A Less than Stellar Week...

As per my new resolution, I am attempting to write more frequently. This week was much much more boring than it should have been. Starting on Saturday-ish, I started feeling headachey and achey, and it was pretty bad Sunday, but Monday I thought I was on the mend...I was wrong. On Wednesday the flu hit with considerable force, forcing me to be bedridden and miserable for a solid 2 days. I had absolutely zero energy and could barely get out of bed. My madame was very sweet through all of this and brought me tea and, in very French fashion, asked me over and over again if I need a doctor or something from the pharmacie. The French LOVE their pharmacies, which to be quite honest, are good for very little. In America, you go to the pharmacy and you can get everything from macaroni to coloring books to cleaning supplies to actual medicine. Here, you can get some creams and lotions, and some medicine. Actually you can get some pretty strong stuff, as the pharmacists here can prescribe pills for minor things. But in general, pretty useless, relatively speaking. Anyway, as I had a good feeling that all I had was the flu, I didn't feel the need for a doctor or anything stronger than the asprin I already had, so I reassured her (again and again and again) that I would be fine as long as I got some sleep. I was a little concerned that after a couple days I was only mildly better. Today is the first day that I have felt pretty much all better.

On Friday my friends and I went to the Salon de l'Agriculture, which is basically like the state fair, but on steroids. It is held in a GIGANTIC facility with like 8 different "pavilions" (basically just huge buildings) that all house different aspects of the fair. We focused on the food one...and that was a good choice. It was 2 huge floors of French food and wine and cider and beer displays, from literally every region of France. More sausages and cheese than I could ever imagine. And ice cream, and foie gras (duck liver-actually quite tasty) and fish and caramel and escargot and SO MUCH BREAD!!! So here I was, surrounded by the best French cuisine it had to offer, and I was sick. I was well enough to walk around, so I thought I would be fine, but I did not dare to eat it. I decided it wasn't worth continuing to be sick. So, the experience was perhaps a bit lost on me, though I did try some tiny bits of a few things, and succumbed to the call of the most delicious kiwi sorbet. After a couple hours my friends carried on, but I need to be horizontal and asleep, so I headed home.

I ended up missing 2 classes due to my illness, including my first independent study meeting, which was most unfortunate. Nothing I can't make up, however.

Today, to celebrate the fact that I was FINALLY feeling well again, my friend Alexandra and went to a cafe to do homework! It was quite nice actually. It was right by the Eiffel Tower, which was very busy today. While I was waiting for her, I wandered around Trocadero Place, which is a very wide flat terrace with the best view of the Tower, and there was a group of breakdancers doing a show.

All in all, not the best week, but certainly not the worst. I am officially over being sick, and this week, my esteemed boyfriend comes to visit, and I cannot wait to show him around my city. Until next time!

Settling into the City of Lights

I have now been in Paris for almost 2 weeks, and am still very much in love with the city. I swear I would live here just for the metro... It is the best public transportation I have ever had the pleasure of using. I've had more of an opportunity to explore the city, hitting up a few museums, a few restaurants, and a few parks. That is to say, the best parts of Paris.

Our first weekend in Paris was a success, albeit a couple hours wandering around the 16th trying to find a club that no longer exists, apparently. It was one of the girls birthday's Friday night, so we went to delicious pizzeria and then tried to find "La Scene", which did not happen, and then trying to find any other bar, which also was a failure. Apparently on a Friday night most bars are closed at about midnight to a large group of young Americans... All the same, we had a good time seeing the city at night and getting to know each other a bit.

After wandering around my arrondissment for a while, we decided we wanted to take advantage of the sales going on that only happen a few times a year in Paris. We went to Les Halles, a gigantic underground mall with a ton of stores, a cinema, and lots of restaurants. I managed to find a skirt, a dress, and some shoes, so I feel like I'll be done shopping in Paris for while, despite the sales. I'd like to be able to do some travelling, which means no more retail therapy!

Saturday was a complete success, as I discovered that I live just a few blocks away from the Madeleine, a beautiful church with Greco-Roman columns and a marble and gilt interior. It was very fun to find such a historic and famous place so close to home!

