Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Amsterdam
Hello all,
So last weekend was my first time leaving Paris for a trip! I had such a great time despite some transportation setbacks, and the midterm that was waiting for me upon my return. So here is a breakdown of the weekend:
Friday: Since I was going to be in Amsterdam with Courtney on my actual birthday, my friends took me out to dinner Friday night! Even my friend Melanie was visiting from London so it was so nice to have her there! We went out to dinner in the Latin Quarter at a Greek restaurant. I got a Greek salad, chicken kebab, and caramel creme! Then, they informed the little Greek band playing that it was my birthday and they pulled out a platform, made me stand on it with a candle, while they played happy birthday for me! After our dinner, we went to a nearby bar where a bunch more of my friends from the BC program met us! It was so fun even though it meant that I only got 4 hours of sleep that night!
Saturday: SUCH an early morning. I arrived at the train station at 8 am for our train and quickly found Courtney. We got on the train without trouble but unfortunately, when we stopped in Brussels, Belgium, we were supposed to change conductors and the new one wasn't there-- we waited 45 minutes for him and continued on our trip. Later, while we were in the countryside of the Netherlands, the train "lost it's signal" (no idea what that means) but we ended up getting into Amsterdam two hours late-- a 5 hour train ride instead of 3 hours! Courtney and I checked into our hostel which is right in the middle on the city center and got some sandwiches. That afternoon, we walked around the city and covered a lot of ground... Amsterdam is surprisingly a tiny city! We decided to go on a Canal Tour and got some nice views of the canals and the North Sea. The houses are so cute in Amsterdam (pictures below). They also have 2,500 houseboats that floats on the sides of the canal where people actually live! We returned to our hostel, showered and got ready to go out to dinner! One thing about Amsterdam-- the Dutch are much nicer than the French, they all speak English but do so happily, not like we are putting them out by not speaking Dutch! After dinner, we perused the Red Light District a bit but it was pretty gross/trashy and we returned pretty early to our hostel since we were both so exhausted from the night before!
Sunday: We woke up and checked out of our hostel and got breakfast-- the BEST waffles ever! Imagine a waffle, dipped in chocolate, covered in whipped cream and strawberries YUM! Then, we took the "Tram" to the Anne Frank House to see the museum. The line was about an hour long, but it was worth it-- such a powerful museum! It's amazing to walk through the Secret Annex and see the posters Anne hung on her wall. It made the diary so real-- especially seeing the real red, plaid diary in one of the rooms. The stories are horrible but it was inspiring to see that after the horrors she saw and everything she went through, her final words were still, "And in the end, I still believe that there is good in all people." After that museum, we explored the area around her house, grabbed some hot dogs, and I bought a couple souvenirs (postcards & a nice warm hat!) We took the Tram again to the Van Gogh museum which is huge! We spend a good couple hours walking through each room, which was separated by each place he lived while he painted (Paris, Arles, Martinique, Tahiti etc.) My favorite paintings were the sunflowers and the Japanese cherry blossoms. Next, we took the Tram back to the train station, walked around for a while, grabbed some bagels for the ride back (yes they have bagels! +1 for the Dutch!) We then sat in a Starbucks until our train left and actually studied since we both had an exam the next day! The train ride home seemed like it would go without issue until we got to Brussels and there was some type of issue with our train (I don't know what issue because they only announced it in Dutch!) so we followed the crowd to another train heading for Paris and arrived in Paris and hour late!
Overall, I was not pleased with the train rides, issues both ways but that's Europe for you. I really enjoyed Amsterdam, more so during the day when you could appreciate how quaint the buildings and canals are. During the night, its completely different, interesting to see, but at the same time, you can't help but feel that all the bars and drugs have lessened the scenery. When on the train it was easy to pass the windmills and farms and remember that I was in the Netherlands but in Amsterdam, it's easy to forget! I'm glad I got to see the city but I had no idea it was so small- you can truly see everything in two days... I don't feel like I missed out being there 2 days and 1 night! Hope everyone enjoyed their week-- enjoy the pictures below!
The Dutch have far too many vowels for proper pronunciation. Example: the directions to my hostel read: From Central Station, follow Damrack until you reach Ouderkerksplein, then take a left onto Warmoesstraat.
Courtney and I at the famous "I AMsterdam" sign outside the Van Gogh museum!
Me in my new hat-- The Netherlands are a bit nippy in March! The ear flaps on my hat came in handy!
One of my favorite Van Gogh paintings outside the museum...no pictures inside :O(
One of the houseboats that I mentioned above. People really live there as their permanent home!
Anne Frank House/Museum. This is the front, the back was the secret annex so you can't even tell there's anything back there since all the windows were completely covered.
