50% off 900 euros=STILL EXPENSIVE. AKA, les soldes!

In Paris, the stores have 6 weeks of HUGE sales, les soldes, once during the summer and once right now, until mid February. This created quite a stir among the Americans. We have since set off on various shopping excursions, like to the famed (and absolutely stunning) Galleries Lafayette.

For me, each trip had limited success and inevitably resulted in sensory overload, or in the very least, feeling poor, oversized and inadequate. That being said, the window displays are truly stunning, and we have mastered the art of le lèche-vitrines (window shopping). This makes shopping without actually buying anything much better, and it helps that tons of stores and streets are still lit up and glorious. Evidence:

In a crowded bar on Saturday night, there were three TVs. One was turned to soccer. The other two? A fashion channel showing runway shows and collections from Fashion Week, which men and women were watching attentively. Only in Paris.

Galleries Lafayette, on the outside

Galleries Lafayette, on the inside! The famous atrium

Le Bon Marché, the oldest department store in Paris.

Beautiful window displays at Hermès, around the corner from the Centre Middlebury where I take some classes.

  We are trying to go out as much as possible this week while classes are still not really a factor (though I did have my first this morning), but it's hard to have the discipline to go out during the current COLD front. It snowed last night, but some of the girls went to a bar in the 5th, where we actually had very helpful conversations with two young French guys, who taught us a lot about colorful language in French. There was also one guy last night who told me in a panicked voice that he wasn't French when I asked him a question. It was great to think that someone would believe I was a native, and also great to watch his look of relief when I switched to English immediately after. Every day I am realizing that Paris is truly more of an international city than I ever would have thought.

Bonjour, Paris!

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.

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. 

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.

It's Official

This weekend is a big one for pre-Paris preparation. (ooh, alliteration...see what I did there?) I am home in DC to get my VISA, which I got this morning! I was really impressed by the efficiency of the whole process, and now I am a ball of excitement because my VISA is in the works, and my ticket to Paris has been purchased. Things are starting to come together.

Reason enough to celebrate? Yes. With cupcakes? Yes.

Being back in a house with free (to me, anyways) groceries and heat has been AMAZING, as well as having the kitchen to myself while Mama Bear is at work--rather than sharing it with 7 other girls. The immediate result was Irish Car Bomb cupcakes: Guinness chocolate cuppies, w/ whiskey chocolate ganache filling, topped w/ Bailey's buttercream. Unfortunately, the cocoa allergy stops me from trying them, but they still make me happy :)

Recipe from: http://formalfringe.com/2011/03/11/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/
I have no changes to make; it came out great for me!

See for yourself, mes amis.

When Life Gives You Coconut...

So I am desperately trying to avoid getting groceries before heading out of town for Thanksgiving, which means my diet has become increasingly bizarre. We are talking dry cereal and handfuls of oats, people. My roommate has become a fan of "tomato soup," which is really just her way of justifying eating marinara pasta sauce from a bowl.

Somehow, I woke up today and discovered that I had very little left to eat, but I found a bag of shredded coconut. Fast forward about 40 minutes and I am eating coconut cake. Had to happen.

Desserts don't last long in a house with 8 girls!

COCONUT CAKE

Note: Makes one 9-in. round

For the Cake:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened (1/2 C)

3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1.5 C AP Flour

1/3 C Milk or cream

1/2 sweetened shredded coconut

For the Icing:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/3 C Crisco, or cream cheese if you prefer

3 C Confectioner's sugar (or more)

5-6 tbsp. milk or cream

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. coconut extract (optional)

1/2 C sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9-in. round cake pan. 
2. FOR THE CAKE: In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl with your spatula. Add vanilla.
3. Add the dry ingredients. The batter should be pretty thick and un-batterlike, so go ahead and add the milk until it is still thick, but more batter than cookie dough. Fold in the coconut with your spatula.
4. Pour/spread batter into 9-in. round, make sure it's pretty evenly distributed, and bake for 20 min, until golden and set. A knife should slide out clean.
5. FOR THE ICING: Cream butter and Crisco until creamy, then add the sugar in increments. This part can be a bit messy. Keep at it; the mixture may seem crumbly at first but the butter will eventually incorporate the sugar, I promise. 
6. Add extracts and milk to make it less thick. From here, add more sugar if  you like thicker frosting, and more milk if you think it needs thinning. 
7. Fold in sweetened shredded coconut with spatula. Make sure your icing is still spreadable!
8. Frost the cake once it has cooled completely, then dig in!

Mmm...icing...

Bon Appétit!

It is finally hitting me that in less than two months, I will be LIVING IN PARIS. It is a crazy idea, but my anxiety and excitement increase with each day that passes.

Here's the background info: I am a Junior at U of M, a Romance Languages and Literatures major studying French, Italian, and Spanish. I have always been obsessed with even just the idea of France, especially Paris, so I bit the bullet, did an obscene amount of paperwork, and committed to the Middlebury School in Paris for the coming semester. I'll be living with a French family and taking classes, exploring in my free time, and probably consuming too much butter and cheese. This blog is really just a public journal, and a good space for some bragging if the need should arise (given). Bon appétit!