You've Got Mail....hahaha just kidding!

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely hate the French postal system. They suck. My dad express mailed me my Windows 7 disk and a few other things. The shipping was so expensive but I was guaranteed to get the package by Wednesday. Well, it's Friday and I still don't have my package. GRRRRRR!!!!!! My mom called the company that's bringing the package and gave them my number so they could call me and tell me when they're coming. She then told me that they'd be calling today so I expected that I'd have my package sometime today. This morning at like 10 to 9 Norton started barking really loud because someone was knocking on the door. I tried to ignore it but he wouldn't stop. I got up and ran to the door hoping it was my package. It was a package, just not the package I was expecting. The package had mac n cheese, salt and vinegar chips, U of I things, 2 shirts, and peanut butter. I was so happy. I wanted to open up the peanut butter so bad but it's a small bottle so I don't want to waste it you know?

I've had such a horrible headache all day. I've taken aspirin for it but it won't go away. Mathilde went somewhere last night and I have no idea what time she got back. She didn't get up until 12:30 ish. I've been letting her use my computer because Renee's doesn't work and just like every other teenager on the face of the Earth, she had to check her facebook. It was funny watching her try to type stuff. She was like where's you e with the accent key? I was like, I don't have one of those. She's like oh.... We all had lunch together today. Mathilde made potatoes. They were really good. I think she was mocking me when she asked if I wanted ketchup with them because she grabbed the mayonnaise. But whatevs, I really don't care. We ate at 1ish when Renee came home and I still hadn't heard anything from the mail people. Renee and Mathilde went out after lunch and invited me with them but I stayed here to wait for my package.

They finally called at 2:30. The woman spoke English, thank god, and I asked her if someone was at the door and she goes, "oh no, it's not coming today" I was like WHAT?!?!?!?!?! I was so pissed. Then she's like well the earliest it can come is Monday. I was like MONDAY! what do you mean, can't you send it today? and she's like oh well it's too late now. I wanted to tell her, listen lady, maybe if you would have called me earlier in the day, I could of had my package by now. She's like well you can pick it up at our processing plant on Saturday but it's really far from you. I told her I had no way of getting there so I couldn't do that. So I'm stuck with waiting until Monday. I told her that I had class and I would be here until 1pm. She said that they would deliver it in the morning. I double checked and told her again that I have class and that I need the package by 1 on Monday. I think I was annoying her but I really could care less....they've been annoying me all week.

After I got off the phone with her I was ticked off I didn't want to do anything. So I watched Grey's Anatomy and talked to Mathilde for a while instead. She left and then I left shortly after to go to the ATM to get some money for tomorrow and to the Monoprix to pick something up for dinner. I made my spaghetti with sausage again. It was awesome, obvs. Mathilde just came back and I think she's leaving again to go to a movie with her friends. She said I could come with but the movie is in French and why would I pay close to 9 Euro to see a movie that I won't understand at all. Then she's like well I'm going to a party tomorrow for Halloween and it's with all my friends and you can come. I told her maybe because I just have a feeling that if I go, I'll have no one to talk to. Mathilde's friends will be there and my French isn't very good, especially around people my age because we don't speak the same French. Sometimes I feel really disconnected from the language because I know proper French and no one speaks proper French here. It's really annoying sometimes when I'm saying the correct word and who ever I'm talking to will have no idea what I'm saying.

We're going to the mall tomorrow, so that should be fun. I'm not in the greatest mood....if you haven't noticed. I'm angry at the French postal system, my package from home made me miss home and I just feel really disconnected with everything here. Hopefully next week will be better.

Bonsoir et a bientot

I smell like a French whore

Last night Renee's niece, Mathilde got here. I didn't meet her last night because it was almost 12am when she got here and I was already in bed. So I met her this morning. We really didn't talk much but she seemed really nice. I think she's 19. Today my plans went exactly as planned....that sound's dumb. Well anyways, I got out of the metro and looked to my right and there was the Arc de Triomphe. It is so cool looking. Hiding behind it was the Eiffel Tower. I told Amber, who finally decided to come with me today, that I'd meet her outside of the metro. Well I didn't realize that there were like 6 different exits for the one metro. So we couldn't find each other. I called her, she called me, but we ended up finally finding each other. To get to the Arc de Triomphe you have to go through this sweet underground tunnel. There is a circle that goes around the arc and there are 12 roads that go off in different directions from that circle. I stared at the traffic and was amazed how they didn't hit each other. I could never drive in Paris. I'd probably have to get a bike...and I really don't like bikers. So we hung out around the Arc for a bit and as Amber was trying to speak French, this guy behind us over heard and corrected her. It was funny because he wasn't even French. Amber said that she didn't like Paris at all. I wondered how in the world can you not like Paris at all when you get to see sights like this every day?!?!?! You can't see this in Chicago. Sure, Chicago is cool but come on, how many people can say they lived in Paris for a year? When she says stuff like that it kinda annoys me.

We left the Arc and headed down the Champs Elysees. The road is 4 lanes going each direction...it's nuts. There are so many shops like Cartier and Louis Vuitton. I obviously can't even afford to step foot in those stores. The guard at the door would probably look at me and toss me out. "You don't look rich enough for our store, leave!" hahaha....so we went to FNAC which is pretty much like Best Buy in America. It was pretty sweet. They had a bunch of American tv shows on DVD. I tried looking for LOST but it wasn't there. They did have Gilmore Girls....but everything there was so expensive. I thought about getting the new Mika cd but didn't. Mika is a French artist who sings in English....go figure. We kept walking down the Champs Elysees and stopped in the Virgin Megastore. That was pretty cool too. I was starving so I got something to eat at this sandwich place called Pomme en Pain....or something like that. The sandwich wasn't too bad. Amber didn't get anything. She told me all about these weird word she uses...like trick means whore or something...I was like yeah, I don't say that. Our tastes in everything from music to movies are so different. But, she likes Twilight, so I'll have someone to go see New Moon with. We went into Sephora which is like the biggest perfume store in the World. It was nuts. When I walked out of there I smelled like a French whore...no joke. I only sprayed one perfume on myself, something by Christina Ricci...it smelled so good. Then this lady like attacked me with some perfume she was carrying around and it smelled horrible. Then I was testing a bunch of different perfumes. I sprayed them on the little strips of paper they have out but I must have horrible aim or something because the majority of the perfumes ended up on me and not the paper...so I'm sure I smelled just amazing.

We walked all the way down the Champs Elysees and ended up at Place de la Concord. I've never been there before, just saw it from our tour bus in high school. It was pretty sweet. The obelisk was a gift from Egypt. And it's like really old. France got it in 1833 and it was moved to Place de la Concorde after they stopped beheading people like King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette with the guillotine. I think the gold top on the obelisk is so ugly. It just looks like it doesn't belong on there. I think there used to be some other golden top on it but it was stolen or something like that so they put a new one up there...but I think it's hideous. If you stand in the center of Place de la Concorde you can see all the way down the Champs Eylsees to the Arc de Triomphe. It was pretty sweet. I felt like Lance Armstrong in Le Tour de France or something. The Champs Elysees is completely cobble-stoned so I couldn't imagine riding a bike up and down it 10 times, or however many laps they do. The first picture to the left is the Obelisk with it's ugly gold top. It's kinda hard to see it but if you make the picture bigger you can see it. The next picture I took in the center of Place de la Concorde.

I got back on the metro and headed home. Mathilde was here and I asked her if my package came and she said no. I guess they came yesterday and said no one was here...which is a lie because I was here and I had no idea they came. So now I guess I'll have to wait around for them all day. I really didn't have any set plans but I thought about going to the Louvre to find the painting that I am presenting for Nocturnes de Louvre because I haven't seen it in person yet. So hopefully they come early. Dinner was so good tonight. Renee made this cauliflower, cheese and meat thing. It was delish. Her and Mathilde are so funny. Mathilde talks so fast I don't understand a word she says. She said that she's been taking English classes for 8 years and she still doesn't understand. She says that when she's trying to listen to what the teacher is saying or if she's watching a movie she doesn't understand it because they talk to fast. She said she understood how I felt when it comes to French and people talking to fast. She seems really nice. She invited me out with her and some guy tonight but she said that I probably wouldn't have a good time because he doesn't speak proper French...he speaks slang. She said when she first met him she couldn't understand what he was saying. So I passed because I knew I'd be that much more confused.

