Peanut Butter

Ode to Peanut Butter

Oh, how I miss your sweet, salty taste,
especially with a banana; you cannot be replaced.
Or with chocolate, which I adore,
If I saw a Reeses here, I might faint to the floor.
Here, in France you are SO expensive,
but that's only because you are not native.
Alas, I found you at the supermarche,
And I will eat you... without delay!!

Freeeeezing!

It is SO cold this moirning!!! It is officially winter now (according to Denise), so we have to always wear our mittens, scarf, and a hat, and always bring our parapluie (umbrella)! Buuuurrrrr!
xoxoxoxo

I'M GOING TO IRELAND!!!

Alright, everyone! I have a long weekend on November 8 though November 11, so I decided to book a trip to Ireland with Colleen and Roxana! We will be flying into Shannon on Friday evening and flying out of Dublin on Sunday evening. How cool is that?!?!

Ka Chow!!

I saw Lightning McQueen and Mator!! Today the ISA program went to the world car show here in Paris. It was a real treat because it's only here every 2 years. I saw the newest cars and the best of the best...yes, in the picture I am sitting in a brand new silver Mercedes-Benz. I was pretending it was my new car and I was driving on the autobahn in Germany...then reality hit and I had to get out of the car...=) I also saw a really cool taxi display that was of taxis all over the world since 1913. It was cool! I can't believe that I got to get my picture taken with Lightning McQueen! Ryan and Tyler I was thinking about you the whole time!! xoxoxoxo

Les petits enfants

Yesterday on the métro a class of 1st graders (I think) got on the same car that I did. There was a little girl playing with the door while the train was moving and she looked at me and said, "C'est bloqué?" (It's blocked/barricated/closed) in her little french voice and I said, "Oui, c'est bloqué." Then she played with the handle and I said, "Non, non! Ne touche pas!" (No, no. Don't touch) Then she looked at me, then at her teacher, and back at me and said, "D'accord, madam." (okay, ma'am). It was SO cute!!!! *sigh* It made me miss Ryan, Tyler, Anna, Arianna, Margaret... all the little ones back home!

Chez Nous

I’ve received requests for a blog about the house that I’m staying in, so here goes…

I share I big room with Roxana on the 3^rd floor. We also share a salle de bains (notice the shower head in the picture…it’s called a telephone shower head!) and les toilettes (which I call the throne...you can see why in the picture). Down stairs on the first floor there is a shoe/coat closet where everyone puts their things after coming home. There is also a family room with a TV (that I have never watched) and just across the hall is the dining room where we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. The kitchen is big for France (not so big for US standards) and very quaint. Denise even has a dishwasher AND a microwave (that she never uses, but is fairly rare in France…only 50% have them). Every day when Roxana and I leave the house, we have to lock our room, unlock the house door, lock it behind us, unlock the gate, and lock it behind us. The gate and the front door are always locked, even when people are home…I don’t think I’ve ever used a key this much in my life, but at least I know we’re all safe night and day! =) When I walk out the front door, I see the garden and the cobblestone pathway leading to the gate. It’s our little piece of peace before we hit the big city! The biggest differences here at the house is that the toilet is not in the same room as the rest of the bathroom, in fact it’s down the hall, another difference is all of the locking, and keeping all of the doors closed all the time, everything being smaller, and being VERY aware of the water and electricity we use because it’s so expensive here. But with all of the differences here, I really like the lifestyle and the rhythm of life here. It’s not like the big cities in the US…it’s kind of like a really, really big small town… =)

*more pictures SOON! (my computer ran out of battery when I was uploading them)

School

I have one of the best professors I’ve ever had...she's awesome! I have a Cours Pratique (grammar) M,T,Th,F 8-10:30, then every other week I have a phonetics lab every day from 11:30-12:30. For my other classes I have: Séances de Cinéma (M,Th,F 1-2), Histoire de l’art Francais (T 4:30-6:30), and Les regions de France (F 2-4). For the moment, I only have my grammar class, but starting next week the rest of my school will be in full swing. It’s already a lot of work, but I’m learning SO much!! And it helps that my school is absolutely beautiful!! =)

xoxoxoxo

The Loire Valley

This past weekend we went to the Loire Valley!! It is where most of the big castles and chateaus are. We got to see four of them: Amboise, Chenonceau, Le Clos Luce, and Chambord. And as a surprise, our program leaders took us all wine tasting on Saturday!

Amboise was a royal chateau. It is where King Charles VIII died of a hemorrhage after hitting is head on a low doorway…ouch! It is also where Leonardo da Vinci’s tomb is in the little cathedral.

