SURPRISE!

Hi All!! So before I update everyone on my incredible weekend in Berlin I will start with where I left off in the week on Thursday. On Thursday for my Paris class we started out on a walking tour to see different areas and look at the history behind certain buildings and see why they were built in certain ways. It was really interesting and really nice to spend some time out of the class room. After the tour we had a break then discussed about the book we read for that week, Ferragus. After that class I headed over towards literature class and sat through a lovely three hours of note passing with Erin and Caroline. After class I was really excited because Laura and Paige were coming into Paris for the weekend and this was going to be my only chance to see them. Things got skrewed up in translation and I ended up not seeing them but I hope they had an amazing time! Instead me and Julie went to this resturant called Indiana, which was actually pretty politically incorrect considering there was a giant picture of an Indian on the cover of the menu. It was Tex Mex chain and I got some quessidillas. After dinner I showed Julie to her first gelato experience of this trip and we were both in love. This really was such a bad discovery. After gelato we parted ways and I walked home. Living walking distance from Julie and Amanda really is so great and so nice. After I got home I packed and did some other odds and ends before leaving for BERLIN on Friday!

Friday morning I woke up at 7:30 am jumping up and down in bed. I was just so excited to leave for Berlin and see two of my best friends I haven't seen in months! I sat in bed for a while, made sure I had everything packed and ready to go. Then I headed to class with my suitecase in hand. Not the easiest way to travel around the metro but there aren't many other options. First I had theatre, then phonetics. Both really just consisted of counting down the minutes until my flight left! After phonetics I ran out of the building and went on my journey to the airport...alone. Julie and Becca are very lucky people and don't have class on Friday so they got to go early Friday morning. I on the other hand wasn't leaving till 8:50. So my ride started on the metro, then I went to the RER then the shuttle to the airport. It was quite an extensive journey but totally worth it all. I got to the airport super early so just checked in and got some food (I chose a salad over nutella to go....Paris is making me a changed person) and did some homework. After sitting in the wrong gate for an hour I ran over to find the actual gate I was suppose to go to and hopped on the Berlin flight. Who knew that you could sit where ever you wanted on an easy jet flight. I opted for a window seat, and after what felt like five minutes (more like an hour and a half) I was in Berlin. I was so filled with excitement! I ran off the plane and found a taxi. It was about a 20ish minute trip to the hotel. Once I got to the hotel I put my stuff down in Julie's room and ran up to Marissa and Michelles to surprise them...they weren't there. Okay no worries, I'll try again later, and then later, and then finally I found them! The surprise was absolutly great!! Check out the video on my facebook! They had no idea and we were all so excited and happy to see each other. Unfortunately this all took place around 12:30 am so we were all totally exhausted and went to bed shortly after.

Saturday was the day we all knew we had to prepare for. This was when we were visiting Sachsenhausen. This was a concentration camp just outside of Berlin. A little history- This camp inparticualr was actually set up to be a model camp for concentration camps. It wasn't a death camp as much as a work camp. Regardless this was one of the most interesting/scary/eerie experiences of my life. It was something I was very glad I saw, but my stomach was in knots the entire time. The first thing we saw when we came in was the Tower A which was also the gate to get into the camp. On top of the tower was a clock. We learned that it is actually only a painted on clock becuase when the Soviet's liberated the camp they stole the clock and painted on the time 11:07 which is when the camp was liberated. We also saw things like, where the Nazi would hang out, they called it the Camp Casino, the prisoners called it The Green Monster. Walking into the camp was so strange. It was just surreal considering this is an event I have been learning about since I was born. To see something like this in person was unbelievable. We also saw the special barracks where the Jews were kept, the prison that was for the "special prisoners," and the gas chambers. These were all things that were so hard to see. For me the hardest part of the trip was when we left the camp. It was just weird that it is so easy for us just to walk out. We were affected by the horrors in person for 5 hours and then were just able to leave. As we all know this was not the situation during WWII for these people. That was probably the one thing, that in Julie's words, irked me the most. I really don't have the words to describe these emotions so I will leave it at that.