So I guess I play the waiting game tomorrow...should be a blast.

A bientot

Well, that was depressing

Today was really depressing, not gonna lie. Not only did I get ditched again by Amber, with no reason as to why she couldn't come, I went to le Memorial de la Shoah. Memorial de la Shoah is a Holocaust museum in the 4th (le marais) which has become my favorite district in Paris. I learned that "Holocaust" is used in English speaking countries, but in France they use "Shoah," meaning catastrophe. I believe it means the same thing in Hebrew. The museum wasn't that hard to find, I just got a little lost. I saw a sign that pointed in the direction of the museum but the sign was really misleading and I ended up going a few blocks in the wrong direction. Good thing I had my indispensable (my map of Paris by each neighborhood). After I studied this for a little while I found the museum. If anyone is coming to Paris to study or just to travel, pick one of these up from the newspaper stand. Mine was only 7.50 and it has a metro map, a bus map, the RER map, and a map of each neighborhood. It also has an index of all the streets in Paris so if you're ever lost you just need to look up the street name and it shows you where it is on the map and you can then find the closest metro or whatever you want. Plus, many Parisians carry these around...I thought I was going to look like an uber tourist, but the tourists have the maps from the metro, not the indispensable.

Anyways, I found the museum and it's locked down like a fort, literally. You had to push a button to have someone open the door for you and if someone was getting their things x-rayed you had to wait until they were done. The best thing about the museum is it's FREE!!! Once you get through the x-ray thing you go outside and there is this giant green thing in the middle of this court yard. It had all the names of the concentration camps on it, and after reading the description, it is a replica of a smoke stack that was used at the concentration camps. There was also this huge wall with the Star of David on it and something written in French and Hebrew. I'm not exactly sure what it said. In the 4th there is a very large Jewish population so I think that might be why they put the memorial here. You go down a level, still outside, and there are white marble walls that have the names of all the French Jews that were deported and sent to concentration camps. They are broken down into the years from 1942-1945 and then are broken down alphabetically.

After looking at the walls for a while, I went inside to the actual museum. The museum is broken up into sections, where the French Jews came from, who they are, the start of the war, deportation, camps, and then post war. There was so much information in all of the sections. I was going a little nuts reading it all. I really liked the pictures that they had. Underneath them there were descriptions in French and English so you knew what the picture was. There were also a lot of artifacts like a suitcase, a pinstriped shirt that they were forced to wear, a matching hat, bowls, spoons, Star of David patches, clothes, a blanket that was knit with human hair from the camps...that was really gross. You could actually see that some of the hairs were coming out of the blanket. There were a lot of passports and marriage licenses which was pretty cool. There were a lot of videos that were being played. They all were in French so it was really hard to understand some of them. The last part of the artifacts room was a room that had walls that were back lit and they had over 3,000 pictures of French Jewish kids that were deported and died in the concentration camps. I don't remember the exact number of French Jews that died, I want to say 76,000 but I might be wrong, but I do know that over 11,000 kids were killed. It was really sad looking at all their pictures. The children, elderly, pregnant women, and really anyone who didn't look fit was not even given the chance to work. They were immediately sent off to die. After I left the room with all the kids pictures, which was beyond depressing, I went into this room called the crypt. There was a staircase that lead down to a giant Star of David that had a flame in the middle of it. From reading the packet I picked up, when they built the museum they got some of the ashes from those who died in the concentration camps along with soil from Israel and placed them both in the center of the Star of David. There's obviously no way of knowing who's ashes they were but it was a really somber room. It gave me the chills.

I went into their bookstore but everything was overpriced and all of the books were in French. I left the museum and then went to this boulangerie to get an incredibly overpriced sandwich and coke because I was starving. I ate at the little cafe because didn't feel like walking around with the huge sandwich. After that I went and bought a crepe and took a walk. I saw this store that sells foie gras. I'm thinking about buying some if I go back, which I'm sure I will because it's a cool area. The only thing is, it was really expensive and I don't know if it will get confiscated when I come back to America. I might have to ask Renee or something. But she's never been to America so I doubt she'll know what I'm even talking about.

I had planned on going to the Louvre today but after the memorial de la Shoah I was really depressed and tired because I was in there for over 2 hours just looking around and reading. So maybe I'll go to the Louvre on Friday because I don't have any plans for Friday yet. I don't think I'm going to go to Euro Disney this week...it's probably really expensive anyways.

Renee is cooking dinner tonight and I hope it's a lot better than what she made of Monday. That was just horrible. Last night I was bored so I decided that I would watch and episode of True Blood. The show is on HBO so I've never seen it. But OMG....it was so good. So the episode ended and I was like great, here's another show I'm going to be addicted to. But that's alright, it's only on it's second season. I was supposed to get my new Windows 7 disk today but my package didn't come. Hopefully it comes tomorrow. The rest of the night I'm just gonna chill, probably watch some True Blood and maybe a movie or something. Tomorrow I'm planning on going to l'arc de triompe and walking down the champs elysees. Hopefully I don't spend too much money.

A bientot

Paris thrift shops = amazing!

Today did not go as I had planned it at all. Everything was fine until I got a text from Amber saying that something came up and she couldn't come with today. I was like alright...that's cool I guess because this other girl from the group, Antonia was coming with. I got to the metro stop that's by the Eiffel Tower at 10 to 12. I waited, and waited, and around 12 I got a text from Antonia saying that she forgot her paper from the art professor that gets us into Musee d'Orsay for free, which we had planned on going to today. So I told her I'd wait for her because Amber wasn't coming. I waited for an hour. I must have looked like an idiot standing there. I thought about texting her and telling her that I was going to the Eiffel Tower, and I'll meet her there or something. But, no I just stood there. Two people asked me for directions. Most of the time when people ask me for directions I have no idea what they are asking or I have no clue where it is. When that happens I just point in a direction and hope that I'm right. These people asked how to get to the Eiffel Tower and I just told them to follow everyone else because that's most likely where they were going.

Antonia got to the metro a little after 1pm. I wasn't angry or anything, I was just tired of standing there. We followed this huge group of people to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is so much cooler in person than in pictures or movies. It's so massive. From my window at the apartment it doesn't look that big. I wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower but the line snaked all around the 4 bases of the tower. So, we didn't go up it. It's okay, I've been up there before, and it's not like the view has changed. It is really expensive to go all the way up to the 3rd floor too, even though the view is better from the second floor. But the third is just awesome so why no go all the way up. It's like 13 Euro...and that's the reduced rate, to go all the way to the top. You can climb the stairs to the first and second level, that is cheaper than the lift up, but it's like a million stairs, and I didn't think I would make it. So we took some pictures and then went and hung out in this little grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower. There was this bride and groom getting their pictures taken. It was so cute! We sat on the grass for an hour or so just talking and watching people, it was nice.

Afterwards we decided to go to these thrift shops that Antonia went to yesterday. We both have been to Musee d'Orsay before so I wasn't really bummed about not going. I mean I have the pass all year, so I can go whenever I want. We went to the metro and took it to the 4th which is called le marais, the swamp/marsh...I think I've said this before. We hit up a few thrift stores and there were so many people there. The majority of the people were British, which I thought was a little weird. They had the strangest clothes at some of the stores. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just hoping that something would catch my eye, but nothing did. It was also very hot in all the stores, maybe because there were a ton of people in them. After going to 2 stores in the 4th we got back on the metro to go to another store that Antonia saw yesterday but it was closed. As we were walking back to the metro I saw a Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop. It was so funny! I was like what is this doing here?!?!?! We found the store and it was pretty sweet. They had a lot of really old purses and shoes there. There were a TON of Converse. I even saw this leather pair. They were pretty sweet. We left that store and stopped in a bakery because we both were starving. I didn't get to eat lunch again because I was out.

We walked back to the metro and then I got on my train and Antonia decided to walk home because she lives really close. I don't know how but I got on the train that was going the opposite direction that I needed. Surprisingly, that time was the first time I've ever done that. Instead of getting off I just road it for a few more stops to where I could pick up the 6 which connects to the 13, my line, at Montparnasse. Unfortunately, I had to ride the 6 from the end 15 stops to get to Montparnasse. I was so tired on the train. I was happy I found a seat because my feet really hurt from all the walking we did today. I got to my metro stop and it was almost dark.

