My Study Abroad Journal

Last thought

2007-12-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

Well I've closed my eyes, walked slower, breathed deeper, and listened intently.

Which means I interrupted some Parisian strutting, got a lung full of glorious pollution / cigarette smoke, and heard some unpolite words. But, I'm still overwhelmed, and terribly sad, that I'm leaving Paris in 4 hours.

Spring Break anyone? :)

See ya soon!

Love from Paris, for the last time this trip,
g

reality bites

2007-12-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

I've been all weepy and sentimental about Paris for a decent amount of time but these past few days have really been difficult. I think maybe it's just something that happens to all study abroaders - sadness about leaving the friends, the good times, the home away from home - the reality is, nobody I know is ready to close this chapter in their lives. One of my friends has even been here for 7 months and she is as heartbroken to leave Paris as the rest of us. In the past few weeks I've gotten really close to these girls and while one had left on Tuesday, the realization that I would actually be alone today was really hard. Last night was definitely the Minnesota long goodbye though, we just couldn't do it.

Deciding what has been the most rewarding part of study abroad is going to take me forever? if it's even possible. There are so many changes I've made that I am proud of, so many amazing friends and even more amazing memories with them, so many experiences that will affect me forever. Study abroad has been an like a life overhaul or something for me. It's been strange, but in a very very good way.

I am really in shock that tomorrow is already Saturday. I leave in no time at all. Oh it's just so strange...

en fin...

2007-12-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Exactly one week from the moment that I am typing these words I will be 7 hours 38 minutes away from home. Which would put me somewhere over .... Oh who knows. I won't even make it past factoring in all the delays I'm sure to have. Well anyway my point is..... " AH! Where's all the time gone." I think I'll save some of these stories of goings on over the past week or so for when I get home because well, I think there won't be anybody with any questions for me when I get home!? Sadness.

Oh by the way, anyone want to be a proofreader for me? Mom doesn't want to do it. It's a pretty killer paper. What's it about? Oh just a little something I threw together on the iconography found within the three portals of the occidental façcade of Notre Dame de Paris. No big. Oh and I suppose basic french would help.
Oh my Sorbonne stories will surely last a lifetime. :)

This time tomorrow, I'll be done!

Crazy love from the Sorbonne,
g

Guess what today was!?

2007-12-12T07:45:00.001-08:00

It was another day of transportation strikes! Yay!

Except when I got to Gare du Nord this morning to figure out the best route to school, I found my normal mode of transport, RER B, running normally without issue. In fact, when I got on, I got a seat! Which is indeed a rarity. Normally I have to fight for the right to stumble around in between the groups of seats so that I can have a shot at getting a seat when somebody gets off at another stop. Which usually doesn't happen or if it does, I get one at Port Royal which is approximately 2 minutes to my stop at Denfert. Well anyway, point is that not only did I have no trouble getting to school, I arrived there early, and in comfort. Apparently, RATP, decided not to really truly strike. Everything is running at 80% or so which is basically just the equivalent of a Sunday schedule.

Unfortunately it looks like the SNCF [ the railway] and AirFrance workers are going on strike again next week. On the 20th. Needless to say we have some pretty upset people at school, since that's the day everyone leaves. It'll just be a nice going away present for them. Also about 50 times less stressful than the issues I'm already having with my trek home. We'llll see.

It's been really ugly here lately. It's too warm to snow, usually in the high 30s/low 40s, so it has been raining all day every day. That's great because I need to stay in an get stuff done but I usually just end up reading my book and napping haha Not the kind of productiveness I need right now. Although the Sorbonne isn't helping me out much, my class was cancelled again yesterday for the 3rd week in a row. Which means I'll have missed the last 5 weeks [I can't go next week because I have a final]. Which is pretty ridiculous. Oh the french school system is just so glorious.

I was supposed to go to a christmas market with Camille's mom tonight but we cancelled because of the greves haha. Oops. We are going on Friday though so hopefully it will be a fun time. Until then, homework homework homework. :)

Love from gloomy Paris,
g

Time Flies

2007-12-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

I only have 3 more weeks!
Most days I can't even decide if that's too long or too short though so I'm trying to forget about it. Unfortunately this "Returning to America" countdown corresponds with a slightly less important but apparently more celebrated event. As I see my local florist stock an increasing number of christmas shrubs [ which unfortunately does not have a nice little path running down the middle ] and make trips to newly adorned Paris landmarks ... I'm reminded that 21 days from now I'll be back behind the wheel, playing in the snow with Nala, and watching some real TV shows on a real TV screen with the family! ... Ah but to be so far away from Camembert, legal consumption of amazing wines, and well ... Europe [ which is probably the saddest part ... just behind not having camembert ]. I'm even hesitant to trade my pre-metro walk for pre-driving windshield scraping - and I think I'd rather be smashed against smelly frenchmen than stuck in traffic on 36.
Ah but I don't have any time to be sentimental, 3 weeks to departure means 2 weeks to final exams - and believe you me, I gots stuff to do. Unfortunately the whole, "Write these immensely simple papers in french while you're at it" thing doesn't keep me from procrastinating. I think it actually makes it worse. I may be able to whip out 7 page papers on International Political Theory overnight but add in the extra step of manual spell / syntax check and it's just not possible.

Anyway, I haven't been up to anything interesting lately because of all these school issues. It was fun to talk to everyone on Thanksgiving - I hope everyone had fun at my house without me :*(. haha Well anyway I went to Rome so ... yeah ... jealous? I can guarantee not as jealous as I am of missing cream corn and wild rice and stuffing and mashed potatoes and turkey and ....
I put my pictures up! Enjoy! :)

[ Florence and Pisa ]
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2173219&l=1bc40&id=16916077

[ Rome : Part 1 ]
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2173250&l=93e53&id=16916077

[ Rome : Part 2 ]
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2173306&l=51a23&id=16916077

Love from A Very Noël-y Paris :)
g

Study Abroad Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

This thanksgiving I'm thankful for a few things [ let's see how this goes ]:

1. I'm thankful for McDonald's being everywhere I look because when it comes down to it, that McChicken sandwich will never taste good back home no matter how hard I try to enjoy it. Also because I feel like McDonald's is a born-and-raised American all the way but when it got sidetracked studying abroad in college and never went back home. MacDo is a global citizen and so I can go there guilt free or at least balance out the guilt with a nutella crêpe down the road.

2. I'm thankful for Fanpop, because without it ... I would have free time.

3. I'm thankful for RyanAir and its commitment to low cost airfare and that it's taking me away to avoid dealing with missing my favorite holiday by drowning it in Renaissance art / architecture, pasta, and gelato. Furthermore, I'm thankful everytime we touch down.

4. Finally, I'm thankful for everyone's emails / mail / blog comments / "Hi"s! Keep 'em coming, they're my favorite!

love and thanks from paris and florence!
g

I have to walk 20 miles uphill to school ... both ways!

2007-11-20T02:58:00.000-08:00

Does anyone share in my frustration with the strikes? Maybe my excessive posts on the subject with emote this anger...

