Our Very Own French Foxfields

We have just now added another activity on our "to do" list while in Paris. Apparently there are horse races in Paris from February to June, where you can get in free to the middle of the field. I'm pretty sure we don't need regulation sized coolers to carry in our wine. We've researched French law and open container restrictions don't exist here. Too bad I left my sun hat in Richmond.

On our walk home last night from the Brazilian restaurant, we stopped in to a pub. It felt good to be surrounded by plastic Guiness decorations once again. Unless a lot has changed at McGrady's since I left, I'm pretty sure we don't have a room covered in lazer light shows and bands that wear spandex onesies resembling the costumes from Power Rangers. We were about to leave after taking a look at the place when a highly intoxicated french guy named Fred approached us and asked why we were leaving. We said that the band stopped playing, so we were going to go home. He then replied "I can change things"....We looked at each other with the same confused expressions, and asked him to elaborate. He then approached the bartender, and magically a line of shots appeared on the bar. He said "See, I change things!" He then mumbled something about Lousiana and Obama, and we unanimously decided it was time to leave. He told us we were beautiful, and then I would assume went to pass out on the pool table.

We're going to the Louvre tonight and then cooking dinner with our fresh vegetables from the market. The mushrooms (les champignons) I bought are so fresh they still have dirt on them...this should be interesting. I also bought beautiful dates still on the vine (les dates..that's easy), a red pepper (un poivron rouge), and a tomato (les tomates).

I signed up for a "French Buddy" at Sciences Po to meet and help me get used to school here. His name is Adam, and my excellent facebook stalking skills tell me that he is from Paris and looks fabulous. We're going to meet for coffee sometime next week, and hopefully I can break the international student/french student barrier that apparently exists here. This is ambitious considering I haven't even started class yet.

p.s. if you ever study abroad, bring your planners from home...
I am now stuck with a gray little spiral planner with the numbers 2010 written in black digital font that looks like one of those tshirts from the y2k new years era. Most importantly, the days are written in French and the first day of the week is "lundi". I'm also missing my "month at a glance" pages in my UVA planner that let me write down important messages such as "down under dfunc" or "John Mayer concert". Instead I have to record my techno dance parties and visits to Amsterdam on a day by day calendar!...yes that's me gloating
p.p.s. Lady Gaga is coming to Paris, but none of us can afford tickets. First person to find me a contest where I have to stand at the top of the Arc de Triumphe in a bathing suit standing on one leg to win tickets gets a prize. I might even let you come to the concert.

A brother from another momma

We taught our Peruvian friend some American slang. We told him about using the term "word". He then said it sounded like a word people would say while smoking pot. He then asked us if it was cool in America to say the phrase "a brother from another momma". We explained that it was "brotha" and "motha" so that it rhymed. I'm pretty sure as we were leaving he said "goodbye sista from another mista (another one of our lessons for the day)."

We tried to go to Palais de Tokyo today but it was closed for construction. We walked across the street to our second stop, the clothing museum...also closed for construction. We remembered seeing a random modern art museum next to Tokyo so we decided to go back to that one. We must have looked thoroughly confused at the modern art museum because the docent approached us and told us that the museum was free so we could just walk in. Of course he said it in French so we all looked at each other seeing who would translate first. Before we could respond he said in English, "You do not speak French?" I worked too hard in Madame Rogers AP French to go along with this so I responded in what I thought was perfect French that we did speak, but we were looking for tickets! He responded again in English "so you understand me when I speak French but not when I talk too fast?" We all simultaneously nodded. He then gave me a french lesson on not pronouncing the "l' in billets because it's a double l, and pronouncing the "l" in soleil because there is only one. It's funny that the French have been so eager to teach us how to speak, and you can see the pride they take in their language. They jump at any chance to help us pronounce words or give us a vocabulary lesson, and they're not mean about it. They just really care about the French language and become very proud (they stand up a little straighter and get very serious looks on their faces) when they talk about it.

