Paris is always a good idea

I leave Paris in less than a month! I'm trying to squeeze in as much Paris as I can before I go, especially since I leave for Italy on Thursday and I'll be there for two weeks. I didn't think I'd say this after only 5 months, but I'm ready to go home for the summer. I'm used to living here, I know my way around and how to live like a Parisian and now I'm ready to become an American Who Has Lived in Paris. My friends are starting to leave, to travel around Europe, to go home to interesting jobs/schools/vacations and I still have a little while. I knew this would happen, but it's strange to think that I'll probably never see most of them again, but if I ever find myself in one of their hometowns I know I'd be welcomed like no time has passed.

In other news, it's finally summer! My friends and I have picnics in parks all the time, and I've been doing a lot of walking around and sitting outside reading and studying for finals. I've been done with classes for about 3 weeks now, and my last final in on Wednesday!

More cooking: I made a moelleux au chocolat that was really good, gnocchi that was really easy and delicious, and attempted to make macarons that turned out to be decent. I was invited to a party that was Paris metro station-themed and I made a dress out of newspaper, but it turned out to be not as much of a costume party as originally planned and now I'm saving the dress for another metro station-themed party. I'm also in the process of planning my birthday party (June 25th) and trying to see which of my friends will still be here. I'd like to get drinks at a swanky bar, eat at a swanky vegetarian restaurant, then go to a swanky club since I can't really do those things as well at home. Paris does swanky/fancy/pretentious very well and I want to get my fill of that before I leave and go back to laid-back/friendly American establishments.



I've been to a club called Queen a few times now, and it's always an experience. The music isn't too techno-y so it's fun to dance and people-watch with friends and I always end up running into people I know (I feel so cool when that happens, but Paris is small so it's not that unusual). The rich Parisians who show up to clubs in their designer outfits and sit in their VIP section and get bottle service and seem at home there are pretty sleazy but it's fun to watch them in their little world where they want very much to seem cool and interesting to the other sleazy, superficial people there. The students who go to these places are much more laid-back and just want to have fun rather than "be seen" but it's funny that their crazy little Parisian VIP world is right next to where my friends and I hang out. That's my description of Parisian nightlife.

Sciences Po had an end of the year gala a few weeks ago, since that school is training its students to be the French elite it's only natural to have a gala and get professional photographers and free champagne. There was a cocktail hour, dinner, and some big-deal speaker for the 5th year students who are graduating, then a dance party for all the other students. Before the dance began, my orchestra played. When we finished the first song, the DJ yelled "everybody party!" then turned on some really loud music even though we weren't finished. The conductor glared at him until he turned off the music, then we played two more songs. The conductor and concertmaster were not amused but I thought it was hilarious! Then I stayed and hung out with tons of my friends until about 5, wandered all over the place to find my oboe, waited for. ev. er. to get a cab, realized the metro had probably started running again, walked toward the metro, and ended up finding a cab and went home. The sun was starting to rise, so when I got back I put on PJs and went outside to watch the sun rise over the Eiffel tower. Then I went to bed around 7:30. One of my Paris goals was to stay out until the first metro (about 5:30am) and even though I didn't take the metro that night, I decided it counts.



My friend came to visit last week, so it was a nice excuse to see a couple touristy things one last time. We went to the Eiffel tower, Musée d'Orsay, and Versailles (I've been there 5 times now, once just to have a picnic in the gardens) and I'm suure going to miss free admission to museums when I leave. Versailles is probably my favorite touristy spot since it's so fascinating and crazy to imagine living there or what it would be like to be Louis XIV, having fancy balls and ceremonies and rules to keep the nobles from rebelling. It was the epitome of France's glory days and it's amazing to be able to take a short train ride, get in for free, and be transported back there. But mostly I'm going to miss making jokes about how Louis XIV looked like a pirate.



With Blake Lively's hair.





I'm reading a book called The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, and it's about a 21-year-old American girl in the 50s who has graduated from college and goes to live in Paris for two years and has lots of adventures. She's kind of a bohemian party girl who has affairs with Italian bankers and artists, is in a movie, has pink hair, and just wants to experience the world and meet interesting people. It's very entertaining and I relate a lot to Sally Jay, the main character, but mostly it's interesting to read about what Paris is to her and learn about what Paris was to bohemians and artists back then. In a review someone described the book as a cross between Bridget Jones's Diary and The Catcher and the Rye, which is pretty accurate. In conclusion, there are lots of books about Paris and this is a very good one, especially if you're young and live/have lived/want to live in Paris.

