Maissie in Paris!!

Well from the title of the blog you can assume what this entry is going to be all about.  My sister, Maissie, came to visit me during her two week spring break.  It was amazing having her here and getting to share my experience with her.  I unfortunately started my real classes at the Catho while she was here so I couldn’t hang out with all day every day but we still did a lot of stuff together and had a lot of fun.  She arrived on February 20^th in the morning at CDG and I got there early and let me tell you waiting for someone to show up is one of the hardest things to do because you are excited to see that person and just want to see them.  But she arrived and we went back to my foyer; she was thankfully allowed to stay with me since my roommate was still going to be in California while Maissie was here.  It did make things a lot easier having her stay with me instead of her staying on the other side of the city.  The first day she was here we didn’t do much, I went to school and we had dinner and went to bed at a decent hour.  She also came with a bunch of stuff that I had requested that she bring like deodorant (I don’t like the French options) and other stuff like plastic bowls. 

On the 21^st I had school all day, well from 10am to 5pm with an hour lunch break and afterwards I met up with Maissie near Sainte Chapelle.  We then walked over to Shakespeare & Company which is an English bookstore not too far away.

Maissie and I in front of Shakespeare & Co, (I also really like this picture).

Then on Wednesday the 22^nd of February I didn’t have any classes so we went over to the Rodin Museum but they are unfortunately working on the gardens too so that was a major disappointment. 

Maissie in the Rodin Museum

The Rodin Museum, it was rather sunny and warm out which was nice

We then later headed over to the Eiffel Tower and decided to walk up to the second level since well the line was shorter and it was a lot cheaper.  We climbed up 668 steps and boy was it exhausting!!  But it was a nice time and we had some nice views of the city.

View from the first floor on the Eiffel Tower

Another view of Paris

Yet another view of Paris

Our “cousins” came up with us (from left to right: Sam, AJ, Kathleen, and Katie)

Maissie and I resting

Maissie on the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower after we walked back down

The paper cousins (Sam, AJ, Kathleen, & Katie) in front of the Eiffel Tower

Maissie and I in front of the Eiffel Tower

Our paper cousins AJ and Katie in front of the Eiffel Tower

Our paper cousins Sam and Kathleen in front of the Eiffel Tower

Me with Uncle Mike, Dad, Mom, Aunt Jo, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Bob & Aunt Karen in front of the Eiffel Tower

Maissie and I then left the Eiffel Tower area and headed over to Place de la Concorde to see the Obélisque and just the views of Paris.

Maissie and I at Place de la Concorde

The Obélisque at Place de la Concorde

The view of the Arc de Triomphe from Place de la Concorde

We then went home and had some dinner which consisted of PB&Js and some fruit and for dessert we had Girl Scout Cookies.

Maissie making “dinner”

After eating dinner and relaxing for a little bit we headed over to the Louvre because it is open late on Wednesday evenings and so we decided we had to go since we would be out of town that weekend.  So we hopped on the metro and headed on over to the Louvre for an evening of exploring the halls and getting cultured in art.

Maissie and I in the Louvre

They also had an exhibition of American art at the Louvre

I really like this painting by Sir Henry Raeburn, it is called Innocence

This is when we got lost in the Louvre trying to find the French art and Maissie was tired from climbing all those stairs

We came upon Impressionism art like that of Alfred Sisley (one of my favorites)

Maissie and I in front of the Pyramid at the Louvre

The Louvre at night is beautiful

We then went home and were tired from all the walking and stair climbing that we had done that we went to bed so we could get up and be ready for another day, which would consist of school for me from 10am to 5pm.  On Thursday the 24^th of February I went to school all day and that wasn’t very exciting.  I don’t remember what Maissie did but she did something, if you see her she can ask you because she kept a better record of our time together than I did.  Well anyways that evening we went to the Musée D’Orsay and were thankful that Maissie had a special pass for the museums because we got to skip the long line to get in!  We walked around and just checked out the museum, my favorite section was the whole top floor that was dedicated to Impressionism art.  It had all my favorites like Monet, Sisley, Renoir, Degas, and so much more.  It was splendid!  Unfortunately they do not allow picture taking in the Musée D’Orsay so sadly no pictures.  We then were really tired and went home to go to bed so that we could get up early the next morning to go to Marseille and Arles for the weekend with my program.

