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

Day 8- Day 10 These will be long posts

When I started to tell people I was going to go to Paris, I remember two conversations I had with Jenny and Melissa. Jenny told me that when she first came to Paris, she remembered seeing the Eiffel Tower and how it was then that she knew she was in Paris and how magical and wonderful the city was. The second conversation was with Melissa and her visit to Paris when she was studying abroad in London. She said that while she did not remember alot, she remembered the Picasso Museum and how cool it was to see the different ways people can view the world.
Well, when I first arrived in Paris, I did not see the Eiffel Tower (it is not as tall as you think it is) and it wasn't until I saw glimpse of it that I realized that I was actually in Paris. And while I was really excited to go visit the Picasso Museum, when I finished walking around and navigating through La Marais (the Jewish and Gay neighborhood in Paris), I was disappointed to read that the museum was closed until 2012! However, last Sunday, even though I was disheartened, I continued my journey and went to the Georges Pompidou center. Pompidou is an interesting construction. It is an attraction because the outside of the building is actually supposed to be inside. Since they told me I had to pay full price because I was American and not realy a student, I decided to get a coffee and read for a class in the cafe. I then went to the Las Halles shopping district (YAY!). Twice a year France has SOLDES or SALLES aka SALES!!!! It is the only time that they are able to have sales and they are really good 30, 50, and 70 percent off. And one thing that I love about Europe is that they take the American dollar price and put the euro in front of it. So even though it is on sale, it is probably the price you will pay in America so it's essentially a way to fool Americans into thinking that these shoes that are now 30euro ($45) are really on sale when they were probably 30 dollars in the U.S. anyway.
What was really cool about last Sunday aside from spending I should use to feed myself was attending mass at Notre Dame. It was in Latin and French. They had a full choir, about 15 altar boys, and 20 priests. It always amazes me how religion can bring people together despite its reputation to push them apart. But the entire cathedral was full during mass and people from all over the world were there worshipping. It was a great feeling. I imagined Kaitlin there telling me to not sing the Gregorian chants since I can barely sing the songs in my own language. I miss Kaitlin!

Monday I went to class. Why do we have class when we are in Paris? I'm confused too!

Tuesday we had class at Dauphine followed by a celebration of the three kings cake. I won two crowns... I am just that cool!!!!

Day 7

I have been mistaken as Parisian twice already. It could possibly be the beret my mom bought me to keep warm or the bright pink gloves that my conversation lector calls "really Parisian", but people come up to me and ask me for directions. Of course, they are speaking French, but I respond and give them directions back (point and grunt with a look of confusion). I am really blending into this place of wonder. Speaking of wonder, this weekend our program took us to Chateau Blois and Chambord. They are both castles that were inhabited by kings and queens and are now museums. I have to admit, Blois fails in comparison to Chamboard. Chambord looks like the castle Walt Disney used for Beauty and the Beast. I hope to live here one day or at least pull a Theresa Kerry and have it disassembled and moved to the U.S. We can all dream right. After the castles we celebrated my friend Alex's birthday in a hipster neighborhood in Northern Paris. The transportation system here is crazy. You can get anywhere by foot and train. If only America were so awesome. However, as much as Paris and Europe are wonderful places, I could not imagine myself living her for more than a year or two. First of all, men with large machine guns patrol various places (subway, random streets, and always in threes!) and the police are scary looking. But its very difficult to live without the American sized portions...Cheesecake factory.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to le Musee de Picasso in La Marais and Georges Pompidou and the Bastille. Wish me luck that I don't die of frostbite or hunger (the portions are way to small for so much money... the euro is dangerous).

