mardi 30 mars 2010
Chez pas
First of all, I'd like to apologize to all my fans out there for getting kind of lax about blogging.
In other news, spring in Paris is heaven! I'm glad I'm here for winter then spring rather than fall then winter so the city will just get better and better. I just love picnics, walking everywhere, not wearing a coat, seeing flowers for once, leaves on trees (not quite yet)... Unlike Chicago, Paris switched over to 55-65 degree weather a couple weeks ago and it hasn't really varied much day to day.
In class the other day, 4 non-native French speakers had a presentation/debate and at one point a girl was having trouble explaining something, so the professor asked her to say it in English. The whole debate switched to English for a while, then switched back to French later which was really funny. I had my last presentation for a while a couple weeks ago, then a really long break from homework and now I only have a couple more assignments before the semester is over. In case you haven't gathered this, my biggest goal while I'm here is to reward myself for working so hard my whole life by relaxing and basking in not having any responsibilities, then I'll be able to go home and start my grown-up life.
There was an article in Women's Wear Daily about a huge new Ralph Lauren store in Saint Germain that's opening soon--and I walk past it every day to and from school! The Marais has just replaced Saint-Germain-des-Prés as my favorite neighborhood in Paris. It's known for being really trendy/funky/hipstery and it has all the charm and character of some of my other favorite neighborhoods, like Montmartre (where Sacré Coeur is), but in the Marais it's even more exaggerated, and it's cleaner and more upscale (read: safer). It's full of fun restaurants, interesting architecture, great little shops, and really trendy/funky people. And when you're in the Marais, you have to go vintage shopping. Vintage clothing stores are almost museums of trends come and gone, and searching for funky clothes with mystery past lives is so much more fun (and challenging) than just getting the latest thing at H&M. One day while hanging out in the Marais, I ran into 3 groups of people I knew, and it felt really cool to just see people I know around Paris.
A couple weeks ago, I got falafel from "L'As du Falafel" in the Jewish neighborhood of the Marais, which is supposed to have the best falafel in Paris...and it was. I could eat there every day. You pay 5 euros, then wait in a long line where everyone gets the same thing (they just ask if you want hot sauce) which is lots of falafel in a pita with grilled eggplant, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, and yogurt sauce. Mmm. Any kind of Mediterranean food is my favorite kind of food. Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, it's all so good. There's another Middle Easter restaurant in the Marais called "Chez Marianne" that sells things like tabbouli, stuffed grape leaves, marinated mushrooms, fried eggplant, hummus, and feta cheese by the kilo, or you can get sampler platter things to eat there. It's like a really good Middle Eastern Boston Market.
I'm going to Nice over spring break in a few weeks, because the French Riviera > Cancun any day. We're staying in a hostel that was voted best hostel in France for the last 5 years, and it's gorgeous and cheap and THE FRENCH RIVIERA! I'm excited.
A week or so ago there was an Erasmus party on a boat for Paris exchange students at lots of different schools. It was pouring when I was walking there with my friends and we all showed up absolutely soaked, but it was fun anyway. There was a buffet dinner, then a cruise down the Seine, then a dance party with a crazy light show where they played mostly American music. I hadn't realized how much I missed American dance music and it was a nice break from techno and songs I don't know.
Another day recently, I went to a pizza place with some friends, and I have to mention that pizza in Paris is served on plates that are smaller than the pizza, and you eat it with a knife and fork and dip it in spicy olive oil. After dinner, I went to a showing of Grey Gardens at the Centre Pompidou. That movie is fascinating if you haven't seen it and the director was there and talked and answered questions afterwards, which made me appreciate the movie a lot more.
I decided that I'm turning into a grownup. I know this because I like apples, onions, and reading the Wall Street Journal now.
Last week I went to the catacombs, which is a whole bunch of tunnels where the bones of 6,000,000 people were put when Paris's cemeteries got too crowded in the 1700s. The tunnels run underneath the whole city but the touristy part created in 1810 is lit (poorly), has skulls arranged in artistic designs, and plaques with old French poems about death (but don't worry, if you don't speak French they're in Latin too!)
This weekend, I went to Le Relais de l'Entrecôte, a really fancy, famous steak frites place (I got a cheese plate) where it seems like the rich and beautiful go to hang out. Afterwards, we went to N'importe quoi, a really fun and trendy club kind of place that plays great music (Blue, Tainted Love...), and I've been there a couple times now. This time, I got a free t-shirt!
Then on Sunday I went to a wine show for independent vineyards, which has to be one of my favorite things I've done here. For 3 euros, you go in and they give you your glass. Then there were hundreds of tables set up where the people who owned the vineyards (there's a word for that in French but I can't think of one in English) were displaying their wares, and you just go ask them about their wines and taste whatever you want. They're all really passionate and knowledgeable so I learned a lot of different kinds of grapes, wine regions, years, how they get wines to taste a certain way, etc. French wine is amazing and The idea is that it's exposure for them and that you're supposed to buy some, but you get to taste, learn about, and buy great wines that you can't get anywhere else, so it's a huge win-win.
