It's been a tiring week. Rachel arrived on Saturday with Meggie, one of her friends from high school, so I've spent the entire week either in class or taking them around Paris! It was so much fun to see her again! Unfortunately the weather wasn't as kind this week as it has been for practically the rest of the semester- it was cold and windy for most of the week. I managed to see alot with them though.
-Saturday they arrived at about 7 that morning, but by the time they took the RER into Paris and I met them at Gare du Nord, it was probably a little before 10. I took them back to my appt. because it was too early to check-in to their hotel, and they pretty much crashed on my bed for most of the afternoon. Once they were awake, I took them to the latin quarter to check into their hotel (which I had already found when she told me where they were staying), and then we went out to dinner and I took them around the latin quarter.
-Sunday we saw the Eiffel Tower, Centre Pompidou, the Bastille, and Place des Vosges, and did a lot of walking in between.
-Monday morning I went with them to explore the Champs-Elysees, and then I had to go to class while they met up with another friend of Rachel's, Emma. (Emma is abroad in London for the year and was visiting Paris on break). That evening I met up with the three of them and took them to Spaghetti bar for happy hour, and then we went back to the Eiffel Tower to see how pretty it is at night.
-Tuesday I had class most of the day, and in the evening I hung out with just Rachel, but we didn't really do anything special or touristy.
-Wednesday I had class in the morning, but in the afternoon I took them (Rachel, Meggie, and Emma) to Père Lachaise. After that we went to Jardin de Luxembourg, where we people-watched (one of my favorite Paris activities) and then had to say goodbye to Emma.
-Today I couldn't do anything with them, but in-between my two classes (at about noon) I met up with them at Jardin de Luxembourg to say goodbye. Then they went off to go to the airport.
It went sooo quick! It was too bad I had classes to go to, but that's part of the reason why Rachel decided to come with a friend, so that she wouldn't be alone for large chunks of the day. And I think they managed to see a lot while I was at class.
Next big adventure= a weekend in Provence. Mmmm I hope I come back smelling like Lavender.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
england and spain
London!!!
The bus ride: The bus ride was actually really fun! The bus was kind of full, so Jessica and I had to split up, but I sat next to an English girl who's studying abroad in Paris for the year, and was going home for winter break. She was super nice and really fun to talk to. She also used the following words: "dodgy", "rubish", "holiday", "crisps" (instead of chips), and more that I'm not thinking of, but it made me kind of happy hahahhaa. Her accent was adorable. The Chunnel part of the journey actually wasn't very exciting. Basically the bus drove into a train, so it was like sitting in a box for 40 minutes. But then when you finally get out, everyone is driving on the other side of the road.
The bus let us off at Victoria station, where Jess and I promptly found an ATM, got some pounds, and took the Tube to Kensel Green, where our hostel was. We were in a 4 person, all-female room, and the hostel included breakfast, so for only 9 pounds a night it was really nice! I was really pleased with it, at least.
Our first full day included a lot of walking. We started out in Hyde Park because it was just such a gorgeous day. We also went to Buckingham palace to see the Changing of the Guards, by the river to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Eye of London, we saw Covent Garden (theater district), London Bridge (hey, it's still up!!), the Globe Theater, St. Paul's Cathedral, and then we went back to Covent Garden and shared a pizza before going to see Lord of the Rings, the Musical. YES we totally did see it.
I actually really liked it. Things that impressed me were: the fact that they even decided to turn LOTR into a 3-hour musical, Shelob (the giant spider) which was a really cool giant puppet, the orcs (omg they were so cool), Galadriel, and Frodo singing the Cat and the Moon song (from the book) in the Prancing Pony with awesome choreography. Also, both Legolas and Gimli got to sing. And the stage was really cool. Disappointments were that they cut out all of Rohan and they cut out Faramir. They obviously had to cut a lot, but I was sad about the lack of Rohan.