A sad post

The problem with being hispanic and Nigerian is that you are constantly put in situations were you receive prejudice. People classify me as African American. People think I behave a certain way. They make fun of my family because they think we swam across the Rio Grande. After moving to Chicago I was really faced with having to declare my heritage, race, ethnicity, etc. Since I have been in Paris I have really felt at odds with my race. Here there are no African Americans. There are Africans who immigrated here or were born here. You do not see Mexicans, asians, or really any other race. It is a very homogenized society. I know I clearly stand out. I look different (I also wear a bright blue wool coat and everyone wears black... go figure). Even Africans look at me and wonder if I am African or if I am something else. And while I do not know if I am actually being stared at by Parisians or discriminated against, or anything, I feel I am. I feel like I am treated different because of my race which is a horrible feeling because a)its not my doing and b) there is nothing I can do about it.
This whole post stems from me being denied admission to a club this evening. I went with 5 black girls and 1 Indian girl. We were so excited to finally enjoy the Paris nightlife. The club is on the Champs Elysses and when we walked out of the metro station I was blown away by how beautiful it was. There are lights and it was snowing and people are walking and laughing. PARIS! So we go to the door because it is ladies night (free!) and they tell us that we need to be members because it is ladies night. Our reaction: we are ladies. THey told us to step away from the door and that they would talk to us privately. Of course some of us began to act crazy, but I just stood there thinking about what was happening. This I know happens in the U.S., but it's still disgusting. In order for me to gain admission somewhere is based on my skin color or how many white people I have around me? Ridiculous. I guess the problem I have is that I never considered myself African American so I always thought I was okay. I wasn't the person they were talking to. They were against "those people". I'm African, my heritage is different, they don't mean me. But they do. And coming to that realization was really eye opening. I realized that racism is everywhere, in all forms. It's not a joke. It's real.
I think this trip will definitely allow me to investigate who I am as a person and how I identify myself. I hope not to have any more run ins like this, but I feel I will. This night is possibly very indicative of the rest of my stay, but I hope not. I will just continue thinking about my place in all of this and what I can do to be a positive change.

Bonsoir,
Imah

awinterinparis.shutterfly.com

This was you can see all the pictures I am taking!!!

Day 3 and Day 4

I would first like to start off by saying that the United States has nothing on Western Europe. Every building here seems to invoke a sense of pride, history and heritage that goes back hundreds of years. Nothing in books or pictures of Parisian monuments even compare to the real up close version of them.

Yesterday after my first day of classes a couple of people from my program and I decided to go to the Latin Quarter. I did not even know what I was in for when I arrived at St. Michels fountain and Notre Dame. We started wondering around like absent minded tourists aka Targets for crime, fascinated by the cobblestoned lined side streets that hosted a variety of creperies and french cuisine. While this is considered a tourist place... my meal was a called "menu touristique", the magnificence of the architecture and sculptures was worth being a target. Of course, it was at night so I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, and I spent the rest of the time exploring the area and trying to keep warm. I felt like I was in Paris.

However, on our way to class this morning I realized that I will be passing the Eiffel Tower every day to make it to class at Dauphine University for one my classes. The tower is an incredible structure. It really hit me that this is what it is like to be in another country that has historical monuments and landmarks all over the city. It is a normal thing. Living in Dallas, I consider a historical landmark to be the Dallas Cowboy Stadium and the microphone at Reunion Tower. My Intro to European Issues professor at Dauphine began to put what being Parisian and living in France is all about... Pride. These people are proud of thier country and thier city's fascinating buildings. They are proud of their history and heritage. Something that I don't think a lot of Americans really grasp the concept of. Also, taking classes with French students is like being in a building filled with hipsters except these people are actually really cool. Craziness!

After class, we went back to the Latin Quarter and saw Notre Dame. I remember seeing pictures of Notre Dame in my art history classes. I have read about it and how it was built, but being up close was something kind of wonderful. I felt like I was in a picture. It was actually unreal. It is GINORMOUS! The intricacies of the structure and it's granduer really had me thinking about how human beings were able to do this. How today we have technology and modern equipment to build the Trump Tower and the Empire State building, but what about the art and significance of something like Notre Dame.

Even walking along the Seine was like being in a movie or a history book. It was just beautiful. While it might be one of the worst winters Paris has had in a years, being in Paris makes it worth it.

