The End

I'm home!

Although slowly recovering from a rather severe case of reverse culture shock, I am settling back in to my "normal" life. Its strange, really. I sometimes feel like my four months spent in Paris was just a wonderful dream. My two lives were so vastly different from one another. And yet, when I get on skype to chat with friends in Paris, or just look at pictures of my travels throughout Europe, I am reminded that it was, in fact, reality.

Reality check..back to school in a little more than a week. Another spring semester in my other favorite city. Oh New Orleans, how I have missed you. But I will miss Paris as well. The lights, the food, the atmosphere. Perhaps I can find a baguette as good as the ones in Paris, but probably not. But as I munch on my not-as-good american bread of some sort in New Orleans, I will look around me and appreciate the love I have for all the cities I now hold dear to my heart. Paris, New Orleans, Atlanta are the holy trinity of sorts for me, and I am so happy to call all three of these places home.

Travel Hiccups

It was all-hallows eve in Paris...and how do you think I celebrated? Did I dress up like a Parisian with a striped shirt, mustache and beret and piss off everyone around me? Did I pretend to be robert pattinson and act moody and annoyed at the world for falling head over heels in love with me? Did I don one of those huge, you can't see my face but I can dance around like an idiot on the metro in a polar bear costume? Unfortunately, no (especially that last one! polar bears are awesome!). But I have a valid reason for not celebrating halloween here in Paris. Well, almost nobody celebrates here, but thats besides the point. On halloween I returned back to Paris after a nine day journey through Rome, Florence and Cinque Terre...and was just too pooped to party it up like an American.

Every trip has to have something go wrong. No matter how short..there has to be some sort of minor hiccup that takes the perfection out a trip. But hey, thats what makes a trip an adventure, right? Well..our "minor hiccup" turned out to be more like a huge, monster burp that only your great uncle milton who ate too much at thanksgiving can make. As we walked into the Paris airport on Friday morning, I exclaimed "I can't wait to eat lunch in Rome!". Oh how I was forced to eat those words a few minutes later. When we tried to check in for our flight, we learned that, due to an airline strike in Rome, our flight was cancelled. No biggie..right? We'll just go on the next flight! Oh no. Not a chance. We were then put on a flight the next morning to Rome. Unfortunately..we had no idea how long this particular strike would last. Apparently in Europe its totally cool to just stop working and shut down major modes of transportation for any period of time. There have already been several metro strikes here in Paris so an airline strike (I still want my money back, Iberia) is totally ordinary behavior. Anyways, we decided that our best option was to find tickets on a sleeper train to Rome and skip the hassle of waiting for the strike to end. Easy, right? Again, no way jose. It seems that the online ticket purchasing for trenitalia just doesn't like to work. Fortunately, we befriended a group of three travelers that were suffering from our same predicament. Even more fortunately, one of these travelers happened to speak fluent French. The six of us headed down to the train ticketing station in the airport and discovered that there was only one seat available for the trip to Rome. But as I said..our new friend spoke French. If you can actually speak French like a French person here then everybody loves you. So naturally, the ticket man gave us a break and found us an "alternative" route to Rome. 180 euro's lighter and we were on our way...but our sleeper train was not awaiting us in Paris. Oh no. Mr. Tickets had a different location for us in mind to begin our journey. At first, we all believed we were heading to the south of France. I am really not sure why we were under this impression but I called my mom to tell her my what would be my first stop before Rome and she informed me that the city of Lausanne was in fact in Switzerland..NOT the South of France. Bummer. After a five hour train ride we arrived in the city of Lausanne and, as I said before..bummer. Switzerland..the land of taking no sides in international arguments..is one of the most boring countries I have ever been to. Granted, I was not too happy to be traveling there in the first place..but after spending five hours there I can say that I have fully satiated any underlying desire I might have had to spend time in that country. Our most enthralling find in Lausanne was that the mini coffee creamer we got at a restaurant had a picture of a mini-horse on it. Seriously. That was the most fun we had.

Finally, after waiting five hours in Lausanne we boarded our sleeper train to Rome at 10 pm. (We had been scheduled to arrive in Rome at 1 pm that day). Oh..and I forgot to mention that my roommate, Bryn, was turning 21 that very evening! Our plans to celebrate in Rome turned into plans to celebrate in our lovely, spacious, comfortable sleeper cabin. Can you read deep enough to feel the sarcasm there? The thing was tiny. Our one positive was that we were sharing the cabin with our new friends and not some randos! We heard a poor couple pleading with a train guy to switch them to an empty cabin because their flight to Rome was also cancelled and they were on their honeymoon! Oy. After hanging out for a bit and drinking some wine to celebrate Bryn's very first sip of alcohol, we decided it was time to go to bed. In a sleeper cabin, when one person decides this, everyone has to go to bed because the beds come out of the walls and you can no longer sit upright. I somehow ended up on the top bunk of the triple, come out of the wall style bunk beds, and rather enjoyed my view of the cabin below. I also enjoyed my view of the cabin ceiling, seeing as though I was about two feet away from it all night long.

