Let's Do the Time Warp Again!

**DISCLAIMER: There might be a few offensive things in this blog today. It is only to explain what one is supposed to do or say at one of these shows. Sorry!

So I am officially 2 weekends behind on my blog - NOT OK. I have so many things I need to blog about, so many details I have forgotten, and I know my few, faithful, wonderful (I could keep going) readers aren't happy that I have taken so long! Sooo sorry! But I am back and equipped with more crazy adventures! I still will behind after this blog, but hey, I am trying!

So, basically I am going to skip over my week of classes, because nothing exciting really happened in class. I am still as lost as ever in my literature class on Thursdays - like I actually have no idea what is going on. I just read the reading, try to understand, and just let her talk her heart away while I zone out and day dream. There is an Algerian girl in my class, whose first language is French, and even SHE is lost in this class. I rest my case. For our excursion in Romantisme this week we visited a Jesuit cathedral called Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Le Marais (my favorite part of Paris!) before visiting the Musée Carnavalet. Usually we meet at 10:15 for our excursions, but that day we were supposed to meet at 11...so a big oops on my part I got there at 10:00, so I just walked around Le Marais, for a little bit in search of a bagel, but alas I did not find one :( I actually preferred it Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis to the actual museum. It is very worn from the outside, but the inside is absolutely beautiful, and it actually houses a somewhat controversial painting by Eugene Delacroix (! did you know that Mom??) After that, we visited Carnavalet. Like I said, I wasn't as impressed as I could have been, but I think it was because of how the museum was set up. I believe it used to be a palace, or super nice home, but it looks like they just slapped the paintings on to these walls with no order or anything. Things were crooked, everything was uneven, varying sizes. The rooms had no scale whatsoever, and being slightly OCD that bothered the heck out of me, and I couldn't concentrate on anything besides the fact everything was disproportional. The rooms themselves were really pretty, so I will give them that. Thursday night, which we have proclaimed "Movie Night", a group of us went to see the movie "La Rafle." No, it does not mean "The Rafle" but in fact "The Round-Up." It was about French Jews in Paris who were "rounded-up" during World War II and sent to a concentration camp in France. This movie was absolutely phenomenal. I didn't understand half of it, because there were no subtitles, but I got the gist of it. Absolutely amazing. Heart-wrenching (I cried I will totally admit it, and I don't usually cry in movies!) I had no idea half these things happened here in France during WWII and was shocked. I also liked how the director wasn't afraid to portray a bad side of France. Most countries do not like to publicize the mistakes their country has made in the past, especially the French. This film should honestly be up for the foreign movie Oscar, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. It is not your typical (used loosely) WWII/concentration camp movie. SEE IT! (with subtitles)

Now, on to the good stuff! Friday night I went out with Ashley, Caroline, and Erin, to this very famous/touristy fondue restaurant in Montmartre. It is very well known for serving there wine in baby bottles. Yes, you heard me correctly. Baby Bottles. I have NO idea how this tradition started but everyone, young and old, love that it comes served in baby bottles! This was my first time ever having cheese fondue, so I was super excited, and it definitely did not disappoint. It was a little bizarre because of course I was expecting cheddar...but I am not in the U.S. anymore they do NOT have cheddar here. I don't know what type of cheese it was actually...they just gave us an endless amount of bread to dip into (which was bad for us, but yet soooo good) The restaurant itself is verrrrry small for being such a touristy place, we were quite shocked, and even though we made a reservation we still had to wait almost a half hour, but the wait was definitely worth it. The atmosphere was so fun, the company was amazing, and the wine and cheese was great! We were sitting next to the "currency wall" where people write messages on their countries currency and then put them up on the wall - being cheap Americans we of course had to put up a dollar bill with all of our names, as a momento (I APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THIS DOLLAR BILL PLEASE DO NOT BE OFFENDED. It is used as an endearing/funny term, not rude or demeaning!) It was just a lot of fun and definitely a place to go if you want to do something touristy and different!

