Day 10: Some time elapses...

Well, the weekend came and went, and I didn't exactly have time to post...

Friday we went to Versailles for the day. It's about a half hour train ride out of Paris. The grounds are absolutely beautiful! It is so opulent, you just might get cataracts from staring at all that gold for too long...

We got a tour from a girl who was probably my age. Her English was not the best, and I was really confused about why she wasn't just speaking in French, when I realized that not all of the Americans in the SA program know French! Which is absolutely stupid. If you're going to be living in Paris for a year, why the hell don't you take a French class?? But mine is not to judge. At any rate, it makes me feel a million times smarter for at least knowing French. They have beginning classes at the center, of course, but I'm sure if I hadn't taken French in high school and wanted to study abroad, I would have totally taken at least 101 before hopping on a plane.

I didn't take lots of pictures because I totally got this stupid complex about being a dumb-looking tourist. Plus, I still have no idea what the protocol is for taking pictures in places in France. Can you take pictures in museums? I am totally confused, so these are some photo ops I snuck in:

Chapel at Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

I am completely unsurprised that the French citizens revolted, if they were all living in poverty and the king was living it up in digs like this. I know this is super bad of me, but throughout the whole tour, I kept thinking, "Let them eat cake!" and I really, really wanted a piece of cake. I told this to Sarah when we got to the gardens and Marie Antoinette's hideaway, and she totally agreed, which was the best part. We went to a café for lunch where I had a decadent tarte aux poires which will satisfy my sweet tooth for now (I know I said I would start running...maybe after classes start? I'm only human!) The rest, as they say, is history...

As for the rest of the weekend, we went to the Louvre again on Saturday. I did not take pictures because I didn't really care. We had a tour guide there, too, who tried to tell us all about the difference between Ingres and Jacques-Louis David. I had no idea they were at all similar, but she insisted...one painted naked men and one did naked women, I guess. I wasn't that impressed, but apparently she's one of the art history teachers we'll have if we signed up for art history. Which I did. I may drop it. I have no idea. Maybe if we actually discuss something interesting, but the chances of that are slim.

I'm going to try to get Michèle to take me running with her, but I'm afraid if I ask once, she'll expect me to go all the time. And, she's probably a lot faster than I am. I kind of don't want to bother, but I want to get to know her. And I have a feeling I'll never exercise if I don't have someone to do it with. Sarah might want to, but I have no idea. She's pretty thin, and I think she mentioned she swims at home? I'm not sure I want to exercise with her, though. I hate swimming. I guess these are questions for the future?

Love, Annabel

P.S. - That angel is just so cute, I couldn't resist!

Day 6: Weekend Plans

So, the SA decided that all of us Americans needed to be introduced and oriented...



This means, in a practical sense, that they're making us spend time together. I feel sort of stupid because we didn't really get introduced, we're all just sort of hanging around each other. No one else had a mom spent an entire week with them in Paris, either. I feel kinda like a big baby now, and I wish I didn't.

We are taking a cultural tour of Paris this weekend, which basically means we're going to see all of the same sights Mom and I did all this week. I'll pretend to be thrilled and surprised. I hope we get to choose our groups, because Sarah is the only person I know, and I really don't feel like making new friends with a bunch of snotty chicks from California. Not that that's who my compatriots are, but I wish I had chosen a different program now, so that someone from my school was there. It sucks, but only a little. I guess I might have to force myself to make friends. I know this isn't fair, but all of the girls besides Sarah seem like they have one thing (finding a French boyfriend) on their minds. Maybe I'm over-critical, but we'll see...

There are also 3 girls to 1 guy on this thing. Not that I'm surprised. Most guys a) don't study French and b) don't want to study abroad in France. I have no idea why. They could meet lots of hot chicks and be thought of as hopeless romantics. I guess the flip side is, everyone might think they're gay, but so what? Well, I guess picking something that's going to fulfill some of your major and minor requirements is also a thing to keep in mind. (LOL!)

I will write up on "cultural discovery" (mostly because I'm curious about it myself). I don't start classes until Monday, which is cool beans. I can't even remember what classes I signed up for, so this could get interesting.