Here in Paris it's day .... who knows ... and the metro / bus / train situation seems to be getting worse. I decided to forgo any attempt at dealing with being mashed between doors and smelly frenchmen. I took my chances with the sidewalks and walked my way across town. Walking really isn't the issue and the time is not as bad as it could be - the problem with walking to school is the fact that I'm exhausted before I even set out and end up slowing down to a stroll by the time I hit Chatlet [ oh about 45 minutes into my commute ]. By the time I got to Luxembourg Gardens [ about 1 hour 15 minutes ] I was swaying like a drunkard trying to stay awake until I at least made it to the sanctuary of the boulangerie with the amazing Pain au Chocolats by school. Somehow I managed to make it in 1 hour 45 minutes which was well under the time I allowed and I found myself excessively early again with nothing to do. At least I worked off the entire block of camembert that I ate yesterday for lunch [ I'm addicted - send me to rehab ]. I got my breakfast and went to the metro station to get myself a newspaper [ in the mornings there are free newspapers and I always get Metro if only for the sudoku... ] but apparently the newspaper people are on strike?

Actually, apparently, everyone is on strike now. Everyone being on strike works out for me in that the combined student strikes and [ newly commenced ] teachers strikes mean that my Sorbonne class is cancelled. So we have the teachers and students, transportation and now today civil servants and airline workers are going on strike. This spells problems for a lot of people at my school who are awaiting family and friends who are unlucky enough to be traveling via Air France - who are all going on strike.

On top of all this, the weather is terrible. It's freezing and it's rainy - two issues I failed to prepare for this morning due to laundry issues and the fact that I shut my curtains at night because they drown out the light absolutely - one should always look outside before venturing into the unkown.

Hopefully these french people get it together soon - I miss loving the metro.

The downfall of public transportation

2007-11-17T05:01:00.000-08:00

Well the week went interestingly. I missed my first class Thursday because the transportation website misinformed me about metro lines being open or closed [ I ended up having to walk because I couldn't get on a metro / all the metro stations near me were closed ]. I was pretty frustrated since we only get a certain amount of free absences and I hate to waste one because I couldn't be there in time - even though I tried.
Anyway, I think the french actually really enjoy these strikes. They hate how they disrupt their routines but, and I hate to confirm the stereotypes, the french love to complain about it. In my wanderings around town trying to get to school, and the sorbonne, and wherever, it became quite obvious to me that all the traffic, and accidents, and bicyclists, well they all are oppourtunities for confronation and arguments. Parisians love confrontation and arguments.
Other than that, I'm starting to look forward to coming home and seeing everyone again! I'm pretty bummed to be missing my favorite holiday and even more bummed that all my friends have their family over here now so our "French Thanksgiving" dinner won't be happening like I had thought. Dominique leaves for Rome on Sunday though so I think I will maybe do some sort of Thanksgiving for one thing then. I mean half the fun of Thanksgiving is leftovers anyway right!? I gotta at least have cream corn .... :).
I will definitely miss being over here - I've found it really easy to adapt to european life / french life. I think if I had a job I could live here for a long time [ although unfortunately .... probably not france - I'm sick of speaking French haha ]. Registering for classes next semester really made me realize how quickly this semester is coming to an end. I'm not exactly looking forward to my 20 credit hours next semester. :(
Today I have to try and make it out to the suburbs for Camille's mom's birthday party. Should be interesting - hopefully the trains will work in my favor for once. Maybe I'll have to brush up on my french insults before I go in case any arguments should arise :)
love and civil unrest!
g

"Strike!"

2007-11-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

I decided to ignore the current exchange rates and go ahead and plan a trip [ hopefully not the last but who knows ]. So today I decided to go out in search of a birthday present for Camille's mom and a travel guide for my trip. Unfortunately I didn't time it right and well, I was looking for n'importe quoi with basically every other person in all of Paris. Apparently, this strike is going to be pretty intense. It was originally supposed to start on Wednesday but it keeps being pushed up - now it officially starts Tuesday at 8. But on top of the total RATP strike [ so that means all of the suburban trains and all of the metro ], the SCNF strike [ all of the trains that run throughout the entire country ], and the buses [ probably ] ... students will be reinstating their strikes from last week [ they are striking against the governments desire to privitize university a little - make them pay at least something for their school ]. So the students are going to be joining in by blocking the train stations.
Needless to say, I'm not too thrilled about the idea of possibly dealing with no metro for the rest of the week. It will hopefully start working more starting on Thursday - but it will be very slow [ one train out of 5 at least ] and crowded, and annoying. At least they cancelled our classes on Wednesday. We have to make them up some Friday in the future but that's okay. Better than having to leave my apartment by 6 and walk all the way to school. So I get to enjoy a free day. Thanks strikers. Only Wednesday though. I don't want to walk to school Thursday.

In other news, I met a homeless hippie on the metro today [ or well he did all the talking ] who tried to convince me that he was Pope John Paul II's brother. Interesting. I can't say I really believed him but - he threw me a peace sign when he got off the metro. It was pretty classy.

I love Paris is the fall-time

2007-11-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

Yellows and Oranges suit this city really well. In my neck of the woods [ thanks to Baron Haussman ] all the the streets are lined with trees [ although it's not as beautiful as the ritzy Neuilly neighborhood ] and the falling leaves are really a pretty sight. The weather reminds me of home finally too. Cold, cold, cold. Only in the wind though. I hear that there is snow back home though? I'm pretending like it's not true ... I can't decide if I want snow here or not. Rumor has it that people freak out. They are terrible drivers as it is - and especially the crazy bikers. I don't want to watch them try it in the snow - I only trust Minnesotans on ice with bikes :).

I started going to Bikram yoga with my friend Leigh which has been fun. They had a 10 day trial thing that was decently cheap so we're trying it out. It's pretty intense - bikram - and even more so in french! We did go to the english class once though so we're getting the hang of it.

Last Thursday I went to show to see my favorite french artist, Ben Ricour. It was fun because I was definitely the only American there - it was a pretty low-key deal. After two years of wishing I would get to see him sometime I finally had the chance. It was fun. Plus the place was in a part of Paris I had never been before. A little sketchy but ... an adventure nonetheless.

So tomorrow I am going to see a Chateau with Camille's mom, Anne. Other than that, not too much planned for the future. Yoga, schoolwork, and dealing with another transportation strike [ more on that after I deal with it I'm sure - last one I skipped out on by going to London ].

Love from Siberia
g

Yes Ireland is really as green as you think.

2007-11-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

I'm in love with Ireland. Somebody please tell me I have some Irish heritage - there's gotta be some because me are Ireland are best friends forever.

I have two albums of pictures:

http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2169282&l=9c7c4&id=16916077

http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2169402&l=b7594&id=16916077

First album has all my pictures from walking around Dublin which means : Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ's Church, Trinity College, Temple Bar, and the Guinnes Storehouse. Along with some other random pictures mixed in there. Second Album is pictures from Howth, Ireland which is a little fishing village to the northeast of Dublin where we ( Leigh, Kate, and myself ) went for a day.

So much happened, not all of which is particularly interesting or suitable for all to hear...:) So I will just tell you that it was a fun weekend. Lot's of drama as a result of travelling with 2 other girls who are complete opposites, but it worked out the best it could in the end. We had our fun and met a plethora of amazing people, Irish and otherwise. The Irish are pretty cool though. I ate authentic Irish Stew, authentic Shepard's Pie, and an authentic baked potato ( haha ). I had fun. It was a good break.

If you want more stories or have questions about my pictures, email me! I love emails.