Highlights from February

Well the month of February has come and gone and we are now into March and I have yet to put up a blog entry about all my adventures during those 29 days.  I am sure you are probably wondering what I did and why it has taken me so long to put up a blog entry for February.  Well in short here is what the month of February was for me: Busy.  I was busy mostly with visiting people back from the States, I also had school and whatnot but I had 3 straight weeks of people staying with me.  But before that a girl from Central, Justine, who is studying in Spain this semester came to Paris for a weekend and I got to hang out with her on Saturday before she went back to Spain.  We visited the lovely Sacré-Coeur and stopped over by the Luxembourg Gardens.  It was freezing but we had a nice time.

Justine and me at Sacré-Coeur

I had school and whatnot and it did snow at one point in Paris which was exciting but it quickly melted.  However, on the 13^th of February my friend Katie, whom I roomed with my spring semester of freshman year, came to visit me for a week before heading off to Germany for the semester.  It was thankfully warmer and we had a nice time walking around and visiting different monuments.  It was also nice getting to catch up since I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half seeing as after our freshman year she transferred to a school in Minnesota.  Katie got to stay with me in my foyer which was a miracle in and of itself because my foyer is very strict on visiting policies but since my roommate was in California they didn’t mind.

Katie and I at the Louvre, it was closed so we couldn’t go in that day but took some pictures

I unfortunately did have school during this time but it was only during the morning so we got to hang out in the afternoon.  We did visit Père Lachaise which is a huge cemetery and has some famous people in it like Edith Piaf.

We did also make it over to Sacré-Coeur

A dreary day in Paris

Walking around Père Lachaise

On Katie’s second to last day we went over to les Jardins de Tuileries

Katie and I enjoying the sun at les Jardins de Tuileries

Katie then left on Monday the 20^th of February to start her adventure in Germany.  It was fun having her around and getting to explore the city some more with a friend.  Hopefully I’ll be able to go out to Berlin and she’ll be able to show me around.  In the next blog entry you’ll get to hear about all my adventures with my sister when she came out to visit me over her spring break!!

The End of January

Well I finished up my classes at the Catho and took some finals, it all went well.  The newbies for my program came at the end of January and it was nice meeting them but I don’t really see them very much.  I also started up my intensive language classes at Ecole Etoile and those went fine.  They lasted for about 3 weeks so it also went into February.  It went fine though and I learned a lot of grammar that is always helpful.  Nothing too exciting happened in the end of January it was just the regular stuff but here are some pictures from when I was wandering around the city just exploring.

A lovely little park/monument that I go past on the bus everyday so I decided to one day go and check it out

After visiting that park I walked over to Place de la Concorde and this is what I saw.  It was just breathtaking

L’Obélisk (center) and Eiffel Tower (to the right), it was just amazing

La Seine et La Tour Eiffel while the sun was slowly setting

Dusk in Paris

On the 28^th of January I went to Sainte Chapelle which is a beautiful church that is tiny and all the walls are covered in stained glass windows.  Three Canadian girls from my foyer went with me and we had a lovely time.  So here are a few pictures from our visit to Sainte Chapelle.

Sainte Chapelle, unfortunately pictures can’t give it justice

The beautiful windows

Some of the stained glass windows

A close up of some of the windows

The next day I decided to go to Place des Vosges but didn’t stay very long because it was freezing out!  I literally only stayed for about 10 minutes.  But I will definitely go back in the spring when it is warmer and flowers are blooming, I am sure it will just be splendid.

