back in paris

I'm back in Paris and feeling exhausted but also pretty karaoké deprived. Although I want to do some singing tonight, I can tell I'm probably going to watch a movie, drink some tea, and crash. Singing along should be enough of an apératif for the karaoké to follow in the next couple of days.

In Brussels, I got my friend Sarah a pack of belgian chocolates, so now the new project is figuring out how to ship these to her. My instinct says "bubble wrap" but I somehow doubt that would be successful. According to the Aussi boys, I think "like a bloke" and I do "bloke-y things." I have a sneaking suspicion this bubble wrap idea is another one of those times... Only one way to find out, though!

Now the only thing left to do is make sure I don't contract a deadly illness before this weekend's london trip to see Sophia and Sarah. Both seem to have awesome things planned for me, but I haven't even really thought about it that much. I'm just excited to get there and check everything out.

Despite having somehow lost 3 articles of clothing somewhere in this city, I'm so sad to leave. I've met such great people, had such a fun time, and I am dreading the return back to Paris. There've been late nights of snowball fights, bar brawls, dancing on stages, battling for kababs, and of course lots of drinking and loads of other things I couldn't even remember if I tried. There've been great days christmas markets, yummy waffels, chocolate factories, and grabbing what the Aussi boys call "a greaser."

Tonight I said goodbye to this city with a waffle, some fries, and a series of trappist beers. I didn't even know how good beer could be until I came here.

Tonight I did a tasting of 4 trappists: Westmalle (dubbel), Orval, Trappistes Rochefort 10, Chimay. I'll try to report my findings to you once I have more time.

Goodbye Brussels, hello again Paris.
Can't wait for London.

Brussels day 2

Don't have much time to write, but wanted to check in.

Having a great time in Brussels meeting a lot of great people from around the world and going to lots of interesting bars. Right now I'm hanging out 3 Australian guys who work in design, two Canadians, and a girl from Jersey. We're going out tonight and then the plan is to make breakfast together in the morning (there's a kitchen in the hostel).

Interesting things about Brussels:

The numbers here are different than in Paris. Instead of "soixante-dix" they say "septante." It's kind of annoying because I swear I couldn't understand how much my dress cost the other day until I looked at the little screen. (The dress is a cute grey little thing that I got at HandM. I got a belt, too. And a necklace. Hey -- it was you guys who told me to shop a little!).

The appropriate response to "Merci" is "s'il vous plaît" and not "je vous en pris" like it is in Paris. This really throws me off guard everytime I say "thank you" and someone says something that I thought meant, "please."

Brussels!

Arrived in Brussels.

It's beautiful, everything is decorated for Christmas and people prefer speaking English than French. Every other store is a bar or a chocolate shop. The streets are wide, clean, and manageable. Not overcrowed to the point where I take an elbow or a briefcase to the stomach every 3 seconds like I do in Paris. To top this off, there's an actual breakfast menu at McDonalds. That's right. Hot hashbrowns. Not just croissants, not just muffins. Actual breakfast. Pancakes. Egg McMuffins. Everything. I love it, though it does make me miss Ray's quite a bit.

Why didn't I study abroad here? Can I switch now? Or at least spend every weekend here?

I've been equipped with a map, but it seems almost unnecessary since there's no way to get lost here -- everything leads to the center.

Right now I'm staring a beautiful building called, "Bourse" and about to head into some reading and relaxation. I really don't want to spend a lot of time on my computer here, so this may be my last update for a couple days.

Ménilmontant

Had a marvelous day walking around the 11th with Philippe and Nathan. We were later joined by others, some new friends, some old friends, and some complete strangers. I really like this neighborhood. Everyone was so nice to me. The guys working construction by the metro even stopped their crane in mid-lift for me just so I could get a perfect shot. In this way, even the construction didn't bother me. In some ways, it reminded me of home, and seemed to go all too well with the soundtrack on my ipod.

It's amazing how music can change your mood. I may struggle to get out of bed for half an hour, but the moment "It's my life" comes on, I'm literally twirling and skipping down to the metro. Everything is amazing. My mind clears of any extraneous thoughts, and I get to live. And living is pretty awesome. Bon Jovi was --shocker-- absolutely right. It is my life, after all.

Some highlights of the afternoon included getting crowned a princess, crowned a pompier (fire fighter), and sliding down a steep hill on a bright red chair in front of a sign that said, "le bon plaisir." It couldn't have been more appropriate.