My waffle and I... this tasty treat merited a photo
Our hostel room right in the Center... walking distance from the Red Light District as well... haha
My future Dutch home... their houses are so skinny!
View of a Museum boat from our canal tour!
Taken from a bridge on the canal... I didn't know Amsterdam had so many canals! Must be overshadowed by Venice...
Big fan of the Dutch houses if you can't tell by the number of pictures I took...
So last weekend was my first time leaving Paris for a trip! I had such a great time despite some transportation setbacks, and the midterm that was waiting for me upon my return. So here is a breakdown of the weekend:
Friday: Since I was going to be in Amsterdam with Courtney on my actual birthday, my friends took me out to dinner Friday night! Even my friend Melanie was visiting from London so it was so nice to have her there! We went out to dinner in the Latin Quarter at a Greek restaurant. I got a Greek salad, chicken kebab, and caramel creme! Then, they informed the little Greek band playing that it was my birthday and they pulled out a platform, made me stand on it with a candle, while they played happy birthday for me! After our dinner, we went to a nearby bar where a bunch more of my friends from the BC program met us! It was so fun even though it meant that I only got 4 hours of sleep that night!
Saturday: SUCH an early morning. I arrived at the train station at 8 am for our train and quickly found Courtney. We got on the train without trouble but unfortunately, when we stopped in Brussels, Belgium, we were supposed to change conductors and the new one wasn't there-- we waited 45 minutes for him and continued on our trip. Later, while we were in the countryside of the Netherlands, the train "lost it's signal" (no idea what that means) but we ended up getting into Amsterdam two hours late-- a 5 hour train ride instead of 3 hours! Courtney and I checked into our hostel which is right in the middle on the city center and got some sandwiches. That afternoon, we walked around the city and covered a lot of ground... Amsterdam is surprisingly a tiny city! We decided to go on a Canal Tour and got some nice views of the canals and the North Sea. The houses are so cute in Amsterdam (pictures below). They also have 2,500 houseboats that floats on the sides of the canal where people actually live! We returned to our hostel, showered and got ready to go out to dinner! One thing about Amsterdam-- the Dutch are much nicer than the French, they all speak English but do so happily, not like we are putting them out by not speaking Dutch! After dinner, we perused the Red Light District a bit but it was pretty gross/trashy and we returned pretty early to our hostel since we were both so exhausted from the night before!
Sunday: We woke up and checked out of our hostel and got breakfast-- the BEST waffles ever! Imagine a waffle, dipped in chocolate, covered in whipped cream and strawberries YUM! Then, we took the "Tram" to the Anne Frank House to see the museum. The line was about an hour long, but it was worth it-- such a powerful museum! It's amazing to walk through the Secret Annex and see the posters Anne hung on her wall. It made the diary so real-- especially seeing the real red, plaid diary in one of the rooms. The stories are horrible but it was inspiring to see that after the horrors she saw and everything she went through, her final words were still, "And in the end, I still believe that there is good in all people." After that museum, we explored the area around her house, grabbed some hot dogs, and I bought a couple souvenirs (postcards & a nice warm hat!) We took the Tram again to the Van Gogh museum which is huge! We spend a good couple hours walking through each room, which was separated by each place he lived while he painted (Paris, Arles, Martinique, Tahiti etc.) My favorite paintings were the sunflowers and the Japanese cherry blossoms. Next, we took the Tram back to the train station, walked around for a while, grabbed some bagels for the ride back (yes they have bagels! +1 for the Dutch!) We then sat in a Starbucks until our train left and actually studied since we both had an exam the next day! The train ride home seemed like it would go without issue until we got to Brussels and there was some type of issue with our train (I don't know what issue because they only announced it in Dutch!) so we followed the crowd to another train heading for Paris and arrived in Paris and hour late!
Overall, I was not pleased with the train rides, issues both ways but that's Europe for you. I really enjoyed Amsterdam, more so during the day when you could appreciate how quaint the buildings and canals are. During the night, its completely different, interesting to see, but at the same time, you can't help but feel that all the bars and drugs have lessened the scenery. When on the train it was easy to pass the windmills and farms and remember that I was in the Netherlands but in Amsterdam, it's easy to forget! I'm glad I got to see the city but I had no idea it was so small- you can truly see everything in two days... I don't feel like I missed out being there 2 days and 1 night! Hope everyone enjoyed their week-- enjoy the pictures below!
The Dutch have far too many vowels for proper pronunciation. Example: the directions to my hostel read: From Central Station, follow Damrack until you reach Ouderkerksplein, then take a left onto Warmoesstraat.