Place des Vosges

Place des Vosges, I’m looking forward to visiting it when the weather is nicer

Well the month of January has come to an end and that means that February has begun.  I was super busy in the month of February and it is currently now March!  It is amazing how quickly time flies!  In the next blog entry I will give you the highlights and don’t worry there will be lots of pictures too.

Blah

That is exactly how I’ve felt this past week.  I have been sick since Saturday and it hasn’t changed much.  I went to school and whatnot but other than that I didn’t really do anything this week.  It has been a rather blah boring week and I want to feel better again and soon so that I can go out and do stuff and check out les soldes (the sales) that only happen twice a year.  Ugh, of course I would get the cold that doesn’t want to go away!  Today I have to go out to the grocery store and get some stuff and I am all out of tissues since I need to blow my nose what seems like every 5 minutes.  I also need to go to the pharmacie and get some cold medicine (I am throwing in the towel, I thought it would go away on it’s own but I was wrong).  Ugh, so many errands to run and I don’t want to do them.  It is funny because I don’t want to get up and do things since I just feel blah but I am getting stir crazy from being in my room and I just want to get better and quick so I can go out and do fun things.  This week during one of my bus rides home I had the revelation that I only have 4 months left in Paris for studying!!  That is not much time at all!!  Also since I have been cooped up in my room I have had a lot of time to think, which may not be a good thing lol!  But I did a lot of thinking about how short my time left here really is.  Four months is nothing, there is still so much that I want to learn and do and discover and I am not ready to go back to the States yet; I want another year or so to learn French and learn more about this country and whatnot.  It is just mind boggling to think how quickly my time here is going by and I don’t want to waste a moment of it (and of course I have this revelation when I am sick and am not up to going out and doing grand things).  I was thinking back on first semester (and how quickly it went) and how I struggled with a lot of things like just making friends with locals (and how I am still working on that).  When I first was looking back on that previous semester I was comparing it to other people’s experiences abroad and how they were all making friends and learning lots of stuff and changing and whatnot.  I would then look at my first semester and think, “what happened?  Why didn’t I get that?  Why is it that everyone else seems to be friends with locals or international students and I am still rather friendless?”  But now I realize that I can’t compare experiences abroad because each and everyone has their own unique experiences that come with their own difficulties.  I guess what I am trying to say is that first semester was really hard for me and there were a lot of times when I questioned what I was doing here and had lost sight of why I love French and France.  But the other day I had this “aha” moment and I realized that I have learned a lot (like how to navigate the metro by myself, I remember in the beginning when I was terrified to take the metro by myself) and I remembered how much I love learning French even though it is hard (I still have a lot of room for improvement though) and how much I love France and the culture.  I guess part of me is being all sentimental and reflective because 1) my experience is half way over and 2) the newbies will be coming on Monday and it will be funny to think about how I was in their position not that long ago.

Week 2 Back at School

Well it was my second week back at school after the holidays and not too much went on.  I had school, bénévolat, homework; the usual stuff.  However there were some fun things that I did do during the week.

Lundi le 9 janvier:

Today I ran errands and that evening I went over to the apartment that Ang and her boyfriend, Matt, were renting in Paris while he was here visiting her.  Perry joined us as well and we had chicken fajitas and chips with salsa.  It was all very good.  I was in charge of bringing the dessert so I found a delicious red berry tarte that was so good.  We had a really nice time and just hung out and talked.  I went home around 10:30pm and read a bit before going to bed.

This is the delicious tarte that I found at a boulangerie which is right by my bus stop

Mardi le 10 janvier:

Well I had school today and that went fine.  My afternoon class, Tourisme & Gastronomie, went on a field trip and so that was a lot of fun.  We got to try some different cheeses, some bread, a cup of coffee, and some Berthillon’s ice cream.  It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon despite the fact that it was ridiculously cold and we were all frozen by the end of the walking tour.

Jeudi le 12 janvier:

Today I had my really big language exam and it actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.  We will see how the results turned out.