After an incredibly restless and relatively sleepless night (the motion of a train does NOT rock you to sleep)..we arrived in ROME! Although we had heard that there was also a taxi strike in the city, we managed to escape that bout of bad luck and easily found a cab to take us to our hotel. Upon arrival, the man at the desk informed us that our room was not yet ready..but..(now say this in an italian accent)..I can see that you are tiiiiired, and so i will give you another roooom. Yesssss. Exhausted and slightly delirious, we made it to our apartment style room (whose refrigerator we could not figure out how to turn on) and fell into bed. I slept on the highest top bunk I have ever encountered but rested easily knowing that my adventure in Italy would finally be able to begin. I shall post the rest of our adventures soon!

Weekend in Madrid, Weekend in Paris

I do suppose it's time I update my blog. I apologize to my loyal followers for not having done so in forever. I was never really a journal writer and so blogging doesnt come quite as naturally as I might have hoped.

Anyways..as per usual...the most exciting things I have to report have occurred on the weekends I have or have not been in Paris. Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting some Tulane friends in Madrid. A lot of the other business students from Tulane went to Madrid so I was excited to see how the "other half lives". Well, in terms of housing, they do quite nicely. Although I have adjusted to living in a tiny apartment with three others, I would not say no to having my own room in a really cool apartment in Madrid. They do have their own qualms about the apartment, however, including a random italian roommate who has taken it upon himself to turn the place into a hostel. While I was visiting the roommate had about five friends sleeping over..not exactly the best way to go about sharing an apartment.

Anyways, the trip itself was a lot of fun! My future roommate, Joanna, and I spent a lot of time exploring the city. Madrid is a fascinating place with a lot of culture. We visited the Reina Sofia National Art Museum and the Museo Del Prado and I got to see Picasso's famous Guernica painting, among hundreds of others. We visited an area called Sol which is home to a really spectacular gourmet food market and I had the best cup of Sangria of my life there. We ended up visiting this market three times and got to watch the olympic 2016 announcement there with a whole bunch of very excited people from madrid..well..they were excited until the actual announcement...then it just got depressing. I also had a spanish oyster and as soon as i swallowed it all i could say was "i think...i just ate the ocean...". I think i'll stick with acme oyster house from now on thank you very much.

The style of living in Madrid is so different from paris. I thought people ate late here...but in madrid they take it to a whole new level. Lunch is around 1:00-3:00 and also includes a nice siesta. Dinner is only eaten at 10:00...and people don't go out to the clubs until 1:30 am at the earliest. We went to a club on the friday night and as we walked out the door around 4:00 am the line to enter seemed even longer than it had been when we first arrived.

On saturday night we had a really delicious tapas meal. It was at a more modern style restaurant but the food was amazing, and relatively inexpensive! If there's one thing I miss its being able to dine out for less than ten dollars..you just cant seem to find that anywhere in paris.

Overall the trip was really great. It was nice to see some familiar faces and to experience another city! Its crazy to think that I really could have been living there as well if I had wanted to. I am happy with my choice but would definitely have been happy there as well.

As for this weekend, my good friend Jenny came to visit from Granada! She is actually good friends with all of the roommates so we were very excited to have her. We started the weekend off by going to a restaurant with far too many shticks but is still tons of fun nonetheless. I've made a list: 1. It serves the most ridiculous cheese fondue i've ever had..i dont even want to know how much butter was in that pot but it was delicious. 2. the wine is served in baby bottles? i really have no idea when this trend started but there are apparently several restaurants in paris that do this. It was really just..weird. The guy sitting next to me (oh i guess thats shtick 3..you sit at long tables and get far to close with the people next to you) just popped off the top and started chugging but i couldnt decide if that was even stranger. 4. the waiters are assholes. they throw the bread on the table. they get annoyed when you try to order cheese and beef fondue (even though its part of the deal) and they act confused when you try to ask for dipping sauce that the other tables have clearly received right next to you. 5. never in my life did i expect to experience a "cheese facial". however..this place seems to specialize in it. The restaurant is so tiny and you are sitting so close to the fondue pot that you literally get a full blast of cheesy steam every time you dip your bread.