After fondue, we decided to hit the Paris night scene because we haven't really experienced it yet. We went to the 6th arrondissement to go to a bar called The Frog and Princess but it was PACKED! Like, lines out the door! So we went to the Irish Pub across the street called Temple Bar. It was crowded, but luckily we were able to at least walk in to it. Right away someone comes up to us and starts speaking in English (woo!) apparently this is a big hang out for American students. We met this guy from Ohio who goes to West Point who is one of only 2 students from his program here in Paris. I couldn't imagine coming here without the other 25 or so in my program!! I would be so lonely! Anywho, we stayed at Temple Bar, then finally made it over to the Frog and Princess bar. Overall it was a great night out with some of my favorite girls!

Saturday I decided to check out Chinatown with Courtney and Beth. It is located in the 13th arrondissement. It is nothing like the Chinatown of San Francisco or New York. Unfortunately I was not pulled in to so back room, or in some creepy basement, and offered stolen goods from ships, like Coach, Louis Vuitton, Prada, or Gucci. I wish I had been, but alas I was not. I guess I will have to wait until Florence to have my chance at that! Chinatown was a cool place besides that. We went in to an authentic Chinese grocery store and I saw things I have never seen before in my life! It was sooo interesting...and scary. I wouldn't eat half the things they were selling, but it was very cool to see. The offered shrimp flavored chips...ew? After we went to get some Chinese food. I must say, I am slightly disappointed in French Chinese food. I miss American Chinese food so much - it is verrrrry different here. The French lack a lot of flavor in their life, meaning they HATE spicy things or things with lots of different flavors going on. Chinese food here is kind of bland to fit the palettes of French people, unfortunately. That is also why there are no Mexican restaurants here. They are actually opening a Chipotle here finally! But in July...after I leave. Go figure :( Anyway, after Chinatown we rushed home to get ready for

ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW!!! I was a "Rocky Horror Picture Show Virgin" because I, along with many in our group, have never seen Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was QUITE the experience let me tell you. The movie itself is quite interesting, but every Saturday night at this theater in Paris, these actors dress up and act the entire show out while the movie is playing. It was HILARIOUS! They first started off the show with this tribute to the Village People, I have no idea why, but why not! Nothing starts a paty like the Village People and the YMCA, Macho Man, and others! They also taught us all the lingo we have to shout when certain characters' names are said, (I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS AS WELL) but when they say "Brad" everyone in the audience must yell "Asshole" and when someone say's Janet's name, everyone must yell "Slut!" Crazy, eh? They also taught us how to do the "Timewarp" dance -so easy, I am a pro now, and willing to teach when back to the states! What they didn't prepare us for is the fact that during the 2 wedding scenes rice is thrown (I seriously had enough rice in my pockets and purse to feed me for a week!) and during the raining scene water is dumped on the audience! So besides the fact I was sopping and had rice cooking in my pockets, it was a great experience (ok I loved having rice and water tossed at me, won't lie!) I will tell you though, this was one of the most hilarious, raunchiest, ridiculous things I have ever seen in my life. They act this out EVERYWHERE around the world (seriously they showed us the "Sweet Transvestites of the World" video where they have RHPS (Rocky Horror Picture Show - see I am such a pro now I can use the abbreviation) clubs all over the world) but they are definitely more raunchy here. I mean hello, it is France. They definitely couldn't get away with half the things they did here, in the states. No way. But this was definitely an experience and totally worth the 8 euro! Overall this weekend was a MAJOR success! Sunday I did absolutely nothing but homework, homework, and more homework... I have so much work to do here, I have no idea how it all adds up! But don't worry, i am doing it Mom & Dad...ish!

Well, that is all for now, it is 2 am here (oops!) but next blog coming up is about my favorite place ever STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Until then. AU REVOIR!!!!!!

Reims, no Reims... isn't that what I said?

So I need to stop setting deadlines for myself and saying I am going to finish things/write things by certain days, because obviously I fail at doing so every time. hence why this blog is 3 days later than I expected. Oops sorry! I also apologize for such a boring blog last time! I have decided I am going to add more pictures in to my blogs to make them less tedious (but longer hehe!) And believe me, this is going to be a long blog!

