Hey all,
Last night I got back from an amazing weekend in Prague, where Kristin and I stayed with Heather in her dorm. We had such a great time, we saw a lot, had some great food, and had a fun time catching up. Kristin and I left early Friday morning, getting up at around 5, and then taking the metro, RER, and Orlyval to Paris Orly, where we caught our flight to Prague (about a two-hour flight). We got in at around 11, and then took a bus and a metro to meet Heather at the metro station close to her dorm. We spent some time catching up and getting settled into our dorm, and figuring out the plan for the weekend, before heading out for lunch at an amazing noodle place. Then, we explored some of the city, with Heather’s friend Sarah (who was really nice), seeing some significant spots in Czech history, before catching the tram to a famous strudel place. It’s basically just a tiny strudel place that most people would miss, but it has been featured on the travel channel and such as having the best strudel in the world, so of course we had to get some! We climbed up the hill to a little park and sat on a bench to eat our apple strudel, delicious, where we also got a pretty view of Prague in the fall. Then it was off to visit the TV tower, which features these creepy babies/aliens crawling over it (I’m still not quite sure why…). We paid to go up to the top, where we got a really cool view of the city, although it was pretty foggy, so a bit limited. After a bit of a walk, we headed back to the dorm to hang out for a bit before heading out to a nearby bar (“Dogs Bollocks”, haha) for some Hoegaarden with Sarah and this guy named John (who said he almost went to Kenyon, but is at Haverford, and new some of our friends on the Sweet Briar Program, as did Sarah-who goes to Northwestern). Then it was off to dinner, where we tried to go to a couple Czech restaurants by the dorm, but they were full, so we headed to a really good pizza place. Afterwards, we headed to a bar known for having different flavors of beer. We tried some samples, deciding that our favorite was the banana flavor…yummy! After the bar, we headed back home, as Kristin and I were too tired to go to a club or anything, where we stayed up a bit late just talking and hanging out.
Saturday, we got up relatively early and caught breakfast at the hotel, then set off to see the castle. It was so cool; we saw the beautiful chapel, as well as a museum housing a bunch of interesting artifacts and such, and then Golden Alley (I think), with a bunch of little stores and stuff, including one with a bunch of armor-where we all paid to shoot a crossbow, fun, as well as a prison with all this old torture stuff…cool! We also went to the Toy Museum, which I have to say has been my favorite museum so far, haha. They even had a Barbie exhibit going on, so we learned some of the actually really interesting of Barbie, and basically saw its evolution-it was really funny to see all the different outfits from different decades. Then we headed out to Bohemia Bagel, where we got our first American breakfast in forever! I got some delicious blueberry pancakes and such, it was funny, I felt like I was back in the US-hanging out with Heather, hearing English all around me, and eating American-style breakfast food…it was nice. We then crossed the beautiful bridge, lined with sculptures, to head into old town, where we saw the famous clock tower, and saw it on the hour-where a skeleton rings a bell and the apostles come out the sides. We even climbed it, as Kristin’s friend from home specifically called her from home to tell her it was a must, and got a really nice view of Old Town. We then walked around for a while and headed back, heading back to the dorm, and then out to an authentic Czech restaurant. It was really nice, we sat on benches and they brought us their home-made beer. Kristin and I split an order of Goulash, the Czech dish, consisting of meat (I believe beef) in a yummy broth, as well as some potato dumplings. Delicious. We also had some shots of Becherovka, a special kind of Czech liquor with lots of different kinds of herbs from all over, not my cup of tea, but okay. Afterwards, we met up with John, as well as our friend Ben from sweet briar, who it turns out was visiting someone from Heather’s program, which was funny. We all went to this fun bar, where it’s basically a giant drinking game. There are taps at the table, and it’s all done electronically, where the tables get points for ever .5L of beer they drink, and there’s a big screen listing each table and their points. They even compare different bars around bar, showing which bar has drunk the most. We weren’t feeling too competitive, but it was still fun, and definitely a cool idea. Afterwards, me, Kristin, Heather, and Sarah headed to a 5-story club, which was really fun. It was great, we hung out mainly on the fourth floor, which played a bunch of American rap that we all knew, good time. When we were too tired to dance anymore, we headed back to the dorm, and fell asleep not too long after.
The next morning we slept in a bit, gaining an extra hour from Daylight Savings, yes!, before heading out. We had missed the dorm’s breakfast, so we got some fresh juice from this amazing place by the dorm, and then tried Trdelnik-an amazing Czech pastry. We then went to see the Lennon wall, where graffiti was written following his death. The police apparently would paint it over every night, but it would always reappear. It was a really cool thing to see, all about peace and love. Then we headed over to the Gardens, which were really cool, with sculptures, a wall made to look like that of a cave and featuring a cage with real owls, etc. There was even a duck pond! We then went and saw an interesting sculpture, depicting a man losing parts of his body in different stages, essentially representing the effects of communism. We then went to an amazing Mexican restaurant for lunch, so good, we all agreed that we missed Mexican food from the U.S., and it’s the one type of food Paris seems to lack. Then it was off to a nearby church, where there is the famous baby Jesus, which people send in clothes to wear. They had a display of some of the different outfits from all over the world, it was really cool, they were all really elaborate and beautiful. We then walked through a touristy area to check out souvenirs and such before heading back to the dorm, to collect our stuff and head out. Then it was goodbye, and Kristin and I headed back to the airport, where or flight was delayed for two hours because of the heavy fog, argh. I finally got home close to 11pm, what a weekend! It was such a great trip; so nice to have Heather, it was like a personal tour guide! So yes, Prague was great, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Alex I know you will enjoy it, although I’m excited to have the next two weekends in Paris-a break from the craziness of traveling.
This morning my host mom was kind of pissy, she said that Madame Parnet called about the internet situation, and kept repeating that she cannot “faire des miracles” (make miracles), that she works so much and doesn’t have time…sigh. Madame Parnet talked to me today and said that my host mom had said she would take care of it this week (although my host mom didn’t tell me this, so we’ll see if it actually happens). Oh well, I will live. Tonight I think Kristin and I are heading to Bar Cristal to see our favorite bartenders, yay! So yeah, life is good here, love you all!
Brit
Monday, October 27, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Oh technology...
