Sorry I haven't updated in a while.... lack of reliable internet is a huge issue! Things have been going great just being very busy with classes, exploring etc. I am leaving for London tomorrow so I am really excited about that.... going with my roomate Adrianna and one of our friends Kari. We are staying with one of Adrianna's friends so we don't have to pay for a hostel/hotel which is really nice.Friday we decided to go somewhere a little bit different and go to the Musee d'Eroticisme. It was really interesting actually, near Montmarte and the Moulin Rouge. They had some really cool ancient artifacts from ancient China, Japan, India concerning sex, fertility, and other topics (hmmm.) They had a lot of cool stuff about prostitution and about brothels in Paris in the 1930's.However it got reallly weird near the end as they talked about present day stuff.... Would I recommend it? Probably not but it was an interesting way to spend the morning. It was neat to see the Moulin Rouge in all its glory! I would love to go but I have heard that it is really expensive (80 Euros) so not on my to-do list.
After walking around Montmarte and the 18th arrondisement we found this really cute thrift store called Gia... they had everything from hats to jeans to makeup to party supplies. We got some cool clothes for the themed party that we were going to that night... Circus theme! I was a ringmaster and Adrianna was a dancer. It was so much fun! The French guys from ABS that were in one of my classes were who we met there. They invented this energy drink "Magic Potion" and are pretty much VIP on the Paris scene. We got to sit in a special room and got Grey Goose delivered every 20 minutes! It was pretty sweet hahaha.In this club (Cirque Bonhumeur) there were firedancers, people in costumes, and awesome music. I was definitely a fan and can't wait to go back with some of my girlfriends.
On Saturday we decided to do some more sightseeing including the Eiffel Tower! It was amazing! It was great to walk around and see tourists from all over the world. We decided to walk up the stairs instead of taking the lift which took a lot of effort. The elevator was 10 Euro more than walking so we picked the logical choice! It was 43 flights of stairs which got difficult after about 10 flights... but we finally made it to the 2nd level. They had free ice skating so we decided to indulge because we both haven't been ice skating in forever. The weather was really great and we could see so much of Paris!The only problem with the going to such a famous tourist attraction is all of the merchants selling Eiffel Tower stuff and basically getting in your face about it.... Oh well c'est la vie! Saturday night we decided to stay in after a long Friday night and Saturday and watch The Kings Speech. It was a really great movie.... props to Colin Firth.
Sunday, as being the first Sunday of the month means free museum for all the museums in Paris. We were going to go to the Louvre but knowing it was busy we decided to go to the Conciergerie instead. It is a museum/ prison that held politicial prisoners such as the famous Marie Antoinette and Robespiere. It had some really cool stuff especially about the French Revolution. After walking around the Conciergerie we wanted to go walk down the Seine to see the Tuillerie Gardens near the Louvre. It was a beautiful day outside (50 degrees) so it was nice just to relax and walk. On the street facing the Seine there was about 6 pet shops near each other so I wanted to go in and look at all of the puppies and cats. It was great to be able to play with some tiny french bulldogs, yorkies, and cockerspaniels! 
It was so cool to see the outside of the Louvre which started as a 12th century Palace for the kings and just expanded under different kings over time. It was so much bigger than I imagined... and I didn't even go inside! The gardens outside had different famous statues and of course flowers and decorative bushes.Walking past the Tuillerie gardens is the Place de la Concorde. There are 6 water fountains surrounding a huge 3,300 year old Egyptian obelisk, given to France by Egypt in 1829. The square witnessed a lot of executions during the French Revolution!
Sunday night was the Superbowl and all of the exchange students from ABS met at a sports bar called Players Club. There were a ton of Americans/sports enthusiasts so it was really cool to be hanging out with some Americans speaking English for a change! They had some great food and about 30 tvs so it was perfect to watch the game. People were yelling and they had a huge Green bay vs. Steelers chant. It was definitely a great experience but sadly no commercials which is one of the best parts of watching the SuperBowl!Monday and Tuesday was a pretty normal day complete with classes and some hanging out with friends. I went to Pere Lachaise cemetary just to walk around because it is so close to my apartment... There are so many famous people buried there including Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Moliere. When I was walking around and this older French gentlemen started talking to me about one of the graves that I was looking at. He ended up being my mini tour guide and gave me a tour of all of these graves of really famous French people. He spoke no English so it was a good chance to work on my comprehension. He explained that after retiring and living his whole life near the cemetary he decided to become an expert. It was great because he gave me a mini French history lesson and explained a huge number of famous Francais that I have never heard about and had a huge journal that he kept to do reseach on the famous people.It was so awesome that he just wanted to give me a tour... so very French. We actually walked around for almost 3 hours just discussing French history, US vs. France relations, and living in Paris. Now I feel like I know a lot more about French history and I know my way around the cemetary.
Wednesday we had a Wine and Cheese tasting in our French Civilization class. As many of you know I am not a cheese fan but I have to say that I LOVE french cheese. It was so delicious and I got to go to a frommagerie (cheese shop) and talk to the woman about the different kinds of cheese with what wine's go with each.We had 3 categories of goat cheese, cow cheese and cheese with stuff mixed in. I brought in a chevre au poivre... goat cheese with pepper. It was really good!! It was also interesting to be drinking wine at 10 in the morning but c'est la vie!Wednesday night we had a dinner party with some of our friends from ABS. It was great to have a potluck and Adrianna and I brought homemade mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. It was just nice to relax and eat and be merry with some friends before leaving for London Thursday morning. I am having some internet difficulties but will try to update the next week soon!
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