Discovering Paris

Monday, February 18, 2013

People of Paris

Before I crossed the pond I knew I could look forward to the amazing stylish people of Paris. But I was in for an even bigger treat, not only are the people stylish here, they are have their own very unique style (minus the wedge heel, which is only basically every other women's feet). I've also experienced quite a variety of people of the metro, something I will touch on later.

OMG SHOES!!!!

Studs at Fashion Week

Both men and women here rock the coolest kicks. As you've read in past post my French teacher makes the cut for cool kicks; bright blue doc martins, and purple/silver metallic sneakers. Men seem to rock a variation of the wingtip shoe the most. I've seen them in natural leathers, colored suede, sneaker version, loafer style, and boot style. They've been mixed with dress pants and blue jeans, but always pull together the outfit for a nice polished look. Studs are also really big here, something that surprised me. Studs became super popular in the states last year, so I assumed that the Parisians were le tried of the them. Some of my favorite studs have been; a 4 year old's ballet flats a mix of gold and silver so she can wear them with any outfit, man's sneakers with studs on the strips (imagine the Adidas strips, but made of different sized studs!), and cute bootie with studs just on the heel. Heels in general. Props to the women in Paris who trek around in sky high heels like it's their job, rain or shine. I have yet to see one wobble, you go girls!

BUSKERS

Actual Paris Metro

Back in B-town I was used to seeing the occasional guitarist on Kirkwood trying to make some cash to buy some Jimmy Johns or a 40oz beer, but here in Paris the buskers are everywhere, well underground that is. My first few days I was a little bummed that I hadn't been serenaded on the metro by an accordion player, but like they say , "be careful what you wish for". Now I can count on seeing a busker at least once a day, maybe not on my cab, but on the same train. Like any musicians some are a lot better than others, so go solo, some play with their 12 year old son, some play with 8 people, and some even lug a bass on the metro! So far I've only given money to two buskers. The first was a man in the passage ways on the metro singing No Women No Cry, and he did a really good job! I even made my friends stand at the end of the platform so we could hear him as we waited for the metro. The second was this weekend. I've seen the same violinist about 7 times now, and he finally got to me......He's this cute old man who always wears a brown jacket and black pin strip pants, a little brown hat, and a smile.

PEOPLE OF THE METRO

Upon request I will now be adding little stories of my best metro experiences. Normally on the metro strangers don't talk to each other, everyone keeps their heads down and is on their own path. Well not the other night! I was sitting on the bench waiting for my metro to arrive, and all of the sudden this man sits down next to me. I have to add that he had a plastic bag in his hand with a neck sticking out the top. I had my headphones in as a false sense of security, because he just started talking to me in French. I say sorry I don't speak French, he goes "Oh! that's okay I speak some English", ugh I think to myself as I search the metro for at least one person to make desperate save me eye contact, no savor. Well he ended up being pretty harmless, told me he liked my music asked me why I was in Paris, then switched back to French. I wished him a good night and my metro arrived! On a lighter note here are some of my favorite people of the metro; old man decked out in fur; fur boots, fur pants, fur coat, fur hat, and a fur handbag with more fur stuffed in it! The tannest man I've seen so far, with a full size surfboard. Older lady rocking some awesome bright orange pants. And last but not least Erykah Badu's twin, the lady was soooo beautiful I couldn't stop looking at her, she had Afro, very soulful eyes, and of course sky high heels!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Be Mine?

Yesterday marked the one month anniversary for Paris and me! And it got me thinking of the things that I've loved and not so much loved about Paris.