I went to a brunch party at my friend's apartment today where we had crêpes and French toast with lots of great French toppings...and maple syrup? It was the last time I was going to see some of my friends before they leave now that finals are coming to an end. One of my favorite things about Paris is the food. French food is so creative and unexpected compared to boring American food. Don't get me wrong, American food can be very good, but French food is much more creative and complicated, which is fascinating to someone learning how to cook. I can make pasta with a really good sauce or soup or grilled vegetable sandwiches, but even average French cooks can make all kinds of tarts and soufflés and casseroles and you can't tell what's in it. Also, French restaurants are all pretty small and it just seems like you're at someone's house for dinner instead of a huge, mass-produced chain restaurant. I went to Mon Deuxième Chez Moi (my second home) a few weeks ago, and I showed up at 7 but they looked closed so I asked if they were open. The guy who I asked yelled into the kitchen, "When are we serving dinner?" They decided on 7:30, so they let me sit outside while they cleaned and they brought me free coffee. At 7:30, my friend and I went in and the (only) waiter brought over a huge chalkboard with that night's (very limited) menu on it and helped us decide what to order. They brought out slices of bread with foie gras while we were waiting, and as more people came in, the waiters (there were two by then) talked to everyone like we were his guests. One of them had left his cleaning supplies on a table and joked that he left them there in case one of us wanted to help clean up, then chatted with us and went on and on about American basketball. The food was wonderful and it was all very fun and very French.

I think what makes the French seem so sophisticated and proper is that manners are very important and strict here. Everyone follows etiquette rules to be courteous and show respect to those around you (have good table manners, talk quietly in public places, open the door for women, say hello and goodbye when entering/exiting an elevator or a shop or something). Growing up in the US in modern times made me pretty unaware of social etiquette and now I'm so used to France that I judge people who talk loudly or slouch when they eat or something. I discovered www.socialprimer.com the other day, and it's fascinating to read about "official" rules of etiquette that very few groups of people follow in America, but if everyone followed the same etiquette rules, social interactions would seem more respectful and courteous. This is why France seems so civilized and mature to me, and it would be nice if more Americans agreed with me. Sigh.

There are videos I put on youtube of my orchestra concert (not at the gala) where we played The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, Te Deum by Haydn, and some string thing I didn't play in. I can't get the hyperlink to work, but if you copy and paste these URLs they should work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sflf20y-lM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMcMmyBK4so&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt1N0LU2Whw&feature=related

A very Nice vacation

I just got back from spring break on the French Riviera with a bunch of friends. I LOVE it there! I really want to go back there many times in my life and I hope I'll be able to. The weather and scenery were gorgeous, the people were so laid-back and nice, and it's very chic in the exact opposite way from Paris. Relaxed and cool without trying to be, while Paris is very uptight and tries very hard to be on the cutting edge of everything. We took a night train to Nice, so we got there on Sunday morning, but it was hard to sleep on the train. We got there and checked into our hostel, Villa Saint-Exupéry (named after the author of the Little Prince), which was rated the best hostel in France according to my guidebook, and it was easy to see why. The rooms were very nice with a view of the whole city, free shuttle to downtown, free computer usage, towels, breakfast, they organize day trips, give lots of great advice, and have a really fun bar with 1 euro beers where everyone hangs out and mingles each night. This hostel is reason enough to visit Nice, but the Riviera is absolutely amazing and the trip was more than perfect. I had wanted to go on a beach vacation with friends for so many years, and it was more than I hoped for and I fell in love with the area. The first day, we hung out on the beach and enjoyed the gorgeous view of the coast and the Mediterranean for a few hours, then walked up an old "citadel" (very Lord of the Rings) that has a panoramic view of the whole coast with all the surrounding towns. Nice felt a lot like California or Florida to me, with lots of palm trees and a very coastal vibe--very different from Paris. I couldn't believe we were still in France. Then we walked around the old part of Nice, through lots of markets and old shops.



On Monday, it was my friend's birthday so we did all the fun things she had been dying to do. We slept in, then took a beautiful bike ride all the way up the coast to Antibes, riding right next to the water the whole time. It was about 80-85 degrees out the whole time we were there, by the way. Then we sat on the beach for a while and drank cocktails, then went to an authentic Niçois restaurant for dinner, then to a fun little English pub afterwards. When it closed, we went and sat on the beach and chatted, taking in the view of the coast at night. I was surprised by how much I missed living by the beach and the water in Chicago, but lake Michigan is nothing compared to the Mediterranean, which I had never seen before.



