Well, I've just returned to Paris from one of the best weeks ever! For those of you that don't know, my Spring Break was spent with Holly gallivanting about Italy for a week. Quick recaps:
Venice: A uniquely, cool city with very big pizza and WAY to many pigeons. Yuck! I'd been to Venice before so I'd seen most of it before. I'm in no rush to go back. Definitely a must see though.
Florence: What's not to love? All the art, statues and little side streets to explore kept our two days there very busy! We happened upon this great little local bad and, thanks to Holly's schmoozing charm and many glasses of wine, we scored a free CD and chatted with the band.
Cinque Terre: AMAZING! CT is a smaller, five city region on the western coast of Italy. We had tons of hiking, ocean views and relaxing on the Italian Rivera. We had great weather and met some kids from Canada, Norway & some not-so-fun girls from Michigan. I'd really recommend Cinque Terre.
Rome: Despite poor weather and AWFUL public transportation...we had a great time on our last stop in Italy. Rome is really a summer town though. It would be much better to see and walk around in when you are able to enjoy the weather. Paris is way better then Rome though. It was really cool to be in Rome during Holy Week though. No better place to be and the Sistine Chapel will never fail to amaze.
Also, I met at least 7 people from Wisconsin in Italy. Outside of a gelatto shop in Florence I met a guy who graduated from Marquette in '77. It's a small world...
This Easter I'm back in Paris and spending the week with my mom, dad, sister & grandma. We're going to Mass in the morning at Notre Dame and at 6:45 a.m. on Monday depart for a 14-hour personal tour of the Normandy Beaches! I'm reallllly excited for this because I didn't get to see them last time I was in France. Also, my dad is a huge WWII buff so I'm excited to see all of that with him. My dad and my sister have never been to France so I'll be showing off the city this week. They leave Friday afternoon and then it will be APRIL! I don't know where my time here went.
Right now, I'm writing from an amazing 5 star hotel in Paris! Sure beats my tiny apartment with three roommates. Ah, the joys of visitors!
I'll post Spring Break photos soon but until then, Happy Easter!
Bises!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Talking a big talk
People in Paris-even those not living in France-have a unique fascination with American politics. So much so, that this fierce curiosity seems to outshine those who are directly involved in the American election process. French media sources always have pictures of American political figures on the magazines and newspapers. Their curiosity is more superficial then even that of some American citizens.
At school, foreign students are always asking who I like for the election. They always ask why I like said choice & then tell me who they like (this is typically always the same answer). However, they really can't state many reasons WHY they like Obama-just that he isn't Bush. Its a bit curious that everyone in the EU-generalization obviously-are infatuated with someone just because he isn't a Republican candidate. They know the general platforms, like universal healthcare & a strong anti-Iraq position from the beginning, but are very inept when it comes to real details or how he stacks up against Clinton and McCain. This is a bit frustrating especially when papers report a near 60% of French citizens supporting Obama. Also, those who do support a liberal candidate say they don't support Hillary because she IS A WOMAN...
For a country that speaks so highly of their liberal notions, they sure don't back it up...
I've also had people tell me that they don't support McCain because he is "an old, white guy like George Bush." In principal, we don't vote on gender or race. What good were the suffrage movements if they only got us this far?
A particularly obnoxious French man tried to argue a global vote in the US elections. His only backing point was that US politics affect everyone in the world & that, being the most country in the world, we needed to share the responsibility. That really made me mad.
Thank God my passport is American.
At school, foreign students are always asking who I like for the election. They always ask why I like said choice & then tell me who they like (this is typically always the same answer). However, they really can't state many reasons WHY they like Obama-just that he isn't Bush. Its a bit curious that everyone in the EU-generalization obviously-are infatuated with someone just because he isn't a Republican candidate. They know the general platforms, like universal healthcare & a strong anti-Iraq position from the beginning, but are very inept when it comes to real details or how he stacks up against Clinton and McCain. This is a bit frustrating especially when papers report a near 60% of French citizens supporting Obama. Also, those who do support a liberal candidate say they don't support Hillary because she IS A WOMAN...
For a country that speaks so highly of their liberal notions, they sure don't back it up...