1. The Metro <3 & </3

I have a love hate relationship with the metro. The Thing that I love about the metro is ; every station, ride, metro number, and time of the day are a different the metro experience! Tonight I happened to get on a metro cab and a busker was playing “You are my Sunshine” a song that I love! But there was also a passenger spitting on the floor….Which leads me into things that I don’t like about the metro; some of them smell really super bad, shout out to Bastille!!! Being around so many people at once can be over whelming and uncomfortable! And I saved the worst for last…..the metro ticket police. :[

2. Everything is so old and beautiful <3

Today I went to one of the older churches in Paris, Saint Germain de-Pres. It was built in 543! The stone work was beautifully and the ceilings and columns were painted with intricate designs. I also recently visited Notre Dame which is celebrating it’s 850^th year! Such and amazing church and view of Paris! If Quasimodo did exist he certainly had a beautiful view! Besides the churches there are old mansions and kings palaces that are now used as museum and other public buildings that I get to explore! So far I’ve been in Musee d’Orsay an old train station and the Louvre which was built in 1190 by King Philippe-Auguste to protect Paris from Viking raids!!!!!

3. There are so many cool things to do <3

Museums, gardens, shopping, amazing food, every things cool to look at, adventure outside of Paris, and the occasional getting lost! I recently got to see my all time favorite Salvador Dali painting!!!

4. School </3 & <3

Besides not being in classes that I’m supper into or the fact that I can never find an open computer I like going to school.My favorite days of school are Tuesdays and Thursday, because of my French level 0 class. My professor is probably the coolest lady that has ever existed in Paris . She rocks some pretty cool outfits; first day bright blue doc martins, tight pants and white blousy chiffon top, an other day deep maroon leather pants, and lately she has been wearing these cool metallic sneakers. And of course love all the people I've met so far at Sciences Po.

5. They don’t have peanut butter </ 3

This is a self-explanatory thing I don’t love about Paris.

I would like to end this post by asking; Paris. Voulez-vous être mon Valentin?

Yes/ No/ No Maybes!!!

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Tourist

The Louvre:

Last week I went to the Louvre twice! It's really great having a French student ID card, because a lot of museums will let you in for free. Since I can come and go as I please I've just gone in 2 hour spurts. Two hours at the Louvre is definitely enough for me! It's a pretty over whelming place to be, and some artsy people may hate me for this, but it got kind of boring after awhile! Don't get me wrong most of the painting are very impressive and so big! (anyone know how they do that, one big canvas or multiple ones?) But it can also get pretty repetitive.... naked babies, Jesus, prorates, repeat. Another half good, half bad thing is that all of the descriptions are in French, which I can not read. So it gave me an excuse to just look at the painting how ever I'd like, but if I wanted to know more I'd have to ask a friend to read to me... I also learned that going at night is pretty amazing. On Wednesday and Friday the Louvre is open till 9:45 and it's not crazy busy. I just waltzed right up to Mona Lisa and got her picture! Pretty great.

Musee d'Orsay:

I also made it to Musee d'Orsay this weekend. I'm in love!!! This museum had my two favorite things: impressionist paintings and things from the art nouveau period. The museum is a really nice size and you can cover it in one day. We spent almost 4 hours browsing around, and only missed one floor. I might be mistaken but the location used to be a metro station so there are a bunch of cool big clocks, one of which you can stand behind and look out on to Paris, so lovely. The only down side to the museum was that they don't let you take pictures :[ I tried to sneak a few, but they didn't turn out to well. I am definitely planning a trip back to Musee d'Orsay.

My last tourist activity of the week was taking an accidental stroll by Hotel des Invalides and the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and everything looked so wonderful :]

Friday, January 25, 2013

1 of 12

Current Week

Week of 21/01/2013

Reaching the date (DD / MM / YYYY):

Janvierundi 21/1

Tuesday 22/1

Wednesday 23/1

Thursday 24/1

Friday 25/1

Saturday 26/1

Sunday 27/1


8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 1:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m.	08: 00-10: 00 Public Choice Eco & Pol (58233) 12: 30-14: 30 Public Choice Eco & Pol (57843)	08: 00-10: 00 FRENCH BEGINNER LEVEL 0 (51,092) 12: 30-14: 30 LABOUR ECONOMICS AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES (53204)	12: 30-14: 30 Theories of International Relations (57320)	08: 00-10: 00 FRENCH BEGINNER LEVEL 0 (51,092)	10: 15 to 12: 15 Entrepreneurial ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (53721)

