First day of offical classes

I got to sleep in today and decided to celebrate the occasion with a hot-out-of-the-oven baguette from Biatrix. The man in front of me asked for his baguette in English and got one of the cold ones. I asked in French and got a fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette. Coincidence? I think not.

I then made myself a little sandwich of pesto, tomatoes, cucumbers, and melted brie that I packed into my bag for lunch later. I must say, there is nothing better than a sandwich on fresh bread. The sandwich must have cost less than a euro in total, but tasted like a million bucks. Upon arrival at school, I grabbed a can of cola light from the local ED and went into the computer room to print out my homework for the day.

My first class was "La France Multiculturelle" with M. Mongo-Mbussa. He was incredible. I've never seen a professor get so passionate about a subject that he actually breaks a sweat and has to pause in order to get out a tissue.

After class, I snagged a free coffe and cookie with Natalie, the activies director, and chatted about possible extra curriculars during the semester. I'm hoping to be able to work with kids somehow, doing volunteer work or something of the sort. M. Mongo-Mbussa says he might be able to put me in touch with someone he knows who works at a ZEP.

Finally I got to see a familiar face when we reunited with M. R-G for the offical start of our French class. She is as adorable as ever. I have my first "Tutorat" with her tomorrow and I am very excited!

I finished the eveing with a walk home and a pit stop at Gibert Joseph to pick up some of the reading materials for my classes.

Tonight's dinner brought back an old favorite: the ever cheap and ever satisfying pasta with tomato sauce alongside a tomato and cumcumber salad with pesto and balsamic. Dessert? The rest of the baguette in some delicious faux-nutella.




Total Damages today:

Baguette at Biatrix: ,85 EUR
Cola Light: 19 centimes
Lined paper for notes: 2,79 EUR
2 books for "la france multiculturelle": 9,70 EUR

L'exploration de Montmartre

Today began with morning jaunt about the neighborhood. One of the fabulous things about living close to the "jewish district" is that many things are open on Sunday so long as you know where to go. After picking up my baguette at Biatrix, I took a stroll down one of these streets with many open-les-dimanches markets and took note.

A baguette and some cheese in hand, I meandered my way to the subway in hopes of beginning today's scheduled tour of Montmartre a little bit early by myself. The last time I went to Montmartre, I had gotten off at "Anvers," but my tour was scheduled to start just outside of "Lamarck-Caulaincourt" so I decided to explore that area more.

Once I arrived, I realized that this metro, while being a slightly less direct route to Sacre Coeur, was a better metro stop for Montmartre because it began already some ways up the hill. That's right, you can walk down to Sacre Coeur.

Walking around the area just about the Metro stop, I noticed some stores I wanted to visit once they reopened, as well as some beautiful homes, streets, and scenery. Montmartre is probably as close to a "village" as I've seen in Paris yet and everything really reflects that village "charm." After picnic-ing on a park bench and then returning to the metro stop, I finally met up with my group and ascended the steps to the street "villa leandre" where we caught a glimpse of what an older Montmartre might have looked like. Our guide, Natalie, informed us that Monmartre is relatively new to Paris, and prior to its inclusion, Montmartre was a little village filled with potagers and abbeys. Villa Leandre is one of the only streets left in Paris (and Montmartre) with stone laden streets and almost every building is a house (as opposed to an apartment).

At the end of the street, there is a dead end and some stairs that lead to a park on the way to the Place Dalida. The park features a statue of Saint Denis, carrying his head as legend said he did on the day of his execution all throughout Montmartre. Some say that the "martre" part of "montmartre" comes from the word "martyr."


When we exited the park, we stood on the place dalida, facing the famous bust of the beautiful singer. Continuing up (and then down) the rue de saules, you can see some of Montmartre's old agricultural history: vineyards. The abbeys sold a lot of land to people who were looking to take advantage of Monmartre's unique taxing situation: since Montmartre was virtually in Paris, but technically not subject to Paris' tax on wine, the wine business in Montmartre was very lucrative. It was so much cheaper to drink in Montmartre that many Parisians frequented the taverns in Montmartre every time they wanted to drink which, as we all know, lead to the creation of many cabarets and Montmartre's reputation as a district of illicit pleasures.

In fact, at the end this vineyard on rue de saules, one can see the only remaining Caberet in Paris: "Au Lapin Agile." Unlike many other cabarets that have since been converted into restaurants and cafés, Au Lapin Agile still maintains its regular program.

We continued our journey seeing all of Montmartre's "musts" at the "butte" (at the top of and alongside the hill that is Montmartre): the museum of Montmartre, the moulin de la galette, the old city center, the Dali museum, l'Eglise Saint Pièrre, Sacre Coeur, la bateau-lavoir, etc...



When we began to descend, we passed the théâtre de la ville, the rue des martyrs, and the deux moulins (from Amélie). At the end, we ended up at the Moulin Rouge, which in the bright daylight looks unfortunately far less glamorous and bohemian that it does in my dreams. It's even wedged in between a "Quick" (France's Mc Donalds) and a modern 3-story nightclub. If you continue your way down the street, you'll happen by the erotica museum (this used to be a red-light district, after all).


I returned home to a glass of red and a pasta with pork, corn, and basil tomato sauce. Mhmm delicious Paris.