This weekend I went to Reims a.k.a Champagne Country!! How does one pronounce the city of Reims, one might ask. Well it is definitely not REMS, as in Rapid Eyey Movement when you sleep, as I thought and said, and got confused looks from my host family. It is in fact pronounced as REHS, but put as much as a French nasal sound to the vowel as you can. Yeah it isn't easy is it? Thus, started a whole day of making jokes about the name, and trying to say it, and Beth trying to correct us every time, bless her heart. Four of us decided to take the TGV, which is a very fast train that goes all around France, 5 others decided to rent a car and drive to Reims. We got their in 45 minutes, they kind of got there in an hour and 15 minutes, but got super lost in the city of Reims, so it was quite an adventure trying to locate them! While waiting for them we turned a corner and BAM there was a beautiful church. Now, at the time we are in the Reims ghetto...literally the ghetto. Ghetto Reims is to the left of the train tracks, and nice Reims is to the right down aways. We thought the Ghetto Reims was the real one, so at first we obviously though this beautiful church was the famed Notre-Dame de Reims, where almost all of the Kings of France were crowned. However, when we went inside, it was super small, but had the most vibrant and beautiful stained glass!

I have never seen stained glass with the colors that were used in these windows. The blues were so blue, the reds so red. You cannot really see from this image, but they were amazing. They lit up the church. Now, notice how I said church. Well, as I stated, it was super, super small. I could not imagine kings getting crowned here, because I doubt there servants or their court could all fit in this place! Notre-Dame de Paris, is gigantic, one would think the Notre-Dame de Reims would be too. Well, as we left the church, we noticed a sign that said "L'eglise de Saint-Thomas" or "The Church of Saint Thomas." OOPS! All four us, Beth, Colie, Krista, and I missed this sign completely - we are so observant. It was still a pretty cool church though! After, we decided to ask for directions to get to G.H. Martel - our first "Maison de Champagne" that we were visiting. Beth and I went into a bank to ask for help, and Colie and Krista went to a Century 21 (they have those here too!) Colie and krista ended up getting directions to a entirely different Maison, so after figuring out we got the right directions, we hopped on the bus (for free, oops!) and found the first Maison.

. \

G.H. Martel was the first Maison we went to. We were so excited to find the place that we of course took a picture with the sign! They took us into the Champagne Caves (see photo above) but first we watched a video all about Champagne. They then took us through the caves and explained how they make their champagne. It was hard to follow, because we were over-achievers and booked the tour in French, so we definitely didn't know a lot of the terminology, but that is ok! And of course the best part of the tour was the Champagne tasting!! (sorry mom & dad!) we tried 3 different types of Champagne -they were ok. I have had better before.

After G.H. Martel, we went to get lunch, but first we FINALLY saw the real Notre Dame Cathedral de Reims! Yes, I promise you it was the real thing this time. It was huge, pretty, and looked very similar to Notre Dame de Paris.
C'est moi in front of Notre Dame de Reims. It was very big

inside and definitely suited for a king. It gave me chills that I was walking where the Kings and Queens of the past walked and were once crowned. I was in absolute awe. It is just crazy to think about it. i am such a nerd, I know, but we were all a little shell-shocked at the fact we were walking the same path past leaders had. What was also really neat was there was someone playing the organ the day we visited! It was HUGE! And it just added to the whole effect of being at the cathedral where history happened. I was waiting for Phantom of the Opera (hehe) music to play but alas, it did not. After visit Notre Dame, de Reims, we decided to get lunch and go shopping! Lunch was not so good - I got pizza bread with crevattes a.k.a little tiny pieces of shrimp. After what happened to me on the plane I cannot eat itty bitty tiny shrimp anymore. I survived, but barely. After shopping we walked to the next Maison, Le Pommery. It. Was. Enormous. it had a castle basically on the property. It is a super famous Maison in Paris.