Renee is going to the opera tonight so she'll be home really late. I'll probably eat dinner in a few and then try to finish watching Top Chef. I only have like 10 minutes left to watch. I just want to know who got kicked off. Tomorrow I'm planning on going to the Holocaust museum, which is supposed to be really interesting and then to the Louvre to look at the painting that I'm presenting for Nocturnes de Louvre...that's if I can find it.

A bientot!

I feel like Rory Gilmore!

Today was pretty awesome! I got to sleep in, which was obviously fabulous, watched a little CNN...because that's like the only channel that Renee gets in English, and I'm really tired of watching music videos and Lassie. There was some weird show on about people who should have been dead, but they survived. It was crazy. I took a shower and then headed to Notre Dame. I've been there before, but it was in high school, and it was nice not having to be on a schedule. I took tons of pictures obviously, but it is such a pain to put a bunch on here so I'll put up a few. The rest are on my facebook. The first picture is of the front of Notre Dame. You come out of the metro and are greeted with this beautiful site. Speaking of the metro, it took FOREVER to get on the RER today. I'm not sure if the strike is still going on, but 3 trains on the other side of the platform passed while everyone waited for the one train. So that was kind of a pain but whatever. So I walked out of the metro and was greeted with this amazing view. It was really nice out today. It was warm actually, which I think is throwing me off a bit. I took so many pictures of the outside of the cathedral it's insane. I know a lot of them are pictures of the same things when I was here in high school but I think I have a different perspective of things now, obviously because I'm a lot older. As I was walking around the grounds of the cathedral, the same gypsies kept coming up to me and asking if I spoke English. The first one asks me, I said yes, because I'm dumb, and then she gives me this whole speech abut how poor she is and how she has like a million kids and she can't feed them because she doesn't have and money. I told her no and walked away. She had Crocs on so she couldn't have been that poor. I don't even have Crocs. The gypsies reminded me of our trip to Paris in high school. We got off the plane and after getting out luggage we got on this coach bus that took us into the city. There was a tour guide and he was talking about the city and how to be safe. He said this about the gypsies..."if they come up to you say, 'go away or I will destroy your face!!!!!' seriously, those were his exact words. And, he had this crazy British accent so it was even funnier. Kelsey and I were of course sitting at the very front of the bus, right in front of this crazy Brit and had to put our hands over our mouths so he wouldn't hear us laughing so hard. It was seriously so funny! So after taking some more pictures I decided to walk around to the side of the cathedral to get in line to go up the bell tower because there is an observation deck up at the top and it's supposed to be pretty sweet. It was almost 1pm by the time I got to the line and it was halfway down the road. They only let 10 people up to the top of the bell tower at a time so it really holds up the line. Plus, you obviously had to pay, and I didn't feeling like waiting in that long line, because I had a feeling I would have been waiting in it forever. Maybe I'll go up there another day, I'll have to get there much earlier though. So I went back to the front of the cathedral and asked this American woman if she would take my picture. Her husband asked where I was from and I told him Chicago. Their daughter is getting her masters at DePaul. They were from Florida and she went to Florida State...I think, and now is in Chicago. They asked if I went to school in the city and I told them no, I go to U of I and they actually knew what and where it was. They were really nice. They wished me good luck at my year in Paris and I told them that they should visit the Luxembourg Gardens because they are so beautiful and of course wished them a great vacation. The picture of me in front of a gate is the one the woman took. My jeans look really funny because they are too big. All of my jeans are too big. I think it's because I've been doing a lot of walking and I can't dry my jeans so they get really stretched out after a day. I only have 4 pairs of jeans so I have to wear them more than once obvs.

I went inside the cathedral and of course it is just gorgeous. I think I went on the self guided tour the wrong way. Everyone was walking at me and I was walking the different direction. I really didn't care. The next picture is of one of the many stained glass windows inside the cathedral. I'm not sure if this is what they call the rose window or not. There are two really big ones and to me they both look the same. I grabbed one of the left over booklets that has all of the songs and the schedule for the service on Sundays. It's in like 3 different languages. It's pretty cool. I couldn't imagine attending a service here. People probably start standing in line the night before and it's like a 3 hour service....crazy! There were flat scree tvs on one side of the church. They looked so out of place but I guess they are there so those people who got stuck with the cheap seats can see what's going on. I took my time walking around the cathedral, even sitting down sometimes. I've never really been a religious person, but it was nice to just sit there and reflect. Notre Dame gets over 2 million visitors a year, more than the Eiffel Tower. There were a ton of people there. After the tour I sat and people watched for a while. There was this guy singing and this crazy tour guide who walked around with a foam flowers and shook it to get her group's attention. It was pretty funny. I bought some pretty scarves and finally got to exchange my American money. I knew it was going to be a total rip off because of the crappy exchange rate, and the commission they make off of the exchange, but I was just really tired of carrying around this money I couldn't use here. I exchanged $69 USD and only got 35.04 Euro in return. It sucked. After being cheated I took a walk around Notre Dame. It's a really cute neighborhood in the heart of the Latin Quarter. I really liked it. I walked to the other side of the cathedral and found a little park. There were a lot less people in this area. Maybe they didn't know it was even there. But it was really nice. The next picture is the view of Notre Dame from the park. This side is the side of Notre Dame that faces the Seine. I left the park and then walked down the Seine where there are little stalls that sell old books. Some of them are a real rip off but they were really cool to look at. There are a lot of leather bound books. One that I saw was published in the late 1800's and it was 183 Euros. I put it down right away. I walked past all of the book sellers and then crossed to the other side of the street to look for Shakespeare and Company.

Shakespeare and Company is seriously one of the coolest bookstores on the face of the Earth....no lie. It is a very small, independent store that sells new and used books. Many of the books are in English, but you can find some that are in French. I first visited Shakespeare and Company during our trip in high school and I was just in awe. Coming back, I felt the same. I stayed there for over an hour just looking at books. I never knew there was an upstairs to the store. I went up there and they have couches and benches where people just sit and read. It literally is books on top of books on top of books. I could have spent hours in the store. I felt like Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls....I love books and looking at books as much as she does. It was amazing. I wandered around and settled on 3 books. Hopefully there will be room in my suitcase for them when I come home. I got "The Food of France" by Waverly Root. I thought about giving it to my brother, but I might keep it for myself and just let him borrow it. I also got "So Long, See You Tomorrow" by William Maxwell and "Intruder in the Dust" by William Faulkner. I can't wait to read them. After leaving Shakespeare and Company, (I'll definitely have to come back this year) I walked around in the Latin Quarter. I was starving because I didn't have lunch and decided to buy a pita because I knew that I wouldn't be eating dinner until much later because Renee was making me dinner. The pita kinda sucked, not gonna lie. I ate at le Fontaine de Saint Michel, people watched for a bit and then got on the metro and headed back to the apartment.

For dinner, Renee made some sort or vegetable soup and this horrible chicken. It was really dry and there was some sort of cheese in the rice. It was just a really weird combination. I really choked it down. I had like 3 glasses of water with dinner. We had ice cream for dessert. YUM! Renee told me that her niece named Mathilde (like Matilda in English) is coming Thursday. She's 19. She said she wasn't sure if she was going to be around a lot because she has a lot of friends who live in this area but I'm sure she'll be really nice. Renee said she talks a lot. Great...at least it will be better than Jean-Francois. After dinner Renee showed me some pictures of her family on her computer and I did the same. It was nice.

I'm pretty tired, it's been a long day. After talking to my dad a bit on Skype and watching The Amazing Race, I'm going to bed.

A bientot!

Oh, hey Jim Morrison!

Man, what a day! I'm exhausted. I don't think I've done this much walking since I first got here. I got an extra hour of sleep this morning thanks to daylight savings time. This morning, like mornings past, Jean-Francois was still sleeping when I woke up so I was forced to eat my breakfast in the small kitchen. I guess it isn't that bad, but I'd like to sit at a table and watch tv or something. Renee was already gone when I woke up. I took a shower and headed out for a day of exploring Paris. I took my metro line (13) to Montparnasse and transferred to the 6 and rode it all the way to the end of the line. I knew that it was going to be a long ride so I brought my headphones so I could listen to my iPod on my phone. Last night I put "Sweet Caroline" on my iPod and when I went to turn it on, I noticed that "Sweet Caroline" was the only song I had on my iPod. I don't know how it happened, but all of my songs that were on my phone got deleted off of it when I put "Sweet Caroline" on it. So I listened to the song twice and then put my headphones away because I couldn't listen to one song the entire time.

