The Louvre

Last night I went to the Louvre and viewed masterpieces from DaVinci and Michelangelo.  In France they call Michelangelo Michel-Ange.  Friday nights are free for students, but because I have more years on the average student I had to pay.  6 euros for me and 9 euros for adults.  Kids 18 and under are allowed in free everyday.  I can't imagine a more perfect evening than going to wander the corridors of the Louvre.  I know I will be back, but seeing all the Renaissance art just makes me want to go to Rome even more.  One day soon.  :)

Retraction

Well I guess no one liked my last photo.  I guess that's good?  Since you guys want to see my ugly mug.  Last night, Christy and I went to the Musée D'Orsay again since it's free on Thursdays and since it's so gorgeous.  This is a photo of me in their newest exhibition (I hope this isn't copyright infringement.)  LOL  Tonight I think we are going to the Louvre (also free on Fridays.)  I'm not sure what we are doing this weekend, but I'll keep you posted.  Sorry this post is so short it's just that I'm on my way out to class.  We have another dictation and reactionary essay to write so I'm a bit nervous.  Last time I made some really stupid mistakes, hopefully this time I will more careful.  

Brrrrrr

Well Paris has finally become cold to me.  At first, I expected it to be cold, but I walked so much that it didn't matter.  Now it is just cold and if you take a breather by shopping or enjoying a café then you have to start all over again.  Yesterday I took a nap on top of my covers soon without warning I was shivering.  The average has been a high of 50 and lows of 20's I think it's closer to 30 all the time.  Oh well, I bundle up and wear my gloves everywhere.  I think this weekend Christy and I are going to Chinatown and in a few more weeks we will make it out to the Palace of Versailles.  As of now, I am just trying to survive my courses (or as they say in French suivre un cours) and as more details unravel it seems like I will be taking a lot of classes: one french class Monday thru Friday, one phonetics class Monday thru Friday but biweekly, and two conference classes that meet twice a week every week.  I didn't sign up for this much school, but then again maybe I did?  This is a picture of the Abroadco group at St. Malo.  The whole group is there, but unfortunately one person has decided to leave Paris.  So I dedicate this post to her... she's the one in the multi-colored jacket.

I'm Sick!!!

At the start of this week I was just fine.  I thought I had beaten the germs from the airplane and even the germs from the kids in our program.  Christy had not been so lucky.  She started coughing a lot, but I still thought I would be fine.  On my first Saturday in Paris to myself (as last week I was on an excursion) I woke up with a sore throat and a little cough.  I still managed to roll out of bed and head down to Montmartre to see the Sacré Cœur and Moulin Rouge.  Montmartre is the highest point in Paris and has an amazing view.  I have pictures of this view, but my camera sucks so you can barely make it out.  We sat on the stairs half way up to the Sacrè Cœur and enjoyed a concert from a young man who sang English tunes from bands; such as, U2 and Radiohead.  At one point, we even joined in and sang the chorus.  Afterward we walked down to the Moulin Rouge which is only ten minutes away.  The Moulin Rouge is an impressive building, but the neighborhood was sketch.  There were a lot of peep shows and interesting shops.  As we walked by one peep show some guy growled at me.  I don't know what it is about me where bums and weirdos need to growl in my ear.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I miss you all very much.  I think Christy and I are going to the Musee D'orsay for tonight's festivities.  Hope to hear from you soon.

Oh la la Sorbonne

Hi, I'm sorry it has been such a long time since I have last updated this thing, but the program was kept me really busy.  This past weekend we all went on our first overnight excursion to Saint Malo and Saint Michel.  Christy and I almost missed the train, but we made it with two minutes to spare.  The train ride was gorgeous since it was the French countryside and I'd have to say that the nicest perk of the weekend was the food.  We were well fed the entire time with gourmet lamb or fish which was a nice change from my daily regime of a croissant, sandwich, and cafe creme (which is the only thing I eat all day.)  Today I started my class at the Sorbonne.  Tomorrow I take another test to find out which phonetics class I'll place into.  The class involves two hours a day Monday through Friday, one hour a week in the phonetics class, and attending a few conferences.  The end result of the class will be a huge three hour final.  It's a bit intimidating, but I was warned beforehand so I only have myself to blame if I fail.  I better not fail.  Today Christy and I went grocery shopping... we spent five minutes in front of the milk, because we didn't know which one was fat free since they all looked like cream.  Oh well, I will find out which one we did get when I have cereal the first time.  Please comment, email, and call if you can.  Ciao bellas!! 

