Friends and Home Alone!

(Radio de la France a block from my house)

After not doing much on Monday I had a very busy day on Tuesday. I had to give a presentation or “exposé” in theater on the eight hour play that we had just seen. Luckily I had plenty of material, but it was difficult to focus on one aspect without including everything, but I did well. After class we had a mixer with students from one of the French universities. We went to a café and had crepes and talked for awhile. The students were really cool and a group of us went out afterwards to go to a bar that they highly recommended. It was really fun and now I can integrate into French social circles. Wednesday, I had a long day of classes and after I had dinner with my family. We had duck which was prepared really well and once again it was a bird that he shot on one of his hunting trips. I didn’t have class on Thursday so I decided to meet some of my friends who were going out. First we went to a hookah bar, then most places were closed so everyone went home except. My friend Geneva and I stayed out and sat down for while on the street looking at statues and other crazy people who were out. Thursday I woke up really early to go to a 9:00am movie sponsored by EDUCO. It was called “La Mome” and it was about Edith Piaf the famous French singer. We saw it at this really cool mall called Forum des Halles which I just read sits above the largest subway station in the world. The film was like “Walk the Line” and “Ray” and I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. Later, I met my friend Dan at Jussieu (a French university) when I was trying to figure out what happened with my class that was cancelled and if it was being rescheduled. We went to his house and then to a park to hang out. There were so many people at the park as there always are in Europe. There was an amazing bird (a crane or egret) that was in a lake at the park that we watched for awhile, after we realized it wasn’t fake, because it was hunting. Then we went to Starbucks. So now I have eaten at McDonald’s and Starbucks while in France which I am not pleased about. That night we went to see a play by Molière called “l’Avare” at this really cool and old theater near the middle of Paris. The theater is called Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin and it the style is traditional and quite different than the other theaters I have visited. I felt that the other plays we have seen were better than this one but it was funny. After the play a lot of people from the group went to our favorite bar, O’Sullivan’s, which was only a few blocks away. It was really fun having everyone in one place. The next morning when I woke up, my host family was packing up for their ski trip in the Alps. They showed me how to lock up the whole house and said see you Saturday. I thought they were only going away for the weekend so this was a complete shock to me. I went to EDUCO to watch a really funny and stupid movie called “Brice de Nice.” It was a nice way to end the week. Friday was my friend Julia’s birthday and her parents came to visit for the occasion so they took a group of us out for a really nice dinner. It was great French cuisine and I think it was a modern style of preparation. Her parents were really fun to eat and talk with. Then the group came back to my house and we hung out for the rest of the night. Saturday, I met my friends at the Rodin museum. It was a beautiful day so the gardens were incredible and there was an interesting exhibition of his drawings. I loved the whole museum, but the drawings were the best part. Here are some pictures of his sculpture “Le Penseur” or The Thinker.

After the museum we came back to my house and had bread, cheese, and wine. Then later we made dinner and had a crazy night. It was a really fun even though we didn’t really do anything except sit in my kitchen. Sunday I went ice skating in front of l’Hotel de Ville. The building is incredible and except for a few falls I had a really good time. It was funny because there were kids there who were amazing and any time someone fell, they quickly skated towards them, stopped abrubtly, and sprayed ice onto them. It was a funny tradition until it happened to me. It was the last day the outdoor rink was open so I’m glad I was able to go and enjoy it. Paris has so much to offer regardless of what you’re looking for. Today I did laundry and caught up on some school work. Although, I had a funny encounter with a French family on my walk back from the Laundromat. It was a mother and her two children. The young son, who was probably about 7 years old, looked back at me, and then kicked his mom in the butt. However I was behind them so she looked at me and as she began to say, “What the…?” I pointed to her son. Luckily she knew her son well enough to know it was him and not me and I quickly walked away laughing. In other news, this weekend I am going to Brussels and Amsterdam!

Au revoir! GO HOYAS CLINCH THE BIG EAST TITLE!

