My Life in Paris

My mom came to visit last week! We had lots of fun and I loved visiting all my favorite places and having someone to show around. She corrected me, we came to Paris 4 years ago not 5, so sorry but I was wrong when I mentioned that before. We did a ton of stuff while she was here, and this was our daily itinerary (and my suggestions for things you can't miss if you ever come here):

Saturday-
-Got up bright and early, got pastries from my favorite bakery, then picked up Mom at the airport
-Got back and I showed her around my apartment
-Walked along the Seine to the Eiffel tower
-Hung out there and bought a ton of souvenirs
-Had lunch at a cute little cafe by the Ecole Militaire
-Walked back to the apartment
-Saw the movie Precious on the Champs Elysées
-Shopped on the Champs for a long time
-Took the metro back
-Made a delicious, very late dinner of lentils with sautéed vegetables and spicy carrot soup
-Bedtime because we had an early morning the next day!

Sunday (Easter!)-
-Breakfast at home
-Gregorian mass at Notre Dame
-Falafel, vintage shopping, and funky little boutiques in the Marais
-Back to Notre Dame for an organ recital and vespers service
-Off to Saint Germain to show Mom where I have class and wander a little
-Dinner at my all-time favorite restaurant, Le Faitout in the 19th
-Back home where we started watching In Bruges

Monday-
-Breakfast at home
-Shopping at Monoprix, my grocery store, for food and souvenirs
-Wonderful lunch with my host family where Mom met everyone and we gave them souvenirs from Chicago
-Walked to Rue du Commerce where there are lots of fun boutiques and H&M, Gap, Zara...
-Went to Rue Mouffetard for crepes from Au P'tit Grec (they're the best) and gelato from Amorino (also the best)
-Wandered down Rue Mouffetard, stumbled upon the Pantheon, the Sorbonne, Boulevard Saint Germain, and Notre Dame, then wandered along the Seine for a couple hours until we got to the Musée d'Orsay
-Continued watching In Bruges

Tuesday-
-Breakfast
-Saint-Germain-des-Prés
-Shopped at the Bon Marché
-Wandered/shopped along the streets
-Went inside the Eglise Saint-Germain-Des-Prés
-Lunch picnic in the Luxembourg gardens since it was gooorgeous outside
-I went to class (which was actually cancelled) while Mom wandered around and went to a cafe
-Macarons at Ladurée
-Dinner at Pizza Vesuvio
-Got groceries for Wednesday's dinner party
-Continued watching In Bruges

Wednesday-
-Breakfast
-Made French onion soup for the party
-Picnic in the Tuileries
-Went to the Louvre since you can't ever go too many times
-Wonderful dinner party with my friends and host family
-Finished watching In Bruges

Thursday-
-Breakfast
-Last-minute souvenirs
-Dropped off Mom at the airport

It was wonderful to spend time with her and show her my favorite places. We got to wander and shop a lot, which we didn't really do the last time we were here (which was 4 years ago, not 5- sorry I got that wrong before). I'm really glad she got to see what my daily life is like over here and I sent her home with lots of souvenirs. I got a new cookbook full of great French recipes that are all vegetarian, and I'm going to try to make everything in it even though some of the recipes are a little hard for me. Also, my mom brought me a little Flip videocamera and it's great! I know I'll love having videos of Paris when I go home.

Right after Mom left, I saw Scott Joplin's opera, Treemonisha with my host mom, her friend, and my host sister. The music is wonderful and an interesting mix of classical, folk, and ragtime, and the dancing and singing were great. I love my host family. Our agreement at the beginning was that I was just renting a room from them, and at first I kind of kept to my self and was out a lot. Now, my host mom invites me to things, cooks for me, introduces me to her friends, and we talk a lot and it's great! Since it wasn't really a "host family" setup officially, she doesn't have an obligation to feed me and take care of me, so I have my independence of living alone combined with the cultural experience and companionship of a host family. Perfect!

Makeup is really expensive here for some reason, even French brands are more expensive here than in the States. Yves Rocher is a little bath and beauty store I just discovered, and they have tons of really cheap but good quality makeup, soaps, lotions and lots of stuff like that. I got this gorgeous gold nail polish there for one euro, and I've had it on for 5 days and there's only one little chip. New gift idea!

This past week, about 7 Indian kids were staying with us while they were here on an exchange program visit. Their chaperone/leader knows my host mom, who heard they were coming to Paris and planning to stay in a hotel, so she insisted they stay here! They ranged from 11-16, were extremely polite, spoke perfect English, and made really good food. We all had a dinner party on Saturday when they first arrived, and 5 or 6 of my host mom's friends and their kids were there too, so about 18 people. Lots of people brought wine, and someone brought bottles of Coke instead and everyone kept joking that it was "un Coca 2004". I had a great conversation with some French teenagers about American stereotypes of French people and what it's like to learn English. They knew that a lot of Americans think French people are snobby, but they thought it was hilarious that Americans think French men are feminine.

My host mom thinks American women are like the women you see in American movies: glamorous, independent and always done up, and she loves watching movies with characters like that. Learning about how French people view America is not only teaching me about French people, but what French people think is different about Americans is teaching me what's unique about us. Like, that the "American dream" of being poor and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is a uniquely American ideal and other people are more satisfied by their lot in life and don't feel as much of a need to get rich, in my opinion. French people may seem snobby to us, but to me they seem very proud of their country's cultural heritage, and we don't really have a cultural history like theirs to be snobby about. Another thing I've noticed: French girls size you up when they meet you and don't give compliments, but they're nicer to you if you speak French and dress nicely but if you don't, they can seem really snobby and mean.

I HATE giving myself away as an American in the street, on the metro, shopping, etc. so here is my guide I've figured out for myself on how to blend in:
-Scowl and look pissed off
-Don't be loud
-Don't tip in restaurants
-Complain a lot (my host sister explained that this is so you don't seem like you're bragging)
-Don't talk to strangers
-Always say bonjour or bonsoir when you go into a store/elevator/restaurant and bonne journée/bonne soirée or au revoir when you leave
-Eat pizza with a knife and fork
-Wear lots of black, even in spring
-Wear a winter coat when it's too warm out, then on April 1st, you're allowed to switch to a trench coat, which you will wear all summer
-Don't smile at or make eye contact with strangers
-Don't eat a lot at each meal
-Have long brown hair (oops) and don't brush it
-Pay attention to your table manners
-Never dress down
-Act like you're better than everyone