Raclette and Masks :)

Thursday night was a great time at the Mask Party... One of my friends knew someone in VIP so it was nice to be in the VIP section and be able to drink/dance/hang out for free :) There were so many kids from ABS and the other schools in Groupe IGS so it was nice to mingle and meet some new people.



Sightseeing on the Seine



Friday I was pretty much a bum. I was feeling a little under the weather so I decided to just stay in and relax, watching "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest." I read all of the books and I was pretty impressed with the movies even though they weren't as good as the books. I know that they are making the American version of the movies and I hope that they somewhat to compare to the Swedish movies.

Saturday I went to go sightseeing and walked on the Seine for a while to relax and listen to some music. It was a really beautiful day so it was nice to just kind of hang out for a while. Later that day I went to the movies with my friend Blake which was an experience within itself. We bought the tickets and then the room where the movie was for some reason was down the street. We saw the movie 127 hours which was actually really good but pretty graphic at the same. James Franco should win some awards for his acting.... especially the scene where he saws his arm. Gross hahaha. Luckily the movie was still in English with French subtitles so that was nice that we didn't have to translate.The ads were mostly in French and there were some movies that looked really good!!!

Saturday night we decided to hang out with my friends from cali Evi and Brittany as well as my roomate Adrianna. We didn't feel like going out so we just decided to go to this delicious Japanese restaurant for dinner and then desert and this strange fruit place that has a full menu with all fruit. The Japanese restaurant is in a huge bar/restaurant district that was packed when we got there at 10:30 and it was pretty cool to people watch.We got this ice cream/exotic fruit/desert concoction but it was really delicious. I will definitely be going back there :)


Basilique Saint Denis



After dinner/desert we decided to just hang out and watch "Love and Other Drugs" on my friends computer. It was definitely a little more depressing than I thought the normal romantic comedy would be, but it was pretty good at the same time. I spent the night at their place which was at the Bastille, a really nice place in the 11th arrondisement. My friends live on Place des Vosges with is  a square built in the 1600s by one of the Louis... there are so many that Im not sure which one it was. It is regarded as one of the most beautiful squares in the city.

Thursday I had a very interesting day to say the least. I broke my camera at the mask party so I went to Avenue Montgallet in the 12th arrondisement to try and fix it. Unfortunately they only really fix computers but they literally had about 20 computer stores on one small stretch but it was pretty interesting to see the area because I have never been to the 12th arrondisement so I was able to sightsee and see a different side of Paris. After doing some window shopping I had to go to a French Party put on by ABS that gave the opportunity for American students to speak French and for French students to speak English. I met some really cool people and got to eat some cheese and work on my french! It was really nice to meet some French students that were around my age.

Group for the Raclette Party

After the French party my friend Blake and I had to run a couple quick errands and then we tried to get to our friend Chadi's house who lives in the suburbs of Paris for a dinner party. We had to take the metro to this sketchy suburb of Paris called Saint Denis and had to wait 20 minutes for a tram to take us to another train to Chadi's house. While we were waiting for the tram we decided to walk to go see the Basilique Saint Denis, a basilica built in the 7th century and every king from the 10th-18th century was buried there. Because its not in Paris, its not as widely visited but it was really cool to see. After taking the tram, taking a train 20 minutes the wrong way and then having to take buses 40 minutes because the trains stopped going the way we wanted. Finally after almost 2 1/2 hours of traveling we finally made it to Chadi's at 11:30 at night! It was exhausting. We missed the dinner of raclette(kind of fondue where you pour cheese on top of the food) but luckily my friend Evi made me and Blake little plates. He lives with his parents (very typical in France) but it was cool to be able to have a house party in the suburbs. It was really pretty and reminded me of the US a little bit.Everyone had a great time even though we had to wake up at 6:30 b/c Chadi had class! I pretty much slept most of the day Friday because I got about 3 hours of sleep but when in France :)