The Iceland Volcano ruined my flight...still in Paris

Breif Update

HI all! This has been one hell of a week from hell so I just wanted to give a short update before SPRING BREAK tomorrow! On Monday I finally had a good chance to sleep in and then I had history class from 2-5. After class me and Maya headed home because I had my first real dinner with my host family! It was so nice. We had salad and couscous and chicken and mashed potatoes, and then cheese and bread for dessert. Very different than Tango mom style dinners. After dinner was major time to study and work on my papers.

Tuesday was my day off but it wasn't anything exciting like usual. I had to go to Victor Hugo's house in the morning for extra credit. Then I walked around that area and tried to find a bathing suite for spring break. I was completely unsuccessful and bought a shirt instead. I went home and made my self work on my paper and study up until 8:00. I headed out around then to go meet up with the Gumbiners for dinner. We had a really nice dinner at a restaurant called Market, right off the Champs Elysee. Dinner was fun and long and it was so nice to be with some home in Paris. After dinner I rushed home to study hard core for my Theater test.

Theater test Wednesday! My first of three for the week. The test was different than any test I have taken in the States. It was only one page long, even though we had covered so much information. I was really happy with how the test went. After theater Beth helped me edit my paper due for my Paris class. Then I ran home to edit my paper some more and study. At around 6:00 I headed out to go see a play with my program. The play was called "Promenade de Sante." Everyone said it was really good but with my lack of French understanding and my extrememe exhaustion, I really didn't understand most of it. It was only an hour long. It also starred Melanie Laurent. She was one of the main characters of Inglorious Bastards, and she has been in a few other French films I have seen. She's a pretty big celebrity so that's pretty cool. Then after the play I went back to studying.

Today I handed in my two papers for Paris class, that was a nice relief. Then I had my litt test. It was five short answer questions and they were all really opiniony like- who was your favorite character and why? So hopefully I knew enough about the books for it to go okay. After class I met up for dinner with Julie where we found a 3 course meal for 12 euros- pas mal. The food made me sick in the end so I guess we know how they get there cheap prices. That leads me to where I am now. Procrastinating studying for my phonetics test tommorow, and procrastinating packing for Greece and Italy. I start my 16 day vacation tommorow so I will unfortunately be lacking on the blog posts. But don't worry when I come back I will have pages and pages for everyone to read! Get excited!!