All in all it was a hilarious experience! Good fun with good food and good friends.

We spent saturday doing a bike tour through the park near my apartment with good ol' stephen muse. Biking is fun for a while but after about and hour or so we got a little sick of it. Fortunately we were able to break away early and found our way home..and now I know how to actually get into the park from my apartment! Hopefully i'll be doing a run there soon and do some more exploring.

Saturday night was quite crazy. I'll be brief but it involved the following: free pizza at happy hour, a canadian bar, a french version of waffle house, margaritas, new american friends, new german friends, chocolate crepes, techno music, crazy techno lights, and entertaining cab drivers. Fortunately we were alive enough today (sunday) to do some real touring with Jenny. I finally made it to the Lourve..hooray! Of course we saw the Mona Lisa which is unfortunately kind of tough to view because its so popular. The museum itself is fairly overwhelming but we were able to get in free with our student visa's so i'll be returning soon to do some more touring. We also went to the Musee D'Orsey which is located in an old train station. Unfortunately we timed our visit wrong and only spent about 40 minutes at Musee D'Orsey but I saw some very cool works by Monet, Seurat (the dot paintings!) Monet and Degas. I'll definitely also be returning there as well.

All in all it was a very satisfying weekend! Its kind of strange being a tourist in my own city but there is still so much to see and do so i'll continue to be a tourist until I leave!

A Lovely Parisian Weekend

I do believe my roommate, Bryn, and I, have successfully managed to define what is, in fact, a "lovely parisian weekend". No, you probably haven't heard that term before. Neither have I. Actually..I made it up. But there is really no other way to describe what occurred these past few days than with the term that I have determined is an appropriate and fitting blog title.

I don't have class on Fridays so it's a great way to get a jump start on the weekend. After waking up late Bryn and I went for a nice run around the neighborhood. Again..we were the only people running and got stared at like we were crazy people but nothing will keep me from running by the eiffel tower on a beautiful day. We then headed over to the Marais area of Paris. This area is also home to the Jewish Quarter...and we had one mission for the day...get felafel! Walking through the quarter literally felt like i was walking through the streets of jerusalem. There were judaica shops on every corner, men in kipput dashing about, and felafel and shwarma as far as the eye could see! The only difference was that they still had patisseries, except at these patisseries they sold baklavah! We had a delicious felafel at one of the supposed "famous" felafel stands which is frequented by Lenny Kravitz (his photo is on the wall) and then bought some delicious honey sugar pastry (not sure what it really was but it was delicious) for the road. Once we got home we embarked on another cultural adventure: doing laundry. Our apartment is equipped with a small washer but no dryer. Upon reaching the laundromat I discovered that the only washer big enough to fit all of my stuff was 12 euros. Oy. I bit my tongue and paid..and thankfully the dryer was much cheaper. From now on i'll use my own washer and transport wet clothes only for drying purposes.

Friday night was another exciting adventure! After much debate we finally decided to go to a bar called batofar...which was supposedly a very cool bar located on a barge. After a loooong metro ride we made it to our stop. Unfortunately we had no idea where to go from there (a common problem after a metro ride) so we went to the French version of McDonalds and they drew us a a handy map to the barge. The barge itself was very cool with a bunch of different hang out/dance/drinking spots all over the ship. We were rocking out to fun american music for a while and ran into another group of american girls. I've become very good at spotting americans here but they were baffled as to how i knew their true identity. A few songs into it..the music stops..and in walks what i can only assume to be a high school band. Half the crowd of i believe were the bandmates friends headed to the stage and i was witness to my very first french high school rock concert. Unexpected, yes. Awesome, yes. The music itself wasn't the greatest and Bryn and I had both been hoping for some fun drinks and dancing but we made the best of it and to outsiders would have seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the lyrical sounds of a half english speaking french guy, his shy and nervous base player, and a rocker chick on the drums. Looking around it seemed as if the americans were the only ones who actually knew how to rock out at a rock concert but it was entertaining nonetheless.

I'll skip to saturday night as this is turning into far too long of a post. We did a walking tour of the 5th arrondissement, which is home to the Latin Quarter, during the day and decided to return there with a fellow MBAIer for dinner that evening. We ate in an adorable little square which was a people watchin meccas, of sorts. Because of the shape of the area it was possible to see and be seen by everyone else around the square! We enjoyed a meal that was 1 euro cheaper than Friday's laundry and still included appetizer, drink, main course, side dish, and dessert. Its tough to find a deal like that here and we were very happy with ourselves. I'm also just happy anytime I can eat meat so i practically ravaged my chicken dish. I've never before turned down gelato but i did on saturday..so it is imperative i return sometime soon and claim my favorite mango/chocolate gelato concoction that is currently making my mouth water.