Total damages:
Baguette: ,85 EUR

The Perfect Saturday Night in Paris

I woke up at around 12:30 today (which is pretty early when you consider that I went to bed at 6am), cleaned up the mess of clothes I left on the floor last night, poured myself a nice glass of orange juice and informed my parents that I was alive.

When Taylor woke up at around 2:30, we decided to pick up some groceries, make lunch, and catch up with eachother's lives. After a jaunt down to Biatrix for the usual 85 centimes Baguette Parisienne, we hopped over to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for omelettes and other things we wanted to have around the apt. We stocked up on corn, peas, tomatoes, and motzzarella (which is only 90 centimes here for a large ball, I love Paris!). Our huge bags of groceries came to only 13 EUR and Taylor picked up the tab since I got the laundry detergent, draino, and the previous round of groceries. After finishing our baguette en route as usual, we came home to make a huge lunch. I was in charge of food prep and Taylor prepared the omlettes in the pan. I think we've mastered the art of cooking in a small kitchen.

We set our beautiful lunches out on the table in my room, right next to the window that looks out onto rue Michel le Comte. It was a beautiful day and the breeze trickled in through the window. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon after a long Friday night. We took advantage of our beautiful surroundings and ate as if we were 2 parisiennes sitting at a local brasserie or café just down the street: we took our time and ate for 2 hours.

After feeling incredibly satisfied, I decided to take the newly draino-ed shower drain for a spin and was very, VERY satisfied that my shower did not turn into a foot bath.

Taylor was getting ready to go to a concert and I desperately wanted to take a walk along the Seine, so I skyped a bit with Jay before throwing on an echarpe and taking to the streets. I grabbed Jay's camera in hopes of capturing a few good shots.


I first trotted down to the Seine and walked along the side of the street closest to the river. Even though it was almost 7:30, the sun was just starting to set and the water looked beautiful. I hiked my way down past the local artists until I happened upon the Louvre, where the crystal pyramid was sparkling in the sunset. Pure magic surrounded me as I began to hear a cello out of one corridor. As I wandered around the Louvre's courtyard, I noticed that each corridor seemed to house the music of a different musician. I heard opera singers, a clarinet, and a cello all playing different tunes from different eras but they all seemed to combine into a magical melody that could have never come out so beautiful had it been planned.

Standing in the center of this virtual orchestra of street musicians, I looked toward the fountain and noticed that I wasn't the only one feeling the magic. Two parisians on velibs shared one of the most romantic moments I have seen thus far on my trip. To be honest, I was kind of jealous of how perfectly they looked in that instant -- just two lovers on bicycles sharing a kiss in front of a gorgeous fountain as a symphony surrounds the courtyard -- their bicycle tires even matched up.

But it wasn't before long that the sun set, the lovers parted, and a man took off his shoes, rolled up his pants, and jumped feet first into the fountain. One second the city is full of romance, the next, it's full of feet. I love Paris, I thought for the 1000th time.

The sun was coming down, so I decided to head back home. As I walked home, I was greeted by the cutest little face in a window of a store: a little kitty! He was so friendly -- just came right up to the window and stuck his little face out. I played some little games with him for a little while since I felt kind of bad that the poor thing was locked up in a store all by himself all night, but then another kitty came up to him and I realized he wasn't all alone.

I continued my walk home but stopped at the rue du rambuteau to get a little snack. When I saw that I could snag a banana nutella crêpe for only 3,50 EUR, I had made up my mind. It was as fresh, oozing, and delicious as anyone could have ever hoped for. I love Paris, I thought again.

I decided to follow the sound of some music down another street where I found some street performers playing a duet on what looked like a home-made marimba. I sat down with my handful of extacy and took in more of the Parisian magic. I had music, a crêpe and the centre pompidou behind me: how can Los Angeles even compare? All I need is to get my boyfriend up here and then you'll never get me to leave!

After my mini concert and excellent dessert, I saw a Monop' (Monoprix's little convenience store) and decided to hop in for some pictures. I saw the Sirop and was enticed by the colors, so I began snapping some photos with Jay's camera until a man in a security suit came up to me and said in a very serious French voice that I was prohibited from taking photos. I apologized profusely in my best French, saying that I wasn't from here and so I didn't know the rules. I thought about it for a second and realized that I really didn't know the rules. Apparently, it's perfectly acceptable to bathe in the fountains at the Louvre and drink in public but I can't take a photo in a convenience store? Tant pis! A little slap on the wrist for being a silly tourist is probably pretty good for me and now I've learned that I shouldn't just assume I can take pictures where ever I want. At least they let me keep the shots. :)


Feeling that my big camera faux pas was probably a sign to end the night, I walked back to the apt for a glass of Cola Light from a bottle that I bought at ED a few days ago. I look out my window and see the parisians out to play but feel totally satisfied having gone to my own concert at the Louvre, having tasted my parisian delicacy, and having gotten in trouble the Monop' police. Who could ask for anything more?

See my photo albums for more photos of today:

Fickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42113654@N07/
Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/aspettami/Paris#
and http://picasaweb.google.com/aspettami/ParisOnAStudentSBudget#

Total Damage today:
Baguette: ,85 EUR
Crepe: 3,50 EUR