Hey everybody,
So this has been a rather uneventful and kind of stressful week for me, but fortunately today I took care of some stuff. I guess I will start from the beginning, Monday during the day I was feeling pretty upset with my host mom. Basically, I feel like I'm constantly screwing up, she has all these little things I have to remember to do in her apartment, and I always do them, but somehow not right, not good enough, I dont even know. But basically she just keeps repeating all these little things I need to do, just when im about to do them, its getting really old. On top of that, she hasn't done anything to try and fix the internet, which is such a problem for me. I basically have to plan my day around finding stupid internet access, so I can communicate with friends and family, not to mention coordinate travel plans, look up stuff for class, coordinate stuff for next semester, etc. My laptop is really big and heavy, perfect for wifi at home but not for walking around Paris, so my days have been really limited. Essentially, I was and am just feeling really frustrated by the whole situation, as im like the only person who doesnt have wifi at their house, and my host mom just isnt making much of an effort. So yeah, Monday I was feeling pretty crappy, annoyed, frustrated, and even a bit homesick, so I went over to Kristin's place to use her wifi before heading to Bar Cristal. I felt so much better, after venting to Kristin, and it was really fun just relaxing and hanging out, and talking to our friends the bartenders. They even played "Born in the USA" for us, and Led Zeppelin, which they remembered we like. It was really fun, Dan (one of the bartenders) even invited us out for a drink after they closed, but then realized it was a Monday and everything is closed by 2, haha, oh well. Tuesday was pretty uneventful, I stayed in and caught up on sleep, as was Wednesday until the evening...When my water bottle spilled in my purse...where my Ipod was...So essentially I broke my Ipod, and was very upset. Im going to wait a week to make sure its all dried out, and then try to get it going, but there's little hope...Also, I discovered there's no freaking Apple store in Paris, so I dont even know how to go about getting it looked at if it doesnt work. So yeah, basically I had a horrible night, called mom who made me feel better, and then went to bed early, resolving to take care of stuff today...which I did. I just talked to Madame Parnet (One of the people in charge at Sweet Priar), about the whole internet problem, and she is going to speak to my host mom about it. If for some reason she wont get me internet, there is another host family not far from where Im living now that has room for another student, and that has internet. So who, knows, I might be moving...We'll see. Anyways, tomorrow I leave early early in the morning for Prague with Kristin, where I'm staying with Heather!!! ( who is studying there for the semester). I'm so excited, it will also be really nice to see someone from home. So yea, there's the stressful update, sorry it's not a fun one, I promise my next one I will have returned from Prague and be in a much better mood. :)
Much love,
Brit
So this has been a rather uneventful and kind of stressful week for me, but fortunately today I took care of some stuff. I guess I will start from the beginning, Monday during the day I was feeling pretty upset with my host mom. Basically, I feel like I'm constantly screwing up, she has all these little things I have to remember to do in her apartment, and I always do them, but somehow not right, not good enough, I dont even know. But basically she just keeps repeating all these little things I need to do, just when im about to do them, its getting really old. On top of that, she hasn't done anything to try and fix the internet, which is such a problem for me. I basically have to plan my day around finding stupid internet access, so I can communicate with friends and family, not to mention coordinate travel plans, look up stuff for class, coordinate stuff for next semester, etc. My laptop is really big and heavy, perfect for wifi at home but not for walking around Paris, so my days have been really limited. Essentially, I was and am just feeling really frustrated by the whole situation, as im like the only person who doesnt have wifi at their house, and my host mom just isnt making much of an effort. So yeah, Monday I was feeling pretty crappy, annoyed, frustrated, and even a bit homesick, so I went over to Kristin's place to use her wifi before heading to Bar Cristal. I felt so much better, after venting to Kristin, and it was really fun just relaxing and hanging out, and talking to our friends the bartenders. They even played "Born in the USA" for us, and Led Zeppelin, which they remembered we like. It was really fun, Dan (one of the bartenders) even invited us out for a drink after they closed, but then realized it was a Monday and everything is closed by 2, haha, oh well. Tuesday was pretty uneventful, I stayed in and caught up on sleep, as was Wednesday until the evening...When my water bottle spilled in my purse...where my Ipod was...So essentially I broke my Ipod, and was very upset. Im going to wait a week to make sure its all dried out, and then try to get it going, but there's little hope...Also, I discovered there's no freaking Apple store in Paris, so I dont even know how to go about getting it looked at if it doesnt work. So yeah, basically I had a horrible night, called mom who made me feel better, and then went to bed early, resolving to take care of stuff today...which I did. I just talked to Madame Parnet (One of the people in charge at Sweet Priar), about the whole internet problem, and she is going to speak to my host mom about it. If for some reason she wont get me internet, there is another host family not far from where Im living now that has room for another student, and that has internet. So who, knows, I might be moving...We'll see. Anyways, tomorrow I leave early early in the morning for Prague with Kristin, where I'm staying with Heather!!! ( who is studying there for the semester). I'm so excited, it will also be really nice to see someone from home. So yea, there's the stressful update, sorry it's not a fun one, I promise my next one I will have returned from Prague and be in a much better mood. :)
Much love,
Brit
Monday, October 20, 2008
ITALY
Hey there!
So I just got back from an amazing but exhausting weekend in Italy with my friend Kristin. I’m actually watching the movie about The Doors, which my host mom is also watching, as I can here her singing along to “Light My Fire”, haha, so cute. So yeah, I’ve been up to a lot since my last post…here it goes! Thursday night ended up being a really random but fun night. I came over to Kristin’s house to meet her and convince her to go to Le Mixe (the club from the week before), and sat with her while she finished up a really late dinner (she has class til 9 Thursdays). We were in her little kitchen, which has a pretty big window facing a bunch of other apartment buildings that form a kind of square. Anyways, we were sitting and talking, when we noticed that in one of the apartments right across from us there was a party or something going on, with several people standing by the window talking and smoking. They noticed us, and immediately started waving at us to come over, which we found hilarious, so after much giggling I opened the window and waved back. One of the guys started telling us his cell phone number, as quietly as possible as it’s a pretty quiet neighborhood, so we wrote it down and gave them a call. They gave us the code and number of their building, and we were feeling adventurous, so off we went to find the party, figuring if it was lame or sketchy we could always bail and head over to Le Mixe. When we got there, we called the guy’s cell, and he let us in. It ended up being really fun, it was a bunch of french students studying in the same business school together, they were really friendly, and had fun asking us about life in America and such. They were all our age, just hanging out in this guy’s apartment talking and relaxing. After quite a while, everyone headed out; a few of them went on to find a dance club on the Champs-Elysees, but Kristin and I decided to stay by her house and head to the Bar Cristal to get a drink and laugh about it all. Hopefully we will see them again at some point-they gave us a flyer to this really big Halloween party they’re planning to go to, that is organized by the university, sounds like it will be really cool. Anyways, since it was too late to catch the metro, I spent the night at Kristin’s place, where she has an extra bed in her room, and headed out early the next morning to get all ready to leave for Italy...such a random night.
So Friday afternoon it was off to Italy! Getting there was a bit tricky, as I took a bus to Porte Maillot, caught a shuttle to the Aeroport Beauvais (which took a little over an hour), where we then caught our plane to the Pisa airport. We arrived without problems, and at the airport I even saw a friend (Emily May) from Chapel Hill High! It was too crazy, I said hello and we chatted a bit, she was with a group of students from Davidson, who are studying in Tours-they did exactly the opposite of what we did, starting in Paris for a couple weeks and then heading to Tours for the semester (we definitely have the better setup). But anyways, as I said it was pretty crazy to see her, we were on the same flight and such. So Kristin and I got into Pisa at around 8pm, and then we caught a bus to Florence (which took another hour and a half). Finally, we arrived in Florence, and set out with our guide book to find the hostel I booked. Fortunately, it was just a short walk from the station, so we checked in and left our stuff to go find a place to eat. We soon found a delicious pizza place, where we ate our first Italian meal, complete with white wine, delicious. By the time we finished dinner it was pretty late, and we were both tired, so we headed back to the hostel to get some rest so we could get up early on Saturday. The hostel was descent-only 13 euro a night, yes!, and we had our own room and a private bathroom, good deal. We stayed up talking for a bit, and eventually went to sleep.
The next morning we got up early, and got some breakfast included in the hostel. Then it was off for a day of wandering, the first stop being “Le Duomo”, the cathedral Santa Maria, including the Cupola del Duomo, the domed ceiling of the cathedral covered in a painting by Brunelleschi depicting various scenes of the last judgement. We climbed all the way up to the top, over 400 steps, to catch one of the most beautiful views of Florence, it was really amazing (and also very tiring). We also visitied les Cappelle Medicee, which was huge, and really beautiful inside and out. Afterwards we went and saw a museum/former palace of one of the greatest families in Italy (I think it was called the Palazzo Vecchio), running into a huge student protest on the way. Apparently the government is doing something that raises university prices a lot, we weren’t entirely sure what was going on…but yeah it was pretty cool, there were so many people marching, with Bob Marley blaring in the background. Anyways, we then headed over to la Galleria dell’Accademia, where we saw David and all sorts of other paintings and sculptures. Then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at another pizza place to rest and eat, delicious, and then heading toward the river, walking through a beautiful piazza littered with statues, including the fountain of Neptune. We then reached the Ponte Vecchio, and crossed it, checking out the many jewelry stores as we passed (too expensive for us!). Then it was time for some gelato, so we each grabbed a cone and sat on the wall boarding the river. After talking and resting for a while, we went off to discover what was on the other side of the bridge, including the Palazzo Pitti, and a few more churches I know forget the name of. By the time we were finished, it was getting late, so we headed back in the direction of the hostel, at this point pretty exhausted. We stopped by the station to check out train times, and then grabbed our bags at the hostel and got ready to go. Then it was off to Pisa, and an hour and a half train ride later we arrived.