After the camp we had a 40 minute train ride back to Berlin, and our tour guide gave us some suggestions for dinner places. We decided to go to this place called The BallHaus. It was a ballroom/resturant thing. It was fun. They had great pizza! After dinner we all headed back to our hotel and showered. It was pouring rain ( a common theme of the weekend) and everyone was exhausted. We decided to stay in and all get caught up. We went up to Marissa and Michelles room and just joked around and shared stories about all the things we've missed the past two months from each other lives. It was the perfect way to spend the night. After some hours of that we said our goodbyes and all went back to our own rooms.

Sunday morning we woke up super early and had our breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast wasn't half bad I must say, I have started to enjoy granola a lot more. After breakfast we headed to the Jewish Museum. I was really excited to go there but obviously my stomach started to act up and I couldn't even make it there. Julie stayed with me and once I started to feel better we explored the area of the museum and wandered our way and found Checkpoint Charlie (more about that later). After Becca and Steph (her friend from Texas, studying in London) finsihed at the museum the three of them went to the zoo and I went on the walking tour the other girls took on Friday. Even throughout the rain the walking tour was absolutely awesome! I got to see so many sights and learn so much history, and I was able to navigate myself around the Berlin metro system by the end of the day. The walking tour I took was free and it was called the New Berlin Walking Tour. They have them throughout a lot of cities in Europe. We started the tour at the Brandenburg Gate.This is a giant structure in Germany that has been around since the 1700s I think. On either side of the Gate is the American Embassy and the French embassy. There is a statue on the top of the gate that is a sign of peace. When Napoleon came to power in France he took this statue out of Berlin. Later Berlin got it back and changed the face on the statue. Now it looks as it is either watching over the French Embassy, or giving it a dirty look. That is up for interpretation.Also in this area was Hotel Adlon, made famous for Michael Jackson dangling a baby outside one of the windows. We made our way through Berlin seeing the parliment building and then stopping at a Holocaust memorial. There are many memorials throughout Berlin commemerating the different groups of people that were murdered throughout the war. This specific memorial was dedicated to the lost Jews. It was beautiful site, very interesting a different. After that we headed over to where Hitler's old bunker used to be. It is a now a dirt parking lot that people bring there dogs to, to do their buisness on. It was very scary being on that sight as well. So many terrible plans were enforced on the area I was standing on. What a difference 50 years makes in the same area. After that we saw a memorial called the June 17 Memorial. It had something to do with a ralley between East and West Berlin, I can't remember the actual story, but it happened on my sister's birthday. We then saw the Berlin wall, or at least the remains of it, and Checkpoint Charlie. This is a checkpoint at the wall that was very hard to get through from going from one side to another. Once the wall was destroyed people were able to get through checkpoint Charlie and that's when people really realized that the wall was down. We had a quick break after that for lunch. I ran into a girl who I went to camp with for two years, Melissa Stone. I acually ran into her on the concentration camp tour and then again at lunch. I sat with her and her friends because I was all alone on the tour. After the break we saw the Nazi Book Burning memorial. After that I had to leave the tour early and make my way through the pouring rain back to the hotel.

The metro took longer than expected so the girls met me at the metro stop with my bag. We said good bye to Steph becuase she was taking a seperate flight than us at another airport. Then we made our adventure to Tiegel airport. We took the metro to a bus. Rode the bus for about 30 minutes just to find out that we passed the airport 25 minutes before that point. We hopped off the bus and hopped into a cab. Once we got there check in and security was a sinch. I bought some snacks, and a magnet (my one souvenir haha) and waited for the plane. We got on the plane smoothly, me and Becca actually sat together, and it was a smooth, quick flight home. I then proceeded to go tram, RER, then two metro stops, then I finally made it home! Everything about the trip was totally totally worth it. I was so happy I got to see my friends and all the really incredible things that historical Berlin has to offer.

1 Month Anniversary!

Officially one month ago today I arrived in Paris!! A little teary eyed, very tired, and very lost. I can't believe how in the short span of a month how well adjustment has set in. I am very confident with my metro navigation and with the help of a map I can get almost anywhere (after only getting lost one or two times)! I am also adjusting a lot better to the language barrier. Classes are still confusing but I definitely am catching more and more and little by little pacing things together. So let's talk about my week so far.