I've also had people tell me that they don't support McCain because he is "an old, white guy like George Bush." In principal, we don't vote on gender or race. What good were the suffrage movements if they only got us this far?
A particularly obnoxious French man tried to argue a global vote in the US elections. His only backing point was that US politics affect everyone in the world & that, being the most country in the world, we needed to share the responsibility. That really made me mad.
Thank God my passport is American.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Museums, parties, Paris...oh my!
So we've been able to do a lot of exploring lately. My program went to Chartres, France. It's a small city just outside of Paris and they have one of the biggest cathedrals in Europe. The cathedral is known for its stained glass windows...in particular the blue they used. For hundreds of years people have been trying to imitate this blue but can't. It was pretty nice to be able to see a smaller town in France. We had a really nice lunch and did a lot of walking tours. A nice little day trip overall.
Last weekend, Erica and I went to le Parc de Buttes (in the NE part of the city). It had everything from caves, a river, a children's carnival, walking trails, a big tower with a great view of Sacre Coeur and cotton candy..ha.
We've been on a museum craze lately. The Louvre is free for students 18 to 26 on Friday nights so the other night we all went there. For those who have been during the day, its a really different vibe. It's fun at night. After we left the Louvre, we took some really fun pictures. There was full moon that night and everything at the Palle Royal was illuminated.
On Thursday nights, the Musee d'Orsay is free for students so Allison and I ventured over there. This is my favorite museum in Paris. Its full of impressionist artists. Lots of Monet, Degas, Rodan (MY FAVORITE! The Gate of Hell are there), Manet and Van Gogh. The Orsay used to be the main train station in Paris so it's a really cool building and the architecture is gorgeous. They're known for the big clock in the main gallery (see photo).
Last night, I went to le Musee du quai Branly. The museum is only a year old and is situated on the Seine River and just under le Tour Eiffel. The exhibit we went to see was all on African and Pacific art. It was nice to see something different. Again, another museum with beautiful architecture.
This week in Paris is fashion week! On Friday, my roommate, Erica, got to go to the Chanel fashion show. Her pictures are amazing. She saw Kanye, Rihanna and MK Olsen! Tonight we are the list for a high-class party called "Fashion is not Dead." It is supposedly where all the industry people are going tonight. Either way, sound pretty Paris! Hopefully something exciting will happen.
Last Monday was Holly's 21st birthday! We had a big party at our apartment with two cakes and lots of champagne. After that, we went to Barrio Latino for some drinks and...unknown to us...salsa dancing night. On the way there, we met a mid-50 year-old man from South Dakota who moved to Paris 25 years ago to teach Salsa. Some guy at the bar asked me to dance and after my HORRIBLE attempt at Salsa dancing, he said, "Okay. Goodbye. Thats enough." Looks like I might need my S. Dakota teacher after all...
Tomorrow...in continuance of what we've dubbed 'Paris adventure week' we are going to climb to the top of Notre Dame where you can find the best views of Paris. Then we are going to le Pompidou. (Its the first Sunday of the month so everything is free!) This is Paris' ultra modern Musee. I was there when I was in Paris in 05 but I'm excited to go back. http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Accueil.nsf/Document/HomePage?OpenDocument&L=2
Au Revoir!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Some of my favorites...
Sacre Coeur on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Paris!
Paris at sunset.
My apartment!
Long time gone...
Well, its been a long while since i've written on here. So here are just some general comments:
The metro is always an entertaining adventure. People will come on the metro and bring karaoke machines and sing to you. Most of the time the songs will be really old American songs. They'll sing part in French and part in English. Today some woman was singing "I just called to say I love you." They actually have a lot of people give them money. Way more then what would happen at home. There is this woman at the Bastille stop who always wears really nice clothes and sings opera with a group and sells CDs.
Once spring break comes around, I have a lot of traveling planned. The second half of the semester is really going to fly by. I'm going to try and get all of my exploring of Paris done soon so I can enjoy my trips. Here are some of my trips I have planned:
Spring break with Holly: March 14th - 21st. Italy: Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre & Rome (A lot of our friends will be in Rome that last weekend)
The 21st is the day my parents, sister and grandma get to Paris so i'll spend that next week exploring and hanging out with them.
