As I mentioned in the previous blog, we went to Versailles on Saturday. I woke up at the fiap to huge, and I mean gigantic snowflakes falling to the ground. When I went down to breakfast it was pouring, and I had no desire to go to Versailles if the weather was going to be so awful, but by the time we left the sun was out! We had three different types of weather in a just one hour! Oh Paris! So, with the sun out, and in much better spirits, we headed to Versailles via the RER which is like the Metra in Illinois. It only took 20 minutes, as a bus would take an hour which was awesome. Versailles is amazing. I cannot describe it any other way. It is gi-normous (gigantic and enormous put together - it's a word,) beautiful, and so, so intricate and detailed. I loved it the last time I visited it, and was just as excited to visit it again. We received the little devices to listen to to an audio-tour of Versailles, and being adventurous I got it in French. First mistake. We then started the tour but we were free to go at whatever pace we wanted since we were going to be there for hours. I start walking through the rooms, listening to the audio tour, only to find out the first 4 rooms are NOT on the audio tour. Second mistake. i then heard someone say you are supposed to goo 100, then 200, then 300 etc. Third mistake. Next thing you know I hear "The gardens of Versailles..." and I was standing in a room that didn't even face the gardens! So needless to say I gave up, and so did the other girls I was walking with, Beth, Ashley, Diane, Alla, and Colie, because we were so confused, and we just walked around and shared the history that we knew ourselves about Versailles. The last time I was here the Hall of Mirrors was closed, because of renovation so I thought, but apparently it was because of the movie Marie Antoinette, so it was so cool to see it!! I took way to many pictures, but hey! I am allowed to be a tourist! They added a really cool new section to Versailles with pictures of Versailles throughout the years, from the invention of the camera (it had the very first photo ever taken of Versailles how cool!) to the most recent (professional) photo of Versailles in January. It was very, very interesting to see how people perceive Versailles and whatnot. We entered the queen's chambers after and fun fact - 19 babies were given birth in the queen's bed! ALSO, back then they would have public births - in front of EVERYONE. What?! Could you imagine? No way Jose!
Unfortunately, it was still super cold out outside, so none of the fountains were working, and obviously nothing was in bloom in the gardens, so we did not venture out into the gardens too much. It was way too cold, and there was no way we were going to walk 50 minutes to Marie Antionette's home (that is how far away in the garden's her house was!) so a group decided to leave Versailles because we were starving. I plan on coming back, and definitely plan on bringing my family and Brittany here in the Summer! It is even more amazing. So, of course being in France we decide to go to the MOST French-ish restaurant we could find - McDo a.k.a McDonald's. We of course had to see what it was like! It was crazy inside, very modern, and you could order at a machine in case you are that anti-social and had no desire to order with a person! Don't worry, I ordered with a person, but I seriously must have a flashing sign over my head that says "AMERICAN!" because a girl from my program ordered before me and the person who was taking orders spoke to her in French, and the minute she got to me she switched to English! What?? And the day before at the Louvre when we had to show our tickets, the guy said merci to everyone in front of me and everyone behind me, but when he saw me he said "Thank you." Arghhh. Anywho, I know you only care about McDonald's so, it was actually quite good! It was definitely not so greasy, and not a frozen patty or whatnot. I quite enjoyed it! Besides the fact it is 6 euro a.k.a 8 dollars.
Unfortunately, it was still super cold out outside, so none of the fountains were working, and obviously nothing was in bloom in the gardens, so we did not venture out into the gardens too much. It was way too cold, and there was no way we were going to walk 50 minutes to Marie Antionette's home (that is how far away in the garden's her house was!) so a group decided to leave Versailles because we were starving. I plan on coming back, and definitely plan on bringing my family and Brittany here in the Summer! It is even more amazing. So, of course being in France we decide to go to the MOST French-ish restaurant we could find - McDo a.k.a McDonald's. We of course had to see what it was like! It was crazy inside, very modern, and you could order at a machine in case you are that anti-social and had no desire to order with a person! Don't worry, I ordered with a person, but I seriously must have a flashing sign over my head that says "AMERICAN!" because a girl from my program ordered before me and the person who was taking orders spoke to her in French, and the minute she got to me she switched to English! What?? And the day before at the Louvre when we had to show our tickets, the guy said merci to everyone in front of me and everyone behind me, but when he saw me he said "Thank you." Arghhh. Anywho, I know you only care about McDonald's so, it was actually quite good! It was definitely not so greasy, and not a frozen patty or whatnot. I quite enjoyed it! Besides the fact it is 6 euro a.k.a 8 dollars.