On Monday I had a pretty lazy morning-per usual- and then went to my class at 2:00. It was history, nothing too exciting this week, kind of boring, but three hours later class was over! After class I went home for dinner with the host mom. She made me noodles, chicken, and now this time added carrots. I have feeling things will be added very slowly each day to my meals. I really didn't do much after dinner. I had some homework to catch up on and just talked with people from home a little bit. Really nothing too exciting.

So if you remember from last week, a few posts ago, my Tuesdays have been very lame. I was determined to make this one more exciting then the last! I woke up early and headed up to go see La Maison de Victor Hugo. I don't know why I wanted to, but in every class he always comes up so I thought it would be something interesting to see. He lived walking distance away from me. So after a brisk walk I went to his house and walked around his apartment which took all of five minutes. It was pretty interesting because he has written so many of the famous stories we've all heard of (ie Les Mis, Notre Dame). I also learned that he used to write standing up. Nope not from visiting his house, my dad just happened to know that fact. After his house I walked around some more, well a lot. I found this beautiful place and learned it was called Hotel de Sully. It was built in 1642 as a private Mansion. I really didn't learn much more about it, but I have the pamphlet if anyone is curious about it.

After that I hopped on a metro and headed towards school. I was meeting some people to go to a museum after they were done with class but I still had an hour to kill. After window shopping down St. Michele I sat with my book, Ferragus by Borus-oops I mean Balzac, in the Jardin du Louxembourg. It was an absolutly beautiful day out. At two I met Diane and Krista at school and we headed over to the Cite de Immagration- the museum we had to go to for our history class. We had a 16 page packet to fill out. It was pretty brutual. The exhibit would've been cool if we weren't doing work along with it. It was all about the people of French colonies and how they were treated in France throughout the decades and all their history. Well after a long two hours later me and Diane went over to the area where Beth lives and met up with Maya, Beth, Kirsten and Kate for some chinese food!!! It was a great deal. 6.50 euro for 3 egg rolls, rice, a meat, and dessert. It was very delicious but of course we went over to a boulangerie afterwards to get some more dessert. Then I headed home for the night exhausted.

Today was my one month anniversary so to do something special I ended up having a very international food day- I'll explain later. So my day started with Theater at 10:30. It wasn't the best start of the day. Our teacher asked us (in French) to tell him about Moliere (a french playwright). I responded "Il a ecrit beaucoup de comedies" (He wrote a lot of comedies). I guess he couldn't hear me that well, or just heard comedies, cause his response was (in French again) of course I can understand your English but we speak French in this class and then he made me say it again. Well that was the last and first time I will ever speak in class!!! I can't believe my French is so bad it sounds like English!! Well after feeling bad about myself throughout the next hour and a half of class, Erin Caroline and I decided to head out to lunch. We found this Greek street for lunch. I got a pita with chicken and french fries in it. So I'm going to throw it out there that I ate Greek for lunch! That's a huge deal if you know me, and know my eating habitats. We ate lunch outside of the Notre Dame and then afterwards walked around that area. After a lof of walking we collectively decided we wanted Geltao. I knew Lauren knew of a good Gelato place so I texted her and she directed us to a place called Amorinos. It was absolutely delicous! I had yogurt and then chocolate with chocolate shavings. Stellar idea getting that Gelato. So that is why my day included international food.

After I came home from walking around I did some homework and just relaxed and got ready for the night. Tonight we were planning on going out for st. patricks day but so was everyone else in Paris. In green shirts we all met up at the metro station ( I made a pit stop for an egg and cheese crepe first) and then went to find bars. We were very unsuccessful and wound up buying candy and just walking around for about an hour and half. I am back home now, exhausted, and ready for bed! Sweet Dreams!

Sweet Transvestite

Hi all! So Thursday started out as a normal long long Thursday. First I had Paris class, then I grabbed a quick crepe du frommage (I like to think of it as the French version of a quesidilla) and sprinted over to the Institute Catholique for literature. I had to give a presentation on the biography of Victor Hugo in litt. I was so nervous I went up there and was basically shaking and speaking the most broken up French ever. After a very nerve wracking class I headed home to have dinner with my host mom. She made her self duck and green beans, I was very nervous that was going to be on my plate too but instead I got noodles and chicken. Needless to say I was very happy about that. After dinner I hopped on the metro over to Laurens stop. She then hopped onto the same metro car that I was in and we headed down to the the seventh to go meet up with some other IPP people for our Thursday night movie. This week the movie was "Le Rafle" and don't be deceived that doesn't mean the raffle. It actually means the round up and it is about the round up of thousands of Jewish men, women, and even children by the French police during the Holocaust. The movie was definitely a tearjerker but since I couldn't understand a single thing they were saying it took some affect away. The movie theater we went to was actually really cool. There were only two theaters and it was very Asian themed with a big garden outside next to it and everything. These are times that I wish I had randomly brought my camera with me. The movie was good and then we all headed our separate ways home.