After drinking a nice cold beer at lunch, I finished printing a lot of photos for my expo coming up. I felt very accomplished to see them all formally framed and nice looking.

Finally, I met up with Sam for a night of Thanksgiving (0r as the French say, "Sanksgeeveen"). We chowed down on all the traditional favorites: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn bread, stuffing, turkey, and cranberry sauce. Of course, the real star of the evening was the pumpkin pie. Mhmm pumkin.

Now I'm packing up my bag for what is sure to be an awesome weekend in Bruxelles. Before I leave, I just wanted to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. I have a lot for which to be thankful and a lot of people in my life who deserve my biggest thanks. So thank you. :)

Café Delmas!

Went to a café with some new French friends after class -- we grabbed coffee at a very chic café on rue mouffetard. Loved the ambiance there, great vibe. Everyone is kind, and for the first time the waiters smiled real smiles. One even winked ;) Got to love a good French clin d'oeil.

I almost wish life could have a soundtrack -- like speakers could follow me everywhere so I could dance around to "Pour some sugar on me" without having to hold on to my ipod while everyone around me stares and wonders what crazy american song I'm listening to. I've considered bringing speakers on the metro at times -- I mean, the performers do it and then ask for money -- what if I put on even better music for free? Could you really say no to blasting "Rocket" on the ligne 4?

Now I'm prepping for what is sure to be a crazy night of karaoké. Then it's photo class tomorrow, Thanksgiving dinner with Sam, and a good night's sleep before the crazy awesome time that is sure to be my weekend in Bruxelles! Bring on the moules, frites, and bière!

A very Amélie-style walk followed by some retail therapy

After doing my homework, I realized that I needed to buy 2 more books before the end of the semester. Considering that this weekend I'll be in Bruxelles, and next weekend I'll be in Londres, I decided to bite the bullet and buy them now. Luckily these are my last two books for the semester, so I wont have to worry about shelling out any more cash -- or worse, filling up my bags on the way home with books.

I was initially going to take the metro, but I had put on what I thought was a very cute outfit, the weather was nice for the first time in days, and I really didn't want to make that hellish transfer at Châtelet, so I walked. It's been a while since I've gotten to go on these long walks with no time schedule. It reminded me of when I was in high school and I would walk home every day. It was on those walks that I wrote my best essays, my best poems, my best prose. I worked out everything in my head and was simultaneously inspired by the world around me. I can't say I wrote an essay or a poem on this walk, but it was a similar feeling. I put in my écouteurs (earphones), put on some Whitesnake, and zoned out.

I felt so Amélie-like. Usually when I walk around, I have a direction, I walk quickly and swerve in and out of people like boxer dodging attacks. Today I meandered. When I saw a homeless man, I stopped and gave him one of my twixes. When I saw tourists, I didn't roll my eyes and act all upset that they were clogging up the streets -- instead, I smiled at all of them, and offered to take a picture of each and every one who was struggling to get both themselves and Notre Dame into the tiny little frame of their point-and-shoot held at an armslength away. I'd like to think that I helped make these people's trips more memorable and enjoyable. If not that, at least their photos came out better.

What inspired me to go on a quest of good-doing instead of sulking? I don't know. I think the christmas air has something to do with it. Everyone's setting up -- all the big displays are finally up. The Champs Elysée is ridiculous (it's like disneyland but with hot cider and hot wine) and the giant christmas tree was getting installed in front of Notre Dame as I walked by today. Even the hotel de ville is getting decorated as if it were a suburban house in California -- christmas lights and all.

But christmas didn't just inspire me to lighten up and be kind to people, it also inspired me to do what christmas is intended to inspire all women to do: shop. As soon as I peeked into the store, i realized it was a bad idea. As great as retail therapy feels, I realized that my be-kind-to-others therapy was a lot more cost effective. I did get a pair of over-the-knee boots that I enjoy, but 35 EUR is a lot to spend. I suppose I could have done worse and accidentally stepped into the Louis Vitton store, but nonetheless, I will not be going into another store any time soon!

Anyway, the boots are very cute and I'll try to post photos soon.

Now I'm back at home, sinking into some reading with a glass of wine.

Karaoké take 2

So I thought I would try another karaoké place tonight, but I ended up not being able to find it. So instead I went back to Rive Droite and was pleasantly surprised to find a very small audience. Phew I thought, I can try some of the harder songs with out pressure. It was great. The DJ remembered me, my name, made me feel right at home. When I signed up for the song I sang last night, he told me he was glad I was going to sing it again.