My Life on the Seine River

Today we meet up with a lot of the Abroadco kids to take a tour of Paris on the Seine River.  The view was spectacular even though the water appeared to be a dark brown color.  YUCK.  Oh well.  Afterwards we traveled around some beautiful neighborhoods and had good greek food.  I had some chicken with fries (which will be my third time having French fries in Paris.)  I walk a lot everyday so I don't feel bad about eating the fried goodness.  Christy and I have adjusted quite nicely to the neighborhood and we were remembered by the guy who works at the little market next to us and the guy who makes the best cafe creme.  Tonight Christy and I went to the Erasmus party which is a big club for all the foreigners that study here.  It was your typical club that had the best of house music.  Did I mention that I hate house music?  LOL Oh well, they also played one song by Britney Spears and one by Justin Timberlake.  We both got in for free, because we are foreigners and we got a free drink because we are girls.  We danced for awhile hoping the music would get better, but it didn't and we left shortly after that.  We practiced our French all the way home.  C'est une bonne idee!!  Did you hear about all the young celebs in rehab?  It's pretty scary.... I hope all my American celebs stay healthy.

Jet Lag -- My Worst Enemy

As I mentioned earlier, Christy and I pretty much hit some of the major spots in Paris on our first full day.  The next day, however, we slept in until 4 p.m. and unfortunately since I have arrived I haven't been able to get a full night's rest.  Last night I slept four hours and then made myself sleep some more, but it took two hours of trying.  Today we took our placement tests for the class and just as I suspected I placed in the elementary level.  There are about twenty other kids in the program and out of them only three placed into more advanced levels so I'm in good company.  Before our placement test we took a detour to the Jardin du Luxembourg.  The garden is beautiful and large so I wasn't able to see the whole thing.  I also purchased my carte d'orange which will allow me to travel between Paris's two zones on the metro, the bus, and the RER for the low price of 55 euros each month.  I'm hoping to walk a lot but it will also be nice to take the metro to get to further places.  It is now seven o'clock in the evening and I am trying desperately to stay up so that I can sleep through tonight.  Tomorrow we are taking a boat ride down the Seine so I'll have to keep you updated about that and take pictures.

First Few Days in Paris

I arrived safely to Paris with my luggage, but the rest of the day did not go as smoothly.  Christy and I waited around for forty minutes for our shuttle.  Finally we called them and it turned out that they were also waiting for us at another terminal.  We got into the city just fine, but I missed most of it because I passed out in the shuttle.  When we arrived to our apartment we called the program director to find out our next step.  That's when we found out our apartment was not ready, but luckily they placed us at a hotel right in front of our apartment that happened to also have an elevator.  The elevator was so small that we had to make several trips but alas we were near a bed.  We then went out into the city and picked a charming restaurant that was reasonably priced.  I was all set to order in French when the waiter told us that that menu was not available so off the cuff I decided to order lamb.  The food was good, but my French was not so the waiter hardly made any eye contact with me but seemed to love Christy.  The conversation during dinner was mute.  I was so tired that I couldn't even sit up straight in my chair.  

That night we slept ten hours straight and when we awoke we had a care package to eat that was provided through the program.  When we left we decided to walk to Notre Dame and from there we would walk along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower.  Along our way we stopped at the Pantheon (a five minute walk from our apartment) and it was also my first view of the Eiffel Tower.  I nearly fainted; it was a pleasant surprise.  The tower seemed so close but when walked there after the Notre Dame it was quite the walk.  I would love to go into greater detail, but there is too much to discuss.

I will leave you with this last piece of info.  We did eventually get our apartment.  It is on the 3rd floor and they do not have an elevator so we had to lug our 100 lb. luggage up a winding staircase.  The apartment is small but I think we both anticipated a much smaller place so we are happy with this one.  Also, we have internet access so when Christy isn't using her laptop I will be checking my email.  The real last piece of info is that I did get to see Morrissey in concert and he was awesome like always.  

Leaving for Paris

I can't believe the time has finally come. To celebrate I've had a handful of parties with friends, co-workers, and family. It has been nice to see everyone one last time. My party with my friends was an exceptional one seeing that I kept being attacked throughout the day. The day started out innocently enough when I decided to go to downtown LA with Liz. We strolled down the streets when out of now where a homeless man tried to bark at me and follow us. We left immediately. Then we went to the hotel to get ready and the door nearly missed me as it opened outward. At dinner, the food had finally arrived and when the server placed my food down he knicked my red wine glass and it exploded onto my WHITE dress. Luckily the dress was polyester so you couldn't really see the stain and I have since got it dry cleaned and all of the wine came out. Later on, we drove to another bar and I sat in the back seat on top of a small calendar. When I tried to move it I didn't realize it had one sprial sticking out that had grabbed onto my tights. I had a HUGE run in my tights, but luckily since there were black you couldn't really tell. PHEW. Ok so one last thing I forgot to mention... We all took a taxi to the resturant and when we all got out the door was opened and nearly pinched my elbow. I can be really clumsy sometimes.