Milano!



My pizza



Friday morning was Milan! I was so excited to go.... but not so happy to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to do so. We called the night before to try and make sure it was at our appt by 4:45 but they never showed up so we had to walk down Rue Oberkampf trying to wave down a taxi before the drunk people did. It was packed at that time in the morning which was crazy. We finally took a taxi to the bus station, then a bus and hour away to Beauvais airport. Since we flew Ryanair and they don't fly out of the main airports it took soooo long to get there. After weather delays we had to take another bus 2 1/2 hours away to Lille, France to try and fly out of that airport. Finally after waiting over an hour at the airport we then took a plane to Bergamo and then a bus for an hour to Milan. Not a fun trip. We were supposed to get to Milan around 11 Friday morning and we didn't get in til 5 or so. Our hostel was actually a lot nicer than I expected for 22 euros a night. We had 5 beds in a room, 2 bathrooms for the whole hostel and it included breakfast. Since we got there so late Adrianna and I just went and got something to eat. I ate Lucca pizza which was amazing!!! I am so used to Paris being so expensive that I was shocked that a whole pizza was only 5 euro. Crazy! After a delicious meal with lots of bread and pizza we went to get some gellato.... It made ice cream look like crap. It was so creamy and delicious and after not having ice cream in forever it was nice :) After desert we just walked around our area for a while which was about 10 minutes from downtown Milan.

fountain near our hostel



Saturday was our only day of sightseeing so we were up and out by about 10 am. Near our hostel was a really neat market so we stopped by and sampled some italian beer, honey, sausage and cheese. It was great to hear everyone speaking a language I had no idea about.... learning experience. But the food was awesome and everyone was so nice.... different from your average Parisian. We then walked to Duomo, the 3rd oldest cathedrale in the world and it was amazing. I have never seen anything like it in my life and it was huge.  It is also the largest gothic cathedrale in the world. Since there were so many tourists, we didn't wait to get the guide in English but just wanted around by ourselves. After spending some time at the cathedrale, we walked around the city center of Milan and got some delicious lasagna for lunch. We saw some amazing stores such as Prada, Louis Vitton, Givenchy, etc and I bought a nice Italian leather jacked (really cheap actually) from one of the stores in the shopping district. We also saw Castello Szforensco, a 14th century castle in Milan. 



Duomo cathedrale



 It was really cool to see something so old still exist in the city center. Some other cool things about Milan is everyone dresses so well. I thought the Parisisians dressed nice, but Milan is supposed to be one of the fashion capitals of the world. After seeing the castle, we walked around a Carnival that was going on right next door.... It was nice to buy some souvenirs and people watch there. It looked exactly like the ones in the states except everything was in Italian and the snack food was a little bit different. Past the carnival was a really pretty park where people were playing soccer, sitting and reading and just hanging out.The weather was a lot warmer than Paris, about 55 degrees so it was a lot better to walk around when the sun is shining and the weather is warm. The buildings were so beautiful and artisitic looking, which is a big change from NYC or Atlanta . 

 We decided to go out to eat at a nicer restaurant for dinner and we had some wine with our pizza. Our waiter was really nice and tried to be patient with our basic Italian. Adrianna knew more than me but we both had some issues haha. We had this amazing chocolate desert thing and I was in heaven. We got a drink at a bar near our hostel and met some really cool people from all around the world such as Poland, Mexico, Germany, Cameroon and were thinking about going out but decided against it since we had to wake up at 3!!!! so that was a no go haha.  The next day was super early and then we flew back to Paris. It was a much easier trip back but it was kinda hard to go back to the real world without vacation and going out to eat all the time. But it was nice to have the day to relax and get some homework done. Somehow I fixed the internet at our appt which hadn't been working for 2 weeks so was really happy about that. Last weekend of travel for a while so it is nice on my budget and my energy level bc it wears me out!!!

the in-between time

The week after I got back from London I was exhausted, so it took me a couple of days to catch up on sleep. Monday was Valentine's day which was a little depressing considering I was in the city of Love and Zach wasn't haha. Since our internet wasn't working either we had to resort to a 10 minute phone call which was sad. The exciting thing was getting a package from my mom with all the clothes that I couldn't fit in my suitcase plus some makeup because it is sooo expensive here! It really made me day, and then recieving a package with Zachs present made me pretty happy too :) That night I went to a Salsa class hosted by my friend Chadi... it was fun to relax and learn some salsa,which I was not too good at!