Somewhere in between Brenda Lee and Patsy Cline, a group of men came in and sat down at a long table. They asked me if I was alone and suggested I come join them. I figured my French could use the practice (they were talking really quickly and really casually). The boys were from Nice, except one who's been living in NY and another who is 1/2 Italian. They were all really nice to me about my singing, even the girls who eventually came about 30 minutes later. I got along really well with one of the girls. We kind of had a heart-to-heart, "girl talk" if you will, in French and it was really nice to hear what she had to say.

All of the people, except and handful, were REALLY good singers. At one point, the DJ put on hallelujah, tried singing the first verse, gave up, and handed it to some random kid wearing clothes that would have him stereotyped as a "thug" in the US. I did not expect to hear the beautiful voice that came out of this man. It was so inspiring.

Popular hits of the night included, "I'm Yours" and "Mercy" as well as "I can show you the world" in French.

I know I'm still not a great singer, and that I butcher many a note, but this is way too fun, and everyone is so nice. Hopefully I'll get better and then it won't only be fun for me :) Though the DJ told me to stop apologizing before I sing... maybe that means I'm getting better?

Brussels

I kind of need to get out of Paris, so I decided to spontaneously buy tickets to Brussels this weekend. I'll be going from Friday the 27th until Monday (morning) the 30thThe train tickets ended up being too cheap to say no to: 87 EUR round trip? At the last minute? It was kind of a no brainer. And it was all made possible by my loving family and their generous birthday presents! Thanks, guys!

I plan on eating lots of chocolate and waffles, moules frites (mussels and fries), and drinking some beer that was brewed by monks. This seems to be a big trend in Belguim, every beer seems to be the product of on abbayé or another.

After that weekend, I'll be here during the week doing some school work and then leaving on the 3rd (at night) to go to London to see my friends Sophie and Sarah. All in all, these next two weeks seem to be full of fun trips. I'll be sure to take tons of photos.

Crazy

Dear friends and family,

I am sorry to have concerned you with my last post. My rupture with this city was in no way supposed to make you worry that I was going to launch myself off of the seine. I am simply no longer in love with Paris.

On the contrary, I've found a new love: singing. I went to karaoké (the french spelling) tonight and sang in public for the first time in my life. As someone who only lip-synchs even to happy birthday, this was a big deal. I sang a Pasty Cline song, written by the great Willie Nelson:

Crazy, crazy for feelin' so lonely
Yes I'm crazy, crazy for feelin' so blue.
I knew, you'd love me as long as you wanted.
And then someday,
You'd leave me for somebody new.
Worry, why do I let myself worry,
Wonderin', what in the world did I do?
Crazy, for thinkin'
That my love could hold you.
I'm crazy for tryin,
And crazy for cryin',
And I'm crazy for lovin you.
Crazy, for thinkin'
That my love could hold you.
I'm crazy for tryin'
And crazy for cryin'
And I'm crazy for lov-ovin you.

I was terrified, but as I let my fears and butterflies go, I got to sing my heart. As a dancer, I usually experience this feeling in a different way. This was very refreshing.

I'll be looking for other places to sing in Paris. Edith Piaf did ok for herself and I don't think she liked this place much either.

In other news, I miss pancakes. With maple syrup.

Love note

Dear Paris,

I realize we started off with such great promise. I was romanced by you, and felt all of the great hope that most lovers have when the first begin a relationship.

But now I realize how cruel you are, and your streets no longer make me sigh. Instead I feel like throwing up.

I'm sorry but it's over. I hate you. You can now go ruin someone else's life.

Sincerely,
Emily

Tuileries and the mediathéque at the Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaisme

Photo class started at the jardin de tuileries, the giant gardens right behind the louvre. We continued our assignment on "statues" and were assigned a new homework assignment: create a story.

During the lunch break, Philippe took some students to Paris Photo, one of the premier photo exhibitions in the world. The student price is still expensive at 7 EUR, so I decided not to try and cram my visit into the 2 hour period before photolab. Instead I went to the mediathéque (media libaray) at the Musée d'art et d'histoire de judaisme to gather some more material for my multicultural France class.

After spending some time with some DVDs, I went to photolab where I worked on my self portraits. Then I got to interview Nancy Vermes as part of my interview project for my Multicultural France class.

