. Afterwards I stayed for a visit from Peter Brooks (really famous, including directing Lord of the Flies!) and his troop of actors performing scenes from a new play entitle "11 and 12." It was pretty good and had a really interesting incorporation of movement, music, and a dramatic story. It was a little annoying because I could tell a lot of my classmates know nothing about theater, but that's a whole other story. It was really cool to be able to see Brooks though and finally get in some theater in Paris.
Pavel in class: "Poison is like vegetable...you have to eat them fresh."
Thursday was great because I only had one class - yay!
Pavel: "Don't laugh, don't laugh. I KNOW you are corrupt with those pastries!"
Pavel: (Speaking on pastries) "Virtue. On this one I would clearly be executed." "When I was your age I was ready to be shot right away."
Pavel: (Speaking on Burke's ideas) "I would like to unscrew my head and put it under my arm like in a Picasso painting. But for right now my head is here."
Pavel: "We are not perfect human beings and we will not be perfect for...the next two weeks. So be good."
After class Melanie and I went to the Rodin Museum, which I've been wanting to go to ever since I got here. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the museum had some outdoor exhibitions as well as two buildings full of sculptures.
Melanie took some really funny pictures of the two of us posing with the statues, so once she uploads them I will include some of them here. (I took minimal pictures due to battery conservation.) 
What was really cool about the museum is that it was amazing to wonder how one single guy could sculpt so many things! It was also cool because he sculpted in a process and they had pieces of the same concept at the museum and then the final outcomes, which was really cool. 
My favorite piece was one with a man and a woman together. I don't know why I liked it that much, but it evoked a feeling from me and I actually felt like there was a story behind it. Really quite amazing.
We also saw the famous "The Thinker" (which started my weekend of Touristic Obligation...as you will see alter).
After the museum Melanie and I separated and I walked through the Garden of the Tuileries. It was interesting in the fact that they had older sculptures but also had a lot of modern art exhibitions throughout the gardens, a mixture of the old and new. 
When I was walking next to the pond there were these umbrella-shaped constructions in the water and I didn't know what they were until a heard the sound of a percussion instrument. From what I guessed (although I don't know for sure), I think someone threw a rock and I think the shapes in the pond were actually cymbals. 
The garden also had these silver foam monster/dinosaur-ish heads...which were a little creepy. Some were scary looking, others just really funny. 
After the Tuileries I had planned to go to Pere Lachaise, a really famous cemetery in Paris, but I decided I didn't have too much time, so instead I walked around the Louvre, which I hadn't been around during the daytime and then walked below the bridges and onto Pont des Arts, supposedly the best bridge-view of the city (I think others are better), and one of the scenes for that French song I posted a few days ago. The weather was so nice and the walk was a really peaceful experience. 
I came back home and cooked myself some lunch/dinner before heading off with one of my group members Sara to our conversation session. We would have gotten there on time if we hadn't taken the wrong branch of the same Metro train...twice. After we finally got to our group our conversation assistant took us to a bar...but conversation was not productive at all and I didn't learn too much French, so it was kind of a waste of my time. Oh well.After conversation I decided to head to bed because the next day was to be a huge excursion to Chateaux de Chantilly!
And all of this I will make a separate post later. I have some work to do first. =)
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