Arena

Tuesday I had a quiz in my class on Intercultural studies but I actually did pretty well so I was happy... The rest of Tuesday was pretty boring as I just did some homework and tried to fix the internet.... so luck.

Wednesday in our French Civilization class we had a walk.It lasted 3 hours and went through some of the things in Paris that we have been discussing. We started like with the Arènes de Lutèce... or the Arena built by the Romans in the 1st century. Parts of it where still around so it was pretty cool to see. Some other sights included the Great Wall buit by Philip Augustus in 1190 in order to keep the Vikings out of Paris! We also spent some time in the Medieval Museum, which was in an actual medeival building and La Sorbonne, the oldest and one of the most prestigious universities in France. The Medieval Museum was really neat, with lots of relics from the crusades, tapestries and stained glass. It had some stuff that I couldn't believe have survived so long in history. Wednesday night we had another dinner party with a group of friends from ABS. We had wine, pasta, salad, bread, and chicken. It was awesome to spend some time with friends and get out of the apartment and explore Paris a little bit more.

Medieval Museum

Thursday was a good day to catch up on sleep and pack to get ready to go to Milan :)

London and other traveling adventures

So I am finally documenting my London trip! I went last weekend, from Thursday night until Monday morning because my morning class was canceled. I went with my roomate Adrianna and our friend Kari from the exchange program at ABS. We now know about taking the RER to the airport you need to buy an extra ticket.... ooops!



St. Paul's cathedrale

London was a really neat city but I unfortunately had some issues while I was there. For some reason I have been sick for the past week with what seems to be strep and going to London made it worse. Of course I wasn't going to just not go but I probably should have taken it easier than I did. My roomates friend lives in London and goes to the London School of Economics so luckily we were able to stay with here. Friday morning we woke up nice and early and walked around and saw some of the sights. We went to a really neat Modern Art museum called the Tate and it had some really cool/weird stuff. It was also so so nice to hear English all the time and not have to try so hard to communicate with everyone... it was a nice taste of home :) This is a picture on the bridge that was in the Harry Potter movie, in the very begininning where the Death eater tear it apart. It was awesome!! 

Buckingham Palace

After we went to the Museum we walked around London and saw St. Paul Cathedrale, and we ate at Convent Garden which so so beautiful. They had some great shopping, restaurants and really cool places to just grab a coffee. After that we took a short nap and went out to eat where I got an offical "fish and chips plate" it was sooo good and they served it with a British favorite of mushy peas..... not my idea of cuisine haha. But they have so many awesome British pubs and everyone starts drinking at about 4 pm. Later that night we went out to this really awesome club that Adrianna's friend got us the hookup because it is really hard to get in. It was fun but I felt really sick so I left to come home early, and I also had some really strong feelings of homesickness. Not sure why since everyone spoke English but I felt really out of my element not knowing anything :(  I think it was just a combination between being sick and hitting the 3 week mark which is notorious for homesickness. But I was surprised with how clean and nice London was..... There was not as many homeless people nor trash/graffiti as Paris. Even though Paris is a beautiful city, there are still some major not so nice parts but London was really clean.



Big Ben



 After going out Friday night I went sightseeing on Saturday. I saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palance, Hyde Park and some other cool tourist attractions.Buckingham Palance wasn't as big as I thought it would be actually but it was still really awesome to see! It was was really cool to see all of the London tourist attractions because it is something that I have heard about my whole life in movies and in school. There was also a rally going on about the Arab world's revolution that is going on right now. I know that it is a big deal everywhere, but it is especially huge in Europe because there are so many "Maghrebs" North American Muslims that live here. There were important speakers, people waving flags and banners and so many people that it was pretty cool to watch for a bit. London is a huge city... unfortunately it is the most expensive city in Europe.  