Love from almost Ireland!
g

20 hours of sleep and all the Evian I can handle

2007-10-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

I had to go to the doctor the other day thanks to some sketchy moroccan food. It was a very interesting cultural experience...

I got the names, address, and hours of some doctors close to my school who spoke english ( although I had already prepared sentences crucial to a good diagnosis ). So after my class I found my way to the building and entered the door code to get in. Well the doctor's office was in an apartment bulding which seemed really strange to me, but I guess maybe it's just a city thing - more practical than renting out space somewhere else. I had kind of assumed it would be some medical building or something. Well anyway I went in to the place and found myself in a waiting room which consisted of 15 chairs, 10 grumpy french people, and 1 table with a bountiful supply of magazine. At least 50 different ones. I was too spaced out to read anything though and I figured it would go by quickly. Unfortunately there was only one doctor and all 10 frenchpeoples were seperate. I waited for 2 hours. On top of that some girl budged in front of me - there's isn't a formal queue, you just figure out who was last of all the people before you and walk as fastly as you can to meet the doctor. Anyway the doctor's office was an actual office ( huge desk, mini library etc ) with a small area in the corner that had one of those exam bed/table things and various medical supplies. The doctor was really nice. He had me speak in french as much as I could and in english if I couldn't find the words. He wrote me out a prescription for some antibiotics and gave me my reimbursement forms. I had to pay him directly, 30 euros! Apparently though I get all those euros back.
My two prescriptions only cost me 6 euro though. :) Don't worry, I get that back too.

Anyway, I'm off for the holiday weekend tonight ( they have a government holiday for halloween but not thanksgiving? i think they have their priorites wrong ) and will get back Sunday afternoon. Should be a blast!

Happy Halloween from France!
g

Hotdish doesn't really work in France :(

2007-10-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

Every morning when I wake up the first thing I do is look at the time so I know if I have time to make myself late by falling back asleep or not ( right mom? ). Well when I woke up and checked the time this morning, I discovered it wasn't morning at all - it was 3:45 in the afternoon! Or early evening? Granted, I didn't get home until 4:30 and asleep around 5:30 ... :). My friend Sophie had friends from high school who are abroad in Spain visiting this weekend and we ended up going out for dinner last night. I don't think we actually got our food until 11:30 or so so my time clock has been way off since then. And apparently - last night was daylight savings time in France? Cause when I turned on my computer this morning it was different than every other clock in the apartment. I had no idea. I really miss my channel 4 news keeping me up to date on everything!

I've been really stressed this past week trying to get myself to study for midterms and pick projects for my Sorbonne class ( which is a mess of its own ). Unfortunately even though I don't have videogames or satellite television or a car or Nala to distract me .... I have found plenty of things to waste time doing. :) At least I had lots of time these past few days to crackdown and get stuff done.

Stuff like finding Baking Soda. Which was a struggle - apparently they don't use it over here. My first attempt at Chocolate Dainties was terrible whithout it ( and combined with no way to convert measurments other than guessitmating - mind you the most involved in making of chocolate dainties I ever get is eating the dough ... ). I had to go to the Bon Marche which is this really upscale department store and grocery store that has a small section of imported goods. All the important American things like popcorn, marshmallows, peanut butter, salsa, and taco kits. Except half of the stuff is made in Canada soooo.

I'm really looking forward to my trip this weekend though. It should be a blast and the girls I'm going with are really cool. We leave Wednesday night and come back really early Sunday morning. It should be interesting because we leave Sunday at 7 a.m. which means we need to be leave for the airport at 4:30 so we are going to cancel our hostel that night and just stay out late and maybe go to the airport if we get tired. Shall be intersting! We probably should have just paid the extra money to take the late flight back but oh well - Ryan Air is sketchy anyway.

Midterms start tomorrow and I just had a 3 hour dinner ( I will notttt miss these when I leave France! ) - I gotsta study!

Presents

2007-10-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

I put up so many pictures!

Normandy:
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2164014&l=73dd6&id=16916077

London ( 2 albums ):
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2164921&l=abe0e&id=16916077
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165636&l=15018&id=16916077

Anyway. I'll probably make a more in depth blog about Normandy because it was really cool. But right now I need to get to sleep - today has been a long day ....

Today I went to the bakery to get a sandwich for lunch like I do most Mondays and Wednesdays. I ordered " Sandwich saucisson s'il vous plait" like normal ( pronounced so-see-son ). I ended up getting a " sandwich crudite thon " ( pronounced crew-dee-tay ton ). Tuna is not saucisson though. I was too exhausted to debate phonetics unfortunately. We'll try again tomorrow/today.

I wish I would've known class was cancelled before I got to school...

2007-10-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well it's back to reality for me.
I spent the last week hanging out in London and Paris with mom and brian ( which I'm sure everyone already knows ).
We had a good time I think - I ended up getting to spend a lot more time with them than was originally planned. Especially since I went over to London wed night instead of thursday afternoon because of the massive transportation strikes in Paris that started last Thursday. Good thing too because the eurostar trains didn't start running again until Saturday really. Anyway we did a lot of hanging out and whatnot - trying to enjoy the cities, do some walking. I will say that our gastronomic adventures were splendid. :).
I'm disappointed to be back at school now because I'm really homesick and have started to realize there is actually a huge long list of issues I have with Paris. I still love living over here ( in Europe ) but France is starting to get me.
At least I made it through the weekend okay after getting back from London. Kate and I went out the watch the rugby game Saturday night and Sunday we went to the Chocolate Show and tested strange things like "Mayan Cinammon Hot Chocolate" and absolutly delicious things like chocolate covered pretzels. It was a little spendy for not a whole lot of samples but it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.
I think like 9 days until fall break though - there's something to look forward too. I think my friend Kate and I are going to try and plan a trip to London and Amsterdam too so there's something to look forward too. Especially since I'm not sure if I want to stay here all the way until January anymore :(.

Moliere, Aristotle and I are not friends

2007-10-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

I had a test today in my Questions of Aesthetics class that involved comparing arguments regarding the nature and structure of plays as explained by Aristotle in his piece "Poetics" and defended in Moliere's "Critique of L'ecole des femmes". Plus, the Aristotle piece was in Enlgish and Moliere's in French. I can't remember exactly if I wrote in french or english. Probably a mix - which was probably a bad idea considering my professor is uber french. It was a very unpleasant way to beging my morning. Or well, I began my morning being sick and missing my first class ( I never skip classes sick or not - except Shakespeare last semester ... ). Anyway, it was a really really really hard test worth a lovely 10% of my grade. At least everyone else had absolutely no idea what was going on. Did I mention that this is the class that reduced in size from 20 to 5 in one day. Smart kids.

Today, I saw a Hummer on the streets of Paris. Full size. Monster. In the 9th mind you ( where the streets are mostly one ways with cars parked both sides). Now I've always wondered why a person needed a Hummer in Minneapolis/St. Paul or even the suburbs for that matter but now I know. They have one because they have a higher likelihood of off-roading than this stupid french man. At least I know this guy's serious about cars - and reputation. My highest hope for Paris living is to see this man manuvering through the congestion that is Gare du Nord ( and all intersections within one square mile of said gare ). I always carry my camera with me so ... if it happens. Picture.