A couple friends and I took walk in the Bois du Bologne last Sunday, a huge park on the west side of Paris. It's like 3 times the size of Central Park. We wandered around for a couple hours trying to find the Shakespeare Garden, which is apparently a garden filled with plants and animals that Shakespeare wrote about, and in the end never manage to find it... I guess our map reading skills need some work. We did however see a gorgeous, very picturesque lake with swans, and Chinese temple sort of thing, and many many dogs. We also found the Lac Superieur of Paris! Its tiny... But there were some very cute little toy sailboats and motor boats on it. It was very refreshing to have some exercise and get "out" of the city. Afterwards we went to a near by cafe and had some delicious hot chocolate and creme brulee!

On Monday we got a tour of our other school, l'Institut Catholique de Paris. It is a very pretty campus in the Latin Quarter, with a courtyard and a beautiful chapel. I will be taking my French classes there twice a week, and I am eager to explore the area famous for the cheap student bars and the Luxembourg Gardens.

For anyone who has heard of the catacombs in Paris, they are definitely worth a visit. We went there on Wednesday and it was sooo creepy! There are literally 6 million skeletons' worth of bones just lined up...for miles...under the city...in semi darkness. The people who put them there obviously had an artistic bone in them (har de har har) because they are all arranged very neatly, often in shapes or just very particular patterns. Its all very morbid and beautiful. And creepy. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

I had my first class on Thursday. It is a class about French literature, but so far it has more to do with medieval French than anything. I'm not sure about the rest of the class, but I spent all 3 hours on the edge of my seat as we talked about all the Romance languages including Occitan (Provencal) and Catalan, and deciphered a 13th century French poem word by word. I have a feeling I'll be enjoying that class very much... My teacher tends to go off on tangents, but since they are all linguistics related I'm quite content.

Our program has organized 3 day trips throughout the semester, and on Friday we had our first one, to the Chartes Cathedral. I had been there once before, but I had forgotten how

breathtaking and majestic it was. We got a fantastic tour from Malcolm Miller, a famous scholar of the cathedral who knows absolutely EVERYTHING about it! His specialty is the 13th century stained glass windows, which are absolutely beautiful and very complex. He explained two of them to us as if they were a book, as well as telling us the

history of the cathedral. It is the oldest surviving Gothic cathedral in Europe, which is pretty amazing considering the fires and wars it has been through. They are currently restoring it quite extensively, so there was a bunch of scaffolding and 3 of the windows were out. This made the cathedral quite chilly...no central heating on one of the coldest days since I've been here. We followed the tour up with very warming lunch however... crepes! They were delicious again, and following my random tradition of accidentally getting rum for dessert, I ordered a banana chocolate rum raisin crepe for dessert. The waiter brought it to me, then proceeded to completely douse itin rum and light

it on fire! Unfortunately, he didn't quite get it the first time, so he soaked it even more and tried it again. It was...quite potent...but delicious.

Friday night we attempted another night out on the town, this time with much greater success. (We did our homework this time...) My friend Elyse found this really cool-looking bar in her guidebook called Le Violin Dingue (the crazy violin) in the Latin Quarter. It was everything the book promised it to be! The ground floor was a very chill bar atmosphere with tons of students and relatively cheap drinks, and after midnight the downstairs opened. We walked down a low-ceilinged set of stairs into this very hip cave-like club, with a great DJ playing old favorites as well as the new hits just now coming to France, lots of unrestrained European dancing, and many men trying to dance with us... Luckily we had one male with us who was able to fend off the worst of the attention. We met a few interesting French guys upstairs who danced with us a bit, and in general the evening was a blast! I would definitely recommend this place and am planning on going back there again.

One amazing thing about being a student in Paris is that we get a student ID card that gets us into many museums free, and the rest are we get into at a very discounted rate. On Saturday we were able to "profiter-en" as our teachers always tell us to do, and we

took a trip to the famous Pompidou Museum of modern art. It is a huge museum with both permanent and temporary exhibits, and we only saw 2 of the 6 floors of it before we were too pooped to continue. It has some really amazing artwork, even if you aren't really into modern art, so I was most definitely satisfied. I was even more satisfied when we availed ourselves of some delicious pittas at a cheap falafel cafe nearby! They were sooooo good. French food (and even Lebanese French food) is definitely all its cracked up to be.

I saw my first movie in Paris last night, "Sex Friends" as its called here, or "No Strings Attached" in the US. It was a delightful rom-com, and I even tried to follow along with the subtitles, so I don't feel too bad about seeing an American movie here.

Today our French classes started, and mine so far seems really easy, so I'm going to try to move up a level and get the most out of my classes while I'm here.

Whew! These posts get way too long when I don't write for 2 weeks! I will definitely try to update this a little more often...