Upon arriving at the Pisa Central Station, it was time to find our hostel; I had directions for the bus, but we were feeling adventurous (and impatient) and decided to save a couple euro and walk there. Unfortunately, our hostel was just off the map we had, but we knew the general location and figured we could find it. So off we went, traversing Pisa, stopping about half-way to find dinner. We both got pasta, and finished with some amazing Tiraimasu. The service was really slow, and by the time we finished it was already approaching midnight. On we went, walking in the general direction of the hostel, until we started to get out into the residential area. There was no one around, and pretty soon we were lost…without a map, tired, and of course Kristin had to go to the bathroom. Fortunately, we stumbled across a friendly Italian couple, who gave us directions through pointing and repetitions of the street name (they didn’t speak english, sigh), and off we went in what we hoped was the right direction. Unfortunately, not so much. We walked farther and farther, and were getting pretty nervous…I tried to call the hostel, but couldn’t get it to work with my french cell phone. Finally, as we were deciding to walk back all the way to the city center, we noticed an older couple and two others standing outside their house. We rushed over, asking if they spoke English, and then asking if they knew the name road we were looking for. To our surprise, they responded yes, they knew the road, as we were on it! Lots of “Gratzi” later, we were off in the right direction, and easily found our hostel just a short walk away, what a relief! It also just so happened that the owner pulled up right as we arrived, so he was able to let us in and get us all situated. He was really nice, and gave us a map, marking the important landmarks and the bus stations we would need. Then it was off to bed, as we were both exhausted.
The next morning we slept in a bit later, as we hadn’t reached the hostel until about 1am, and had both agreed we would take it slower on Sunday, since there’s really not a whole lot to see in Pisa besides the mean square with the leaning tower and such. So off we went to find the square, stopping for a snack on the way, and then we arrived at the tower! It was really cool, very pretty, and of course we had to get the obligatory pictures of us pretending to hold it up. We then checked out the cathedral, also very beautiful, and then went and found a gelato place to sit and hang out for a bit. As we sat, we looked at the map the hostel owner had given us, and noticed that there was a bus tour of Pisa that left right by where we were. Since we were carrying our bags and such with us, the bus tour sounded perfect, so we climbed aboard, sitting at the top to get some fresh air and the best views. It was really nice, the weather was incredible, and it was cool to hear some of the history of Pisa, and see parts of it that would otherwise have been too far. Afterwards, it was time to find the bus to take us to the airport, which we found with ease thanks to our handy map. We made it to the airport with plenty of time, oh the marvels of public transportation, and then it was back to Paris. It was an amazing trip, as I said very tiring, hopefully I will get to go back to Italy at some point, it’s such a great country, and see Rome, Venice, etc.
Alors, voila! That was Italy, and now it’s back to class for the week. I love walking around in Paris right now, it’s getting a bit colder, and feels really fresh and nice out…perfection. Phew, I think that was my longest post yet! Will write again soon, much love,
Brit
So I just got back from an amazing but exhausting weekend in Italy with my friend Kristin. I’m actually watching the movie about The Doors, which my host mom is also watching, as I can here her singing along to “Light My Fire”, haha, so cute. So yeah, I’ve been up to a lot since my last post…here it goes! Thursday night ended up being a really random but fun night. I came over to Kristin’s house to meet her and convince her to go to Le Mixe (the club from the week before), and sat with her while she finished up a really late dinner (she has class til 9 Thursdays). We were in her little kitchen, which has a pretty big window facing a bunch of other apartment buildings that form a kind of square. Anyways, we were sitting and talking, when we noticed that in one of the apartments right across from us there was a party or something going on, with several people standing by the window talking and smoking. They noticed us, and immediately started waving at us to come over, which we found hilarious, so after much giggling I opened the window and waved back. One of the guys started telling us his cell phone number, as quietly as possible as it’s a pretty quiet neighborhood, so we wrote it down and gave them a call. They gave us the code and number of their building, and we were feeling adventurous, so off we went to find the party, figuring if it was lame or sketchy we could always bail and head over to Le Mixe. When we got there, we called the guy’s cell, and he let us in. It ended up being really fun, it was a bunch of french students studying in the same business school together, they were really friendly, and had fun asking us about life in America and such. They were all our age, just hanging out in this guy’s apartment talking and relaxing. After quite a while, everyone headed out; a few of them went on to find a dance club on the Champs-Elysees, but Kristin and I decided to stay by her house and head to the Bar Cristal to get a drink and laugh about it all. Hopefully we will see them again at some point-they gave us a flyer to this really big Halloween party they’re planning to go to, that is organized by the university, sounds like it will be really cool. Anyways, since it was too late to catch the metro, I spent the night at Kristin’s place, where she has an extra bed in her room, and headed out early the next morning to get all ready to leave for Italy...such a random night.
So Friday afternoon it was off to Italy! Getting there was a bit tricky, as I took a bus to Porte Maillot, caught a shuttle to the Aeroport Beauvais (which took a little over an hour), where we then caught our plane to the Pisa airport. We arrived without problems, and at the airport I even saw a friend (Emily May) from Chapel Hill High! It was too crazy, I said hello and we chatted a bit, she was with a group of students from Davidson, who are studying in Tours-they did exactly the opposite of what we did, starting in Paris for a couple weeks and then heading to Tours for the semester (we definitely have the better setup). But anyways, as I said it was pretty crazy to see her, we were on the same flight and such. So Kristin and I got into Pisa at around 8pm, and then we caught a bus to Florence (which took another hour and a half). Finally, we arrived in Florence, and set out with our guide book to find the hostel I booked. Fortunately, it was just a short walk from the station, so we checked in and left our stuff to go find a place to eat. We soon found a delicious pizza place, where we ate our first Italian meal, complete with white wine, delicious. By the time we finished dinner it was pretty late, and we were both tired, so we headed back to the hostel to get some rest so we could get up early on Saturday. The hostel was descent-only 13 euro a night, yes!, and we had our own room and a private bathroom, good deal. We stayed up talking for a bit, and eventually went to sleep.
The next morning we got up early, and got some breakfast included in the hostel. Then it was off for a day of wandering, the first stop being “Le Duomo”, the cathedral Santa Maria, including the Cupola del Duomo, the domed ceiling of the cathedral covered in a painting by Brunelleschi depicting various scenes of the last judgement. We climbed all the way up to the top, over 400 steps, to catch one of the most beautiful views of Florence, it was really amazing (and also very tiring). We also visitied les Cappelle Medicee, which was huge, and really beautiful inside and out. Afterwards we went and saw a museum/former palace of one of the greatest families in Italy (I think it was called the Palazzo Vecchio), running into a huge student protest on the way. Apparently the government is doing something that raises university prices a lot, we weren’t entirely sure what was going on…but yeah it was pretty cool, there were so many people marching, with Bob Marley blaring in the background. Anyways, we then headed over to la Galleria dell’Accademia, where we saw David and all sorts of other paintings and sculptures. Then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at another pizza place to rest and eat, delicious, and then heading toward the river, walking through a beautiful piazza littered with statues, including the fountain of Neptune. We then reached the Ponte Vecchio, and crossed it, checking out the many jewelry stores as we passed (too expensive for us!). Then it was time for some gelato, so we each grabbed a cone and sat on the wall boarding the river. After talking and resting for a while, we went off to discover what was on the other side of the bridge, including the Palazzo Pitti, and a few more churches I know forget the name of. By the time we were finished, it was getting late, so we headed back in the direction of the hostel, at this point pretty exhausted. We stopped by the station to check out train times, and then grabbed our bags at the hostel and got ready to go. Then it was off to Pisa, and an hour and a half train ride later we arrived.
