Days 7 and 8 - A Calm Weekend

(My House)

Saturday began by having to take a test to place out of a class that I WANT to take. In other words I had to wake up early and take a long test for no reason! It wasn’t awful and the rest of the day was fun so it was bearable. After the test they divided the students in my program into two separate groups. Then, they took each group to lunch and a museum. My group went to a restaurant called le Polidor. It served traditional French cuisine and we were given a menu for a three course meal with an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert. I had a soup with foie gras, a plate of kidneys and rice, and finally a moist, soft purple cake topped with a shockingly tart berry sauce. The meal was good, but kidneys, I discovered, are not my favorite. The dessert and the soup were pretty good. Next we went to the museum called Museé Cluny. It is a middle ages museum and it was pretty cool. There are a lot of artifacts and on site they are in the process of a dig uncovering the former cathedral of Paris. After leaving the museum it was raining really hard but that didn’t prevent a protest by teachers and parents demanding a revival of the education system in France. We took refuge from the march and the weather in a café. Then my friends and I went to our houses and rested before going out for the night. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Place du Marché Saint-Honoré and the meal was really good. They love Italian food here and it is interesting to see their version of it. Since it was my friend Cristina’s birthday at midnight we left the restaurant and looked for a good bar, but everything in that area was a little too ritzy. We decided to leave and go to one of the most popular areas of the city, Châtelet. We got into a bar just in time for Cristina to have a drink at midnight. We then went to another bar and sat down for a little while before going home for the night.

Sunday I woke up and had lunch with my host family. We, coincidentally, had spaghetti and marinara. Like I said, Italian food is very popular here. We had very good Bordeaux with lunch and the host dad kept feeding me more wine without me noticing so I felt nice for the afternoon. We had a cheese course after the pasta and all the cheeses were incredible. My arteries are probably completely clogged because each cheese was very rich, but it was some of the best cheese I have ever had. Then finally I was coaxed into having some ice cream after the meal and some chocolates. That was definitely the big meal of the day. We discussed French politics, American politics, and finally some current events. It was cool hearing their perspectives on the world and comparing what they think to what I do. Finally after helping clean up I decided to go outside. I decided to go walk the meal off because it was a beautiful day and we live very close to a huge park. I walked through town to get to the park and I realized that many of the huge buildings I thought were apartments were huge houses like the one I live in. The park is called Bois de Boulogne and it is a huge park on the west side of the city with lakes and paths. There is also a big stadium which I believe is for equestrian events. As I was walking around the weather began changing as it always does in Paris so I rushed home to beat the rain. The rest of the afternoon I relaxed and after I make my dinner I am going to go to an Australian bar in Châtelet where I can watch the NFL playoffs and hopefully Marques Colston and the Saints dominate the Bears. Au revoir!

Also: I forgot to mention but on Thursday of this week, the museum I visited was in the Jewish quarter of Paris. After the tour my friends and I found a great restaurant for Falafel and Shawarma. It was cool seeing the Jewish quarter after hearing about all the anti-Semitism in France. It was a beautiful section of town and it didn’t seem any different than anywhere else. It made me believe that France is just like every country on Earth. There are groups who do and don’t get along and there are terrible people who hate. However, after observing the Jewish quarter and how normal and happy everyone was, it appears that France is no worse than anywhere else.