On Tuesday, we went scuba diving! We wandered around the old part of Nice, and we headed to the port where we got on a boat for our "baptême" (baptism/first dive in this case). 8 of us went out into the water on the boat and chatted, soaked up the sun, and took turns diving. We each dove with an instructor for 20 minutes and got to see and touch lots of beautiful fish, rocks, coral, interesting plants, and just experience the sea up close. It was wonderful and rekindled my childhood love of oceans and sea life. I really am a beach girl at heart. Then on the way back, we chatted some more, and the crew brought out a bunch of rosé wine for us "to get rid of the saltwater taste". That night we hung out at the hostel and mingled with dozens of backpackers and other study abroad students from all over the world.



On Wednesday, we took a 30 minute bus ride to Monaco, which is my new favorite place in the world. It's like the best neighborhoods of Paris, plus palm trees and beaches and a monarchy. Everything is absolutely beautiful and there's tons of really nice shops, hotels and restaurants everywhere, and just walking around made me feel ridiculously cool and sophisticated. It was a great cross between the bustle of a city and the calm of a resort (since there are only 7,000 residents in the whole city/country. And another plus side is that it's really safe. So if I ever make my millions (hey, you have to plan ahead), I'll definitely get a summer home there. That's my new incentive to study hard. We hung out on a gorgeous beach there for hours, then we wandered through the streets a little, before heading to the casino in Monte Carlo (the "capital city" of the country of Monaco). This casino is in Casino Royale, and a bunch of other James Bond movies, and it's the swankiest place in the swankiest part of the swankiest country on earth. We went into the casino, and fortunately we had dressed nicely enough to get in, then I lost 30 cents playing the slot machines. Get ready for the next part of the story. Are you sitting down? We wanted to see the part of the casino with the real gambling tables, where movies have been filmed and millions have been won and lost. We chatted with the doorman/bouncer for a while, then went to get tickets to go in. To get in, you needed a driver's license (mine was at the hostel being used as a deposit) or a passport (I only had a copy). Since I couldn't get in, I left to wait outside for my friends, but the doorman asked them where I went and he said he'd let me in and just give us a tour himself so I wouldn't need a ticket. I got in for free, then the 4 of us got a private tour of all the gambling tables, the private 1,000 euro minimum tables, and even the super-private restaurant for the really high rollers, and we could go in and see everything since all those places happened to be closed to the public that day. He told us stories about Grace Kelly, the royal family of Monaco (who owns the casino), being in the James Bond movie before Casino Royale, and all the other famous people he's met in his 25 years working at the casino. He loves Monaco and the casino, and is very royalist and it was fascinating to hear him talk about what it's like to live in that weird, fascinating little country. He was extremely talkative and the casino wasn't busy, and he seemed very proud that he could show it off to us, and it was easily one of the coolest things that had ever happened to any of us.



On Thursday, we went to Cannes, which is a hipper, trendier version of Monaco where lots of young famous people and film executives hang out in the summer. We saw the building where the film festival takes place, then wandered up a hill to a church and sat outside gazing of the wonderful view of the coastline. The Riviera is right by the Alps, so all the hills and mountains make for stunning panoramic views everywhere you go. It's interesting to compare all these little coastal towns to each other. If Nice is California's laid-back beach towns, Monaco is Rodeo Drive and Cannes is Hollywood. Or rather, California tries to be like those parts of the French Riviera. Thursday evening, we went to Antibes to meet up with my friend's friend who lives there. She's Australian and lives with two other Australians who all work on yachts owned by rich businessmen (cleaning and preparing them mostly). We hung out at their apartment, then went out to dinner with more of their friends, and they were all so nice and fascinating to talk to. Most of them hadn't finished college and just decided to go work on yachts in the south of France. I'm not going to quit school and move across the world, but it's amazing to think that I could even though it's never crossed my mind to do what they did. Most of them want to go back to school in a few years, but their days consist of working in the morning, hanging out on the beach, and spending time with friends. Isn't the goal of going to school and getting a good job so that you can retire one day and live like that? It's interesting to at least step back and decide to do what makes you happy instead of what you feel you should be doing so you can be happy one day.



On Friday, we took a bus to Èze where we went to a Galimard perfume shop (that whole area is known for being the perfume capital of the world and even the air smells like flowers and perfume), then had a wonderful lunch in a restaurant with a great view of mountains and the sea, then to an old medieval village. It was on top of a mountain and had tons of windy streets, tiny buildings, with shops and restaurants in them today. We visited the ruins of a château with a garden of exotic plants surrounding it. The medieval architecture combined with exotic flowers, cacti, and palm trees, with the mountains all around, and the Mediterranean Sea made it all look very strange and surreal, unlike anything I've ever imagined. It felt more like the Alps than the tropical towns we had been visiting, and it definitely didn't seem like France. Then we walked down the mountain (in flip flops-bad idea) to the beach and went back to Nice in time to catch another night train back to Paris. The week was full of so many new, amazing, life-changing experiences and I hope I can go back many times and discover even more.