Horse Calvary

I thought Paris was bad! I also saw the horse calvary museum which had guard on horses stationed at front, the ones that aren't allowed to move. It was interesting seeing people mess with the guards and the horses, that would sometimes have some attitude! Later that day I finally met back up with Kari, Ali and Adrianna after getting in a disagreement but I think things are a little better now. We went to this delicious Italian restaurant in Chinatown London, which actually was really neat. They had tons of decorations and Asian restaurants, shops and bars. Really random place to have an Italian restaurant but it worked. The other girls went out for the night while I stayed in and caught up on some sleep because I was feeling pretty sick.


Sunday morning we slept in a little bit and then we went to the Springfield Market? Think that is the name haha. It is this huge flea market with food, drinks, clothing, shoes, souvenirs, everything you can think of is here. I got a really cool souvenir "Keep Calm and Carry On" Quote book, and 2 dresses for 10 pounds, thats about 16 dollars! I also got a little present for my mom and dad. For lunch I got what is called a "jacket potato" which is a baked potato with all sorts of different things on it. I got a baked potato with chicken, pesto, artichokes and brie.... it was amazing!

After the market we went back and got dressed up for afternoon tea. I'm not a tea person normally but it was all about the experience. We each ordered our own tea (came with our own teapot) and we got delicious finger sandwichs and scones, and then followed our tea up with desert. I got a lemon mint tea that was really cool... Adrianna got a rose tea that was filled with actual roses! We also started off with a glass of really champagne fixed with berries as well. The name of the tea place was called "The Rose Room" and it was really nice and elegant, even had a harpist playing! The price tag was a little hefty but I feel like it is a must do in London.

Monday morning we had to leave really early..... left Ali's flat at 4:50 unfortunately. But over all, other than some issues I had it was a good trip and I really liked London!



life slows down a little in Paris...

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!

New adventures in old Paris

Happy its finally the weekend! After a really long week of classes, some drama from back home, and waking up at 7 three days in a row for the first time in about 2 years, I get to relax a little bit :) I like most of my classes, even though they kind of get in the way of traveling haha. Tuesday I had an Intercultural Studies class which was really interesting as we had 20 different nationalities in 1 class. It was neat to learn about a few of the cultural differences within our class. I bought most of my textbooks already, and they are not expensive at all which is good! I'm meeting a lot of really cool people through school.... Lots of cute french boys so incentive for some of my girlfriends to come visit!

Street near our apartment

Wednesday I had 6 hours of class in a row which was pretty rough. Both classes are great though. My French Civilization class has different tasting of France all semester.... next week we are having wine and cheese tasting, and the week after pasteries :) We are also doing 4 walks during different class times throughout the semester where our teacher will be our tour guide and tell us different historical stuff that we have learned through reading and lectures. Awesome!

On Thursday I didn't have class so I got to explore. It has been FREEZING here so I haven't walked to explore as much. My friend Kari and myself decided to walk around the 6th arrondisement to get some books for class and just to see the sights. It was a beautiful day (in Paris compared to the others) so it was kind of cool just to walk around and see the area.
We went to this crazy bookstore that had 5 different stores around this square with every kind of book imaginable. I wish I would have taken a picture of it!

Me in St. German de Pres with statue of St. Michael

Inside the Cathedrale Notre Dame

We walked around there for a while and then went to Cathedrale Notre Dame. It was amazing to see this 900 year old church still standing in all its glory on Il de la Cite (original Paris city on an island in the middle of Seine river) It was amazing to finally see this amazing eglise (church) since I had seen so many pictures and of course the movie the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" Inside I spent almost an hour wallking around looking at everything.... literally had goosebumps the whole time because it was so beautiful! There was so much history it really was incredible. I actually was there twice because the second time was with my roomate Adrianna and there was actually a mass going on (in French of course.) I was proud that I was able to understand a lot of it!

After exploring Notre Dame and walking about Il de la Cite we went to Les Halles, which is an Underground mall near the 1st arrondisement. It was really cool because it had lots of shops including an H & M and a fnac, a huge electronics/book store. After walking around we were pretty tired, made some dinner and then went out for the night with some friends :)

Being poor college students in France which means things are waaay more expensive, we have become very creative with our eating habits. Its much easier to eat healthy, and I have eaten about some form of chicken and tomatoes for dinner for about 6 days in a row! I ate a ton of kiwis, salad, chicken, pasta, tomatoes and eggs and that is pretty much it!

