This blog ends with 117 posts. I think that's pretty awesome. I mean yeah, I could've written more but I do have a life. This will be the last post for my Paris blog....it's a bittersweet day.
Traveling home was basically a nightmare. No joke. Seriously probably one of the worst days of my life. I woke up around 5:15 and made it out of the apartment before 6:30am. I didn't think making it to the metro with all of my bags would be too hard, but God it was horrible. It took me like 10 minutes to walk to the metro....it usually takes 2. My bags were so heavy it was insane. When I finally made it to my metro, a very nice woman carried my VERY HEAVY suitcase down the stairs. I had to carry my carry on and purse down first (I had my other backpack on my back) and then go back up the stairs for my final bad. It took me a half hour to get to the tram. It really should've only taken me about 10 minutes...but with my bags there was just no way I would've been able to move any faster. When I got to the RER stop at Cite I took the elevator down to the platform, so no trouble there. I had to wait a half hour to get the right train because not all of them go to the airport. That was really annoying because I was supposed to be there by 7:50 and it was around 7:25 when I got on the train.
I made it to the airport a little after 8. That is where all the problems started. I scanned my card to get through the gates but my suitcase was too wide so I couldn't make it through in time and it locked me out. I was like well shit, now what am I going to do? I asked this guy if I could go through with him and he thought that I was trying the cheat the system but I wasn't because I already scanned and verified my card, I just didn't have enough time to go through. But, he was a jerk and said no. Finally after like 10 minutes of standing there looking like a little lost lamb, this guy was like, "do you need to get through?" and I was like ummmm, yeah.....so he scans me through with his pass and then asks me to donate money to some deaf thing fund and I was like ummm, I'm sorry, I don't have any money and then walked away. Horrible....I know. I saw this cart and I was like sweet, I can just push my bags to the check-in counter. Wrong. You couldn't take the cart onto the tram that takes you to your terminal. So I throw my bags back on my back and jump on the tram. When I finally got to the check-in gate for Swiss Air there were about a million people in line...no joke. So I got in line and waited. Keep in mind that my flight was scheduled to take off at 9:50am. When I finally got to the counter the flight was boarding. So I'm freaking out because I was worried that I was going to miss the flight. I put my bag on the belt and the woman told me that one of my bags was too heavy and asked med to try to put some of my stuff from my suitcase into my backpack. I told her that there was no way I could do that because the backpack was so full there was no way I was getting anything else in it. Knowing this, I was like can I just pay for it to be overweight? The woman said I can, but she wouldn't check me into the flight. She gave me a sheet of paper and told me that I had to go to the counter behind me and pay for my bags before she checked me in. I didn't think that was right because the plane was leaving in like 20 minutes and I just wanted to pay it when I got back or something. I pay for my bag, which ended up being 100 Euro. I ran back to the counter and told the woman that I needed to get on the flight. There were a few other people waiting there with me that were also on the flight. She quickly checked me in and then asked for my home address. I wasn't sure why she was asking this, but I wrote it down for her anyways. She printed out my boarding passes and I ran like the wind to security.
I got through the passport check point no problem but when I went to the guy that was scanning tickets before security, my ticket came up red and it said that my flight had already taken off. I was like no, that's not right, the woman just printed out my ticket. If the flight had already taken off she wouldn't have printed it out. He wouldn't let me go through to security so I walked back to the counter where I paid for my overweight bag. At this point I'm crying because this morning had been horrible, and this was the last thing I needed. I got up to the counter and the woman just looked at me and is like "what's wrong?" and I was like h-h-h-h-he wouldn't let me past to go to security!!! Blubbering like a baby she told me come with her to another woman. She also scanned my ticket and said that my plane left but the other woman who I cried to was like no, it hasn't left yet, let her on. So they let me on. I get to security, make it through and then run to the gate. When I got to the gate I didn't see the plane but there were a bunch of people standing by the doors to get onto the ramp. I actually ended up getting on the plane and we took off 45 minutes to an hour late. The plane ride to Zurich was HORRIBLE, the worst plane ride I have ever ridden on. I was all the way at the back of the plane...which really didn't matter to me. The turbulence was really bad. At one point, they were serving drinks and they had to stop because the plane was shaking so bad that the drinks were spilling off of the cart and onto the passengers. I was gripping onto the arm rest with one hand while my other hand was gripping the seat in front of me. The woman in the row in front of me was praying out loud...like really loud.
We landed in Zurich....alive and people clapped. Being at the back of the plane really sucked because I was the last to get off and I didn't have that much time to make my layover to get to Chicago. I had to go through a passport check again as well as security. While I was waiting in line at passport check this woman called all people for the flight to Chicago and I was rushed to the front of the line. I got through security and then ran to the gate. However, you had to fill out this form before boarding the plane. I rushed to where the papers were and I told the guy what flight I was on and he just said that I had to put my name on it and that was fine. So I basically throw the paper at this woman and then start running to my gate. I couldn't find it and actually ended up running past it because I'm an idiot. When I finally found the gate the woman was like, "are you Amy Fontaine?" and I was like umm yeah....and she's like okay good. It was kind of bizarre. I got on the plane, took my seat....which ended up being next to sleeping beauty (but a dude) and the endured the 9 and a half hour plane ride to Chicago.
When I landed in Chicago I got off the plane and then stood in line for about half an hour in customs. I had to fill out this form on the plane that asked me to list everything that I brought home with me. I wanted to be honest so I listed everything that Renee gave me even though I thought they might take my flowers and the foie gras. However, the guy at the counter was really nice and he said that the stuff that I had was fine so I made my way to baggage claim. I stood there for a good 10 minutes and watched the same bags go by. I checked to see if I had the right belt, and I did. At that point I figured that my bags weren't there so I asked this woman what I should do and she was like oh yea, you were on the flight from Paris to Zurich and Zurich to Chicago, we know that your bags aren't here. I was just like great, that's just fabulous! So I went to the Swiss counter and told him what my bags looked like and he said that I should get them by 8pm the next day (Monday).
I met my family (mom, dad, Nick, Steve, Tracey and Kelly (my cousins) ) outside of baggage claim. It was so good to see them again. I was crying I was so happy! My parents even brought me a hot dog! It was delish!!! We went to Geno's East for dinner and I got my first legal beer...Blue Moon...amazing. I asked the waiter if he wanted to see my ID but he said no. I was a little sad. Ha! When I got home, my neighbors, Art, Kathy and Melissa decorated my house welcoming me home. That was really cute too. We cracked open a bottle of champagne and celebrated my homecoming.
The next day, after lunch with Kelsey and Casey at Chipolte, this man called and said that he had my bags on his truck and he was on his way to deliver them to Villa Park. My mom, who answered the phone was like no, we live in Lake Villa, which is way north of Chicago. Turns out, Swiss copied down my address wrong which caused the driver to drive all the way to Villa Park. He said that he would deliver my bags but he would be at my house sometime between 1 and 3 am. I said okay that's fine, someone will be up to get them from you. I went to bed around 11, because I'm still getting used to the time difference, and my dad and Nick stayed up waiting for my bags. I guess they arrived at 1:30 am this morning.
I checked my stuff this morning and everything was there, however all my clothes smelled like cheese! haha it was pretty gross. I had to throw out one of the cheeses because it just smelled so bad...probably because it was in the bag for too long. I sorted all the clothes and checked all the gifts and then started washing everything.
This has been an amazing year. I really can't even put it all into words. Thanks so much for reading my blog. I hope everyone enjoyed it, it's been a lot of fun writing.
So, this is it. One more final bisous!!!!!!
XOXO,
Amy
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The time has come, the Walrus said...
