Last 12 days in the city of lights!

Hello all!

I was sitting in one of paris' many parks earlier this week and thinking how a place that holds so many people can have so many beautiful things. Paris is called the "City of Light' because it is the most- lit city in the world and there are so many lights. In 1828, Paris began lighting the Champs Elysées with gas lamps. It was the first city in Europe to do so, and so earned the nickname "La Ville-Lumière" or The City of Light. I'm having mixed feelings of returning home. It will truly be a culture shock leaving here, and going home where everything closes before 2 or earlier!
The past week/weekend has been so very overwhelming but i can really say that i had the most fun since i've been here. I have more or less done everything that I intended on doing.
I left off last week's blog with sushi. It was DELICIOUS! It had a real kick to it which was surprising. The food may have even been more fresh than in Louisiana.
After sushi, I went to an underground jazz club with a friend here, Michelle. It was in the Latin District near the Seine River and the Sorbonne School, so it had a bit of a younger crowd. It was a very lit up street with a long line of clubs and cafes. It was nice to be at the club and have a bit of Louisiana for a few hours!
Thursday we woke very early and had an eiffel tower picnic, Parc du Champ de Mars.
We had spoken of it for a very long time and were finally able to do it. All we needed to be parisian were sandwiches, a towel to sit on, macaroons and a bottle of wine of course! It was smoldering that day so afterwards, the girls went to try and find a pool. I hadn't gotten my park fix yet, so i took the metro an opposite way and went to Jardin Du Luxembourg. The woman who sat next to me on the plane highly suggested it so I thought what better day than to vedge at the area. She described it perfectly- It's hard to say it was the most beautiful I've seen while in Paris, (there are so many!) but it was really exceptional. It was right next to the Senat (Upper houses of Parliament) and they take care of the garden and upkeep. It was truly something to see. There was a large pond, games everywhere and toy sailboats! There were statues for Chopin, and other artists and also the mini statue of liberty!
This is near the latin district so alot of students were relaxing on their famous rod iron chairs doing schoolwork.
I've been wanting to try french cuisine so that night while the other half of the group was at the Jack Johnson concert, we ate at Au Pied du Cochon. It was amazing!
They are famous for their french onion soup so I ate that, duck, and creme brulee! I was truly satisfied.
Friday morning we went on a 2 hour bus ride to Epernay, champagne valley!


It was so beautiful, it didn't necessarily give Tuscany a run for it's money but it was sure great to see valleys and hills outside of Paris. We did 2 tours, Mercier and Moet. This is kinda sad, but the highlight of the entire daytrip was randomly running into Mario Cantone,(Anthony from Sex and the City)! We were waiting our turn to tour Moet and he walks in during his tour out of the hallway. We were all sweaty and exhausted, it was like a dream! He couldn't avoid the flock of girls running his way so he didn't mind at all taking a picture and told us to "drink responsibly"!


We think he was paying his respects to Moet for sponsoring SATC2. He was one of my favorite characters on the show so it's nice to know that in real life he's such a nice man!
Friday night Laura, Lori and I went out with my friend Teddy studying from Cincinatti, to the gay district. This weekend was the gay pride parade/festival and he was in it so us girls were able to go out with no worries and had a great time!


Saturday we toured the Opera house. They were practicing at the time of our visit so we couldn't view the inside of the auditorium which was disappointing, but we toured the entire building! It was really beautiful and neat to learn the history. There was also an exhibit for opera singer regine crespin, so we were able to see her beautiful wardrobe. Afterwards the teachers brought us to the gay pride parade.
A majority of the students had assignments to take pictures or write about it, it's #3 in the country so it was a pretty big deal! We somehow got thrown into the march but just went with it! It was soso much fun that by that point I was exhausted. That night Kasey, Katie and I hung out a little by the eiffel tower but then called it an early night to get ready for Solidays music festival the next day!