Today (sunday) was very memorable. I am a huge fan of Monet and even saw his water lilly paintings at the high museum this summer. When I mentioned that I was going to Paris to an old babysitter of mine she insisted that I go and see Giverny, where Monet got the inspiration for his beautiful works. And that is just what I did! Bryn and I just made it to the train station on time and rode about 35 minutes out of town to Vernon, hopped on a bus, and arrived in Giverny around noon. We began walking through the town and discovered that Sunday was in fact flea market day in Giverny. There were lots and lots of tables lining the Rue de Monet filled with the widest assortment of junk I have ever laid eyes upon. We came across some tables and decided to dine in the midst of the flea market. I can only assume that my meal of veal in cream sauce, rice and salad was the freshest (probably just farmed) meat and cheese I will ever hope to eat. It was delicious and utterly delightful.

We then headed over to the most popular spot (for tourists at least..the rest of town was at the flea market!), monet's gardens! I am not a painter..but just the sight of his garden made me want to pull out a paintbrush and create a masterpiece! We visited Monet's house, his main garden, and his oh so famous japanese water garden. The water garden is gorgeous. His impressionistic paintings capture of the beauty of the garden so well. It was so strange yet exciting to see it in real life! After taking numerous photos atop his numerous bridges, it was time to depart. It was, however, extremely memorable to walk through a location of such beauty and inspiration.

Rambling

Classes have begun, and its hard to believe that its already the middle of September and I don't even have a mid term to worry about yet. I am taking six classes. One of which is the French culture class with Stephen Muse which just involves us touring around Paris and writing a paper. I have intro to French at 8:30 on Monday mornings, which is one of the roughest ways I could possibly imagine to begin a week. Our class was rather entertaining though...even the most sleepy of students has to appreciate the hilarity of learning the alphabet as a Junior in college. With students from Latvia, Germany, China, Lithuana, Sweden and America, I can't imagine it will be anything but entertaining listening to us all attempt to speak French in our various ridiculous accents. For our second class we moved up from the alphabet and learned the numbers. We then proceeded to play bingo and I managed to win a bottle of wine for being the bingo, or "lotto" champion! As soon as the teacher pulled out that bottle for the prize i could only think, wow, i'm REALLY not in an american university anymore!

All of my professors seem extremely well qualified.

I am taking finance which is taught by the former european CFO of Neutrogena. Advertising strategy is taught by a retired New Yorker who has had years of experience in the advertising world. Luxury Brand Management is taught by a former South African who has worked for such brands as FCUK, Boots pharmacy, South African Airways. And finally, Organizational Behavior is taught by another retired american whose credentials i forget at the moment but are quite substantial.

Classes are only an hour and a half once a week and so we have to do extra work for each class to accumulate the required three hours a week that is common in American universities. Its kind of a pain in the butt figuring all the class stuff out but i think it should be settled soon.

I spent the weekend in London visiting my grandparents and celebrating Rosh Hashana. It was really wonderful to see them and I also got to have dinner with two of my older South African cousins whom i havent seen for five years! I only got to do some touring on Sunday and although we attempted to see the changing of the guard, it was in fact cancelled because of a massive bike race through london that seemed to shut everything down in its path. Apparently hundreds of years of tradition can be cancelled for immensely irritating bike racing..who knew? We also visited the Tate Modern which was as strange and wonderful as ever. They manage to place artists such as Monet and Dali next to some of the most seemingly no name pieces, but it all fits together.

We had a bit of a scare when we returned on Sunday evening. The building smelled like smoke and it was quite unnerving. One of the roommates called the fire department and thankfully we found an english speaking resident to explain the situation to the firemen. It was a bit frightening to know that we wouldnt have really been able to express ourselves to the firemen without translation but thankfully they found nothing and the smell went away.

The days go by so quickly here. Its already 7 pm and it feels as if the day just began. I have so many things I want to do and places I want to go but i can't seem to find the time to do everything! I need to just start planning events and hopefully i can do all the sightseeing and exploring of this fabulous city before I have to leave. I also have a lot of traveling I want to do but at the same time I want to be able to enjoy my free weekends here in paris. So much to do..so little time.

