Evan's European Adventure: Some Busy Weeks!

Since I am still busy and have a test tomorrow I am not going to proofread this right away but I will post it since it has been so long since I posted. Enjoy and don’t criticize if there are mistakes!

Sorry for the delay I know you are all waiting anxiously to hear what I have been doing, just kidding but let me update you on the past few weeks. They have been very busy with school work, traveling, finding internships, and a lot of fun. Tuesday I had class and after a long day I had two of my friends over for dinner. We bought bread, cheese, wine, salad, and I cooked chicken with my signature sauce. If I like you enough and you like spicy food I will make you the sauce anytime. We had a great time as always. Wednesday was a busy day because I had class, I worked on internship applications, and then in the evening I went to La Comédie-Française with the entire EDUCO program. Before the play I met a few of my friends at a little café for a beer and a small meal. La Comédie-Française is an incredible traditional theatre. The theatre is across from the Palais Royal and the Louvre and although the area is very touristy, it is beautiful. The theater is known for being one of the best in Paris because of the pieces that are performed there, and the troop of actors is unique to the theater. It dates back to 1680 and it has five semi-circular balconies facing the stage with plush red seats. We saw another piece by Molière, La Malade imaginaire. I liked this piece a lot more than l’Avare. Although most of my friends went out after the show I decided to go home and do some work since I was leaving for Brussels the next day.

After a long day of anxiously awaiting leaving for Brussels, my classes finished and I was on my way. I took the train from Paris to Brussels which took about an hour and fifteen minutes. It was really nice and quick. Also I met a man on the train who gave me some ideas of what to do while in Brussels and answered a crucial question that I wanted to have answered, “What language do I speak in Belgium?” He said, “Français!” I took a cab to the hotel and saw beautiful palaces and architecture. I met my friends and they immediately told me I had to see the Grande Place. It is the center of the city and it is a large square with amazing architecture that dates back hundreds of years. My host dad told me that it was Spanish style architecture from when the conquered Belgium. At night the place was one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen. After the quick tour we immediately searched for a place to eat dinner. This process was strenuous because there were restaurants everywhere and the narrow streets of Brussels are filled with people promoting each restaurant. It was really annoying and we decided not to eat at a restaurant where someone had to harass us to enter. We found a place called the Drug Opera. I had scallops because I wanted to have seafood which is one of the many foods for which Belgium is known. The scallops although there were only a few were delicious. Next we saw something on the menu that we rarely see in Paris, ice cream sundaes. We all got one and they were amazing. Next we went to a bar that a friend of Geneva told us to try. It had beer for 1 or 2 euros until midnight which is a fraction of the price in Paris so we took advantage of the occasion. After having a few drinks at Celtica we decided to go to a club. On our way there we got a little lost because we didn’t have a great map and when we asked an older man if he knew where it was, he told us that he didn’t, but he had GPS in his car and he could take us there. At first we were hesitant, but he had a very nice car and he was a nice man. The club was only about a minute from where we were, but this was an example of how friendly the people of Brussels were the entire time we were visiting. The club called Le You was really fun and it was packed with people. It was two stories and the second floor overlooked the huge dance floor. Everything at the club was also significantly cheaper than in Paris. We had a lot of fun and since we were all exhausted we left, returned to our hotel, and slept really well. The next morning we woke up and decided what to do for the day. First priority was getting food! We found this really cool organic restaurant that was delicious. Next we went to some of the beautiful cathedrals, the Manneken Pis which is a small bronze fountain of a little boy peeing, the Palais de Justice, and we even found some cool little gardens. After all of our sightseeing we ate waffles (Belgian waffles) and met some other people who are studying abroad. We then spent some of the evening at Celtica enjoying Chimay, Duvel, Hoegaarden, and Leffe to name some of the well-known Belgian beers that they serve. Next we went to Delirium Café which is famous for having the most beers in the world in a single location, 2004 to be exact. It was really cool and full of people. After that, we went back to the hotel. We woke up in the morning and my friends were going to Amsterdam, but I had to go home because I had a paper and presentation to finish for Tuesday. Since we were all staying at different places my friend and I arrived late and she missed her train. I was buying my ticket at the station so it didn’t matter to me, but I ended up having to take first class which I didn’t think would be anything special, but first class is really nice on the European trains. There is meal service the seats are huge and really comfortable. I was really happy that I was forced to do that.