American cool at the big bad French school

2007-10-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today was the day to end all days and yet, here we are. The french gods must have been satisfied by the struggles I endured during my 2 hour "TD" ( discussion group basically... ) and concurrently, "Intro to the French Education System: All the glories and Maybe some failures ( in France!? Never!?! )". Let's see what kind of an account this turns into...

So I suppose I should've gotten a feel for things by the way my adventure at the Sorbonne started - the frantic emails and website scouring should've been a sign of the confusion and unpreparedness that was to follow. But no, I just showed up 45 min. early give or take 15 min. ( but put your money on giving ) in order to find the building, closest metro, classroom, general layout. Apparently showing up that early for TD's, while maybe not so much for the lecture classes, is absolutely insane. At least that's what I could gather from the frighten french girl I tried to talk to waiting for the class before us to get done. Apparently the only reason she was there so early was to talk to the professor beforehand. Or maybe it was just my strange french that was making her scared...Not as scared as me though. Especially after I tried to sit down in the empty classroom and was promptly shooed out of the room by a woman who needed to satisfy her baguette and cafe fix. Actually that was my professor ( for now ). So with still an hour to kill I walked around the floor - which took me all of 2 min. When I returned though, lo and behold, I heard english being spoken. I was toren though - the whole point of taking an outside class was to improve my french, learn about the education system, and make real french friends. Going instantly to the group of Americans probably wasn't the way to do any of those things. I was scared of the class though and so I went - and thank god I did.
I'm pretty much going to need all the help in that class I can get. Not necessarily because of assignments or anything ( we aren't required to do anything - it's basically going to be independent study ) but instead for just understanding what's going on. I've been surprised at how easily you can tune out here. I mean - I've gotten good at switching into "thinking in french" mode but that just drains me even quicker. And one can definitely still daydream in french - even if it's in broken sentences and strange grammer. Anyway, not helping the fact is the professor I ended up with ( classroom changes sent me the american girls and so I stuck with their plan ) is considerably random and never writes anything on the boards. At least she talks slowly. It's just honestly, realllllly daunting. At least when I tune out at IES there is constantly somebody asking the prof. to repeat the main point. Here they actually turn their phones off in class, take notes ( consistently ), and never leave the prof waiting for an answer.
While I get to skip out on the work that the real students have to do I still have to do something although...I have no idea what that something is yet. I think that we american students are just a big burden and waist of space because I have to figure out some sort of project/paper to do for a grade. Apparently this involves direct contact with my lecture professor. Lecture professors in France, to learn you a little bit about the system I suppose, don't have offices. Or office hours. Or apparently, a plan.
Hopefully my friends at IES can clear this all up for me. I'm too scared to wander up to what's bound to be a scary, blundery, eccentric, french man that will be teaching my Iconographie class and tell him that " I'm american, I'm taking your course, I'm probably too lazy and too undereducated to do an "exposee" on the facade of the Cathedral in Amiens, will you please give me something to do so I can increase the stress in my life. " Apparently it's supposed to be something along the lines of a 5-7 page paper on some sort of topic....in french. Eeek!

Well Dominique is in Germany until Thursday so I spent the rest of my day drowning myself in mindless french television. Said mindless television is of course none other than reprocessed versions of classics like "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grade?", "1 vs. 100", "SupperNanny" ( which was actually....awesome ), and "Idol" ( Well it's called "Popstars" and it's basically "Idol" ). More importantly ( Mom this is for you ) - I watched the french version of the BBC wondershow.... "How Clean is your House?".

Mmmm. I should probably get going on the homework for my other school where I have no idea what's going on. :)

Ah, la france.

Oh and hey - If anyone is looking for a perfect account of true French cultue ... I just finished reading it : A Year in the Merde by Stpehen Clarke.

"Bonne Nuit" from Paris!
g

Blame it on the Euro

2007-10-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

Exchange rates have gotten pretty ridiculous in my opinion so I haven't been up to anything very interesting. I've been doing an icredible amount of walking - this past weekend for instant I walked to the Louvre, 2 floors in the Denon wing, walked around the ritzy area that surrounds it, and then walked home ( I was gone for 8 hours). Not to mention that the next day I walked to the Musee D'Orsay and then all the way to Porte d'Orleans ( Basically entire length of Paris north to south ). I was gone pretty much all day. Really though this past weekend was absolutely beautiful! While I did choose to spend hours inside of museums - I definitely took advantage of the great weather too. It's fun to walk around Paris - it's the best way to get a true feel for the city.

All that walking did allow me to a realize a couple things about the city. For one, It's not that big! Well I mean it's immense but before I just had no really concept of how close or far monuments/roads/areas were to each other. Secondly, Paris is really really cool. Part of the time I absolutely hate Paris because of dealing with commuting, the expense of living, rude people ... but really the french are cool people. I blend in more and I think that allows me increased interaction with them. Even I'm starting to get annoyed by tourists. I have however been finding myself helping tourists quite often. I feel bad watching a french-english direction struggle and end up stepping in almost every time. I even helped an Irish couple the other day to the point where I modified my travel plans to give them a metro tutorial and show them which metro passes they needed. But they were grateful and I wasn't in a hurry. All of these tourists I help seem to end the conversation in a strange way as well - telling me, "And thank you for speaking english!" Now I really speak english just as often as I speak French around here between talking on Skype and hanging out with my friends so I can't be forgetting words or reverting to english with a french accent. I don't think I am that native either with my ipod and bright clothes. I guess I do wear scarves, walk fast, and try not to smile which are all very french....I'll take it though. Blending in is the point.

So anyway. Lots of class, tv watching on the internet, reading, exploring, and loving city life. Not to mention looking forward to going out for Thursday night dinners ( our new tradition - I love having dinner in Paris .... it's always so tasty ). I also booked a trip for fall break but I'll tell you all when that time rolls around :). Lets just say, I'm pretty excited!

I got pictures up so here are the links:

around paris
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160694&l=e774f&id=16916077

tours and giverny
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160694&l=e774f&id=16916077

enjoy!
g

a week in review

2007-09-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

This past week was a hurricane. I had a lot of downtime but also - a lot of shaky internet connectivity.

Classes started and I suppose that's where most of my time went. Everything turned out to be good choices except that my Questions of Esthetique class scares me to death. My professor speaks really fast and kind of mumbles ( not to mention around 15 people dropped it after the first day ). But....he writes film and book reviews for french newspaper and so I think it will be a good choice to stick with it. It's all really hard to deal with right now because by the end of my third class I can barely think anymore ( I've been getting used to thinking in french ). Monday night, Dominique and I went to have dinner at her friends house. Her friend is American although she has lived all over the world and has lived in France for awhile now. She was really a fun lady and dinner was a nice break.

Tuesday I just had one class- my french class - and I spent the rest of the day lounging around and doing some exploring. In the evening Kate came over and we continued to watch episodes of the office. Dominique invited her to stay for dinner and we ended up have an intense discussion about politics. It was nice to have somebody else there for a change. Plus, we got to speak in English. Yay!

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty boring. Kate and I made dinner at her and watched the Office apartment Wednesday night. On Thursday I went to a movie after class and walked from the Opera back to my apartment so I could see more of the street I live on. Thursday night we finished the office and ordered pizza. Same old, same old.

So Friday I had my first excursion with school to Giverny ( the town where Monet lived ). It was really a beautiful area and the gardens were awesome. Unfortunately it was really cold and rainy - not the best weather to be walking around outside in. I still enjoyed it though. Friday night we went out but didn't end up doing a whole lot of anything. Lots of walking and lots of money spent on kebabs.

