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!
No comments:
Post a Comment