Because this is a very famous Maison in Paris, it was also kind of pricey for the tour. And the tour was BIZARRE. It started off just like the other tour, but in the rooms in the caves there were weird things like a pink champagne dress from the 1970's on display, and another room had giant rocket thing, and another with a car that looked like a dust vac. We were so confused, and ended making up our own stories about why these were in there. OH how could I forget. There was a room with like 500 jars of Nutella just wrapped and on display. WHAT A WASTE OF NUTELLA. We wanted to steal some, but don't worry we didn't! After the tour we got one, yes only one :( , glass of Champagne, and it was sooo good. Then it was time to say goodbye to the 5 girls who were staying in Reims overnight to go to more Maisons the next day, while Colie, Krista, Beth and I ran to pick something up to eat before our train ride. What did us 4 American girls pick for dinner? Domino's. Of course! They have that here too...and KFC...go figure. We got 2 pizza's and 1.5 liter of something to drink then ran to the train. Let me tell you, it was the funnest train ride ever! I think we were all slap happy after being up since 6am, because we were cracking jokes, singing songs from "The Prince of Egypt" (I still have no idea how this was brought up...) and laughing hysterically the entire time. (no we were not drunk :-P ) It was a great way to end a crazy day! But, we didn't want to leave each other's company quite yet, so we decided to go to a cafe to get something to drink. The first place was a NO-GO! The owners had no teeth and were super creepy, so we ran out of there, and found a super cute cafe which served us the best hot chocolate ever. I am definitely going back!

Sunday was an AMAZING day! I met up with my friend Courtney from University of Illinois who is in the IFE program here in Paris. It is an internship/school program. We decided to visit Le Marais, which is the Jewish quarter in Paris. It. Was. Awesome. Most things are closed on Sunday in France, but Le Marais is a hopping place because their "Sabbath" day or "Shabot" = Saturday in Hebrew, and everything is closed Saturday. It was absolutely packed! We passed loads of bakeries with Challah bread and...ready for it...drum roll.... BAGELS AND CREAM CHEESE! I wanted a bagel sooo bad, but alas I did not get one. There are also a ton of falafel places, including the falafel place where supposedly Lenny Kravits owns the apartment above it/or around it, because he thinks it is the best falafel place in the world! Very cool! Courtney and I became hungry shortly so we decided to go to the restaurant. It was so cute! it has been around since the 1870's (woah!) so the inside is still the old stone wall that it was originally built in. It looked like we were inside a castle. This was a 3 course meal

we started off with Potage du Chef, our soup of the chef, and it was the most delicious vegetable puree soup! So tasty! Then my meal was chicken american style - still haven't figured that one out. Look at the picture on the right - doesn't it look delicious? It was amazing - the best chicken I have ever had! For desert, Courtney and I each had a fruit crumble. Overall it was one of the best meals I have had in France! Our gossiping wasn't over for the day so we decided to walk and find a cafe to sit in chat in, when we stumbled upon "La Perla" which is one of the VERY few Mexican food restaurants in Paris. The French do not like spicy food at all, so they definitely do not like Mexican, hence why it is so hard to find a Mexican Restaurant. We went in for a cocktail and some chips and salsa, and ended up talking until almost 9:30 o'clock. But, does our night stop there? No way jose!

She told me about this place called "Breakfast in America" that serves only American food and it was super close to where we were. Well, we just had to check it out! For being such a popular restaurant it is TINY! But it had a 50's diner flare to it. It was super cute, besides the fact we had to wait outside to be seated because it was so packed at that time of night. We finally got in, and almost died looking at the menu. Milkshakes, Rootbeer floats, hamburgers, chicken fingers, nachos, cheese fries, waffles, pancakes, BAGELS, bacon & scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, hot dogs etc. Everything American you could think. We were in heaven and we definitely splurged a little. We ordered chili nachos (!) to split, strawberry milkshakes, and I

ordered a cheeseburger with cheesefries and I LOADED on the French's yellow mustard (oh how I miss it!) on my burger. Courtney ordered a swiss patty melt with cheese fries. We were in heaven! This is a great place to go to when you are missing America and need some American food. All the waiters and waitresses are American our British, with flawless French accents (lucky ducks). It was like being at home away from home. I can probably go there once a month, just when I need a little piece of America. Next time I am for sure getting pancakes and A BAGEL! I miss bagels sooo much, but it is probably a good thing I haven't been eating bagels here, considering they are so unhealthy! Oh well!

