Okay, it's official, I'm a terrible blogger. For those of you on Facebook, I'm pretty good at keeping up with pictures, although I'll definitely try to catch up on those here.
I'm successfully settled into the Parisian lifestyle. I live in an adorable apartment in the 7th arrondissement, a few minutes away from Musee d'Orsay and two blocks down from the Seine, right across from the Louvre and the Jardin de Tuileries.
The apartment is owned by a woman named Madame Sylvie de Sampigny, we call her Madame. She recently hosted a fete for her 80th birthday--it went from six in the evening to midnight and had around 80 guests. Old or young, the French know how to party.
Besides Madame and I, my roommate Kelsey (from Louisiana, but schooling in Texas), Bennet (from Texas but schooling in NYC) and a steady, rotating stream of Madame's relatives live here. And Shergui, my new four-legged friend. I get paid five euro an hour to go on walks with Shergui down on the quai by the Seine about three times a week. Rough. Life.
While Madame provides a breakfast (Muesli, baguette with butter and fig jam, and a bowl of coffee), we're on our own for the other meals. At first, I was buying a lot of sandwiches from cafes, but this gets pretty expensive after a while. Now I have a routine: On my way home from school I stop at the corner grocer on my street and pick up a baguette, a bottle of wine, and any miscellaneous veggies I'd like for that night. In the fridge I keep a pretty good stock of eggs, Camembert and goat cheese, sliced duck (cheaper than chicken and so good!) and any unused miscellaneous veggies from the night before. I sit down, have a glass of wine with some Camembert and baguette and decide whether I'd like to sautee veggies and put them on pasta with goat cheese, or sautee veggies and put them in an omlette with goat cheese. With a glass of wine. This has become my standard recipe: In a non-stick pan warm olive oil. Chop three stalks of asparagus, a tomato, half a small zucchini, some eggplant a few slices of smoked duck and small onion, sautee with herbs de Provence. Place on top of pasta, add triangles of goat cheese. I have a huge problem making only enough for one, so if Bennet and Kelsey don't want any, I put the rest in a bowl and save it for the next day. Dessert is fromage blanc with honey and usually a few squares of chocolate. Okay, a lot of chocolate.
Here are a few things they don't tell you about France: Coffee is served in bowls, tea in cups. That's why they're called teacups. The mug has not been invented here, and travel mugs are a serious faux pas. Tea spoons are for stirring coffee or tea, definitely not for eating from. If you'd like to eat your cereal with a spoon, it's the size of a serving spoon, and don't complain. If you sit at a cafe and order a coffee (un cafe), you receive a shot-sized coffee with a side of sugar. If you'd like a real coffee, order un cafe creme--coffee with cream. Sandwiches are made with baguette, rolls or wrap, not sliced bread, ever. Sliced bread is only eaten as a last resort, when the bakery is out of baguette, or one does not have time to go get a baguette.
Besides eating (a lot), I go to school too. Technically, I'm enrolled at the Sorbonne. The building my classes are in doesn't look like this though.
This is, however, my route to school every day. I walk down Boulevard St Germain des Pres, one of the oldest streets in Paris, past Musee Cluny and onto Rue St Jacques, which takes me past the Sorbonne seen above. There I take a left and have the Pantheon immediately in front, and the Eiffel Tower and Luxembourg gardens visible behind.
I have a two hour Cours Practique every day from noon to two. On Monday mornings from nine to eleven thirty I have l'Histoire d'Architecture de Paris, all in French with walking tours of some of the most interesting architectural aspects of Paris--definitely one of my favorite classes. Tuesday mornings from ten to eleven I have French Painting, which is a pretty disappointing class considering what it could be. The upside are the museum visits included in the class on Thursday afternoons from three to five. We get acquainted with museums all around the city from big ones like the Louvre to small, obscure ones like the Gustave Moreau--the house of the symbolist painter that was turned into a museum of his works. Wednesday mornings from eight thirty to eleven thirty is Franco-American Relations--a pretty interesting history class highlighting, you guessed it, Franco-American relations from the American Revolution to today. Every other week I also have a Phonetics class from five thirty to six thirty. Worst. Class. Ever. For the first half hour, we repeat phrases and syllables after the professor to work on pronunciation, and the second half hour we record the same phrases and syllables into microphones, listen to the recording, rinse and repeat.
In my off time, I'm becoming pretty acquainted with Paris itself. A lot of this is due to having almost the whole family out to visit me--I try to find things for them to do, and get to go to all the different attractions. For example, Dad and I went to the Conciergerie in the Palais du Justice where they kept Marie Antoinette during the Revolution, and the Chateau de Vincennes where St. Louis IX lived in the 12th centurty Donjon, built a second Sainte Chapelle and Louis the XIV grew up.
Carrie visited last week, and we did all the touristy things from Notre Dame to Asterix Land for Halloween (Asterix is like French Mickey Mouse). We also braved the lines and height of the Eiffel Tower.
My stay here is pretty much at the half way point, but things are going to start moving quickly. Next week we have a five day break for Armistice Day, so everyone is going traveling. Some are going to Amsterdam, other to Barcelona or Italy. We decided to go to Marrakesh, Morocco. You know, because when in Paris, go to Africa! We leave Tuesday afternoon, return Sunday night. I'll have a routine week after that, then Mom, Adrien and Cheryl come out! And two weeks after that is my return flight! I can't believe how quickly this adventure is flying by--as evidenced by my lack of blogging! Anyway, I'm well, safe, happy and learning a ton. Hope everyone reading is the same, and I'll see you all (very, very) soon!