Love, Annabel

Day 5: The Host Family

Mom dropped me off at 12:30 at the SA office. There was a secretary there to direct us. Her name is Marie-Louise and she is probably 65...no English what so ever. I feel kinda stupid about not practicing French now, because every conversation I will end up having with Marie-Louise is going to be completely impossible. There was also the program coordinator (Madame Miraus) and about 50 other students. I think we ended up being around 60 Americans when it was all done, but some didn't show up today, which I think is really weird. Why the heck wouldn't they show up when they're supposed to??

I talked to one girl named Sarah today. She was really nice. She goes to school in Michigan. I hadn't actually heard of the place, but maybe she can be my Midwest buddy. I might need one.

My host family seems cool enough. They have a cat (YAY!) who sort of reminds me of my kitty Grisabella...theirs is called Mieu (MEW??) (I think...have absolutely no idea how to spell it) and it is really friendly! I miss Grizzy and Methuselah. It's not gonna be the same without them, but at least I have a cat in Paris! The family is a mom, dad and two kids: a son, Pierre, who is 23 and a daughter, Michèle, who is 19. The dad is really funny. He speaks perfect English and i felt so embarrassed when he started in French and had to switch to English. I'm thinking maybe I should work on this... Pierre is super cute. I don't want to be one of those gross stalker chicks, but he is. Um...yeah, not that I'm getting my hopes up, just that my French advisor said that 90% of the girls in the French program who go to Paris end up with a boyfriend. That's all I'll say. Michèle is really pretty, too. She's super skinny and sort of a fashionista. Guess I would be, too if I lived in Paris all my life? She's a dancer, which is probably part of it, and a runner. She kinda invited me to come to dance lessons or something with her. I kinda want to. Maybe then I'll lose some of this pudge??

I tried calling Mom when she got in, but her cell phone was off. No notice yet. Maybe I'll ask to use the house phone because I'm afraid my cell phone has crappy service. We had to buy one in France, which sucks. I thought I could use my Blackberry, but I had to activate it here, so we had to have 2 phones to get it running. Anyway, all's hunky-dory now.

Love, Annabel

Day 4: Last Hurrah with Mom

OK, I guess somehow my days have been screwed up on this thing. To clarify, I'll make a list of

We arrived on the 20th at night.

Mom and I have been bumming around Paris since Friday. Due to a really crappy Internet connection at the Rive Gauche, my blog posts have been off. I will try to correct this ASAP.

So, returning to the adventure aspect of this blog (OK, sure, there's not a whole lot of that gallivanting about, but bear with me...), today was my last day with Mom. She's bringing me to the SA center tomorrow at noon-ish, where I will meet my (hopefully) charming host family and go off with them to their (hopefully) charming apartment. Mom will take a taxi to Charles de Gaulle and (hopefully) get on the right plane and go to Chicago, where Colin and Dad will be waiting for her with open arms, etc., 9.5 hours later (which will really be 3PM but feel like 10PM) and call me when she gets home (another 2 hours) and I will probably cry into the telephone...but right now, I'd be glad to be rid of her.

It's not that I don't love my mother. I do. Very much. I am soooooo sick of her trying to get me to speak French; however, then speaking bad French when she realizes I won't. Getting tired in the middle of the day and needing a nap - and bitching because she can't take one in the park. Planning impossible sight-seeing extravaganzas for us when there are only 24 hours in a day and some of those hours I would like to get some rest.

Today was another scorcher. We FINALLY got to the Eiffel Tower, though. It's not all it's cracked up to be. We waited in line, walked all the way up - not to the very top, which you can only get to via elevator - and saw the view. I was somewhat disappointed, but incredibly thankful for small favors like that elevator because Mom was about to collapse from heat exhaustion if we didn't get a rest in there. She complained practically the whole time and I forgot to take pictures when we got to the top, which was so stupid of me. But there was this man proposing to his girlfriend right where the view was the best, and I didn't want him to think I was taking a picture of him (God forbid. I didn't actually care what he was doing, just that he was blocking my view). Mom thought it was incredibly romantic. They were American, FYI. Totally something Americans would do. I highly doubt the French would actually use the Eiffel Tower to propose anything.