Well my friends, the time has indeed come. It's time to head home. I am sad and happy at the same time. But before I talk more about that, let me update you on what has happened this week. I'll try to make this a short post because I need to get up early.
On Monday I had lunch with Renee and then went to my last history class. 6 people showed up. I got my grades from the Catho and they were pretty good, minus my translation grade in which I got an 11/20. It's not failing, but it's not that great either. At least I didn't fail right? It was a really hard class. This girl that I don't like gave a 55 minute presentation about WWII, which we have gone over like a million and a half times, no joke. The professor put on her sunglasses and I swear, she fell asleep during the presentation because it was dreadfully boring and this girl is so annoying. I wanted to die. But I didn't, I just played games on my phone until she was done. I thought about leaving at break but I didn't want to because there were only a few of us there and Russian Hottie sat next to me so I obvs couldn't leave!
Tuesday, I had to get up extra early to go to the bank to close out my account. I was worried that it was going to be really hard, considering when I opened up my account I had such a hard time and the people at the bank weren't very nice to me. Therefore, Renee met me there and pretty much did all the talking. I felt like I was 5 but I was glad she was there because I had no idea what was going on. When we finished, Renee went back to work and I went to FNAC to get Renee a gift card. I wanted to get her tickets to a play or something but I didn't know what she would want to see or when she was free so the guy I talked to told me to just get a gift card and she could buy her own tickets if she wanted, or whatever else she wants from FNAC because they sell a bunch of stuff there. I studied for the rest of the afternoon. That night Renee and I had our last dinner together. It was pretty sad but dinner was so good! I swear, the best dinner she's ever made. It was St. Jacques (I can't think of what they are called in English) in a cream sauce with mushrooms and a bunch of other stuff. God, so good. She gave me presents too! She got me a new purse (so cute!), a bottle of perfume from Yves Saint Laurent (tres cher!) a bottle of white wine, and foie gras. I helped her dye her hair that night too. We're so besties!! HAHAHA!!
On Wednesday I had my theatre final and it was a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be. But, everyone thought that. I studied, but not too much. It was so much writing. My hand really hurt when I was done. After that I got lunch at the Catho with Colie and then headed to translation. I got my test, as well as Amira's and Katie's so I can send it to her. I got an 8/20. Horrible. I was so embarrassed. I felt horrible, therefore I left at the break to go home and study. That night I met up with Jacqueline and John because we were going to the Bad Religion concert together. Me and Jacqueline walked in and I felt so out of place. Seriously I looked like such a girly-girl. It was bad. John showed up a little while later and we stood on the floor while the opening act played. They weren't very good. People boo'd, I felt a little bad for them, but they weren't very good. It was so loud in there and very hot. Whenever I went to talk to John I had to basically shout in his ear because it was so loud. When the opener ended I told John that I felt so out of place. He then proceeded to look me up and down and then agreed with me. Jerk. Bad Religion came on and everyone freaked out. We were in the middle of the crowd when they came on. As soon as they started playing, everyone started moshing. I had no idea they were going to do it right away. I was being pushed around and my feet were being stepped on. It was insane. I lost John, I had no idea where he went. I tried hanging onto Jacqueline but that didn't work. We both made it one song in this pit and then headed to the side where it was much calmer. Bad Religion was very good. I liked their music a lot and it's not something that I would normally listen too. Around the end of the first set John found us and he was drenched in sweat. I mean he was literally soaked. Good thing he was wearing a white shirt..... :) The concert ended and we made our way outside. John decided that he needed to take his shirt off because it was soaked. I was not complaining one bit. However, he did make me hold his disgusting hoodie while he took off his shirt, which was also soaking wet. Kinda gross. We bought a bottle of water and Jacqueline got some food and then we all got on the metro together. I didn't get home until 11:15. I started studying around 12 for Costello's test and didn't go to bed until 2.
Thursday was Costello's test, obviously. It actually wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. It took me around an hour and a half to write it all, which isn't too bad I guess. After class, me, Chaniece, Alla, Jacqueline, and Colie went and got lunch. I got my last crepe and sandwich from my favorite guy right next to the foyer. It was delish. We all hung out in the courtyard eating our lunches and then went to our last lit class. Class wasn't too bad. A bunch of people left early though. After class, me, John, Alla and Lena walked around. I went to the bookstore and they went to grab something to eat. I needed to kill time after I bought my book so I went to Starbucks and fell asleep there for like 20 minutes because I was so tired. We had our cocktail (sans alcohol) party at the foyer that night. It was pretty good, minus the food. I was so hungry afterwards. We all said goodbye to Sean and Costello, which was kind of sad. But, I'll see Sean at school this year. After the party a bunch of us went down to the Seine and sat on the banks and hung out. It was a lot of fun. I went home around 11 because I was cold.
I said goodbye to Renee on Friday and almost cried. I tired really, really hard to hold it together but she was so nice to me all year and has helped me out so much. I'm really going to miss her. I met up with Chaniece and then we met up with Alla at the bookstore where I bought another book....I have a problem, I know. We then went to Subway to grab lunch, and then met up with a bunch of IPP-ers at jardin du lux for a picnic and 1 final game of Mafia. It was a lot of fun, but also sad because I had to say goodbye to pretty much everyone because a lot of them were leaving the next day. I got a lot of packing done after I got home and then Chaniece came over and we watched a movie.
Today went by really fast. I finished packing everything I could, aside from my stuff that I will need in the morning and the stuff that I am wearing right now. I bought my cheese, cookies and candy for home and packed some more after lunch. Tonight I met up with Chaniece, Alla and Chaniece's aunt for dinner at Montparnasse. It was so good. I got pasta. Chaniece and her aunt came back to my apartment to use my computer to figure out their flight stuff because they are traveling before Chaniece comes home in July. When they left I finished packing everything up and now, here I am. It's 11 and I should try to go to bed pretty soon because I have to get up at 5. My flight leaves at 9:50am and gets to Chicago around 4. I think we are all going out for dinner afterwards, which will be nice.
I'll probably do one more post when I get home so look out for that. Time for bed!!! Chicago bound tomorrow morning!!!!!
Bisous
On Monday I had lunch with Renee and then went to my last history class. 6 people showed up. I got my grades from the Catho and they were pretty good, minus my translation grade in which I got an 11/20. It's not failing, but it's not that great either. At least I didn't fail right? It was a really hard class. This girl that I don't like gave a 55 minute presentation about WWII, which we have gone over like a million and a half times, no joke. The professor put on her sunglasses and I swear, she fell asleep during the presentation because it was dreadfully boring and this girl is so annoying. I wanted to die. But I didn't, I just played games on my phone until she was done. I thought about leaving at break but I didn't want to because there were only a few of us there and Russian Hottie sat next to me so I obvs couldn't leave!
Tuesday, I had to get up extra early to go to the bank to close out my account. I was worried that it was going to be really hard, considering when I opened up my account I had such a hard time and the people at the bank weren't very nice to me. Therefore, Renee met me there and pretty much did all the talking. I felt like I was 5 but I was glad she was there because I had no idea what was going on. When we finished, Renee went back to work and I went to FNAC to get Renee a gift card. I wanted to get her tickets to a play or something but I didn't know what she would want to see or when she was free so the guy I talked to told me to just get a gift card and she could buy her own tickets if she wanted, or whatever else she wants from FNAC because they sell a bunch of stuff there. I studied for the rest of the afternoon. That night Renee and I had our last dinner together. It was pretty sad but dinner was so good! I swear, the best dinner she's ever made. It was St. Jacques (I can't think of what they are called in English) in a cream sauce with mushrooms and a bunch of other stuff. God, so good. She gave me presents too! She got me a new purse (so cute!), a bottle of perfume from Yves Saint Laurent (tres cher!) a bottle of white wine, and foie gras. I helped her dye her hair that night too. We're so besties!! HAHAHA!!