After school, I caught up with Jay who just finished visiting with Richard, who just got back from his trip to the US. He was really jetlagged, so we just said hi before he took off to catch up on much needed Zzzs.

Jay and I got some delicious greek sandwiches and fries and finished the night with a simpson's episode.

Tomorrow: Paris photo!

Total Damages today:
1 baguette: 90 centimes
1 sandwich and fries: 4,50
2 bottles of wine: 4,30

Louvre

Went to class.

Then went to the Louvre with Jay.

Chili with crème fraiche for dinner.

Life in Paris is just that awesome.

Total Damages today:
1 baguette: 90 centimes
1 drink and 8 cookies: 75 centimes
1 bottle of champagne (Algeria just beat Egypt!): 1,38

"Day Off"

Ah morning. I wake up and walk down to Biatrix with Taylor, stopping by Franprix on the way home to pick up some tomatoes at an unbeatable price, 2 potatoes, and a bottle of orange juice. Baguette in hand, I am ready to start what was supposed to be my day off.

First, I went into school where I had a chat with the director of study abroad from CMC, one of my school's sister colleges. It made me realize how much I would love her job. In the past three weeks, this woman has been everywhere, trailing her poor husband behind her. God I'm jealous. I asked her what her background was, and she told me that after studying abroad in Paris, she joined the Peace Corps and taught English in Africa. I'm starting to think I should listen to my mother and at least look at the Peace Corps application...

After thinking about my dream job, I picked up a snack and headed to Philippe's photo studio to shoot my self portrait. It was a large and arduous struggle with the flash, the lighting, my make-up, the props, and the tripod, but I think I ended up with some decent photos. Floriane, my photoshop teacher and fashion guru, told me that she liked some of the shots -- that made me feel pretty acomplished.

After photo, I ran back to school where I had a meeting with my professor. After that, I ran upstairs to finish some reading before taking an RER to the cité universitaire where Natalie, our activities director, was cooking up some maccaroni. This dinner was a little like the first dinner I had at the cité -- it's supposed to be part socializing with French students, part language exchange (the French students are studying English, we study French). I was really lucky because the people I met and got along with last time were there again, and we got to talk a bit more. They are absolutely hilarious. One of the girls was talking about men who were hitting on her and said something that roughly translates to, "I think he only wanted two very specific parts of our bodies to be come friends that night." Another girl looks at her and sarcastically responds, "your hands?" I swear I rarely laugh so hard.

By the end of the night, we all caught the RER home together, exchanged emails, and exchanged the traditional kisses on the cheek ("on a fait la bise"). It's nice to know that there are some French students who I get along well with, and who feel comfortable enough with me to let me into their circle. Hopefully I'll get to know them a little better as time goes on.

Now I'm exhausted (what a "day off") and need to sleep, but alas there is more Balzac to attend to!

Total Damages today:
groceries (4 tomatoes, 2 large potatoes, 1 bottle orange juice): 1,72
1 baguette: 85 centimes
madeleines: 1,15

Why is it STUDY abroad, again?

Ah yes, the lovely Monday. Oh Monday, I really missed the amount of schoolwork you brought into my life last week. I really enjoy waking up at 8am to buy books and then read them before my 4.5 hour chunk of class time between 1:30 and 6pm. Oh wait. I don't.

Still, there is something to enjoy about Monday in Paris. Since most everything shuts down on Sunday (except certain parts of the Marais), Monday mornings are like the awaking of a city that was on temporary hibernation. It's a rebirth of sorts, where the city comes alive again. The boulangeries bustle at 7am, the metros run every 2 minutes, and I don't feel unusual stationing myself for 3 hours on a park bench with a copy of Césaire's "discours sur le colonialism" and a chocolate pastry.

At 10 am today, I waited outside Gibert Joseph to pick up this little sliver of a book (at the ridiculous price of 5 euros) and an "occasion" copy of 3 short story's by my favorite French author: Gustave Flaubert.

I've been in love with Flaubert ever since I picked up an ancient copy of Madame Bovary. I remember my Aunt Bibi thumbing through the pages before stopping upon her favorite passage in the book, which has now become my own favorite passage. Even in English, the man wrote to my heart. Every word I uncovered from the yellowed and dirty pages of my book seemed like a pearl that ready to pop out of an oyster. I drenched myself in his writing and delved into the life of this woman, Emma Bovary, who I felt I already knew.