Upon arriving at the Pisa Central Station, it was time to find our hostel; I had directions for the bus, but we were feeling adventurous (and impatient) and decided to save a couple euro and walk there. Unfortunately, our hostel was just off the map we had, but we knew the general location and figured we could find it. So off we went, traversing Pisa, stopping about half-way to find dinner. We both got pasta, and finished with some amazing Tiraimasu. The service was really slow, and by the time we finished it was already approaching midnight. On we went, walking in the general direction of the hostel, until we started to get out into the residential area. There was no one around, and pretty soon we were lost…without a map, tired, and of course Kristin had to go to the bathroom. Fortunately, we stumbled across a friendly Italian couple, who gave us directions through pointing and repetitions of the street name (they didn’t speak english, sigh), and off we went in what we hoped was the right direction. Unfortunately, not so much. We walked farther and farther, and were getting pretty nervous…I tried to call the hostel, but couldn’t get it to work with my french cell phone. Finally, as we were deciding to walk back all the way to the city center, we noticed an older couple and two others standing outside their house. We rushed over, asking if they spoke English, and then asking if they knew the name road we were looking for. To our surprise, they responded yes, they knew the road, as we were on it! Lots of “Gratzi” later, we were off in the right direction, and easily found our hostel just a short walk away, what a relief! It also just so happened that the owner pulled up right as we arrived, so he was able to let us in and get us all situated. He was really nice, and gave us a map, marking the important landmarks and the bus stations we would need. Then it was off to bed, as we were both exhausted.
The next morning we slept in a bit later, as we hadn’t reached the hostel until about 1am, and had both agreed we would take it slower on Sunday, since there’s really not a whole lot to see in Pisa besides the mean square with the leaning tower and such. So off we went to find the square, stopping for a snack on the way, and then we arrived at the tower! It was really cool, very pretty, and of course we had to get the obligatory pictures of us pretending to hold it up. We then checked out the cathedral, also very beautiful, and then went and found a gelato place to sit and hang out for a bit. As we sat, we looked at the map the hostel owner had given us, and noticed that there was a bus tour of Pisa that left right by where we were. Since we were carrying our bags and such with us, the bus tour sounded perfect, so we climbed aboard, sitting at the top to get some fresh air and the best views. It was really nice, the weather was incredible, and it was cool to hear some of the history of Pisa, and see parts of it that would otherwise have been too far. Afterwards, it was time to find the bus to take us to the airport, which we found with ease thanks to our handy map. We made it to the airport with plenty of time, oh the marvels of public transportation, and then it was back to Paris. It was an amazing trip, as I said very tiring, hopefully I will get to go back to Italy at some point, it’s such a great country, and see Rome, Venice, etc.
Alors, voila! That was Italy, and now it’s back to class for the week. I love walking around in Paris right now, it’s getting a bit colder, and feels really fresh and nice out…perfection. Phew, I think that was my longest post yet! Will write again soon, much love,
Brit
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Fall in Paris
Hey there,
So life in Paris is continuing as usual, I am super happy because the weather has been perfect lately-the early stages of fall, and relatively warm and nice. I love the fresh air, and watching the leaves change in Paris, fall always was my favorite season. This week has been a typical week, just classes and random hanging out. Monday, I had my cinema class again; we are studying films by Jean Rouche, which are really interesting-he's a french guy that went to Africa and made a bunch of films, where he basically just followed Africans around in their daily lives, allowing them to create there own story. We've seen three so far, it's really interesting stuff, and was very controversial when it came out, with Europeans claiming it was too pro-Africa and Africans calling it racist. Monday night, I actually met up with Xavier, who had been trying to reach me for a couple days, and it never worked out. In any case, we ended up going to a cafe by my house, and just chatting and whatnot for a while. He is very into his motorcycle, and tried to convince me to go on a ride with him, but I refused, haha, maybe next time. He's a nice guy, I don't know if anything will come of it, as he is 24 (ack!) and might be a little too badass for me, but we'll see. It was nice to talk to him about Paris (where he has pretty much lived all his life), and France in general, I was surprised by some of the things he said. So yeah, it was a good time, and he said he would give me a call some time soon. Tuesday, I had my literature class again, which was alright, and I just spent time at Sweet Briar taking care of stuff online, as I've decided to study abroad in Spain spring semester, hooray! On tuesday, my host mom told me she was finally going to go to Fnac to get stuff for the internet, but it turns out the thing she wanted to get requires a phone line, which she no longer has because she just uses her cell phone. ARRRGHH, i was so annoyed, as now she says she doesn't know what to do, and I know she wont deal with it until she has her days off, so another week. Alas, I am still without internet at my house, which is killing me-I have so much stuff going on that I need to take care of, for next semester, class, travel plans, and just keeping up with everyone in general. Anyways, that night I went over to Alex and Jen's house, to hang out and use their Wifi, which was cool-it's good to see them, as I often don't see Jen much during the week, plus I got to watch an episode of the Office (which Alex has on DVD), yay. Wednesday (yesterday), I had art history, which was pretty good as usual, again i really enjoyed the Louvre visit where we looked at paintings. Afterwards, I called my friend Olivia to meet up to get a drink or something, as i didn't feel like going home yet, so we went and found a little cafe and sat outside, enjoying the beauty that is Paris at night. Today, I had my atelier class, always good, and then headed over to the Museum of Paris (Musee Carnavalet), as she is a history geek and likes that kind of stuff, so she took me on a little tour. It was really cool, especially with all the stuff concerning the French Revolution, which I studied at Kenyon. Afterwards, I went to MacDO, where I am now, to use the internet and plan out the trip to ITALY, yayyy, which I am leaving for tomorrow...Florence and Pisa, so excited. Tonight, some friends and I are planning to head to "Le Mix", where we tried to go to last week, this time we know to be early :). It should be really fun, my first dance club in Paris, yay! So yeah, I'm busy as usual, and am so excited to head to italy tomorrow-hopefully everything will go smoothly, as we are planning on spending a night in Florence and a night in Pisa, which involves lots of various modes of transportation. Alrighty then, my computer is dying so that means it's time to go. Love you all, Happy day-after-your-birthday Mom, and will post again when I get back from Italy!