On Wednesday I had my theatre final and it was a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be. But, everyone thought that. I studied, but not too much. It was so much writing. My hand really hurt when I was done. After that I got lunch at the Catho with Colie and then headed to translation. I got my test, as well as Amira's and Katie's so I can send it to her. I got an 8/20. Horrible. I was so embarrassed. I felt horrible, therefore I left at the break to go home and study. That night I met up with Jacqueline and John because we were going to the Bad Religion concert together. Me and Jacqueline walked in and I felt so out of place. Seriously I looked like such a girly-girl. It was bad. John showed up a little while later and we stood on the floor while the opening act played. They weren't very good. People boo'd, I felt a little bad for them, but they weren't very good. It was so loud in there and very hot. Whenever I went to talk to John I had to basically shout in his ear because it was so loud. When the opener ended I told John that I felt so out of place. He then proceeded to look me up and down and then agreed with me. Jerk. Bad Religion came on and everyone freaked out. We were in the middle of the crowd when they came on. As soon as they started playing, everyone started moshing. I had no idea they were going to do it right away. I was being pushed around and my feet were being stepped on. It was insane. I lost John, I had no idea where he went. I tried hanging onto Jacqueline but that didn't work. We both made it one song in this pit and then headed to the side where it was much calmer. Bad Religion was very good. I liked their music a lot and it's not something that I would normally listen too. Around the end of the first set John found us and he was drenched in sweat. I mean he was literally soaked. Good thing he was wearing a white shirt..... :) The concert ended and we made our way outside. John decided that he needed to take his shirt off because it was soaked. I was not complaining one bit. However, he did make me hold his disgusting hoodie while he took off his shirt, which was also soaking wet. Kinda gross. We bought a bottle of water and Jacqueline got some food and then we all got on the metro together. I didn't get home until 11:15. I started studying around 12 for Costello's test and didn't go to bed until 2.
Thursday was Costello's test, obviously. It actually wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. It took me around an hour and a half to write it all, which isn't too bad I guess. After class, me, Chaniece, Alla, Jacqueline, and Colie went and got lunch. I got my last crepe and sandwich from my favorite guy right next to the foyer. It was delish. We all hung out in the courtyard eating our lunches and then went to our last lit class. Class wasn't too bad. A bunch of people left early though. After class, me, John, Alla and Lena walked around. I went to the bookstore and they went to grab something to eat. I needed to kill time after I bought my book so I went to Starbucks and fell asleep there for like 20 minutes because I was so tired. We had our cocktail (sans alcohol) party at the foyer that night. It was pretty good, minus the food. I was so hungry afterwards. We all said goodbye to Sean and Costello, which was kind of sad. But, I'll see Sean at school this year. After the party a bunch of us went down to the Seine and sat on the banks and hung out. It was a lot of fun. I went home around 11 because I was cold.
I said goodbye to Renee on Friday and almost cried. I tired really, really hard to hold it together but she was so nice to me all year and has helped me out so much. I'm really going to miss her. I met up with Chaniece and then we met up with Alla at the bookstore where I bought another book....I have a problem, I know. We then went to Subway to grab lunch, and then met up with a bunch of IPP-ers at jardin du lux for a picnic and 1 final game of Mafia. It was a lot of fun, but also sad because I had to say goodbye to pretty much everyone because a lot of them were leaving the next day. I got a lot of packing done after I got home and then Chaniece came over and we watched a movie.
Today went by really fast. I finished packing everything I could, aside from my stuff that I will need in the morning and the stuff that I am wearing right now. I bought my cheese, cookies and candy for home and packed some more after lunch. Tonight I met up with Chaniece, Alla and Chaniece's aunt for dinner at Montparnasse. It was so good. I got pasta. Chaniece and her aunt came back to my apartment to use my computer to figure out their flight stuff because they are traveling before Chaniece comes home in July. When they left I finished packing everything up and now, here I am. It's 11 and I should try to go to bed pretty soon because I have to get up at 5. My flight leaves at 9:50am and gets to Chicago around 4. I think we are all going out for dinner afterwards, which will be nice.
I'll probably do one more post when I get home so look out for that. Time for bed!!! Chicago bound tomorrow morning!!!!!
Bisous
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Climbing Stairs and Crashing Weddings
OMG look at me updating 2 days in a row....Quelle surprise! I have some time so I figured, why not update about my day. It's been a busy one.
I woke up, ate breakfast, the usual and then headed out at 12:30ish to meet Chaniece at our metro. We road the metro to Montmarte to meet Colie and her family because her grandparents and sister are in town. We met them and climbed up the first part of the hill to Sacre-Coeur with them. Me and C
haniece really didn't want to climb all the way up again because both of us have been there a million times and we were really hungry. Plus, we had to meet some people at the Arc de Triomphe soon. So we left them and then went to MacDo for lunch. It was packed, comme d'hab (like usual) but it was really, really good. I really don't like this area of Paris because it's kind of shady and there's always so many people and that many people makes me nervous. We left MacDo and then headed to the Arc de Triomphe. We really weren't sure if we were going to be able to get in for free because some places are picky about what students they let in free. I guess you are supposed to be a student in the EU, meaning you live here all the time and go to school here. Anyways, we get in line and give the guy our ids and he gives us free tickets. It was pretty sweet, we didn't even have to say anything. We walked outside and then into this door that leads to the stairs that head up to the top of the arc.
haniece really didn't want to climb all the way up again because both of us have been there a million times and we were really hungry. Plus, we had to meet some people at the Arc de Triomphe soon. So we left them and then went to MacDo for lunch. It was packed, comme d'hab (like usual) but it was really, really good. I really don't like this area of Paris because it's kind of shady and there's always so many people and that many people makes me nervous. We left MacDo and then headed to the Arc de Triomphe. We really weren't sure if we were going to be able to get in for free because some places are picky about what students they let in free. I guess you are supposed to be a student in the EU, meaning you live here all the time and go to school here. Anyways, we get in line and give the guy our ids and he gives us free tickets. It was pretty sweet, we didn't even have to say anything. We walked outside and then into this door that leads to the stairs that head up to the top of the arc. Now, there isn't an elevator in the arc so we had to climb the 248 steps up to the top...which wasn't even the 
top, it was the museum. The museum was very cool. There were a bunch of old statues there and stuff. There were also these video screens that played the history of the arc and what happens here when there's big celebration or a head of state funeral or something like that. It was really interesting. We climbed some more stairs that lead outside to the very top of the arc. It was so amazing! I've always wanted to go up the arc but I never had the chance. I was so happy I made it there today and that it wasn't raining. The view from the arc was so cool. I think it's a better view from the Eiffel Tower because Paris isn't a very tall city, meaning that the buildings are pretty much the same height, give or take a few buildings like Montparnasse for example. I also think it's better because when you're on the Eiffel Tower you actually can't see it! Duh!! Me and Chaniece walked around the top and hung out for a while enjoying the view and taking it all in. It was a great way to start the end of my year here in Paris. The first picture is of me and Chaniece hanging out on top of the Arc and the second is of my hand pinching the top of the Eiffel Tower, as you can see. That picture took forever to get right but we finally got it.
