BRUNCH?!

When I said I had a few more Paris posts to come, I meant it. I hope no one (of the millions of people hanging on my every word) held their breath. I've been back in DC all summer, enjoying seeing my friends and working as a nanny during the week, and at a farmer's market on the weekends. The transition has been relatively smooth. Honestly, my biggest problem is my disdain for the drinking age in the states. It really riles me up. Is it December yet?

Anywho, to get back to wrapping up my time abroad, which the crew and I frantically spent trying to make the most of (we succeeded). Remember how picnics were a large part of my life in Paris towards the end there?I FORGOT BRUNCH.

The concept of "brunch" in Paris is much like the current cupcake trend there: very, very fashionable & cool, and very VERY poorly executed. Unless you have money to blow.

Faced with this problem, and too much free time, and a veritable mimosa addiction, the crew promptly began to have our own brunches. With certain members on board (and often, the direction of Eiffel Tower Legs), our brunches were elevated to a level of amazingness I could never have expected. But it should be noted that Annebam and I had many a brunch toute seule, as the evidence will prove, and each time was lovely (although maybe we should have had more people around because we inevitably ended up incapacitated by our painfully overstuffed tummies and bubble-bamboozled heads).

Do I detect a glimmer of anxiety in Anne's face? SO MUCH FOOD.

Firebread! Whipped cream! Speculoos!

Ohboyohboyohboy

Risotto, Speculoos french toast, and fried eggs. Brunch of champions (aka Anne+Caro)

Diarra tries domestic on for size, as everyone debates the name of the dish (eggs in a basket?)

Final product!

YUM.

End result of many a brunch: total self-annihilation, also known as intense sleepytime.

P.S. Last night my friend showed me how to use google maps to actually put yourself on the street and look at the buildings (some businesses you can even "go into!" So obviously I started looking up my house/friend's houses in Paris. And cried. Pathetic. Evidently I miss it.

Dazed and Confused

Reflections on Paris

Adam Gopnik, Paris to the Moon

"It's true that French women's magazines are as deeply preoccupied with body image and appearance as American ones. But they are confident that all problems can be solved by lotions."

"The trouble was now that the new white lights I got were white lights that were all twinkling ones. I saw the word clignotant on the box, and I knew that it meant blinking, but somehow I didn't associate the word blinking with the concept, 'These lights blink off and on.' It was the same thing with the garlands, come to think of it. It said guirlande right on the box, and I knew perfectly well what guirlande meant; but I am not yet able to make the transposition from what things say to what they mean. I saw the world guirlande on the box, but I didn't quite believe it. In France I am always prepared to give words the benefit of a poetic doubt. I see the word guirlande and shrug and think that maybe garland is just the French seasonal Christmas light-specific idiom for a string. The box says, 'They blink,' and I think they don't."

Reflections from home:

At this very moment, I am into my second full week back in the United States, and if I sit still for too long, I start to get pangs of homesickness...for Paris. I miss picnics, I miss truly good bread, I miss cheese, I miss getting weird looks while running, I miss dodging tourists, I miss taking the metro literally anywhere, I miss pretty colorful European money, I miss daily interactions that allow me to speak French, I miss snobby dogs who are dressed better than me, I miss fantastic, carefully-constructed window displays, and truly, I miss my markets.

That being said, my recent dining out experiences have reminded me of 3 key things:
1. Chipotle is delicious.
2. Froyo is the best. I have gone far too frequently this week, always with the intention of getting nonfat yogurt w/ fruit, always leaving with a cup brimming with caramel and flavors like cake batter. I am weak.
3. ENDLESS FREE ICE WATER, ZERO DEHYDRATION, ZERO JUDGEMENT. Mermaid lifestylez

I am sitting in the very chair I was in when, bored on a lazy summer afternoon last August, I felt the spontaneous "dream big" urge to apply to study abroad. Right now, I just can't believe that it is all said and done, not only that I lived a semester in Paris, but that it is already behind me.