The first weekend in April: Lisbon, Portugal (this is being paid for by my program-KEI). We will actually have a hotel and not a hostel.
Second weekend in April: Barcelona with Veronica! SO excited for this. It should be pretty warm then! YA!
Third weekend in April: Strasbourg, France. This is also with my program. We are going to stay at Daniele's brother's house. He has two daughters around my age. I'm excited to get to stay with a real French family. If they are anything like Daniele, they are bound to be amazing.
Last weekend in April: My parents will be in Ireland on a trip that my dad won through work so I'm (hopefully) going to fly over there and hang out at the Four Seasons in Dublin...not to shabby, eh?
That fist weekend in May, we have Thursday and Friday off of school so we are looking into a long group weekend. So far the options are Germany, Amsterdam, Prague, Greece. All of which are pretty sweet if you ask me.
I'm planning on staying after school ends on May 16th and traveling for a week or so. I have a Eurail pass that I got for Christmas that I plan to use then.
Cites/place I want to go:
Prague, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Athens, London, Brussels, Zurich, Vienna...
Friday, January 25, 2008
la ville la nuit
Last night, our first REAL night out, we ventured over the the Latin district in search of a bar that was in the "MTV's guide to Paris" book. We got out of the metro and were looking at the map, slightly confused i'll admit, and this older man came up to us and said he could help. So he pointed us in the right direction...and then followed us. While he was nice, it was a bit weird. I avoided talking to him. He talked about his business and eventually we got him to leave. Of course before he left he asked for a phone number. He said he had a friend who would like to meet us. "We say 'drinks for everyone'" was his way of convincing us for a phone number. Not working buddy! I quickly told him I just moved to Paris but didn't have a cell phone. As I said this, I was praying my 30 Euro phone didn't go off.
Well we found this illusive club/bar and there outrageous prices. 11 Euro for a drink! Yikes! The drinking/club scene will be kept to a minimum with prices like that. So bailed and enjoyed the lovely atmosphere and evening temperatures of Paris. We were about to go to this other bar when a rather charming young man came up and asked if we needed help. His name is Tom and he moved to Paris from Australia a few months ago. Tom offered to show us to an English bar where he was off too. We graciously followed Tom to The Long Horn. Immediately we stepped out of the classic French culture and back into the world of Caffrey's and Murphy's. This bar was VERY American. All the bartenders and every patron spoke English. Nonetheless, the bar was very entertaining. During one trip away from the table I got roped into a discussion with Sam and Sammy (I know, right). S squared were two men from Paris who "loved American girls because we are not snobby and open to anything." We discussed everything from fashion to how the French "date." These party animals seemed to be a bit out of touch with American music. One of them said he love Brandy and Monica (circa 7th grade-remember "The Boy is Mine?!"). The other said he liked Nelly (and was impressed he was from my hometown) and Akon. They were funny and soon became the second victims of the "I don't have a phone line."
Because I was the only one who had a working cell phone, Tom and I exchanged numbers and he promised to keep us updated on fun parties and said we could call if we need suggestions for nights out.
This afternoon after our last bit of orientation meetings, we wandered over to a book store for our school books. In the book store this gentleman (he is 24), who spoke English, asked us how we were doing. We quickly found out that his name is Julien and his is originally from Paris but spent two years in Australia. After I struggled to remember the word for "to sell" he assisted me. After getting books he offered to take me to the store to find notebooks for classes. We went to the store and chatted. He was very nice and easy to talk too. He goes to an American University in Paris (close to my apartment) and invited us to go to his school's party next Thursday night. He promised to be in touch before then (he mentioned a house party at his place this weekend or next-idk). It will be nice to have a real French friend!
In my district, today and Tuesday are market days. Market day is when all of the local vendors bring there produce and other goods out under tents and sell them at really good prices. I found a big bunch of pink tulips (one of my favorites) for about four american dollars. They are in a vase on our makeshift kitchen/living room table. It's nice to have them!