top, it was the museum. The museum was very cool. There were a bunch of old statues there and stuff. There were also these video screens that played the history of the arc and what happens here when there's big celebration or a head of state funeral or something like that. It was really interesting. We climbed some more stairs that lead outside to the very top of the arc. It was so amazing! I've always wanted to go up the arc but I never had the chance. I was so happy I made it there today and that it wasn't raining. The view from the arc was so cool. I think it's a better view from the Eiffel Tower because Paris isn't a very tall city, meaning that the buildings are pretty much the same height, give or take a few buildings like Montparnasse for example. I also think it's better because when you're on the Eiffel Tower you actually can't see it! Duh!! Me and Chaniece walked around the top and hung out for a while enjoying the view and taking it all in. It was a great way to start the end of my year here in Paris. The first picture is of me and Chaniece hanging out on top of the Arc and the second is of my hand pinching the top of the Eiffel Tower, as you can see. That picture took forever to get right but we finally got it.After we climbed back down the arc we headed to the metro to meet up with Alla and John at this church that Alla and Chaniece learned about in their architecture class. It's called Eglise de la Madeleine and it's very pretty. It's also very big. Inside, there was this couple getting married so we sat and watched that for a while. It was cute! We left the church and then we were going to head to Invalides but we decided to go to this other church that was down the street. We walked down there and that church was also very cool but I have no idea what it was called. Inside, there was another wedding going on! We crashed 2 weddings in like an hour. It was awesome. When we left the church we headed to a little bakery around the corner to get some snacks before heading back to the metro. John, Alla, Natasha (who was also there) and a bunch of other people were going to this pub crawl thing tonight and invited me to go but I had theatre tickets that Renee gave me. I don't know if I mentioned this in my last post, but as me and Renee were watching team France play last night in the World Cup I found out that me and her weren't going to the theatre together, which is what I originally thought. She won 2 tickets to 2 different shows and she's going to one show with her friend and I had the other 2 tickets. So I took Chaniece with me.
After grabbing a bite to eat we headed to the theatre where we saw Jacques Brel. It was a musical about Jacques Brel's life through his songs. It was pretty cool. When the woman showed us our seats which were on the ground floor she was like expecting us to give her a tip, which I've never done. She actually asked for a tip. I'm sorry but you don't ask for a tip. That's a little rude. Seriously how hard was it for her to show us our seats? I could've done it myself. Oh well, we didn't tip her. I think she was mad. The play was really good and funny. The singers were pretty good too. The guy who played Jacques Brel was better than this woman who was also in the play but I'm not sure who she was supposed to be. Maybe it was Brel's wife or something? I have no idea. When the play ended me and Chaniece got back on the metro and headed home.
I watched part of the USA vs England game and USA wasn't that bad. The goalie from England really effed up by accidentally letting in the goal because the ball slipped out of his fingers. It was pretty funny. However, like the France vs Uruguay game last night, USA vs England ended in a ties 1-1. I think that's really dumb. Anyways, I guess that's it. It's been a busy, long day and I'll probably go to bed soon. Tomorrow I'm going to try to start organizing my things to start packing so I'm not doing it at the last minute next Saturday. I think tomorrow I'm going out for dinner, but I'm not sure who's coming or if we are actually going. We'll see.
Bisous!
8 days!!
Friday, June 11, 2010
9 Days and Counting!!!
Sorry again I am not posting on a regular basis. I'm trying to enjoy my last 2 weeks in Paris so I haven't been home much to update. This week wasn't as rough as last, however I was sick for the majority of it so that sucked.
On Monday seriously felt like complete shit. I had a hard time sleeping on Sunday and really didn't feel like going to class at all, but alas, I went. There were a total of 6 kids in the class. Go us! I got my test back and got a 15/20, which was a lot better than my first test which I got a 12/20. When the professor called my named I stood up to get my test and when I got to her desk she decided that she was going to point out all my faults on my exam. She was like, "Tripartisime didn't fall because of foreign conflicts!!!" I just stood at her and was like ummm okay. I really could've cared less. She didn't have to go and say what was wrong with my test in front of the entire class (hahah 5 other people) However, she did this with everyone so I didn't feel so bad. Me and Katie left during the break because class was a snooze fest and it was her last few days in Paris so we had to make a trip to Montmarte to the best boulangerie in Paris. The boulangerie is called Le Grenier a Pain. It won the 2010 prize for the best baguette in Paris. We bought one, and I bought this sun dried tomato bread thing. The thing I bought wasn't too great. I wasn't that impressed. Katie and I headed to this little park near the boulangerie to sit and eat our baguette by the "Love Wall." The Love Wall was really cool. I guess a bunch of artists from the area wrote "I love you" in their native language on this wall. There were seriously a million languages on the wall. It took forever to find "I love you" but we finally spotted it. There was a park right behind where we were sitting on this bench so there were a ton of kids there so we were getting a little annoyed. This group of young French kids came around and they were listening to me and Katie talk in English. This kid kept asking his friends, "a ton avis, quelle langue?" (In your opinion, what language?) referring to me and Katie. This one kid was like "l'anglais!" (English) and the kid who asked the question is like no, it can't be English, they're German or Russian. Me and Katie just laughed. Seriously we don't even look German or Russian! It was hilarious. We left, because these kids started throwing around this ball and it almost hit me and Katie. We walked back to the boulangerie and she bought 2 more baguettes to bring home to her family. Oh, the baguette was really good, not gonna lie.
We got back on the metro and I headed over to l'Olympia (a concert hall) where I had a ticket to see Coeur de Pirate that night. I got there a little after 6 and there was already a line. The concert didn't start until 8. I was the only one from IPP there and didn't want to get in line by myself so I went to Starbucks instead. Around 7, when me and Jacqueline were supposed to meet, she called me and told me to come meet her, John and Alla at this restaurant down the street. I wasn't going to go because I already ate but she said they told me I had to come, so I did. I found it and we were the only people in the place. John, Jacqueline and Alla all ordered food and I thought it was going to be really awkward sitting there watching them eat but it wasn't that bad. John left and Jacqueline and Alla and I left shortly after to meet up with the rest of the IPP-ers in line. We got into the venue, which, back in the day you were really some body if you played at the Olympia. We had general admission seats so we stood the entire concert. The opening act came on and people kept talking while this poor girl was playing. They were so rude. I couldn't even hear what she was saying they were so loud. It was like a million degrees in this place too. Not fun, oh and I felt like barfing for some reason. It just wasn't a good night. After about 25ish minutes, our group gets back together and the house lights go on. When they went on seriously like half of the people on the floor sat down. It was so lame. I was like ummm, what are you doing? This is a concert, why are you sitting on the dirty ground. It was bizarre. Coeur de Pirate come on shortly after and she's so adorable! They are from Quebec. I only knew 2 songs by her. Julien Dore came out and sang the song they have together. That was the best part of the concert because he's a complete dream boat. He won Nouvelle Star, which is the French version of American Idol. Ughhh he's so cute!!! The rest of her songs were pretty good. It's not something that I'd normally listen to, but she was very good. Me and Jacqueline were really hot, and I felt like barfing so we walked out of the room after her 2nd encore....I think she played 3 because it was the last stop on her tour. We sat on the steps and after a few minutes the concert was over. We met up with everyone outside and they all debated what they were going to do. I just wanted to go home and was just waiting for them to make up their mind so I could walk to the metro with them, but after like a half hour of standing around they still didn't know so I just decided to leave. I took some medicine when I got home and passed out like a half hour later.