As you can probably tell... my classes are going really well :)

Imah

Day 1 and 2

Day 1

I finally arrived in Paris!!!! I do not think you realize how ignorant you are of other cultures and customs until you arrive in a foreign country and discover that people are not going to cater to you just because you are American. In fact, within the first day of being in Paris I feel like I learned French in order to survive. I think that this experience is going to be more of just me going to classes and looking at pretty buildings and statues, but rather a situation in which I will learn what it means to take care of myself and figure things out on my own. The more I am here, the more I wish I had taken the opportunities to go study abroad before my senior year. There are people here who have been abroad at least three times. It's crazy because I wasn't even planning on studying abroad and now I realize that this was the best decision I have ever made.

I am staying at the Cite Universitaire which is a complex of about 30 dorms filled with students and young professionals from all over the world. I think my first realization that I was in Europe was walking into my room and feeling that I walked into Ikea then looking in the bathroom and seeing a nozzle on my ceiling that was the shower with no enclosure space. I laughed for about five minutes thinking about my dad's response to something like this. We met our tour guide person who helped us walk around the neighborhood to grocery stores and cell phone places. Everything looked so different. The boulangeries (bakeries) are abundant and everything in the grocery store has bright colors. The wine is also two euro. Eventually I made it back to the dorm and collapsed due to pure exhaustion and the overwhelming reality of being in Paris.

Day 2

I found out why Parisians are sooooo skinny. They walk miles everyday. Up hills, across bridges, through mazes of subways. It is crazy. My day went as such

10:30---Walk to supermarket to buy groceries

11:00---Realize supermarket is closed

11:30---Wait for group to come downstairs

12:00--- Take the train to the uchicago Paris center

12:45---Finally arrive at Paris center after guide got us lost for thirty minutes. In other words, nobody knows how we got to our location but we are already tired and cold

1:15-- They allow us to start eating French cuisine (lots of bread) and drinking wine (you have to love Europe)

2:00--- Begin walking tour of neighborhood

3:15--- Finish walking tour of neighborhood frozen and tired.

4:00---Load onto bus that was taking us on a tour of a basilica

4:30---Bus drops us off because he can't drive to the basilica but it is a quick walk away.

5:00--- Arrive at basilica.

Sidenote: The basilica is where Marie Antoinette, Louis XIV, and Catherine de Medici are buried. It is beautiful. There is an underground crypt and beautiful carvings of each person in the grave. I think it is at this point that I begin to feel the realness of what is going on around me. There is so much history in this city. This is so much bigger than the architecture in Chicago. It's crazy!

5:30--- Leave the basilica for dinner

6:00--- Bus leaves us somewhere in Northern Paris for dinner. Start hour walking tour and search for dinner.

7:00---After an hour of walking circling this Parisian neighborhood we finally arrive at our dinner location.

***These people really expect you to work for a free meal. We walked sooo much for soo long and I am pretty sure our person was lost because he continued to look at a map and places started to look the same. We were okay with because we thought our dinner was going to be amazing. The dinner was good, but not worth the walk. People also were not sure if it was goat or beef. At least there was bread and wine.

8:15 ---Leave dinner, but we have to find our own way home with minimal directions. We ask four times where the metro train was. I even asked once "Excusez moi- metro tren?". My French is awesome.

9:00--- We finally make it to the train. I have never seen a train station like this. Really easy to navigate, but it is like a crazy maze with tons of escalators and assembly lines. Everytime we turned the corner there was another set of stairs. It was too crazy for me. I just soaked it all in. I also laughed alot. I think it was a combination of my exhaustion and frozen feet.

9:45---Home!!! Collapsed on bed and fell asleep.

So as you can see, I am having a wonderful time in Paris. Every day is a new adventure. The people on the program are wonderful and so nice.

I will be trying to update as frequently as possible, and once I learn how to use my computer I will update with pictures. If you have any advice, comments, or questions, please feel to post!!!

Sincerely,

Imah