Le Printemps Arrive! (Spring is Coming)

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Hello!

Wow so its been a long time since my last blog, a lot has happened in the past two weeks; so just to warn you, this is going to be pretty long to cover all that I have done. I hope I can remember everything.

So, the last weekend in February I went and met up with my Uncle Dave and my cousin, Jacob for dinner. It was really cool to see them and to catch up since the last time I saw them two years ago. It was also really nice to go out to a French restaurant because I usually just stick to cooking for myself or going to the restoU. I had fish which was really good, and had tried some caviar for the first time, I didn’t really like it, a little too salty, but I am glad that I tried it. Dinner was great and it was really nice to see a familiar face.
That next Wednesday my group went to the Musee Galleria and got to see all the different types of dresses from the 18th and 19th centuries. It was really cool, especially seeing the corsets and the size of the waists of the dresses because of them. It’s crazy to think that women actually used to subject themselves to that, it cannot be good for your health, but at least the dresses we’re pretty. The next week we went to the Louvre and did a Louis XIV visit, which was basically this crazy old tour guide explaining the meaning of the paintings from Louis XIV’s time. It was pretty cool to hear what the background for the paintings was and how the times affected how they painted.

That weekend I went to a concert with my friend Jasmin and some girls from her foyer. The band was really good, they were French, but they sang original songs in English, it was pretty cool and nice to do something different on the weekend. Otherwise, one of my favorite things to do is to just to get on the metro and see where it takes me. Last week, I took it to the Arc de Triomphe and walked all the way back to my foyer, it took over an hour and a half, but I enjoyed it so much. It’s getting even better now that we are having nicer weather. It was so beautiful today, I can’t help but smiling all the way back from school walking through the Luxembourg Gardens. I can’t wait to walk through more of Paris this spring.

This past weekend I went to London and met up with some friends that I had met on the tour I went on two summers ago. They are living in London so we met up and they took me around and saw a few of the sights like Piccadilly Circus and we did some shopping too =). I bought my first pair of skinny jeans and I would have to say I am quite satisfied with them. Later that night I took “the tube” to Heathrow airport to meet up with Katie, one of my best friends from school. She is on spring break and is staying in London with her aunt and uncle. I got a little lost, and walked around the deserted airport, but then I finally found the right bus to get on after wandering the streets for a bit…travelling is always an adventure! But thank God I made it to the hotel alright.

The next morning Katie and I took the tube into the city and got off at South Kensington. We went and grabbed some lunch at an Italian restaurant and then took headed to Tower Bridge. We walked across the bridge and sat in the park next to it for an hour because it was such a beautiful day. It was really fun to people watch; it’s one of my favorite things to do. I like to pay attention to what people are wearing, it’s weird but there is a really big difference in the way that Parisians dress and the way that British people dress. I’ve found that British people are more eclectic while the French try to follow high fashion. These are just the things I notice and think about when I am in a new place. After enjoying the sun for awhile, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and walked around. Piccadilly Circus is cool; it’s like a mini Times Square. While walking around we saw a group of bagpipers and listened to them for a while. There were a lot of people dressed in green for St. Patrick’s Day because they celebrate it on the weekends since people work during the week.

Later, we walked down to Trafalgar Square, which is my favorite place in London, but it was full of people, there was some kind of concert going on for St. Patrick’s Day. After that, we took the bus to Hyde Park and walked around a little bit and found a nice park bench since we were so tired from walking around all day. Then we headed back to Victoria station to catch the bus to Luton and got a little lost, but we eventually found it. We headed out early Monday morning with a 6 am flight back to Paris, but we got into Paris early enough to show Katie some sights before I had to go to class at 2.

Katie stayed with me for 2 days and we had a lot of fun. We walked down St. Michel and I took her to one of my favorite places to get a Panini, 3 Euros for a Panini and drink, what a deal! I took her to Notre Dame and that was actually the first time I had been in, which was cool. Then I took her up to the Arc De Triomphe and we walked down the Champs-Elysee for a little bit. After class we went to a traditional French restaurant so Katie could get a taste of French cuisine. I had the Beef Bourguignon which was delicious. We headed back early that night because we were so exhausted from such a long day. The next day, St. Patrick’s Day, while I was in class all day Katie went to Versailles with this girl we met at her hostel. Later that night we met up and went out to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, it was so much fun. Apparently the French love St. Patrick’s Day as much as everyone else in the world. It was really great to see Katie even if it was just for a short time.

Later in the afternoon, I went to the Louvre again with my study abroad program. We went to the Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, it was basically a tour from period to period of the interior design and decorating of houses. It was really really cool, and I got to see some things that I had been studying in my art class, like the classic Tiffany’s vases from the art deco period in the early 20th century. I had already studied in my class the architecture of Guimard, a famous architect in Paris, so it was really cool to see how the beds and tables of the time were influenced by his architecture.

After the Museum we went to the ballet,”Le Parc” at the Opera de Paris, which is amazing in itself. The building is so beautiful, filled with wall to wall marble, and marble columns, gold chandeliers. It was beautiful. The opera itself was pretty cool too, it was a love story, which I didn’t follow too well, since there were no words, but it was still really nice. Today there was another strike with the public transportation. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, but the RER B which is the line that runs by my foyer wasn’t running at all. But it was a beautiful sunny day, so the walking was worth it.

I’m heading out for Marseille tomorrow. I am so excited! It’s the one place in France (besides Paris) that I had always wanted to go to since I started learning French. It’s a Port city along the Mediterranean that is home to some an awesome market and the Chateau D’If (If you’ve ever seen the count of Monte Cristo, this is the prison). I am still trying to get everything settled for spring break. I bought all my plane tickets and now I need to book hostels. I am going to Athens, Santorini, Madrid, Barcelona, and Tangier in Morocco. I am so excited and can’t wait, its coming up in less than a month. And I am also really excited for my Mom to come at the end of May. She studied abroad in Versailles when she was a student, so it will be really cool for her to come back to France. Time is flying here and I am getting more and more worried about having to leave. I love Paris and I will probably be bawling on the whole flight home, but I still have two and a half months so I shouldn’t freak out, but I know the time will just fly by.

Well I hope everyone is well as always. Let me know if you have any questions, or any suggestions for things to do in the cities I am going to for spring break. =)

Au revoir!

Katie

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Photos

Castle Beranger Gate
by Guimard

Art Nouveau Piano
Influenced by the Architecture of Guimard