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

Weekend....and sickness

Since my last post my sore throat turned into an all-out cold/virus, so I’ve been congested and icky the last couple days, but managed to get some medicine and am doing a bit better now. Thursday night, I ended up meeting my friends Kristin and Olivia at the sangria bar we went to last week, to have a couple drinks and hang out a bit since none of us have classes on Friday (as our professor said, “In Paris the weekend starts on Thursday!”). It was nice just hanging out and catching up a bit, exchanging stories of awkward moments with the host family or concerning the many “faux-amis” (words in french that sound the same as english words, but that don’t actually mean the same thing, ex. If you say you are “excité” in french, you are not saying you are excited as in I am excited to be here, but rather sexually excited or horny…a common and often hilarious mistake) that get people into trouble. Friday, I didn’t do a whole lot during the day as I woke up feeling even more sick, so ventured out to the Pharmacie by my house and to grab a baguette for lunch before returning home to recover. I did manage to read a small book for my literature class that starts next week (you’re supposed to read the first book before the first class), and then watched some tv and napped pitifully in bed. That night, I had to get out of the house despite not feeling well, so I went over to Alex and Jen’s place to hang out. There was a little concert going on that I would have loved to go to, but I opted to stay at the house with Alex to watch the Sex and the City movie instead as we were both feeling under the weather (like all my friends are sick or getting sick right now, something’s going around). It ended up being a good night, I love that movie and it was nice just hanging out and relaxing for a bit. This morning, after camping out in McDonalds for a bit to use the free WiFi, I headed over to the Gare du Nord to get train tickets to Belgium; I’m going to Belgium next weekend with friends, Brussels and Bruges, so excited! Afterwards, I decided I was feeling well enough to meet up with my friend Olivia, and we took the metro to St. Denis and saw the Basilica, where there are the remains of french royalty. It was really cool exploring the crypt and seeing so many familiar names of such significant figures (the many Louis’, Marie Antoinette, etc.). Afterwards, we headed over to the Sainte Chapelle, where we gained free access using our “history of art” student passes that Sweet Briar gave us-sneaky. It was gorgeous! All the stained glass looked amazing, especially since we were there on a beautiful sunny day. We then went next door to the Conciergerie, used as a Prison during the revolution. Also very cool, and saw the cell where Marie Antoinette was kept. We then went on a walk throughout the city, with Olivia pointing out some sites important to the french revolution (she’s a major history buff), and then went on a quest to find ice cream that wasn’t rediculously priced. Eventually we ended up at a café we had visited before, characterized by cute little chocolate penguins in the window, awww. By that time it was around 6, so we went our separate ways on the metro to go home and rest a bit before dinner. And here I am! We’re planning to go to an Iranian place for dinner (our host family doesn’t feed us on Saturdays), which I will hopefully like….You guys would be proud though, since I’ve been here my host mom has made all kinds of food I’ve never had before, and I’ve tried and like all of it-even Mussels!!! Grandma, you should be very proud.  I even had a salad the other day that I actually liked…big news, I know. Alrighty then, off I go to get ready for dinner! A plus tard!