Thats all for now, mes aims!
xoxo
ABN
Well we found this illusive club/bar and there outrageous prices. 11 Euro for a drink! Yikes! The drinking/club scene will be kept to a minimum with prices like that. So bailed and enjoyed the lovely atmosphere and evening temperatures of Paris. We were about to go to this other bar when a rather charming young man came up and asked if we needed help. His name is Tom and he moved to Paris from Australia a few months ago. Tom offered to show us to an English bar where he was off too. We graciously followed Tom to The Long Horn. Immediately we stepped out of the classic French culture and back into the world of Caffrey's and Murphy's. This bar was VERY American. All the bartenders and every patron spoke English. Nonetheless, the bar was very entertaining. During one trip away from the table I got roped into a discussion with Sam and Sammy (I know, right). S squared were two men from Paris who "loved American girls because we are not snobby and open to anything." We discussed everything from fashion to how the French "date." These party animals seemed to be a bit out of touch with American music. One of them said he love Brandy and Monica (circa 7th grade-remember "The Boy is Mine?!"). The other said he liked Nelly (and was impressed he was from my hometown) and Akon. They were funny and soon became the second victims of the "I don't have a phone line."
Because I was the only one who had a working cell phone, Tom and I exchanged numbers and he promised to keep us updated on fun parties and said we could call if we need suggestions for nights out.
This afternoon after our last bit of orientation meetings, we wandered over to a book store for our school books. In the book store this gentleman (he is 24), who spoke English, asked us how we were doing. We quickly found out that his name is Julien and his is originally from Paris but spent two years in Australia. After I struggled to remember the word for "to sell" he assisted me. After getting books he offered to take me to the store to find notebooks for classes. We went to the store and chatted. He was very nice and easy to talk too. He goes to an American University in Paris (close to my apartment) and invited us to go to his school's party next Thursday night. He promised to be in touch before then (he mentioned a house party at his place this weekend or next-idk). It will be nice to have a real French friend!
In my district, today and Tuesday are market days. Market day is when all of the local vendors bring there produce and other goods out under tents and sell them at really good prices. I found a big bunch of pink tulips (one of my favorites) for about four american dollars. They are in a vase on our makeshift kitchen/living room table. It's nice to have them!
Thats all for now, mes aims!
xoxo
ABN
Thursday, January 24, 2008
My love affair with this city...
Everything has been going so much better since the first days where I was sleep deprived/hungry/not able to sleep. All of you who know me know how bad I am when that happens. It's a miracle I met anyone! ha
Our 3 day orientation/walk tours have gone by pretty quickly. They were actually not that bad. I really enjoyed the walking tours of the Eiffel Tower region (Today) and then the Mid-Evil district/Louvre. The other day was, as I mentioned, spent talking about culture shock, stereotypes and adjusting to life in Europe. I'm thinking I won't be too homesick, though. I'm not much a homebody and I go to school a bit away from Saint Louis. Plus, over Spring Break/Easter break my family and my grammy will be coming. I'm looking forward to sharing my new city with them. Kate's grandma said she would buy her a ticket to come see me. I'm sure what I share with her will be quite different then with the family. Although, who knows!
Last night one of my roommates and I made dinner for some people. Well, lets be honest, we all know I don't cook so I was the assistant really. Oh well, It was really good (and inexpensive)! We made pasta with sauce, fresh veggies, a cucumber/tomato salad, a baguette and three bottles of French wine for 11.25 Euros! What a deal! It was nice to have a good meal.
Tonight is going to be our first real night out since tomorrow, Friday, we only have a meeting from 10 a.m. until around noon. There is a big group of people going to the Latin district of Paris. This is near the Eiffel Tower just for navigational sense. We opted for the Latin area because we have all heard that this is most like the American college bar scene (we're not quite ready for the full blown European Discotheques!) I'm excited for this! I do miss my friends from home though. I find myself often catching myself wanting to share something or make a joke to people at home. In true Becky style today, someone made a "Don't taze me bro!" reference! I was so excited!
My culinary skills were nothing short of spectacular with the standard Ashley grilled cheese.
I'm looking forward to classes starting and getting into somewhat of a routine. So far its been 8-6 p.m everyday. I'll be grateful when I feel like I have more downtime and time to explore.