Some friends and I had a 5 hour long picnic at the Eiffel tower last week which included a guitar and improvised singing, meeting some American tourists, different friends coming and going, a sunset, and lots and lots of food.
Orchestra is fun. I love always having a little music in my life, and I'm meeting more French people through it. For one of our songs, the Sciences Po choir is singing with us and it sounds really nice. We have a concert in April and I think we have another concert at a prison?
My mom is coming in four days! We traveled to Paris 5 years ago, and I'm excited to give her an insider's view of the city now that the Paris I know seems so different from the one we visited then. It'll be great to see her and show her what my daily life is like, and my amazingly accommodating host mom is staying with her boyfriend while my mom's here so we'll have the run of the place!
In other news, spring in Paris is heaven! I'm glad I'm here for winter then spring rather than fall then winter so the city will just get better and better. I just love picnics, walking everywhere, not wearing a coat, seeing flowers for once, leaves on trees (not quite yet)... Unlike Chicago, Paris switched over to 55-65 degree weather a couple weeks ago and it hasn't really varied much day to day.
In class the other day, 4 non-native French speakers had a presentation/debate and at one point a girl was having trouble explaining something, so the professor asked her to say it in English. The whole debate switched to English for a while, then switched back to French later which was really funny. I had my last presentation for a while a couple weeks ago, then a really long break from homework and now I only have a couple more assignments before the semester is over. In case you haven't gathered this, my biggest goal while I'm here is to reward myself for working so hard my whole life by relaxing and basking in not having any responsibilities, then I'll be able to go home and start my grown-up life.
There was an article in Women's Wear Daily about a huge new Ralph Lauren store in Saint Germain that's opening soon--and I walk past it every day to and from school! The Marais has just replaced Saint-Germain-des-Prés as my favorite neighborhood in Paris. It's known for being really trendy/funky/hipstery and it has all the charm and character of some of my other favorite neighborhoods, like Montmartre (where Sacré Coeur is), but in the Marais it's even more exaggerated, and it's cleaner and more upscale (read: safer). It's full of fun restaurants, interesting architecture, great little shops, and really trendy/funky people. And when you're in the Marais, you have to go vintage shopping. Vintage clothing stores are almost museums of trends come and gone, and searching for funky clothes with mystery past lives is so much more fun (and challenging) than just getting the latest thing at H&M. One day while hanging out in the Marais, I ran into 3 groups of people I knew, and it felt really cool to just see people I know around Paris.
A couple weeks ago, I got falafel from "L'As du Falafel" in the Jewish neighborhood of the Marais, which is supposed to have the best falafel in Paris...and it was. I could eat there every day. You pay 5 euros, then wait in a long line where everyone gets the same thing (they just ask if you want hot sauce) which is lots of falafel in a pita with grilled eggplant, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, and yogurt sauce. Mmm. Any kind of Mediterranean food is my favorite kind of food. Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, it's all so good. There's another Middle Easter restaurant in the Marais called "Chez Marianne" that sells things like tabbouli, stuffed grape leaves, marinated mushrooms, fried eggplant, hummus, and feta cheese by the kilo, or you can get sampler platter things to eat there. It's like a really good Middle Eastern Boston Market.
I'm going to Nice over spring break in a few weeks, because the French Riviera > Cancun any day. We're staying in a hostel that was voted best hostel in France for the last 5 years, and it's gorgeous and cheap and THE FRENCH RIVIERA! I'm excited.
A week or so ago there was an Erasmus party on a boat for Paris exchange students at lots of different schools. It was pouring when I was walking there with my friends and we all showed up absolutely soaked, but it was fun anyway. There was a buffet dinner, then a cruise down the Seine, then a dance party with a crazy light show where they played mostly American music. I hadn't realized how much I missed American dance music and it was a nice break from techno and songs I don't know.
Another day recently, I went to a pizza place with some friends, and I have to mention that pizza in Paris is served on plates that are smaller than the pizza, and you eat it with a knife and fork and dip it in spicy olive oil. After dinner, I went to a showing of Grey Gardens at the Centre Pompidou. That movie is fascinating if you haven't seen it and the director was there and talked and answered questions afterwards, which made me appreciate the movie a lot more.
I decided that I'm turning into a grownup. I know this because I like apples, onions, and reading the Wall Street Journal now.
Last week I went to the catacombs, which is a whole bunch of tunnels where the bones of 6,000,000 people were put when Paris's cemeteries got too crowded in the 1700s. The tunnels run underneath the whole city but the touristy part created in 1810 is lit (poorly), has skulls arranged in artistic designs, and plaques with old French poems about death (but don't worry, if you don't speak French they're in Latin too!)