Ok I promise this is finally the end, I am so behind in my blogs, sorry! I am going to be even MORE behind because Thursday I leave for SWEDEN!!! Soooo excited! Maybe I can blog Wednesday but we shall see. In the next blog I will tell about my crazy adventures at a fondue restaurant, wine served in baby bottles, and Rocky Horrow Picture SHow in France (Oh my!) Until then AU REVOIR!!

Classes can be a drag...

Ok, so only ONE day late on my blog posting, but hey in all fairness I didn't arrive home until almost midnight both Saturday and Sunday, so I was just too tired to blog. Sorry! But I last left off on Monday of last week. I had only one class at 2 (woo!) and it was my Art and Architecture class. Right now we are focusing on churches and cathedrals, and the their styles and their "plans" (blueprints basically) I am actually learning a lot in this class, beside the fact I am retaining only 25% percent of what she teaches. There is just way to many vocabulary! But, I find myself looking for and noticing the things she points out in class - which I find fascinating, because like I said I like architecture. The only thing about this class is, it is 3 hours of lecturing. We get a 15 minute break, thank goodness, but it is just a lot of information in a longggg period of time. When I come back to school at U of I, my 50 minute classes are going to be breeze and seem like 15 minutes!

Tuesday, I had Romantisme, which I honestly cannot remember that well, because it was on something we read. I believe I mentionned before, that University of Illinois had to make this class harder, and add a reading/literature component, even though we get NO credit for a literature course if we take this. The readings are not that exciting, and even my professor isn't thrilled to be having to do this (he told us.) You can see his passion lies within the artwork, because he becomes so animated when he shows us sculptures and paintings. But the reading - well quite monotone. After, Kate and i made a made dash across the Luxembourg gardens, luckily both of us made a sandwich to-go so we didn't have to stop anywhere, and met up with Maya for our contemporary French film class. Have I mentioned before that French films can be quite bizarre? or weird? or make no sense. Yeah... we watched a film called Rosetta, which won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Movie Festival in 1999. It is about a 17 year old Belgian girl who lives in a trailer park with her alcoholic mother, and she tries to maintain a job so she can get somewhere in life. It was sad and ended so abruptly. When the film ended everyone was like "what" and our professor laughed. Needless to say, I hope the next movie is much better. The French love their sad movies, I have no idea why. The cool thing about this movie though, is it inspired Belgium to create a law saying all teenagers who work must receive minimum wage - because they were not beforehand.

Wednesday was theatre class, and although it is "only" an hour and a half long, it seems to dragggg byyyy slowlyyyy. My professor is funny, but he hasn't captivated me as much as he did the first day - but maybe that will change. This is the class I have to be on my best behavior in - because of the whole debacle with the earplugs (oops!) I get off class at noon on Wednesdays, so the rest of the day we walked around Paris, stopping at Gibert Joseph, a huge book store, with 4 other stores attached to it selling art supplies, cds/dvds, etc. to get a book for one of my classes, then we went to an umbrella store so I could by a new NOT 5 euro umbrella, that is sturdy enough that it won't break (hopefully!) and then went to Notre Dame...again. I could never get sick of seeing Notre Dame. I keep forgetting my camera though :( I forgot it when I went to Sacre Coeur the other day too! Near Notre Dame, I bought yet another pashimina scarf (hehe) and then we walked to the Hotel de Ville, and then around the Centre Pompidou. We were supposed to go in to visit the Centre Pompidou, much to my disliking, but somehow we ended up not going (yay!) So we walked some more, to get a crepe (woo!) and then I came home to do homework...kind of. I am such a procrastinator (like I am writing this now instead of doing homework.) I just really enjoyed walking around and seeing everything. I would walk around everyday if I could. Yes me. Actually walking and working out in a sense. Shocker I know. But everywhere you turn is a gorgeous building, or a national monument, or a sculpture, or a cool bridge, or a palace, or a garden, etc. You don't find that in Champaign, and definitely not Rockford.