Bisous,
Brit
So life in Paris is continuing as usual, I am super happy because the weather has been perfect lately-the early stages of fall, and relatively warm and nice. I love the fresh air, and watching the leaves change in Paris, fall always was my favorite season. This week has been a typical week, just classes and random hanging out. Monday, I had my cinema class again; we are studying films by Jean Rouche, which are really interesting-he's a french guy that went to Africa and made a bunch of films, where he basically just followed Africans around in their daily lives, allowing them to create there own story. We've seen three so far, it's really interesting stuff, and was very controversial when it came out, with Europeans claiming it was too pro-Africa and Africans calling it racist. Monday night, I actually met up with Xavier, who had been trying to reach me for a couple days, and it never worked out. In any case, we ended up going to a cafe by my house, and just chatting and whatnot for a while. He is very into his motorcycle, and tried to convince me to go on a ride with him, but I refused, haha, maybe next time. He's a nice guy, I don't know if anything will come of it, as he is 24 (ack!) and might be a little too badass for me, but we'll see. It was nice to talk to him about Paris (where he has pretty much lived all his life), and France in general, I was surprised by some of the things he said. So yeah, it was a good time, and he said he would give me a call some time soon. Tuesday, I had my literature class again, which was alright, and I just spent time at Sweet Briar taking care of stuff online, as I've decided to study abroad in Spain spring semester, hooray! On tuesday, my host mom told me she was finally going to go to Fnac to get stuff for the internet, but it turns out the thing she wanted to get requires a phone line, which she no longer has because she just uses her cell phone. ARRRGHH, i was so annoyed, as now she says she doesn't know what to do, and I know she wont deal with it until she has her days off, so another week. Alas, I am still without internet at my house, which is killing me-I have so much stuff going on that I need to take care of, for next semester, class, travel plans, and just keeping up with everyone in general. Anyways, that night I went over to Alex and Jen's house, to hang out and use their Wifi, which was cool-it's good to see them, as I often don't see Jen much during the week, plus I got to watch an episode of the Office (which Alex has on DVD), yay. Wednesday (yesterday), I had art history, which was pretty good as usual, again i really enjoyed the Louvre visit where we looked at paintings. Afterwards, I called my friend Olivia to meet up to get a drink or something, as i didn't feel like going home yet, so we went and found a little cafe and sat outside, enjoying the beauty that is Paris at night. Today, I had my atelier class, always good, and then headed over to the Museum of Paris (Musee Carnavalet), as she is a history geek and likes that kind of stuff, so she took me on a little tour. It was really cool, especially with all the stuff concerning the French Revolution, which I studied at Kenyon. Afterwards, I went to MacDO, where I am now, to use the internet and plan out the trip to ITALY, yayyy, which I am leaving for tomorrow...Florence and Pisa, so excited. Tonight, some friends and I are planning to head to "Le Mix", where we tried to go to last week, this time we know to be early :). It should be really fun, my first dance club in Paris, yay! So yeah, I'm busy as usual, and am so excited to head to italy tomorrow-hopefully everything will go smoothly, as we are planning on spending a night in Florence and a night in Pisa, which involves lots of various modes of transportation. Alrighty then, my computer is dying so that means it's time to go. Love you all, Happy day-after-your-birthday Mom, and will post again when I get back from Italy!
Bisous,
Brit
Monday, October 13, 2008
Normandie
Hey everybody,
Just got back from a great but somewhat exhausting weekend in Normandie (or Normandy, as we Americans would say), it was a lot of fun. So it’s been a bit since my last post, sorry, no internet access in Normandie, and of course still not internet in my house (although my host mom said she was going to buy a new internet thing on Monday or Tuesday…finally). Thursday night ended up being kind of lame, we were all ready to go to this club that lets in international students for free on Thursdays until midnight, but even though we got there at around 11:30 the line was so long we couldn’t get in on time (and we were too cheap to pay the 15 euro entrance fee). So after walking around a bit we decided to call it a night; I was feeling pretty tired anyway, maybe next week we will get there earlier and give it another go. Friday I slept in a bit and then headed out to find a library that had a book I needed for class. Of course, what should have taken 20 minutes took me like two hours, as I got unbelievably lost and ended up wandering around for at least an hour, but it was okay as it was a nice day, and I got the chance to explore my arrondissement, haha. When I finally found the library, which was in fact only about 15 minutes from my apartment, it didn’t open until 2pm, so I had to wait around for a while anyway, sigh, I feel like I’m always doing that in France-things are never open, people are always taking breaks and such, haha. But anyways, after so much effort, I was able to find the book I needed for class, and triumphantly obtained a library card that works at a slew of libraries throughout Paris, success! Afterwards, I headed home to rest a bit and start in on the book, and shortly after got a call from Kristin, who wanted to hang out. We ended up heading over to Montmartre, where we checked out the infamous Moulin Rouge, and walked up the x-rated Pigalle, scandalous. We then got some amazing Haggen-das (I have no idea how to spell this) ice cream cones and climbed up to the Sacre-Coeur, where we sat on the steps and listened to a German singer we both fell madly in love with . It was really nice, a gorgeous day, just sitting listening to some of our favorite songs, with the amazing view of Paris in the background…so great. This soccer guy even started a performance next to the singer, doing all sorts of crazy tricks.We then headed back to her place, where I had dinner with her, before heading out to a free comedy show organized by an international student organization. It was all in french, of course, in this little theatre, kind of funny but not amazing, although I was proud that I was able to understand the various sketches. We then met up with three other friends to check out a “cheap bar” as they put it, which ended up being our secret bar! So yeah, Kristin and I had a good laugh over that, and felt special as we knew the bartenders, yessss. We hung out for a bit, and then headed home, as I had to get up early for the trip to Normandie (before 7am! I almost died.).
So Saturday it was off to Normandie; we took the train and got there at around 10am, arriving in Bayeux to see a famous Tapestry, and to find some lunch and explore. Afterwards, we headed to Omaha beach, and saw the American cemetery. It was really moving, and very strange in that the weather was gorgeous, so the beach was beautiful…hard to believe it was a site of such horrors. We also went to “la Pointe du Hoc”, where German troops were stationed, overlooking the ocean. There are huge craters where bombs went off, hinting at the destruction of so many years ago. Afterwards, it was time to head to the hotel for dinner, so we hopped on the bus for a long ride. We ended up staying in a Best Western, which we all found pretty amusing, but it was actually really cute and nice, apparently Best Western is all over Europe, and they’re known for being at least three star hotels. After dinner Alex and I headed up to our room to relax and watch TV, which was filled with shows in German, which we found amusing (we watched a George Clooney for awhile, I thought of you, Grandma, although I must say with the voice-over George is just not the same), particularly the German MTV. We also got CNN, and actually got to watch the news in English! Exciting! There was even a clip of the Daily Show, where John Stewart was interviewing Michelle Obama-excellent. Eventually we dozed off, waking up early Sunday morning to eat breakfast and get on the road.
Off we went to le Mont Saint-Michel, which was absolutely gorgeous, basically a huge monastery sitting on the top of a hill, with sand and water surrounding it. However, it is known for having quicksand; apparently every year several people are killed because of it, scary! We spent a few hours exploring the monastery and the winding roads around it, lots of walking, with beautiful views. Then it was off to Saint Malo, a beautiful town on the coast. The water was amazing, it was so nice to walk on the beach, I felt like I was at the Outer Banks, it was so nice. The town itself was also really cute and nice, it was nice just wandering around exploring with Jen, Abby, and Alex. Afterwards we headed over to the train station, and caught the train back to Paris, phew! As you can see, it was a very busy weekend, and as I said the weather was absolutely amazing, it felt like early spring!
So now I’m off to bed, I’m so exhausted; love you all and I will write again soon.