More museum pictures:

Paris: City of Lights

(Musee Bouchard)

Another week has passed and I have yet to travel…but plans are in the works. I left off last Saturday. I didn’t cut my hair on Saturday because I ran out of time, but that night my friend came to my house and from here we went to this really cool lounge that is a few blocks from my house. It was a really nice place; there were no drinks for less than 14 euros! Sunday I woke up and had lunch with my family and my host mom’s mom (my host grandma?). Once again it was a delicious meal. First we had pate, the chicken champignons, salad, bread, a frozen dessert of some sort, and some Belgian chocolate. The wine we had was Bordeaux from 1999 and I have noticed that we drink 1999 Bordeaux a lot so it must have been a really good year. The rest of the day I did some school work and went to my friend’s apartment and finally cut my hair. Then I went home and was going to go to a party at another friend’s apartment, but I left my phone at my friend Dan’s and had no way of contacting anyone. So I stayed in for the night and started to plan out the summer and senior year. I was looking at internships and thinking about where to live in a year. If anyone has anything to offer me let me know! Monday I went to EDUCO to see my friends and do a little work, but nothing too exciting. Tuesday I had my two favorite classes, Grammar and Theatre. After the class I walked around with two of my friends and searched for crepes, but we didn’t find anything great so we went home and I did my work for the next day. Wednesday I had Sociology and Grammar, and then I went home to prepare because I had some friends over for dinner on Valentine’s Day! I prepared a nice meal with bread, salad, cheese, chicken, wine, and some nice chocolate for dessert. We had a good time. Thursday I had one class and went to EDUCO to prepare for it, but while I was there they offered a spot in one of the cooking classes that someone had dropped out of and I decided to seize the opportunity and went to the cooking class instead of real class. Two older women taught the class in one of their apartments. We made salmon pate, quail with grapes, and a lemon tart for dessert. It was great and the women were really nice and funny. I think it was a good decision to go. After the cooking class one of my friends and I went back to my house, had some wine, and then I met some other people in the 6^th arrondissement. Friday I was really exhausted from a late night, but I forced my self to do some sightseeing. I went to the House where Balzac lived while in Paris which is only a few blocks from my house. Then I checked out the Turkish embassy which is right near Balzac’s estate. I also found a really cool park and this is all within 5 minutes of my house. I came back, made myself some dinner, and then went out with my friends to a bunch of really fun places in the Latin Quarter. We were out late enough to have some breakfast in the morning and see some light before getting back to our houses. Saturday I wanted to continue exploring my area and the guidebook my parents gave me had a self-guided 90 minute walk that was in my area. So I did this, but it turned into a four hour walk for me because I found so much cool stuff. I started by Radio France, and went to Place Rodin where this beautiful statue sits and right next to the circle there is a beautiful park. The tour led me to streets with really cool buildings and churches, and I saw a sign for Musee Bouchard which I decided to check out. The building was the old studio of Henri Bouchard, a Parisian sculpture whose works are scattered throughout the city and the world. Here is the website www.musee-bouchard.com and I would encourage everyone to visit, but the museum is closing in March. It is run by his children. They were there and his son or son in law gave me a personal tour for about 30 minutes and told me a lot of very interesting things. It was incredible seeing exhibits on his techniques, the progression of his style, and finally some of his most interesting work. After that I continued my walk and saw some more really cool architecture, some historic areas and houses, and a lot of buildings designed by Guimard a famous architect. The walk was one of my favorite things I have done since I’ve been in Paris because everything was very interesting and the day was beautiful. When I returned I got ready and met at my friend’s apartment with a group of people. We were going to cook, but it got too late so we got Chinese food and just hung out at his apartment for awhile. It was a much needed relaxing night. Sunday I had another busy day. I went to see a play that was about 8 hours long called “Les Éphémères.” Although it was long it was an amazing show. It was at a theatre in Bois de Vincennes which is a beautiful park on the eastern edge of Paris. The theatre was designed like a barn and it reminded me of a high school gymnasium because the stage was in the middle of the sets of “bleachers.” The sets were on wheels and were constantly spinning in circles so that both sides of the theatre were able to see everything and it also had a lot to do with the theme of the play. There was not one united plot, but many different events, some were tied together as the play continued and some were simple short skits. It was about life, death, and everything in between. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it although it is very depressing at times because it shows the worst parts of life and qualities of people. Sunday night I returned home and was ready for bed. Today I have to catch up on my work and get ready for the rest of the week! My class schedule is finalized and I have classes Tuesday through Thursday so Mondays and Fridays will be touring or travel days from now on.