The next day, we started the day in Green Park (beautiful day= must walk in parks!), then we went to Sunday morning mass in Westminster Abbey. Which was absolutely gorgeous (both the Abbey and the singing- it was a British boy choir that sang everything. So pretty!). After church we spent some time in the National Gallery to see some art, and then to the Tower of London! My favorite thing in the Tower of London gift shop was a kit to make your own chopping block model, complete with an executioner and victim. They had one all set up, and if you pushed a button you could watch the executioner chop of the head of some poor man over and over again. It was for kids. I was tempted to buy it.
That night we didn't have an awesome musical to see, so we walked around and ended up sitting up on Nelson's Column and talking for a long time, which was really nice.
For our last full day in London, it was once again gorgeous, so once again we started out in a park- Regent's park. Then we went to the British museum. Man those Brits really did steal things from all over hahaha. We saw the Rosetta Stone of course, and also the Room of Enlightenment (one of my favorites because of all the books), the stuff from the Parthenon, some of the egyptian exhibit and some of the roman-britain exhibit. So we barely even made a dent, but we spent so much time there! We ended the day by going to see Harrod's! Ahhh so much fun designer clothing. RACHEL- I saw a black and gold sequened dress that was actually pretty similar to the one I wore to Band Banquet- but for only about a few thousand pounds. HAHA. I am so fashionable.
We also went up to the kids floor (where the rich kids of London get their toys?). One of the guys working there was wearing these light-up wheels on his shoes. I thought they were super neat, so I looked to see how much they were (only 20 pounds!), and he came over to talk to us. And he liked our accents!! Haha. And he likes that we say "cool" instead of "wicked". :-D
The next day we flew to Barcelona. But before we left, I used my remaining pounds to buy tea and Cadbury eggs. I'm convinced that nobody does easter candy better than England.
Off with her head! (Tower of London):
Handy- a reminder that the Brits drive on the opposite side of the road. In case you forgot and look the wrong way.. :
Barcelona!
We didn't have as much time in Barcelona, so we didn't actually do as much as in London. We did walk around quite a bit. And Jessica doesn't speak a word of Spanish, so I got to try to speak a lot.
Our first night we checked into the hostel and then went to find Tapas, and to walk down by the water. The hostel=not as nice as in London. No breakfast, and the blankets were extra. And there were a lot more people in the room. Actually it was exactly what I expected a hostel to be like before I went to London. Haha.
Our only full day in Barcelona was spent at the History of Barcelona museum (which was really interesting. You got to see all the roman ruins which were cool.) Then we went to find the beach, and took a nap there. :-D We mostly spent the day walking around and exploring though. And we had more tapas for dinner. (squid, spanish tortilla, eggplant, olives, and tomato bread.) Oh, and we checked out the Sangrada Familia huge cathedral. Oh, and for breakfast the last morning, we went to a bakery, and Jess accidentally said "oui", so the lady at the counter totally thought we were French, and asked if we wanted something to drink in french. Haha.
Palm trees=joy:
Chocolate display of joy (similar displays found in several Barcelona display windows):
The bus ride: The bus ride was actually really fun! The bus was kind of full, so Jessica and I had to split up, but I sat next to an English girl who's studying abroad in Paris for the year, and was going home for winter break. She was super nice and really fun to talk to. She also used the following words: "dodgy", "rubish", "holiday", "crisps" (instead of chips), and more that I'm not thinking of, but it made me kind of happy hahahhaa. Her accent was adorable. The Chunnel part of the journey actually wasn't very exciting. Basically the bus drove into a train, so it was like sitting in a box for 40 minutes. But then when you finally get out, everyone is driving on the other side of the road.
The bus let us off at Victoria station, where Jess and I promptly found an ATM, got some pounds, and took the Tube to Kensel Green, where our hostel was. We were in a 4 person, all-female room, and the hostel included breakfast, so for only 9 pounds a night it was really nice! I was really pleased with it, at least.
Our first full day included a lot of walking. We started out in Hyde Park because it was just such a gorgeous day. We also went to Buckingham palace to see the Changing of the Guards, by the river to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Eye of London, we saw Covent Garden (theater district), London Bridge (hey, it's still up!!), the Globe Theater, St. Paul's Cathedral, and then we went back to Covent Garden and shared a pizza before going to see Lord of the Rings, the Musical. YES we totally did see it.