The festival was amaaaazing. I went specifically to see my current obsession Florence and the Machine. The party started at one but Florence didn't play until 9 so we had a looong day of choosing from the tons of activities provided.There was bungee jumping, exhibits, rides, markets, and tons of music and bands. We went to two other shows, Local Natives and Pony Pony Run Run. We also rode some rollercoaster/ride; it felt great to have that rush again! It got us pumped for when we visit EuroDisney next wednesday! They had food from all different countries, and if you didn't feel like doing anything you could lay in the park and people watch. Itwas held in Bologne Park and was HUGE! If you lost someone they were lost forever! A good majority of the proceeds go to Aids research so we had fun and it was for a good cause!



Florence's performance was all around uplifiting, just what I needed! I have been waiting so long to see her. If you haven't gotten into her, i highly recommend it. Florence and the Machine.
It's currently 10:30pm in Paris, we have exactly 11.5 days left. I'm having very mixed feelings about returning. It feels like we've been here forever, but also like we just arrived. Yesterday truly drained me so it was very hard not to be groggy for our full day of classes. I'm so happy I went because we discussed so many things for the next 2 weeks. We decided to have a reunion party of the entire program and will come about at some point in september. I'll be aching for paris by then so i'm thrilled!

AMSTERDAM/ Beginning of Week 4!

It's hard to believe that in just the past week we have been in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. We got back from London, were in Paris for 2 days, then hopped on a 2:30 train to Holland on wednesday! We were up for some relaxation and zero worries, and guess what! That's exactly what we got. We saw some very interesting things and met even more interesting people, but i'll save some of that info for a later date ;)

Wednesday we arrived around 5:30pm. Luckily, our place was easy to find, just in the heart of everything a few blocks away. Our hostel, St. Christophers, was much easier to be in than the one in London. It was an 8-girl room, but we had our very own seperate bathroom! A bar/restaurant was connected, and also a hip punk rock bar/club. That night we walked browsed and observed the sights, then randomly met some really amazing people from northern England (Sheffield), and another from Australia. It was fun getting to know them and the differences between England and America (especially with humor).



The next morning we slept in, then toured the apartment where Anne Frank hid. It was really amazing to be able to walk through her bedroom, and just everywhere she and her family were for all of those months. After the tour, we walked and met up with other friends from the trip. We relaxed at a nearby place for about an hour then decided to do an hour canal cruise. It brought us all around the beautiful churches and hot spots (not the red light district!) Although Amsterdam is not one of my top choices of where to live or see again necessarily, it really is a beautiful city to visit, and because it is such a tourist town, the people are very friendly, and the majority speak english. That night about 8 of us we went out and about,... and that's all i have to say about that... :)

Friday we slept in order to be energized for a day full of tourism!
In the early afternoon we went to the Van gogh museum. It is not very big which made it really fun and interesting to navigate through. Since we went to the town where he passed, Auvers sur Oise, it was nice to be there and already know a little about his life. While we were there, we bumped into Gene Simmons' wife and kids! So so very random!

After Van Gogh, we went to the Heineken Brewery tour. I had heard wonderful things about it so we were very excited to go. They walk you through the entire process and show you the horses and stables they are famous for. You are able to go on a 3d visual tour and actually see the liquid and bottles being processed. (Even able to have a few taste tests!) It was just a really fun experience.



Our train left at 4:15 Saturday so we woke up early and did a little souvenier and vintage shopping! The people of Amsterdam also have a very unique sense of fashion. Most have lots of layers for the frequent showers or drops in temperature. They like to ride bikes or scooters and rock hats, harem pants or shorts and oxford shoes or laced up booties with tights. (Be very aware of your surroundings because the bikers WILL run you over. The clothing are all very bohemian, thrown together with different patterns. Alot of dark colors, very baggy casual and comfortable to be able to move around with ease. These are good examples of something you would currently see in Amsterdam--



After a long weekend we spent Saturday night in Paris. The next morning I woke up and went to 10oclock mass at Notre Dame. Later that night the "study abroad family" went to "Indiana" to have mexican food and margaritassss. They also had a nice gelato place next door that shapes your ice cream into flowers! delicious/ dangerous!