Brussles/Brugge

I was trying to come up with something really clever and witty for the name of this blog post but I failed miserably. If anyone has ideas after reading I will surely take them into consideration! Once I finished my post up on Friday morning I packed up quickly for the weekend and then headed off to theater and phonetics. Both classes were good except the unexpected information that we would be having a phonetics test next wee due to some people not taking the class seriously...all I have to say is that when you put me and Caroline and in the back of a room with computers in it, what do you expect? After class I headed to Gare du Nord, train station, and waiting a few hours before hopping on my train to Belgium. It was a very short 1 hour and a half ride and before I could even try to take a nap I was there. Jori had gotten there around the same time as me so we met each other at the train station. After she told me her horreus adventure of actually getting to Brussels (refer to her blog) we were both very happy to see each other. We found out our hotel, "Hotel de France" was a five minute walk from the station. This was very conviently located for both of us. Unfortunaetly we think we were located in a very sketchy area of Brussels, sorry Jackie and Debbie didn't want to tell you that while were there. Maybe it was the people laying in piles of dirt outside the hotel, or the ambulance that gave us that opinion. The hotel actually wasn't that bad when we went inside. We checked in, through our stuff down then went to go explore the city. We walked for about 10 minutes (through a city of what seemed to be all men, let's just say we were holding each other in fear the entire time) and then made it to the Grand Place. This is a big square that has lots of bars, resturants, and stands all around it. The buildings that make up the square are The Brussels Town Hall, The Maison du Roi, and the Guildhalls (i'm not sure what that is). Nevertheless it was very beautifully lit up at night but my camera was dead, bummer. We walked around, both starving, and found a Thai/Chineese resturant for dinner. We both had chicken fried rice. Afterwards we scoped the town and found an open waffle stand and both had our first Belgium waffles. They were waffles with bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate. They were impossible to eat while walking around but so delicious! Exhausted and full we hopped in a cab back to the hotel, and both passed out watching Rat Race at around 12am.We woke up early Saturday morning to start our day and head out to Brugge. Brugge is a city around 35-40min away from Brussels via train. We were hesitant about what it was at first, but we were so happy we went. It is a mideval city, very small and very cute. We walked into town from the station and saw beautiful old churches, buildings, and even a canal system that runs through the town. The church we went into first was a Notre Dame and it was called our Lady of the Blind. There are also Chocolate shops everywhere. On our walk we couldn't help ourselves and went to get some Pralines. Then we looked around the canal areas a bit and made our way over to the frite museum...French Fries! Who knew that Belgium was famous for french fries? Now I know way more I ever want to know about potatoes, ketchup, and oily fats, but the museum was interesting and the best part was the end where we ordered a nutrtious meal of French fries for lunch. After the museum we were so full we couldnt even think about going to the chocolate museum so we passed on that. The road signs are almost as confusing as Paris so we get lost for a while but it was a beautiful day so we didn't mind just walking around and talking. We then walked by another chocolate shop that had chocolate covered fuit. We couldn't resist chocolate covered bananas on a stick...it was so worth it. At least we were eating fruit right? After that we walked towards the train station and went to a monestary. It was free to get in so why not? It was very beautiful as well and has been around since the 1600's at least. We had to be very quiet while walking through, not one of my strong points. After that we exhausted our options in Bruge and took the train back to Brussels.In Brussles we went straight to the Grand Place again. We were on a mission to see a specific fountain. It is this little boy peeing into a fountain and it is a huge deal there! They have everything from chocolate, to wine openers, to toys of this little boy peeing. Very interesting. Once we got their it was very anticlimatic. Except something must've been going on that day because everyone we saw was dressed in scary Halloween costumes. I mean white faces, blood every where, fake teeth, capes, the whole deal. Even the statue was dressed up. Jori wouldn't let me ask someone what was going on, and I was a little afraid my self. Once we left the statue we went to a bar reccomended by Jori's guidebook and tried some Belgium beer. It was very fruity, but still not great. We caught up some more and an hour later lef the bar. We then were trying to find a museum but we realized it was already 6pm so it would probably be closed. We went to an arcade of stores and walked around for a while, and then wandered into a vintage shop/mall/huge place. Jori helped me pick out a pair of cheap sunglasses, it was a success, all besides her trying to bargain for cheaper scarves. After shopping we ended up at the road called Rue de Bouchers. It is a road that is full of resturants with fixed menu prices. When you walk down it the workers try and get you to eat dinner at their resturant. It is very overwhelming. We walked into the first resturant that didn't attack us and had a 4 course meal for 12 euros. It wasn't the best but I was still full from eating so much during the day it was fine. There was also a fight that we heard happening in the kitchen and the power went out at one point, quite the romantic dinner. After dinner we went to find a cinema to go see a movie. Once we finally found one that played English movies we bought tickets and sat down in the comfiest theater chairs ever. We saw the movie Mr. Nobody. It was so strange, I still have no idea what it was about, if anyone out there who reads this blog knows what it was about please let me know! After the movie we hopped in a cab and headed home for the night.