Crew members--specifically AnneBam, perhaps my only loyal reader, whose hopeful heart sends her back to my blog from time to time to check for any Paris posts, even after the fact--this is me missing you dearly. There are still a couple more posts on the city of lights to come, but then it will likely either be defunct, or DC chillin'.

Love, Caro.

Ernest Hemingway, Classic DAB

Thanks to Wonton, I realized the Paris stragglers who were still straight chillin' had been steadily morphing into Ernest Hemingway. We are poor, we have little else to do but wander the streets, and we probably drink too much. Here's to the last month adventures, including:

Nuit des musées, when I accomplished a life goal of hugging a brown bear at the hunting & nature museum

Diarra + my entertainment during a marathon 6 hr picnic at the jardin des plantes: Baby DABS

FINALLY leaving, cork wine in tow

Surprise drag queen show at a 90's party club event. Evidently we didn't read (or understand) the small print.

Canal St. Martin, chez moi/hipster paradise

mah feetz

Wine-buzzed Caroline gets grabby. Lulu is not pleased

Moroccan lunch at the marché des enfants rouges. YUM

Us laughing at them laughing at our excitement. SHOEZ=choux= how we mispronounced the tiny cream filled pastries. We each also got 2, gluttonous amurricans that we are..

my choux= filled w/ speculoos cream, topped with chantilly, and pralinés bits

mon petit papillon in full picnic mode at the jardins de luxembourg

...that moment when random man from iceland asks to take a photo with you..picnic in front of the eiffel

DABBED out, 2 bottles nbd. love this girl.

Anne and Caro have enough wine to become convinced that we can pull off D's purple lipstick.

Sloppy on Saint Germain. Crew life lesson #1: NEVER PLAY CATCH UP

Picnic time, jardin des plantes. Bye friends!

Anne dressed as Caro, complete with the "flurb" face. The resemblance even confuses me #jumelles

I am so looking forward to what is officially my last week in Paris, but my heart hurts. Eiffel Tower Legs and I have been lamenting the loss of our faves; last night we said goodbye to AnneBam, my twin, my sister, my best friend, and my little butterfly. I do not accept this separation Anne; my brain does not comprehend.
I can't even think about this program without you and I am so thankful to have had the chance to meet such an amazing person in such an amazing place. Can't wait to run wild through Walawala and make mimosas, but until then, do not lose your curious spirit and your amazing kindness/generosity. That being said, do you baby, even if that means being selfish and just doing what makes you happy. Show off that newfound tolerance. NO TEARS.

LOVE LOVE LOVE, Caro

No Reason Why...

"There's NO reason you shouldn't..." was one of the phrases that came up quite often in conversation with my PIC (partner in crime, please God let someone get the Role Models reference) Claude, who left Paris a few days ago. Yup, we lost a good one. 

Many of these adventures in these photos took place WITH her. For this last month in Paris, we sorta had it down to a routine. Daytime? picnic in parks. Nighttime? hit a new wine bar. In between? EAT, at n'importe quel resto from the Bible.

Vin+Charcuterie à Les Fines Gueules

Casual midday wine pause au parc de Montsouris

Anytime I see Sacre Coeur, I gasp. AKA I am often struggling for air because that place's perch is prominent

Kitty dance! Claude: "Since I have started hanging out with you more, I take a lot of pictures of cats.."

Parc de Andre Citroen, aka bizarre modern park land

Cité métro, a gem of beautiful orb lighting

Exploring the Marais during the Heures Heureuses, a tapas happy hour event

Claude + Caro in the reflection, absolute truth in the statement

Toute seule au marché bio des Batignolles, 12e

Too much red the night before...Evidently the only solution was to meet Claude at Aligre for this breakfast at renowned wine bar Le Baron Rouge. #hearthealth

I forget the name of this park, but it's in view of Notre Dame, on the left bank

Champagne at the Turr. Thanks to Andrew for navigating, and Claude for her couch. Just your average Monday...

