Blogs from Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 466

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Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 11th 2005

So, just in case you all were starting to get suspicious, I must admit that, despite the general trend of my entries so far, my life here in Paris does not consist exclusively of sightseeing. The majority of my time is spent within the walls of the Lecoq school where I continue to discover and take delight in new things every day. Then I spend a good deal of time in my program classes, which take up 3 afternoon/evenings a week. So of course to balance the amount of work I'm doing, I've had to make great efforts to do as much playing. Fortunately, I have lots of friends to help me out with this. As I would like to note the visitors I get, this first picture is of me and miss Monique, who came ... read more
good times
la musica

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 11th 2005

So here's the other fun and exciting news in my now quite "regular" life in Paris. I decided to go get a haircut with my friend Danielle. We chose a little salon run by this wonderful character of a woman, already recommended to us by another friend. I'm very much enjoying the new look and am constantly tossing my hair about as only a woman with a brand new haircut can do. It was great because it wasn't your run of the mill salon, but rather a funky little place where she'd also sell you purses with buttons, bags in the shape of corsets, or big fake jewelry. And besides her assistant, we were the youngest people there. Plus all the other customers were clearly regulars. 3 older women passed through while we were there, one ... read more
the cuts
that night
with will !

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 8th 2005

Here is a belated entry in regards to the riots and working in the suburbs. As many of you probably know, the rioting took place in the parisian suburbs. The layout of European cities is quite different from that of most American ones in that the nicest, most expensive areas are in the city center, and most of the suburbs tend to be the cheaper, slum sort of area. While I live on the Ile Saint Louis In the middle of Paris, I travel to the northern suburbs in the Seine-Saint-Denis area to teach at my high school in La Courneuve. The different between these two areas is remarkable. The minute I step off the metro in La Courneuve, I see a completely different side of France. The buildings in La Courneuve are not beautiful, not ... read more
one of the apartment buildings
better view of La Courneuve
four of my students.

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 5th 2005

Bonjour mes amis ! Well it is almost Christmas and I can’t believe how quickly this semester has flown by. I am so glad to be staying in France for a full year, and would be very very sad right now if I had to think about leaving Paris. In June I will probably go through some sort of emotional crisis as I try to prepare to leave. But until then, I am thoroughly enjoying Paris and feel like I have so much more to explore and so much more French to learn. This weekend I went to Nîmes with many of the students in my program. Nîmes is about 3 hours to the south of Paris on the TGV (which is the Train Grand Vitesse - or super fast train in France). Part of the ... read more
View from my bedroom
Inside my Apartment
Pont de Gare

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 5th 2005

Well life in Paris continues on quite splendidly. I had a “midterm” last week along with a paper and other work that seem to be piling up on me. From time to time this becomes too overwhelming and I don’t know what to do so I go see movies. I saw “Harry Potter” again on opening night here, which was quite a thrill! The theater was huge and on the Champs Elysées. The Champs Elysées is all decorated right now and every tree is strung with lights and so that in and of its self was great. And then the movie was even better with French subtitles! It was funny to watch and hear the French people respond to the French characters who are in this movie. They all clapped and whooped and hollered when it ... read more
canal or a river, couldn't hear the guide
Pont au Gard
Pont au Gard 2

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 3rd 2005

Great day today...the sun was out, the temp warmed up a little and I was out of the hotel by 9am. Went to the Musee d' Orsay today. This is a great museum with a lot of impressionism painting and awesome sculptures all laid out in a beautiful building which used to be a train station. One of the amazing things is that most all the paitings are within arms length. We're talking Monets, Manet's, Renoir's, Van Gogh's, Cezanne's, Degas....etc...all within a foot away and nothing to stop someone from just ripping them from the wall. Sure, you'd spend some time in jail, but if you really had a wild hair and wanted to, this would be the place to go on a rampage. And they let you take all the pictures you want without using ... read more
The main hall in Orsay
Eiffel Tower at night

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 3rd 2005

Well well well... Where to start on Paris? Im just going to put it out there. Paris was the most filthiest, rudest and downright disgustingest place I have ever been to in my life. Lauren and I are in total agreeance of this. People spit everywhere, pee on the streets, accost you for money or are just plain rude to you. It seems over here to say 'pardon' once you've already shouldercharged someone is perfectly acceptable. I honestly am still in shock that Jennifer Hawkins had said that Paris is her favourite place to go - maybe she just never leaves her 5 star hotel? All I can say is no wonder Paris didn't get the 2012 Olympics. Best decision the IOC ever made!! Well since we had such a shit time in Paris I will ... read more
Eiffel Tower
Armed and Dangerous
Mini me

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris December 2nd 2005

Caught the subway and went to the Louve today. When they say you need a full day for this one, they mean it. The Louve is this huge...I mean really huge Museum. It covers blocks and blocks of Paris real estate. With 4 levels to get lost on, there's really no way to even sprint through the place in one day. The building itself is a work of art and wonder.... Mostly, I wondered where the hell I was. The painting of the Mona Lisa is most popular as you see small directions pointing to her location through the various buildings. She's bigger than a bread box but not by much. Considered the most popular painting in the world, the entire painting is no larger than 1 foot and a half wide by about 2 and ... read more
Louve

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris November 29th 2005

My Love Hate Relationship with Paris !!! Sorry about the shortness of the last entry, as the keyboards are one of the many things I did not like and also went wrong while here!!! This place is probably one of the 10 places in your life you should go to, but I understand how some people could have a love hate relationship with this place. It changed for me like every minute!!! Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the trip. Item 1. Freaking Cold Weather We were unpleasantly surprised to see the some of the coldest weather I have seen anywhere this year; colder than at home! I could see my breath, my gloves were NOT warm enough and the cold just went straight through my pants…Love Paris: 0, Hate Paris 1. Item ... read more

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris November 29th 2005

So these pictures are actually from several weeks ago when the cold here first finally hit. I went to the Palais de Chaillot which hosts the Musee de l'Homme to see an exhibit on birth, "la Naissance" with my friend Danielle. Aside from the creepy life-size doll of a nanny, reminiscent of wax figures that always weird me out, who stood at the entrance pivoting at the waist and darting her eyes side to side, the exhibit was pretty cool. there was everything from smell samples of different birthing environments at different time periods (hospital 1890 v hospital 1960 v home) according to what sterilization methods were used at the time, to the history of midwives (who in french are called "sage-femme" which i love) to the story of the placenta in different cultures, etc. Anyway, ... read more
being bundled
a better view
in the wind




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