On Sunday the plan was to get up and out by 10. Unfortunaetly that was easier said than done. We were both really tired so we kept pressing snooze and ended up getting out around 10:30 am, not bad. We checked out and left our stuff at the hotel and went back to the Grand Place for the last time. We went to a resturant for breakfast that served bagels. We were both thrilled but feeling like we needed to have one last waffel we split a banana, strawberry, whipped cream waffel. Afterwards we walked around a little more and headed back towards our hotel. There was a giant flee market going on outside so we checked that out. That took around 15 minutes and we still had a ton of time to kill before my train and Jori's flight. We grabbed our stuff and sat around the train station for a while. Once Jori left, to go on another horrendous plane ride home (refer back to her blog), I got some noodles for dinner and chilled until my train came. I hopped on the train at around 5:30 and was in by 7:00. I took a quick nap. I made it home around 7:30 talked with the host parents and Maya for a little and then tried to start doing my homework. Then I found myself writing this blog. This weekend was great and I'm so happy I got to spend sometime one on one with Jori. She's doing so great! I will see here again two weeks from today when I head to Rome. I also didn't realize how French Brussels was, so it was fun going out fo the country but still being able to understand things and communicate with French. Four days till spring break, unfortunately that's also three tests and two papers away. Wish me luck and hopefully the next time you read this it will be about the warm beeches of Mykonos and the gelato of Italy!

Moving

I left you all hanging with Monday night. On Tuesday I had to say good bye to my family :( unfortunately they left at 8:00am, fortunately I didn't have to check out of the hotel room till 3:00pm. I just layed around and lounged all day. Then when I actually had to check out of the room I checked my bags at the front desk and just hung out in the lobby. I started to get very bored but I had a limited amount of time so I just walked up and down the Champs Elysee. It was a really beautiful day out. Then I made my way back to the hotel, ordered a coke, and just say on my computer at the hotel bar until 7. At 7 I started my trek to move all my stuff over to my new host families. I misread the times I was suppose to be there at and two hours later I came home to a very upset woman. I got there very late, and she missed a meeting or something like that. Great first impression right? Well I moved all my stuff inside and then she gave me a tour of the house. It is a two level apartment. Maya's room and my room are on the second floor and we have a bathroom to ourselves which is so nice. The people who live there are a couple in their 70's, but you would never guess that. The dad is very chill and relaxed and the mom is really go go go. It's a funny duo. They seem like nice people, they just don't like me haha. After getting settled I sat with Maya for a little and then did some homework and went to bed.

Wednesday I had theater class bright and early. The best part about my morning is that in my new house, located in the Latin Quarter, I am able to walk to school in the shorter amount of time it would've taken me to use the metro from my old place. Pretty cool. After an excillerating theater class I had to go to Maison Balzac (Balzac's House, an old writer we learned about in one of my classes) for extra credit. I got there, looked around, and then met up with Erin and Caroline for the rest of the afternoon. I think everyone in my program is just so exhausted right now. Next week is our eighth week of classes, which means mid terms and papers galore. We are all also dealing with registration and all the issues that come with that. And it's also been basically our two month point so we are all pretty drained, exhausted, and in need for new adventure. Hense why our afternoon consisted of walking around, window shopping, and just sitting at a cafe. I went home around 3pm and no one was home. I came upstairs and did some homework and checked back down a few hours later to say hello. When I came down it was just, Albert, the dad, and so I watched TV with him. We were watching the news, and I have no idea what was going on but it was still nice to watch some TV. Then Maya came home and we went up stairs. Andree, the mom, came upstairs with us. She looked at my pictures (she thought Hayley was a friend not a sister haha) and then started reading through my homework. She thinks I don't speak French so it's pretty awkward. Then she read my paper and told me how terrible it was. I wasn't too heartbroken because a) it's just extra credit and b) I was forwarned that the French do not sugar coat anything. As my self esteem was shot down the drain for the night, I read some homework and went to bed after that.