Needless to say, this novel is the reason I decided to take a literature class in Paris. Up until this point, I've just been gritting my teeth and bearing the Balzac until I could finally put my hands around my very own French copy of Madame Bovary. Just holding this book makes me want to go to a café and sip something warm while I sink into a wicker chair. Schoolwork has never made me this excited.

Of course, it's not just about Bovary. My teacher wants us to read other short stories by Flaubert -- hence the trip to GJ this morning. I hope I enjoy them as much as Madame Bovary, but to tell the truth, I'm not exactly ready to gobble them up. Nonetheless, I got the 3 stories for 1,3o -- less than my cost of food for the day -- so if they nourish my soul half as much as Madame Bovary has, I'll be very happy.

Class was, well class. But I got some good errands done, too. I reserved Jay and my spots at "Susan's place" for Thanksgiving. Susan's Place is a traditional American restaurant that does a big Thanksgiving dinner. We're both going to miss the holiday and our families, so we decided we might as well not miss out on the food as well! We're expecting much turkey, stuffing, and pies!

I also got sort of raked into coming into school again tomorrow to meet the head of study abroad programs from CMC. I didn't want to go (it's my day off from school and I already had scheduled 2 meetings with professors), but they made it sound like such a big deal that I couldn't say no. Hopefully it will be a simple meeting accompanied by coffee and cake. :) Afterwards, as I mentioned, I have to go into the photo lab to do a self portrait (I'll post pics later) and then meet with my French teacher in the afternoon. Yikes! Some "day off" this is!

All in all, I had a nice day. Now I'm going to do some work like a good student!

Total damages today:

2 books: 6,40 EUR
1 baguette, 1 chocolate pastry: 2,10

Total Damages today:

milkshake at quick: 1 EUR
1 panaché and cookies: 1,03 EUR
dinner: 2 EUR

The missing blogs

Paper: turned in.

So, aside from schoolwork, here's what I've been up to for the past few days:

Sarah arrived on Monday morning. I met her at the train station with a baguette and the customary "Bienvenue à Paris!" She looked very European in a green trench coat and black suede boots, a fact that made me realize that I, too, looked pretty European. Sarah called my outfit, "French," though I think I looked more like a flight attendant. I wore long black boots, a leather mini, black sweater with a silk bow tied around my neck, my new grey blazer, and the new hat, pinned into my hair. This is something I'd never wear in LA, but something that felt very natural here.


After dropping off her stuff and eating some baguette and cheese, I took Sarah to Notre Dame de Paris where I dropped her off before running to class. That night in front of Notre Dame, I ran into my roommate, Taylor, and the two of us waited to meet Sarah before returning home. Sarah was starved for something hot and delicious, so I took her to my local pita shop for some pita and frites. Yum! We got to talk a lot about our abroad experiences -- it was really nice to hear about England.


We returned home to plan out our trip to Versailles. I don't have class on Tuesdays, so we thought it would be the perfect time to go. As round trip tickets are about 6 EUR, you really want to make a day out of your trip to Versailles. As we later figured out, we could have even brought lunch with us (they have a complementary bag check, if you want to bring food).

After getting off to somewhat of a late start, we arrived in Versailles at 10am. After some negotiating with the ticket guys, Sarah and I got in for free and trotted along to the entry to the chateau with our Rick Steeves guidebook in hand. We noticed we were not the only tourists accompanied by mr. steeves.


On our way into the building, we noticed there was some random modern art on display amoung the golden gates and cobblestone courtyards. We were not superfans, especially in this setting.


We began our tour with the aid of Rick Steeves, but ended up just following the pack of tourists with audio guides and took in the sites ourselves. Points of interest in the castle: the hall of mirrors, the room of war and room of peace on either end, the king and queen's chambers, the gambling room. There's also quite a large gallery of wall-sized paintings of battles which chronicle Napolian's rise from Emperor to General, as well as some interesting things from Louis-Phillipe's era, but Sarah and I were mostly interested in the extravagance that was Louis and Marie Antoinette.

Sarah and I spent a lot of time redecorating our dream houses -- the decorating at Versailles was incredible. I loved the wallpaper and the draperies. Not to mention the chandeliers and chairs.