I returned to Paris and was exhausted so I took most of Saturday recovering from Brussels. I wasn’t planning on doing anything Saturday night, but one of my friends called me and told me that there was a lunar eclipse and she wanted to go to the Seine to watch. So she came to my house, we bought some wine and chocolate, and headed to the Seine. It was really cool and the Eiffel Tower was sparkling for some of the time we were there which was also really pretty to watch. The lunar eclipse wasn’t at its strongest point, but it was still orange in color and different than normal. Sunday I started the day by eating lunch with my family. We talked about our vacations, and as always, politics. The food was delicious and the meal really big like always. Later in the day I decided to run for about an hour in the Bois de Boulogne. It felt great to run for a long time like I used to, until I stopped! Then I realized that for the first time in my running career, I had a huge blister on the bottom of my foot. It was huge, about two inches long, and extremely painful. The rest of Sunday I worked on my homework and projects. Monday, I tried to run, but my blister prevented me from doing much of anything. Tuesday, I had my paper for Theatre class corrected by a grammar teacher. Then I had a presentation with another student in my Grammar and Communication class on the northern regions of France (Le Nord-Pas-De-Calais, La Picardie, La Champagne) and we served Champagne to the class! Then I turned in my theater paper! In theater we had a guest lecturer who is an expert on Koltès who wrote Le Retour au désert which we were seeing at La Comédie-Française the next night. Tuesday night I was invited to my host aunt’s house to eat with some other students. We had a good time and since I had just finished a lot of work, I rewarded myself by going out to the Odéon area after and hanging out at a few bars. We went to some really fun bars that we hadn’t been to before. Wednesday, I had class and then went to the Theater. Although I liked the performance, the audience did not. People in the front few rows left during the show. Finally when it was time for applause, it was the dullest round of applause I have ever heard. It must have been really terrible for the actors and people involved in the show, but pleasing the audience is very important. After the play my friends and I went out to a bunch of really cool bars in a few different areas of the city. We were showing some of Geneva’s friends around so we took them to some really cool places. Thursday, I had class and after I had a cooking lesson with a group of students from my program. It was with the same woman as the last time I had a cooking lesson and once again it was really good and entertaining. We made avocado pâté, chicken with fruit in a curry sauce, rice, and a really rich chocolate cake for dessert. It was excellent and once again if you are nice to me maybe I will make it for you. After the lesson I hung out with one of my friends from EDUCO at my house. Friday morning I had to wake up early for the International Salon d’Agriculture. For those from Pennsylvania and others who have been to the Farm Show, it was exactly like that, except with a touch of Parisian class and French quality. Also I forgot it was HUGE. There were 7 or 8 buildings full of animals and agricultural stuff. I tasted a lot of cheese, some wine, some great meat, and some really good sauces. Also I bought a baguette fresh out of the oven it was incredible! It was really interesting and in France it is an important political event where ALL of the presidential candidates make an appearance. The day I was there Nicolas Sarkozy was there, but I didn’t have a chance to see him. Later in the day, I went to a makeup class for my European Economy class and afterwards, I rested before grabbing some dinner. I had my dinner and after that I met one of my friends, Katerina, at one of her friend’s apartments where everyone was hanging out and speaking what seemed like every language in the world! Saturday, I went for a run in Bois de Boulogne since my foot finally felt better. The park was full of people and I stopped to watch a soccer game for a while. After showering I met Geneva, Katerina, and their friend Sam who is visiting at Trocadero, here are some pictures:

Then, we got lunch and went back to my house and had some great wine that was recommended to us by the man who owns the wine shop on my street. We have become friends and he helps me find really good, cheap wine. Later that night we met at this Fondue place called Refuge des Fondus (here is a good article about it: http://www.parisist.com/archives/2006/12/04/the_girl_who_ate_everything_cheesy_death.php ) where their trademark is serving wine in baby bottles (I think because it is fondue and the place is not big they had problems with people spilling wine all the time so they decided to switch to baby bottles since they don’t spill). It is a fun place. The food is not great, but the experience is worth every penny. Next we went to a cool bar with a huge dance floor and spent the rest of the night there. Sunday, I woke up and had lunch with my host family. It was the best meal I have had here so far. We had Steak Tartar and it was excellent. I ate it just like they do by mixing in homemade mayonnaise, mustard, onions, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire. Also instead of wine with Steak Tartar we drank beer because my host dad said it is much better that way. Next, we had bread, cheese, great coffee, and chocolate. We sat and talked for about two hours. It was really nice I felt like became very close that day. Next, because lunch went on for so long I had to rush to get to the Theatre National de la Colline. It was similar to the theater where we saw King Lear. The show we saw was Électre and it was incredibly bizarre. Visually I loved the show, but I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on. It was filled with weird scenes of dirt throwing, moving chairs, and falling red confetti. After the show some of my friends and I went to Place des Vosges a beautiful square in the East side of Paris. It was beautiful and we sat at a café for a long time hanging out. Then I went home and did some work until we met later at a museum of modern art called Palais de Tokyo. It is right near Trocadero and it has a café that is open really late into the night. It was beautiful and afterwards we went outside and had a great view of the Eiffel Tower. Some of us went to Chatelet to go to a bar and then we called it an early night. Monday I woke up to finish my work for Tuesday and I received a call from my host aunt who invited me to her house for dinner. This was one of many really nice things she has done for me since I have been here so I took a break from my work and bought her flowers. I didn’t do much Monday because I had a busy weekend, but in the evening I went and had a great dinner at my host aunt’s house with two other EDUCO students and one of their friends. We talked about everything from art to politics and she offered to take a few of us to the Pompidou Center to take us on a special tour. Also we were talking about what we want to do after we graduate and I said I think I want to live in the D.C. area and she told me she would get me in contact with her son-in-law about a job in international business and relations. This relationship is not only great because she is so interesting and reminds me a lot of my Grandma, but she is very helpful in Paris and maybe even in the U.S. When I gave her the flowers she jokingly yelled at me and said older people are supposed to give the gifts to younger people and if I do it again I will not be invited back to her house! I hope that isn’t true because we had a great dinner. First we had tomato bisque, then we had stuffed peppers, baked cauliflower with cheese, and noodles, next we had salad and cheese, and finally we had a fruit tart for dessert. As always, the wine was delicious. I went home very happy! Tuesday I had to do a lot of work for Wednesday and didn’t do too much besides going to class and doing work. Finally I am caught up to today! I turned in my assignments which felt great, but first this morning I ate breakfast with my host sister which was really nice because I haven’t seen her much at all. It is nice talking to French people my age, not to mention she is cute. Finally, after class I took a nice nap, got some dinner, and now just finished writing this! Now you are updated.