Friday morning I woke up and headed over to IPP for theater class. After a thrilling hour and a half of theater, I ran over (not without getting a crepe for lunch-egg and cheese this time!) to Insitute Catholique for phonetics. Phonetics wasn't too bad. We went to a room and had to record ourselves speaking and the teacher was able to spy on us and stop us if we were skrewing something up. After class Friday I ran home, took a very quick shower and got ready very quickly because we had 8:30 dinner reservations for a restaurant in the 18eme which is pretty far north. Caroline, Erin, Erin and I went to dinner at this place called "La Refuge de Fondue." It is a pretty big touristy place. I actually ran into two girls I know from U of I there. The restaurants is famous for delicious cheese fondue and serving wine in baby bottles. The wait was long, even with a reservation, but once we sat down we knew it was totally worth it. The fondue was stellar and the bottles were so fun. They have different currencies from all over the world hanging out around the rrestaurant so we all signed a dollar and made them hang it up! After the delicious dinner we went down to this bar called Princess and the Frog. It was pretty crowded so went across the street and actually met some random guy studying in France from Ohio. After the princess frog bar settled down we headed over there as well. Around 2am we left and all headed back home. I would say it was a pretty successful night!

Now Saturday! This was the night I was waiting for. First off during the day Collie, Diane, Kirsten, Alla and I went to a flee market in the north of Paris. It was huge. We started out with some MacDo and then made our way through the streets of the flee market. It was very overwhelming and no one really bought anything but Diane got a purse. There was nothing that really caught my eye, but I wouldn't be opposed to going back. Everyone (but me cause of the MacDo) was hungry so they stopped for some Chinese food. After lunch me and Kirsten decided to head back home. We first stopped and got nutella and banana crepes at this crepe stand everyone raves about. It was fine, nothing special. I really haven't come across a crepe I don't like yet. So once I got home I took a short nap and then got ready to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show!! I have seen the movie and I have seen the play (hey brian!) but I have never seen them combined. I was so excited for this! We started the night at Tolbiac (Erin's dorm) and all met up to go over to the theater together. Once we got there we all bought tickets and Sean met up with us. When Sean went to go buy a ticket they told him it was sold out. Obviously it was only sold out for boys not girls so I tried to get him a ticket and it worked perfectly..weird? The show started off with a medly of Village People music with people dancing on stage. Then as the actual movie started the antics by the actors were hysterical. The audience got really into it too weather it was throwing rice, or dancing to the time warp. It was really fun and like nothing I have ever seen before. I didn't understand a lot of it because while the movie was in English the actors spoke in French so I will have to check out a performance of it back home. After the show we all just went home because it was already late and we were pretty exhausted.

On Sunday me and Lauren were planning on going to get bagels. We walked all the way to the bagel store just to find out it was closed on Sundays. Bummer. After our failed attempt we just went to Starbucks and had muffins that made us sick. We then ventured to the Bastille Market. This is a huge market open on Thursday and Sunday mornings full of fresh food. Lauren got a lot of healthy foods, mostly veggies, for a salad. I on the other hand got chicken nuggets, dried strawberries, and cheese. After the market we decided to go do something cultural so we went to the Centre Pompidou. The museum from the outside was really awesome. The exhibits on the inside were a little above my head. It is very modern art and I really couldn't decipher most of it's meaning. They had a cool exhibit on collages which Lauren and I both enjoyed. We also went to the top of the museum to see a great view of Paris. We asked a woman to take our picture and she zoomed in only to get our faces in the picture, not the view. Pas successful. After the museum we walked around the Marais on a hunt for bagels. The Jewish quarter was really quite Jewish. They were playing Jewish songs on the street and everyone had yamachas on. I loved it! I went to one place (where i found chopped liver!) and got a bagel. The plan was to save for lunch tomorrow but I couldn't resist and now it's gone :( It was delicious while it lasted. After that we both went home because we were pretty exhausted. Now I've just been looking up hostels, trains, planes, and what not for travel plans and I was getting to frustrated so I took a break to update everyone on my life! I hope all is good everywhere else in the world!

