Remembering This Trip

With this trip coming to a close I am thinking about what I will do to remember this amazing trip. I have come up with some good ideas. I want to be able to remember this trip when I am 80 and am telling my grandchildren about all the wonderful people I met in Paris.

Here's the list of ideas I have:

• Collect all the papers and such from museums and stash in a box along with my journal filled with pictures
• Get a picture of each person by themselves. This is because I want to remember each person as they are and not in a large group where one person is left out because they are taking the picture.
• Print out a few pictures to place in frames.
• Print out this blog and place in the box for others to read if this blog gets erased or outdated.

These are some of the things I'll be doing. Now time to take some pictures of the students here that I don't already have.

Weekend Alone

This weekend was my time to be a tourist. I went to so many places this weekend I had to take naps almost every day be I was exhausted.


Friday was my journey out to Saint Denis Cathedral. I have to say the way out there was scary.  I took the Tram, not knowing what to expect, and it was really an experience. I got many looks saying, "She is going to hell." I was the only one in a skirt on the tram with a bunch of extremely religious people. Needless to say on the way back I took a different route, that took longer but was less judgmental. The ride was worth what I was able to see. It was so beautiful. My favorite statues were the praying Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. They were a site to be seen. I got some great pictures of them with the stain glass they were in front of. I was also able to get a great picture of Catherine Medici. (All these pictures are on my Pisaca, just click on the slide show to view them!) The rest of the day I spent cleaning and relaxing, nothing to exciting.


Saturday gave me a chance to see the Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, and a huge flea market. The Pantheon had a crypt with some of the amazing men that have called Paris home. Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, and Rousseau. The structure it's self was beautiful. The paintings and the sculptures really were something. Most of the paintings were about Saint Genevieve and some kings. The sculptures were mostly about the Revolution. After the Pantheon I went to the Luxembourg Gardens, on my way I stopped and got a nutella crepe. It was one of the best things ever! The gardens were gorgeous and had sculptures EVERYWHERE! The ones near the center were all queens and other noble women. Throughout the rest of the gardens they were men or something to that extent. Medici Fountain was divine. The way the trees created shadows and gave it a darker feeling. The fountain itself was detailed and balanced with the male and female. My camera almost died when I was in the gardens. From here I went to Notre Dame to visit the Holocaust memorial and to do some souvenir shopping. The memorial was very sobering. To think that only a few decades ago a man decided to blame a whole sector of people for the poor state of the country and so many people went along with it. Genocide is something that as a humans we should never let happen again, but for some reason we haven't learned from Hitler. Other countries have done the same thing and have gotten away with it for many years, even though the whole knows. I'm not blind to America's mistake in the Japanese camps, granted we didn't intentionally kill them it was still wrong to take families from their home and move them to camps that were barely inhabitable. Or even what the early colonies did to the Native Americans, taking their land and killing them because they weren't "civilized" like the European Countries. Sorry for the rant, but that is what I the memorial made me think of. After the memorial I did some souvenir shopping and then went to the flea market. It was something. All the people trying to sell you knock offs and even underwear in funky colors and designs. I won't spill on what I bought because I still need to decide who gets what. 


Sunday was the day for the CATACOMBES! I went with Laura and got to the location to enter at 10 am, when they opened. We waited for an hour to get in! The line was crazy and people kept adding to it! The wait was so worth it. My favorite part was all the huge amounts of bones that were kept there. One question that I had throughout the tour was who thought to design the bones the way they did. I have yet to upload the pictures but they will be uploaded soon. After the catacombes Laura and I went to the Dali museum. I wasn't to excited to see this, but I was surprised to find out that I enjoyed the museum. I loved the Alice in Wonderland pieces. Once I returned to the dorms I found Boy Meets World and Brotherly Love on YouTube. It was great to find them and relive some of my childhood. I miss watching them on ABC Family. 


Well that was the extent of my weekend. I loved it, but now I am happy to say I don't feel like I need to be a tourist anymore. 