This week was the start of classes at Sciences Po. Try as I might I didn't get any of my classes switched so I'm stuck with the above schedule Over all pretty doable except for Labor Econ, which I'm pretty sure is already sucking my soul out of my body. I won't take you through all of my classes, but will give you highlights. My classes on Monday, which is a two part deal, discussion and lecture, is taught by three Italian men. So far I already have 4 classes cancelled for this class!!!! My French teacher is by far my favorite teacher. She rocks some bright blue 1 inch sole Doc Martins, has crazy curly hair, and makes us do silly faces when we pronounce things. For an 8 am I appreciate her upbeat attitude and kindness for my lack of language skills. My roommate Lena and I are both in the Theories of International Relations course, but she's taking the French version. I'm interested to see if there will be much of a difference. This guy seems cool and he openly calls himself a "soft grader". But my Entrepreneurial class will take 1st place for being the easiest. We will only have one test which will be over one reading and it's multiple choice! We can earn extra points by talking in class, awesome! French school is way different than American school. Each course meets once a week (except French) but for two hours. So over all we only meet 12 times, then there is a month for finals to take place, which I only have one of! Some teachers give breaks in class others don't, but you can only miss two classes per course or you will be deferred from the course. K now on to the craziness of my week, or should I say Thursday......

Thursday: PARIS FASHION WEEK!!!!

After French class my friend Wade and I decided to go try to sneak into a show or at least soak up the atmosphere of fabulous-ness of Haute Couture week! We ended up at the Zuhair Murad Haute Couture show at the Westin Hotel. We started outside the hotel and kinda away from the main entry, we were sure if legit photographers would come or not, but they didn't! So once people started showing up we got out into the street to snap shots of Paris's finest. This was so much fun, some people would stop to pose and others wouldn't. We wound up making friends with some other students and decided to go into the hotel to see if we could sneak in! Well we didn't get into the show, but we did make our way into the runway room after everyone left. We snatched up some invites and the program for the show. We tried to wait around for the designer to come out, but he never did :[ But we did get to take pictures of this famous French Actress. I was floating on cloud 9 after we left the Westin, I couldn't stop smiling! I felt so accomplished. But before I knew it I had entered the fiery pits of the Paris Metro Police, aka Stupid People, according to my landlady. I got off the metro and was walking down the stairs to head to my flat, when I got stopped by the devil man. I got out my Navigo pass, which is a monthly pass that allows you ride the metro as much as you'd like. I hand him my pass he scans it and I get the green light, but responds with "oh this is no good". So I say why?, I bought this 2 weeks ago with in my 1st hour of being in Pairs. Turns out YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PICTURE ID on your Navigo. So I tell him, I'm sorry I didn't know that, no one told me when I bought it. Long story short he threatens to take me to the police, because I said I didn't have money to pay the fine/ I'm not paying the fine because that's my pass. After a good 20 minutes of laughing at me, loads of head shaking, and silencing of the other police officers when they started to answer my questions, I get to walk away with a slip for my 45 euro fine. I then walk home crying and freaked out, but end up being comforted by my lovely landlady, who will take me to the police station to deal with the fine. I was afraid to take the metro to get my picture taken, so I walked to get my picture taken. Now I avoid metro police as much as possible, and have major hate for this rude french man. Learned my lesson and now have 10 pictures of my face for future Navigos!

Today:

After class I went to Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise with Sally. We saw Jim Morrison's grave and looked at a bunch of other really cool ones. The pictured one was our favorite! Now I'm off to dinner with sweet Lena!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sorry Paris! I guess I brought some IN weather in my suite case!

Friday Night

More snow! and lots of it! Friday was the last bar-a-day put on by the university. They ended with a slightly larger bar than the ones tues-thurs but it still couldn't trump Cafe Oz. I managed to smuggle some wine in my coat, and took the first empty glass I could find to pour it into, so not to upset the bar tenders. It worked! But eventually got me got out the bar... Once I finished my wine after playing a funny drinking game called bottles ( you can't say any number that has relation to the number 7) I was feeling pretty warm so I stepped outside to cool off. Well once I stepped outside a huge line of people formed to get in, and the bouncer wasn't letting anyone else in so I went home. On the metro!!!!

