L'Automne

I absolutely adore the fall! I love the chilly air and the gorgeous colors. The falls in Paris are very rainy and overcast- a little like Seattle! This first picture is one of the smaller entrances to the park next to my apartment. Unreal.

This is my tiny street! Adorable, isnt it? I live on the left hand side a few stories up :) Directly to the left behind all the green shrubbery is a restaurant that is tres cher- Le Quinzieme. Apparently the head chef, Cyril Lignac, is tres connu in France because he is so good at such a young age. He was also in this months Figaro- a big magazine here. Kinda crazy.. I wanted to try it out sometime until i looked online and realized it would cost me over a hundred euros haha So I think I am content enjoying from a distance.. :)

Absentee Ballot Please :)

I VOTED! My friends and I are all gonna be a little let down if they dont mail us "I Voted" stickers..

la campagne.. la ville.. le gateau chocolat et les pancakes :)

I know I say this all the time- but man time flys by! I cant believe its already the end of another friday! And today was amazing and hilarious. It started with a guided tour of the medieval town of Provins about and hour and a half outside of Paris. What a great time of year to go with all the leaves changing- absolutely gorgeous. The bummer- yet again my camera battery died- i HAVE to get better at charging that before events or outings. Good news- plenty of friends who offered to share their pics with me. The city was so cool- it is split into two parts: the first is a preserved medieval town and the other is a modern city full of commerce. Obviously we just toured the preserved medieval part, which absolutely blows my mind. I dont understand how so many buildings here have been preserved for soo long! We also were given a tour of the souterains> so interesting. Cool enough this was a "free" field trip for me because there were extra spots- i still have my two I chose in November for Versailles and then off to fontainbleu and vau-le0vicompte! bon chance :)

The second part of the day Andrea, Amanda, Sarah and I met up with some of Andreas french friends at B.I.A - Breakfast in America. Its an american diner in paris serving "traditional" american dishes and, of course, breakfast all day. It was unbelievably fun with the nostalgic atmosphere mixed with andreas amazing friends. They were hilarious- so not reserved and cracking jokes all over the place. I feel like tonight served a healthy dose of sarcasm that Id been missing.

Pictures to come..

What a wonderful day.

ok, just got home from my model vivante draing class and i still need to go write a paper tonight analysing baudelaires poem la belle dorothee..so this is going to be short. BUUT I can say that today was a breakthrough day :) not a huge breakthrough.. but Ill take the small ones! First of all, I finally felt like I was following along during my Architecture in Paris class which is by far my most difficult class. So that was exciting to say the least- felt like there was a little ray of hope peaking through! Then my friend brought it to my attention that when we were speaking english little french words were creeping in when I talked- like instead of saying "but" i said "mais"- not huge but its a slight indication that my brain is starting to accept a little language cross over. Thank the good Lord!! Also I recieved my sim card today WHOHOO! Which might mean my prodction level just went down a notch but I couldnt be more excited because I get to talk to my family whenever! I felt less homesick almost instantly - so thank you thank you thank you!

Unfortunately baudelaire is calling..

salut

Tasty..

So I just had the most bizarre but delicious dinner ! When I asked what it was they told me celery.. I looked at them like what? But then I smelt it.. it was in fact celery. But it looked kind of like a bowl of hot orangish reddish apple sauce with meatballs in it.. cautiously I took the first bite- totally amazing! My host mom hasnt made a single thing yet that wasnt good so I don't know why I had any doubts..She was telling me how easy it was to make so Ill have to try it sometime! It was kind of like a soup made of pureed celery mixed with a puree of tomatoes and viande. I know it doesn’t sound good but it was exceptional.. maybe one of the best things Ive had here so far! It was filling but very light. Anyways, just an odd but surprisingly pleasant experience I wanted to share with you.

oh I almost forgot- when I told them about "ants on a log" -you know, the normal way to eat celery- they looked at each other and laughed like what in the world? and then asked me for clarification because they didn't think they understood me at first haha Oh what those poor french children have been missing.

Kareoke? C'est Vrai!

Coucou! J’espère que ton week-end passes bien ! Je veux parler à la vie quand je partage une tasse du café avec toi, mais ce n’est pas possible ce week-end. Alors, ici...

I’m a sharer.. I think it is difficult to be here from time to time because I just want to share this experience in its entirety with the ones I love. Even just to cuddle up over a large cup of coffee and chat about our days would be like water for my soul. Instead, I will blog and try to get some pictures up.

So today I finally went into the Bio’C’Bon store near my home! Bio = Organic in France. It was so much fun! Ok, I realize I am a huge nerd, but really it was like going on a field trip ☺ they even had a ‘sans gluten’ section (mom that made me miss you so much!) I bought a few snacky things that I could bring to school or something- anything would be better than making the trip to the boulangerie between classes! I think my favorite buy was the South African rooibos tea- sooo good! I am on this tea kick right now. I looove making a big bowl of tea (yes I said bowl.. they have their coffee or tea in bowls here in the morning.. ive turned it into an anytime of day thing) and after its steeped put in a little milk. Just the thing I need while I cozy up to my desk to work on mes devoirs (hw), which is what I am going to do after this post.

Last night was my night to choose the restaurant. I chose this Moroccan restaurant in the marais district.. Unfortunately I didn’t realize dinner begins pretty late there and we had a rendez-vous with hillsong people later. So instead we jumped a few streets over and went to The Studio- the restaurant in the café de la gare (the one next to the dance studio online lindso!) Its funny cuz it is frenchified Mexican food haha Totally fun atmosphere and the fajitas were good. Nothing to rave about, but a fun experience.