It took about 30 minutes to get to my final destination. I got off the train and all of a sudden some behind me screams in my ear and grabs me. I nearly peed my pants. It was Amber, the girl I invited along with me. She thought it was just SO FUNNY that she scared the crap out of me. I looked at her with my "I'm pissed face" and told her it wasn't funny and don't do it again. Maybe I overreacted a little, but it really wasn't that funny at all. We walked out of the metro and headed into Pere-Lachaise cemetery. Pere-Lachaise is the biggest cemetery in Paris, most visited and is one of the biggest in all of Europe. There are many famous people buried there including: Frederic Chopin, Eugene Delacroix, Jean de la Fontaine, Jim Morrison, Victor Noir, Edith Piaf, and Oscar Wilde...just to name a few. I thought about picking up a map of the cemetery somewhere because I knew that it was very big. But I didn't because I didn't have a map in the Montparnasse Cemetery, so I thought I'd be fine. A piece of advice: if you ever come to Paris and want to visit Pere-Lachaise, bring a map if you really want to see the popular graves. We just walked around, and while we did end up finding them it would have been a lot easier if we had a map. I took so many pictures in the cemetery. Here are a few of my favorites... to the left is obviously trees. The streets, I guess you would call them, are all cobble-stone and are lined with trees. It was so pretty. I've heard that it looks really pretty in the spring too because of all the flowers that are planted there. The next picture is inside the crematorium. It was a huge open complex filled with squares that hold the ashes. This wasn't the only section. It kept going and going and going. A lot of the squares had little holders where you can put flowers as you can see from the picture. We kept walking and came across the grave of Victor Noir, a French journalist. The tomb is very realistic. I read on Wikipedia that it appears that Noir was sexually aroused because of his "large penis pushing his part-unbuttoned fly open." It also said that the sculpture has become a fertility symbol. People kiss his lips and rub his crotch. You can really tell that people do in fact rub on Noir because his penis is golden from all the rubbing...to the bottom left is Victor Noir in all his glory. The whole thing is really funny if you think about it. I love how someone put a flower in the lapel of his jacket. Classy. We kept walking and ended up at the very bottom of the cemetery. We came across many monuments dedicated to the Jewish French who lost their lives at concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald. The monuments were really sad, but were very touching at the same time. All of the monuments were written in French and I was able to read and understand the majority of them, which makes me really happy. If you didn't know this, there is a scene in "Paris, Je t'aime" that takes place in the cemetery. Here's the clip from YouTube...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJYd7lelmqs We found Oscar Wilde's tomb and although I've seen pictures of it, and I've seen Paris, Je t'aime a million and a half times, it really wasn't as grand as I expected. I mean it was pretty cool looking and all. I thought about kissing the tomb like everyone else does but then I decided not to because who knows how many millions of people have kissed it, men and women because I'm pretty sure Oscar Wilde was gay, I didn't want to get some weird disease or something from smooching Oscar Wilde's grave. Here's a picture of it to the left. After staring at everything that has been written on the grave, we left and started looking for Edith Piaf's grave. Amber didn't know who she was, or who Oscar Wilde was...I'll admit, I was pretty shocked, so I told her everything I knew about them. Edith Piaf's grave with difficult to spot. It's not as big as Oscar Wilde's. We saw this American couple and asked to look at their map. They asked who we were looking for and they told us exactly where to go. We found the right street and were able to find it because all of the people that were there. I believe she is buried with her family. The picture of Edith Piaf's grave is below Oscar Wilde's. There were a lot of people there and it was in a very small space so we did not stay there for very long. We made our way back to a map and found where Jim Morrison's grave was on the map. It seemed like it was going to be pretty easy to get to, we just had to go near the entrance and it should be right over there. Well, we made it to one of the entrances, and ended up missing his grave completely. As we were staring at the map trying to memorize it so we wouldn't get lost again, this guy came up to us and asked us who we were looking for. We told him Jim Morrison, I bet Amber didn't know who that was either, and he said he was looking for him too. We decided to walk there together. His name was Teddy, he's 21 and from Milwaukee....small world right? He's studying in Italy for the semester and is in Paris on fall break. He seemed like a nice guy. Amber was drilling him, asking him all these questions. I felt bad for the guy. We thought we were going the right direction but, got lost yet again. Teddy, who speaks Italian, asked this Italian family, how he knew they were Italian I have no clue, where Jim's grave was and they pointed us in the right direction. The picture of Jim's grave is below and to the left. The grave was barricaded off, which I thought was weird. I read that in the past they had problems with people going to close to the grave or defacing it. There is an inscription in Greek, ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, on the tombstone that translates to, "true to his own spirit." It is one of the most popular graves in the entire cemetery, and I can see why, he was a rock icon. There used to be a bust of Morrison on the grave but it was stolen...go figure. We hung around the grave for a while just looking at it. There were a TON of people there. I guess it's pretty easy to spot it once you find the huge crowd. We left Jim's grave and Amber and I headed for the exit and Teddy wanted to wander around still. He did that whole "kiss on the cheek thing" as a goodbye. I guess they do that in Italy too...whatever he was cool I guess. We left and got back on the metro and headed to Sacre-Coeur.

Sacre-Coeur sits atop this huge hill, the highest point in Paris. It really is breath taking; the view of the church and the 266+ steps up to the top of the hill. After the first flight Amber was like I need to stop, and I was like omg, come on you're fine. I was trucking it up that hill. There is a little tram that you can take up to the top but what fun is that? To the bottom left is me, and Sacre-Coeur before we started climbing the steps. I haven't retouched the picture at all....it really is that white. I can't imagine all the cleaning they must do to keep it that white. The next picture is the view from the top of the stairs. There are more stairs that lead up to the church. People sit on the steps and just hang out and people watch. I wanted to sit down but there were so many people on the steps it was difficult finding a spot. We went into the church, which I did not go in when we came to Sacre-Coeur in high school. It was very pretty. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the church, so that's why I don't have any. It's a Roman Catholic church and is very pretty inside. You can buy a candle and light it but that was 2 Eruos....so I didn't. I really didn't see the point of it anyways. When we got out of the church we walked around to the other side where a bunch of cars were parked. We got an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower. I don't think people really knew about this awesome view because there was no one over there except us. We decided to start walking down the steps because Amber had to get back to babysit. We headed down the first flight of stairs and this guy was singing "Let it Be" and everyone was singing along and clapping their hands. I was singing too, it was pretty awesome. To the left is what it looked like when everyone was singing along. Amber asked me what the song was, apparently she'd never heard it before...again, I was pretty shocked. It was one of those experiences where you're just like wow.....it's really cool how people from all over the world, sitting on these steps know all the words to one song. The guy stopped...he was actually really good, and everyone cheered. We headed back down all the stairs. After looking at a few shops and picking up a few gifts, we headed for the metro. Amber went one direction and I went the other. The ride back was pretty long. Good thing I didn't have my music to listen to...

When I got back to my metro stop I decided to stop at the bakery because I was starving. I didn't eat lunch today. So I bought a pain au chocolat and ate in this dog park next to the apartment. When I was done I went back to the apartment. Jean-Francois left a note on the table....he finally left. I made pizza for dinner, and ended up burning it. I ate it though because I had nothing else to eat. It was alright...a little crispy. Renee came home from work and walked into the living room where I was listening to music and writing this and she asked me why I didn't eat the pastry she bough for me. I didn't even see it this morning. I thought it was just bread and I didn't want bread. She was like I told you I'd buy you some thing special on Sunday mornings. I felt bad, but told her thank you, and that I'd eat it tomorrow morning. I didn't think that she would keep doing that. She bought me something a few Sundays ago, before she left for vacation but I just assumed it was a one time deal. She ate dinner and we decided that we're going to have dinner tomorrow night instead of our usual lunch on Monday, because I probably won't be here.

It feels a lot later than 9:35, but I guess I did have to change my clock back an hour. The Bears game is on back home so I'm probably going to listen to that for a while and try to put my music back on my phone. Wish me luck. Tomorrow I'm going to Notre Dame, Shakespeare and Company and take a walk along the Seine...should be a good time.

A bientot

Hands Touching Hands, Reaching Out Touching Me, Touching You....