The New French Kiss

Last night was one of the best nights I've had in Paris so far! It began rather early, around 4:00, after my roommates and I sprinted through one of the longest metro station transfers i've ever been in (think walking sidewalks) and nearly missed the famous "Muse Cruise" or boat ride aboard the Seine organized by our fearless leader, Stephen Muse. I was hanging out with some of the French students for a bit while on the cruise while Stephen was pointing out various landmarks. It was a stunningly beautiful day in Paris and there were many people spread out along the banks of the Seine enjoying their picnics and the gorgeous weather. There is a bridge that Stephen showed us that is supposed to be the most romantic spot to travel beneath and you are supposed to kiss when you sail beneath it. However, due to the Swine Flu epidemic, the French government has essentially tried to ban kissing and instead favors the more health friendly "fist bump" or the even more health conscious "elbow bump". I did not enjoy a French kiss beneath the bridge but my friends and I enjoyed quite the romantic elbow bump experience.

Just on that note, in Paris, people make out...everywhere! They also seem to have long, emotional conversations along the sidewalks, oblivious to their surroundings. I am all for a little hand holding and a peck or two..but come on people! Perhaps they put something in the water that seems to make everyone so romantic but so far I have just gotten a little weirded out seeing people practice the art of French kissing to each other with such fervent passion.

Anyways, after the Muse Cruise we headed to an Irish Pub to enjoy some dinner and drinks with all of the international students. Our French Culture Class is composed of international students from all different schools across Paris. Although I will only attend my school with French students, this class and our French class will be held with the international students. We have students from Germany, Lithuania, Austria, Mexico, Spain, and even Iraq. At first we were all very tentative to start mixing with each other but as soon as the food was served and the beer and wine started flowing everyone began to intermingle. In that hot and sweaty basement bar of the restaurant I became friends with people from more countries than I ever have in my life. It was quite the evening! As the night winded down (and the bar tab ran out) it was time to head home to 30 Rue Grueze. Muse closed the night by remarking that this was one of the best groups he has ever had and bid us au revior.

Week one continues!

I've been in Paris for five days and it's finally starting to feel a little like home. Being from Atlanta I have NEVER had to deal with a real (aka reliable) system of public transportation. As I stepped off the train from our trip to versailles (more about that later) I actually knew where I was and leaving the station i got the comforting feeling that I was indeed heading home. As many of you know I am severely directionally challenged but I am slooooowly learning the lay of the land and by the time some of you visit I should be able to get around without getting totally lost.

My roommate Bryn and I have already gone on two runs in our neighborhood. Running/jogging/walking quickly is really not a popular recreational activity in France. On our first adventure we saw only one other woman running and decided that we should just follow here. Although she was twice our age she quickly outran us and we were forced to fend for ourselves. We found some hills to run on and our route takes us past the viewing plaza of the eiffel tower. I wore a UGA shirt today in hopes that, by some twist of fate, a tourist would see me and shout "Go Dawgs!" but alas, it didnt happen. I'll be wearing my college shirts often and let you know if that happens...in which case..i'll have to embarrassed myself with a reply of "Woof Woof!"

Another funny thing i've noticed while running is that people wash the sidewalk in front of their homes. Why they feel it necessary to literally wash the place where hundreds of people walk I will never know..but it does make for some interesting roadblocks and maneuvering as we jog along.

Back to versailles. And school. We had our first meeting about our french culture class as well as our actual classes. Because the school itself just moved neighborhoods classes have been pushed back to sometime next week...or the week after that...we think. It seems pretty lax in terms of the class situation which is just fine with me! I am very happy to explore paris without having to study and do work. For our french culture class we are just required to attend 8 events throughout the semester. Two events have happened already so i'm on the right track. We went to the Vogue fashion block party last night and I saw Karl Lagerfeld. Even the french girls were excited so i didnt feel silly taking a picture. And today we went to Versailles to see the castle and garden where the french elite lived until they were carted away and guillotined in the 18th century. Versailles was gorgeous but I think I am going to try to dedicate this blog to the more interesting nuances and quirks of living in France. I'll be posting pictures on Facebook for all to see but I'm not going to focus on totally touristy stuff in here.

I have also discovered the joys of the baguette and we literally eat a whole baguette a day. We've cooked dinner for ourselves these past three nights which is muuuuch cheaper and its so fun to go shopping at the little stores and markets near us! I'll eat tomato mozzarella sandwiches all day long...but as I said before I DO go running so it balances out. Sort of. Oh well!

I hope all is well in America. We had a chat today about "where we were" when the planes hit and it was ridiculous to realize it's been 8 years. I miss you all and the USA on days like today!