Saturday I slept in really late and woke up to find out we were having lunch with Bastien, his girlfriend, and Domonique's brother. It turned out to be really fun ( except for the foie gras which I had mega issues eating without complaint - I hate foie gras ). I was however 2 hours late to a shopping excursion with the girls. We walked around for awhile but everyone was really depressed and homesick so we decided not to go out for dinner like we had planned. I still wanted to so I convinved Kate to go for food later. We found some random resturaunt that, while very overpriced, had possibly the best onion soup ever.

Today I met Kate to show her Montmartre and Sacre Coeur and to have lunch. We walked around a little bit and enjoyed the nice weather. I think now that October is rolling around everyone is starting to feel torn between Paris and home though. So this weekend was pretty low key and this past week was really stressfull with all the school stuff going on. This week should be interesting though because I start my class at the Sorbonne ( yeahhh....i know.... ) and I'm already scared out of my mind!

I'm working on putting up pictures from Tours from last weekend and Giverny as well. If the internet would ever work for more than 5 min. at a time it would be good. I'll post the link asap :).

love from rainy and cold paris!
g

Whoa - a little catching up

2007-09-24T09:39:00.001-07:00

Will anyone believe me if I told them I went an entire weekend without internet? Well, I did. It was not fun. I finally am saved though and I can recount the events of these past few days. So let's see...

THURSDAY
I did nothing very interesting. Well actually I guess sort of. We had class in the morning of course and afterwards Kate and I went to have Thai food. We apparently mistranslated in our excitment and stumbled into a Middle-Eastern restuarant which we thought was Thai...it was actually a Tea restaurant. We are adventurous though I suppose and I had .... I have no idea ... but it was pretty good. He gave us Baklava for free too which was excellent. We went our seperate ways planning on getting together the next night. When I got home I realized how bored I was going to be all alone all night though so I went to the Champs Elysees to do some window shopping and Kate met me there. We walked around and chatted and spent a ridiculous amount of time in Sephora smelling everything and discussing the product design.

FRIDAY
We had a test in our french class today so we got done a little early. My shoes broke so I had to do some shopping and I had also run out of my juice boxes and so I had to find a grocery store as well. I've been trying to learn the various metro lines by heart and now that I have a couple down pretty well and ventured to the other side of my neighborhood to acclimate myself. I made myself a quick diner and went to meet Kate at her apartment. I'm really jealous because she lives in the student housing and the apartments are really cute. We watched the Big Lebowski while we waited for our two other friends Leigh and Sophie. We planned on trying out some bars but we couldn't really find them so we did a lot of walking around. In europe they don't go out any earlier than 10 so needless to say....we were out pretty late. We had an absolute blast. We went back home in between metro opening and closing and all the taxis were booked so we had to take the nightbus. It was fun because it was a couple french people but was for the most part entirely comprised of drunken Irishmen. I slept for a while and ran home quick...

SATURDAY
...before meeting up with Pam! We went up the eiffel tower and had a nice breakfast. :) Thenn I ran back home and packed some stuff before going on to Noisy le Grand to meet Anne and Camille's friend Charlotte. We were on our way to Tours for the night to celebrate Camille's birthday and help her settle into her new apartment. It was fun because her brother Maxime was there and I haven't seen him since I visited back in high school. Camille's aunt came over with food and we had a picnic of various uber french foods and....wine. For desert we had homemade rhubarb tarte and cake. After dinner we went out to have a drink and see the town as much as we could ( it was pretty late ... and pretty dark ).

SUNDAY
Before heading back to Paris we stopped in Amboise to see the castle and have a coffee. We didn't get to go in the castle because of time restrictions but the town was cute and it was really nice outside. The countryside was pretty boring - really flat and lots of farmland. We ran into bad traffic jams and so we had to take a long route into Paris. Thankfully it was more interesting than the countryside - we got to go through little towns instead. I met Kate on my way back home and we got McDonalds for dinner and started our Office Marathon ( in honor of the new episode on Thursday ). It was a pretty slow day and a pretty relaxing night ( except for the very stressfull attempt to figure out the washing machine... ). Class started in the morning so I tried to get to bed as early as possible.

And more....

2007-09-19T16:13:00.001-07:00

So let's see -
After class I had Indian food for the first time in my life. Authentic Indian cuisine I should say. Or well, authentic french indian cuisine :). My new friend Kate wanted to try a place and I'm game for expanding my food horizons so I went for it. It was pretty good. We hit the end of their lunchtime hours so we got free rice and free nan. We made a date to try out the Thai restaurant next door tomorrow ( or today I suppose ).
Tonight was the "Welcome Dinner" boat ride on the Seine. I was afraid it would be pretty touristy but actually - we didn't really pay any attention to the sights. It was just pretty much a dinner cruise. Kate and I met up at 7:30 and went to the boat together. It's her first time in Paris so I got to be the one to experience the eiffel tower with her for the first time. Dinner was good - nothing too crazy. It involved mashed potatoes and let me tell you ... I had no idea how much I missed mashed potatoes. After dinner we quick went back to the eiffel tower for some pictures and arrived right on time for when it goes sparkly. That's my favorite second only to right at sunset. Ahh. We did some intense running in heels to make it to the metro before they closed and had to do even more running at our transfer because the people mover wasn't working! Really served its purpose - yeahhh. So anyway - I'm tired, long day, all this french is catching up with me again. I need a vacation :).

brioche heaven

2007-09-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Ah how I missed breakfasts of brioche, nutella and hot chocolate. yumm.
I have to update on yesterday today because I spent the night in Noisy le Grand at Camille's house. I was going to blog but then I realized I couldn't log in because my password ( don't hack in to my account! ) involves a keyboard sequence and their keyboards are different than mine! Oopps. So here I am.

Yesterday was a pretty boring day I guess. I had class. It was really really cold - I wore a jacket and a scarf. I had to do some shopping and also had to find Camille and birthday present for this weekend. I went back to a cute shop on the rue du Rennes that sells all kinds of little things. I found a contraptions for extracting tarts from their cooking compartments. I don't know what the word is in english or french. Anyway when you turn it over the wrong way you it stands up and resembles the shape os a little dog - it has a tail and the triangle part has two holes in it for eyes. It's really cute.
When I got back I got my stuff together and left for the 'burbs. Anne ( Camille's mother ) had invited me for dinner and to stay overnight because the trains at night can be a little sketchy and I have a couple transfers from my station to theirs. We had stuffed tomatoes that were my favorite from when I visited in high school. It was veryveryvery good. Unfortunately I had a lot of homework to do so I just did that and went to bed as soon as I could.
This morning I had breakfast with Anne ( there is no school on Wednesdays ) took a shower and went back home. I had to stop by quick because I had forgotten part of my homework and continued on to school.

Tonight we have a little party with school so that should be interesting. I'll update more later.

Until tonight!
g

Homework? Already...?