We were lucky and didn't get any rain, so we followed up our chateau tour with a jaunt about the gardens. Lets just say we got a workout -- these gardens are HUGE! We decided to head over to the domaine de Marie Antoinette for a tour of her little playhouse and gardens (we got in for free yet again). I was surprised to find that I prefered this part of our visit to the Chateau. The cottage was gorgeous -- pretty luxerious for a cottage -- and all of the great artifacts were on full display. My favorite room was (surprise surprise) the kitchen, which still had all the brass cookware on display.


After a visit to the cottage, we explored the gardens. We began at the "temple of love," cracked a few jokes, and headed on to the Queen's hamlet. It was pretty clear why Marie Antoinette had spent so much money making this fully functional imitation farm village and why her subjects became so enraged with her because of it. The place was clearly a playland. The best words Sarah and I could come up with were: "mini golf." It was that fake, that quaint, and that adorable.



We enjoyed walking around amoung the swans, the overwhelming adorableness, and the beautiful scenery.

At around 3, we got pretty hungry and barely made it back to the metro without a snack from the nearby mc donalds. We snagged baguettes and chowed down before hitting up the musée carnavalet before closing. The museum is free and packed full of incredible art and artifacts from the middle ages, to the revolution, to modern art. We enjoyed not only the art, but the building itself, which is an old hotel particulier.

After the musée, we hit up the best french onion soup place in Paris: Au Pied du Chochon. A pot of the good cheesy mess costs about 7 EUR, but is more than I could ever eat. I will definitely be going back here. The restaurant is also 24 hours, so you can go whenever you want -- this is a big deal as the Mc Donalds here aren't even 24 hours!

During our trip to the latin quarter, I took Sarah to a place I was sure she would remember: the latin corner. I had orignially heard about this place from Sam, but I was still unprepared for the experience. Sarah and I arrived at 8:30 for happy hour and the bar seemed normal enough, except that bras were hanging from the ceiling and every waiter was wearing a shirt that said, "fuck me?" on the back.

We ordered our drinks and expected to meet up with Sarah's friends later, so we took our time. At 9:30, however, something changed. We were handed sparklers, the euro-beat started blasting, and the waiters started taking off their clothes! Sarah and I couldn't help but laugh as they were wearing Calvin Klein underpants -- only in Europe! We witnessed was was surely the batchelorette of the night recieve a very creative drink (and lap dance) from one of the bar tenders and then decided we'd had enough man-butt for one night.

Wednesday began with a quick walk around the Luxembourg gardens, some croissants for breakfast, and a tour of the quartier montparnasse. I then left Sarah while I went to school for a couple hours and met up with her again just in time to hit the louvre. Being a holiday (armastice day) we only had enough time to catch the Venus de Milo and the Jacconde, though I encouraged Sarah to return on Thursday morning since our tickets were free. Post-louvre, we went to Montmartre and hit up the moulin rouge, the café deux moulins (from Amélie), Sacre Coeur, and a crêpe stand.

Thursday morning meant photo class, so I took Sarah to the Louvre and headed off to a critique. I met Sarah later for lunch where we had falafels at the best falafel place: l'as du falafel on rue des rosiers. YUM. I then sent her off to the Eiffel tower where she was to meet Jay who was just coming back from Brussels. I love the my friends and my boyfriend get along so well -- I'm sure they had a good time touring the tour together.

Friday was move-in day for Jay, and while I was touring Saint Denis for my sociology class, Jay made himself right at home in a cute little apt. in the 11th. :D

Today we've been relaxing together while I finished up some work.

Total Damages Saturday:
1 banana nutella crêpe: 3,50
1 baguette: ,90
3 frozen pizzas: 1,50


Photos are up at http://s818.photobucket.com/albums/zz101/E_Grossman/
I'll post to blog soon.

Papers and Sarah and Tourism eat up my life!

I've been very busy with school and my friend Sarah, who recently visited me in Paris. Together we visited Versailles, the Louvre, le musée carnavalet, and had a lot of great laughs. I'll certainly update with pictures when I finish this last paper.

Here are my expenses for the past couple of days:

baguette: 85 centimes
sandwich and fries: 5
best french onion soup in Paris: 7
1 pint of beer at latin corner: 4
1 round trip metro to Versailles: 6
1 baguette: 85 centimes
1 chocolate bar and 1 espresso: 1,30
2 bottles of wine: 2,70
1 palmier: 80
1 nutella banana crepe in montmartre: 4,50
1 falafel: 5
1 baguette: 85 centimes
1 orange juice and 1 apple: 75 centimes

London here I come

Just bought roundtrip train tickets to london for 87 euros! Being under 26 really has its advantages.