Monday night we went to Fete de la musique. (a huge music festival) There are venues all around paris and the metros are open all night. We had a huge rock venue a few blocks away so we stayed around that area. It was nice to hear Parisian music and they were really good!


Our professor is currently away for a few days so we have outside assignments to visit boutiques and department stores. We went to all of the high-end designer boutiques yesterday. Ohhh so depressing. We observed and did alottt of daydreaming!

One day i will have a big girl job and go into those stores and actually be able to enjoy them to the utmost! It will happen I know it! Today we went to Galeries Lafayette, a huge department store.
It has every brand/design you need and more... Next week is le solds, which is when all of the high end designers, well every brand from last season, becomes 50 percent off ormore. This is going to be a very, very scary week for us fashion majors.
Tonight I shall try Parisian sushi. eeee excited!

Second week in Paris with a splash of London!

Okay folks, brace yourself I have alot to fill you in on- a week and a half worth!
6/8/10- 6/15/10

Today Laura Mary Margaret and I didn't take the embroidery class but woke up to tour Lesage Embroidery where the school was. The school is owned by Chanel and little did we know it would be the most interesting thing thus far. We were able to see samples from Karl Lagerfeld! They keep everything on record if another designer needs inspiration. As we were touring we randomly ran in and were able to meet Lesage himself. Designers come to him specifically with ideas. He was very easy to talk to and down to earth. It was just an unbelievable experience.


After the tour we caught a quick lunch and headed to explore the arc de triomphe & champs elysees. We went into some designer shops, including mine, Balenciaga; Swavorski has a diamond/jeweled staircase!



Wednesday the 9th we visited Lectra headquarters( the second apparal manufacturer in the world) We were sat down and were walked through how it is used. ULL uses Gerber, but it was very interesting to see another piece of technology. After Lectra we had lunch then went to Musee D'Orsay. I liked it alot because it wasn't as overwhelming as the Louvre, but the architecture was still very beautiful inside. The first floor houses alot of impressionist paintings such as monet, manet, and renoir. At the time we went they had a specific Van Gogh exhibit. Unfortunately photographs were prohibited.
We also saw a crime and punishment exhibit, It was very disturbing but neat to see. We saw a Guillotine, which was horrific but sculpted beautifully at the same time. Very surreal. In the exhibit I was able to tell the artists put thought into what there muse was wearing. In alot of the pics it was apparent there were alot of light whimsical fabrics. A majority of the paintings depicted women as the crazed sex. Alot of them were shown killing children and their spouses, even as far back as the 1700s. (Even as that far back men show women as crazy- ever think it's you that cause us to act that way?? hmm good question from the female race! haha

The next day a small group was chosen to go to the France- Lousiana office of alliance. The meet and Greet was to keep the ties between the 2 parts of the world. They were very accomodating and interesting to talk to. As we were waiting to go, we went to Parc Montsaurus.
It was very nice with a large pond in the middle. It's located near the international school so we walked around campus for a bit, (there's a building for each country)!
After a busy day we made a trip to the train station, got our tickets and started making plans for our weekend London trip!

--Now brace yourself for the fun part!
After 4 hours of sleep we woke up at 4:00am Friday morning to catch a train to London! The underground metro doesn't open until 5:30 so we were (well, i was) really concerned with getting there on time. Turns out, our train wasn't until 6:43 instead of 6:25 like we had previously thought. FUNNY. I was randomly put in a different cart then everyone else but it was totally fine, the fast trains are really fun! We arrived in London at 8, (9 paris time) and checked into our hostel. We booked a 12 bed girl's dorm with public girl bathrooms. We were a tad claustrophobic but it ended up being totally fine, we were rarely there! When we were settled in we headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum (the world's greatest museum for art and design). They have a fashion gallery there and were having a specific Grace Kelly exhibit but we arrived at the incorrect time. It was so amazing to be able to see clothing from the late 1700s up to Alexander Mcqueen's last piece (also on the cover of instyle.
We then went to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross station. (for all you Harry Potter fans).
Friday night we went to a 4d experience showing of an overview of London before getting on the London Eye.