I actually really liked it. Things that impressed me were: the fact that they even decided to turn LOTR into a 3-hour musical, Shelob (the giant spider) which was a really cool giant puppet, the orcs (omg they were so cool), Galadriel, and Frodo singing the Cat and the Moon song (from the book) in the Prancing Pony with awesome choreography. Also, both Legolas and Gimli got to sing. And the stage was really cool. Disappointments were that they cut out all of Rohan and they cut out Faramir. They obviously had to cut a lot, but I was sad about the lack of Rohan.
The next day, we started the day in Green Park (beautiful day= must walk in parks!), then we went to Sunday morning mass in Westminster Abbey. Which was absolutely gorgeous (both the Abbey and the singing- it was a British boy choir that sang everything. So pretty!). After church we spent some time in the National Gallery to see some art, and then to the Tower of London! My favorite thing in the Tower of London gift shop was a kit to make your own chopping block model, complete with an executioner and victim. They had one all set up, and if you pushed a button you could watch the executioner chop of the head of some poor man over and over again. It was for kids. I was tempted to buy it.
That night we didn't have an awesome musical to see, so we walked around and ended up sitting up on Nelson's Column and talking for a long time, which was really nice.
For our last full day in London, it was once again gorgeous, so once again we started out in a park- Regent's park. Then we went to the British museum. Man those Brits really did steal things from all over hahaha. We saw the Rosetta Stone of course, and also the Room of Enlightenment (one of my favorites because of all the books), the stuff from the Parthenon, some of the egyptian exhibit and some of the roman-britain exhibit. So we barely even made a dent, but we spent so much time there! We ended the day by going to see Harrod's! Ahhh so much fun designer clothing. RACHEL- I saw a black and gold sequened dress that was actually pretty similar to the one I wore to Band Banquet- but for only about a few thousand pounds. HAHA. I am so fashionable.
We also went up to the kids floor (where the rich kids of London get their toys?). One of the guys working there was wearing these light-up wheels on his shoes. I thought they were super neat, so I looked to see how much they were (only 20 pounds!), and he came over to talk to us. And he liked our accents!! Haha. And he likes that we say "cool" instead of "wicked". :-D
The next day we flew to Barcelona. But before we left, I used my remaining pounds to buy tea and Cadbury eggs. I'm convinced that nobody does easter candy better than England.
Off with her head! (Tower of London):
Handy- a reminder that the Brits drive on the opposite side of the road. In case you forgot and look the wrong way.. :
Barcelona!
We didn't have as much time in Barcelona, so we didn't actually do as much as in London. We did walk around quite a bit. And Jessica doesn't speak a word of Spanish, so I got to try to speak a lot.
Our first night we checked into the hostel and then went to find Tapas, and to walk down by the water. The hostel=not as nice as in London. No breakfast, and the blankets were extra. And there were a lot more people in the room. Actually it was exactly what I expected a hostel to be like before I went to London. Haha.
Our only full day in Barcelona was spent at the History of Barcelona museum (which was really interesting. You got to see all the roman ruins which were cool.) Then we went to find the beach, and took a nap there. :-D We mostly spent the day walking around and exploring though. And we had more tapas for dinner. (squid, spanish tortilla, eggplant, olives, and tomato bread.) Oh, and we checked out the Sangrada Familia huge cathedral. Oh, and for breakfast the last morning, we went to a bakery, and Jess accidentally said "oui", so the lady at the counter totally thought we were French, and asked if we wanted something to drink in french. Haha.
Palm trees=joy:
Chocolate display of joy (similar displays found in several Barcelona display windows):
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Tecktonik video
This is kind of embarrassing, but it had to be posted:
Yes, that is us during Tecktonik class. It's harder than it looks!
EDIT- Here is the link to the site. Both Mom and Dad seemed to have trouble watching the embedded version, so if you can't watch it, you can go to this link and maybe then it will work (just copy and paste):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSqLjaa0Hgg
Yes, that is us during Tecktonik class. It's harder than it looks!