Thursday yet again more class. I had Paris class, which was enjoyable. We're reading this really depressing book though, so that makes it kind of sad. Then I had litt class. We watched a movie, and since the movie was so long she made us stay after class. Erin Caroline and I spent our time coming up with seven different ways to die in the class room. If you're interested ask Erin, she was the one with the mind sick enough to come up with that game haha. After class the three of us, and three other girls from the year long program went to happy hour. It was only a happy half hour for me because I went over the the Bastille to meet Julie for dinner. Very sad that we are now a metro ride away from each other. I really enjoyed being so close. Anyways I hadn't seen her in a while so that was nice. She is so tan, which makes me excited for Greece! We went to dinner at a small resturant and I got French onion soup. Then we headed our seperate ways and I came home for the night. More reasons why my host family hates me: I couldn't figure out how to work the key to get inside, my host mom thinks I'm nuts becuase I started to do my homework sitting on my bed and not at my desk so she freaked out and tried to find me a bigger desk and didn't understand that i liked being on my bed (my response was "Vous pensez je suis tres bizzare (you think i'm really weird)), and lastly I was skyping to loud and they came upstairs to tell me that. Awesome right?? Well at least there's only 72 more days till I go home! Peace out France, I'm Belgium bound for the weekend, meaning more exciting post to come!

<--My new desk
Closet and shelf space->

That Time I met Miley...

Wow so I seriously apologize in advance for my extreme lack of posting. Considering the majority of my readers have been with me this whole week I haven't felt the need to blog, and have seriously just been too busy running around! I'll start of with EURODISNEY. I honestly don't even know how to describe this place. It was like the Magic Kingdom in Disney World but miniature. It had every land but like with only a few rides and attractions. And of course everything was in French. The weird thing was the attractions still had some English terms that were the same from America. It was only a 35 minute RER ride outside of Paris. I'll discuss some of the highlights. Space Mountain was a lot different and a lot more intense then in Disney World. It went very fast and the minute it started to shoot off my camera fell out of my pocket. I felt it fall and stepped on it the entire time scared for my life I would lose it. This space mountain had crazy drops and 360 spins but when the ride was over my camera was safe and sound under my foot. I may or may not have been crying though- the workers must have thought I was such a wimp. Some rides we went on that they don't have in the states is Pinocchio's ride and an Indiana Jones Roller Coaster. Both weren't that great. The weather was getting colder and rainier so we decided to head to their other park which was MGM. It was walking distance right next door. Once we got there we went straight to a ride called Crush's Coaster, from Finding Nemo. Hayley and Marley had fast passes so they went in right away. My mom, Kiley, and I stood in line for about an hour in the pouring freezing rain. How fair is that? Once we got on the ride it was worth it. It was an actual roller coaster and really fun. After that we were all frozen so we went inside restaurant and got some hot chocolate. Then suddenly the sun came up so Marley, Hayley and I went on Tower of Terror. After that ride we were all super exhausted and headed home. Once we finally made it back to Paris we went to get some Chinese food and then back to the apartment for some major sleep.

Wednesday was my day to show my family my Parisien life. We started off at Tango Mom's house. I toured them my apartment and then they stopped by a bakery for croissants and pain au chocolates. Pretty typical morning for me. Then we took the metro over to Institute Catholique and we walked around the campus. Then I took them though the Jardin du Louxembourg and over to the IPP building. There they met Sean and we took a quick break from walking. Once everyone was refueled we went to the favorite crepe shop. I think it was a hit with everyone. Then we started to do some shopping down St. Michele. We stopped in some stores and then made our way down to Notre Dame. The minute we got there it started to pour so we saw it super fast then ran to the closest metro station. We took the metro over to the Gallaries Lafayette area, for more shopping of course, and when we left the train it was sunny again. Crazy Paris weather. My family was in awe at the giant department store and after some browsing we headed over to H&M. After we were all shopped out we went back to our apartment area and I made some Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft shapes of course). Hayley, my Dad, and Kiley got some pizza and sushi.

Thursday I actually had to go to class during the day. Marley came to Paris class with me and zoned out the entire time. She made some really nice doodles. Then I had litterature. After 6 hours of class I met up with my family on the ritzy side of Rue St. Honore. We walked around some and then met up with Lauren for dinner at a resturant that charged us 20 euro for sharing food. Let's not get into that, it was pretty ridiculous. When we got back to the apartment Thursday night we had to pack everything and clean up because Friday we were headed to London!