This weekend, I went to Le Relais de l'Entrecôte, a really fancy, famous steak frites place (I got a cheese plate) where it seems like the rich and beautiful go to hang out. Afterwards, we went to N'importe quoi, a really fun and trendy club kind of place that plays great music (Blue, Tainted Love...), and I've been there a couple times now. This time, I got a free t-shirt!
Then on Sunday I went to a wine show for independent vineyards, which has to be one of my favorite things I've done here. For 3 euros, you go in and they give you your glass. Then there were hundreds of tables set up where the people who owned the vineyards (there's a word for that in French but I can't think of one in English) were displaying their wares, and you just go ask them about their wines and taste whatever you want. They're all really passionate and knowledgeable so I learned a lot of different kinds of grapes, wine regions, years, how they get wines to taste a certain way, etc. French wine is amazing and The idea is that it's exposure for them and that you're supposed to buy some, but you get to taste, learn about, and buy great wines that you can't get anywhere else, so it's a huge win-win.
Some friends and I had a 5 hour long picnic at the Eiffel tower last week which included a guitar and improvised singing, meeting some American tourists, different friends coming and going, a sunset, and lots and lots of food.
Orchestra is fun. I love always having a little music in my life, and I'm meeting more French people through it. For one of our songs, the Sciences Po choir is singing with us and it sounds really nice. We have a concert in April and I think we have another concert at a prison?
My mom is coming in four days! We traveled to Paris 5 years ago, and I'm excited to give her an insider's view of the city now that the Paris I know seems so different from the one we visited then. It'll be great to see her and show her what my daily life is like, and my amazingly accommodating host mom is staying with her boyfriend while my mom's here so we'll have the run of the place!
lundi 15 mars 2010
La fashion week a du chien!
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated my blog! I actually have homework occasionally now, thus slightly less free time to do things like this. My mom suggested making a photo album/memory book through iPhoto with lots of pictures of Paris, the places I went every day, my blog posts, etc., which seems like a great way to remember my time here. Normally I'm a loyal member of the why-make-photo-albums-when-all-my-pictures-are-on-facebook camp, but if I'm ever going to make a photo album, it would be filled with pictures of Paris.
I've done a lot in the last few weeks! The area where the Opéra Comique is is probably the prettiest, most Parisian-looking area in the city, and I've wandered back there a few times since then. Our winter break was a couple weeks ago, since four weeks of classes in a row is just too much for Parisians, so they have a winter break where everyone goes skiing in the Alps. As for me, I got a break from...my really low key classes and tiny amount of homework. One day over break, a bunch of friends and I went to a little sports bar called Antidote because they were showing the Canada/US gold medal hockey game, where everyone was cheering for Canada. It was fun anyway. I had to visit the Palais de Justice for class and watch part of a trial or whatever was going on in one of the courtrooms, because "in France, you have a right to", so I dragged my friend Nick along one day during break. It's fascinating to learn about the differences in the French legal system, and then see it in action/on TV/in movies. That night, Nick had a dinner party so I went with to get groceries and helped him cook a little before everyone came over. At the last few dinner parties my friends have had, we've made butterscotch and dipped madeleines in it, so we made tons of butterscotch again with our own "family recipe" we've all been using.
During the second half of our break, I went to Brussels with 6 of my friends from here. Brussels is not very touristy, but it's very fun, the people are so nice, and there is great architecture and interesting things to see. The buildings are almost German-looking to me and very medieval (compared to Paris, at least). We went to a great musical instrument museum, a René Magritte museum, lots of fun restaurants, some great bars, laughed at funny Dutch signs, and ate way too much chocolate and waffles. The first day we got there, all the Belgian people were so friendly, and every chocolate shop had free samples--one even had samples of the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted--so we knew we weren't in Paris anymore. Our second day there we went to Bruges for the day, which is a gorgeous little medieval town right outside Brussels, where we saw this strange light installation/art exhibit, places from the movie "In Bruges", and great little shops, but the best part was just wandering around and looking at all the old buildings. Our hostel in Brussels was fairly nice, but some crazy people were there and they kicked everyone out from 10-2 every day. After spending 3 1/2 days in Brussels, I really missed Paris and being away made me really appreciate it here, and I got a tiny glimpse of what it's going to feel like when I leave Paris for good but I'm not going to think about that!