On the way out, Mom bought me a bag that says Paris on it. It's kind of kitschy and I feel like a total tourist, but I guess I could use it. It's almost cute, even.

I guess that's all I have for now. I am excited but nervous to meet my host family. Classes start next Monday. I have no idea what we're going to do until then, but I can't wait to find out. AWESOME!

Love, Annabel

Day 3: Losing Ourselves (and Minds) in the Metro

For all of you who have never been to Paris, here is a warning: the Metro is incredibly confusing. Not that Mom and I didn't try to make sense of it. Believe me, after trying and failing to get from Notre Dame to Montmartre in one afternoon, we felt like the world was conspiring against us...

First, for those unfamiliar with what Paris underground looks like, here is a lovely map:

We go from our hotel near Ecole Militaire on line 8 to the Louvre, switching to line 1 at , like we did on Monday. We get to the Louvre, and my mom says, "I don't know how to get to Notre Dame from here!" So we get back on the Metro, ride down to Châtelet, where we get onto line 1 (we were supposed to stay on until Châtelet anyway) and - finally - manage to get to line 4, which drops us off close enough to Notre Dame that we can walk without getting more lost. There's this big fat fountain I've never heard of, but it's supposed to be some bible scene or something. We ask directions from this guy in face paint (who's supposed to be a junior version of Marcel Marceau or something) and he points us in the right direction. We take some pictures, and Mom wants to climb the tower, but there's a huge line out and around the building so we figure we can wait or come back. We wait in line to go in, though (since we made it to the cathedral and all...) and that's a good half hour. I didn't mind waiting, but it got pretty hot in the sun, and I was sweating bullets by the end. We make it in, Mom barrels to a pew (or whatever it's called...bench...they're not really pews, but whatever) and sits for a good 10 minutes before we make it around to look at all the stuff inside. There are a bunch of piètas and shrines to saints, which I didn't take pictures of because I didn't know if we were allowed to, and I didn't really feel like getting yelled at in French. I did, however, get a picture of the outside:

After that, Mom was really not in the mood to walk up the tower, so we headed back onto the Metro to see the Sacré Coeur. I don't know why she felt the need to make this church visit day, but she did. We rode up and down line 4, because she thought that's the line we needed to take.
But we really needed to be on the 6, because the Sacré Coeur is really much closer to Pigalle than to Gare du Nord. But Mom insisted. We got out, and around Gare du Nord, there were a bunch of guys selling cigarettes and merchandise. I'm pretty sure it was not kosher. I don't know if the black market exists in Paris, but if it does, that's kinda what it looked like! There were CDs and electrical equipment, DEOR and LOUIS VITAN bags, you know...change one letter and it's $500 cheaper. One of them whistled at me and I got kind of freaked out. I wanted to get back on the Metro or ask someone, because I had a feeling Mom didn't really know where she was going, but we kept walking. You can see the Sacré Coeur on the hillside, and so we tried following it, but the longer we walked, the more I figured we were walking in circles because we never went upwards in elevation, we just went around.

Finally, Mom decided to ask. We went into this semi-cute coffee shop and had cappuchinos. I asked the waitress (in French) how to get up to the Sacré Coeur and she told me (in English) we had to go around a park, find a series of stone steps and then we'd be right there. So, we do that, and voilà! There it is. At this point, it's 3:30, and we haven't had lunch. I'm dripping again and I feel really gross and touristy. Mom is in a bad mood because her feet hurt, so we take a break, take some pictures, buy sandwiches of this guy with a cart and head back down. On the way down, we run into the line 6 (isn't that always the way?) and head straight back to the hotel. Here's a snapshot of the church I got while we ate our sandwiches:

After a nap, Mom wanted to go out to dinner at a really fancy restaurant. So, we get dressed up and take the Metro out to the Champs-Elyseés (line 6, now that we know that's how to get to the Arc de Triomphe) and look around for a restaurant. That was perhaps not our brightest idea, because we had no idea what we would find, and we didn't make reservations (mainly because neither of us wanted to talk on the phone in French) but that's what we did. All the restaurants on the Champs-Elyseés are super-showy, but Mom wanted something French and "authentic" so we took a side street and found this wine bar/restaurant called Rue Balzac. It was super expensive, but delicious. I had river trout with asparagus and cream sauce, and Mom (who definitely learned from her mistake) had coq au vin. The waiter said they had just opened and didn't have a lot on their menu. I was sort of confused, until I remembered that my French professor said almost all businesses close in August in France. I guess that's what the waiter meant. They had enough for us to eat well, though. Mom wasn't exactly thrilled at the prices, which I can't really blame her for, but I think it was worth it. They had a huge wine list, too, and we had white wine, though it didn't go well with Mom's meal. I ended up having her glass, which I kind of regretted when we had to get back on the Metro, because I thought if I was incapacitated, Mom would surely get us lost. But we got back safe and sound.

Love, Annabel

More Louvre

Venus de Milo

Nike

a.k.a. The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Louvre Picutres!

Funny thing about the Mona Lisa: Mom is trying to take a picture of it, and if you've ever been to the Louvre, you know there's a separate little cubby for her and you have to go through a bunch of ropes and rooms and winding corridors until you actually get up to her. Once you make it past security, you're jockeying with everyone else in the museum just to get a look at her!

My mom did take this picture, by the way, and not without a lot of effort. She's in the middle of the room (having squeezed her way somehow from the back to the middle of the crowd) and is fighting with this Japanese guy who's about a foot shorter than she is, to get a good footing and actually take the picture without a lot of mess. The guy just won't budge, though! I thought she might as well give up, but not Mom! She stands behind the Japanese for a minute, then elbows him in the ribs to get him to shove off. He, in turn, take a sumo wrestler stance and holds his own, stepping on her foot. Now Mom's really mad! She whole hog pushes him down (or tries to) and bounces right off of him like rubber! It was THE FUNNIEST THING I have seen in a really long time! I tried to record it on my camera, but it happened so fast, by the time it was over, we were leaving the room - of our own accord, you know. At least the guards didn't kick us out...

Day 2: The Louvre: Crepes and Sore Feet

This is the view from our hotel. It's pretty neat. We get a balcony and everything! Albeit a really tiny balcony...






We got up at 8AM to go to the Louvre today. I haven't been up before noon probably the whole summer. Plus jet lag, it felt like torture, but we had a yummy breakfast at the hotel - café au lait, croissants with butter and Nutella, cereal with real chocolate pieces, brioche and the best yogurt I’ve ever had - and I'm pretty sure my inconvenience was worth it. We got to see everything pretty much that we wanted: the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the other statues that are Boticellis or something (Cupid and Psyche or something? Mom knew it but I didn't) and some Leonardo DaVinci's. I really liked the Virgin on the Rocks. It was on the cover of our art history book last semester, so I am so happy I finally got to see the real one!!

Here are some pictures. I don't know if we were actually allowed to take pictures in the museum, but I did anyway...whoops. I didn't use the flash. I heard that's what really wrecks the paintings and artwork anyway. I'm a good girl, I am. Honest.

(NB - I'm using the hotels' WiFi which is super slow. Bear with...)

After the Louvre, we went to this place my French teacher in high school told me about called "Angelina's." She said the hot chocolate is really good, and if anyone ever went to Paris, GO TO THIS RESTAURANT! I totally agree, though I didn't have the hot chocolate. It's freaking August! Way too hot for hot cocoa, but I did have a crepe. Yummy! I know i shouldn't but it was so tempting. A bite was probably 10 points, but I don't really care. I'll go jogging or something once the semester starts. It's all good.

My crepe at Angelina's: YUMMY!

Once we got out of Angelina's, it was about 4:30 and we didn't really know what to do. We had just eaten, and most places don't serve dinner until 7PM anyway (I tried telling my mom it was the Continental Way - therefore, sophisticated - but she didn't get it) so going to another restaurant would have been stupid. We walked along the Jardin des Tuileries in front of the Louvre to see the Eiffel Tower. Mom wanted to see Notre Dame and other stuff, but I told her it was too far to walk. My feet were killing me from walking around the Louvre all day anyway (no wonder the French are so skinny!), and I was stupid to wear my brand new shoes walking without breaking them in.

