Blogs from France, Europe - page 1256

We went to visit David in Paris. Well, David actually lives in Montataire, a tiny town just a 4 Euro train ride and Euro something bus ride from Paris. His town is wonderful. It is small, but he has a little corner grocery store that he goes to that is open to midnight and just run by a mother and daughter. When David first arrived in his town without anything for his studio, the woman actually left him in her store alone to watch it while she ran home to get him pots and pans and silverware. Gotta love small-town living. Then we went to Paris the next day to our friend Benoit’s Halloween party. I didn’t dress up (I don’t really do that), but we had a great time. Then, early Sunday morning, we went ... read more

Bon jour to one and all! The following entry will attempt to convey our time in Paris. Upon arrival we discovered that there had been an ongoing rail strike in Paris for a number of weeks or months. We found a bus, a connection to the Metro (subway) and made it to our tiny and perfect little apartment. It was a great joy to discover that our little place was up a quiet road and just a couple hundred meters to the steps of the Sacre Couer Cathedral. We continually realized our blessing as we saw how easily we could have been stuck in a horn-blaring, party frenzy of a place. There was a fish market (neighborhood) just a few blocks away which would have been an even more flagrant locale. Each day we strode up ... read more

After visiting London's Natural History Museum with my friends, I went to Lille for a short day-trip. I made my way to St Pancras station to catch my train to Lille. I was supposed to go to Lille 2 weeks ago but the trip was postponed due to the French transport strike. Actually the strike was a blessing in disguise, because there's a Christmas market in Lille and it only started one week ago. If I went to Lille 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't have seen the Christmas market. The Christmas market was indeed fun and pretty. There was a giant ferris wheel in the middle of Grand Place and there were many nice little wooden stalls in Place Rihour. However, thanks to the market, the streets were clogged with a massive human traffic jam. In ... read more

I feel like a celebrity when I walk into that school. Every single student in CE2 and CM1 yell out my name: “Emily! ‘Ello Emily!” They cheer when they see me coming in, and they cheer when I come into their classes. When I enter the room, they rush to get out their English notebooks, which they have decorated with American and British flags. They are so excited to tell me what they know, and so excited to learn more. Yes, I have a class of what I secretly and semi-affectionately call hellchildren, but even they are still excited about learning. I feel so loved by them, and I feel like I can reach them sometimes more than their regular teachers, just because of my position coming in only twice a week to each class, and ... read more

Tiden fløj som en svane der strakte vingerne ud og bragte mig langt væk. Lang tid er gået siden jeg sidst fodrede nettet og jer som læser min blog med informationer om min færd igennem livet á Paris. Der er sket så meget og jeg tager mig selv i allerede at have planlagt den sidste måneds tid jeg har i Paris. I morgen flyver tiden, Thomas og Anders til Paris og jeg har fået fri til at være sammen med dem i denne weekend. Det bliver skønt at se de gamle ansigter igen, for det sted hvor svanen har bragt mig hen er et sted hvor jeg kun kan genkalde de ansigter jeg engang omgav mig så flittigt med som omtågede silhuetter, uden bestemte stemmer og ansigtstræk. At genfinde dem og se deres karakteristika igen bliver ... read more