Saturday:

I woke up and decided to do some serious grocery shopping. I had to laugh at myself because my total ended up being the same from the day before when I bought my 20 euro bottle of wine, and I got so much food! I found the Paris version of Ramen noodles and am curious to see how they compare. I also treated myself with some lox, yum! Then a few hours later I was off to the Bateaux-Mouches which is a river tour on the Seine. It was a lot of fun, but Sciences Po picked the coldest night of the year to do it! I roughed it on the upper deck, because you couldn't see any of the sights down stairs. Everything looked so lovely covered in snow. Unfortunately I left my flat in a hurry and forgot my camera (sorry mom). But I plan to go on the tour again in the spring. After proving my true girl scouting abilities I was hungry! And so were a lot of others. We decided to track down a pizza joint, and boy did we find a good one! I ordered a pizza with' fried eggplant, sun roasted tomatoes, pesto, and basil! It was so good! I definitely want to go back. After we stuffed ourselves we went to a bar called the "Hide-out" and drank Mojitos which made me miss my gal pals back home! After a few drinks the group decided that I was time for bed! I personally have never gone out to the bars Monday-Saturday, it takes toll on your body!

Sunday (today):

Today was Instigation day, put on by Sciences Po. I had the idea that I was supposed to meet my "French Buddy" at this program and we would chat and get to know each other, but no. It ended up being a picture scavenger hunt around Paris. I have to add that today was the third day of snow and Paris had no idea what to do with all of it! The streets and sidewalks were just a mushy mess of brown sludge. I went on this picture hunt for a few hours, but was not very pleased. We were put into groups, but our leader never introduced himself or gave the group a chance to meet each other He also didn't wait on us or make sure that the entire group was on the metro ect. So after a while I decided to head back home into the dry warmth of my flat. In a few minutes my landlord Sylvie is making dinner for us girls. I'm excited to have a nice "family" style dinner and learn a little bit more about Sylvie and finally meet my other roommate Dena! Lena who has taken such good care of me knocked on my door today and invited me to go to a party with her on Thursday! I can't wait to see how the French party in these small apartments! And tomorrow will be the first day of classes!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Karma?

Thursday:

So I will skip the boring activities of my school day ( but including a picture of another blue Paris sky in my school's court yard) and take you straight to my over adventurous evening! To start off my evening I went over to Sally's house for a proper dinner (ie not sitting alone in my room on facebook!) We made some homemade pasta sauce and I brought some bread and cheese. It was really great having a meal with some real humans! After dinner a larger group of people came over to Sally's to pre-drink. This was a lot of fun to drink and talk, without being crowed in a small Paris bar with super loud music. Speaking of small bars Sciences Po picked another one for Thursday night! Sally, Wade, Bende, Shane, Beatrice*, and I decided to leave the bar for some free ranging. We ended up at a French McDonald's which I will say has nothing on the American original. Then we headed back to Sally's. This was were I went wrong. It was already about 12 and the metro closes at 12:45, but I told myself I had time for one more drink, WRONG!!!!! We'll I got to my first metro just fine, but it was my transition where everything went south. I got to the platform at 12:47, which I guess is 2 minutes way to late. After watching the other 15 or so people leave the metro I concluded that I had gotten myself into quite the tizzy. I exited the metro into a street that I had never seen before, but found a map and started in the direction of the River Seine. I knew that I was on the other side of the river but I had no clue that a 5 minute metro ride equates to an hour walk! Well keys between fingers (thanks Bryna Capshew for this lovely street wise tip) I was headed home! I tried my best to keep a level head and not burst out into tears, which I accomplished. Blah Blah Blah big toe blisters and BHSN track shin splints later I had made it to my cross walk!!!! I was looking to the heavens shouting THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I had made it home with zero kidnaps! So the moral of the story is never leave for the metro after 12, because you will have to walk home and have your mother hate you! I must add I've never had such a sound sleep in Paris!