Birthday Night and back to the grind

Saturday was a great birthday!

Jay and I began our day slowly, cleaning up after the birthday festivities from the night before. We had some leftover "birthday cake" (an AMAZINGly delicious fruit tart that Jay bought me from a bakery) and headed out. Stop one: printing out Jay's train and hostel information for his trip to Brussels this week. Stop 2: the greek sandwich shop. Stop 3: the mall.

That's right, ladies. I am not only lucky enough to have a boyfriend who buys me cute clothes for my birthday, but one who is willing to tag along with me as I ooh and ahh and try on every other item I see. It was such a great present -- a day inside and away from the rain, looking at all the christmas displays and coming home with some great new clothes. I got a blazer (I've been wanting one of these for so long and this one is PERFECT -- it fits perfectly, it's warm, and stylish!) and a hat (another thing that is as much useful as it is pretty). Here are some pics of me wearing my new clothes:

Wearing the blazer and hat

Blazer buttoned up with the scarf my mom sent --
a much more equestrian look that goes great with my boots.

After our shopping excursion, we came back home where I got a great phone call from my dad and mom, wishing me a happy birthday. It was so nice to hear their voices.

Jay and I then took off to celebrate with dinner at Léon de Bruxelles, a chain restaurant that functions like the Olive Garden or Chilis, but specialises in mussels and belgian beer. The TVA (the group that controls the tax on restaurants in France) just lowered the taxes, which means all of the restaurants are lowering their prices (tax is included in pretty much everything in Paris). For our dining purposes, this meant we could have a bucket of mussels each, unlimited french fries, and 2 pints of beer for under 15 EUR per person. We were won over by the deal, but were even more impressed with the quality of the food and service we recieved. The mussels were amazing and I really enjoyed the beer (the first of many of the night). The servers were attentive and kind. We'd definitely go back again! They also do unlimited mussels on Sunday nights!

We returned home for a bottle of wine before heading out to the latin quarter to celebrate at a couple of bars. We found a great bar called, 'the madmaker' and got prime seats at the bar where bartenders juggled and flipped drinks like circus performers. The inside of the bar looked like a pirate ship and they had quite a variety of beers on tap. Jay and I samped as many as we could, but still decided that Guinness could not be beat. The bar was offering car bombs at 5 EUR, so we took the plunge before going to another local bar where I got myself a birthday pint.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

In the morning, I said goodbye to Jay as he got aboard his train to Brussels. As sad as I was to see him go, he'll only be gone for 5 days and I consoled myself thinking about how romantic it was to blow kisses through the window of a train. Something so vintage about it.

Today I've been trying to catch up on homework before Sarah comes this week. I have a lot of work to do, but c'est la vie! For dinner, Taylor and I made indian food: curried chicken breasts with veggies, chickpeas, and basmatti rice for 4,50 a person. This could easily feed 4 people, though. We have leftovers -- it was delicious!

I've been thinking about how to spend my birthday money, and I think I might want to buy a ticket to london to see Sophie sometime in December. If I plan it right, I can stay for 4 nights and pay only 85 eur for a round trip ticket. Waiting on some dates from Soph and Jay before I buy anything.

Total Damages Saturday:
1 greek sandwich: 5 EUR
1 dinner at Léon (pint of beer included): 15 EUR
2 demi-pints, 1 car bomb, 1 pint: 22 EUR

Total Damages Sunday:
1 baguette: 85 centimes
food for dinner (2 chicken breasts, 2 jars curry, 1 jar mixed veggies, 1 jar chickpeas, 1 packet basmatti rice / 2 people): 4,50

Check out the lastest pictures here: http://s818.photobucket.com/albums/zz101/E_Grossman/

Birthday Tomorrow

With my birthday approaching, I've gotten a lot of mail from my family back home. It's really nice to hear from you guys and I'm glad you've been enjoying the blog. Sorry I've not been keeping up with the daily updates and photo uploads as I should be, but with midterms next week, time is slowly slipping away.

That being said, I'd like to update you guys a bit:
Today Jay and I went down to the arc de triomphe and the champs elysees. I must say, I like the window shopping a lot more when I have my boyfriend on my arm. It's much more relaxing and I didn't even mind the tourists as much as I did when I went that first time by myself.