SWEET CAROLINE.....yes, if you haven't figured it out by now, "Sweet Caroline" has been stuck in my head since Thursday when I watched Glee and Puck did a fabulous rendition of the song. I even bought it off of iTunes I couldn't get it out of my head. I was going to buy the Glee version but it was too expensive, so I stuck with the original by Neil Diamond. I even watched the video on YouTube and found a rockin' Elvis version from his concert at the MGM grand in Las Vagas. It was pretty cool.

Today was pretty laid back, very laid back actually. I haven't done much of anything. I didn't even get out of bed until 10:15ish....I know, so late for me. When I went out into the kitchen the door to the living room was still closed, meaning Jean-Francois was still asleep. I expected to find Renee in the kitchen because she doesn't work on Saturdays, but she wasn't there. I just figured that she went shopping or something. I had breakfast and had to eat in the kitchen because of Jean-Francois. I took a shower and then realized that I had no dry, clean clothes to wear because all of mine were still drying from yesterday when I washed them all. Thankfully I had some clean jeans and my trusty Theriot Cubs t-shirt, so I rocked that today.

I finally watched the rest of Project Runway and then went on to Top Chef. Of course, I get 30 minutes into the episode and it stops working. I'm so tired of this computer...it's driving me insane. I made a plan of everything that I want to see this week. Here's the schedule

Tomorrow: Pere-Lachaise cemetery and Sacre-Coeur
Monday: Notre Dame, Shakespeare and Company, take a walk along the banks of the Seine River
Tuesday: Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Les Invilides
Wednesday: Louvre, Holocaust Museum
Thursday: Arch de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde

That's all I've got for now. Friday and Saturday are open. I'm going to look into how much tickets are for Euro Disney because it's only a 45 minute train ride from Paris, but if they are too much then obviously I won't go. I also really want to practice my French this week. Maybe by sitting in cafes or restaurants or something like that. And I also need to really study for my first test in my literature class, but I know that won't happen.

Tonight I was making dinner and I had a little bit of spaghetti sauce left so I put it in a bowl and warmed it up in the microwave. Well, the sauce got too hot and like exploded all over the microwave...fml. So I had to clean that up. I'm tired of eating the same things. I wish I could cook. Renee came home around 8:45...she did go to work today. I asked her if she was working tomorrow too, thinking that she wouldn't work tomorrow because she worked today on her day off, but it turns out she is. I kind of wish she didn't work so much because I really have no one to talk to and it gets really lonely. Jean-Francois is here but he's not very exciting and when he does talk to me it's always about the same thing and he'll say like 3 words and that's it. But, there's really nothing I can do about her working so much. At least she really likes her job. I hope that when I figure out what I'm doing with my life, I like my job as much as she likes hers.

So I've really got no plans for the rest of the night. Oh...I get an extra hour of sleep tonight! Rockin. We turn our clocks back an hour tonight so I'll only be 6 hours ahead of home instead of 7, that is until they change their clocks back in November. Maybe I'll watch a movie or something. My dad sent me the new Windows 7 program today, along with a box of goodies so I can't wait to get that. If anyone else wants to send me some love from home I'd love you forever if you did. So if you want to let me know and I'll give you my address.

Goodnight and a bientot

Happy Friday, Happy Fall Break!!

Yay!!! It's finally Friday! I seriously never thought this day would come. I couldn't fall asleep last night for the life of me. Ugh...I closed my computer at 11pm, thinking that I would fall right to sleep. Well, I didn't of course. After laying there for over an hour wide awake I finally fell asleep. Then I had this really weird dream. I really don't want to go into it because it was just bizarre and I really don't even know what to make of it. I got up around 7am the next morning and Renee still hadn't left for work. I went into the kitchen and she looked at the clock and was like, what are you doing up so early? Did I wake you up? She obviously forgot that I have class at 9am on Fridays. Then again she hasn't been here in 2 weeks so I guess I can't blame her for forgetting. I poured a bowl of cereal, Chocolate Special K....deeelish. I poured the milk and took a bite to find that the milk was warm. I made a funny face and prayed Renee didn't see it. She must have finished the liter that was in the refrigerator and put a new one in there. I had no choice but to eat it because she was standing right there and I thought it would have been rude of me to throw it out. I choked that down. It wasn't that pleasant. I wanted to take a shower right after I was done eating but Renee was in there, so I had to wait. I really miss having more than one bathroom. I'm so glad we have 4 working bathrooms at home.

After my shower I left for school. It was rush hour, so like I do on every Friday, I have to wait for more than one train to come so I can get on it. I don't even know why I bother being on time to class on Friday. The professor doesn't show up until 10 after 9 anyways. There's no reason for me to rush like a crazy person through Montparnasse...I can take my sweet time and rock out to my ipod. But no, I have to be on time. Class today wasn't that great. We were working on vowel and consonant sounds that I always have trouble with, so I was getting frustrated. We were working on this song and the professor picked me and my partner to read the lyrics. Of course, I can't even read the first line right. She corrected me. To make things worse, that one line was repeated 5 times in the song....awesome. The professor had to phonetically write out the words for me. When I finally got it right someone behind me was laughing, like finally she got it. I wanted to turn around and be like whatever dude screw you and your Armani man purse! Then, later in the class we were working on this worksheet and you had to put words into the columns that had the appropriate vowel or consonant sound. I had trouble with that too. The professor asked me what was wrong and I just told her I didn't understand. She helped me, which was nice. I think I have problems with it because I really can't hear the difference between the two sounds. They sound so similar and if you don't listen carefully, you won't be able to tell, that is unless someone spelled the word for you. I was really glad when class ended.

I decided to ask that girl I was angry at yesterday if she wanted to grab lunch with me because what else was I going to do?? I thought we'd go to a cafe or something because it's so French and there are about a million and a half around school, but she was like lets go to the boulangerie and get a sandwich. I agreed. I got this chicken sandwich and of course my new favorite chocolate pastry. The sandwich was alright. It would have been a lot better warm, but they don't make paninis there. We ate ate this huge fountain in front of what I think was a church. I'm really not sure because half of it was covered up because they are restoring it. We ate, talked for a while and then got on the metro. I came back to the apartment and Renee and Jean-Francois were still here. Seriously when is this guy leaving??? Renee left for work and I attempted to watch The Office, Grey's, Project Runway, and Top Chef. My computer hates me I guess so every time I tried to watch one of the them it froze. I think it's because I had like 5 windows open. But whatevs. I've only watched Grey's so far. It was really good. I'm glad Izzie's gone. She was getting on my nerves. I did laundry....finally. I haven't done laundry in 2 weeks. I was down to my last shirt today. I had to do 2 loads because Renee's washing machine is so small. I really miss having a dryer. Renee was using the drying rack that I usually use, so I had to find a place to hang all of my clothes in my room. It's going to take forever for them to dry.

Tomorrow I was planning on going to Pere Lachaise cemetery, but there's a 70% chance of rain tomorrow, so me and the girl I had lunch with are going to go on Sunday. I don't think she really wants to go. I told her she didn't have to come if she doesn't want to. She probably won't end up coming. She thinks Paris is overrated. But whatever....I really don't care what she thinks and it is no way overrated. My dad bought me the new Windows 7 program yesterday and they are sending it tomorrow with some other goodies. I really hope it gets here fast because I'm about to lose my mind dealing with my computer.

That's all for now, I'm listening to iTunes, grooving to Michael Buble and waiting for The Office to finish loading. God I love Michel Buble. I'm going to be up late tonight. I told my dad I'd talk to him on Skype. Happy Friday!!!

A Bientot

Please don't rain on my parade

I'm getting really tired of negative people...well it's just one person. I really don't want to go too much into it in case they happen to see this but if you really want to know what's been bugging me about this person ask because I'd love to share it with someone. Just as I was starting to feel better, after the debacle that was this week, this person has to go and be so negative about living here in Paris. Like seriously, give me a break. This person is raining on my parade and it's so annoying!!!! Alright, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Today was alright I guess, kinda boring but whatevs. I had my literature class today and I really tried to prepare for it last night. Once everyone was in the classroom the professor asked if everyone prepared for the class. I said yes. Then she goes and asks Russian Hottie about the poem because last week he stopped her mid-speech and was like, can we have time to prepare this poem? And I thought to myself, ummm we were supposed to have this prepared for today's class. I didn't have it prepared either because I didn't understand what it was about but that really doesn't matter. So today he starts talking and I turned to look at him and couldn't stop staring. Seriously...what a hottie. He has magical blue eyes, seriously....they're magical. Anyways, I could've listen to him talk the entire class but that didn't happen. I understood a lot of what the professor said today. We have a test right after break and I think that's pretty crappy of her to schedule it then, but there's really nothing I can do about that. After class today, which is when Debbie Downer started complaining, I took the metro back to the apartment and was happy Jean-Francois wasn't here. I just want him to leave. He's so boring. Oh and plus, today he shaved and left all of his beard hair in the sink...I was like omg dude, there are other people living here...come on!