The art at the museum was very different. There were beautiful Henri Matisse paintings that filled an entire room. One was called "La Danse" which was huge and really cool to see. There were some crazy installations and sculptures, but the coolest part was that someone was filming something outside on the courtyard. We stood by the window for ten minutes waiting to see what was going on. I pretended to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower in the background but was really taking pictures of the camera crew. People are always filming things here. Theresa thinks she might have seen Jude Law the other day. I think he found out that I'm going to school here, and he wants to come take me to the Louvre...but probably not....but maybe.

I haven't talked about food in this post yet, so I'm going to say that I had the best crepe EVER on the Champs Elysses today. It was limon et sucre (lemon juice and sugar). It also kept my hands warm which was the best part.

We almost went to see a movie today. The Princesse et La Grenouille opened today in France. Our pride couldn't handle standing in line behind a large group of French five year olds with their parents to get tickets. We decided to save that for another day. If I can watch Avatar in French AND 3D...I'll be set.

We also looked at French greeting cards today. Theresa and I were wondering why there are so many anniversary cards in Paris. We decided it was because everyone here is in love...then we realized "anniversaire" means "birthday." Theresa also saw belated anniversaire cards and thought "oh get yourself out of the doghouse cards!"...no more to say there

Tomorrow we are going to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner and dancing for Gulfem's birthday. Her Turkish friend, Nur, is a pastry chef at the Ritz (yay Marriott...another comm shout out). Anyway, it's one of Nur's favorite places to go, and since she studied at Le Cordon Bleu I will trust basically anything she says.

Nutella with a side of Nutella

We are now back at our apartment and I am enjoying a heavenly cup of chocolat chaud and the heat of the indoors. It is 30 degrees outside, and this is the first time all day I have taken off my coat. I am now starting to understand why people in Paris have such fabulous fur coats and boots. They never take them off!

Today we went shopping for school supplies. A five star notebook is cheap compared to what Parisians pay for their spirals. We never considered that most books would have grid paper either. I decided that I'm going to try to fit in, so I bought cheap neon orange, grid paper, mini books that still ran about 2 euros each. My hope is that they'll fit my purse and I won't have to go to class with my bright red Jansport. Apparently people just don't do that here. Enough about school supplies....

So I've made friends with the man who works at the metro stop right by the apartment. A few days ago he said to me, "One day I hope to have a drink with you." I may not know much about the French quite yet, but I think it's a good sign. Don't freak out mom, I'm not going to have a drink with a random French man. Theresa said it might get us free metro tickets though, which could be pretty nice...but no I'm still not having a drink with a random French man.

Yesterday we went shopping at Moutons a cinq pattes. It's a designer discount store, which still means that a blouse will cost you over 200 euros. The clothes were beautiful though, and it was still fun to look. We also went to Gallerie de Lafayette, a popular French department store. The shoe section was overwhelming to say the least. It covered the entire floor. Needless to say we each got lost multiple times and there was a chain of SMS (that's texting here) messages of "I'm by Chanel (or Prada, or D&G, the list goes on), WHERE ARE YOU?"

We also visited a wine store called Nicolas, a chain in Paris. We bought three euro bottles of wine that are supposed to be fantastic. The cashier also gave us a lesson on what time of the day you should say bonjour and bon soir. He seemed to find it pretty funny when we all giggled and yelled "Bon Soir!!!" while leaving the store. We've decided he's our new wine guy...well we should probably try the wine first but it's only a matter of time.

I still haven't dreamed in French, BUT I did dream that I was Harry Potter last night and I got to ride a Nimbus 2000. I'm pretty sure that's way better.

First Week Photo Gallery!

The Princess and the Frog window at the Disney store on the Champs Elysses!

This is what we think of Chinatown.

La Tour d'Eiffel with our new friend Jean Pierre from Peru (no he's not French..he doesn't get it either)

If you squint, you can see me smiling next to the Eiffel Tower. This is on les bateaux mouches, our seine boat ride at night. You can't tell in the picture, but it is really really cold and windy.

We eat everything with nutella.

Our Sunday brunch place, Balthazar. Well we've only gone once, but the people were really nice to us and it was our first meal where we just sat for hours with a coffee and croissant.