Despite it all, the park was gorgeous. We saw other tourists like us, some European and some American, French people, young families with cute babies in strollers and couples holding hands. I found it pretty romantic (yeah, i know, consider the source!) and if i hadn't been sweating so much, it would have been ideal for a date or something. Oh, and ex-nay my mom, of course. She was entirely unromantic. Besides, she walked really slow because she had to buy a bunch of souvenirs at the Louvre (like calendars for everyone she knows and a t-shirt for Colin with some Manet on it that he'll never wear and a book in French about the construction of the Louvre that she'll never read because she doesn't actually know French, she just took two years in high school and a backpack, I think...) And I know her feet were killing her, but she didn't let on and called me the crybaby. The park is laid out in rows, with yellow gravel pathways and little plots of grass for trees and plants to grow up. It's quite picturesque. There's a maze on one side that kids were running around in. Well, it's not really a maze, but that's what it looks like if you glance at it.

We got to the Eiffel Tower and my mom wanted to climb up it, but I was like, hell no! The line was incredibly long, I was already sweating bullets and she was surely not serious about taking half the Louvre gift shop up with her...or was she? I convinced her to come back later, after dinner.

Thank God.

We didn't actually get back there today. We went back to our hotel and dropped our stuff off and went to dinner near the hotel. It's called "La Brasserie" or something. The food was pretty good, but Mom really didn't know what she was getting herself into when she ordered steak tartare...it's raw hamburger with an egg in it and greens on the side. Can anyone say barf? Or mad cow disease? Needless to say, she did not eat it. We shared my breaded veal. I knew if it was breaded, it would have to be cooked. Safe choice, huh? Somehow, I wish I would have studied French a little harder when I was back in school. I didn't touch a French book this summer, and I kinda regretted it when the waiter came. Hard core.

Love, Annabel

Day 1: The Flight! The Folly! The Hotel!

OK, all.



To begin, my flight was great. We went American, which is the last time I'll probably say that for a while (LOL)! The food was good, and my mom even let me have wine! (I don't turn 21 until May 11, fyi, but everyone besides Jason Stockridge and the flight attendant probably knew that already...) It was sort of crappy rose anyway, though, and I fell asleep 20 min. after dinner. Whoops. It was alright until we landed, when I had a massive hangover headache. We landed at Charles de Gaulle and went straight to the hotel. I slept for maybe 14 hours and then this morning Mom didn't really want to do anything, so we walked around near the hotel and saw the Musee D'Orsay. It was cool but not as big as I thought it would be.



For those of you who have been kinda or maybe not-so informed, I am studying abroad this year for the whole year (YES!!!) in Paris. I am/was sooooooooo excited I could barely sleep all week. Yes, I have been packed since the 4th of July. Yes, I did pack all of my skinny jeans and size S/M shirts and dresses and sweaters from back when I was kinda skinny and in high school and then my mom and I went out and bought new stuff...



Yes. I did try to lose weight before I left. Mom and I went on Weight Watchers in May when I got home from school. I lost 16 pounds and she lost 12. Pretty good, right?



NOT FOR FRANCE! I still feel like a tub of lard, and have been since we left the airport. The French are so freaking skinny! OMG. I start living with my host family in five days.

I really hope they like me. They have a son (older: 23) and a daughter (younger: 19), so I hope it'll be just like living with Colin and a little sister, who is more or less my age.



For the time being, Mom and I are staying in the Rive Gauche, which is a pretty neat hotel, except for the fact that nothing matches. For a Paris hotel, they could really use some interior design. I don't mind eclectic, but mixing periods is a no-no for anyone. But it's close to stuff. We're going to the Louvre tomorrow for probably the whole day. My French professor said it was huge, and not even he's seen the whole thing. I'm excited.

Love, Annabel

PS - I will get photos up as soon as they are taken (hopefully)!!!