Friday we hopped on the Eurostar in the morning and headed our way to London. Very enjoyable time spent on the train. We had a delicious lunch of tortellini and great service. We also sat at tables so we were able to play bananagrams. We got into London at around 12:00pm. We checked into our hotel and then went to the National Gallaries. This is a big art museum, that reminded me of the Mussee D'Orsay. Lots of impressionism, but nothing I really recognized. After the museum we went over to Harrods, another giant department store. I found a scarf I really liked. While the shopping was incredible, what was even better was the food court. It was huge and had everything you could ever want from Krispy Kreme to Dim Sum. We didn't have dinner there becuase it was closing so we had to head back to our hotel. My mom wasn't feeling well at all so my Dad, Kiley, Hayley, Marley and I went to a Rabbi's reccomendation resturant called Pizza Express. It wasn't comparable to a sabaro like the names sounds. It was pretty good, I had a salad but ate a lot of my dad's pizza and Hayley's pasta as well. Then we walked back to the hotel and all fell asleep very quickly.

On Saturday we woke up early and bought tickets to do a hop on hop off bus tour. The tickets were good for all day so we were able to hop off where ever we wanted and then go back on. Our first stop was on Oxford street for some more major shopping. We got lunch at a place called Carnaby Burger Co. if you couldn't guess it was on Carnaby street. After lunch we went to Hanleys. This was a huge toy store that really brings out the kid in everyone. I think I enjoyed that shopping the most. After being caught up in the toy store we hopped back on the bus. After I few stops we ended up at Big Ben, the Parliament Building, and Westminster Abbey.



We walked around that area and then hopped back on the bus. At this point I was so exhausted I have no idea what else we saw because I fell asleep on the bus. All I know is that we ended up at Buckingham Palace. After a five minute break back to our hotel room we grabbed a taxi and went to quick Italian restaurant. We had to be quick because it was 7:00pm at this point and we were going to see a play at 7:30. We made it to the play with plenty of time to spare. We went to go see the new Andrew Lloyd Weber musical called, Love Never Dies. It is the sequel to Phantom of the Opera and it was fantastic! It was unlike any musical I've ever seen. The music was great but the special effects were unreal. After the show we headed back home and ordered some room service. Then extremely exhausted again went to sleep.

Sunday morning- Happy Easter- from that phrase you can probably guess that the majority of stores and attractions were closed. We were still able to keep our sleves busy though. We first went on the "Magical Mystery Tour." This was a walking tour of highlights of The Beatles career. Some of the stops were Paul McCartney's buisness office. The Palladium Theater where The Beatles played, which was where Beatlemania started. Now they are showing the musical The Sister Act there. We also went to the rooftop where the Beatles performed their last concert. The last place on our stop was Abbey Road. We ended getting a typical Beatles Abbey Road picture but it was easier said than done. The street isn't blocked off at all so cars still drive by even though there are plenty of people standing around wanting to take a picture walking across. We ditched the tour after that point. The tour itself was interesting, and the stories were good, but our tour guide was an absolute jerk and not enjoyable to listen to. After the tour we took the bus over to the Madame Tussaud's wax museum area. We had lunch at a traditional English Pub. My family all ordered fish and chips. I had a salad that they skrewed up twice so I just picked off of Marley's food. Then we went to wait in the long line for the wax museum. The line went by fairly quickly and the museum was really cool. The wax statues look so incredibly real!! It's even kind of scary. We saw a bunch of wax people and then my parents and I went through the haunted house area which wasn't very scary at all. At the end of the museum I regretted not eating lunch because I did not feel well at all. We went back to the hotel and I napped for an hour. Then we went up and went to a cook at your table Japanese resturant which was really good and fun. I had my usual teriyaki chicken but for dessert we ordered fire balls which was cooked ice cream. Very interesting. Then we went home and all fell asleep.