Courtney and I at the famous "I AMsterdam" sign outside the Van Gogh museum!
Me in my new hat-- The Netherlands are a bit nippy in March! The ear flaps on my hat came in handy!
One of my favorite Van Gogh paintings outside the museum...no pictures inside :O(
One of the houseboats that I mentioned above. People really live there as their permanent home!
Anne Frank House/Museum. This is the front, the back was the secret annex so you can't even tell there's anything back there since all the windows were completely covered.
My waffle and I... this tasty treat merited a photo
Our hostel room right in the Center... walking distance from the Red Light District as well... haha
My future Dutch home... their houses are so skinny!
View of a Museum boat from our canal tour!
Taken from a bridge on the canal... I didn't know Amsterdam had so many canals! Must be overshadowed by Venice...
Big fan of the Dutch houses if you can't tell by the number of pictures I took...
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Tourism
Hello! Sorry for the lack of blogs the last two weeks. I was sick for about a week and nothing that I did really merited any type of blog. I mostly went to class that week, and slept a lot. I was feeling better by last weekend though, and decided to do a little tourism around the city!
On Friday night, after class I met up with Courtney. We hung out at her host family's apartment then heading over to Montmartre, the artist "village within a city" of Paris. Montmartre actually has some beautiful views of Paris because it is so high up, on a huge hill at the edge of the city. From there, there is a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower, and all of Paris lit up by night. We walked around the area and watched artists painting portraits then Courtney got some gelato and I went for the ham and cheese crepe! After Montmartre, we walked down to Pigalle, where the famous Moulin Rouge is located.
Saturday, I got up and met Renee on the edge of the city at a huge flea market that she heard about. It was pretty cool, lots of scarves, shoes, jewelry, and clothes, but I'm not a huge flea market person so I didn't get anything there. Afterwards, we headed to Pere Lachaise Cemetary which is a famous cemetary in Paris where Edith Piaf, Moliere, Chopin, Jim Morrison, and Oscar Wilde are buried. It was a beautiful day so we walked around most of the afternoon, stumbling upon some very famous tombs! The coolest was Oscar Wilde's. Since he was a such a romantic writer, as a thank you for his work, woman put on lipstick and kiss his grave. His huge headstone is absolutely covered in lipstick marks and comments such as "You are my everything." It was also in the movie Paris, Je T'aime for those of you who have seen it.
Then this past week I had a break (though I didn't even know it!) My coordinator happened to forget to tell our school that we had a break so it was too late to make plans. However, my roommate Amy has her sister visiting so I visited some touristy sites with them this week. My favorite was the Jardin de Luxembourg, which will be absolutely beautiful in the spring when all the flowers are blooming. Right now, there are chairs around a fountain to sit and enjoy the sun. After the Garden, we headed over to a food exposition that had specific foods from different parts of France (Alsace, Nice, Toulouse, Calais etc. etc.) I got some ham that is apparently from the south but it tasted the same to me! Then I got some chocolate ice cream in a waffle CUP (so good). We were so full afterwards, that all we could do was drag ourselves home and watch a movie.
Anways, here are some pictures from the past couple weeks. Up next weekend: Amsterdam!
This is a picture of the Pantheon, near the Jardin de Luxembourg. According to the title on the building, it is where good men are buried. They are currently in the process of moving Albert Camus to this site.
The picturesque Jardin de Luxembourg. It was so sunny out this day, but unfortunately very cold, so we only lasted about an hour. But come spring, I'll be frequenting this park with a book and and a baguette (clearly channeling my inner French)
This is Oscar Wilde's grave at Pere Lachaise cemetary. All the mark are the lipstick kisses of woman who have visited the grave. My friend Renee and I left our mark on the side!
Oscar and I. "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. " (The only Wilde quote I can remember!)
The grave... again :-)
Edith Piaf's grave... she sings "La Vie en Rose" for those who don't know who she is :)
Some of the small monouments to remember those who died in the internment camps during the German occupation in World War II.
Very intense statues... this was in the back of the cemetary so it was eerily quiet....
Jim Morrison's grave
Chopin's grave
This was on one of the newer tombs. The bottom reads: "Tears of love for those who are longer"
The infamous Moulin Rouge
Artists corner in Montmartre
My attempt at an artsy photo... ended up looking more like the Prideland in the Lion King than Paris...
The view from Montmartre
The Sacre Coeur Church at the top of the stairs
On Friday night, after class I met up with Courtney. We hung out at her host family's apartment then heading over to Montmartre, the artist "village within a city" of Paris. Montmartre actually has some beautiful views of Paris because it is so high up, on a huge hill at the edge of the city. From there, there is a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower, and all of Paris lit up by night. We walked around the area and watched artists painting portraits then Courtney got some gelato and I went for the ham and cheese crepe! After Montmartre, we walked down to Pigalle, where the famous Moulin Rouge is located.