Congrats Hayley getting in the Bandier Program at Syracuse (whatever that is)!!!!!

Mon-Wed

Hi all! Usually I use my blog to procrastinate my homework but I actually finished it all at a decent hour and thought I should give an update!

So Monday...I woke up and like a true Parisian went straight to a boulangerie. I bought a baguette and then stuck it in my purse. I know it's normal in Paris to do that but every time I even took a bite or looked at my purse I couldn't help but giggle. The people on the metro just stared. The baguette in the bag was a good idea initially but then when I finished i realized my purse is now full of crumbs...lovely! So I was off to my first class Monday, history, which I really am still enjoying. After a short three hours of that not much was really going on. I just went back home and hung out. Then I had dinner with my host mom. I felt bad, she had chicken for me but it was very spicey so she ended up just making me plain noodles.

On Tuesday morning I set out to have a Paris adventure. I met Julie at a bagle place with delicious bagels on the same street as me. That was a great find Julie thank you!! After bagels I went back to Julie's apartment and she made plans for my day. I was going to see the Musee D'Orangine. Once I got there unfortunatly it was closed. Wait actually ALL MUSEUMS are closed on Tuesdays! What a lame day to have no class. I ended up walking around the 1eme and then around the Bastille area for a while. Three very cold hours later I ended up back home. First I napped for a very long time. Then I decided to look up everything there is to do on Tuesdays in Paris. I will not be having a boring day again!!

This morning I woke up for my earliest class, theater. It was quite difficult to sit through today but the thoughts of the activities after kept me awake. After class I went to the terrace of the building we have our IPP classes. It was an absolutly beautiful view of Paris. I had a crepe with eggs and cheese in it, very reminicent of an omlette. After lunch Erin, Caroline and I went and did some shopping around the St. Michele area and then by the Galaries Lafayette where they have some bigger store names. I bought a shirt nothign too exciting. After shopping I went over to Julie's for a little while. We wanted to venture out so we walked a while. Julie got to meet host tango lady and see my room which was not very clean. After that we went to a cafe and she had some coffee and I had some chocolate chaud. Then we had to go to Becca Winters apartment for Julie to pick up a book for school. When we walked in she was skyping with Marissa. Cool! After heading back home I have just been sitting in my bed and doing homework ever since. Can't wait for better updated from the weekend!! Hope everyones having a good week!

Le Salon D'Agriculture

So I've started to enjoy the rhythm I have been putting my blogs up at. Every threeish days seem good. Unfortunately my Monday-Wednesday, are not nearly exciting as my Thursdays-Sundays. Regardless hopefully this post will me more exciting, with better stories and PICTURES!

Thursday's are dreadful. So much class, so much reading. I started with my Paris class in the morning and then from 2-5 had my literature class. I think the highlight of my lit class is counting down the minutes till it is over- and the cute old woman that teaches it and wears accessories that match her sweaters. After class I went home and did my homework for Friday. I then had a great dinner of plain noodles (my favorite) with my host tango host mom. After dinner I ventured over to the Bastille and met a bunch of people from my group and we all saw Shutter Island. It was a good movie, and it was cool to have the French subtitles at the bottom of the screen. I definitely learned some new words and had a good time with some really big movie buffs. After the movie it was already late so we all headed home our separate ways.

Friday was another long day of classes. I had theater in the morning from 12:00-1:30 and then phonetics from 2-5. I like phonetics but it gets so embarrassing at times. My French accent really is awful. After lots of class I took a metro ride over to see Alexa and Berg! They came in on Wednesday and unfortunately I didn't get to spend a lot of time with them because of my long Thursday and Friday class schedule. I met them in the 11eme and we walked around a got nutella crepes. After walking for a little while and catching up we ended up at the street I live off of and I walked home from there. It was great to see them, just sucked that I was so busy during the day.