Brit
Just got back from a great but somewhat exhausting weekend in Normandie (or Normandy, as we Americans would say), it was a lot of fun. So it’s been a bit since my last post, sorry, no internet access in Normandie, and of course still not internet in my house (although my host mom said she was going to buy a new internet thing on Monday or Tuesday…finally). Thursday night ended up being kind of lame, we were all ready to go to this club that lets in international students for free on Thursdays until midnight, but even though we got there at around 11:30 the line was so long we couldn’t get in on time (and we were too cheap to pay the 15 euro entrance fee). So after walking around a bit we decided to call it a night; I was feeling pretty tired anyway, maybe next week we will get there earlier and give it another go. Friday I slept in a bit and then headed out to find a library that had a book I needed for class. Of course, what should have taken 20 minutes took me like two hours, as I got unbelievably lost and ended up wandering around for at least an hour, but it was okay as it was a nice day, and I got the chance to explore my arrondissement, haha. When I finally found the library, which was in fact only about 15 minutes from my apartment, it didn’t open until 2pm, so I had to wait around for a while anyway, sigh, I feel like I’m always doing that in France-things are never open, people are always taking breaks and such, haha. But anyways, after so much effort, I was able to find the book I needed for class, and triumphantly obtained a library card that works at a slew of libraries throughout Paris, success! Afterwards, I headed home to rest a bit and start in on the book, and shortly after got a call from Kristin, who wanted to hang out. We ended up heading over to Montmartre, where we checked out the infamous Moulin Rouge, and walked up the x-rated Pigalle, scandalous. We then got some amazing Haggen-das (I have no idea how to spell this) ice cream cones and climbed up to the Sacre-Coeur, where we sat on the steps and listened to a German singer we both fell madly in love with . It was really nice, a gorgeous day, just sitting listening to some of our favorite songs, with the amazing view of Paris in the background…so great. This soccer guy even started a performance next to the singer, doing all sorts of crazy tricks.We then headed back to her place, where I had dinner with her, before heading out to a free comedy show organized by an international student organization. It was all in french, of course, in this little theatre, kind of funny but not amazing, although I was proud that I was able to understand the various sketches. We then met up with three other friends to check out a “cheap bar” as they put it, which ended up being our secret bar! So yeah, Kristin and I had a good laugh over that, and felt special as we knew the bartenders, yessss. We hung out for a bit, and then headed home, as I had to get up early for the trip to Normandie (before 7am! I almost died.).
So Saturday it was off to Normandie; we took the train and got there at around 10am, arriving in Bayeux to see a famous Tapestry, and to find some lunch and explore. Afterwards, we headed to Omaha beach, and saw the American cemetery. It was really moving, and very strange in that the weather was gorgeous, so the beach was beautiful…hard to believe it was a site of such horrors. We also went to “la Pointe du Hoc”, where German troops were stationed, overlooking the ocean. There are huge craters where bombs went off, hinting at the destruction of so many years ago. Afterwards, it was time to head to the hotel for dinner, so we hopped on the bus for a long ride. We ended up staying in a Best Western, which we all found pretty amusing, but it was actually really cute and nice, apparently Best Western is all over Europe, and they’re known for being at least three star hotels. After dinner Alex and I headed up to our room to relax and watch TV, which was filled with shows in German, which we found amusing (we watched a George Clooney for awhile, I thought of you, Grandma, although I must say with the voice-over George is just not the same), particularly the German MTV. We also got CNN, and actually got to watch the news in English! Exciting! There was even a clip of the Daily Show, where John Stewart was interviewing Michelle Obama-excellent. Eventually we dozed off, waking up early Sunday morning to eat breakfast and get on the road.
Off we went to le Mont Saint-Michel, which was absolutely gorgeous, basically a huge monastery sitting on the top of a hill, with sand and water surrounding it. However, it is known for having quicksand; apparently every year several people are killed because of it, scary! We spent a few hours exploring the monastery and the winding roads around it, lots of walking, with beautiful views. Then it was off to Saint Malo, a beautiful town on the coast. The water was amazing, it was so nice to walk on the beach, I felt like I was at the Outer Banks, it was so nice. The town itself was also really cute and nice, it was nice just wandering around exploring with Jen, Abby, and Alex. Afterwards we headed over to the train station, and caught the train back to Paris, phew! As you can see, it was a very busy weekend, and as I said the weather was absolutely amazing, it felt like early spring!
So now I’m off to bed, I’m so exhausted; love you all and I will write again soon.
Brit
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Daily life in Paris
Hey everybody,
So not a whole lot going on here, during the week I just spend my time running around going to classes, or trying to find the stuff I need to read or watch for my classes, as well as firming up travel plans and doing the necessary booking. I’m also still without internet at my house, ahhhhhh, so I waste lots of time struggling with various WiFi networks and trying to get pictures and such slowly uploaded, sigh. I’m even currently without iTunes, as I accidently deleted Quicktime and the internet connections are all to slow to let me download it again…how will I survive!? Hehe, but in general, I’m still loving it here in Paris. Monday, I had my cinema class again, which was kind of a joke-it turns out a lot of people couldn’t access the reading online, and since the movie wasn’t at the library most of us (myself included) weren’t able to watch it before class. So, in class we watched extracts from the movie we were supposed to have watched, and he handed out copies of the article we were supposed to have read (which I did, yay me). The article was also in English, as he couldn’t find it in french, so it took FOREVER for everyone to read it in class, so I basically just sat there…so worthless. But oh well, hopefully it will be better next week, as the movie is definitely at the library, now I just have to find the reading…So difficult. I met up with Kristin for lunch on Monday, as we had gone the whole weekend without seeing each other (gasp!), and we hung out again that night at our secret bar, which ended up being really fun. We have befriended two of the bartenders that work there, Dan and Tony, who are two really nice french guys that enjoy talking to us and letting us in on practical jokes and such. We even got some free drinks, yes! And, they look out for us, saving us from creepy old men that try to hit on the Americans…We met this really cool guy from New York, who was staying in Paris for a week before making his way around Europe and eventually to Morocco, where he wants to teach English and live for a while. He was carrying a guitar with him, and it turns out he is also into music, and is taking recording from the places he visits and such. Really cool guy, he even taught in Brazil for several months, and is just traveling around learning new languages at each place he goes. Tuesday I had my literature class again, which was good, I really like it, and yesterday I had my art history class, including the Louvre visit where we looked at various sculptures. Again, it was really interesting, and the professor is amazing, really funny and adorable, and really encourages participation, I love that class. Last night, I spent forever messing around on the internet trying to get travel stuff figured out, and finally succeeded at around 1am. I am officially going to Berlin, yay!!!, so far with two of my friends from Sweet Briar, maybe more eventually. I also booked hostels for Pisa/Florence for the weekend after next, and talked to Ryan-who is hopefully coming to Paris to visit me oct.31-nov.2-ish, yayyy. I’m so excited to see him, I hope everything works out. So yeah, today I have my atelier class, and I’m going to meet with my friend Olivia to book hostels for Berlin after class, and then hopefully go see the movie I need to see for class Monday, ack. So yeah, busy day, and I want to go out on the town tonight, since no class tomorrow (yesss). Alrighty then, off I go, much love, sorry the post is kind of boring but oh well,
Brit
