It's been awhile

I realize I have not posted anything substantial in about a month, but that should just be an indication of how much fun I am having in Paris. When I finally opened up my eyes and realized that I am in one of the best cities in the world, I discoverd my love for Europe and Paris. So far I have been to Eurodisney and London and will be heading to Rome and Barcelona next week. Jessica Dodd and CHelsea have already visited me and made my stay here uber special. Veronyka is coming tomorrow and will be here until the end of my trip. I can not believe I have only three more weeks here... one I will not even be here.

Here are some of my pictures:

Things I miss about the United States

Food items:
Oreos
Gum
Chipotle
Cheesecake Factory (the red velvet cheesecake)
Indian Food
Mexican Food (mom's and uncle Julio's<- restuarant because I do not have an uncle julio)
Nigerian Food esp. Plantain and beans and coconut plantain
Potbelly's
Brownies
Deep Dish pizza

People:
Everyone
I especially miss talking to my mom while I am walking somewhere or at the grocery store or public transportation
I miss the talks I have with Kaitlin until 3 or 4 in the morning. Then the awkward conversations we have the next morning when we both are really fuzzy from no sleep.
I miss seeing Abby in the maclab at all hours
I miss running into people at hutch
I miss talking to Jenny, Chelsea, and Paige about thier lives (maybe mine too)
I miss Ginny and her rational
I miss USI and the free food, great conversation and smiles
Black movie night
The Apartment
Diversity
Driving
Cedars- Chicken Swarma

Things I do not miss
CTA
homeless people (here people do things for the money, make bracelets, trick you)
Classes
The dangerously cold weather
That kids
Poorly dressed people

Day 14-16

I booked my tickets to Greece, Barcelona, Portugal, and Rome!!! I will be in Rome for three days and then Barcelona for about five with about two days in Portugal and then back to Paris. I am going to Greece for a couple of days after my program with Chelsea. Well, all of these trips are with Chelsea which makes me really excited!!!! It is going to be a blast. So if you have any trip ideas for these places, please let me know.

Above are my pictures to Sacre Couer on Saturday. Of course I would choose the day it is rainy, windy and overcast to climb to the highest point in Paris (284 steps) and then of course my camera died so I only had about the life of two pictures. That is the top one, me at the bottom of the steps, of course because I am sometimes computer illiterate I forgot how to actually rotate the picture.

After Sacre Couer we went to another area in Montmarte where there are just a bunch of soldiers with machine guns at the metro (scary). Then we went shopping at an area called L'Opera. It was crazy. Imagine the day after Thanksgiving and that is shopping every weekend in Paris. I was soo overwhelmed. I will have a seperate post about shopping in Paris, but that is another story.

Today we went to the Eiffel Tower between classes. It is crazy big!!!! It was soo amazing. It is beautiful. WE were going to walk to the top, but without a good camera, Deonna was not down for it. Instead we walked around and looked at it's glory.

I am starting to really like Paris. It must be the nutella crepes :)

Update on General Life Happenings

1. I was invited to a Final Interview for Teach for America. I am uber excited because I was advanced straight to the final round which means they thought I was an exceptional candidate. If I got TFA I would be sooo happy because I would no longer have to worry about what I was going to do for the next two years of my life and instead be concentrating on getting set-up and what not. The only problem is that they want me to fly back to the U.S. and I think that would disorient me a little bit too much. I don't know. I hope we can work something out so please wish me luck.

2. I am sort of torn on what I should be doing in Paris. Or rather, I feel rather lazy here after classes and traveling and I am not really up for doing things with a ton of people I don't really know and do not really plan on being friends with in the future. Essentially, I have all of my friends at home and I am about to graduate and have so many other life things to worry about, that it is difficult to really expend energy on trying to be friends with everyone on the program and going out. Lee suggested that I should try to figure out why I came to Paris and what would deem this trip successful. My mom tells me that this trip is costing a lot of money so I better hop to it. It's just wierd. I think a lot of it is me being a homebody. Kaitlin will tell you that while a lot of people think I go out to clubs every weekend, I usually stay home and watch Say Yes to the Dress and drink tea. And when I go back I will steal her snuggie and do the same thing. But am I really living. Does going out until five in the morning every Wednesday thru Thursday deem living or are those stages that I have already outgrown. Just a debate in my head. Should I try to make friends here? SHould I ignore the fact that not a lot of people invite me to hang out with them and that I feel shunned which is a feeling I never really had to worry about before in my life?

3. To write a B.A. or to not write a B.A. is the question.

4. To study for my Gmat or to not study for my Gmat. Also a question.

ADVICE!!!! COMMENTS!!!

Until next time mes amis

PICTURES!!!!

The Pompidou Museum is uber modern and futuristic!

The Museum D'Orsay's Nouveau Art exhibit

This is in the Celebration Room of the Assemblee National. Please excuse the fact that I had woken up 15 minutes before hand.

Everybody likes a good sacrophage(?) I feel Mr. Wolford would be proud.

The Pyramids are actually skylights and an entrance... who knew!!!

Me in front of the Louvre!!! It's even bigger than this, it's incredible.

Me in front of the U.S. Consulate... at least I know where it is if I need to run from the law!!!

Day 11- Day 13: Sorry I forgot to Post for awhile

I never felt I was a cultured person. In fact, I think I am pretty uncultured. I don't really like red wine, do not read Kant in spare time, try various ethnic foods, or go to museums. These are just things that I never really did and for a long time I was okay with it. But one of the reasons I came to Europe was to find a culture that my classmates possessed but I felt I constantly lacked. I wanted to see the famous paintings that I would see in Intro to Art History and the Italian Renaissance. I wanted to be able to drink wine without making a face (the Imah face has not gone away my friends, only suprising new people who do not know me that well). So even though I was unable to get into the Pompidou and Picasso Museum, Deonna and I went to see the Musee D'Orsay. It was AMAZING!!!!! The sculptures and the exhibits and just the grandness of the building left me speechless for awhile. They have paintings by Van Gogh, Matisse, Renoir, and Rodin. Paintings that look nothing like the pictures they show you in class. In order to gain the full grasp of the essences of these paintings it is really crucial to go up close and look at the brushstrokes and the intricate details of these paintings. It was at the museum that I began to fully realize that I am Paris. The city for culture and that I came to immerse myself in the culture and do things that I have not done before and step outside of my comfort zone.

However, the Museum D'Orsay fails in comparison to the Louvre. All my life, I thought the Louvre was the Pyramid that you see in pictures. And I always wondered how can everything fit into that pyramid and why is it see through? The Pyramid is a speck in the Louvre's whole design. The Louvre is GIGANTIC!!!!!!! I want to say it is as big as the Uchicago main campus. I went for three hours and merely saw one exhibit (maybe 1/4 of a wing). It was overwhelming but amazing. I went to see the Egyptian exhibit and everything they had on display was incredible: tombs, jewelery, hunting tools, crypts, sacrophages. It was crazy!!!!

Afterwards, we had a conversation with Vincent (our lector) and he took us to sushi and then to his apartment. But what is so interesting about college in France is that kids do not live in dorms. They live at home or family residences and commute back and forth to school. I guess people do that in the U.S. but it is more the exception than the norm.

Today, once again, our people decided to wake us up at the crack of dawn and took us to the Assemblee National. It is essentially equivalent to our house of representatives. The building is beautiful on the inside. The paintings and the gold is nothing like I have ever seen before.

If you want to see pictures of all of these things: awinterinparis.shutterfly.com