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)