2007-09-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, back to reality.
For the rest of the week we continue with our french intensive classes. Our merry little group of misfits enjoys being at the bottom of the pack and it has been a reasonably enjoyable two hours of my day so far. A little humiliating but it's starting to come back - slowly but surely.
I had to get up early for a brief follow-up meeting on Housing with Rosa. Everything is pretty decent so far so we didn't have too much to talk about. After that I went to the FNAC to buy a book for my class and do some wandering around. They had a huge display on the biggest tv I've seen to date - a 103" Panasonic HD LCD. I wish I could ship that back home somehow...I could fit that somewhere in my room I'm sure :). My other meeting for the day was to register for my classes. I'm still not sure what exactly I'm going to be doing - I have to decide if I will take a class outside IES or not. It's a tough call. So I will for sure be taking.... "Mahgreb and the Muslim World", "Architecture of Paris", and "Questions of Esthetique" - plus a language class. Should be interesting...I'm just ready to get started so I have some sort of real routine around my day (Although I'm sure I'll look back wishing for the free time I have now).
I spent the afternoon doing homework and reading. It finally rained here ( it's been looking like it should for days now ) and so the weather was really nice - but cold! I had dinner by myself tonight and worked the gas stove without any help and having to use a match ( I'm pretty proud ). Pasta with parmesan cheese and garlic again. :) Very french.
I still have a little bit more homework but my brain can't think in french anymore so I'm off to bed. I added the rest of my pictures to a second album ... ( enjoy! ):
http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157515&l=d775f&id=16916077

bisous!
g

Veggie Burgers at MickeyDs and Truffles

2007-09-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

I would like to reflect on this past weekend as a beautiful blend of different facets of Genevan culture. From one corner of the cultural spectrum, Auntie Pam and I dined at the fine eating establishment of McDonald's not once but twice ( once because we were too late for anything else and once because it was sunday and everything is closed). From another, we walked around the very chic and very old ( and apparently aptly named ) 'Old town'. It really was a perfect weekend trip and honestly...I love Geneva ( I think maybe even more than Paris....!!! Don't tell! ).

So let's see.

We left from Gare de Lyon at 5:30ish which allowed for a great view of the French countryside before it got dark. The sunset was pretty cool over the corn fields and through the little towns. The train ride was about 3 and 1/2 hours to Geneva and by the time we got there is was dark. Our hotel was right across the street from the train station so we had an easy time orientating ourself to our little area of town. It was really nice and the rooms were big ( and what made me happy...they had a big shower ). It was pretty late for eating (even though dinner time is around 9 over here ) so we quick ran out trying to find a someplace that sounded appetizing. We couldn't find anyplace that was still serving food! Actually we probably could have if we had wanted some sort of Asian cuisine. I was absolutely shocked at the number of Asian restaurants - they were everywhere. We decided that Geneva must be where they run all their headquarters and business through but it was still....insane. The only other thing that really surprised me about Geneva was the number of young people. I had imagine Geneva to be a city full of old men and big corporations. Instead we ended up eating at McDonald's with what seemed like the enitre population of Genevan tweens. Back to the hotel for a good night of sleep.

We started off Saturday at the beautiful hour of 10:30 ( that may be giving us the benifit of the doubt... ). We ran downstairs to try and catch breakfast but no luck - we did happen to run into a very nice employee who let us eat croissants and drink coffee/hot chocolate at the bar instead. So I think maybe we took a hint from the fate of not setting an alarm and we took it easy. After running a couple errands we headed over to the old city to spend some time wandering through the market. It was really fun and more than once I wished I could teleport some old treasures back home. On from the market we made our way to some of the big sights of Geneva. We walked through a park that has statues of a few founders of the Protestant reformation and huge chessboards on the sidewalks. Wandering through this area was really interesting because real Geneva was easy to find. It seems to me that they love their outdoor living spaces - most apartments have balconies covered in flowers ( which is I suppose commonly european ). The people are immensely friendly, much happier than in Paris - everyone smiles and "Merci, beaucoup"s their way around town. Geneva is also surprisingly quiet and clean - their trams and buses run on cables ( electric ) and the traffic is rather light. It really is a city of character. After finding our way to a landmark piazza-like area we found our way to the Cathedral St. Pierre. This is the church where John Calvin preached and also ( as we discovered ) has a great view of the city. From the church, we found our way to the Hotel de Ville which houses the Alabama room ( where the Geneva conventions where signed ). We stopped for lunch at a cafe just across the street and had a good time. We found a chocolatier and bought some truffles ( I had forgotten how much I love those ) and I found a cute little mug in the shape of a cow ( which is apparently the symbol of Switzerland ). I think it will be fitting to drink hot chocolate out of it. After that we took a water taxi over to the other shore and took some time to hang out with the locals at one of the piers. It really was beautiful weather and everyone was out and about making the most of it! The skies were clear too so it afforded a pretty decent view of Mont-Blanc way off in the distance. Sometimes I would look around and be suprised to find mountains because the city feels like it should be a beach town. It was a nice thing to look up an see though - huge mountains faintly in the backgroun. For dinner we got a suggestion from the concierge for the best fondue. His suggestions were either 'Edelwiess' ( "Where all the Japenese men go." ) or 'Auberge Sauviese' ( "Where I go." ). Needless to say we went local. We had cheese fondue and meat...fondue ( where you cook it in oil ). In a strange twist of fate...the meat fondue was oriental fondue. It was really good though. Yummm fondue.

Today we woke up and made it to breakfast with plenty of time ( but our friend wasn't there today :( ). We decided to go find the UN and rent bikes to do it. When we realized where we were in relation to the two we decided to just walk all the way. The UN building was pretty cool although all the good stuff was pretty far back from the gated entrance. They still use it for some of their affairs and it was cool to see in person. We went back to the city and had ice cream along the docks while we did some pretty good people watching ( so many people were out either running or walking around in suits - it was so hot out though! ). We took the water taxi over to the other side ( towards the old town ) and just wandered around picking out cool apartments and window shopping ( everything was closed though because of sunday ). We found a nice little park and blended in with the locals for awhile enjoying the beautiful weather and beautiful city. I decided to take the train with Pam to Lausanne before going back to Paris so I could get a feel for the countryside. It was a good choice because it was really beautiful - I'm just amazed by the mountains! We had McDonald's for lunch because there was even less open than in Geneva. It was fun :). We got a chance to look around town for a bit and decided it nice but...doesn't do it like Geneva ( this of course was after like...20 min though so who knows... ). I left for Paris at 6:30ish and got to enjoy some really spectacular views of the sunset from up in the mountains. It was fun because I almost felt like I was taking a train through northern Minnesota - lots of lakes and pine trees and forests.