On Tuesday I attempted to read Dora Bruder for Costello's class on Thursday but that obviously didn't happen. I didn't get out of bed until 10:30 and then sat around on the couch because I couldn't breathe. It was gross. I did manage to get a little bit of reading done and I think I ran some errands but I don't really remember what. Around 5 I left to meet up with Katie at The Frog and the British Library. We were going to just go and get a drink but we decided to see a movie too. We ran to the Monoprix to grab some sandwiches, drinks, and obvs candy (duh!) for the movie and then we headed back to the bar for happy hour, because there was no way we were missing that. Neither of us felt like a beer so we got a beer cocktail instead. Mine was called Ginger Dream (I love gingers!) and it was part rum, part of the Frog's ginger beer, and strawberry juice. MY GOD it was delish!!! Katie got one that was champagne, a Frog beer, and strawberry juice. Her's was really good too! We finished up our delish drinks and then headed for the movies which is like right across the street. We saw "Mammuth" staring Gerard Depardieu. It was pretty good. It was all in French, the first time I've seen a French movie in the theatres here. It was hard to understand what they were saying sometimes and I didn't get all of the jokes but I was able to follow the story pretty well. It was a little bizarre. Depardieu's character had a really weird relationship with his brother. We left the theatre at like 8:30, the movie was pretty short and I headed home.
On Wednesday after theatre which wasn't too interesting, I met Katie at the cafeteria for lunch. It was our last day seeing each other because she was leaving to go back home (Indiana) the next day. We ate our usual salads which were awesome and just talked about the year and how much fun we've had together. Of course, we had to go to translation so we left the cafeteria and headed to class. We were hoping we were going to get our tests back but we didn't. Katie was bummed but next week when the teacher hands them back I'm going to grab hers and just send it to her when I get home. Class wasn't really that interesting. We just messed around instead of doing work. Typical. We left class and Katie and I walked to the metro. It was so sad because I was heading one direction and she the other so we just looked at each other. We both wanted to cry but didn't want to at the same time so we're just cracking up in the middle of the station. We'll see each other again, she doesn't live that far from Chicago and we'll talk in stuff it was just sad saying goodbye because she was my best friend here. I'm really glad I met her! Miss you girl!!! As she got on her train I waved goodbye from my side of the platform, it was like a movie or something. So cute! Renee and I had dinner that night after she got home from the pool. I think she wasn't too happy that I asked if we could eat together because she's usually pretty tired when she gets back from the pool but it she really didn't want to she could've said so. The Hawks game was on that night and it was the final and of course it didn't start until 7pm at home (2am in Paris) so I didn't stay up to watch it.
Around 5am Thursday morning I got 3 text messages, one from my dad, one from my brother Nick, and one more from someone I didn't know telling me the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. I was happy but then I was like ummm it's 5am, I have class at 11 so I need to go back to bed. I watched all the highlights when I finally got up and it was so awesome. I loved Kane's goal. Classic. I loved how he was the only one who knew it went in and he just raises his arms above his head. So cute!! I went to Costello's class, not having finished the book. I was worried there was going to be a quiz but there wasn't. Luckily I read far enough so I was able to answer some of the questions Costello asked. We got our papers back and I got an A-!!!! I was pretty excited. My first 2 papers were B+ so I was really happy with my A- because I worked really hard on that paper. After class Chaniece, Jacqueline, Colie, and I walked to lit where we had a test. I studied for all of 20 minutes the night before because I was reading Dora Bruder. The test wasn't too bad I guess. I feel like I rambeled on and on a lot but I feel that the professor doesn't really care what you say, just as long as you back it up, so that's what I did. It was pretty horrible. It took me forever to finish. After the test, Chaniece, Jacqueline, Alla, John and I jumped on the metro and went to this Froyo (frozen yougart) place that John found. It was pretty good. I got chocolate with strawberries and brownie pieces. It was a little expensive, but oh well. We sat around and chatted for a while and that was fun. I planned on going home afterwards because I was going to eat at home with Renee and everyone else was going to MacDo for dinner. That night Renee and I had fish. We have fish a lot. She told me that she won 2 tickets to 2 shows for Saturday and asked if I wanted to go with her so obviously I said yes. She was really excited about it. I tried going to bed early last night but that didn't happen because I started watching My Girl. I love that movie. I think I went to bed around 1:30.
Today was a lot of fun, aside from the problems I had at the post office where the woman didn't believe me when I told her I spoke French and she had to go and get another co-worker so he could stand there and repeat everything she said in French in English, even though I knew what she was saying to begin with. Oh, I went to the post office to send a box of stuff home. It ended up costing me 86.70ish, Euro, which was a lot if you ask me, but it was like 7 kilos and I really did need to send it. Today was our last theatre class before the test next Wednesday and Benoit didn't wear his salmon colored pants. I was a little sad :( We watched this video from this play that Benoit was in but you couldn't hear anything so me and Beth made our own commentary which was more entertaining than the play. Sorry, Benoit. After class I met Chaniece at the foyer and we decided to go to Starbucks to study a bit and then head over to the Centre Pompidou where we would meet up with Krista, John, and maybe Jacqueline....that was the plan. It didn't exactly go that way. Of course. Chaniece and I went to Subway and got the sandwich of the day for lunch and then brought it to Starbucks where we got the new drink they have. The guy who took my order was like "bonne choix mademoiselle!" (good choice) and I was like, "ouais, je sais" (yeah, I know) he thought it was pretty funny. We sat upstairs and ate and attempted to study. I tried to finish reading Dora Bruder but was too busy singing Lady Gaga songs haha. Typical. We walked from Starbucks to the Pompidou because it was really nice. We went inside, got our tickets and waited for everyone else to show up. Krista was the only one who ended up coming. I texted John and asked him why he wasn't coming and he said something about he doesn't like modern art and didn't want to be inside....idk. Whatever. So me, Krista and Chaniece walked around the museum together. I really like the Pompidou. It's very interesting. You never know what you're going to see. There's this sex room and there's this giant sculpture hanging from the ceiling that is supposed to be a vagina, but I don't see how it looks like one and I think I would know...duh. Hahaha. It's a funny room. We saw a bunch of other stuff too. It's a fun museum, even if you don't like modern art.....We left and then jumped on the RER B to meet up with Diane at the student cafeteria one last time. We got there pretty late so there wasn't any pizza (boo!!!) so I had to get the fish. It was pretty good. After dinner, when we got kicked out of the cafeteria at 8:30 I headed home. Me and Renee watched team France play team Uruguay. I'm not a big soccer fan but I figured I should watch team France play. Renee says they aren't very good. She fell asleep while watching the match. Team Uruguay almost scored and I was like "OHHHHH!!!!" and she woke up. Oops! The game ended 0-0 so there was no winner and the teams play another team, I really don't know. Seriously, what a dumb way to end the game. There should be a shoot out or something a little bit exciting because soccer can be dreadfully boring. Sorry soccer fans! Team USA plays team England tomorrow. England is picked to win. They probably will.
I asked Renee what time we were leaving for the theatre and I must have misunderstood what she told me. She won 2 tickets to 2 different plays (so 4 tickets total) she's going to one play with her friend and she gave me the 2 other tickets to do whatever I wanted with them. I thought we were going together, which would've been nice, but it's okay, she wants to go with her friend Marie-Jo. Renee told me earlier this week that she leaves next Friday afternoon for Nantes for her niece's wedding (not Mathilde, Mathilde's sister, Pauline). Apparently Jean-Francois is supposed to be coming here soon, Renee's not sure when and he's going to make us a going away dinner Tuesday night because I won't be here Wednesday or Thursday night and she's leaving Friday afternoon. So that should be fun. Jean-Francois isn't here yet, I'm not sure when he plans on showing up. He's a man of mystery!
I've got a lot planned this weekend, including starting to organize my things and attempting to start packing so I'm not doing it all at the last minute. Hopefully it doesn't rain a lot my last week here.
Bisous!!! See you all very soon!!