Saturday, I got up and met Renee on the edge of the city at a huge flea market that she heard about. It was pretty cool, lots of scarves, shoes, jewelry, and clothes, but I'm not a huge flea market person so I didn't get anything there. Afterwards, we headed to Pere Lachaise Cemetary which is a famous cemetary in Paris where Edith Piaf, Moliere, Chopin, Jim Morrison, and Oscar Wilde are buried. It was a beautiful day so we walked around most of the afternoon, stumbling upon some very famous tombs! The coolest was Oscar Wilde's. Since he was a such a romantic writer, as a thank you for his work, woman put on lipstick and kiss his grave. His huge headstone is absolutely covered in lipstick marks and comments such as "You are my everything." It was also in the movie Paris, Je T'aime for those of you who have seen it.
Then this past week I had a break (though I didn't even know it!) My coordinator happened to forget to tell our school that we had a break so it was too late to make plans. However, my roommate Amy has her sister visiting so I visited some touristy sites with them this week. My favorite was the Jardin de Luxembourg, which will be absolutely beautiful in the spring when all the flowers are blooming. Right now, there are chairs around a fountain to sit and enjoy the sun. After the Garden, we headed over to a food exposition that had specific foods from different parts of France (Alsace, Nice, Toulouse, Calais etc. etc.) I got some ham that is apparently from the south but it tasted the same to me! Then I got some chocolate ice cream in a waffle CUP (so good). We were so full afterwards, that all we could do was drag ourselves home and watch a movie.
Anways, here are some pictures from the past couple weeks. Up next weekend: Amsterdam!
This is a picture of the Pantheon, near the Jardin de Luxembourg. According to the title on the building, it is where good men are buried. They are currently in the process of moving Albert Camus to this site.
The picturesque Jardin de Luxembourg. It was so sunny out this day, but unfortunately very cold, so we only lasted about an hour. But come spring, I'll be frequenting this park with a book and and a baguette (clearly channeling my inner French)
This is Oscar Wilde's grave at Pere Lachaise cemetary. All the mark are the lipstick kisses of woman who have visited the grave. My friend Renee and I left our mark on the side!
Oscar and I. "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. " (The only Wilde quote I can remember!)
The grave... again :-)
Edith Piaf's grave... she sings "La Vie en Rose" for those who don't know who she is :)
Some of the small monouments to remember those who died in the internment camps during the German occupation in World War II.
Very intense statues... this was in the back of the cemetary so it was eerily quiet....
Jim Morrison's grave
Chopin's grave
This was on one of the newer tombs. The bottom reads: "Tears of love for those who are longer"
The infamous Moulin Rouge
Artists corner in Montmartre
My attempt at an artsy photo... ended up looking more like the Prideland in the Lion King than Paris...
The view from Montmartre
The Sacre Coeur Church at the top of the stairs
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Pictures
Hello everyone! So another week has flown by (most likely because I've been dreading this weekend, a paper and a memorized 10 minute presentation due Monday, thank you BC) This week was relatively uneventful. I had my first sociology class (since I missed the first one and the professor didn't show up last week.) It is the history of sociology for 3.5 hours... YIKES! Not too much happened in classes this week, I'm understanding a little more, but sitting in one place for so long is killing me! On Wednesday night, we decided that since this weekend was going to be full of work, we would go out since none of us have class on Thursday. We went out the bluc that rejected us the week before and we gone in since it was "Ladies Night" aka no charge! It was fun to dance with all my friends, so happy to find people who enjoy dancing! I also enjoyed the music so perhaps this could be a fun place to take friends when they come to visit!
Aside from that, I had my Hollywood cinema class on Friday and he made us watch the EXORCIST. Clearly he doesn't know about the fact that I scream in my sleep... But anyways, here are some pictures from the past few weeks of some of the places I've visited (for Mom and Nana) and the people I've met (see I DO have friends!) Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's Day, I'll be spending mine researching French politics....
My roommate Amy and I last weekend when our friends came to visit!
The girls before we went out: {left to right} Erika (my friend who visited from Ireland) Moi, Amy, Marina, and Caitlin
Amy and I in the middle with our two friends who came to visit from Dublin!
At the dance club once we finally got in... Maggie, Me, Caitlin, Amy
View from the top of the Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum that I went to with Courtney... you can see Sacre Coeur at the top!
This would be some of the modern art... I took this photo because it reminded me of the look my BC French professor gives me when I don't know the correct word in French!