Classes begin...partially

Hey all,

So I’ve fallen a bit behind in my blogging, partially due to the fact that the computer with internet in my room is not working, and no longer has internet access, sigh. My host mom doesn’t know anything about the computer, or even how it got the internet; apparently her daughter’s boyfriend set it all up in the first place, and he’s in Greece with her daughter on vacation, sigh again. But oh well, hopefully he’ll be able to fix it whenever they get back, and until then I’ve just been having to get a hot chocolate at McDonald’s (or “Mac-Doe” as they say here) and use the free wi-fi. Other than that though, all is going well. Sunday, on Patrimonie, I wound up going to the Hotel de Ville, a gorgeous building normally closed for the public, used for important government meetings/mayor stuff. It’s basically this huge old building filled with wonderful paintings and sculptures, very cool. On Monday, I had to sign up in the morning for my cinema class, which ended up being horrible. I woke up at 745 to get ready so I could meet one of my friends at the metro by the school at 930, that way we could find the school together. However, it ended up taking me forever as it took me forever to find the metro stop on my map, and then my Carte Navigo wouldn’t work because my metro station’s Navigo recharger thing was broken. So, I had to go to the next station, and then wait in line as the machine wont accept American credit cards. Then, already late in a rush, I hopped on the metro, about 30 minutes from my school, and just as I was reaching the stop for my school I realised I had forgotten my Student Card, which was absolutely necessary to enroll in class. I ended up having to go all the way home, where I realized the card I needed was actually at the Sweet Briar office. I then raced over there, got the card, and headed back to find the University, which I eventually did, over an hour late. Luckily, Madame Hervier of Sweet Briar, who is in charge of making sure we get enrolled in our classes, was there waiting for me, and she helped me get all signed up without a problem, yay. So after all that, I did end up getting into the course I wanted, which looks at intercultural approaches in cinema-should be really interesting. Not long after I headed back to Sweet Briar for my course entitled “Atelier d’ecriture”, which basically focuses on improving our french. The class is actually really good, Alex is in it with me as well, and our teacher is really funny and interesting. In just two classes I’ve already learned a lot I didn’t know about the french language, and she manages to keep it light and fun.
On Tuesday, I didn’t have anything I had to do, so I walked around a lot and got some stuff at Monoprix (the french version of a walmart, a bit classier), that I needed for class and such. Later that day Kristin and I met up and went to the Pantheon, which was really cool. We went down to the crypt, housing Victor Hugo, Rousseau, and others. The rest of the Pantheon was covered in nice sculptures and religious paintings, very interesting.
On Wednesday, I had to go back to the University to sign up for my literature class, although I was again late as I misread the time I had to be there. But it was okay, I got there just in time and enrolled in my class entitled “La Bete Humaine”, roughly “The Human Beast”. Afterwards, I walked around a bit to see what was by my school, and stumbled upon this huge garden next to the natural history museum. I walked through, and then walked randomly for a bit to explore and get some exercise. Then, Kristin and I met up to figure out travel stuff. We booked flights for two weekends, one going to Pisa/Florence through Ryanair, which has nice cheap deals on flights, and also for Prague, where we are going for a weekend to stay with Heather and explore the city (yay!). I then had my History of Art class through Sweet Briar, where we have an hour and a half of regular class, in then later in the day we go to the Louvre for an hour and a half. It was really interesting, I think I’m really going to enjoy the class, and of course being able to then go to the Louvre and see original paintings is amazing, so cool. Today, I had my class Atelier d’ecriture again, and then went on a quest to find the books I’m going to need for my litterature class. My search ended up being a long walk through some really cool parts of Paris, until I finally found a big bookstore that had all the books I needed-success! Oh, also, I’ve been a bit sick for the last few days, with a really sore throat and runny nose and such, but I’m feeling better day…Argh, I so don’t want to be sick in Paris! But tomorrow the weekend starts, as I don’t have any classes on Friday, so back to exploring Paris and such, yessss.