So after I got home I got ready for the night. The U of I people were going to celebrate our own unofficial party. Who would've thought that being abroad would actually semi make me miss the overratedness of unofficial St Patricks Day. We went over to Massina, a dorm some of the people on the program live in, and blasted music and just had fun. We were kicked of the dorm at midnight (Happy birthday Julie!) and was heading over to a bar called Truskell. Once on the metro, I realized it was already almost one and I didn't want to take a cab home, so I just decided to go home and get a good nights sleep.

On Saturday it was Julies birthday (as I mentioned early). Due to unfortunate circumstances her phone was broken so I couldn't get a hold of her in the morning. I knew that we were meeting at Angelinas at two, so I had the whole morning to do nothing before that. I used that time to spend some quality time with my slingbox. If anyone wants to discuss Survivor, The Office, Lost or Modern Family, I am totally caught up!! At two I headed to the first to Rue de Rivioli to go to a really beautiful cute restaurant/tea/pastry shop called Angelinas. It was really nice, and I had heard such great things about it. I will definitely be returning with my family. I got some orange sorbet, shared ridiculously chocolaty hot chocolate with Julie, and caught to try four different types of macaroons (not the kind you're thinking of during passover). It was me, Julie, her friend Jocelyn from home studying in Sevilla, and her friend Emily from home studying in London at lunch. We talked for about two hours then went to go cite see. We went to Notre Dame. The line was so long to get in we snuck in through the exit door and Jocelyn got to see the church. After that we went to a cool scarf shop full of cool jewelry. Everyone got some earrings except for me haha.

After shopping we walked back over to Julies apartment. We debated about where to go to dinner for a while. During that time Amanda and Genna Katz (who was visiting from Florence) came back home too. Caroline also met us at their apartment and was able to meet my home friends. We went to dinner at this little restaurant about a block away from Julie and Amanda's apartment. The waiter was a little nuts. Whenever we wouldn't pay attention to him he would make a Donald duck noise to get us to look at him. Then he totally had a crush on Genna Katz and gave her a pitcher of water only for her. I had chicken and rice for dinner, it was good and definitely not as adventurous as Genna and Amanda's escargot. Dinner was fun and after dinner we all went back to their apartment. We all got ready and decided to go to the same bar I attempted to go to the night before.

We all entered the metro together but somehow leaving the metro wasn't so easy. Caroline, Julie, and I ended up in the bar (which had a ton of potential) and everyone else got lost. After trying to find them for a half hour me and Julie just went home. I had a great day celebrating her birthday with her and was so happy that we got to be together!


So Saturday during the day Lauren texted me asking if I wanted to go to the Salon d'Agriculture tomorrow. Not having any idea what that was I instantly said yes. This is where Sunday's adventure starts. At around 12:30 I met Lauren, her friend visiting, Amy, her roommate Erica, and some other friends from her program at the metro. We took the metro to the 15eme and started our adventure at the Agriculture Fair. This was one of the coolest things I have done so far in Paris. It is this fair that comes once every year for like a week and a half or so (this year it was Feb 27- Mar 7) and showcases different aspects of agriculture from all over France, and all over the world. It takes place at this huge venue that consists of seven pavilions. After we got in at the awesome student discount rate, we started our adventure. We started in the Pavilion called Regions of France.

This was a two story building that had all these booths set up from different regions of France. At each booth they were selling different things. We got to sample free cheese, bread, jam, olive oil, wine, champagne, and many more things that the French have to offer. I think my most ridiculous sample of the day was when I tried roasted Duck and Foi Gras (Lauren can vouch that this really did happen!).

I wasn't a big fan of either but at least I can say I tried it!! After a lot of walking that pavilion we decided it was time to go somewhere new. We went over to pavilion three which was different foods of the entire world. This one would've been a lot cooler if there were free samples. We just walked around and saw what the countries had to offer. It was kinda of like a grown up Epcot center. The next pavilion we went to had cows, sheep, and pigs in it!! After petting the cows and awing over the baby pigs we went to the last pavilion of the day. This one had dogs, cats, horses, and even a donkey in it. There was a cute fake dog show going on and people brought all sorts of pets. After this pavilion we realized it was 6:30 already and we were all so exhausted.

We took the metro back to Lauren's and I made some plain noodles. We hung out around there together for a while and then I came back home because I was so excited to write this blog and show tell everyone about the Agriculture Fair. It definitely felt a little but like Champaign-Urbana in the middle of Paris, but it was still so worth it. I hope everyone had a great weekend!!