More "modern art" a little over my head... I'm not really sure what this is.
This is the museum itself-- built inside out with all the piping exposed!
Yesterday, we went to the Musee de l'Orangerie, located in the Tuilerie Gardens. It' s an impressionist museum, similar to the work in the Musee D'Orsay but with entire rooms of Monet's work. It was so beautiful, that now I'm thinking of taking a day trip in the spring to Giverny, where Monet painted all of his landscape photos like Les Nympheas! This particular photo above is not Monet, however, I really liked the detail and something about the photo just amde me want to take a picture!
Awkward solo shot for the mother... Mom you can even click the picture to make it bigger :-O
This is another one of Monet's paintings (they are HUGE) from his Nympheas collection!
And another, it looks so beautiful especially how the entire wall curves with the paintings.
And this is a picture with my friend Erika who came to visit from Dublin! It was so nice to see her :-)
Aside from that, I had my Hollywood cinema class on Friday and he made us watch the EXORCIST. Clearly he doesn't know about the fact that I scream in my sleep... But anyways, here are some pictures from the past few weeks of some of the places I've visited (for Mom and Nana) and the people I've met (see I DO have friends!) Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's Day, I'll be spending mine researching French politics....
My roommate Amy and I last weekend when our friends came to visit!
The girls before we went out: {left to right} Erika (my friend who visited from Ireland) Moi, Amy, Marina, and Caitlin
Amy and I in the middle with our two friends who came to visit from Dublin!
At the dance club once we finally got in... Maggie, Me, Caitlin, Amy
View from the top of the Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum that I went to with Courtney... you can see Sacre Coeur at the top!
This would be some of the modern art... I took this photo because it reminded me of the look my BC French professor gives me when I don't know the correct word in French!
More "modern art" a little over my head... I'm not really sure what this is.
This is the museum itself-- built inside out with all the piping exposed!
Yesterday, we went to the Musee de l'Orangerie, located in the Tuilerie Gardens. It' s an impressionist museum, similar to the work in the Musee D'Orsay but with entire rooms of Monet's work. It was so beautiful, that now I'm thinking of taking a day trip in the spring to Giverny, where Monet painted all of his landscape photos like Les Nympheas! This particular photo above is not Monet, however, I really liked the detail and something about the photo just amde me want to take a picture!
Awkward solo shot for the mother... Mom you can even click the picture to make it bigger :-O
This is another one of Monet's paintings (they are HUGE) from his Nympheas collection!
And another, it looks so beautiful especially how the entire wall curves with the paintings.
And this is a picture with my friend Erika who came to visit from Dublin! It was so nice to see her :-)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Le soleil?
Last week we had our first SUNNY day in Paris! It was wonderful even though a little cold, I enjoyed the vitamin D I've been missing out on here!
So last week was not too eventful... The good news is that I'm starting to understand more and more of my classes (though also daydreaming more and more!) I have one teacher who teaches History of Cinema, who should truly be a Yoga instructor. She has one of those calm voices that makes you just want to go to sleep and be calm. I'm glad the other BC-ers and I in that class decided to take it pass/fail because we were all a little disconcerted after half and hour passed and none of us had written anything down! But every professor has taken pity on us this week. For every class, I walked up and explained that I am American and still working on my french skills and inquired if there was a possiblity that instead of taking an exam, if I could write a paper instead. They each said yes so that is WONDERFUL!
Wednesday was one of those days you realize the little differences in French culture. My two roommates Amy, Steph and I woke up bright an early, made the 45 minutes trek to Diderot and sat down in class. Fifteen minutes pass and all hte students are sitting in the class, sans professor. After 30 minutes some French students begin to get up and leave and after 40 minutes, we did the same. Apparently here, teachers don't need to email you and inform anyone if they won't be coming on-- they simply don't show up! So we took a walk around the school, grabbed a long leisurly lunch, and waiting for our class that began at 3.
Over the weekend, my friends Erika, Caitlin, and Mike came over from Dublin. Caitlin stayed at our apartment and Erika and Mike stayed at my friend Maggie's. This was probably the best weekend here so far! On Friday, we took them to a popular restaurant/cafe/bar place called the Frog and the Princess and they got to meet some real French students... despite not speaking a word of French! Saturday was a different story but fun nonetheless. We met at Maggie's apartment and decided to go to a nicer dance club since our friends were here. We took the Metro to a popular club walked up, and they opened the exit rope and shuffled us right back out! Apparntly, we didn't fit their "look" for the night and he snottily pointed and Mike's jacket scoffing at his style. Needless to say, we were blantantly rejected and found another club. This time, we pretended like we belonged, walking past the hour plus wait and the bouncer look us up and down and let us in! So I guess that's the trick... anyways, it was a blast and we danced all night, leaving around 5 and took the morning metro home!