So now here I am recounting as best I can the weekend although I know I really am not doing it justice. Geneva is a absolutely beautiful city and I can't wait to go back! I'm working on putting up pictures as I write this and hopefully you will enjoy them.

http://minnesota.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157450&l=1ddf1&id=16916077

( I also would like to dedicate this entry to Katie in hopes that my ramblings are more than enough to make up and also....that they don't make you late for your learning experiences :)!! )

Love and Swiss Cheese!
g

A backwards day

2007-09-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day or orientation stuff at my school, IES. Actually though it was barely anything at all. They gave our schedule for the next two weeks ( finally ) and went over some of the basic rules and regulations. I was there at 10 ( they split us in the two groups starting at different times ) and I was done by 12. Everyone else seemed to know each other because almost everone lives on the other side of Paris - I think once we start our french classes it will be easier to make some friends. Today I just went off on my own which is what I prefer to a big group of people anyway.
I visited the cemetary at Monparnasse because it's just a block away from my school. I had read that Baudelaire and Man Ray are buried there among other famous people. The cemetary is really big though ( not as big as Pere Lachaise cemetary ) and it was difficult to remember where I was supposed to look ( they were out of maps of course ). After I wandered around there for awhile I went back to the apartment to drop off my school books and then I left again to do some sight-seeing.
At my school they gave me a pass that allows me to go to the Louvre for free anytime. It's pretty cool and I plan on using it to its full adventage ( even though I actually don't like the Louvre ). So I planned on going there and as I was leaving Dominique told me that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. Sooo...instead I went to ( ready for it? ) Conciergerie, Invalides, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower. Uhhh. I was very tired after today that's for sure. Everything was interesting although Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower not as much. I felt like I had to be a tourist for a day because even though I speak French all the time sometimes I forget that I'm in Paris.
I even ate at McDonalds tonight. Or well it was kind of lunch I guess. Either way....McDo is so much better over here and I have no idea way ( maybe it's because they serve beer and salade nicoise.... ).
A funny thing about today is that it was flooded with a mass of Scottish people dressed up in their kilts and whatnot getting drunk and shouting rugby cheers. I saw them at Gare du Nord on my way to school this morning - at the Gare du Nord ( still ) on my way back home - at all the sights I visited today - and at various Metro stations. It was insane. I still hear chants every so often. I don't think their game is even tonight....
:)

Oh and my address in Paris is ( if you want to send anything) :

Gretchen Deuel
c/o IES
77 rue Daguerre
75014 Paris
FRANCE

Calm before the storm?

2007-09-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well.
I made the move. I am a resident of Paris for real. Well maybe not for real but....:).
I made the voyage sans my huge suitcase and that was a smart decision because my brain was really fried. I got there a little late because my carte d'orange wasn't working and also because I'm just always late ( hopefully this doesn't happen tomorrow ). So my host family is really very nice. Dominique ( but I call her Madame Chatelle of course ) is here as well as her son Bastien ( he is here while he takes a test to move on to the next year in school ) so it's a good number of people. I put a few pictures up for now but it's hard to imagine the apartment - I will try and take some when nobody is here so I don't feel weird. I had a little area seperate from the rest of the apartment by a little hallway which leads to a shower/sink room and my bedroom. So it's nice to feel a little seperated with the option of joining in. I think this will really come in handy later on in this adventure.
So after getting a little acclimated and figuring out how to set up the WiFi Dominique and I went to walk around the arrondisment ( the neighborhood ) where I live now. I actually live in the 10th arrondisment but right on the edge of the 9th ( where Montmartre is ) so we walked around there. We had some tea in a little cafe at Montmartre and went to Sacre Coeur ( because it is my favorite place in all of Paris ). I still feel like I'm in the movie French Kiss because I still haven't seen the eiffel tower. Maybe I'm not really in Paris after all....!
We went back home after she showed me the best Bread and Pastry shops as well as the cheapest grocery store. Anne and Camille brought my suitcase to me around 8:30 and were able to meet Dominique which was good. We ate when they left ( they always eat around 8 or 9 o'clock in France ) and then I unpacked all my stuff ( finally! ). I finished in time to watch Lost with Dominique and Bastien ( it was the season finale which I had seen so they kept trying to make me who guessed right on what would happen next ). Time flies et voila - c'est 1:00!!! Oh well - I didn't expect to have an easy time sleeping tonight.

Love from Paris!
g

( I also put some of the pictures I have so far up on Flickr but I haven't edited them really yet so...good ahead and check them out but some are sideways. It still works though! )

A few photos

2007-09-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to upload a couple of pictures to show everyone before I go exploring. I will upload and organize more as time permits!

Just go here (you'll need to open a new window and copy it into the address bar...)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13162911@N04/

"make like the older people"

2007-09-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Camille told me that today would be very old fashioned and I think she was right ( expect that we returned a movie to "Video Futur" ).

We had a big breakfast on the balcony this morning because it was actually nice out again before we started off. It was good as always but I'm starting to miss frosted flakes and cinnamon rolls. Camille and I went to the market to buy food for lunch and to find flowers for later. She made me take pictures even though I hated too ( there's nothing I dislike more in travelling than feeling like a tourist ). It was fun to just look at the different food they were selling. It certainly was smaller than a market in Paris but it definitely had a lot on the White Bear Farmers market ( naturally ). We had a light lunch and headed off to Vincennes.
Vincennes is a really pretty town that is just next to Paris. It is like a french version of Edina I think - really chic and old ( people and homes ). Camille tells me that it's a wealthy area but I can't really tell the difference...all apartments in Paris are small. We had visited her grandparents when I was here before and it was fun to go back. We went for "l'appertif" ( like appetizers I guess but it lasts for a few hours ) so we drank tea and had little pastries. I was proud because I ate an entire slice of prune tarte - I don't think I ever planned on eating prunes ( I'm always scared to eat different things but I've been trying everything here ). It was good I guess although I will go for a Paris-Brest over a Prune tarte anytime. Anyway, I understood a lot of their discussion but after 2 hours I started to zone out. At least I tried a couple of times to give the American perspective for them and they liked that I was brave enough to contribute. Camille's grandmother gave us both flowering plants to bring to our respective nouvelles maisons ( camille in tours, me in paris ) and we were off.
Before returning home we made a detour to a petite town where there is a petite chateau with a grande garden and a grande view. It was built by the Marquise de Pompadour. We also drove by the huge Nestle chocolate factory which was funny because they have repainted the old buildings with brightly colored designs ( like something out of charlie and the chocolate factory ).

Alors...for dinner we had croque monsieur and ratatouille. Same old, same old. Tomorrow I move to Paris and it should be quite the adventure. :)

Hitting Home

2007-09-09T01:32:00.000-07:00

So far, in my adventure, I haven't felt like I'm in a foreign country really. At breakfast I feel strange - eating fresh brioche with homemade jams and drinking my hot choclate and tea from a bowl. When we went to Paris yesterday I think I actually felt like I was in France. Although I still haven't seen the eiffel tower again yet ( everytime I've been I've seen it stat ).

Before we went to Paris though I spent the morning being very American - I watched about 3 hours of television. Yay! Camille had driving lessons ( she is preparing to get her city driving license for when she goes to Tours ) so I got to hang out by myself. I will admit though, most of the time I was about 2 feet away from the tv flipping through my dictionary. It is really a great way to re-acclimate to the language. I did spend a half hour of my time watching a cooking show which didn't re-acclimate me to anything. Anne got home from work ( part of being a teacher is being at work on Saturday for parents to meet with her if they have questions ) and she made lunch of saucisson de lyon ( sausages and boiled potatoes that you dip in different dijon mustards ). It was very good and even better was that we ate on their balcony because it was so nice out.
When Camille got home we left for Paris. My transportation card worked fine and thankfully I haven't lost it yet ( if you lose it you have to buy a new one - it's about 85 euro per month ). We found my school which happens to be on a street very well known for it's food selection. There was every specialty shop I could imagine - jams, fish, fruits, choclate, meat, cheese. It is really "french" as Camille kept reminding me. We stopped at a cafe to have something to drink and destress a little. Then we tried out my metro line from home to school and went looking for my new apartment. It's in a really good area - very close to everything I could need ( even a McDonalds... ) and looks to be ( from the outside at least ) really good and really french.
We were both really tired so we had salads for dinner and rented a movie. My mom_dad_brian called me on Skype and then I went to bed.