So not a whole lot going on here, during the week I just spend my time running around going to classes, or trying to find the stuff I need to read or watch for my classes, as well as firming up travel plans and doing the necessary booking. I’m also still without internet at my house, ahhhhhh, so I waste lots of time struggling with various WiFi networks and trying to get pictures and such slowly uploaded, sigh. I’m even currently without iTunes, as I accidently deleted Quicktime and the internet connections are all to slow to let me download it again…how will I survive!? Hehe, but in general, I’m still loving it here in Paris. Monday, I had my cinema class again, which was kind of a joke-it turns out a lot of people couldn’t access the reading online, and since the movie wasn’t at the library most of us (myself included) weren’t able to watch it before class. So, in class we watched extracts from the movie we were supposed to have watched, and he handed out copies of the article we were supposed to have read (which I did, yay me). The article was also in English, as he couldn’t find it in french, so it took FOREVER for everyone to read it in class, so I basically just sat there…so worthless. But oh well, hopefully it will be better next week, as the movie is definitely at the library, now I just have to find the reading…So difficult. I met up with Kristin for lunch on Monday, as we had gone the whole weekend without seeing each other (gasp!), and we hung out again that night at our secret bar, which ended up being really fun. We have befriended two of the bartenders that work there, Dan and Tony, who are two really nice french guys that enjoy talking to us and letting us in on practical jokes and such. We even got some free drinks, yes! And, they look out for us, saving us from creepy old men that try to hit on the Americans…We met this really cool guy from New York, who was staying in Paris for a week before making his way around Europe and eventually to Morocco, where he wants to teach English and live for a while. He was carrying a guitar with him, and it turns out he is also into music, and is taking recording from the places he visits and such. Really cool guy, he even taught in Brazil for several months, and is just traveling around learning new languages at each place he goes. Tuesday I had my literature class again, which was good, I really like it, and yesterday I had my art history class, including the Louvre visit where we looked at various sculptures. Again, it was really interesting, and the professor is amazing, really funny and adorable, and really encourages participation, I love that class. Last night, I spent forever messing around on the internet trying to get travel stuff figured out, and finally succeeded at around 1am. I am officially going to Berlin, yay!!!, so far with two of my friends from Sweet Briar, maybe more eventually. I also booked hostels for Pisa/Florence for the weekend after next, and talked to Ryan-who is hopefully coming to Paris to visit me oct.31-nov.2-ish, yayyy. I’m so excited to see him, I hope everything works out. So yeah, today I have my atelier class, and I’m going to meet with my friend Olivia to book hostels for Berlin after class, and then hopefully go see the movie I need to see for class Monday, ack. So yeah, busy day, and I want to go out on the town tonight, since no class tomorrow (yesss). Alrighty then, off I go, much love, sorry the post is kind of boring but oh well,
Brit
Sunday, October 5, 2008
BELGIUM
Yes, I went to Belgium this weekend, and it was amazing! I left on Thursday with Joe and Dana, following my Atelier d’ecriture class (which I love). We met at the Gare du Nord, and then waited around for the train to arrive, turns out we didn’t need as much time to figure out the train station as we thought we did. Then, it was on the train and off to Brussels, where we then switched trains and headed to Bruges. The trains were actually really nice, and very easy to figure out-we didn’t have any problems, despite the fact that in Bruges the main language is Dutch (ack!). We arrived in Bruges after dark, and set out to from the train station, map in hand, to explore the city at night. The weather was nice, and the city was quiet and gorgeous, so we wandered around admiring all the pretty old buildings in this neat little town. Hungry, we picked up some of the infamous Belgian fries for dinner-delicious, and then went off to find the hostel and get settled in a bit. We stayed in the Snuffel hostel, a cheap but descent hostel with a nice bar area, free breakfast and sheets, etc. Plus, it’s called Snuffel, which is adorable (almost as adorable as “Snuggle”, which Joe kept accidentally calling it). We also went to find some Belgian beer, and ended up in a club that was having a “jungle party”, basically with lots of techno-ish music and lots of smoke and jungle decorations, pretty fun. We all slept well, and woke up the next morning fairly early to catch the free breakfast and get going. Again, we walked all over town, stopping for waffles for lunch, and headed into the museum of the city to check out the building and learn a bit about Bruges. It was really gorgeous in the morning, and there were so many nice houses to see, not to mention all the old cathedrals and such we got to check out. We even walked to the edge of town to see the windmills, as well as a couple sites, including a wall containing bullet holes-where 12 men were killed by the Germans in one of the world wars, as well as one of the original entrances to the city. Not long after, the weather turned cold and rainy, so we sought refuge in a fancy restaurant and ordered some hot chocolate, and lingered there to warm up and rest our feet. Afterwards, we walked around some more before heading to an amazing dinner of traditional Belgian food, where I ordered some delicious cherry-flavored beer (Kriek) and Mussels, yum! We then headed back to the hostel to hang out, as it was really cold and rainy, and to take advantage of the cheap bar. We ended up playing a drinking game and having fun just talking and hanging out, and then we went to bed at a decent hour. Saturday, we finally did a boat ride in the morning (Bruges is known as the “Venice of the North”, as it has lots of canals), which was gorgeous and really fun. Of course, we picked up some chocolate and such throughout our stay in Bruges, and overall it was really great, such a cool little town. After the boat tour we set out to find the train station, to get tickets and head to Brussels.
We got to Brussels at around noon, and walked around a bit from the train station and found a place for lunch. We then walked around some more, checked out the main square (which Victor Hugo called the most beautiful of all Europe), and then headed over to a parking garage that has one of the best views of the city from the top, very cool. At 4, we headed out to find out hostel to drop off our bags; it ended up being really nice, great for the price, and reminded us of a “Real World” kind of house. We even had a bathroom and shower in our room (gasp!), very exciting. We then headed out to wander around and find some dinner, where I got Mussels again (yesss), and we saw Mannequin Pis (I’m not sure if that’s how you spell it), the famous fountain featuring a little boy peeing, hehe. At night, it was the “Nuit Blanche” (white night) in Brussels, which was really cool. Basically everything just stays open really late, and there are different events going on around the city-lots of music and such. It was a really good night, we got some Belgian beer from a grocery store and spent the night walking around, stopping occasionally to listen to music or check an event (including this crazy performance art exhibit, where women dressed as snow white walked around and did weird things…crazy Belgians). The next morning, we got up pretty early again and headed over to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, where we saw a range of art including a painting by Dali, as well as the famous “Assassination of Marat” by David, one of my favorite paintings. We then headed over to get one last waffle before heading to the train station. We then hurried over to the station, which was pretty miserable as it was cold and raining, but we made it to our train on time, and then it was back to Paris. Ah! So yeah, the trip was really great, we saw so much and all had a really good time. Plus, traveling and everything went amazingly smoothly, and the hostels turned out to be nice despite their cheap rates. The food was so great, Belgian chocolate and waffles are truly amazing, and of course the beer was great. Dad and Uncle Alex would have had a ball. It is nice to be back in Paris, it was funny, I even kind of missed it while I was in Belgium, it’s starting to feel like my home away from home. Alrighty then, well I now need to take care of homework and such for tomorrow, sigh. Hope all is well,
Brit
We got to Brussels at around noon, and walked around a bit from the train station and found a place for lunch. We then walked around some more, checked out the main square (which Victor Hugo called the most beautiful of all Europe), and then headed over to a parking garage that has one of the best views of the city from the top, very cool. At 4, we headed out to find out hostel to drop off our bags; it ended up being really nice, great for the price, and reminded us of a “Real World” kind of house. We even had a bathroom and shower in our room (gasp!), very exciting. We then headed out to wander around and find some dinner, where I got Mussels again (yesss), and we saw Mannequin Pis (I’m not sure if that’s how you spell it), the famous fountain featuring a little boy peeing, hehe. At night, it was the “Nuit Blanche” (white night) in Brussels, which was really cool. Basically everything just stays open really late, and there are different events going on around the city-lots of music and such. It was a really good night, we got some Belgian beer from a grocery store and spent the night walking around, stopping occasionally to listen to music or check an event (including this crazy performance art exhibit, where women dressed as snow white walked around and did weird things…crazy Belgians). The next morning, we got up pretty early again and headed over to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, where we saw a range of art including a painting by Dali, as well as the famous “Assassination of Marat” by David, one of my favorite paintings. We then headed over to get one last waffle before heading to the train station. We then hurried over to the station, which was pretty miserable as it was cold and raining, but we made it to our train on time, and then it was back to Paris. Ah! So yeah, the trip was really great, we saw so much and all had a really good time. Plus, traveling and everything went amazingly smoothly, and the hostels turned out to be nice despite their cheap rates. The food was so great, Belgian chocolate and waffles are truly amazing, and of course the beer was great. Dad and Uncle Alex would have had a ball. It is nice to be back in Paris, it was funny, I even kind of missed it while I was in Belgium, it’s starting to feel like my home away from home. Alrighty then, well I now need to take care of homework and such for tomorrow, sigh. Hope all is well,
Brit
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Paris III and new (not so) secret bar
Salut!