This was a great week and it was so fun to be able to show people around! I also had some actual steak when we had dinner Sunday night at a cafe (my cooking skills are subpar so this was a treat!) Overall, I realized how fast my time is going by here and that soon, I won't be able to spend a lazy Saturday perusing the most famous paintings in the world. I know it was a rocky start, but I learned that my coordinator is not exactly helpful and we need to rely on friends when things are different or difficult! It was a fun week and great weekend for bonding with my roommates.
A bientot!
Kerry
So last week was not too eventful... The good news is that I'm starting to understand more and more of my classes (though also daydreaming more and more!) I have one teacher who teaches History of Cinema, who should truly be a Yoga instructor. She has one of those calm voices that makes you just want to go to sleep and be calm. I'm glad the other BC-ers and I in that class decided to take it pass/fail because we were all a little disconcerted after half and hour passed and none of us had written anything down! But every professor has taken pity on us this week. For every class, I walked up and explained that I am American and still working on my french skills and inquired if there was a possiblity that instead of taking an exam, if I could write a paper instead. They each said yes so that is WONDERFUL!
Wednesday was one of those days you realize the little differences in French culture. My two roommates Amy, Steph and I woke up bright an early, made the 45 minutes trek to Diderot and sat down in class. Fifteen minutes pass and all hte students are sitting in the class, sans professor. After 30 minutes some French students begin to get up and leave and after 40 minutes, we did the same. Apparently here, teachers don't need to email you and inform anyone if they won't be coming on-- they simply don't show up! So we took a walk around the school, grabbed a long leisurly lunch, and waiting for our class that began at 3.
Over the weekend, my friends Erika, Caitlin, and Mike came over from Dublin. Caitlin stayed at our apartment and Erika and Mike stayed at my friend Maggie's. This was probably the best weekend here so far! On Friday, we took them to a popular restaurant/cafe/bar place called the Frog and the Princess and they got to meet some real French students... despite not speaking a word of French! Saturday was a different story but fun nonetheless. We met at Maggie's apartment and decided to go to a nicer dance club since our friends were here. We took the Metro to a popular club walked up, and they opened the exit rope and shuffled us right back out! Apparntly, we didn't fit their "look" for the night and he snottily pointed and Mike's jacket scoffing at his style. Needless to say, we were blantantly rejected and found another club. This time, we pretended like we belonged, walking past the hour plus wait and the bouncer look us up and down and let us in! So I guess that's the trick... anyways, it was a blast and we danced all night, leaving around 5 and took the morning metro home!
This was a great week and it was so fun to be able to show people around! I also had some actual steak when we had dinner Sunday night at a cafe (my cooking skills are subpar so this was a treat!) Overall, I realized how fast my time is going by here and that soon, I won't be able to spend a lazy Saturday perusing the most famous paintings in the world. I know it was a rocky start, but I learned that my coordinator is not exactly helpful and we need to rely on friends when things are different or difficult! It was a fun week and great weekend for bonding with my roommates.
A bientot!
Kerry
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
First Week of School
Week 3 (I'm a week behind on my posts due to my lack of internet until now!)
Hello everyone! So I had my first week at the actual French University! On Monday, I had my final for my Boston College Intensive Language Course. I am so glad that is finally over! Here is what the week looked like :-)
Tuesday: First Day of University! In Paris, all students must know by the time they graduate from high school what they would like to major in because the universities here are divided by specializations. For example, I go to the University of Paris VII- Diderot, which specializes in languages, literature, and cinema. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent of communications in France so this is the closest that I can get. On Tuesday, I had my first class- The History of Cinema. When I arrived at the school, I was a little surprised. We had seen the grandeur of the Sorbonne in passing but each university is different. Diderot is pretty small since schools here are solely for classroom use (no dining halls, dorms, school activities, libraries etc.) much different from BC! It was very difficult to understand the professor- I catch about 20% of what is going on and this is the class that I am choosing to take Pass/Fail which is good!
Wednesday: I had my second class Wednesday which was Images of Modern Art (basically art history). This professor was a little scarier than the first one- she does not like whispering in class! Another difference is that each class is three straight hours of lecture! I try not to daydream but sometimes I find my mind slipping...! This class may be a little easier for me to understand however, because we look at pictures of art pieces and I write down the artist and name of the painting to look up later!