And so it continues, ("it" being shenanigans), even as our numbers dwindle. But the crew recently got a new addition: Doo! Can't believe my sister is here. We haven't been in Paris together since I was 11, didn't speak French, was unwilling to eat snails (I hate myself for that), and was generally just a doofus. Now I can take her around and we can see the city completely differently, the way it should be. Too bad she doesn't get to meet all my buddies, and my heart hurts.

But Claude,  girl, this post is for you. Appropriately, the sun has come out so hopefully you'll have a beautiful day to match your sunny personality, which has exacerbated my enthusiasm and probably made us an annoying pair (look at this BUILDING! IT'S GREAT!). Paris will be short one great girl. My arteries may be better off without you, but my heart won't (also, forego heart health, get charcuterie). Floor will be lonely without you, my friend

PS. Love you Claudie. I am up in yo house SNATCHIN YO PEOPLE UP

Runnin' Around Geneva!

Gettin' silly at Versailles, or just pullin' a Jesus and turning water into wine? BOTH. She talented.

*This post is dedicated to D, my danceflo killa and one of the chief crew DABS, who I had to say goodbye to this morning. Miss you already; you made my semester so much more fun/giggly. Can't wait to be reunited in Cali, BAD CHICK ALERT, alarms gon' be ringing every which way.*

Since a family vacation to Lugano, a small city in Switzerland, I have often said that when I grow up, that's where I am headed. After a recent weekend in Geneva, this dream has only become more tempting. SO. GREEN. MOUNTAINS. EVERYWHERE. MUESLI. WHAT IS THIS SORCERY. Basically, it was great, thanks in large part to my host Jean, an elementary school buddy while his family lived in DC for 2 years when his Dad got relocated for his job. 6th grade me would have absolutely died to have seen me spending a weekend in Switzerland with Jean and his amazing family, speaking in French, no less! It was like an out of body experience, but I guess that's the sensation of a pipedream being realized.

In the short time I was there, I got to see the go-to spots in downtown Geneva, and even a food market (les halles) which was super cool, and the jet d'eau, which seemed to serve no purpose except look cool and I am super down with it. I got to go out on Friday and Saturday with Jean and his friends, and everyone was super nice. The nightlife was great, but that could be partly due to my good fortune to be there during an electronic music festival.

I even got a chance to go trail running near Jean's house while he did some work on his documentary, which was absolutely beautiful. Having returned to Parisian concrete and sidewalk-hogging tourists, I miss it all the more. Get ready to fall in love/feel like Heidi--

View from Jean's house, and these pretty purple flowers I am obsessed with

Deliberately misleading Jean into thinking he was framing the water...made for better pictures, if you ask me

"Fait par les enfants du quartier"=tiny humans of the 'hood, hard at work

...urge to picnic

Apparently this is on some list of the most miraculous things in nature, and I believe it! This is La Jonction, where the two rivers meet, and you can really see how they are completely different colors. so cool!

Saw cute trail off path in woods, knew I would get lost if I took it, did it anyways. YOLO.

Running selfies!

Thought maybe this bridge would take me towards home...

...ended up running through some stables instead. Bizarre, but so charming.

The most precious family in the world. Seriously though, I just want to hug them/go climb a tree or a mountain or something

Family dinner just before catching my train. I have been entirely undeserving of the hospitality of my hosts this semester, but I LOVE IT

So now, having seen Switzerland for a 2nd time, I can still say that it is awesome, and I am 100% going back. Everyone was so nice to me, and it was cool to see Jean and his family again (it had been TEN YEARS; his little sister was barely 4 when they moved away from DC! Unreal, considering now she's the coolest Swiss chick I know...also like the only one, but still). It was very different from Paris, but in a good way, and the whole weekend was just another reason why this semester has been so great & continually offering unique and cool experiences I could never have imagined having.

P.S. Dear Paris, I appreciate your concentrated effort at becoming greener like Switzerland, but STOP RAINING.