Monday morning we slept in a little. We woke up around 10 and started packing up to head back to Paris. When we were all done shopping we walked over to a store Hayley had been talking about since the minute we arrived in London...Top Shop. this store was unlike anything I've seen before. It was huge and there was so much cute clothes! My sisters bought the store out and I just got shorts and a shirt (totally preparing for Greece). After we left 45 minutes later (which seemed more like three hours) we ran back to our hotel, grabbed our luggage, and bolted to the Eurostar station. We were so nervous we weren't going to make our train. We got on the train with plenty of time and made ourselves comfortable. The food the way back wasn't as good...bummer. After the train ride we took the metro-luggage and all- back to our hotel. I was impressed that they didn't cave in and take a cab. They are true Parisians now! After we checked into the hotel my Mom and I headed over to my apartment. My sisters and my Dad went to buy souvenirs. After I finished packing my stuff up from my apartment (I am switching my living situation, but that's for another post) we went over to drop my stuff off at Lauren's apartment. We sat at Lauren's for around 15 minutes and then took the metro back to the Champs Elysee to meet up with the rest of my family. They were at Haggen Daz. When we got there we ordered some fondue and they brought us out chocolate fondue and little balls of ice cream to dip in the fondue. Definitly an interesting choice for dessert but fun none the less. We headed back to the hotel and I helped my family pack. They are all packed now and most of them are asleep. Since it is 2am right now I am going to be heading to bed as well! Sorry about this long post, I'll be better with my updates once my life goes back to normal. Just some fun things coming up for my blog and that I am really looking forward to: Brussels with Jori, Greece and Italy Spring break!!!

Fontaineblue & Vaux-le Vicomte

That opening picture is our make shift seder plate, but I'll get to that later. I haven't updated my blog in a while and I really am having severe memory loss from the last time I updated. So much has happened in such a short period of time, so I will try to explain all of it, and of course include plenty of pictures. Starting with Friday! My FAMILY came!! Sitting through class Friday was super brutal. I had theater in the morning, and then phonetics in the afternoon. My family arrived in Paris at around 12:30. They had a pretty rough flight. They left Chicago Thursday night, and an hour into their plane ride they had to turn back around and land in Chicago due to technical errors. An hour after that they took off again, so needless to say they were very tired once they got here. I met them after phonetics at five and we hung out in their apartment for a little. Then we ventured off to find a place for dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant. I didn't order anything because I was super excited to eat the Macaroni and Cheese my parents brought from home, but instead I ate off everyone's plate and all the bread so I wasn't even hungry when we got home. After a few rounds of bananagrams we went to sleep because everyone was pretty exhausted.

Saturday I had to wake up bright and early for an excursion to Fontaineblue and Vaux-le Victome, two chateaus about an hour outside of Paris. The first one was a castle of royalty. It was Napoleon's favorite, and that's really all I understood about it. It was very beautiful and the rooms looked very similar to the one's in Versailles. In this picture the two little specs at the top of the stair well are Erin and me! We walked around for a while listening to our audio guides and when we were done hopped back onto the bus to the next chateau. Vicomte was actually a chateau of a commoner. Of course he was a very wealthy and powerful commener, he was not nobel so it's very interesting that he had is own castle. The castle's inside wasn't that impressive-perhaps the manniquens acting out the scenes made it a bit corny- but the outside and the gardens were beautiful. We walked through the inside pretty quickly and then me and Erin just sat in the gardens and talked for a while until it was time to leave again. Then back on the bus for the hour ride back to Paris.