PS....I found out that a lot of IPP-ers like to read my blog. Thanks guys, I'm glad you are enjoying it. :) I read your blogs too!!
On Monday seriously felt like complete shit. I had a hard time sleeping on Sunday and really didn't feel like going to class at all, but alas, I went. There were a total of 6 kids in the class. Go us! I got my test back and got a 15/20, which was a lot better than my first test which I got a 12/20. When the professor called my named I stood up to get my test and when I got to her desk she decided that she was going to point out all my faults on my exam. She was like, "Tripartisime didn't fall because of foreign conflicts!!!" I just stood at her and was like ummm okay. I really could've cared less. She didn't have to go and say what was wrong with my test in front of the entire class (hahah 5 other people) However, she did this with everyone so I didn't feel so bad. Me and Katie left during the break because class was a snooze fest and it was her last few days in Paris so we had to make a trip to Montmarte to the best boulangerie in Paris. The boulangerie is called Le Grenier a Pain. It won the 2010 prize for the best baguette in Paris. We bought one, and I bought this sun dried tomato bread thing. The thing I bought wasn't too great. I wasn't that impressed. Katie and I headed to this little park near the boulangerie to sit and eat our baguette by the "Love Wall." The Love Wall was really cool. I guess a bunch of artists from the area wrote "I love you" in their native language on this wall. There were seriously a million languages on the wall. It took forever to find "I love you" but we finally spotted it. There was a park right behind where we were sitting on this bench so there were a ton of kids there so we were getting a little annoyed. This group of young French kids came around and they were listening to me and Katie talk in English. This kid kept asking his friends, "a ton avis, quelle langue?" (In your opinion, what language?) referring to me and Katie. This one kid was like "l'anglais!" (English) and the kid who asked the question is like no, it can't be English, they're German or Russian. Me and Katie just laughed. Seriously we don't even look German or Russian! It was hilarious. We left, because these kids started throwing around this ball and it almost hit me and Katie. We walked back to the boulangerie and she bought 2 more baguettes to bring home to her family. Oh, the baguette was really good, not gonna lie.
We got back on the metro and I headed over to l'Olympia (a concert hall) where I had a ticket to see Coeur de Pirate that night. I got there a little after 6 and there was already a line. The concert didn't start until 8. I was the only one from IPP there and didn't want to get in line by myself so I went to Starbucks instead. Around 7, when me and Jacqueline were supposed to meet, she called me and told me to come meet her, John and Alla at this restaurant down the street. I wasn't going to go because I already ate but she said they told me I had to come, so I did. I found it and we were the only people in the place. John, Jacqueline and Alla all ordered food and I thought it was going to be really awkward sitting there watching them eat but it wasn't that bad. John left and Jacqueline and Alla and I left shortly after to meet up with the rest of the IPP-ers in line. We got into the venue, which, back in the day you were really some body if you played at the Olympia. We had general admission seats so we stood the entire concert. The opening act came on and people kept talking while this poor girl was playing. They were so rude. I couldn't even hear what she was saying they were so loud. It was like a million degrees in this place too. Not fun, oh and I felt like barfing for some reason. It just wasn't a good night. After about 25ish minutes, our group gets back together and the house lights go on. When they went on seriously like half of the people on the floor sat down. It was so lame. I was like ummm, what are you doing? This is a concert, why are you sitting on the dirty ground. It was bizarre. Coeur de Pirate come on shortly after and she's so adorable! They are from Quebec. I only knew 2 songs by her. Julien Dore came out and sang the song they have together. That was the best part of the concert because he's a complete dream boat. He won Nouvelle Star, which is the French version of American Idol. Ughhh he's so cute!!! The rest of her songs were pretty good. It's not something that I'd normally listen to, but she was very good. Me and Jacqueline were really hot, and I felt like barfing so we walked out of the room after her 2nd encore....I think she played 3 because it was the last stop on her tour. We sat on the steps and after a few minutes the concert was over. We met up with everyone outside and they all debated what they were going to do. I just wanted to go home and was just waiting for them to make up their mind so I could walk to the metro with them, but after like a half hour of standing around they still didn't know so I just decided to leave. I took some medicine when I got home and passed out like a half hour later.
On Tuesday I attempted to read Dora Bruder for Costello's class on Thursday but that obviously didn't happen. I didn't get out of bed until 10:30 and then sat around on the couch because I couldn't breathe. It was gross. I did manage to get a little bit of reading done and I think I ran some errands but I don't really remember what. Around 5 I left to meet up with Katie at The Frog and the British Library. We were going to just go and get a drink but we decided to see a movie too. We ran to the Monoprix to grab some sandwiches, drinks, and obvs candy (duh!) for the movie and then we headed back to the bar for happy hour, because there was no way we were missing that. Neither of us felt like a beer so we got a beer cocktail instead. Mine was called Ginger Dream (I love gingers!) and it was part rum, part of the Frog's ginger beer, and strawberry juice. MY GOD it was delish!!! Katie got one that was champagne, a Frog beer, and strawberry juice. Her's was really good too! We finished up our delish drinks and then headed for the movies which is like right across the street. We saw "Mammuth" staring Gerard Depardieu. It was pretty good. It was all in French, the first time I've seen a French movie in the theatres here. It was hard to understand what they were saying sometimes and I didn't get all of the jokes but I was able to follow the story pretty well. It was a little bizarre. Depardieu's character had a really weird relationship with his brother. We left the theatre at like 8:30, the movie was pretty short and I headed home.
On Wednesday after theatre which wasn't too interesting, I met Katie at the cafeteria for lunch. It was our last day seeing each other because she was leaving to go back home (Indiana) the next day. We ate our usual salads which were awesome and just talked about the year and how much fun we've had together. Of course, we had to go to translation so we left the cafeteria and headed to class. We were hoping we were going to get our tests back but we didn't. Katie was bummed but next week when the teacher hands them back I'm going to grab hers and just send it to her when I get home. Class wasn't really that interesting. We just messed around instead of doing work. Typical. We left class and Katie and I walked to the metro. It was so sad because I was heading one direction and she the other so we just looked at each other. We both wanted to cry but didn't want to at the same time so we're just cracking up in the middle of the station. We'll see each other again, she doesn't live that far from Chicago and we'll talk in stuff it was just sad saying goodbye because she was my best friend here. I'm really glad I met her! Miss you girl!!! As she got on her train I waved goodbye from my side of the platform, it was like a movie or something. So cute! Renee and I had dinner that night after she got home from the pool. I think she wasn't too happy that I asked if we could eat together because she's usually pretty tired when she gets back from the pool but it she really didn't want to she could've said so. The Hawks game was on that night and it was the final and of course it didn't start until 7pm at home (2am in Paris) so I didn't stay up to watch it.
Around 5am Thursday morning I got 3 text messages, one from my dad, one from my brother Nick, and one more from someone I didn't know telling me the Hawks won the Stanley Cup. I was happy but then I was like ummm it's 5am, I have class at 11 so I need to go back to bed. I watched all the highlights when I finally got up and it was so awesome. I loved Kane's goal. Classic. I loved how he was the only one who knew it went in and he just raises his arms above his head. So cute!! I went to Costello's class, not having finished the book. I was worried there was going to be a quiz but there wasn't. Luckily I read far enough so I was able to answer some of the questions Costello asked. We got our papers back and I got an A-!!!! I was pretty excited. My first 2 papers were B+ so I was really happy with my A- because I worked really hard on that paper. After class Chaniece, Jacqueline, Colie, and I walked to lit where we had a test. I studied for all of 20 minutes the night before because I was reading Dora Bruder. The test wasn't too bad I guess. I feel like I rambeled on and on a lot but I feel that the professor doesn't really care what you say, just as long as you back it up, so that's what I did. It was pretty horrible. It took me forever to finish. After the test, Chaniece, Jacqueline, Alla, John and I jumped on the metro and went to this Froyo (frozen yougart) place that John found. It was pretty good. I got chocolate with strawberries and brownie pieces. It was a little expensive, but oh well. We sat around and chatted for a while and that was fun. I planned on going home afterwards because I was going to eat at home with Renee and everyone else was going to MacDo for dinner. That night Renee and I had fish. We have fish a lot. She told me that she won 2 tickets to 2 shows for Saturday and asked if I wanted to go with her so obviously I said yes. She was really excited about it. I tried going to bed early last night but that didn't happen because I started watching My Girl. I love that movie. I think I went to bed around 1:30.