One of the really cool streets that I saw...

Au revoir! KEEP IT UP HOYAS!

More pictures of the house

A Week of Culture

(Nicest day yet so I took some pictures)

So I was a little bit lazy over the past week, but I left off on Thursday…I went out with my friends and went to some of our favorite bars. Friday I went to EDUCO in the afternoon to watch a movie called “Paris je t’aime.” It was a really cool movie about Paris and the people. It was fiction and it was comprised of about 20 short stories. It was very interesting and it showed the entire city. It was a mixture of really happy, sad, and bizarre stuff and it had a lot of famous actors in it. Then I had to go home quickly and get dressed for the Opera. EDUCO gave us the choice of three different Operas to see and I chose to see Don Giovanni (Don Juan) at the Opera Bastille. The building is modern and right of the square where the Bastille was before it was destroyed in the revolution. It was my first Opera and I really enjoyed it. It was in Italian but there were French subtitles so I was able to understand it. It was also set in the 20^th century so it was a different take on the famous story. After that, my friends and I bought some wine and sat outside the Pompidou Center where they have a really cool light show. Saturday I met my friends in the afternoon at a café by the Pompidou Center. We grabbed a quick meal before going to see the Yves Klein exhibition which ended right after we saw it. It was amazing. Here is some information about Yves Klein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein. His work was incredible and he even has his own color that is stunning to see up close. My favorite piece was a blue canvas that he painted and then took out in the rain. The drops did really cool things to the paint and although it doesn’t sound that amazing it was stunning to see. I was in awe. He also did amazing things with fire. The Pompidou Center itself is a sight to see. It is taller than any of the buildings around it and it is mostly glass so the view is incredible. It was (Pompidou Center)
difficult to get pictures because of the glass. However we were especially lucky since we were there for a while, we saw the day and nighttime view. Next we went out in the gay district of Paris to a restaurant that was all pink with funny pictures on the wall; although the atmosphere was a little bizarre, the food was really good. Then we went to my friend’s house to hang out and had a fun night. Sunday I was exhausted from the busy weekend (Pompidou Center)
and didn’t do much but some schoolwork and laundry. I didn’t watch the Super Bowl and I don’t think my friends here will ever let me live it down, but it didn’t start until 12:30 and I had class the next morning.