Today is a big day so I should get going on that - I won't spoil the plot just yet so more to come later!

Love from The land of Tour Eiffel!
g

The day of Galettes

2007-09-08T01:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty slow day - we didn't really end up sticking to our plans and instead just wandered around the mall.
I slept in until 10:30 which was a miracle because I woke up at 4:30 and thought I would never get back to sleep ( thankfully I have like a years supply of dvds with me ). We had breakfast of hot chocolate, brioche (sugared bread), and pain au chocolate (croissants with gobs of choclate in the middle - they're my favorite ) folowed shortly by lunch. I called my school to let them know i had arrived and that turned out to be a big mess - it was the first time using my cell phone ( i didn't realize you don'thear it ring ) and it was difficult to explain that I was with friends not my host family.
Camille and I decided to go to a movie later in the day called "4 mois, 3 semaines, 2 jours" which was an interesting choice because the subject matter was intense and it was in Romanian with french subtitles. I liked it but I don't know if I agree with it recieving the Palme d'Or ( the extremely prestigious prize at Cannes ). Anyway, before and after we wandered around the mall and I ended up buying a sweater because it is really cold here - it has been rainy, grey, and in the 60s.
Camille had an appointment to go to so Anne and I had an apperitif ( the same wine as last night because I love it!! ) and talked while we waited for her to return. Then we got to go out to eat at "Menthir" which is a creperie that specializes in galettes. Galletes are a kind of crepe that you find in the Brittany region of France - they are salty not sweet like I think most people know crepes as. I had Gallette Paysanne which had jambon ( ham ), oignons ( grilled onions ), pommes du terres ( potatoes ), and creme fraiche. It was delicious! For desert I had a nutella crepe with coconut shavings and whipped creme. As is tradition we had cider with our crepes although their cider is spiked with some alcohol ( needless to say I slept well last night )!

Today we go to Paris to test out my carte d'orange and find my apartment and school. I am a little anxious but it's too late to look back now. I hope all is well with everyone - don't hesitate to send emails!!

Love from Noisy le Grand, FRANCE!
g

Starting off

2007-09-07T02:45:00.000-07:00

So the hardest thing I've run into thus far...using the keyboards here. I had forgotten how messed up they are!

The flights went well although I almost missed my connecting flight in Iceland. We were late getting off but made it in enough time for me to just make it through customs and also managed to distress a very stern, very icelandic customs officer (i couldn't find the way through...). Iceland was really pretty, from what I saw- it was so rainy and dreary it reminded me of Minnesota in the springtime (very green though). We flew over a golf course on our way in and I thought it was cool because it was right on the ocean.

I found Camille right away at the aiport and we attempted to take the train back to her house although this wasn't as easy as I had imagined with my massive suitcase ( I had to use the handicap entrances to the metro! ). We arrived home and had a snack. I didn't make it long before I had to take a nap. That worked until Camille's neighbor's baby came over and was causing chaos. So I played with him and Camille until Anne ( my french mom ) got home. Anne and I went to the mall and bought my cell phone ( it's very cute I will put a picture of it up later ) and my cqrte d'orange ( for using the metro ). I bought one that covers most zones in Paris so I can visit here all the time. Anne even gave me a key to their apartment which was very very nice of her. For dinner Camille made a zuchinni ( i don't know how to spell this.. ) tarte and we had wine that her aunt had made. It was very good! I will always prefer hot dish to everything else but....french food is very very delicious! :)

Well...I couldn't sleep on the airplane so I listen to my music and watched the entire sunrise. In the process I saw 5 shooting stars. I made some good ones but they were mostly for a good time. Seems to be heqding that way after day one! :)

Getting ready

2007-08-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

My massive list in my massive day planner is finally getting smaller and smaller. I have basically everything done but of course that doesn't mean my nerves are any calmer! Is anyone shocked to know I have but one lonely little suitcase that I'm bringing with!? Should be pretty interesting. I've already learned my lesson on packing though :).

We got our schedule from IES and looks like I have a vacation to look forward to in November and that's about it. There are a few field trips we have to pick from but I'm not sure which ones I'll pick yet. I'm hoping to go on the trip to Normandy because we do that right before Mom and Brian come over to visit me (so I can scope out all the sites). Other than that- I still have no idea what is going on once I get over there! We do a short intensive french session to catch us up and place us in the right language class (we do this before we start classes). Official start date of my school will be the 24th I believe. That seems really late to me. I'm not complaining though! More time to wander around the city :).

I hope everyone keeps me updated on what their up to so I don't feel so left out. I mean, we have class on Thanksgiving (Yes I know they don't celebrate it)- I already don't know what to do about that! haha.

Just a few more days of slave labor at the fair then it's "Au revoir Minnesota. Bonjour Paris!"
Ahh! ;)

Love from MN,
g

Counting down the days...

2007-08-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

So I am almost at T- 1 month now so I thought it was about time to get things started on a blog. I think this will be a good way to communicate with all of you who are interested in what I am up to while I'm away since I won't be able to make calls or anything. I'll post whenever I can so long as something at least mildly interesting is going on :).

So here's what I know so far...

I leave for France somewhere around 7:20 pm on September 5th. I'm flying Icelandair so we stop in Reyjavik for a brief layover before continuing (it's 45 min. so the possibility of getting stuck in Iceland is there but...I won't be too sad if it happens). I arrive in Paris September 6th somewhere around 1:20 p.m. (their time). For the next couple of days I stay with Camille and her mom (everybody remember her? she was here last summer)- she promised to help me buy a cell phone, Metro pass, and find my school.

I leave Camille on September 10th to move to my host family. Nobody knows anything yet about them so I will tell you all now.

They live on a street called rue du Faubourg Poissioniere (google earth it if you want- it's a good picture) which is in the 10th arrondisment. Their apartment is 5 min walking distance from the Gare du Nord which is the main train station in north Paris (the chunnel runs to the gare du nord) and it will be my main metro stop while I am there. 10 min walking in the other direction is Montmartre and Sacre Coeur which happens to be my most favorite spot in Paris! It will also be very close to a huge variety of cafes, concert halls, movie theatres, museums, tourist sites- basically everything. I couldn't have asked for a better location.

The family I will be staying with seems to be a perfect fit as well. My host mother is an interpruter (she speaks english and spanish) and does work for various government agencies. She has a daughter, Lea, who is 20 and a son, Bastien, who is 24. Lea studies culture and politics in school and is currently in Australia (she returns in October). Bastien studies politics. It seems that they picked me right away because I am studying cinema. Turns out that they all have a passion for cinema like I do and that they have neices and a friend who are all studying cinema and drama. We share interests and that they are very nice and open people!

Anyway, I don't really have too much planned beyond that. I know of (and very much look forward to) a few trips I will go on but I don't yet have exact dates. I just know school gets done on December 22nd and I will leave my host family and return to Camille who will also be back from her school in Tours. We will spend part of Christmastime in Paris and part at her country home in the Brittany region of France. Then it's New Years in Paris and then...I come back!

I should get my schedule with vacations dates soon and be able to map out a better schedule of trips. Hopefully this was interesting and I answered questions about what the heck I'm going to be doing. Anything I didn't answer let me know!

Love from (for now) Minnesota!
gretchen