When I got back I hopped off the bus and straight to the Champs Elysee to meet my family. They really had been sleeping due to jet lag since I got back. We strolled down the street, got some ice cream, and then went to my mom's favorite...the Louis Vitton store. Me and Marley were bored and so we decided to do our hair the same to pass off as twins...what do you think?We waited in the line to get in-yes there actually was a line, with a bouncer- and then my mom explored. She found a purse she wanted, and so did Hayley, so they indulged and now have true Paris Louis Vitton purses! We then continued down the road and went to the Arc de Triomphe. My dad, Marley, Kiley and I went up to the top just in time to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Then we ventured back down to find my Mom and Hayley. A metro ride took us back to our area and we had a true French meal, cheese plate and everything. It wasn't great (again I didn't eat in hopes to be hungry for Mac and Cheese) but I did try escargot for the first time! I didn't love it but the sauce was really good. After dinner we got home and of course played bananagrams- no mac and cheese:(

On Sunday I got my family to get up early which, if you know my family, is a HUGE accomplishment. Our first stop of the day was the Bastille market. I introduced my family to Fraise seches, and Comte cheese, both they didn't like. They were intrigued by the market but only ended up getting bakery treats (you can never go wrong with a pain au chocolate). After the market we obviously stopped at Starbucks, but after that we went over to the Marais. A few weeks ago at the Marais music was playing and the place was hopping, but the rain really put a damper on things. It wasn't as exciting, but it is still a great area. We met Julie, Amanda, and Max (visiting) for lunch as L'as du Falafel. Marley, Kiley, and I didn't eat but my Mom and Hayley loved it so it was successful. After that we explored a little but we really didn't want to stay outside becuase of the rain. We went to the Holocaust museum as well. It was interesting, more for me than my family because I can read French, seeing everything from a different perspective. They have some moving exhibits so I was glad we were able to check it out. Poor Kiley was too young and had to sit outside :( After that we headed back home because Hayley, Marley, and I were headed to dinner at Baby Bottles soon. We headed to dinner and got there at 7 for our 14 person reservation. It was nuts but fun to see all the visitors. Melanie and Josh were there, and I even saw Eric Stupinsky- flashback to high school! And Erin, Erin and Caroline our dollar was up!! It was kind of a bust becuase my sisters didn't enjoy the fondue or the wine, but at least they can say they had a going out experience in Paris, that's all that matters right? After dinner I came home and my Mom and I tried to plan the rest of the week. After today I feel like we will just be winging it the rest of the week.

Today we woke up even earlier and headed out to the Louvre. After two hours of standing in line for tickets we finally got in. The night before my mom had circled everything she wanted to see so we tried to hit all those areas. We were pretty succesfful and didn't get too lost. It was so crowded in there. We saw the standards, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and some other beautiful things. After a few hours we went to Angelina's for lunch. While the food wasn't bad, and my family actually liked the hot chocolate, they were not pleased with the French hospitatlity. Just a little culture shock settling in. After lunch we went over to the Eiffel Tower. My dad, Kiley, Marley, and I waited in line for a very long time to go up. We went to the second floor and got a great view of Paris. Afterwards we took millions of pictures and just messed around. Then we walked to the Vel D'Hiv memorial. This was a memorial for the French Jews who were victems of the round up responsible by the French police (not the Nazi's, but under Nazi orders) during the Holocaust. The memorial was little and no one else was there but it was actually very meaningful. The creation of this memorial showed the Holocaust amnesia in France was actually lifted slightly. I personally liked the memorial and was glad I went. After that we went back to our area and was on a frantic search for Seder food. Our guests were arriving at 7:00 and it was 5:30 and we couldn't find any matzoh insight. My dad took a cab over to the Marais frantically but everything was closed, he tried going all over the place, but eventually we told him to come back. Me and my mom found "fruity" red wine... no manishvitz but this was very make shift in general. Then me and Hayley ran out and found rotisserie chickens in a bag that you microwave. We bought three of those, and actually managed to find matzoh at a franprix. Right as we walked in the door all my friends had just gotten there. Lauren, Julie, Amanda and Erin were all guests at the Seder. I was really nervous because Passover is probably my favorite holiday and it is very important in our family but I really couldn't have asked for a better group to come celebrate it. Especially since my dad brought new song books, after dinner all we could do was laugh while singing Jewish paraodies to songs such as YMCA, Barbera Ann, and then some...epic. Then everyone went home and it was off to sleep for us, becuase Isaacson family what are you going to do next? We're going to Disney world! Yup, that's right, Euro Disney in the morning. C ya real soon ( I really hope someone got that reference, maybe a boy that is in his 20s who still works at a camp)!