Our List of Things to do in Paris (subject to change)

• get drunk on the bridge, Pont des Arcs
• party in the bottom of a boat
• go to French movies
• Falafel restaurants in the Marais
• Isle des impressionnistes
• La Palette
• gay club
• l'entrecote place
• (warm weather) gelato place
• picinic all the time
• Palais de Tokyo- eat noodle bowl but don't cut the noodles because it is bad luck
• Clothes museum
• Party all night- breakfast after
• Jazz club
• Angelina- chocolat chaud
• watch the superbowl at an American bar
• make French friends- go to their vineyards
• make Aristocratic friends- go to their mansions...just kidding...kinda
• crash Fashion week parties
• go to Champagne country
• Pompidou
• Friday night at the Louvre
• Chinatown-eat noodles
• watch Sabrina, moulin rouge, the princess and the frog, and zoolander (because Gulfem hasn't seen it)

Today we went to Chinatown on a tour. We walked for hours, and all I remember is the buddhist temple in a parking garage. Kind of a let down, but we're hoping to go back and eat noodles one day- see above list. Tomorrow we're waking up early (early means before 11), and finding the discount shopping in Paris. Tomorrow night we begin our list of things to do with the gay bar. Apparently Monday is ladies night! We're also starting to plan where we want to go next week in France before classes start. Right now we're looking at Champagne country, and hopefully we'll think of more.

On another note, I was a crepes stand yesterday getting a crepe with nutella and bananas and I overheard these American girls talking about how they had to go back to the crepes place on the downtown mall when they went back to Charlottesville. I wanted to say something, but they ran away before I could. I then felt very cool for ordering in French after they talked entirely in English. This also boosted my ego after I accidentally told a woman "Happy New Year" while leaving a store instead of saying "Have a good day".

McDonalds is not only popular in the French parts of Paris, but it has now spread to the Chinatown area as well.

Basically the most asian looking thing in Chinatown. To be honest, the neighborhoods don't look that much different from the rest of Paris with the exception of the cooked ducks in the window.

We got wifi and we're watching the bachelor

I just dropped my Friday class and am now taking a Population Dynamics course! It's actually perfect because I was trying to take a course similar to this at UVA. Most importantly I have officially opened up more time for travel on the weekend. Yayyyyy

We just watched Smallville which has just come out with dubbed French voices on television here. We just sort of stared at their lips move and tried to pick up a few words. My goal is to be able to make it through these shows without falling asleep by the end of the semester (but let's be real, I could never really do that in America where the shows are in English)...

Today we took a tour of the area near Sciences Po. There are beautiful cobblestone streets and this really famous statue made after one of those French wars. The best part about the statue though is that it has a man on a horse and someone managed to spray paint the balls of the horse blue.

We also saw Saint Sulpice, a church mentioned in the DaVinci Code (that's right...it's a five minute walk from my school). Our tour guide told us that the church has had some problems with tourists coming and trying to excavate the floor tile looking for treasure. The priest even had to make a public announcement that there is indeed no secret treasure beneath the floor and all visitors must stop trying to break it.

We also saw these little figurine shops, which is apparently a tradition to give at Christmas. That way, you can build up a small village to put out at Christmastime with all of your collected figurines. This is either a special French tradition (which would explain why Steven's mother puts out her Christmas village every year), or it's just a holiday thing (which is why I'm too busy playing with my menorah to realize that Americans do it too).

My professor's name is Gregoire. I thought my block would appreciate that.

Welcome Program

We went to a pub last night (our first night really out in the city). Diana and I spent an hour speaking French with a student our age at the Sorbonne. It was amazing what beer could do for my language skills. We then woke up at the crack of dawn for our first day of methodology classes.

Lists of reasons why I don't belong at Sciences Po:
1. Teachers HATE it when you are late and see it as a huge sign of disrespect...good thing I'm always on time
2. I am taking zero business classes and the french don't understand the concept of add/drop
3. I have never taken a politics class in my life and apparently that's what all of the students specialize in at this school (who would've thought)
4. You can't skip class to travel to random countries to visit your fellow study abroad friends
5. Most importantly, you can't bullshit and must always back up your comments with cold hard facts

I am praying that this introduction class is a scare tactic to make us appreciate this educational experience, or so I've been told. On the bright side, and it's a very bright side, we've met some incredible people from all over the world and the city is beautiful. Though it's hard to believe, I have even begun to understand how to use the metro. I managed to make it from the apartment to class by myself and I only got lost twice on the way (don't freak out mom, the school is in a good area). I even managed to pick up a croissant and make it to class 10 minutes early. This is because I left the apartment 25 minutes early in order to give myself time to make a wrong turn, continue making random turns in panic, and then ask (en francais) for directions! Tomorrow we have a tour of the Louvre and a boat ride on the Seine. My typical Tuesday forms of entertainment.