I went to the fanprix to buy some more Diet Coke because I just wanted some. There are always these creepy guys standing at the entrance to this little park that's in the middle of the apartment buildings and it happens to be right next to the entrance of the fanprix. Well today they were all playing soccer. I walked by and they didn't even bother to stop playing. I had to like dodge out of the way of the ball. When I got back to the apartment Jean-Francois came back from where ever he was before. We really don't talk much....actually he doesn't talk to anyone at all.

I made my dinner (leftover ravioli and salad) and ate in the living room. Jean-Francois was watching the news. I guess there was some protest today in Paris. There's always a protest. They must find it fun or something. I just hope that the garbage people don't go on strike or the people who work on the metro because that would be horrible. Nothing too exciting happened after that. I was watching Glee earlier but my internet pooped out on me and closed my window so now I have to wait for it to load again. It was so funny too. Hopefully it's done now. I have class at 9 tomorrow. I was going to ask Debbie Downer if she wanted to get lunch with me after class but before I could ask they cut me off and said they weren't going to class tomorrow. Well good, I don't want to eat with you anyway you crazy. Maybe I'll just go by myself...although that might be lame. I don't know, we'll see how I feel after class.

A bientot

Rain, Problems, and the Hot Professor

I really hate the rain. When I woke up this morning it was dark outside, not because it was early, but because it was pouring. The rain just ruins my day. I guess I better get used to it though because it's probably going to be raining a lot more in the next few months. I had breakfast this morning like usual, and waited my normal 45 minutes to turn on my computer. The sound didn't work again this morning. I have a feeling this is going to a reoccurring problem until I can get the new program for my computer. After my shower I went back to the bank to give them my form that they had Renee fill out again. Now I guess I just wait to get my card, account number and all the other stuff that I need to transfer money into my account. As of right now there is no money in there. During break I'm going to have to find a place where I can exchange the American money I have. I came back to the apartment and someone must have been there because the oven was on. Sometimes I think there's a ghost here because every time I leave something is different in the apartment. Maybe I'm just going crazy. Renee texted me and asked if I wanted pizza for lunch. Their frozen pizza isn't very good here but I said sure because I really didn't feel like making anything.

Renee came home from work, walked Norton and then we ate. There was ham, cheese, and obviously tomatoes on the pizza. It was square and not round. It was alright. I've obviously had better. She made a salad and what was like coleslaw but there was no dressing...so it was pretty much carrots and cabbage. I left for school a little early today so I could buy a Pariscope (the weekly magazine that has all the listings for theatres, plays, and movies for the week). Then when I got to school I went to this bakery and got this chocolate bread thing....god it was amazing.

My cinema class today was pretty good. I have such a big mouth I need to learn when to keep things to myself. For example, these girls were giving a presentation of the director of the day and telling us about the movie Madame De... The professor was in the back of the room grading them on their presentation. When they finished, he came to the front of the room. I was writing down some notes and when I looked up I saw him standing there in this tight polo. He seriously has amazing biceps. I turned to the girl sitting next to me and go "OH. MY. GOD." I guess I was a little too loud because this girl in front of me turned around and looked at me and laughed with me. Then these other girls were laughing. I'm not sure if they were laughing because I was so loud, or they were just amazed by him as I was. I seriously couldn't stop staring. I must have looked like an idiot. He was so funny in class today. It was raining so his shoes (he wears Pumas with his dress pants) were squeaking. He's like ugh...and just took his shoes off and walked around in his white socks. Then, he put his foot on this chair, leaning on it. I was taking notes and all of a sudden I hear AHHHHHHH!!!! he seriously screams like a little girl. He almost fell over. It was so funny.

The movie Madame De... was really good. I think I might try to find it at a store and buy it. It's about this woman named Louise and she's married to this general. He gave her these earrings as a wedding gift and she hates them so she sells them to try to pay off some of her debts. The earrings are bought by her husband and he gives them to this girl in Constantinople. She then sells them at the casino. Then this Italian guy, who is in love with Louise, buys the same earrings and gives them to Louise as a gift. She loves them. It's really funny but it's also a tragedy. It was really cool.

I came home after class and attempted to get my sound working. I finally figured it out which made me happy because now I can finish watching Twilight tonight. I started it last night but I get so tired I have to turn it off. Um did I mention how excited I am for New Moon to come out?!?!?!!? because I am! Anyways, I started working on my homework while eating dinner which tonight was beef ravioli...not as good as Chef Boyardee but it was alright. I also had some left over pizza from lunch. It took me at least 2 hours to do my literature homework, but I really tried to comprehend what I was reading. I had to look up a lot of words, and didn't understand a lot of the really old words that aren't used anymore, but I think I understood most of it, which is good. Hopefully class goes well tomorrow.

I guess that's it for now,

a bientot

I just want a hug!

Today did not go very well. My computer battery died again in the middle of the night, waking me up. Of course I was still half asleep when trying to plug it in so I died on me. Then, when I woke up I felt really sick. My head hurt, I was freezing, and I had a runny nose (which I still have). I went and ate some breakfast and attempted to get my computer working. After 40ish minutes it finally turned on, but the sound didn't work. I am so fed up with everything. All I really want is a hug and for someone to tell me that everything will be alright and it will all work its self out. But obviously there was no one here this morning so I didn't get what I wanted. So I had a mini breakdown, contemplated chucking my computer off the balcony, and then took a shower to calm down.

After my meltdown I had an appointment with this bank to open up a checking account so I don't continually keep being screwed over by the exchange rate. The French don't believe on being on time. It's quite rude if you ask me. I showed up to the meeting early, and waited around for this woman. Then she came out and got me and brought me to her office. She then went into the next office and talked to this guy...she just said sit here, and then left. I was like ummm alright rude much? I was told that opening a checking account was really simple. It was simple, I just sat there as the woman filled out my form on her computer and then I signed a bunch of papers. However, I really don't know what I signed. She was talking so fast I couldn't understand what she was saying. Then when I told her that I didn't understand and she said it slower, she mumbled whatever she was saying. I was like oh, can't I just get one person who I can understand?!?! I guess she didn't like the attestation d'herbergement (a paper that verifies that you're living with someone and aren't a bum on the street) that I had so she got me a new one and was like bring this back when you can. I'm pretty sure all my other information is sent to me through the mail. I asked her if I could put my American money in the account and she's like no you can't do that here. I was like great...now what am I supposed to do? I can't find an exchange place anywhere. So I left the bank feeling overwhelmed, sad, and just confused.

I came back to the apartment and attempted to get my sound working on my computer. That didn't work. I ate lunch and then left for school a little early than normal so I could meet up with this girl who asked to copy my notes from class yesterday because she wasn't there. So I was there 25 minutes early and called her and she didn't answer. Then I called her again and she said she was on the metro and would be there soon. Then I got a text from her and she's like oh can we meet later because I'm running late. And I was like yeah, I guess after class is fine. I was just ticked off because I showed up early to give her these notes and she didn't come. Whatever....Class today was good. I think the teacher really likes me. We had to present a Monet painting with a partner and the professor said we did really good. I'm going to have to go back to Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre during fall break to look at all of these paintings up close.

After class I met the girl from class and gave her my things. I came back to the apartment and my sound still didn't work. Then my computer just decided to shut off out of no where...I was right in the middle of typing an email too. I was so ticked off. I went into the living room to get the wifi on my phone and used skype to call my mom and just cried and complained about the crappy day I've had. Renee said she was going to make dinner tonight so I studied for my quiz tomorrow and waited for her to get home. She made the same thing she had for dinner last night. And just to clarify, they were not home made crepes...they were from a store and came in a package. She put cheese and ham in mine and eggs in hers. She asked me if I liked eggs at all and I told her that I liked hard boiled eggs (but here they eat them soft boiled...kinda runny still) so I probably wont like that. She asked if I liked omelets and I told her yes, as long as there was tons of stuff in it.