It was really neat, for all you technology buffs. We rode The London Eye afterwards (the big Ferris Wheel on the river), and got a view of the entire city! We are also very subway savvy in London as well as PAris. After the Eye we went to London's version of times square, Piccadilly Square and had dinner. I really love London, It was a nice mixture of Paris and New york in my opinion. I could definitely live there, there are so many cool people, their dress, attitudes, everything. We played stylewatch alot. They are also very clean and friendly. If you ask a question they'll strike up a convo, no question! I was never intimidated.
Saturday we woke up early and made our way to Westminster Abbey.
We had a headset included in our ticket for the tour this was most definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It was so so interesting and beautiful.

When we were finished around noon we walked to Buckingham Palace.

We knew there was a parade in celebration of the queens birthday (really in april) at ten so we thought it would over, but we ended up catching it right in time for the march of the guard and were able to see her from afar!


(she's at the far left of this picture in the light blue). Later in the afternoon we went to Camden Square Market. Here is where all the indie punk vintage people like to hang out. It was a really fun area to see, and I got a few cute things from all the cool hole in the wall markets! We tried to get tickets for a broadway but were too late, so we watched the USA - England world cup game at a nearby bar in Piccadilly Square. Soccer wasn't really my thing, but after this game, I'm totally all for it. The energy from the game was enough to change someone's opinion. They were all good sports about us being american!
On Sunday, our last day we rode the double decker bus to the Tower of London in the morning and had a guided tour. We were also able to see all of the gems and robes from the previous queens and kings. Afterwards we went to Oxford Circus (one of the largest shopping streets in Europe). We shopped in topshop for 2.5 hours. Not exaggerating, I almost had a panic attack. It was so abnormably huge, it was 3 stories (department size), and not only did it have clothes, it had a restaurant, and a nail and hair salon! I could have probably set a fort there and camped out. I ended up getting a Romper, A vintage chapeaux, and oxfords!
Laura and I had a later train so we decided to go to Hamleys toy store (the biggest toy store in europe!) We also stopped and relaxed at the fountain in Trafalgar square (next to the national gallery).
Our entire visit we saw tons of decorated elephants all around town and had no idea what they were, so we stumbled upon one of the 3 shops in London and learned about them. Come to find out, it is the "elephant parade" there are around 300 painted elephants all around London decorated by different artists designers and celebrities. Net proceeds are donated to the elephant family (foundation for the conservation of the Asian elephant). Last year it was held in Amsterdam, next year it's in Copenhagen!

Because it was Sunday, Alot of the metro stations were closed down for repair so we casually got lost on the buses. I was freaking out a little but we ended up in this beautiful area, next to Kensington Park. It was really neat, there was a huge music festival going on, it reminded me alot of Jazz Fest. We had to rush to get to a nearby open metro to catch our train back to paris, but made it to the station in plenty of time, and arrived in Paris around midnight!

Monday morning we were exhausted and slept until 11:15. We had class all afternoon, then went to Buddah Bar for Lori's birthday!
The bar was located near Champs ELysees in a very nice/safe area. It was really hip and a little pricey, but very birthday appropriate for a 21st in Paris! It was the perfect event for a fun girl's night.

Today we visited Auvers-sur-oise. Auvers-sur-oise is a small town north of Paris where Van Gogh painted his last few paintings and passed. We toured the house of the artist Biggio, and were then able to see the house where Van Gogh spent his last few months, and the church and field where he achieved his last few inspirations. We were able to view his gravesite near the field where he and his brother were buried.
It was a nice change to get out of the hustle bustle of Paris for a day and be able see a smaller town in France. It was in a very rural location with beautiful landscape and mountains.
Very eclectic end to my short week in Paris. When we arrived back, we went to a nearby ice cream shop. I hadn't got icecream since I've been here and this was the perfect place, they shape the icecream on top of the cone into a flower!