When we got back, Paris fashion week was half over so some friends and I crashed some of the shows last week and (well, we couldn't actually get into any shows, but) it was so much fun! Lots of paparazzi/bloggers/random photographers took our pictures and three of my friends got on British Vogue's website! Afterwards, we met some photographers from the Paul and Joe show at a restaurant nearby, and they gave us their press passes. We couldn't use them anymore, but they're really cool and official-looking :)
It's actually getting warmer now and there are more and more tourists every day. I walked home from school yesterday (it takes exactly an hour) since it was so nice out. On my way, a middle-aged woman asked me in terrible French to take her picture in front of the Eiffel tower, then I responded in English and we chatted for a little while.
Let's see, I had two more presentations last week for my European political history class and I have another one today, then nothing for three weeks! My host mom is so nice. She was in India for a few weeks and she just got back, and she brought me back a necklace and earrings from India! My friends had a brunch party one day last week, then we wandered around and went thrift shopping. Another friend had a dinner party last weekend, and a bunch of French people were there so I got to speak French outside of class for a change. Another night last weekend I took the night bus home since the metro had stopped running, and the bus was so crowded that it actually feels safer than the metro late at night, so no more wasted money on cabs!
In the French regional elections on Sunday, the Socialist Party gained a bunch of seats, and we kind of discussed the elections in my French class but I still don't really understand the French political system. Instead, we had a really long discussion in that class about women's rights in France, which was fascinating and made me like my professor a lot more.
That's all for now!
I've done a lot in the last few weeks! The area where the Opéra Comique is is probably the prettiest, most Parisian-looking area in the city, and I've wandered back there a few times since then. Our winter break was a couple weeks ago, since four weeks of classes in a row is just too much for Parisians, so they have a winter break where everyone goes skiing in the Alps. As for me, I got a break from...my really low key classes and tiny amount of homework. One day over break, a bunch of friends and I went to a little sports bar called Antidote because they were showing the Canada/US gold medal hockey game, where everyone was cheering for Canada. It was fun anyway. I had to visit the Palais de Justice for class and watch part of a trial or whatever was going on in one of the courtrooms, because "in France, you have a right to", so I dragged my friend Nick along one day during break. It's fascinating to learn about the differences in the French legal system, and then see it in action/on TV/in movies. That night, Nick had a dinner party so I went with to get groceries and helped him cook a little before everyone came over. At the last few dinner parties my friends have had, we've made butterscotch and dipped madeleines in it, so we made tons of butterscotch again with our own "family recipe" we've all been using.
During the second half of our break, I went to Brussels with 6 of my friends from here. Brussels is not very touristy, but it's very fun, the people are so nice, and there is great architecture and interesting things to see. The buildings are almost German-looking to me and very medieval (compared to Paris, at least). We went to a great musical instrument museum, a René Magritte museum, lots of fun restaurants, some great bars, laughed at funny Dutch signs, and ate way too much chocolate and waffles. The first day we got there, all the Belgian people were so friendly, and every chocolate shop had free samples--one even had samples of the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted--so we knew we weren't in Paris anymore. Our second day there we went to Bruges for the day, which is a gorgeous little medieval town right outside Brussels, where we saw this strange light installation/art exhibit, places from the movie "In Bruges", and great little shops, but the best part was just wandering around and looking at all the old buildings. Our hostel in Brussels was fairly nice, but some crazy people were there and they kicked everyone out from 10-2 every day. After spending 3 1/2 days in Brussels, I really missed Paris and being away made me really appreciate it here, and I got a tiny glimpse of what it's going to feel like when I leave Paris for good but I'm not going to think about that!
When we got back, Paris fashion week was half over so some friends and I crashed some of the shows last week and (well, we couldn't actually get into any shows, but) it was so much fun! Lots of paparazzi/bloggers/random photographers took our pictures and three of my friends got on British Vogue's website! Afterwards, we met some photographers from the Paul and Joe show at a restaurant nearby, and they gave us their press passes. We couldn't use them anymore, but they're really cool and official-looking :)
It's actually getting warmer now and there are more and more tourists every day. I walked home from school yesterday (it takes exactly an hour) since it was so nice out. On my way, a middle-aged woman asked me in terrible French to take her picture in front of the Eiffel tower, then I responded in English and we chatted for a little while.
Let's see, I had two more presentations last week for my European political history class and I have another one today, then nothing for three weeks! My host mom is so nice. She was in India for a few weeks and she just got back, and she brought me back a necklace and earrings from India! My friends had a brunch party one day last week, then we wandered around and went thrift shopping. Another friend had a dinner party last weekend, and a bunch of French people were there so I got to speak French outside of class for a change. Another night last weekend I took the night bus home since the metro had stopped running, and the bus was so crowded that it actually feels safer than the metro late at night, so no more wasted money on cabs!
In the French regional elections on Sunday, the Socialist Party gained a bunch of seats, and we kind of discussed the elections in my French class but I still don't really understand the French political system. Instead, we had a really long discussion in that class about women's rights in France, which was fascinating and made me like my professor a lot more.
That's all for now!
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