To those living vicariously through me, I hope you are having a superb time, as I am. Paris is fantastic.

Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

Well. This blog is an experiment, as I have no idea who will actually read it, but I guess it's partly for me anyway. So maybe keep that in mind? I don't know. Anyway, Paris!

Living in Paris has been something I've dreamed about for many a year, so this is really a dream come true. I've been here for about 2 days, and so far it has wildly surpassed all my expectations. I really don't know what it is about Paris, or why I and thousands of other people feel this way, but something in this city is like a drug. It definitely inhibits any receptors of, well, pretty much anything except for dopamine. At least that's what it feels like. I walk around the city and all I can feel is wonderment, inspiration, and an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. I feel as though this is where I am absolutely meant to be, without a doubt. Did I mention I've only been here for 2 days? I can't imagine how I'll feel in 2 months, but we'll just take that one step at a time.

I started my travels by spending 6 days in Galway with my wonderful boyfriend, which was very fun. Due to the, um, inclement weather (galeforce winds and plenty of rain), we spent the first 2 days pretty much entirely indoors. On Saturday, however, despite the continuing rain, we opted for a day trip by bus that stopped at the Aliwee Caves, the Cliffs of Moher, and a slightly ruined castle. It was by far the best way to see the area around Galway in the limited time I had there. I'd love to go back to Ireland (especially in the summer when there might be slightly less rain...) and see more of it, but I certainly got a taste. We went out the pubs one night, where we spent a lovely time listening to a cover band that was a lot of fun, as well as a rather drunk Irish man, who we could not understand in the slightest. For all we know, as we were relying on simply nodding and smiling whenever he spoke, we agreed to go home with him or something. Luckily nothing dire followed the "conversation". His companion for the evening was another, probably drunk, Irishman, but this one was very different. He was completely silent, but demonstrated perfectly that one can communicate quite well without saying a word. He even gave Erik and I a kiss before they left, so I feel like the luckiest girl ever. I think he liked us. It was a short trip, but filled with very interesting moments.

After having an extremely stressful couple days discovering that I would be paying about 3 times as much as I expected for my flight from Dublin to Paris, I arrived here. We stayed in a hotel the first night and I met my group from Madison. They seem like a great group, and I've already gotten to know a few of them quite well. I expect they will be a lot of fun, and I will make some good friends here. Our first night, 6 of us went out to dinner at La Beurre au Sale, a creperie near our hotel. It was recommended by someone at our program center, and it was wonderful!! It was the perfect combination of company, food, and laughter. Our very nice waiter convinced us that we had to have cider with our crepes, so we happily obliged, and it was a very good choice. France has good cider! I had a salmon crepe with creme fraiche, and then a salted caramel crepe for dessert. It was as delicious as it sounds!

We have been doing a lot of orientation, with bits of exploration of the city on our own. We don't start classes til next week, and this Saturday we have a boat ride on the Seine to look forward to, followed by a welcome lunch at a very nice restaurant.

Last night I moved into my accommodations for the semester. I chose to do the homestay option, in order to improve my French as much as possible. We didn't know until right before we met our family who they were, so we were all very excited to find out. I am living, like many people, in an apartment with an older single woman. Thats the drab description. Where I am actually living is in a huge, beautiful, old apartment building with a wonderfully sweet old madame who seems like a treat! The apartment is filled with what looks like beautiful old furniture from the 1800's, lots of fine paintings, and even a wall covered by an old tapestry. I feel like I'm living in a dumbed down, slightly more modern version of Versailles, though that may be a bit of an exaggeration... My bedroom, which I have to myself, has 2 beds, as well as 2 dressers and a desk. I share a bathroom with my other housemate, an 18 year old British girl who I haven't met yet as she is in London til Monday. I think I will be very happy here, especially once my French improves enough that I can understand more of what my Madame says. She speaks incredibly fast French to me, not slowing down at all. I can understand most of it, but I hope it improves soon. It will be nice to have one other English speaker in the house, just in case.

Soon classes will start, and it will be a whirlwind of even more new experiences. I am taking French, a French Literature class about the city of Paris, and an independent study about French words in English. I think all my classes are going to be fun and interesting, and the best part is that I only have class 2 days a week, Tuesday and Thursday! I hope this will help with travelling, as it will be much cheaper to travel on Thursday and Monday.

More as it comes in, but that was a not-so-brief introduction to my time here in Paris! Happy reading (for whoever does end up reading this).