EDIT- Here is the link to the site. Both Mom and Dad seemed to have trouble watching the embedded version, so if you can't watch it, you can go to this link and maybe then it will work (just copy and paste):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSqLjaa0Hgg
Thursday, February 21, 2008
dancing and traveling
Exciting things to look forward to:
-Sunday I'm taking a tecktonik class with a bunch of people from the Sweet Briar program, and we're all pretty excited about it.
Tecktonik is a type of dance that is a huge deal here... here is a fantastic example of what it is:
YES that is going to be me soon. Hahahaha.
(I love walking around the Eiffel Tower and seeing the people doing this by the Trocadero Theater. My friend Amanda keeps saying we need to go out shopping for our "Tecktonik clothes".)
-A week from friday a friend and I are going to take a bus to the country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter and David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that.
In other words, we'll be in London for the first part of winter break! We'll be there four nights, and then we're flying to Barcelona (!) for two nights, and we'll be back in Paris for the weekend.
-After I get back from my exciting British and Spanish adventures, it will be almost time for Rachel (my Wooster roommate and fellow French major) to fly here for a visit!
Life is pretty good.
-Sunday I'm taking a tecktonik class with a bunch of people from the Sweet Briar program, and we're all pretty excited about it.
Tecktonik is a type of dance that is a huge deal here... here is a fantastic example of what it is:
YES that is going to be me soon. Hahahaha.
(I love walking around the Eiffel Tower and seeing the people doing this by the Trocadero Theater. My friend Amanda keeps saying we need to go out shopping for our "Tecktonik clothes".)
-A week from friday a friend and I are going to take a bus to the country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter and David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that.
In other words, we'll be in London for the first part of winter break! We'll be there four nights, and then we're flying to Barcelona (!) for two nights, and we'll be back in Paris for the weekend.
-After I get back from my exciting British and Spanish adventures, it will be almost time for Rachel (my Wooster roommate and fellow French major) to fly here for a visit!
Life is pretty good.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
a note on french baking.
In terms of baking, the French do some things pretty darn well. Their baguettes are delicious, and their croissants and pain au chocolats are heavenly. And they're really good at just making things look pretty.
But when it cames to cookies... Americans soooooo win. Their [the French's] idea of a cookie is something like if you made a cracker a little bit sweeter and put a little bit of chocolate or jam on it. Which is tasty... but compared to a soft chocolate chip cookie or peanut butter cookie- it's a great big fail.
So basically, if I decide to live in Paris later in life, here is how I'm going to make my livelihood:
An American cookie shop. Giant chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, molasses cookies, sugar cookies- basically all the cookies that the French are severely lacking.
One last thing about French baking: they can make decent pies. (For example, my host mom made a delightful pie this evening, with caramelized banana and a chocolate sauce).
BUT I'm still convinced that there's nobody in the world who can make a pie crust as well as my own mother.
But when it cames to cookies... Americans soooooo win. Their [the French's] idea of a cookie is something like if you made a cracker a little bit sweeter and put a little bit of chocolate or jam on it. Which is tasty... but compared to a soft chocolate chip cookie or peanut butter cookie- it's a great big fail.
So basically, if I decide to live in Paris later in life, here is how I'm going to make my livelihood:
An American cookie shop. Giant chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, molasses cookies, sugar cookies- basically all the cookies that the French are severely lacking.
One last thing about French baking: they can make decent pies. (For example, my host mom made a delightful pie this evening, with caramelized banana and a chocolate sauce).
BUT I'm still convinced that there's nobody in the world who can make a pie crust as well as my own mother.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
winter's on the wing
The last few days have been GORGEOUS here! It's been a perfect weekend for being outside. Friday for lunch two friends and I bought baguettes, cheese, and cookies at the grocery and had a picnic in Jardin des Plantes, and it was so lovely. All weekend I've been spending a lot of time outdoors, either in parks, walking around, or outside in cafes.
A Sweet Briar friend and I are about to buy tickets to see "Le Roi Lion" (The Lion King) on stage and I'm really excited about that! It's not until May, but we found out that you can get tickets for 25 euros. They're not prime seats, but it's still The Lion King on stage AND in French. So cool.