Thursday is one of my longest days. I have class from 10:30 to 5pm, however my day started at the Louvre, so I guess it can't be too bad. During Romantisme, we finished learning about Jacques Louis DAVID, and learned a lot about Antoine Jean Baron GROS and Gericault. I now know how to distinguish between Romantic paintings and Neoclassic paintings - they are very similar because they are overlap during the same time periods. I would never have known the different styles between the 2, but I am slowly learning how to distinguish between them. For instance, in Romantic paintings they almost always have a diagonal structure to them - meaning something in the picture, usually in the middle, is painted in a diagonal form "x" but it can be very subtle. i.e. a horse with 2 legs in the air, a man holding a sword up the air etc. Neoclassic paintings are usually all about being horizontal and vertical "+" i.e. horse standing on all fours, with a man sitting straight on top of him. I know this is not translating very well onto...er...not paper...but the internet (ha)... I would need to show you, but hopefully you can get the gist. I just find it soooo interesting! Who knew I would find art history and such so fascinating (no offense mom!!!) After Romantisme, is the class I dread. French Contemporary Literature. This is 3 hours of absolute torture. The professor is an adorable young French woman, but I swear she forgets she is teaching a bunch of international students. She talks extremely fast, uses so much slang, and drops letters in words like you wouldn't believe (i.e. in English - I want to = I wanna. Yeah they do it in French too.) I start to zone out because I can't handle it after awhile. There is a woman from Algeria in our class, and her native language is French, but she was telling us the other day that she can't even keep up with our professor. After our break, she ready from this packet she gave us for the remainder of the class. I paid attention to .01% of that entire spiel - only because she mentioned Honore de Balzac - one of my favorite French authors. What did I do the rest of the time? Planned my Lady Gaga concert, and like 7 weekends of outings. No one paid attention. I figured I could just read the packet on my own time. It's awful. I have no idea what I am going to do with this class. Oy vay.

Friday was French theatre once more, and it was another, long, hour and a half. After, we walked around, yet again, but in a new direction! No Notre Dame today! Instead, Adam, Brian, Beth, and I headed towards Montparnasse, the only skyscraper in Paris (it's ugly) and walked around there. We lost Adam, not really he just went home, then we walked towards Les Invalides, which is where Napoleon is buried. Oh, and did I mention I forgot my camera AGAIN? Zut alors! It was chilly, but in the sun it was wonderful. After Les Invalides, we started walking towards the Eiffel Tower, and Brian decided to wander around himself, so it was just Beth and I left to fend for ourselves against the street men peddling touristy crap i.e. eiffel tower keychains, lighters, lights, etc. I mean, I will totally get some of this at some point while here - 4 keychains for a euro is a good deal haha, but these guys are ridiculous. Beth and I made sure we spoke French the entire time in front of them, so they wouldn't both us which worked for most, but I seriously have that sign above my head that flashes AMERICAN. They immediately switch to English and start yelling and cat-calling to get our attention to buy their stuff. One, went so far as to try and ggrab my hand to wrap his bracelet around my arm (they trick you into doing this, and then you have to pay a ton of money for the bracelet since it is on you.) I was NOT pleased, but I shook him off and he got the picture. 4 years ago I totally would have fallen for it, but luckily I am more prepared for it now.

Again, this is getting too long, not only because I procrastinated a whole week to write about my week, but also because I tend to be a bit wordy... I always have been oops! So tomorrow (shock!) I will write again once more about my crazy adventures in Reims - Champagne Country!