Thursday: This was not one of our better days here... we began the day in search for the office to get our "permit to stay." My coordinator told us the wrong metro stop and we walked about 4 miles around the wrong part of the city! Finally, we found it and I headed off to class. I figured this one would be easiest- Introduction to Sociology but boy was I wrong! We sat down in class and she called two students up to give a 30 minute debate with each other on the sociology of whether or not suicide was egotistical or not (I think!!) I realized that this class was far beyond my comprehension and left after an hour and half explaining that I needed to find a new class. Luckily, my coordinator said that's normal and I can switch into a sociology class that is 3 hours of lecture instead of divided into lecture and discussion.
Friday: Today I only had one class, Hollywood Cinema! I actually enjoyed this class- the professor seemed nice. I found another girl from America in the class and the professor told us that he would give us an alternate assignment instead of making us take a midterm which would be extremely difficult! Again, understanding 1/5 of what is going on is disconcerting but at least the film clips that we watch for about 20 minutes of each class are in English-- thus the Hollywood Cinema choice on my part!
As for some fun stuff, on Wednesday night, I got dinner with my friends Courtney and Renee from high school and it wa a blast! It's so nice to have them here and laugh with them! We grabbed some sandwiches and just talked for a good while. On Friday night, I had my friend Annie over for dinner and we hung out that night, watched Grey's Anatomy. Saturday, I got up and met up with Courtney at the Centres Pompidou, which is a building that was build inside out (with all the piping exposed) that is a) A modern art museum and B) Has this tube that you can walk through for excellent views of the city. The best part is that all the museums in France are free to European students so it was GRATUIT :-) The museum was very...modern and to tell you the truth, I don't really understand modern art but it was fun to just walk around with Court. After the museum, we took some pictures from the top and went shopping! I got a new purse and Courtney got some shoes! Overall, it was a great day then I went back and hung out at her apartment because her host family was gone for the weekend.
Sunday: Sundays are always really calm here since everything is closed. The highlight of the day was that I found a tiny store open and got a baguette haha. Overall, I slept in, organized my room, and did some catching up on emails and skype with the family :-)
Pictures are refusing to load so I will post them later!
Hello everyone! So I had my first week at the actual French University! On Monday, I had my final for my Boston College Intensive Language Course. I am so glad that is finally over! Here is what the week looked like :-)
Tuesday: First Day of University! In Paris, all students must know by the time they graduate from high school what they would like to major in because the universities here are divided by specializations. For example, I go to the University of Paris VII- Diderot, which specializes in languages, literature, and cinema. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent of communications in France so this is the closest that I can get. On Tuesday, I had my first class- The History of Cinema. When I arrived at the school, I was a little surprised. We had seen the grandeur of the Sorbonne in passing but each university is different. Diderot is pretty small since schools here are solely for classroom use (no dining halls, dorms, school activities, libraries etc.) much different from BC! It was very difficult to understand the professor- I catch about 20% of what is going on and this is the class that I am choosing to take Pass/Fail which is good!
Wednesday: I had my second class Wednesday which was Images of Modern Art (basically art history). This professor was a little scarier than the first one- she does not like whispering in class! Another difference is that each class is three straight hours of lecture! I try not to daydream but sometimes I find my mind slipping...! This class may be a little easier for me to understand however, because we look at pictures of art pieces and I write down the artist and name of the painting to look up later!
Thursday: This was not one of our better days here... we began the day in search for the office to get our "permit to stay." My coordinator told us the wrong metro stop and we walked about 4 miles around the wrong part of the city! Finally, we found it and I headed off to class. I figured this one would be easiest- Introduction to Sociology but boy was I wrong! We sat down in class and she called two students up to give a 30 minute debate with each other on the sociology of whether or not suicide was egotistical or not (I think!!) I realized that this class was far beyond my comprehension and left after an hour and half explaining that I needed to find a new class. Luckily, my coordinator said that's normal and I can switch into a sociology class that is 3 hours of lecture instead of divided into lecture and discussion.
Friday: Today I only had one class, Hollywood Cinema! I actually enjoyed this class- the professor seemed nice. I found another girl from America in the class and the professor told us that he would give us an alternate assignment instead of making us take a midterm which would be extremely difficult! Again, understanding 1/5 of what is going on is disconcerting but at least the film clips that we watch for about 20 minutes of each class are in English-- thus the Hollywood Cinema choice on my part!