This evening Pauline (host sister) invited me into the other room to listen to the violin pieces that she's been working on. Her dad was there taking notes, and Gregoire (host brother) was recording everything, so it was pretty intense. She's really amazing.
Mmmmk I'm about to eat dinner, so I'll leave it at that for now.
A plus tard
A Sweet Briar friend and I are about to buy tickets to see "Le Roi Lion" (The Lion King) on stage and I'm really excited about that! It's not until May, but we found out that you can get tickets for 25 euros. They're not prime seats, but it's still The Lion King on stage AND in French. So cool.
This evening Pauline (host sister) invited me into the other room to listen to the violin pieces that she's been working on. Her dad was there taking notes, and Gregoire (host brother) was recording everything, so it was pretty intense. She's really amazing.
Mmmmk I'm about to eat dinner, so I'll leave it at that for now.
A plus tard
Monday, February 4, 2008
metro adventure of the day
So today I had a 1:00, and I met Rujuta downstairs so that we could take the Metro to Sweet Briar together.
Usually I walk down to St. Lazare and take line 12, which means I walk a tad further to the metro station but I don't have to change lines. So today, Rujuta said, "Hey, we should take Europe (line 3) to line 4 and take that to Sweet Briar. It will be faster that way!"
Right. Famous last words.
We switched over to line 4 and didn't even get to the next stop before the lights in the Metro train went out, then the train stopped. Some emergency lights came on, and the intercom says something along the lines of, "we had to make a stop, thank you for your patience". It was static-y, so I didn't understand all of it. Anyway, we sat like that for about 15 minutes. Then the intercom comes on to tell us that we're evacuating the metro, starting with the back of the train. That's when I called Jessica to tell her I wouldn't make it to class on time that day, and to ask her to tell the Prof (See mom? Cell phones=useful!).
So I go to the back, and comment to Ruju about how this is kind of exciting, when this girl who's standing there goes, "OH you speak English! What's going on??" It was a girl about our age who's from Australia and was just touring all over. So I told her that I pretty much just knew that we were evacuating, so we exit the metro via a little ladder, and got to walk along the metro tunnel to the next station.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but there were paramedics so someone might have gotten hurt? :/
Anyway, after we exited we were still a tad too far to walk (although it would be do-able, we were still on the wrong side of the Seine) so we walked with the Australian girl (whose name was Mel) to Centre Pompidou and took a bus from there. Mel got off at Cite since she was heading to Notre Dame, and we got off at Jardin du Luxembourg which is right by Sweet Briar.
Whew. Well, we made it eventually.
Usually I walk down to St. Lazare and take line 12, which means I walk a tad further to the metro station but I don't have to change lines. So today, Rujuta said, "Hey, we should take Europe (line 3) to line 4 and take that to Sweet Briar. It will be faster that way!"
Right. Famous last words.
We switched over to line 4 and didn't even get to the next stop before the lights in the Metro train went out, then the train stopped. Some emergency lights came on, and the intercom says something along the lines of, "we had to make a stop, thank you for your patience". It was static-y, so I didn't understand all of it. Anyway, we sat like that for about 15 minutes. Then the intercom comes on to tell us that we're evacuating the metro, starting with the back of the train. That's when I called Jessica to tell her I wouldn't make it to class on time that day, and to ask her to tell the Prof (See mom? Cell phones=useful!).
So I go to the back, and comment to Ruju about how this is kind of exciting, when this girl who's standing there goes, "OH you speak English! What's going on??" It was a girl about our age who's from Australia and was just touring all over. So I told her that I pretty much just knew that we were evacuating, so we exit the metro via a little ladder, and got to walk along the metro tunnel to the next station.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but there were paramedics so someone might have gotten hurt? :/
Anyway, after we exited we were still a tad too far to walk (although it would be do-able, we were still on the wrong side of the Seine) so we walked with the Australian girl (whose name was Mel) to Centre Pompidou and took a bus from there. Mel got off at Cite since she was heading to Notre Dame, and we got off at Jardin du Luxembourg which is right by Sweet Briar.
Whew. Well, we made it eventually.
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