During dinner she asked if I wanted some ice cream for dessert and I was like OMG yes! I miss ice cream. And then she was like oh do you miss home, do you miss your family? blah blah blah and I'm like god, don't cry. Why is she asking me this now after this horrible day I've had. I didn't cry. Go me. She filled out my new form for the bank and now she's in bed. I'll probably go to bed early tonight. I'm tired, and my eyes are really dry. I never really understood that. If I've been crying, wouldn't my eyes be wet or whatevs? and not dry? it's crazy. Have a good night.

a bientot

"There's no use crying over spilt milk"

Good thing I didn't cry....yeah this morning I went to the refrigerator to get the milk to eat my cereal. Well I grabbed it by the cap like I always do and it came out of the door and then fell straight to the ground. It was like all in slow motion too...it was crazy. I was like NOOOOOOO (except I really didn't say that) MEEERRRRRDDDDEEEEE!!!!! and the milk went flying everywhere. I wasn't very happy. So I obviously had to clean that up. I felt so bad because the liter was like full and now it's only half full. Opps....

I had my meeting with my partner Katie and our art professor for the Nocturne de Louvre thing we're doing. In the meeting I felt kind of like an idiot because I really don't know how to describe in detail the painting because I don't know what words to use to describe it. Not only do I not know the words in French, I don't even know them in English...so that really doesn't help me. Katie talked for a lot of the meeting. I added in a few things here and there and talked a lot about the painter but she did like 85% of the talking. I felt bad but, I mean what else could I do? Our professor explained the painting a little more so it made me feel better about doing this whole thing. The meeting lasted a lot longer than I thought it was going to. We got out of there at 1:15 ish and I was starving. I went to the grocery store and bought some tabbouleh, chips and a drink. I'd never had tabbouleh before but it looked pretty good. It's a Middle Eastern dish...a grain that has oil and veggies in it. It was deeelish! I ate lunch outside in the courtyard and then went to my history class.

We're still talking about Greece in class and I know nothing about Greece. We had this worksheet that we were supposed to do and you had to figure out the French words by looking at the Greek and Latin roots or something like that. Well I don't speak Latin, and the chart we had for the Greek roots wasn't helping. So I pretty much guessed on the whole thing and then prayed that she wouldn't call on me to answer the question. It was so cold in the classroom today. When we went for break this Italian guy with overly waxed eye brows opened the window and like stood outside. I was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?! it's cold enough in here already! There's this Russian guy in our class and he kept staring at me. I probably had something stuck in my teeth....awesome.

After class I went back to the apartment and then left to go and buy some groceries. I got some ready-made tabbouleh, some tabbouleh that you have to make, a pizza, some ravioli (yummmm), potatoes, salad, yogurt, pretzels, pasta, ketchup for when my parents send me my mac n cheese, and I can't remember what else I bought. So tonight I made my own dinner. Since Jean-Francois was home I decided to ask him how to work the can opener so I could make noodles and tomatoes. He opened it for me (I've been doing it upside down the entire time) and when he took the cap off I found that what I thought was chopped tomatoes was actually thick tomato puree. UGH I was like great, what am i supposed to do with this? So I called my mom and she said to put some water in it. So I did that and then added some tomatoes that I found in the refrigerator. I hoped that it would be good, well I was wrong. It was horrible. I tried putting ketchup in it but that didn't help at all. So tomorrow I'm going to throw it out because there's no way I'm going to eat it. When I was done cooking Jean-Francois was like, you already ate? and I wanted to be like well, duh, I made all this food and you saw me eating it! But I was just like yea....and he goes well I'm making crepes so if you want one you can have one. Renee came home and is like OMG you already ate!?!?! well you can have a crepe with us. So I was like alright fine, twist my arm. Then they were eating and didn't even make one for me. Renee came in my room and asked me if I wanted one and I was like yea I guess and then she's like or we can eat dinner tomorrow. So I just told her we'd eat tomorrow because I really didn't want a crepe anyways.

Tomorrow I have my meeting with BNP (a bank) to open up a checking account. I hope everything goes smoothly and I have all the right papers to open it up. This girl in the group said that she's had to go back 3 times because they didn't like the paper she had or something stupid like that. So I hope that doesn't happen to me.

A bientot

ugh....Cafe World!!!

I woke up with another headache today. I told my mom it's probably a brain tumor like Izzie on Grey's...she didn't think that was very funny. I laid in bed this morning hoping it would go away but it didn't. At 6:45 this morning Renee was up (she works on Sunday) and was listening to the radio in her room...it was loud. I ate breakfast and tried to get on my computer. It died in the middle of the night so I had to restart it. It took over 45 minutes to get it working. I took a shower because I had plans to have dinner with the kids from my group because on the 20th we will have been here a month. I seriously did nothing all day. I did all my homework for Monday and Tuesday yesterday so I was set there. I wrote down all the places in Paris that I want to visit during Fall break which starts on Friday. Then I listened to some music and started playing Cafe World on Facebook because everyone is playing it and I keep getting these requests from it. I thought I wouldn't like it and would be really annoyed with it but I guess it's alright. But, I made these caramel apples and I signed off Facebook for a while and they went bad! I was so angry!!

For lunch today I had my leftover soup. I need to do some more shopping because now that Renee's home I really can't eat her food for lunch...don't tell I was doing that...ssshhhh!! Jean-Francois was in the shower when I was eating and when he came out (he slept until 1 by the way) he asked what book I was reading. I showed it to him (A Year in the Merde) and I told him what it was about. I also told him it was a satire and is supposed to be funny but I don't think he thought it was very funny.

For dinner tonight we went to this falafel place in the Marais district (4th). It's called Marais (meaning marsh in French) because it used to flood or something like that. There is a huge Jewish community there. I've never had falafel before but it was really good. It was pretty cheap too! I ended up paying only 3 euro for my meal, even though it was more like 8. I don't know how that worked out but whatever. I put in 11 euro and the guy handed me back 8 euro in change. I asked one of the girls if she wanted some of it and she said it was fine. So I was like alright cool.

We left and all of us got back on the metro. We tried finding a place for dessert but everything was closed. It was Sunday and after 8:30 so we should have expected that. The metro ride home was about a half hour. When I got back Renee and Jean-Francois went some where and only Renee came back. All of his stuff is still here so I really don't know when he's planning on leaving. Not that I mind that he's here it's just kind of awkward.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with my art teacher for my Nocturne de Louvre thing. I really don't want to do this anymore but I think it will be a really good opportunity, I mean how many people can say that they presented a painting at the Louvre? but it's just so much work. And I really don't know how to describe my painting. Hopefully tomorrow the professor will be able to explain it all to me and my partner. Until tomorrow,

A bientot

Just call me the best sister in the world!!

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday....I woke up this morning with a massive headache. This headache was not caused by excessive drinking. So today started off on the wrong foot. When I came out of my room I really wasn't sure what to do because Jean-Francois was sleeping in the living room. So, I poured myself a glass of juice and went on the balcony and froze. Renee got up and told Jean-Francois to go in her room. I was glad because I really didn't want to go in the living room and eat my breakfast while he was sleeping. Oh, side note, Jean-Francois snores....very loudly. He was sleeping on the couch and I could here him loud and clear in my room. Anyways, I ate breakfast with Renee. She told me that she's going skiing this winter and told me that if I didn't have plans I could come along with her and her family. I said thanks, but I don't know how to ski. She seriously looked at me like I was crazy. Like what do you mean you don't know how to ski?!?!?! I was like ummmm there aren't any mountains in Illinois, it's very flat. I know how to sled...does that count? and She's like no, that won't help you much. I also found out that she's going on vacation again in November. It really doesn't matter to me, I have a lot to do in November.

After breakfast I took a shower and then headed to the post office to mail some letters that I wrote almost a week ago. I didn't have change so I had to put a 20 into the change machine and it gave me change for my 20...I felt like an idiot because it took forever for all the change to come out. So now I had a pocket full of change. The postage was pretty expensive.... 85 cents for each letter...good thing I only had 2 to send. After the post office I went to this cute little bookstore. I looked around for a while and they had Harry Potter and Twilight in French. I really debated buying one of them but then decided not to. Instead I got Nick and Steve something. I bought Steve a comic book (an actual book) called "TinTin" it's pretty popular here and is really old. I got Nick this cookbook. They both are in French so I really don't know what they are going to do with them, but it's the though that counts right? After the bookstore I went to this grocery store called "Chez Ed" because we were told that they sell a lot of American food there. I don't know if they were hiding it because I couldn't find any. I did however buy some chips and salsa. The salsa is a product of Belgium...I just found that incredibly funny. As I was walking back it started raining....great.