The arc was amazing -- we walked under the street and under the arc in order to see the tomb of the unknown french soldier as well as the amazing arc itself. It's part war memorial, part declaration of power, part artistic beauty -- these three seemingly incompatible elements came together perfectly in this giant chunk of rock which sits firmly at the center of some of the biggest parisian avenues.


I shelpped Jay along to see some of the shopping along our walk back home -- he enjoyed the car dealerships while I stared into Cartier's sparkling windows. We passed by the Ritz, Chanel, and Dolce, before we headed to the Opera Garnier, and finaly back home.


Tonight is my birthday celebration with some of my friends from school, so I've got get ready. I'll upload some photos when I get a chance!

Total damages yesterday and today:
2 baguettes at biatrix: 1,70
3 baguettes at biatrix for birthday celebration: 2,55
2 wheels of cheese, 2 bottles of wine for birthday celebration: 7,50
2 bags of crackers for birthday celebration: 2 EUR
1 bottle of champagne for birthday celebration: 1,33 EUR

Chinese food on rue de la mairie

My day was mostly full of boring food stuff until I returned home to a hungry boyfriend craving chinese food. I'd been longing to eat at one of the local Chinese places for a while now, so we decided to go and have a early dinner.

We scouted out many restaurants and ultimately just chose one that looked good and had a decent price menu (3 courses for 7,50). We sat down, began figuring out our menu, and began.

It was truly a feast -- the food just kept coming. For 60 cents you can get these ENORMOUS pork buns (I can't even describe to you how big they are) so of course we each had to try one. Then after that came our appetizers. Jay got a shrimp springroll which was garnished with beautiful mint. I went for the chicken egg rolls which were perfect. For entrées, Jay got a chicken and black mushrooms dish while I went for chicken in curry. By the time we finished that, we were already exploading and unbuttoning our jeans, but then came in the desert: chinese nugat. It was actually really good -- the consistancy was like a caramel chew with peanuts inside, but it had the nugat flavor. Very tasty.

Lessons learned: We could probably get 2 buns each and be full. or just go for a simple entrée. Still it's nice to know there's a place that will stuff us to the brim for under 8 EUR a piece.

Total damages today:
1 apple, 1 coissant, 1 apple pastry: 1,90 EUR
dinner: 8,20 EUR

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles

It's been rainy and my face hasn't come out of the book for much.

Today, Jay and I spent some good quality lazy time indoors and away from the rain. We stocked up on baguette to keep our bellies full but didn't leave again until I had to go to school for a meeting. After that, it was almost time for dinner, so we grabbed some ingredients to make a mean mac and cheese using french products that I've come to adore: butter, crème fraiche, and cheeeeese. We paired our beastly portions of mac and cheese with some salads in a balsamic mustard vinagrette because we've been getting kind of behind on the veggies.

Jay approves of our mac and cheese.
That's Glee we're watching in the background.

We also metro-ed down to the Eiffel Tower to see the light show, got caught in some downpours, and ended up dripping wet on our way back. The tower was beautiful, though, glowing in a blue with it's bi-hourly light show providing entertainment.



Total Damages today:
baguette: 85 centimes
mac and cheese making materials: 3,35 EUR
1 head of lettuce: 80 centimes

Getting Back to the Grind

Mondays are usually not my favorite days and, with the additional "fun" of now paying both my rent and my monthy metro card on a Monday, I could do without this weekday whose greek or latin origins must have something to do with the "god of social responsibilities."

It's not just that Monday means you have to make sure you have all your work together, organized, and ready to go, it means you actually have to mentally prepare to see it all go. I pay my rent and pass navigo in cash (unfortunatly this is the easiest way to do it, but I always get receipts) and it almost physically hurts me to see the large wad of freshly pressed cash leave my fingers and pay for something that I can't eat or wear. Even though I've budgeted these espenses, it feels like SO much money.

Luckily, my boyfriend knows how to deal with "a case of the mondays" and had a baguette ready to go when I got home (best surprise ever!). We went to a supermarket and picked up some hachis parmentier (the French equivalent of shepard's pie) for dinner and curled up warmly by the glowing laptop.

Jay had a much more interesting day than I did, so I suggest you read his blog where he shows pictures from his walk down to notre dame:
http://championofithica.blogspot.com/

The christmas feeling is really setting in here -- I'll let you know when the big lights come out.

Total damages today:
1 chocolate bar at school: 80 centimes
1 hachis parmentier: 2,74 EUR
1 passe navigo (grrr, I hate that I need this now that it's cold): 56 EUR