Link to see my journey!
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=7+Rue+Jean+Arp,+Paris,+France&daddr=Nation,+Paris,+France&hl=en&sll=48.837634,2.373304&sspn=0.007118,0.018475&geocode=FYgx6QIdwTYkACl3sMDzGHLmRzH62LJzM1lsPA%3BFQpe6QIdBo8kACmj-uAScXLmRzGsvc3BFHMkSA&oq=Nat&t=h&mra=ls&z=15

Friday (Today):

Well I managed to drag my sore body out of bed this morning to make it to my last class. Bless my sweet roommate Lena, whom I met in the hall this morning. I told her of my evening and she made me a lovely cup of cappuccino, which tasted like rainbows and butterflies! Once I got to class I was pretty much useless staring out the window in an opened eye sleep! Well once class was over I knew I had to get back to the safety of my bed, I took a glorious nap and woke up hungry. I went to the store and this is were my second round of Karma comes in. I decided that I am better off to drink before going out because its so pricey, well yeah it's cheaper if you get the right bottle of wine that corresponds with the price! I ended up grabbing a bottle that cost 20 euro when I though it was 1.97 what a bummer! Me not knowing how to ask how to return something in French I just took the bottle. I got on the crowed metro where a man was leaning up against the pole to hang on for your dear life, so I took my surfer stance and road the crazy waves of the metro. Two stops later I was almost home and ready to feast on my frozen curry dinner, when I spotted a women laying face down on the escalator! This is where I earn my 20 euro bottle of wine, I tried my best to pull the women up as other simply walked by!!!!!! By this time the people a few stairs behind ( who didn't run up to help) were getting clogged up at the top of the stairs. I had the women half way up when a man finally decided to help us out! Thankfully no coats got caught in the conveyor belt so the lady was able to walk away! So I will end this post by saying "What comes around, goes around" and "Do onto others as you would do onto yourself"

Wish me luck on my way home from the last Bar-a-day!

Just kidding mom!!!!!

-Learning Lily

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Bar-A-Day/Bore-A-Day

Tuesday/Monday Night:

To start off Monday night has been by far my favorite hours in Pairs. The school is hosting an event all week long call "Bar-a-Day". Monday's bar was called Cafe Oz. I was expecting to walk into a wizard of oz themed bar but it turned out to be Australian themed ( which all of the Australians found to be tacky). This was a great way to meet some new people while having some liquid courage in me! I met two really great guys from New Zeland whom knew every single cricket player on a photo in the bar. I was almost shunned when I didn't know what the Haka dance was enlighten yourself (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RpW507Y7ek). I also met girls from Canada and South Africa that were a lot of fun! There was also a live band at the bar that played a mix of American tunes with a Cuban beat. Monday night it also snowed, which I was told never happens in Paris!

Tuesday was the second day of methodology classes ( Bore-a-Day), I learned my lesson from Monday and decided the skip the second lecture to take a nap. Rumor has it I had the right idea! The bar for Tuesday night had nothing on Monday's bar, it was soooo small! Imagine 200+ people in a place that should fit 100 people max! It was basically a big smooshing of bodies! So I spent most of my time outside ( after it stopped snowing, yup snow two days in a row!). I was really looking forward to getting off the metro at Strasbourg St. Denis because it is the title of one of my favorite songs, but it ended up taking the title of smelliest metro station. :[

Wednesday:

Today I had to give a "grand oral", which is a glorified way of saying 10 minute speech! I picked the topic of Sustainability of Organic Agriculture, so at least it was something that I was interested in. The speech went fine, and now I am considering not going to any more methodology classes because I've fulfilled my duties. After class I went to the store and bought my first bottel of cheap french wine, not to shabby! In a few hours I'll be off to the wine and cheese party put on by Sciences Po, hopefully there will be a little more elbow room at this event!

Sante! (Cheers!)