The Louvre is open on Friday nights for free so we're planning on starting some Friday nights at the Louvre. Not quite Milwaukee, eh? Also, France, unlike America, really only has sales twice a year. The first of the biyearly sales ends in a week or so. Our guide told us today about high end fashion stores that send there clothes to retailers who mark down the prices down "dramatically." My expectations for these markdowns are not very high so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.
We are already in the process of planning Spring Break vacations because they often have amazing flight deals. We have about five different Web sites where you can find good deal. So far the big winner is Greece! How amazing would that be? Maybe i'll be like the girl in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! I have some fun photos so far but I'm already missing my mom taking pictures at every possible second. I find my skills are not quite up to par.
Well I'm off, I'm introducing Erica to Michael Buble's music over some red wine before we go out.
Bon Soir mon amis!
Ps-Earlier tonight I blew out the power in our apartment trying to get my American electric products to work! No harm done and the power was back on in five minutes. I feel better because I'm not the first one to do that on our floor.
Our 3 day orientation/walk tours have gone by pretty quickly. They were actually not that bad. I really enjoyed the walking tours of the Eiffel Tower region (Today) and then the Mid-Evil district/Louvre. The other day was, as I mentioned, spent talking about culture shock, stereotypes and adjusting to life in Europe. I'm thinking I won't be too homesick, though. I'm not much a homebody and I go to school a bit away from Saint Louis. Plus, over Spring Break/Easter break my family and my grammy will be coming. I'm looking forward to sharing my new city with them. Kate's grandma said she would buy her a ticket to come see me. I'm sure what I share with her will be quite different then with the family. Although, who knows!
Last night one of my roommates and I made dinner for some people. Well, lets be honest, we all know I don't cook so I was the assistant really. Oh well, It was really good (and inexpensive)! We made pasta with sauce, fresh veggies, a cucumber/tomato salad, a baguette and three bottles of French wine for 11.25 Euros! What a deal! It was nice to have a good meal.
Tonight is going to be our first real night out since tomorrow, Friday, we only have a meeting from 10 a.m. until around noon. There is a big group of people going to the Latin district of Paris. This is near the Eiffel Tower just for navigational sense. We opted for the Latin area because we have all heard that this is most like the American college bar scene (we're not quite ready for the full blown European Discotheques!) I'm excited for this! I do miss my friends from home though. I find myself often catching myself wanting to share something or make a joke to people at home. In true Becky style today, someone made a "Don't taze me bro!" reference! I was so excited!
My culinary skills were nothing short of spectacular with the standard Ashley grilled cheese.
I'm looking forward to classes starting and getting into somewhat of a routine. So far its been 8-6 p.m everyday. I'll be grateful when I feel like I have more downtime and time to explore.
The Louvre is open on Friday nights for free so we're planning on starting some Friday nights at the Louvre. Not quite Milwaukee, eh? Also, France, unlike America, really only has sales twice a year. The first of the biyearly sales ends in a week or so. Our guide told us today about high end fashion stores that send there clothes to retailers who mark down the prices down "dramatically." My expectations for these markdowns are not very high so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.
We are already in the process of planning Spring Break vacations because they often have amazing flight deals. We have about five different Web sites where you can find good deal. So far the big winner is Greece! How amazing would that be? Maybe i'll be like the girl in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! I have some fun photos so far but I'm already missing my mom taking pictures at every possible second. I find my skills are not quite up to par.
Well I'm off, I'm introducing Erica to Michael Buble's music over some red wine before we go out.
Bon Soir mon amis!
Ps-Earlier tonight I blew out the power in our apartment trying to get my American electric products to work! No harm done and the power was back on in five minutes. I feel better because I'm not the first one to do that on our floor.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Bonjour tout le monde
Bonjour from beautiful Paris!