For lunch I ate some of my chips and salsa and my leftover noodles from last night's dinner. Jean-Francois showed me how to get the American channels that Renee's been telling me about. Seriously all they have is CNN...I was like oh, okay cool. Because I just love watching CNN all the time!!! Dawson's Creek was on today. It was pretty sweet. I haven't watched Dawson's in so long! It obviously was in French. After lunch I really didn't do much. I still had a really bad headache. I worked on my homework for Monday, as well as my project for my art class. After that I watched the rest of Grey's and Project Runway. Renee and Jean-Francois went somewhere...I really have no clue where, so I skyped for a bit.

Renee came back around 7:15ish and I was starving. I was in the living room watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off....one of my all time favorite movies. For dinner, Renee made green beans, which were really good and then some steak thing. Although it wasn't steak. I really have no idea what it was. It didn't taste the greatest but I was starving. She brought out some cheese and as I tried to grab the bread from the other side of the table I spilt her giant bottle of water all over myself, the table, and the floor. I felt horrible. She said it was okay, but that's the second time I've dropped something and made a mess at dinner. After dinner I finished watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off and decided that I'm going to be Ferris Bueller for Halloween next year.

My Carte ImagineR came today. If you don't remember that's my year long metro pass. I was really worried that it wouldn't come in time, even though it isn't valid until November 1st, so I was happy it came today. My parents are supposed to be sending me a care package full of delish American treats, as well as Windows 7 for my computer so I can finally get it working. So I really can't wait for that to come. Tomorrow the group is supposed to be getting together for dinner but I'm really not sure what's going on as of right now. I'm pretty tired, I have no idea why....it might be this headache that I've had all day. I might go to bed early tonight, or I might just watch another movie.

Bon Nuit et A bientot!

Also, please pray for an Illini victory today. I'm tired of them sucking it up. I-L-L-I-N-I!

Waiting is the hardest part

If I could rate today on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being amazing and 1 being horrible I'd give this day a 4.5. There were some good parts though, so don't worry I'm not being a total Debbie Downer. To start the day, I had to get up at 7, that's bad enough right there. It was in the low 40's upper 30's last night so it was very cold in the apartment this morning when I got up to take my shower. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water to find that there was no water pressure. I shut it off for a few minutes and tried it again....nothing happened. The hot water, which wasn't very hot, was coming out of the faucet in a stream..that's really the only way I can describe it. So I cranked it as hot as it would go and turned on the shower head. Seriously the water was like dripping out of the shower head. I wanted to die. So after the fastest shower of my life I got dressed and had breakfast. I left for school and booked it to the metro because it is usually pretty busy in the mornings. Good thing I left later than I wanted to...because I had to wait for 3 trains to come because there were so many people in the cars that I couldn't get on. By the time I got on it was almost 8:40 and class starts at 9. I literally ran through my transfer at Montparnasse...which is always very busy, no matter what time of the day it is. I got off of the metro with 10 minutes to walk to school. I was so worried about being late. Then, our teacher didn't show up until 10 after 9. I was like well gee, thanks prof. I could have taken my time through Montparnasse instead of running around like an idiot.

Yesterday I made plans with some of the girls in the group to go to Musee d'Orsay after school. I swear they told me that we would be meeting at school and then we'd be going to the museum together. I was told sometime between 1 and 1:30. I thought about going back to the apartment but then I decided not to because by the time I got back I'd have to turn around and leave again. So I brought a book with me to class this morning and headed to the cafeteria to get some lunch. I thought that since it's the school's cafeteria and mainly students are the ones using it, it would not be that expensive. WRONG....everything is expensive, what was I thinking?!?! I got a sandwich, a diet coke, and a brownie...it cost me 5.50euro. Whatever, I had to eat. There was no where to sit so I had to stand like a dork all alone reading my book. The book I'm reading "A Year in the Merde" is so funny. I'm only on the second chapter and I seriously cannot stop laughing. After my lunch I decided to go and wait for everyone in the courtyard. I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. When 2:15 rolled around I decided that I would go home thinking that they forgot about me and just went by themselves. Then I got a text telling me where to meet them. I really wasn't that happy. I just spent 3 hours in class and then another 2 hours waiting for them just to get a text that we were no longer meeting where I thought we were supposed to meet. So I went to the metro and tried not to get lost taking the RER, which goes more directions. I made it to the Musee d'Orsay stop and waited for another half an hour. This lady asked me for directions and I'm pretty sure I told her to go the wrong way....oops. So we finally all met up and headed to the museum.

There was a new law that was passed in France that allows students to get into all museums for free when they show their pass. Apparently, musee d'orsay doesn't believe this law exists. But, thankfully I had this sheet of paper my art teacher gave me saying that I was a student in an art class and they let me in for free. I felt bad for this one girl because she didn't have one. I just wish the museums would all be the same....it's really dumb. So Musee d'Orsay was AMAZING. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. If you love impressionism and post impressionism this place is for you. Musee d'Orsay was originally a train station in the heart of Paris. You can really imagine once inside what it was like to get on a train there. It is seriously so gorgeous. Here are a few pictures. I took so many, it was unreal. But it would take forever to put them on here so here are some of my favs. To the left is the giant clock that is on the inside of the museum. It is huge and so much prettier in person. There also is a giant clock outside as well. Many of the pictures that I took were taken with my iphone btws because you aren't allowed to use flash. As you can see my iphone takes better pictures than my camera. Many of the paintings that I took pictures of were of paintings that I have learned about in my art class. It was so cool seeing the works up close and I remembered all the things we were told about them. The picture above and to the right is "The Birth of Venus" by Alexandre Cabanel. It is considered an idealist painting because of the nude form of Venus, and it is very famous. The next painting on the left is "Olympia" by Edouard Manet. It was a big scandal in the 1860's because of its content. Olympia is a prostitute and she is looking at the audience in a suggestive manner. She also has a black servant who is bringing her flowers from her next client. When the painting was presented to the assembly that housed all the paintings at the time, it was not approved and they told Manet that there was no way they would display it. The next picture (above right) is Vincent VanGogh's "Starry Night over the Rhone" it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. His other starry night painting was sadly not there. I think it might be in a different museum. The next picture to the left is also VanGogh's. It is called "The Church at Auvers." It was so beautiful. The picture does not do it justice. It was probably the painting I liked the most out of all of the paintings that I saw. The blue was the coolest blue I have ever seen. The next painting is by Edgar Degas. I think it is called "Dancer with Bouquet" but don't hold me to that. The last picture is of me doing my best impression of Degas' sculpture called "Little Dancer of 14 Years." It was in a glass case and she was actually wearing a cotton skirt. It was so cute. As you can see I do a beautiful impression of her. My dance teachers would surely be proud. We stayed until closing, which was at 6 and then got on the crowded metro. I accidentally went the wrong direction. Luckily, I didn't get on the train. However, once you scan your pass, it times you out for a few minutes. I walked through the exit to get to my right side of the line and when I went to go and scan my pass it wouldn't let me through. So I had to ask someone if they would let me through the turnstile with them. The metro was really crowded and I ended up stuck on the train waiting for it to move for 10 minutes. I swear that happens to me every Friday. It's so annoying. It was hot and smelly on the train and all I really wanted to do was get out of there. I guess I could have walked from the stop that I was at but I obviously wasn't down with that. When I got back to the apartment I ran into Renee and Norton at the door. She got her hair cut and Norton doesn't smell anymore which is really good. She said that she had a really nice vacation. When we walked into the apartment she's like oh, Jean-Francois is here. I think that it's her son. I was like....ummm okay that's cool I guess. I figured that she would make a big dinner or something because her son is here and I haven't seen her in two weeks, but she left for her theatre class. So I saw her for 10 minutes and she left. That kind of made me sad. I haven't talked to anyone here in 2 weeks and when she finally comes back, she leaves right away. Whatever. So I had dinner and Jean-Francois (I think that's his name...it's Jean something) went and bought some weird stuff for him to eat. I was watching tv when he came back. I asked if I could leave it on and he said yes. Friends was on. It was nice watching something where I actually knew what was going on. Well this post is long enough as it is. I'm going to get ready for bed and try to watch the office, greys and project runway until I can talk to my family on skype. Bon nuit!

a bientot