After leaving Versailles, we decided to go the the Galleries Lafayette (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!) It is a huge mall like thing, I mean like 7 stories, and then it has 3 giant stores across the way from it. It was super packed though because it was a Saturday. The first visible floor, because there are some underground) is amazing. It contains all the shoes, make-up, perfume, bags, gloves and scarves. So you walk in, and there is Dior, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Prada, Gucci, Versace, etc. and of course NINA RICCI! What is Nina Ricci? Why my most favorite perfume EVER! I have been waiting 4 years to go back and get this perfume called Nina by Nina Ricci. I bought it last time I was here, 4 years ago, and I sprayed my last drop of it the day I left for France, last Tuesday. I instantly bought it! That is my present to myself! Well one of them :) . The woman at Nina Ricci who was helping me even said my French was quite good! Surprisingly. No really. After that, we got back to the fiap and had dinner one last time :( and later that night we had a very chill wine night with everyone who was still at the fiap (those living in foyers had already moved out unfortunately) and it was wonderful! I adore everyone in my program so much that it is sad that we are all separated now.
The next morning, Sunday, was the day we were to move into our host families. Needless to say I was sick to my stomach with nerves, and I wasn't the only one. At 10 o'clock Dr. Costello and Sean, the graduate assistant, ordered the taxi's and by 10:15 we were whisked away to our families. I was a nervous wreck. I am living in the 15th arrondissement with Madame Ronceau (Pancracio) (yeah you figure that out too she has 2 last names and I didn't know what to call her!) and her son. I now know there names are Murielle, Armand (I think that is how it is spelled? I hope!) and she has a daughter Charlotte who lives in Paris. As soon as I met Murielle, all my French went out the window. No joke. It was like French 101 when I started talking to her. I couldn't understand her - even though I should, and I forgot the easiest words like - often - HELLO SOUVANT?? We say that all the time in class and I couldn't remember it. Oy vay. So we talked for a few minutes and arranged what days we will be eating, Monday and Thursday, where I could put things in "le frigo" the refrigerator, how to use the key - it's confusing, and my room. She left my to pack, and I quickly closeted myself into room to unpack and I am lost it. :( I never thought I would miss the fiap but I did. I missed going next door to talk to someone and having everyone close by. So I unpacked (yes I unpacked everything Mom!) and went on facebook before slowly crawling out to talk to my new host family. Murielle is very nice! She quickly gave me a tour of the neighborhood. I was scared at first but it is awesome! The Franprix, which is a small supermarket is right around the corner, there is a Boulangerie (bread products and desserts!) and a Charcuterie (a deli) legit 30 steps from my apartment building, and the metro is a block and a half AND it is a direct line to the school YES! There are also many restaurants and cafes around here as well. After the tour, she had to meet with her friend, so I took a 2 hour nap (oops!) Caroline called me, and she seemed to be having the same problems I was having with missing everyone and the fiap, so she came to my neighborhood and we went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was quite good! After that I came back and had a fitful night of sleep - probably because i was nervous for my first day of class Monday (today!)
So, today was my first day of class! Art and Architecture from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance in France. But before I had class, I met up with Caroline at the metro to get our Passe Navigo - which is a metro pass. That was interesting, because we were told we could pay with a credit card, but apparently we weren't at one of the "special" stations where you can pay with cred/debit, so we had to run to the atm to pay for the week pass (we didn't attempt the month pass today oy) I still have to go get my picture taken to glue it on my pass. We then met up with Beth and we ran around between our 2 campuses, looking for a stupid school supply store because guess who didn't bring any?? Yeah, that's right, me. So it is 45 minutes until class, after going into the first 2 portions of this store, we finally locate the 3rd entrance where the sell school supplies. Let me tell you, it is expensive!! 5 euro for a thin notebook?? Geesh! So i bought a big journal for 13euro (eek!) and I think it was meant to be like a diary, but it has several ribbon in it to divide it, and I can divide it into 5 sections - so voila I have 5 classes, and now 5 mini notebooks. I win. So with 30 minutes left, and still no lunch, we stop at a sandwich shop to get a student lunch - but Caroline and i did it wrong, so we ended up paying more than Beth - C'est la vie, and we walked the 15 minutes to Campus while eating. It was quite an adventure! Beth and I got to class on time though, so all was good. It seems like it could be an interesting, but it is all in French, as all my classes, and is 3 hours long. Yikes I do not have an attention span to sit through 3 hours of that (yet I have enough to write this ridiculously long blog post -sorry!) so it shall be interesting!
Ok, I will describe my first meal with my host family in my next post because this is getting soooo unbearably long, so until then AU REVOIR!
No comments:
Post a Comment