Today was a lot of fun, aside from the problems I had at the post office where the woman didn't believe me when I told her I spoke French and she had to go and get another co-worker so he could stand there and repeat everything she said in French in English, even though I knew what she was saying to begin with. Oh, I went to the post office to send a box of stuff home. It ended up costing me 86.70ish, Euro, which was a lot if you ask me, but it was like 7 kilos and I really did need to send it. Today was our last theatre class before the test next Wednesday and Benoit didn't wear his salmon colored pants. I was a little sad :( We watched this video from this play that Benoit was in but you couldn't hear anything so me and Beth made our own commentary which was more entertaining than the play. Sorry, Benoit. After class I met Chaniece at the foyer and we decided to go to Starbucks to study a bit and then head over to the Centre Pompidou where we would meet up with Krista, John, and maybe Jacqueline....that was the plan. It didn't exactly go that way. Of course. Chaniece and I went to Subway and got the sandwich of the day for lunch and then brought it to Starbucks where we got the new drink they have. The guy who took my order was like "bonne choix mademoiselle!" (good choice) and I was like, "ouais, je sais" (yeah, I know) he thought it was pretty funny. We sat upstairs and ate and attempted to study. I tried to finish reading Dora Bruder but was too busy singing Lady Gaga songs haha. Typical. We walked from Starbucks to the Pompidou because it was really nice. We went inside, got our tickets and waited for everyone else to show up. Krista was the only one who ended up coming. I texted John and asked him why he wasn't coming and he said something about he doesn't like modern art and didn't want to be inside....idk. Whatever. So me, Krista and Chaniece walked around the museum together. I really like the Pompidou. It's very interesting. You never know what you're going to see. There's this sex room and there's this giant sculpture hanging from the ceiling that is supposed to be a vagina, but I don't see how it looks like one and I think I would know...duh. Hahaha. It's a funny room. We saw a bunch of other stuff too. It's a fun museum, even if you don't like modern art.....We left and then jumped on the RER B to meet up with Diane at the student cafeteria one last time. We got there pretty late so there wasn't any pizza (boo!!!) so I had to get the fish. It was pretty good. After dinner, when we got kicked out of the cafeteria at 8:30 I headed home. Me and Renee watched team France play team Uruguay. I'm not a big soccer fan but I figured I should watch team France play. Renee says they aren't very good. She fell asleep while watching the match. Team Uruguay almost scored and I was like "OHHHHH!!!!" and she woke up. Oops! The game ended 0-0 so there was no winner and the teams play another team, I really don't know. Seriously, what a dumb way to end the game. There should be a shoot out or something a little bit exciting because soccer can be dreadfully boring. Sorry soccer fans! Team USA plays team England tomorrow. England is picked to win. They probably will.
I asked Renee what time we were leaving for the theatre and I must have misunderstood what she told me. She won 2 tickets to 2 different plays (so 4 tickets total) she's going to one play with her friend and she gave me the 2 other tickets to do whatever I wanted with them. I thought we were going together, which would've been nice, but it's okay, she wants to go with her friend Marie-Jo. Renee told me earlier this week that she leaves next Friday afternoon for Nantes for her niece's wedding (not Mathilde, Mathilde's sister, Pauline). Apparently Jean-Francois is supposed to be coming here soon, Renee's not sure when and he's going to make us a going away dinner Tuesday night because I won't be here Wednesday or Thursday night and she's leaving Friday afternoon. So that should be fun. Jean-Francois isn't here yet, I'm not sure when he plans on showing up. He's a man of mystery!
I've got a lot planned this weekend, including starting to organize my things and attempting to start packing so I'm not doing it all at the last minute. Hopefully it doesn't rain a lot my last week here.
Bisous!!! See you all very soon!!
PS....I found out that a lot of IPP-ers like to read my blog. Thanks guys, I'm glad you are enjoying it. :) I read your blogs too!!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Crazy Week
This week has been insane, it was for sure my busiest week of the year. I am so exhausted right now, and sick. Awesome.
On Monday I had my history final as well as a presentation in the same class. The test was pretty easy. Unlike last time where it was just 1 essay question that was really broad, we had two questions that asked us mini questions so we would know exactly what the prof was looking for in our answers. One of the questions was about the French government after WWII and what it was like and the second was about the Indochine war (Indochina, basically the first Vietnam War that the US wasn't involved in). The second question was pretty easy because mine and Katie's presentation was on Ho Chi Minh who lead the Viet Minh (his group) to victory in the war which allowed them freedom from France. Overall I think the test went pretty well. Our presentation was awesome. We made a game out of his life. We had a bunch of questions from his early life, and then during the war and stuff like that. A lot of the presentations have been really boring so ours was actually exciting and everyone was awake and I think the professor really liked it too.
Tuesday I was super busy. I worked on my paper for Costello's class all day, and basically tried to get caught up on all the homework that was due during the week.
On Wednesday I had a delish salad for lunch at school with Katie and then we started sort of studying for our translation test. It was so hard. It was a lot harder than the first one, and that was super hard to begin with. I was the very last person to finish, of course. I left school and then headed home where I ate something real quick and the headed out to the Chatelet Theatre to see Les Mis!!! Les Mis was amazing. Seriously, the best play I've seen all year. It's actually a musical. Comedie Musical en Francais! Anyways, our seats were on the first balcony which is called the Corbielle (the trash in French) the seats were very good. I had to sit on the edge of my seat the entire time because we were sort of at a weird angle. It was such a good show. All the actors were amazing and their singing was fantastic. It's all in English so they had French subtitles up on the screens so people who didn't speak English could understand what they were saying. If you ever have the opportunity to see Les Mis, do it. It's expensive but it is seriously worth it!
On Thursday I had Costello's class and then Lit which were both fine. We have our lit final this week, but it shouldn't be too hard. That night I was up super late finishing my theatre paper and going over Costello's paper. I don't think I went to bed until 2:30. I was so tired the next day.
So, I didn't go camping this weekend, like I said in my last post I would. I just really wasn't looking forward to camping because I really don't like it at all. So I just decided I'd stay here. I met Chaniece after class on Friday and we went to lunch and got gyros but I really don't like them here so I only ate the fries and not even half of the sandwich. After that we went to Starbucks and had planned on getting our drinks and then sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens to drink them, but Katie called and invited us to see a play that night. So we walked home, I changed clothes because it was like a million degrees out and then met back up with Chaniece so we could meet Katie and her friend KJ who was staying with her until Sunday when she was leaving to go back home to America. We saw Salome which is an Oscar Wilde play. It was pretty interesting. I really didn't know much about the story but it's from the Bible or something. It was interesting and free, plus it was something to do. After the play Chaniece and I headed back to our respective apartments because we both were really tired.