A Little Taste of Home

As my title says so far this week there have been pieces of home coming up in my daily Paris life, and I'm loving it! On Monday I lounged around till 2:00 for History class. That class really was my favorite from the beginning but it is definitely not holding my interest any more. After class I went with Collie and Maya to Monoprix to run some errands and then I just came back home. I was really exhausted from Berlin. I tried meeting up with Lauren but I went on the wrong metro and then just got confused. I went home to just relax and try and go to bed early. Not quite successful but that's alright.

I couldn't sleep the night before cause I was so excited for Tuesday! That's because Tuesday was when Jen was coming to visit! I woke up super early, caught up on some American television then headed over to the Notre Dame at around 11. I did some homework over there and then met up with Jen at 12:30. We had a really great day of sightseeing. We started at Notre Dame, and did the quick walk through. Then we met up with Lauren and we walked down Saint Michele. We went to my favorite crepe stand where coincidentally class was ending for all my friends so Jen litterally met all of them at one time. A little overwhelming but then we bought our banana and nutella crepes and that made everything all better. We took our food up to the Terrace of my school building (a place I just learned today was off limits for non residences of the dorm). I showed her the beautiful view and we just sat up there and talked for a while. After that we walked through the Jardin du Luxombourg and then I showed her my other school. We hopped on the metro and went over to the Champs Elysee. We walked down it and saw a weird fashion show/music playing thing over at sephora. Only in Paris ha. Then we walked towards the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the 284 steps to the top. Exhuasted we enjoyed the view and took plenty of pictures. After that we went over to Julie and Amandas. After happy hellos and catching up we went to dinner, where at you ask? another crepe place of course. I never thought I would admit it but I was definitely a little creped out by the end of the day. I then went home and got ready to go out. I went back to Amandas and then we went over to Adam's apartment to be with Jen. We were attempting to go to Duplex (my first time!) but they wouldn't let us into the club, bummer. The rest of the night I would rather not discuss.


Wednesday I woke up late and quickly ran to get ready for class and ran there. I ran into Caroline in the metro! That never happens. We were both exhausted from our previous nights so we weren't as excited to see each other at the time. I had theatre class, nothing special. I usually sit in front but I was not feeling that today, I sat in the back and didn't pay attention at all...oops. After class I met up with Lauren and Erin, Beth and I all went for gelato! We went to the Jardin du Luxembourg to eat it and talk. Afterwards we walked Lauren to school and then ran a few errands. Then while walking I ran into Caroline again! The four of us went to starbucks and tried to plan spring break...Greece and Italy here we come!!-maybe. After that I came home for dinner with my host mom and then found myself writing this blog.

I didn't post my blog till Thursday night so I have another day to add! Wednesday night was awesome because I got an email saying my Thursday literature class was canceled! I woke up early and went to Espaces Parisian in the morning. After class me and Maya went over to an Italian restaurant and had some pizza and then got some gelato. After lunch I ran some errands with her, and then I went over to the Institute Catholique. I was waiting for Erin's class to finish because me, Erin, and Beth decided to go to Erin's house for dinner. Her host family is out of town so we made noodles at her place. It was a good dinner and then I had people to walk with to the play for Theatre. We saw the show, Fantasio. I was very exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open the whole time, but from what I saw it wasn't too bad. I didn't understand much becuase it was in French. I came back home after the play and started majorly cleaning/packing for tomorrow.

My next blog title will be "A Big Taste of Home" because my family comes TOMORROW!!!!!