Due to the Hillsong Europe conference in London this weekend, instead of having church services this Friday church was a bunch of different get-togethers around Paris in different venues. Mariko and I headed over to Le Rive Doigt,- the restaurant where the hospitality team had decided on meeting. Definitely did a little karaoke lol The funny thing is the English songs that are really popular here are not in the US, and vice versa. So all the old songs I thought would be fun to sing they had no idea and then when I finally got talked in to joining a group singing a really popular Mariah Carey song- I didn’t know it AT ALL! Haha Oh well, still a good time.

It was also really cool cuz I met a guy from Congo and we talked a little bit about how the French there is actually the same as the French here- only the Parisians speak a million times faster. So that was encouraging and just another reminder why I need to focus and put forth more effort into improving my French. I am just taking (aka trying to take) Shelby’s advice to heart about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. I need to continue asking questions and not just nod my head and pretend like I understand haha, which is so tempting, and I fall into doing it until I realize they asked a question and expect a response. Oops! Haha Something that has taken me by surprise here is that just about every french person has been painfully patient with me- it’s the native English speakers that don’t want to be patient! You would think they would be the ones with more understanding but about 75% of the time that has not been the case. Similar to every French grammar lesson, there are always exceptions.

Fun weekend. Fun people. God is good. I miss you all.

Bisous!

ZenZoo

So, another reason Mariko is my hero: she has this know-how that makes it seem like she's lived in Paris for years! We enjoy trying new restaurants together- funny thing is usually they arent french cuisine. Anyways, when she picks the place it is a little restaurant down a little back street and a ten min walk from the nearest metro- but theyll be so busy! I dont understand how she finds/hears about these places. Theyre gems- inexpensive authentic cuisine with great atmosphere. Usually we'll have to wait a little while for a seat, but I always take that as an indicator that my dinner is gonna be good! Last night we met a friend of hers she met in a different program in august and headed to a taiwanese place called ZenZoo. Delicious! Although they were laughing at me as I awkardly picked up (tried to pick up) the smaller pieces with chopsticks, as they both grew up usin them. Also, sad as it is, Ive been missing my visits to the Tea Garden back home so I mental noted that they have an entire page to select from of bubble teas. Just what I might need next time Im having a difficult day :)

THen, later that night we met a lovely canadian girl- unfortunately she doesnt have as strong an accent as our friend kyle haha She came here to France alone to teach english within different coorporations -which sounds really cool, something I think would be really fun. Buut she doesn't have a single friend from North America here and is a little homesick so we exchanged numbers and we're gonna rendez-vouz to explore the city a little together. Another plus- she only happens to live in one of the greatest parts of Paris right outside the metro Odeon. When Mariko and I were telling her about the great places she lived near she had no idea! We all decided it the only thing to do is educate her through a series of outings. Should be fun!

Biarritz- I cant believe we're in basque country!

So last weekend was spent in Biarritz- in the southwest of France. Who knew it was such a cute little surfing town?! But I am getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.. the train.

We took the idnight train- or le train qui bouge la nuit! haha it is an overnight train that is basically a party car but is extremely cheap. Just happens that we were the only americans in the middle of a reunion! Theres a group of 11 guys that get together every year during this weekend and it changes each year who plans the events of the weekend- this year it was surfing in biarritz. They were hilarious! So much fun and no ill intentions at all. It was a whole lot of franglais and a little bit of dancing. Oh- another indicator that I was in france- I think our trip probably took about an hour longer than necessary because we stopped for so many smoke breaks! is that not ridiculous? Anywyas, we arrived about a 20 min walk outside the centre of biarritz at 6am, completely exhausted. Luckily the hotel we picked was amazing and let us check in right away for a few hours of much needed rest. We stayed at L'Atalaye Hotel (http://www.hotelatalaye.com/) and I whole heartedly recommend it. It is amazing everything you get for the price- which I guess is more common the farther outside of Paris you find yourself.

Sat was a little chilly so we spent most of the day walking around and checking out the little shops. We also walked up and down the beach. The beaches in France are amazing- much different than the beaches ive been to in the US. Granted, I havent been to many beaches in the US.. but I think it is due to the large rocks and the force of the waves here. The beaches here produce the same kind of awe that the mountains do for me back home. Absolutely awe-inspiring.

We wanted to cross the boarder over into spain for a fun night in st sebastian, but it wasnt as easy as we'd been told so we enjoyed a low key evening in town.

Sunday the entire day was spent on the beach!! I even have a little color to show for it :) It was gorgeous out and we were lucky enough to be there during a surfing competition. Besides those in the competition there were many others trying it out- it was hard not to rent a boogie board and jump in! Unfortuantely I was the only one in my party that felt that way.. so maybe another time. Anybody with me?! Although I cringed watching the surfers as I realized the detested burpies would be necessary if I ever actually wanted to learn.. what is it again? no pain, no gain?

So Biarritz was lovely, and it made me want to travel more. a lot more. So I am dealing with this internal battle of staying in paris and investing my money in events here.. or traveling and investing my money there. What a pickle! But, just like many other things in life, I think the answer is moderation. I might be able to enjoy a little bit of both in moderation.

Just a little bit of life.

A few pictures..

Out for Marikos golden birthday :) which, come to find out, is a very American thing to celebrate. We were at this chic place in the Marais.







Sarah, Mariko, Me




At the fetes des jardins- One of my host sister showing off a few of our beautiful winnings of the day. The other is of Alphonse and Alix.. I dont think either of them were ready for this one.. the other is just of Alix playing around in my room. It is fun to have her around, but makes me miss little ms taiyahs personality!!













And these are a few views out my window :) Gorgeous, right?