I woke up on Monday morning and went to my class at the Sorbonne. I got there and a lot of the students were standing outside, and once again, the class was postponed for two weeks. I was checking out another class later in the day and I did some errands until that time. I didn’t like the other class, so during the break I left and went home. I was supposed to have dinner with my family, but there was a question and answer session on television by Nicolas Sarkozy and my family wanted to watch so we postponed dinner until Tuesday night. I watched the event on TV and it was very interesting. He is the moderate right candidate from the UMP and some of the people questioned him at length about gay marriage and adoption, minority rights, and unemployment. It was very interesting to see their views on the issues that we also face. Tuesday I had my grammar and communication class and my theater class. The grammar class is my favorite because we are learning how to speak French and sound like a French speaker. We are learning the current vocabulary and slang. It is a really good class and the professor is excellent. I have already learned a lot about the way I speak and how to talk to people. In the theater class we discussed King Lear which we were going to see on Wednesday night at the Odeon Theater. On Tuesday night I had dinner with my family. I told them about my weekend and my host dad told me that he was a friend of Yves Klein. He had some funny stories and an interesting perspective about his art. Then we discussed the Sarkozy television special and how the issues are not that different here and in the U.S. While talking about politics they told me that they are friends of the Kennedy family and had just been invited to the premier of the new movie about Bobby. The dinner (Steak), stories, and conversation were great as always. I hung out with my friends later that night. Wednesday I had a sociology class and the grammar class. Then I went home and got ready for King Lear. Two of my friends came to my area and we grabbed some dinner, then headed to the northern part of the city to go to the theater. King Lear was interesting. It was set in the early 20^th century and King Lear was a mob boss. I thought it was interesting but I liked the original storyline more. The theater was really cool because it was small and there were not any bad seats. After the show we went to my friend Drew’s apartment for a housewarming party. He cooked some great food and we had a fun night. Thursday, I had my Economy of Europe class. I made some friends with some of the kids in my class and was actually able to understand them because I have learned a lot of the slang that they use. I also had no trouble understanding the professor which is refreshing because I think my French is really improving. Thursday night, I made myself a delicious dinner. I cooked chicken and made a delicious and spicy pan sauce with chili pepper paste. I was in withdrawal from spicy food so it made me very happy. I met my friends at Fountain at the place Saint Michel and we went to a really cool bar. The downstairs was like a cave it was stone walls with a low ceiling and there were dance floors. It was a cool place. Friday I didn’t do too much except buy books and hang out at EDUCO. Then Friday night, I went to a really cool club with a lot of my friends. It was a really fun night and an excellent club. We stayed out until the metro opened. Now it’s Saturday and I had a nice breakfast, I am going to go for a run in Bois de Boulogne (my first run in Paris), and after that I am going to buzz my hair with my friend because there is no place to get a reasonably priced haircut here. Au revoir! GO HOYAS!

Pictures of my House and Garden:

Really Learning About Paris

I’ve decided to stop naming the entries by days because as time progresses it will remind me of how few days I have left in Paris and I don’t want to think of that!

This week was supposed to be the first week of real class for me. Monday morning I woke up prepared for three hours of class. I went to the Sorbonne and went into a beautiful lecture hall expecting to be in my class on the History of Contemporary North America. I sat down alone and listened to all the French students chatting while waiting for the professor. The professor entered and told us that we had to have our Student ID cards verified so everyone exited the classroom. While waiting to go back in I heard some students talking about how much they had studied and whether they thought the exam would be difficult. I was thoroughly confused and scared. Finally I approached one of them and said in French “I’m a foreign student and I’m a little confused. Is this an exam?” When he replied “Oui?” with a puzzled look, I asked when this semester’s classes start and he told me not until next week. This did not really surprise me because the university system is disorganized and my program had been told that classes started this week, but in this country things change all the time.

I returned home having most of the day free so I called one of my friends who lives in the same area. We decided we would do some sightseeing. We met at Trocadero which is directly across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. I forgot my camera so I don’t have pictures, but it was overcast so I can wait to take pictures on a day when it is sunny. We decided to walk along the Seine, then down some beautiful streets, and we decided we would walk around and visit different monuments. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower which had a banner on it that said “It’s Not Too Late – Greenpeace.” I later read that “Greenpeace militants” had put the banner there without permission and it was taken down later that night. Here is a link with a picture and a brief explanation <http://fr.news.yahoo.com/29012007/74/photo/greenpeace-activists-display-banners-one-showing-a-thermometer-on-the.html>. We walked around the Parc du Champ Mars which is the park surrounding the Eiffel Tower. Then we went to Les Invalides and the gardens around it. Then we crossed the Seine and walked down the Champs Elysées. Two funny things happened on this road. First a woman approached us and said “Do you speak English?” I realized she was a asking for money because I have fallen for that trick before and I continued to walk, but I didn’t realize that my friend stopped and talked to her. Finally she met back up with me and said “That woman was from Bolivia and that’s where I was born.” I replied, “Do you believe she is from Bolivia? Do you think she speaks BOLIVIAN?” I realized immediately that I had misspoken but my friend called me an idiot, but I responded that she was the idiot for stopping to talk. She said it was my fault for not warning her and I said I was experienced with this thing because in Rome I got taken by a guy who tied a string around my finger and then demanded money. We were both extremely tired at this point because we had walked about 5 miles so we decided to stop for some ice cream. We stopped at McDonalds! I didn’t want to, but I did enjoy my McFlurry. We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe and turned off back into our neighborhood and that was the end of our adventure.