Dearest Metro, I love thee, but not the fact that you close at 2:30

This is the FOURTH attempt of me writing this blog. I am soooo sorry it has been over a week. I have been trying since Tuesday, but every time I start to write something comes up, or I lose the internet. I lost it for three hours Wednesday, and 2 hours on Thursday. I think it has to do with Skype somehow :-/ the internet here does not like it because it only shuts off when I am using it. LAME. Anywho onto the good stuff,

I totally forgot to mention in my last blog, that each day I am trying to incorporate 5 new words or phrases (or both!) into my French language database, and try and integrate them into my conversations at least once. Hence, the title was Word of the Day: Earplugs last time. However, I have failed to do that the past several days (typical me!) so starting today, on my honor, I am going to (try and) do this everyday. Don't worry I won't post them on here and bore you, BUT remember this one Vas chier! for later.

Thursday was my second dinner with Murielle, and we had this fish that I STILL do not know the name of, but it was good, and this curry/risotto thing, and a raisin tarte. Oh and really good vegetable soup she made by scratch. It was all very good, however conversation was still French 101. It was a bit easier this time, but it is like I forget everything when talking to her. Ugh, I will not be improving much this semester, I can already tell. *sigh*

Friday I had my theatre class and I honestly think he hates me now, or thinks I don't take his class seriously because I woke up after using ear plugs, and I think I slept funny and pushed one a little too far in, because when I woke up I could NOT hear out of my left ear. Like at all. So I sat the entire class yawning and opening my jaw to try and pop it, as well as copying Beth's notes because I couldn't hear a thing. Well after class, he mentioned something to me about being super tired and whatnot. Well it wasn't until after he left it clicked in that he thought I was jetlagged/too tired and couldn't focus OY. But side note I went in early to talk to him and apologize, and he completely understood - he just thought I was jetlagged and he completely understood because the first week is hard on students. So he doesn't hate me...yet *phew!*

Friday night was definitely an interesting night. I did not want to sit in my room...on a Friday night... in Paris, so we met up at one of the girl's dorms to hang out before going to this concert/dance type thing. So right before we are leaving, we find out it is in the 19th arrondissement a.k.a BuFu and near the outskirts of Paris. It is 10:30 at this point. 1 hours later, 4 or trains later we arrive at this place. Europeans love their techno and electronic music, so the music was kind of inbetween that, with something I cannot describe but it wasn't as bad as I thought! Quite enjoyable, and fun it let loose and dance (well I don't dance but the people at this place weren't good dancers either AND they do not dance like we do in the U.S. so it was much easier for me to stand and jump and rock about ha!) Well we leave at 1:30, but we didn't exactly know where the metro was, so we arrived exactly 1 minute after the metro left...the last one of the night. The metro closes at 2:30 on the weekends, meaning it arrives at it's last station at 2:30. So we were in trouble. We decided to take the night buses that run all night. That. Was. An. Experience.

Never again shall I take the night bus! I will leave early, or stay at the clubs til 6 am (JUST KIDDING Mom!) The systems are extremely confusing, EXTREMELY, there are a gazillion stops on each bus, there are no signs telling you which way one goes, etc. The buses are extremely safe though, and the police are always on them making sure you bought a ticket for it (yay Passe Navigo that works on trains and buses!) You also have to do a lot of switching from one bus to another. Like I said, the buses are very safe, the stops however are not so much. Guys are always yelling at girls, harassing them, hitting on them, asking them questions, etc. So that part wasn't fun, but that is where Vas chier! or Allez-y! comes in handy! Allez-y means Go away! Vas chier! means leave me, go away, or if you yell it, it means something a lot stronger. I will let you figure it out. But it works wonders. So we were on the buses forever, and as we are nearing my stop, I notice that the bus driver skipped my stop. Yep, skipped it completely. So we have to continue the bus into the suburb it was going to, hop on the another bus that goes the reverse route, and made sure the bus driver new to stop! It was quite an eventful night, and I got home much later than anticipated, so needless to say no more night buses! I had my one adventure, and that was enough to last me a lifetime.

I absolutely adore the metro though. i am becoming quite a pro at it, knowing when to switch lines, and what stops have what! My line is awesome because it is the closest metro to the Institut Catholique, it drops off right at the Musee d'Orsay, AND Montmartre. Also, it is a block away from my appartment complex. Love it! So if only it would stay open 24 hours *sigh* it opens at like 5 or 5:30am and closes at 2:30am why not stay open those few extra hours? I do not get it!