Saturday, Chaniece, Natasha, Pilar and I walked from Montparnasse to the Eiffel Tower where we had a picnic. It took us about an hour or so to walk there. It wasn't a really tiring walk, it was just pretty hot and I was pretty hungry. We got there and spread out our blanket, which was Johns...not sure why or how Pilar had it but we had something to sit on. There weren't to many people picnicking. The majority of the people were by the tower standing in line to go up it. We were there for a pretty long time. After a few hours we jumped on the metro and went to Montparnasse to get some dinner. As we were walking to McDonalds (because we're poor) I saw the police dressed in their riot gear. I mean like full riot gear. There was a giant protest going on for Israel and freedom. I'm not really sure. I think it had to do with what happened to their boats in the middle of the ocean. I really don't understand the whole story. I didn't want to go by them 1) because big crowds make me really nervous, 2) they were the same group of people that the riot police used tear gas on a few days ago on the Champs-Elysees and 3) the riot police are scary and it looked like they were just waiting for something to happen. Chaniece kept walking and I was like I don't want to walk through them (they were taking up the entire road) but she kept walking. I wasn't very happy because she was like don't worry it'll be fine. I knew it would be fine but I don't think she understood that big groups like that, especially a group that is angry, makes me very, very nervous. We made it through them and I just about lost it. We got to McDonalds and of course they were busy so it took forever to get food. We left about an hour or so later and the group was gone so we walked home.
Today I really don't feel that well. I've been sneezing a lot and I'm just really tired. I met Katie at Musee d'Orsay so she could see the Crime and Punishment exhibit and so we could basically say goodbye to the museum. We stopped in the book shop after and I got a coloring book for Madisen. It's in French and English and has Paris landmarks in it. It's cute. We headed to Montparnasse so Katie could go to FNAC to get some new head phones but it was close. I bought a sandwich and then headed home. Right now I'm laying on the couch, trying not to fall asleep and watching the final round of the French Open between Rafael Nadal (swoon!) and Robin Soderling and right now Rafa is winning (obvs) 2 sets to 0. I think if he wins this he might knock Roger Federer off of his number one player in the world spot because Federer was knocked out a few rounds ago...haha loser!
This week shouldn't be so rough. I have 1 test on Thursday, a concert to see tomorrow, a book to read, and I think a play to see on Thursday. But that's about it. So it should be an easy week which is good because I'm sick. I also have to start getting stuff together for the box that I am going to be sending home because I'd like to send it by Friday, Saturday at the latest so it's there when I get home. I guess that's all for now.
Bisous
On Monday I had my history final as well as a presentation in the same class. The test was pretty easy. Unlike last time where it was just 1 essay question that was really broad, we had two questions that asked us mini questions so we would know exactly what the prof was looking for in our answers. One of the questions was about the French government after WWII and what it was like and the second was about the Indochine war (Indochina, basically the first Vietnam War that the US wasn't involved in). The second question was pretty easy because mine and Katie's presentation was on Ho Chi Minh who lead the Viet Minh (his group) to victory in the war which allowed them freedom from France. Overall I think the test went pretty well. Our presentation was awesome. We made a game out of his life. We had a bunch of questions from his early life, and then during the war and stuff like that. A lot of the presentations have been really boring so ours was actually exciting and everyone was awake and I think the professor really liked it too.
Tuesday I was super busy. I worked on my paper for Costello's class all day, and basically tried to get caught up on all the homework that was due during the week.
On Wednesday I had a delish salad for lunch at school with Katie and then we started sort of studying for our translation test. It was so hard. It was a lot harder than the first one, and that was super hard to begin with. I was the very last person to finish, of course. I left school and then headed home where I ate something real quick and the headed out to the Chatelet Theatre to see Les Mis!!! Les Mis was amazing. Seriously, the best play I've seen all year. It's actually a musical. Comedie Musical en Francais! Anyways, our seats were on the first balcony which is called the Corbielle (the trash in French) the seats were very good. I had to sit on the edge of my seat the entire time because we were sort of at a weird angle. It was such a good show. All the actors were amazing and their singing was fantastic. It's all in English so they had French subtitles up on the screens so people who didn't speak English could understand what they were saying. If you ever have the opportunity to see Les Mis, do it. It's expensive but it is seriously worth it!
On Thursday I had Costello's class and then Lit which were both fine. We have our lit final this week, but it shouldn't be too hard. That night I was up super late finishing my theatre paper and going over Costello's paper. I don't think I went to bed until 2:30. I was so tired the next day.
So, I didn't go camping this weekend, like I said in my last post I would. I just really wasn't looking forward to camping because I really don't like it at all. So I just decided I'd stay here. I met Chaniece after class on Friday and we went to lunch and got gyros but I really don't like them here so I only ate the fries and not even half of the sandwich. After that we went to Starbucks and had planned on getting our drinks and then sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens to drink them, but Katie called and invited us to see a play that night. So we walked home, I changed clothes because it was like a million degrees out and then met back up with Chaniece so we could meet Katie and her friend KJ who was staying with her until Sunday when she was leaving to go back home to America. We saw Salome which is an Oscar Wilde play. It was pretty interesting. I really didn't know much about the story but it's from the Bible or something. It was interesting and free, plus it was something to do. After the play Chaniece and I headed back to our respective apartments because we both were really tired.
Saturday, Chaniece, Natasha, Pilar and I walked from Montparnasse to the Eiffel Tower where we had a picnic. It took us about an hour or so to walk there. It wasn't a really tiring walk, it was just pretty hot and I was pretty hungry. We got there and spread out our blanket, which was Johns...not sure why or how Pilar had it but we had something to sit on. There weren't to many people picnicking. The majority of the people were by the tower standing in line to go up it. We were there for a pretty long time. After a few hours we jumped on the metro and went to Montparnasse to get some dinner. As we were walking to McDonalds (because we're poor) I saw the police dressed in their riot gear. I mean like full riot gear. There was a giant protest going on for Israel and freedom. I'm not really sure. I think it had to do with what happened to their boats in the middle of the ocean. I really don't understand the whole story. I didn't want to go by them 1) because big crowds make me really nervous, 2) they were the same group of people that the riot police used tear gas on a few days ago on the Champs-Elysees and 3) the riot police are scary and it looked like they were just waiting for something to happen. Chaniece kept walking and I was like I don't want to walk through them (they were taking up the entire road) but she kept walking. I wasn't very happy because she was like don't worry it'll be fine. I knew it would be fine but I don't think she understood that big groups like that, especially a group that is angry, makes me very, very nervous. We made it through them and I just about lost it. We got to McDonalds and of course they were busy so it took forever to get food. We left about an hour or so later and the group was gone so we walked home.
Today I really don't feel that well. I've been sneezing a lot and I'm just really tired. I met Katie at Musee d'Orsay so she could see the Crime and Punishment exhibit and so we could basically say goodbye to the museum. We stopped in the book shop after and I got a coloring book for Madisen. It's in French and English and has Paris landmarks in it. It's cute. We headed to Montparnasse so Katie could go to FNAC to get some new head phones but it was close. I bought a sandwich and then headed home. Right now I'm laying on the couch, trying not to fall asleep and watching the final round of the French Open between Rafael Nadal (swoon!) and Robin Soderling and right now Rafa is winning (obvs) 2 sets to 0. I think if he wins this he might knock Roger Federer off of his number one player in the world spot because Federer was knocked out a few rounds ago...haha loser!
This week shouldn't be so rough. I have 1 test on Thursday, a concert to see tomorrow, a book to read, and I think a play to see on Thursday. But that's about it. So it should be an easy week which is good because I'm sick. I also have to start getting stuff together for the box that I am going to be sending home because I'd like to send it by Friday, Saturday at the latest so it's there when I get home. I guess that's all for now.
Bisous
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