I returned home exhausted and didn’t do much until dinner with my family. We had a nice dinner, but the wine and cheese was incredible. It was only my host dad and me eating and drinking because my host mom didn’t feel well. He continued his tradition of pouring a lot of wine and of serving the most delicious cheese I have ever eaten. It is called Vacherin from Mont d’Or and it is only made from the late fall through the winter. You have to use a spoon because it is so rich and creamy it is almost a liquid. Here is some information about it http://www.frencheese.co.uk/cheeses/detail-cheeses.php We finished a bottle and a half of the delicious Bordeaux from his wine cellar and the cheese, then he said that he wanted to take me on a night tour of Paris. So we got in the car (even after all the wine) and he took me around the entire city. We drove down what he said is the nicest street in the entire city (Avenue Foch). Then we proceeded down the Champs Elysées to a street with part of the American Embassy, the Israeli Embassy, the Presidential mansion, and other heavily guarded places. We stopped at points and walked around and he drove slowly even when the traffic on the street was going very fast just to show me the details of what he was talking about. We drove through the Louvre, he showed me the building that the White House is a copy of, and we saw all of the famous sights and more. I learned a lot and saw so much. Everything was so beautiful at night and he is very knowledgeable about the history of the different areas. Also I saw some places I would have never even known about. When we returned home I was so tired I went right to sleep.

Tuesday I woke up at noon feeling very refreshed. I actually had class so I made myself some lunch and went to my first class with the EDUCO program. The professor is from Emory and is an expert on Theatre. With the class we have seven trips to the various performances throughout the semester. The class will involve some work, but it will be cool to go to the theatre. After class I went back to one of my friend’s apartments and four of us made dinner together. It was fun and afterwards we met up with more people and went to a bar a few blocks from my house. Then, we went to an Irish pub for a few hours and had a blast. I got home late and had to wake up early for a class.

On Wednesday morning I had Sociology. I don’t know if I am taking the class or not because I would prefer to take the history class at the Sorbonne instead, but I sat in on the class in case the other one doesn’t work out. Then some of my friends went to a Thai restaurant for lunch and hung out for a while. My friend who I walked with on Monday and I decided to walk home from the 5^th Arrondissement. It was a long walk but once again I was able to see beautiful parts of the city. First we got Crepes with Nutella and Banana to give us energy for the walk. They were incredible! Then we started our journey. We started in the Luxembourg gardens, then we proceeded to the Louvre, from there we walked through the Tuileries gardens, through the Place de Concorde where there is a 3,000 year old obelisk from Egypt covered with hieroglyphics, once again we proceeded down the Champs Elysées, this time neither of us stopped when we were asked if we speak English, and finally we headed back to our neighborhood but we took a small detour going down Avenue Foch (the nicest street in Paris). Once again we were both really worn out. The rest of the night I relaxed and prepared for my European Economy class. Today I woke up, had some breakfast, finished my work, had some lunch, and went to class. As soon as I sat down a woman came in and said the class was cancelled for the week! Classes are finished for the week and after dinner tonight I’ll meet up with my friends and begin the party! Au revoir et Bon Weekend!

The Photos I promised from Bourgogne....

Abbaye de Fontenay

Me and some of my friends at the abbey....