Au Revoir! 

Planning for a weekend alone

Most of the people in my RMU group are leaving this weekend to go to Venice, which leaves me in Paris with a few other people. I have started to plan what I want to get accomplished this weekend alone. For some reason all the places I have chosen to go to are morbid. On Friday I plan on going out to Saint Denis church, which is a burial location for Marie Antoinette and many other influential people. Saturday I will be heading to the Latin quarter to go into the Parthenon and into the crypt. I might also try and hit the crypt at Notre Dame on the same day along with the Holocaust Memorial. Last, but not least, Sunday is going to be a trip to the catacombs with the lovely Laura Gomez. I can't wait to see all these places, but I haven't gone to them yet because I want to go early in the day, but getting everyone together to go is difficult. This is the perfect time to go right when they open to avoid the long lines of tourists, although I am a tourist myself.

School is going great. I am really enjoying the classes, teachers, and students. The combination is creating a very dynamic classroom setting. I will miss the students and teachers when I go back to RMU, sometimes the classes aren't that exciting back home. I can't believe that I am almost half way done with this experience. Very unreal. Sometimes I still don't feel like I am in France, but am at home and relaxed.

Au Revoir!

Brussels, Belgium

On Friday June 17th, almost 40 of us boarded a train to Brussels at 6 am to visit the European Commission and Direct Sell Europe. It was a really good trip, educational and fun. The city was so beautiful and relaxing. It was more laid back than Paris and felt safer as well. The streets were filled with nice people and nice vendors. On the first day we ate lunch at this little pizza place, the best pizza I have ever had. The lady that served us was super nice and spoke English. The place we had dinner at was Chez Leon. The mussels were scrumptious and the iced chocolate truffle was delicious. After dinner I spent the evening walking around with Jeanette, ViVi, and Antoine. We were able to see the little peeing man fountain and lit up buildings. On Saturday, I finished the new Sarah Dessen novel, What Happened to Goodbye. It was amazing! I was also able to purchase a ring that is beautiful at a street market.

 The other parts of the week weren't that exciting, filled with school and homework. I was able to do my laundry for the first time here. It was an experience. Only one thing shrunk, but it is all right.

Just figured out the slideshow app. Up in the right had corner are some pictures that have been taken while I'm here. Enjoy!

Au Revoir!

Chateau De Vincennes

Today was my first French 320 class. It is the history and society of Paris in 5 weeks. It is going to be intense, because the teacher usually teaches it in a semester. It is going to challenge me, which I am really excited for. Being challenged is something I love. I have to read over a hundred pages tonight, for tomorrow but that's not horrible. The material can be a little dry at times, but it has great moments. The one thing about history books is that the writing needs to be readable, not something just analytical. Jones does a good job of combining the analytical with some light hearted information. Like how prostitutes tried to get a stained glass window in Notre Dame.

I decided that I wanted to see the Chateau de Vincennes, so today I took the chance. It was perfect timing. I just read in the history book about the first kings of France and this Chateau was the first one to be used by kings. It was really beautiful and historical. Seeing the remains of it was still delightful, even though Napoleon destroyed most of the Chateau. Being there made me think that I was born in the wrong century; I think I could live without technology and in door plumbing.

Bonne Nuit!

Saturday Adventures

Yesterday was a very exciting! First I went to the famous cemetery the has Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde's grave. I didn't care much to see Jim's grave, but I was super excited to see Oscar's. I brought lipstick just for the occasion. The cemetery was filled with lovely head stones and beautiful cobblestone walkways. It was amazing! This will be one memory that I will take with me for ever.

We also went to Sacre Coeur to watch the city light up at night. Seeing the entire city was beautiful. We sat for over two hours till the sun went down. The whole group went; except for the sisters that grabbed a plane to London for the weekend. Getting everyone together was a challenge, but something that makes a wonderful story to share. On the way over to Sacre Coeur we stopped by the wall that says "I love you" in 311 different languages.