As for some fun stuff, on Wednesday night, I got dinner with my friends Courtney and Renee from high school and it wa a blast! It's so nice to have them here and laugh with them! We grabbed some sandwiches and just talked for a good while. On Friday night, I had my friend Annie over for dinner and we hung out that night, watched Grey's Anatomy. Saturday, I got up and met up with Courtney at the Centres Pompidou, which is a building that was build inside out (with all the piping exposed) that is a) A modern art museum and B) Has this tube that you can walk through for excellent views of the city. The best part is that all the museums in France are free to European students so it was GRATUIT :-) The museum was very...modern and to tell you the truth, I don't really understand modern art but it was fun to just walk around with Court. After the museum, we took some pictures from the top and went shopping! I got a new purse and Courtney got some shoes! Overall, it was a great day then I went back and hung out at her apartment because her host family was gone for the weekend.
Sunday: Sundays are always really calm here since everything is closed. The highlight of the day was that I found a tiny store open and got a baguette haha. Overall, I slept in, organized my room, and did some catching up on emails and skype with the family :-)
Pictures are refusing to load so I will post them later!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Paris Week 2
Hi Everyone! So I've spent a little over 2 weeks in Paris now. I'm happy to say that my BC intensive program is finally over! It was a bit ridiculous actually, I had 5 hours of class a day then would arrive home at 3 and work up until 1 or 2 am in the morning! Finally, Monday was our last day, even though I do have this professor and BC class once a week from now on!
Last week was better than the first, it's still a difficult adjustment but I'm trying to get used to it! I went food shopping again and this time looked up all the food I wanted in French so it was easy to know what I was getting! Also, last week was my first week at the apartment without Courtney staying with me which felt weird but I'm hoping once we both settle we can meet up a couple times a week! So last week was pretty busy with work but on Thursday we went on a tour of St. German des Pres (my Uncle Michael's favorite area of Paris!) It was very pretty and quaint, but seeing as we had a 15 minute presentation the next day, not many people enjoyed it. Still, I took some nice pictures which are below:
This is my host sister from high school Justine. Senior year, I stayed with her family for a week and last Saturday, she came to visit! We spent the day shopping, going out to lunch, more shopping, then just talking in my apartment. It was so nice to see her and I'm glad that we kept in touch all of these years so that she could come visit. Hopefully, some weekend in the spring, I will be able to return to her family's house in Nantes and relive senior year!
This is one of the Metro stations that is very cool! The entire wall and wall are covered like this with letters and I felt it merited a photo. There are some other artsy metro stations that I have yet to take a picture of-- one of them being the Louvre stop that has replicas of some of the paintings in them!
Ah the Louvre! This is the famous glass pyramid to enter the museum. I haven't been inside yet but during our tour we passed it and I couldn't miss out on the photo opportunity.
Here is just a tiny portion of the Louvre. Even though I've seen it before, it struck me again how huge it was!
I edited this picture a bit (can you tell) I thought it looked very "old Paris" I took this photo from a bridge on the Seine river.
This is a street we walked down in St. Germain des Pres, I really liked these apartments, they seemed so quaint and Parisienne!
This is a picture inside the church of St. Germain. The stained glass windows were very pretty and there was a tiny bit of sun that day so they really lit up!
Last week was better than the first, it's still a difficult adjustment but I'm trying to get used to it! I went food shopping again and this time looked up all the food I wanted in French so it was easy to know what I was getting! Also, last week was my first week at the apartment without Courtney staying with me which felt weird but I'm hoping once we both settle we can meet up a couple times a week! So last week was pretty busy with work but on Thursday we went on a tour of St. German des Pres (my Uncle Michael's favorite area of Paris!) It was very pretty and quaint, but seeing as we had a 15 minute presentation the next day, not many people enjoyed it. Still, I took some nice pictures which are below:
This is my host sister from high school Justine. Senior year, I stayed with her family for a week and last Saturday, she came to visit! We spent the day shopping, going out to lunch, more shopping, then just talking in my apartment. It was so nice to see her and I'm glad that we kept in touch all of these years so that she could come visit. Hopefully, some weekend in the spring, I will be able to return to her family's house in Nantes and relive senior year!
This is one of the Metro stations that is very cool! The entire wall and wall are covered like this with letters and I felt it merited a photo. There are some other artsy metro stations that I have yet to take a picture of-- one of them being the Louvre stop that has replicas of some of the paintings in them!
Ah the Louvre! This is the famous glass pyramid to enter the museum. I haven't been inside yet but during our tour we passed it and I couldn't miss out on the photo opportunity.
Here is just a tiny portion of the Louvre. Even though I've seen it before, it struck me again how huge it was!
I edited this picture a bit (can you tell) I thought it looked very "old Paris" I took this photo from a bridge on the Seine river.
This is a street we walked down in St. Germain des Pres, I really liked these apartments, they seemed so quaint and Parisienne!
This is a picture inside the church of St. Germain. The stained glass windows were very pretty and there was a tiny bit of sun that day so they really lit up!
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