Last few days of freedom

Hey everybody, so my sweet briar classes start this week, hence the title, so I got in some more random exploration of Paris before I have to actually think about work (hw? in Paris? not necessary...). So anyways, on Friday I didn't have anything work related to do, so I met up with a group of friends to picnic in front of the Eiffel Tour. It was such a gorgeous day, the weather here has been great lately, although my host mom keeps telling me that it is going to get really cold soon (she seriously hates winter). But yeah, we sat around eating yummy sandwiches and splitting a bottle of wine, best lunch so far. Afterwards, we decided it was time to actually climb the Eiffel Tower, so off we went to wait in line amidst other foreigners speaking about fifty different languages. We proceeded to walk up to the first and second levels of the eiffel tower, over 600 steps. It was tiring, but totally worth it-the view was amazing. After taking pictures and wandering around the second level, we went to buy tickets to take the elevator to the very top (there aren't stairs). However, it turns out they were having technical problems with the elevator, and it would take about an hour for it to be up and running (if that). We decided it wasnt worth waiting for, the second level was high enough, so we took the stairs down and called it a day. Kristin and I headed back to her house, with in walking distance from the Eiffel Tower, to spend some time looking at weekends for travel. Unfortunately, we didnt get very far, as for the places we want to visit we are staying with friends, so we have to wait for them to tell us when a good time to visit is. It was still exciting looking at all the different places, I cant wait to travel around, if only it weren't so expensive! Afterwards, I headed home for dinner with my host mom, and afterwards met up with another group of friends at Bastille's Pub for some drinks. It was a good time-the Bastille area is the place to go at night, where french people actually hang out as opposed to the more touristy areas of the Latin Quarter and such. So yeah, we went to a couple bars, wandered around a bit, got some food, and headed home early enough to take the metro (which stops running at 2am on the weekends); it was a really fun night.
Yesterday there was a huge Techno parade in Paris, in the Bastille area. Sweet Briar organized a fun dance class for us to learn Tektonik, this new dance thats really popular in France and apparently in Belgium. The class was intense, we all looked like idiots trying to mimic this really good techno dancer, but it was a good time as we all looked rediculous together. Afterwards, Axel (a worker for Sweet Briar, in his 20s, very attractive, organizes excursions) led us over to the Parade, which was absolutely INSANE. This huge road leading to the Bastille was comletely blocked off for the parade, and it was full of people drinking and dressed up crazily for the parade. We all walked down to meet up with the parade, which was slowly making its way to the Bastille. It consisted of huge buses blasting techno songs, with people dancing on top, and then huge crowds of people following behind each bus dancing and celebrating. After watching a few buses pass, Axel led us into the parade, and we joined in dancing and having a good time. It was definitely an experience, there were people everywhere, climbing up lamp posts and signs, on top of bus stop stations, everywhere. By the end, we were pretty exhausted, so Kristin and I headed over to the metro to meet up with friends in front of the Louvre. We sat and caught our breath for a while as people arrived, and then those of us who dont get dinner at home on saturday headed over to Saint Michel to find a place to eat. After a delicious dinner we decided to head over to an area around Notre Dame, to find what is supposed to be the best ice cream ever (the brand starts with a B, now im forgetting what its called...) It was a bit of a walk to the ice cream place, so we got to see Notre Dame and the Seine area at night, it was gorgeous, with lots of people, lights, music, etc. Eventually, we got to the area with the ice cream, but after asking around we found out the store was closed (it was already after 9 by this point), but that there was another amazing ice cream place nearby. We found it easily, and all agreed it was the best ice cream ever! Afterwards, we headed back in the direction of the metro we came out of, and checked out the famous bookstore called Shakespeare and Company. We then walked around a bit more, and decided to head back as it was getting late and we were all pretty tired. Another great night in this amazing city.
Today, I need to go run some errands to get ready for travelling and the start of classes, ack! It is also the day of Patrimonie, which means a lot of buildings are open to the public that would normally be closed off. So off I go!
Much love,
Brit

Cemetaries and sangria bars

Life in Paris is still amazing, as I am still discovering new areas and places to visit, this city is neverending! Yesterday, Kristin and I ventured over to Cimetière du Père Lachaise, a huge and amazingly cool cemetary somewhat on the outskirts of paris. We had intended to meet up with a group of people, but the cemetary proved to be so big that we never ended up crossing paths! In any case, we spent hours just walking around the cemetary, the weather was perfect, and used a little map in one of my handy guidebooks (thanks aunt sandy and uncle alex!) to find the most famous, or just interesting graves. We saw that of Oscar Wilden Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison (my personal favorite), Chopin, and several others. So yeah, a little morbid, but really cool. At night, we headed out to a sangria bar to celebrate my friend Olivia's 21st birthday. It was really fun, the only annoying part is most of us had to pull a Cinderella and leave around midnight in order to ensure we caught the last metro, argh...I need to figure out how the night bus works.
Today, I slept in and then headed over to the Sweet Briar building to figure some stuff out about my classes. I'm trying to make it work so that I dont have class on friday, so I will have more time to take trips and such, and now it looks like it's going to work out-yay! We'll see though, everythings still kind of up in the air. After that and a two-hour methodology class Kristin and I met up with our friend Olivia by the Louvre, and then headed over to an art/fashion/design museum nearby. It was really cool; it featured a big Valentino exhibit of all sorts of his dresses. Afterwords, we stopped by a patisserie for a snack before heading home, we were all pretty tired from all the walking and standing around the museum. Anyways, tomorrow I have the entire day free, so hopefully we will get some planning done for weekend trips and such...exciting!