Pictures From the Fair:
(1)Lining up our free wine samples
(2)Bread being made fresh
(3)South of France Area (4) Normandie Area
(5) Fountain of Carmel we were just suppose
to stick our fingers under to try it.
Their only rule was you can't use the same
finger twice! (6) Bread that was shaped like challah...very deceiving





(7) Lining up the cups for our champagne tasting (8) Fish Market...Hayley this one's for you

(9) My favorite type of cheese! (10)Sheep!

(11) Lauren and the cow (12) Baby pigs

(13) View of one of the pavilions (14) Crazy looking dogs

No Pictures :(

So it's been a few days since I've posted. I've really been trying to avoid updating my blog because I haven't taken any pictures recently, and how exciting is a blog without pictures? My point exactly! Well I want to document my time here so pictures or no pictures I am updating. I also maybe don't want to read Acts I & II of a dumb play for literature class.

So where do I begin? Monday! I was so excited Sunday night because I knew I would be able to sleep in Monday. Unfortunately my room has a window, which has curtains that are made of see through lace. This means that whenever it is sunny out, I don't get much sleep. That's okay though I would rather miss out on sleep for good weather. So I woke up and then headed to our school cafeteria. There I met up with some friends for lunch before class. Then I had my European history class. I think it's safe to say that it is my favorite class at the Inst Catho. We watched these crazy movies that had remakes of prehistoric men running around. It was pretty entertaining. After class I walked around with Brian, Maya, and Mari for a little bit. We stopped in the Monop (a small division of the Monoprix-my favorite place ever!)and a had some snacks. Then we all had to make our way back home for dinners with our host families. I had a salad with my host mom for dinner and then just hung out in my room the rest of the night swamped with the homework I had due for the rest of the week. After a few episodes of the office later I was sound asleep.

Tuesday morning I was woken up again by the sun, but I really can't complain about that. I met up with Colie at the Marais at around 1:00. The Marais is in the 4eme and is the Jewish/up and coming hip area of Paris. I didn't realize but the Centre Pompidou is located there. It is absolutely the coolest most modern looking building I have seen. I was really excited to go, but then we realized it was closed for the day so I will have to venture over there another day. After walking around and seeing some amazing buildings we stopped for lunch at a boulangerie. I saw this thing that looked like Pizza so I thought I would try it out. After one bite I realized it was goat cheese and was sick for the rest of the day. Don't worry though I bought a pain au chocolate to get rid of the taste. After walking around the marais some more we ventured back over to Saint Michele (where the IPP school is) and went grocery shopping and book shopping. Groceries were a big success, books-not so much. We are all looking for the same books and they have to be a specific version and the bookstore only has so many of each copy. Whatever... Throughout the day we kept running into people from the trip, at this point it was just me, Beth and Colie. Beth was craving a crepe (rightfully so) so we went to our favorite crepe stand and then went to the Luxoumbourg gardens to sit and talk and relax. It was so beautiful out. We ran into Brian at the gardens. He wanted to go find cheap scarves so we walked with him over to Notre Dame, because oddly they have very cheap scarf stands over there, who wudda thought? After scarves we found a upscale pizza place for dinner. Erin, Kate, and Maya met up with us and I had some real pizza, and wine for dinner! Then I went home and skyped with the usual suspects.

Wednesday! Okay so I went over to the IPP school earlier than my class started and bonded with Sean a little bit (desperately needed cause he hates me!). Then I had theatre class, which is still quite enjoyable. After class I met up with a very exhausted Julie and we went to this diner called Breakfast in America. It was so nice to have a cheeseburger and french fries and order in English, and read the menu in English. We had a really good time catching up and I was happy she made it back safe from Sevilla. I told her I wasn't going to be able to hang out all day because I had homework. So what did I do...We ended up hanging out till 5. I walked back to my place from her apartment around 5. It was a very quick and enjoyable walk so I think I'm done with taking the metro over there. Then I came home and really was going to do my homework. But Caroline and Erin were online so I obviously had to discuss spring break with them! Greece and Italy here I come!!!! After a couple hours of that I actually did some homework!! Then I stopped to write my blog. Now I am just staring at the play in front of me not wanting to start. But sadly I have to :(