We also ate crepes and cider tonight with our welcome program groups. From now on it will only be fresh baguettes, good cheese, and two euro bottles of surprisingly great wine.

I just found out that I don't have class next week until Friday. This will give me a few more days to learn the metro and adapt to living in a city. I also get to think of fun things to do before the work begins...

First Day in the City

Today was our first day of the Welcome Program which also meant our first real day in the city.
We took the metro in to Sciences Po at 8 30 am in order to make it to the croissant and coffee brunch before orientation. The Americans all found each other and the Australians managed to find us as well. We were then packed into an overheated auditorium and informed about how lucky we were to find such a special school and how great of a group we were and so on. Pretty typical school orientation with the exception of the heavy French accents.

We then went to a sandwich shop called Cosi (not at all like the American chain...wayyy better) with a girl from Florida and an Australian. Brad Brown would have been very proud of us for branching out.

It was then time for us to begin the search for cell phones. We went to Virgin Mobile where the man that worked there offered us directions to the closest competitor to compare prices. We assumed he was lying to us about the location, so we then asked a man at Sophora. He, too, pointed us across the street and told us it was right in front of our noses. We still couldn't find it so we finally got directions from a bank teller at HSBC. It was only a block away and in the exact direction that everyone had already told us. So thank you Virgin Mobile salesman for your honesty....now if only he could've been a little more upfront about the phone prices and we could have been in business.

We then went grocery shopping and bought more wine because all that was left in the refrigerator was a half opened bottle so we were afraid to drink it. We then found out that it is French custom to leave wine, cheese, and bread to welcome people to France. Good news is, now we can drink the wine. Better news is, we bought three more bottles to try over the course of the week. I love this city.

Sidenote: last night Kendall's parents took us to dinner at a very French restaurant where the old men waiting for a seat shouted "Bon Appetit" as we walked to our table. For all of the foodies out there (that means you Sarah and Steven), I ate duck with foie gras in an apple vinegar sauce with gingerbread and roasted pears. And yes, it was as heavenly as it sounds.

J'arrive

So after twelve hours of sleep and a four hour nap yesterday, I am finally functioning in Paris. The airport turned out to be pretty interesting. When we arrived we were asked to show our passport..no surprise there...and then we walked through customs doors...and then, much to our surprise, we were at arrivals. No baggage screening. No question session. Rien.

We then proceeded to wait for our shuttle to take us to the apartment. And we waited. And we called. And we waited. And we called. And we had the information desk try to call. And we waited. And we tried to call again. And we waited. Rien

I then asked a passerby in an orange vest for our next option. So we then discovered the bus system and got to see the neighborhoods in between the airport and Paris. A man tried to tell us to watch our suitcases closely or else people would steal them. We didn't understand him...he was speaking English.

Although it was pouring in Paris we wanted to get out of the apartment last night and grab a bite to eat. We found a small pizzeria nearby and sat down to order. The waiter then informed us that they were about to close and we had to hurry up. Not only were we the annoying Americans, but we were the annoying American customers who came at closing time. I decided that this would be one of those nights we laugh about in few months when we speak better French and fit in.

Today we're going to check out the metro system and look at Sciences Po. Our original plan was to wake up, find a patisserie and eat chocolat chaud and a croissant. Our twelve hour hibernation period sort of ruined that.

Bonjour!

Hello everyone!

I've decided to revert back to middle school and create a study abroad blog! I'm leaving in two weeks for Paris, so if all goes well there will be more posts after this one. If not, I'll see you guys at UVA!
But in all seriousness, I'll try to write from time to time in order to keep in touch with everyone and make my mom happy...most importantly to make my mom happy. She's probably the only one who will read it anyway.

Wish me luck!
Becca