Anywho, Saturday we met at Sacre Coeur to visit it, Montmartre, and the Moulin Rouge. It was finally a sunny day! and not too cold! We climbed the many stairs to get up the Sacre Coeur and went inside. Sacre Coeur is absolutely gorgeous. It amazes me that way back when people were able to construct such amazing structures like Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, without the technology that we have today to create things. How they were able to conceive these images in their head, as well as know how such heavy things can be supported blows my mind (don't even get me started on the pyramids!) I did not remember the inside of Sacre Coeur at all, and I know for a fact I went in last time, but it is breathtaking. Everything is so ornate, and the colors on the decorated ceiling -wow. How have they lasted so long? Sacre Coeur is a lot different from Notre Dame, beside the obvious being they are two completely different styles of architecture, etc. but Notre Dame is extremely touristy (duh) and you are allowed to talk and take pictures in Notre Dame. Sacre Coeur, however, while still touristy, you must remain absolutely silent, you cannot take pictures, and you may never disrupt any patrons who are praying or if there is a service going on. That is what makes Sacre Couer so special. Just walking around, only by candle light, with it being very quiet. It really makes you think. After we left Sacre Coeur, we went to look around Montmartre for a little bit, and then made our trek down to see the Moulin Rouge. We had no idea where we were going, but that's the fun of it! I didn't get to see it last time I was Paris so I was super excited to see it - especially since I adore the movie! We finally get to the street it is on, and we can't find it. We keep walking and see people taking pictures of something, so we turn around to see and voila! There it was. First reaction: it is SO tiny! Second reaction: this looks kind of cartoony. Third reaction: this is sooooo not like the movie! Where's the elephant? where's the big theatre? where's Ewen and Nicole! (ok, I didn't really think that last part) While I was slighty disappointed, it was still the Moulin Rouge and I got to see it! Don't worry I didn't go inside!

Saturday night, after it being such a lovely day, Ashley, Caroline, Erin, and I decided to go to see the Eiffel Tower, since we hadn't gone yet. I take one step outside, and it is POURING rain. Grrrreat. I meet Ashley and Caroline at the metro stop - but the not the closest one to the tower, and when we arrive at the base of the Eiffel Tower to meet the other Erin, we are sopping wet. Oh did I mention my 5 euro umbrella broke after an hour of usage, so I was more wet than everyone else! That is what I get for being cheap.We take some pictures and decided we were just too cold and wet so we run to a little restaurant for some coffee and tea to warm us up. The rain was relentless, so after an hour of waiting we decide we have to get back home. It looked like I swam through a lake to get home, and my half broken umbrella was useless with the wind that started to pick up. The next morning when I woke up it sounded like a tornado! It was ridiculous. Several hours later is when I heard the a hurricane basically hit here (omg!) and I was out in it, and at the Eiffel Tower that night, the wind reached 108 miles per hour. Holy. Cow. Good thing i made it home in one piece!

Sunday we all met a the MacDo (McDonald's) to discuss our spring break plans! We ended up not booking anything for spring break there, BUT I did book my flight to SWEDEN! Wooo! I am going to Stockholm and I cannot wait! I will put my tentative traveling plans up at the end of this blog sou can be envious of my life (just kidding!) I will be living on baguettes and water for the remainder of the semester with all the things I want to do, but hey! When in Paris!

This blog is getting way to long, and I have to get up at 6am (ughh!) tomorrow to go to Reims (Champagne country!) so I will fill you in on my entire week in the blog I write tomorrow or Sunday, yes I promise I will write! Until then AU REVOIR!

Travelling:

March 6th: Reims, France (Champagne country!)

March 18th-21st: Stockholm, SWEDEN (!!!)
April 1st-5th: Barcelona? Switzerland? London? China (jokes)? we shall see
April 16-24th: GREECE!!!!!
April 24th-May 1st: All of Italy. Hopefully I will be back in Paris by May 1st (cough hint mom & dad cough I need you to buy my ticket from Milan cough)