After a long flight and being up for 30 hours, I finally made it. When I got to the airport I was really grateful to see that both of my massively, overstuffed bags made it to France. Sadly though, my adventure started off with the bad news of the Packer's loss. Great season though. Soon after getting to the airport, I met Dainelle, the program manager for KEI. She is just shy of 50 and beyond adorable. She greeted me with two bisus (the French style of kisses) and a "large" espresso. We soon met one of my other roommates/my only other program mate. Danielle arranged for travel to our apartment and we all took off. Danielle has already set up a dinner date so we can go over to her apartment and have dinner and wine. It's so nice to be able to have home cooked meals while I'm here. She said she has a twin brother who lives in Strausburg, Germany and said we would go to his house this semester and tour the town! I'm really excited for that since Germany was on my "must see" list. She also offered to take me to the ballet and American films
So far we've just had orientation and learned to use the metro (way easy)! :D Today in orientation we had a group meeting where we talk about some of the basic and learned where to get really good travel deals. We broke into small groups and my group had a talk about homesickness and adjusting to life in Paris. Tomorrow my group is going to le Tour Eiffle.
Today I went to the grocery store & Mon prix (my price in English). Mon Prix is like a Target with a grocery store so that was really good. It's nice because it's close to us. It seems like everything is though. At the grocery store, I was looking for some cheese and crackers and I saw that they sold Laughing Cow Cheese in bulk! It made me think of my sister who is obsessed with it! It made me smile so naturally I bought some for a euro. There is a nice little flower market less then a block away so I'm hoping that I can get some fresh flowers every now and then.
At the American Business School (ABS) there are about 3,000 students. 150 of them are international (mainly all American) students so it is a smaller school and campus. Everyone so far seems really nice for the most part but I expected this. I'm looking forward to the weekend because by then we should all be a bit more settled and time adjusted.
Our apartment is pretty nice. There are three bedrooms for 4 girls but my room is one with two beds. I'm okay with this because its a big room. All three of the rooms have there own balconies which is just beautiful! Such a nice luxury!
FUN PARIS FACT: Prostitution is legal but pimping is not. Apparently on the French taxes, you can declare prostitution as your official job. We learned this today during orientation along with the main locations of where the prostitutes hang out.
I'll try and keep this updated often. More so for my own sake so I can keep track of all the things I do and how I change.
Love-
ABN
After a long flight and being up for 30 hours, I finally made it. When I got to the airport I was really grateful to see that both of my massively, overstuffed bags made it to France. Sadly though, my adventure started off with the bad news of the Packer's loss. Great season though. Soon after getting to the airport, I met Dainelle, the program manager for KEI. She is just shy of 50 and beyond adorable. She greeted me with two bisus (the French style of kisses) and a "large" espresso. We soon met one of my other roommates/my only other program mate. Danielle arranged for travel to our apartment and we all took off. Danielle has already set up a dinner date so we can go over to her apartment and have dinner and wine. It's so nice to be able to have home cooked meals while I'm here. She said she has a twin brother who lives in Strausburg, Germany and said we would go to his house this semester and tour the town! I'm really excited for that since Germany was on my "must see" list. She also offered to take me to the ballet and American films
So far we've just had orientation and learned to use the metro (way easy)! :D Today in orientation we had a group meeting where we talk about some of the basic and learned where to get really good travel deals. We broke into small groups and my group had a talk about homesickness and adjusting to life in Paris. Tomorrow my group is going to le Tour Eiffle.
Today I went to the grocery store & Mon prix (my price in English). Mon Prix is like a Target with a grocery store so that was really good. It's nice because it's close to us. It seems like everything is though. At the grocery store, I was looking for some cheese and crackers and I saw that they sold Laughing Cow Cheese in bulk! It made me think of my sister who is obsessed with it! It made me smile so naturally I bought some for a euro. There is a nice little flower market less then a block away so I'm hoping that I can get some fresh flowers every now and then.
At the American Business School (ABS) there are about 3,000 students. 150 of them are international (mainly all American) students so it is a smaller school and campus. Everyone so far seems really nice for the most part but I expected this. I'm looking forward to the weekend because by then we should all be a bit more settled and time adjusted.
Our apartment is pretty nice. There are three bedrooms for 4 girls but my room is one with two beds. I'm okay with this because its a big room. All three of the rooms have there own balconies which is just beautiful! Such a nice luxury!
FUN PARIS FACT: Prostitution is legal but pimping is not. Apparently on the French taxes, you can declare prostitution as your official job. We learned this today during orientation along with the main locations of where the prostitutes hang out.
I'll try and keep this updated often. More so for my own sake so I can keep track of all the things I do and how I change.
Love-
ABN
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