Vendredi le 13 janvier:

So this morning I did laundry and that wasn’t very exciting but it was necessary!  In the afternoon I went over to Hôtel de Ville and went ice skating with Perry, Ang, et Matt.  It was a blast!  There is an ice skating rink right in front of Hôtel de Ville and it is there during the winter, I am not sure how long it stays there during the winter but nonetheless it has been there since the holidays.  Anyways, I had so much fun ice skating, I had not gone ice skating in years!  I think the last time I went I was down in Kentucky visiting the Medinas.  I was afraid I was going to fall because well it had been a while but I didn’t fall once!  There were a couple of close calls though.  Afterwards the four of us headed over to McDonald’s and each got something to munch on.  It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.  Sadly, I don’t have any pictures but I didn’t bring my camera because I was afraid I would fall and break my camera and I didn’t want to take that chance.

Samedi le 14 janvier:

So I woke up today and wasn’t feeling too well but I got ready for the cultural visit that is run by retired people (whom I do the conversation hour with once a week).  I am glad I went because well it is free and I got to learn about the Quartier Latin de Paris.  There were four other students that came along on this adventure.  We visited a couple of churches and whatnot.  I had fun but it was freezing cold out that morning!!  Towards the end I could barely concentrate because I was so cold!

Musée du Moyen Age (we just walked around the outside of it)

The group listening to Mr. Rondet explain the architecture

Walking through Paris, it was sunny but cold!

One of the churches we visited, St. Eustache, which is right next to la Pantheon

After the tour finished the lady who helped guide the tour with M Rondet invited us four girls over to her apartment for a cup of coffee and lunch.  She lives not too far from Hôtel de Ville.  It was very nice of her to do such a thing.  We got to talk with her and we found out that she has done a lot of traveling and has lived in a lot of different places like Australia, South America, and Japan.  It was so neat to see her apartment because it is full of stuff from all over the world!  She is a well traveled person to say the least!  Afterwards, one of the girls, Jessica, and I went over to BHV, which is a big department store and walked around.  We then walked down rue de Rivoli and just talked.  Around 3pm I went home and went I got home I wasn’t feeling well at all!  I slept for about three hours and woke up and had some dinner.  I then went to bed at 10:30pm.  I was so miserable and could barely even move because I felt so sick.  It wasn’t fun at all.

Dimanche le 15 janvier:

Well today I was feeling a little bit better, I could actually get out of bed and not feel sick to my stomach when I stood up; which was a good thing because I had promised Jessica that today we would go to a museum together in the afternoon.  In the afternoon I met up Jessica at the Grevin Museum, which is the wax museum in Paris.  It was ridiculously expensive so I will not be going back but I can now say that I have gone.  It was interesting though and we had a good time making fun of the wax people, there was George Clooney along with some really gross ones like the history of science in France and a guy dissecting a hand.  I didn’t take any pictures of the gross ones. 

Le Petit Prince, I would have to say this one was my favorite

Even Indiana Jones was at the wax museum

And here is my old pal, Albert Einstein

Afterwards we walked over to l’Opéra and there was a group of students playing music on the steps leading up to the Opéra so we stopped a listened for a while.  We then said goodbye and I went home to take it easy because I am still sick and don’t want to push it.

Students playing on the steps of the Opéra (they were all wearing orange in some way)

I did facetime with my family back home and I got to see my two favorite little guys!  Stephen and Elijah were over at my house for the afternoon and I got to talk with them briefly.  I knew that they would be bigger but they have changed so much especially Elijah!  Oh my goodness, he is running!  The last time I saw him he was only crawling.  It made me realize how much I miss being around little kids and how much I miss the kids that I know back home.  It also struck me that things back home are changing too and when I get back stuff won’t be the same anymore and I am not exactly sure how I feel about that yet.  By July 22^nd, things will definitely be a lot different and I will have to be readjusting to life back in the States.  Ugh, but I am not going to think about that too much at the moment because I still have a semester (4 months) in Paris, a month in Spain, and three weeks with my family exploring more of Europe before I have to get on a plane to go back to the U.S.