Guess what. I'm here! Flights were LONG; I was awake for over 24 hours, it was awesome. But I made it. Evidence:
See? Happy as a clam.
Anyway, once I arrived, I met my family. I am living in an apartment not far from Montmartre, with my host parents and 3 other exchange students (though we are not all on the same program, and Moira leaves in a couple of weeks). The house is stunning and rather like a museum. I will add some pictures of it at some point, but I haven't been home much. ***Note to my fellow Wolverines: my bedroom is a blinding maize and blue; it's fantastique.*** The first day I was dead tired but refused to give in to jet lag--and both my host parents have some sort of virus--so I peaced out to explore and find La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur...which I also forgot to take pictures of, so those will come too. It's a huge white church atop a hill and you can see all of Paris from the dome, so I'll have to return on a nice day anyway.
Friday was my first day of orientation with at the Middlebury Center, close to the Madeleine. I actually have some friends now! Too bad hardly any of us have cellphones just yet, so Friday night we were too scared to get separated and wandered all afternoon so as to still have people to go out with at night. This made for a nice walk, meeting my friend Diarra's host mom (the cutest French grandma in the country, I swear--she invited me to dinner within seconds of meeting me because I told her her house was beautiful and asked to take a picture...) Prepare for the view of her apartment, as well as the shops just below (love the French; their placement of shops is impeccable):
For those who may not know "fromager" is a cheese shop (I almost wish I didn't know that) and "vins" should really be self-explanatory. P.S. WINE HERE IS SO CHEAP. So a group of kids on my program had our first dinner out on the town, but we still had some jetlag issues so bedtime came pretty quickly.
They gave us the weekend free to get orientated and explore Paris. Without a cellphone, I set off solo on Saturday, seemingly to visit every patîsserie in Paris (pastries, y'all). I stopped at Rue de Cler, a famous pedestrian market street, to get the fixins for a pique-nique, in front of the Eiffel Tower. I discovered something yesterday, which is that every time I see an iconic French monument, I start crying. It's a bit embarrassing, but I honestly wonder why no one else is crying...they are beautiful, I am in Paris, and I just can't handle.
I mean like really. Know how in the United States, Starbucks are everywhere? In Paris, it is pastry shops and wine stores. I honestly don't know how the French don't just keel over. A picture says 1,000 words, primarily so that I don't have to, so get ready for more! These next two are from stores I stumbled upon on another random market street. The first is a store that just had bowls upon bowls of different chocolate mousses on display, and the second is a pretty seafood store with nice scale-lookin' tiles, and a really nice man outside who puffed up with pride when I asked to take a picture:
Pretty much everyone here is maybe the nicest person in the world. Everyone is so nice, and so helpful. Poor guy in a wine store did not get grumpy when he realized I wasn't a customer, just a confused American--he pulled out a notepad and wrote down directions (via walking, bus, OR metro), complete with hand-drawn pictures. Nevermind that I still got lost; it was awesome.
On Saturday night, after about 8 hours of walking, I stopped for a beer on my way home because it seemed sad to turn in so early on a weekend night. A brief stop in a neighborhood bar, alas, turned in to a night of bar-hopping with a group of 15 Frenchies. Now THAT is the Michigan difference.
Now for today's explorations! The art pics are from le Centre Pompidou, aka the modern art museum. Tip: national museums are free the first Sunday of the month.
-Weird pantyhose lookin thing? Yup, made of panty hose. Filled with spices, designed to entice your senses. Very bizarre.
-This may be the best time of year to visit, especially if you love Xmas like I do. Decorations abounding, although I can't explain the street above that had hanging jellyfish lights. Including, as you can see above, flickering lights on buildings that makes them sparkle. Gets me every time.
Let me conclude with a few shoutouts to 1) Doo, 2) Punky, and 3) the Blue Hau5 Ladies, respectively:
Doo- the stingrays got what they had coming. Karma.
Punky- stumbled upon a fun soccer bar yesterday. Befriended some Brits and watched a truly uneven game between Chelsea and Southampton. Not an exciting game, but it's good for future reference, and it seemed like your kind of place.
3- Ayo Housemateys: Pandas in Paris! Also you'll be pleased to know that blading is a thing here; these lucky people had a police escort leading the way (also in rollerblades, it made me lol) and a car driving behind them to blast music.
Anyway, once I arrived, I met my family. I am living in an apartment not far from Montmartre, with my host parents and 3 other exchange students (though we are not all on the same program, and Moira leaves in a couple of weeks). The house is stunning and rather like a museum. I will add some pictures of it at some point, but I haven't been home much. ***Note to my fellow Wolverines: my bedroom is a blinding maize and blue; it's fantastique.*** The first day I was dead tired but refused to give in to jet lag--and both my host parents have some sort of virus--so I peaced out to explore and find La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur...which I also forgot to take pictures of, so those will come too. It's a huge white church atop a hill and you can see all of Paris from the dome, so I'll have to return on a nice day anyway.
Friday was my first day of orientation with at the Middlebury Center, close to the Madeleine. I actually have some friends now! Too bad hardly any of us have cellphones just yet, so Friday night we were too scared to get separated and wandered all afternoon so as to still have people to go out with at night. This made for a nice walk, meeting my friend Diarra's host mom (the cutest French grandma in the country, I swear--she invited me to dinner within seconds of meeting me because I told her her house was beautiful and asked to take a picture...) Prepare for the view of her apartment, as well as the shops just below (love the French; their placement of shops is impeccable):
They gave us the weekend free to get orientated and explore Paris. Without a cellphone, I set off solo on Saturday, seemingly to visit every patîsserie in Paris (pastries, y'all). I stopped at Rue de Cler, a famous pedestrian market street, to get the fixins for a pique-nique, in front of the Eiffel Tower. I discovered something yesterday, which is that every time I see an iconic French monument, I start crying. It's a bit embarrassing, but I honestly wonder why no one else is crying...they are beautiful, I am in Paris, and I just can't handle.
1. Fully aware cheese:everything else ratio is embarrassing.
2. Judging the casual Chardonnay peeking out of my purse? It gets worse. I later transferred it to my empty water bottle to make space.
On Saturday night, after about 8 hours of walking, I stopped for a beer on my way home because it seemed sad to turn in so early on a weekend night. A brief stop in a neighborhood bar, alas, turned in to a night of bar-hopping with a group of 15 Frenchies. Now THAT is the Michigan difference.
Now for today's explorations! The art pics are from le Centre Pompidou, aka the modern art museum. Tip: national museums are free the first Sunday of the month.
-This may be the best time of year to visit, especially if you love Xmas like I do. Decorations abounding, although I can't explain the street above that had hanging jellyfish lights. Including, as you can see above, flickering lights on buildings that makes them sparkle. Gets me every time.
Let me conclude with a few shoutouts to 1) Doo, 2) Punky, and 3) the Blue Hau5 Ladies, respectively:
Doo- the stingrays got what they had coming. Karma.
3- Ayo Housemateys: Pandas in Paris! Also you'll be pleased to know that blading is a thing here; these lucky people had a police escort leading the way (also in rollerblades, it made me lol) and a car driving behind them to blast music.
Go Blues! (That's Chelsea's nickname, which is appropriate for a Michigan fan I suppose)
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