Settling in

So I've been in Paris for a few days now, although it seems like a lot more, and I feel like I'm getting a good feel of the city, and am able to comfortably get around and find my way (it turns out if I pay attention, and find my way on my own, my sense of direction actually isnt as bad as I thought it was...). Of course, there's still so much of Paris to discover, and every day I wake up excited and ready to explore someplace new. Yesterday, we had a meeting at the Sweet Briar headquarters (party of the Alliance Francaise), concerning our particular Paris University. Unfortunately, Paris III still hasn't released the schedule for most of their cinema courses, so I still dont really know what my schedule is going to look like...argh. However, we dont have to actually register for classes until next week, so at least I've got some time. I explored the area around the Alliance, finding lots of stores (including a whole row of my favorites: H&M, Gap, Zara, etc...dangerous!) and such. After the meeting I came home to rest a bit, and watched this french reality show based around who can be the best host (typical), it was amusing, and I was excited to find that I could pretty much understand everything (yay!). After dinner, I met up with my friend Kristin in the 7th arrondisement, and we went to the Eiffel Tower to sit on the lawn and watch the light show, very cool. Afterwards, we went and drank some amazing hot chocolate in a cool cafe not far from her house. It was funny, even at midnight on a monday there were still so many people out, eating a really late dinner or just sitting around and chatting. Today, I went on a big trek around central Paris, checking out the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, a famous garden that i'm now forgetting the name of, and other random sites along the way. It was pretty intense :). I then had a methodology class where we talked about how to write for french university classes, as apparently they have very different expectations. Basically, they dont want to know opinion, or what you think, its more based around analysis based on research and such. Also, the french universities dont hold your hand at all, especially not the professor. they are pretty much unavailable unless you have a serious question, you're essentially on your own. Fortunately, the Sweet Briar people will be there to help us out, so it should be okay! alrighty then, thats the update, hope everyone's doing well!
Brit

First days in Paris

Alors, I have been in Paris a couple days now, and am discovering all sorts of cool areas and having a great time exploring the various arrondissements. I've even mastered the metro, and the art of appearing angry and standoffish so you dont get pickpocketed; one of our teachers told us that the easiest way to spot an american on the metro is to look for the people smiling. Yesterday my host mom took me on a walk around the neighborhood, showing me some restaurants and the inexpensive "monoprix", where she spent forever looking for a face product that apparently hasnt come out yet, hehe. In our wanderings, we apparently passed a famous french comedian, which Madame pointed out ; pretty cool. Afterwards, a friend called and we met up for coffee (hot chocolate for me), in the Marais (again), and then we walked around exploring and stumbled upon the hotel de ville, so cool. That night, I went over to Jenn and Alex's to meet up and drink a little wine and hang out; we started watching the movie "broken english", which was really good, although we only watched the beginning before the host sister asked us to watch it somewhere else, sigh. Today, I met up with some friends at Montmartre, one of my favorite places in Paris, and we saw the Sacre coeur, an amazing old church. After trying in vain to find some of the spots filmed in "Amelie", we headed over to the 7eme arrondissement to check out the eiffel tower, also really cool. Now theres a french movie on tv my host mom said i should watch, so off i go!
love,
brit