I'm going to start a flickr account to post pictures for all to see. I will post a link to it for all of you!

Au revoir!

Nicole

Two Items Off The Bucket List!

Today I went to see Notre Dame and The Eiffel Tower! I couldn't have chosen a better day to go site seeing! The pictures are amazing. The sky looks unreal! I was also brave and got off at a random stop and started walking around to see what was there. I ended up in a very pretty park that had bocce ball courts! I saw exactly what my old french teacher would tell us about. A bunch of older men playing in the middle of a work day! It was probably the best thing ever, well besides the Eiffel Tower.

I don't think I realized how big the Eiffel Tower really was. All I was able to do was say "WOW". I have never been rendered that speechless at a monument. It was also the moment I realized I was in PARIS. I really have had the hitting moment that I thought, "I'm really here...It's not a dream." I'm surprised it wasn't at the Louvre, but hey, you never know what will do it.

So I officially crossed off numbers 32 and 35 off my bucket list. It was a great feeling! Hopefully this is the push I needed to cross off more on a regular basis. I possibly might be crossing off more than I originally planned, because it is only day 5 and half of them are gone! Time to revise and see what I can do!

First Day of Class

On Sunday as a group we went to the Louvre and it was AMAZING! I am very thankful that we all get along as  a whole group. I know we are in the honeymoon phase, but I think once we settle into groups we won't really have a major problem. Monday we had our first day of school. It was pretty cool. The mix of students is going to be the best part of taking classes here. One of my professors is from the University of Hawaii. He is really interesting; he was born and raised in Nepal. Everyone in class is really nice and helpful.

Today I plan on going to the Open Air Market to grab some veggies and a baguette. The baguette I got is now hard as a rock. I can't wait to see how the market is. I thought going to the markets were hard to understand, but I love them. I can understand a lot of what everything is. I am glad that I took French and culinary classes it is making it so much easier to navigate through everything.

I was thinking of going to a few touristy places today, but it is rainy and I am feeling like being on my own today.  Looks like a day that will be all about making some lovely food and class today.

Au revoir!

Looking Out My Window

I am in Paris. The flight was long and boring. Nothing too special, except that it was the longest plane ride I've been on, but not the as long and annoying as my bus trip to Washington D.C. That is burned into my mind, of something I won't do again. Today I am making it a chill day seeing how I haven't had a real nights sleep yet. I am yawning as I write this.

I just want to say that on the ride to the apartments the first song that played was Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I couldn't believe it. I laughed a little. Then a few songs went by and then Amel Bent started to sing. I felt such a sense of comfort on the ride that made living here a little better. So thank you Madam Pruente and Mom for having me listen to them in high school.

The only thing that I am sad about, is the lack of air conditioning. If it were a normal Parisian summer, cold, it would be lovely and not gross. I am trying to conserve heat by all the lights being shut off and the window open. I'm sitting at the table and looking at the city was awesome. All the people are so serious here and now as I eat some Nutella on a slice of baguette, makes me feel like I am part of the beauty I am seeing. I wish everyone could feel what I am feeling at this moment.

Music!

Packing is pretty much done. I have pretty much everything that I will need, thanks to my wonderful friend Jesseal. It is hard to believe in 48 hours I'll be on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean, the longest plane ride to date. One day I will make sure that an eight hour flight is nothing, I want to travel all over so eight hours isn't that much right?

I just updated my playlist on my nook to go along with "What Happened to Goodbye" by Sarah Dessen. I am glad I finally sat down and did this before I left on an eight hour flight with a new book. Time to start piling together some new songs for a Paris Playlist! I

Here's a glimpse into what I just added:

Hold it Against Me- Britney Spears
Stay The Night - James Blunt
Doctor and Navigate Me - Cute Is What We Aim For
Do It Like A Dude - Jessie J
Black and Yellow - Wiz Khalifa
Strip Me and Weightless - Natasha Bedingfield
HereGoesNothing and BigCityDreams - Never Shout Never
Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
Who Says - Selena Gomez