So it’s been a while since my last post, I’ve lost some motivation as my most ardent fan (aka mom) wont be online for a while, but anyways here we go. Saturday night ended up being a really fun night, the Iranian place was amazing, in a really neat part of Paris I hadn’t been to before that actually reminded me a lot of Place Plume in Tours, lots of different places to eat and people everywhere. After Olivia and I finished dinner, we headed over and met up with Alex to try and find a cheap bar, which ended up taking us back to the Bastille area to go to our regular place (happy hour til 11, yess). There we were joined by Jen and Emily, and eventually Abby, so we wandered around a bit, stopping in at another of our favorite bars, and just hanging out. Sunday was a very chill day, as I relaxed in an attempt to beat my cold, which partially helped. I did get out of the house a bit to hang out and use the Wifi in a nearby park, which was nice. Monday I had my first class at Paris III, “Approches interculturelles du cinéma”, which I think should be a really good class. The professor is actually German, so speaks french a little slower than I think most french professors would, so it makes understanding easy. My only worry is going to be figuring out how to find these movies to watch for class, as the school library seems pretty limited, but there is another girl from Sweet Briar in my class so at least we can figure this out together! Tuesday, I had my Literature class at Paris III, which also seems like it’s going to be a really good, interesting class. It’s “La bete humaine”, and is kind of a philosophical class looking at the relation between man and animals, through some really weird/interesting novels by Balzac, Victor Hugo, Mérimée, and Zola…I’m excited for it, and again there are some other people from Sweet Briar in my class that I am friends with, so that makes it easier as well. It was funny, there seemed to be a lot of exchange students in that particular class, lots of people speaking English and some Spanish mixed in. Monday I also had my “Atélier d’écriture” class, where we had our first in class “devoir” (assignment/essay thing). The topic was roughly to describe someone you admire and why, a question I found amazingly easy considering…I bet you can guess who I chose. Yesterday I had my art history class again, where we’re still focusing on the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. It’s really interesting, and the professor is pretty adorable, on the rare occasions he speaks english in class it is with a British accent, hehe. Afterwards we had the Louvre visit, as always, and saw some really cool “objets d’art”, including tapestries, and different kinds of cases designed to hold the bones of saints (although the bones themselves were destroyed during the French Revolution). Again, it was a really interesting class. This week Kristin and I also have been hanging out a lot at night, at our new secret spot-this cool bar really close to where she lives (I say secret as just the two of us have been going-so much easier to meet new people), that Kristin's house mom actually recommended (her host mom is the sweetest old lady ever, everytime I come over she does her best to have me stay for meals). We have had a lot of fun talking amongst ourselves and also meeting random and sometimes sketchy people, hehe. The first night we went, we actually met someone from Estonia (!), who I promptly informed I was part Estonian-he seemed to get a kick out of it, and taught us how to toast in Estonian, very interesting guy. Last night we met a couple French guys (although one was at least partially Venezuelan) as well, and I ended up talking for a long time with this guy named Xavier; we exchanged numbers, so we’ll see if anything happens with that…:) So yeah, I’m still having an amazing time here, there is never a dull moment. Today (Thursday) I am heading to Belgium with my friends Joe and Dana, where we are staying until Sunday. We’re taking the train and spending the first night two nights in Bruges, and then our last night in Brussels-I’m so excited, I think it’s going to be a really great trip, and it will be nice to spend time with Joe and Dana, who I don’t normally hang out with as much as some of my other friends. I can’t wait!
Of course, I am also thinking about “the person I most admire” a lot, as mom headed in for treatment this Monday. I wish I could be there to help, but I know she’s in good hands at home, and that her never-ending strength and all the love surrounding her will see her through this. Love you mom, you can do this.
Amour,
Brittany
So it’s been a while since my last post, I’ve lost some motivation as my most ardent fan (aka mom) wont be online for a while, but anyways here we go. Saturday night ended up being a really fun night, the Iranian place was amazing, in a really neat part of Paris I hadn’t been to before that actually reminded me a lot of Place Plume in Tours, lots of different places to eat and people everywhere. After Olivia and I finished dinner, we headed over and met up with Alex to try and find a cheap bar, which ended up taking us back to the Bastille area to go to our regular place (happy hour til 11, yess). There we were joined by Jen and Emily, and eventually Abby, so we wandered around a bit, stopping in at another of our favorite bars, and just hanging out. Sunday was a very chill day, as I relaxed in an attempt to beat my cold, which partially helped. I did get out of the house a bit to hang out and use the Wifi in a nearby park, which was nice. Monday I had my first class at Paris III, “Approches interculturelles du cinéma”, which I think should be a really good class. The professor is actually German, so speaks french a little slower than I think most french professors would, so it makes understanding easy. My only worry is going to be figuring out how to find these movies to watch for class, as the school library seems pretty limited, but there is another girl from Sweet Briar in my class so at least we can figure this out together! Tuesday, I had my Literature class at Paris III, which also seems like it’s going to be a really good, interesting class. It’s “La bete humaine”, and is kind of a philosophical class looking at the relation between man and animals, through some really weird/interesting novels by Balzac, Victor Hugo, Mérimée, and Zola…I’m excited for it, and again there are some other people from Sweet Briar in my class that I am friends with, so that makes it easier as well. It was funny, there seemed to be a lot of exchange students in that particular class, lots of people speaking English and some Spanish mixed in. Monday I also had my “Atélier d’écriture” class, where we had our first in class “devoir” (assignment/essay thing). The topic was roughly to describe someone you admire and why, a question I found amazingly easy considering…I bet you can guess who I chose. Yesterday I had my art history class again, where we’re still focusing on the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. It’s really interesting, and the professor is pretty adorable, on the rare occasions he speaks english in class it is with a British accent, hehe. Afterwards we had the Louvre visit, as always, and saw some really cool “objets d’art”, including tapestries, and different kinds of cases designed to hold the bones of saints (although the bones themselves were destroyed during the French Revolution). Again, it was a really interesting class. This week Kristin and I also have been hanging out a lot at night, at our new secret spot-this cool bar really close to where she lives (I say secret as just the two of us have been going-so much easier to meet new people), that Kristin's house mom actually recommended (her host mom is the sweetest old lady ever, everytime I come over she does her best to have me stay for meals). We have had a lot of fun talking amongst ourselves and also meeting random and sometimes sketchy people, hehe. The first night we went, we actually met someone from Estonia (!), who I promptly informed I was part Estonian-he seemed to get a kick out of it, and taught us how to toast in Estonian, very interesting guy. Last night we met a couple French guys (although one was at least partially Venezuelan) as well, and I ended up talking for a long time with this guy named Xavier; we exchanged numbers, so we’ll see if anything happens with that…:) So yeah, I’m still having an amazing time here, there is never a dull moment. Today (Thursday) I am heading to Belgium with my friends Joe and Dana, where we are staying until Sunday. We’re taking the train and spending the first night two nights in Bruges, and then our last night in Brussels-I’m so excited, I think it’s going to be a really great trip, and it will be nice to spend time with Joe and Dana, who I don’t normally hang out with as much as some of my other friends. I can’t wait!
Of course, I am also thinking about “the person I most admire” a lot, as mom headed in for treatment this Monday. I wish I could be there to help, but I know she’s in good hands at home, and that her never-ending strength and all the love surrounding her will see her through this. Love you mom, you can do this.
Amour,
Brittany
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