The next palace we saw was Chenonceau, which was amazing! It is said to be the most beautiful chateaux because it was designed by a woman (of course!). The chateaux is built across the Loire River, and it both a “house” and a bridge. It has beautifully landscaped gardens, including a labyrinth and many fountains. While we were there we were lucky enough to see an art exhibition for an artist named Olivier Debré. I LOVED his work!! As an added bonus to this beautiful place, the entire bottom floor was reserved just for the kitchens. It was the biggest, most glorious kitchen I have ever seen including special rooms for the butcher, the boulanger (bread maker), the main kitchen, and two dinning rooms! Pretty amazing…

My favorite place of all was Le Clos Luce. It is where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. IBM took the liberty of building many of his inventions exactly how da Vinci drew them in his workbooks. These inventions were all throughout the gardens and the house…I couldn’t believe how many we still use today!! One of my favorite parts about the place was that there were Leonardo da Vinci’s quotes (in French) printed on glass and hung throughout the house. What an inspiring man!

Last but far from the least is Chambord, as it is the biggest chateaux of the Loire Valley. It has 440 rooms, 365 chimneys, and thousands of stairs. Leonardo da Vinci helped design this chateau, and it is evident in the beautiful architecture of the palace.

What a great trip!! It was really nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a couple days. It gave me a chance to catch my breath after the whirlwind of coming to Paris, starting school, and adapting to a new culture.

Les Catacombes

The Catacombs was another day trip with the ISA program, and boy, what an experience! We went 20 meters underground through miles and miles of tunnels that were piled high with bones from 6 million corpses…CREEPY!! But, actually quite interesting: The Catacombes were initially built to clean the city of all the corpses that the Plague wiped out. Cemeteries were only for the very wealthy, so the people had to figure out what to do with all of the other bodies; the answer was one giant VERY organized grave. The bones are so old that over time, as water seeped into the ground it actually glued the bones together. The underground tunnels were also used during the French revolutions as both a hiding place, and battle grounds. Now, there are plaques throughout the Catacombes with old poems or sayings from famous authors or people. It was a very somber experience, a little creepy, and very interesting… YIKES!

Le Louvre

Last week, our program went to the Louvre ! It was so amazing to see La Jaconde/ La Monna Lisa/ The Mona Lisa…there are so many names for it! And, like most people say, it IS smaller than one would expect, but it dazzles all the same.

The big pyramid is one of my favorite parts about the Louvre. It is the main entrance into the museum, and once inside, looking up through all of the glass is really amazing. Did you know that the Louvre was initially built in the middle ages as a palace? Some of the original walls are still inside for people to see.

We spent about 2 hours inside the Louvre (including the time that we were lost) and we saw SO much…but we only saw a fraction of what is inside. Good thing I have a free pass for the whole year so I can go back anytime!!

Versailles

Bonjour tout le monde!
Last week we took a day trip to Versailles. It was my first time on a train and it was so amazing! On the train there were accordion players playing for tips...it was just like in the movies, so I even took a movie of it on my camera! =)

Versailles was the most extravagant and beautiful palace I've ever seen! Louis XIV really knew how to live! I saw the Hall of Mirrors and where he slept. But my favorite part of it was Marie Antoinette's own personal palace and garden. It was perfectly decorated and color coordinated for each room and she even had her own hall of mirrors! She was definitely spoiled!

On the way back, there was a fire at the next train station, so we have to take another line back. I asked a worker at the train station what was going on and he said (in French), "Oh, it's nothing, just a little fire at the train station" (!!!!!) So, then I asked him for directions to the other line and he gave them to me. =)

At Versailles in the palace and throughout the gardens, there was the very first art exhibition. It was modern art and very...ahem....interesting. Actually, I really didn't care for the artist, but it was so out of place in the beautiful place of Versailles that people were actually getting mad that it was there. For example, in one room there was a beautiful but chandelier hanging down from the ceiling, and in the place where another one used to hang, the artist hung a giant lobster. How weird! But, I guess he made an impact on the world!

I think about you all, all the time! Lots of love!! xoxoxox

Le Louvre

I saw the Monna Lisa!!!
And I have a free pass to the Louvre for the whole year. How cool is that?!

More to come soon....

Chez Moi

I am living in a central suburb in Paris called Malakoff. I literally cross the street and I am in the 14th arrondissement. I live with Madame (her name is Denise) and another student from UCIrvine named Roxana- she is awesome!!! Our house is three stories with 2 salles de bains (bathrooms), 3 toilettes, 6 rooms and a beautiful little garden!!! In Paris, that is a mansion! We lucked out BIG time! Madame is a little (short and petite) older woman probably in her 60s and she doesn't speak any English. She is very, very nice and such an amazing cook... we have 5 course meals every night for dinner! Can you imagine that?!?! She takes on boarders, so we have met people from all over the world already. This is a picture of Roxana, Colleen and me at the top of La Tour Eiffel

There is a girl there now named Katherine who is from Germany, we met a whole family of Italians, and a man from Algeria is coming to stay with us until he finds an apartment of his own. What a great experience! We eat breakfast and dinner there everyday in a little room with fireplace and big windows that over look the garden. Life here is very different than home life in the US and it takes some getting used to, but it's a lot of fun! Pictures to follow! xoxoxoxo

Culture Shock!

Does anyone know how to wash clothes in the salle de bain by hand?!
Our cultures are SO different!!
xoxoxoxo
Pictures to come SOON!!!