Tomorrow a few of us leave for Amsterdam! Our train is at 2:25pm. I'll be sure to write about it when I return!
Until then, I send you my love, have a fabulous week!

Second week in Paris!

First Parisian Weekend

Salut!

I'm writing at 11:30pm our time, Monday the 7th, finally getting a break from our exciting and hectic weekend/ start to the week. The entire weekend we were blessed with beautiful weather so it was nice to be out and about and free! Friday we went to Palais Royal and shopped shopped and shopped some more. Palais Royal is a long row of shops near the Louvre. We spent hours at H&M, Pimkie, Zara, and Burshka. They recently released the iPad abroad in France so there were random breakdancers performing near our metro stop. We got flyers for 100euros off of one, too bad i'm going to be totally poor after this trip!


Saturday we had the privilege of sleeping in and relaxing for the morning (10am is late!) We had a nice lunch here then went out to parc floral. It was so unbelieveably beautiful. If you look a few posts down you'll see I researched their weekly jazz festival they give during the summer months of June through August. The festival didn't start until yesterday but they were having an artist expo Saturday. It housed 95 unique parisian designers and had everything from art, jewelry, and clothes to bags and hats.
It was very neat to be able to view Paris in a non-tourist view. I reallly reallly wanted a chapeaux because I constantly have something in my hair, but i was nervous to splurge on the first week! I got the designer's card so maybe towards the end of the trip i'll look her up and bring one home!
Paris has many hot spots such as this but this particular park was like nothing I had every seen before. (hopefully i'll be able to see more!) There were flowers being planted everywhere (some even with signs to distinguish what they were). There were many ponds and birds (peacocks!) and many family's and friends sunbathing. They even had mini golf!



After that we lounged and had a relaxing night. I'm still meeting many people from around our place, so it's nice to be able to walk downstairs and not be alone!




Sunday we woke up early for a bike tour of the city, but it was pouring. We decided to make the best of it and thought the best place to go on a rainy day was of course the catacombs! We learned underground was where they stored bodies before there were gravesites and other places of burial.

6 million people were laid to rest in the many many blocks we walked underground! After that morbid rainy morning we thought we'd lighten up the mood by going back to Notre Dame and taking a few pictures from the back of it. We were going to go up to the north tower to take pictures with the gargoyles but the line was ridiculous. It had a nice sitting area and fountain, It may have even been more beautiful!
After Notre Dame we had a light lunch and break and then went on to the modern art museum, Musee Pompadou.
It has 6 levels, with the top 3 having the works. We were actually able to see the majority. I love love modern art so it was nice to see Dali’s and Picasso’s up close.



And there was a great view from the top!

The walk back to the metro had a lot of street vendors and interior decorating stores so it was nice to browse and people watch. It's really neat to turn a corner in a remote place and stumble along a huge square. There are tons of areas such as that with seating areas and patisseries holding regulars, and at that moment it becomes real and a part of your life. It was an all around relaxing weekend. I'm beginning to not feel so much a tourist, I love metropolitan areas and soaking up different cultures so I feel very comfortable and not intimidated. The hustle bustle fits my persona, it is a great place to explore and learn.
After the museum we were officially exhausted so we were able to get a good night sleep and felt rested for our busy week ahead!
This morning we went to the Tapestry museum which was very interesting. Every room had a meaning set to the middle ages. It had everything from jewelry (some from the popes) and decorative arts. Alot of the pieces had references to 6th senses of love and understanding. The Unicorn symbol is famous for that thought and is housed in it's most popular room.

The tour took about 40 minutes, then we were free for 2.5 hours until a brief class meeting. After the meeting our group went to a wine tasting where we tasted 6 different wines from different parts of France.
This week we are visiting different designer houses, touring an embroidery museum, musee d'orsay, and getting in alot of exploring!

Next stop- London for the weekend in 3 days! Don't worry, I'll try not to let it slip out that I'm from USA when we play England in the World Cup this weekend. ahhhhh!

Thanks again to all of you who follow me, I feel very blessed.

Au Revior my loves!