When we went to the fondue place we had this really good sauce with our meat and I was able to buy it in a store. Its called bourguignonne and it is delicious! I literally eat it with everything....kinda tastes like ketshup/mayo/zaxbys sauce.

Adrianna and I went to the market today and had some awesome success. For 5 Euro (7 dollars) I bought about 10 kiwis, 2 pounds of tomatoes, a sack of potatoes, garlic, and about 10 green apples. Everything was so fresh and I wish I would have bought more money to buy some groceries. It is very imtimidating because all the vendors are yelling stuff at you and there are so so many people walking around talking in different languages. It definitely is an experience but you can't beat the prices.



Adrianna and I booked some travel for the next couple weekends. We are going to London next weekend and staying with a friend so we don't have to pay for a hostel. Then the weekend after we are going to Milan, Italy which I am so excited about. It really helps to have a 4 day weekend when you are booking travel.

First week of classes.... hoping things will slow down a bit!

Things have slowly started to calm down a little bit after the start of classes today. I had a great weekend sightseeing and taking it easy after going out Thursday and Friday night. Saturday Adrianna and myself went to Montmarte with 2 guy friends that we made through ABS (American Business School.) After having a delicious panini sandwhich we went to visit Sacre Coeur, a giant basilica on top of the Butte de Montmarte

Some friends for breakfast: John, Adrianna and my self.

The Sacre Coeur was beautiful..... It was a huge hike to get to the top though which was not fun at alll but was worth it once I saw all of Paris once I was at the top. Montmarte is famous for its bohemian  and artist culture, especially through the early 20th century. There were a lot of tourists because it was a Saturday, but we able to avoid some of the tourist areas and even do some shopping.

The bottom of Montmarte.... Sacre Coeur is huge!



Sacre Coeur was amazing.... You aren't allowed to take pictures inside because it is such a holy place but I literally got goosebumps as soon as I walked in. The stained glass, different praying areas with saints and just the aurora was incredible. I would recommend going if you are ever in Paris! I would love to go to Mass there sometime.

While sitting outside Sacre Coeur, we witnessed our first Paris dance street show.... very entertaining! After doing some sightseeing and shopping at this crazy department store called Tati, which literally was a dollar store/jc penney/walmart all mixed together. In France, they only have sales in January and in June dictated by the law, so we got some great deals. After having a crazy week, we decided to stay in and chill Saturday night.

The view from Sacre Coeur of Paris.

Sunday we decided to do some more sightseeing, starting with the Champs d'Elysee and the Arche de Triomphe. It has been freezing in Paris, so after bundling up we were off. It was crazy how the cars drive around the Arche, with 12 different roads coming into one circle. I really don't know how there isn't 100 crashes a day!

It was a beautiful day however and it was awesome to walk around the differnt shops on Avenue Champs d'Elysee... there was a Lambourghini paris, Louis Vitton, Cartier, and some other rediculous stores. They also had an H & M but it was much more expensive than the one in the US. It was great to see so many different stores, people and also history at the same time.

For dinner, we met up with some friends that we met in California for this really neat fondue place in the 18th arrondisement. You had appetizers, cheese or meat fondue, and then desert.... Another weird thing was that your meal was served with wine, in baby bottles!!!

Very strange but a refill is only 2 E which is very cheap in Paris. When I went out with friends on Friday night, the cheapest beer that they had was 6 Euro, which is about 9 dollars!!! It was very fun, authentic French, and of course delicious.

Today was my first day of classes. After staying up too late the night before, waking up at 7 was difficult. My french class was okay, our teacher knew that we were all exhausted and luckily was pretty overexcited to compensate. My global marketing class was great, I will be doing a semester long project and I was put in a group with a Frenchman, a Bosnian, a Lebanese, and a Lithuanian. It was be interesting to work with all of these different cultures. After class, the Frenchman asked us all out to drinks and it was my first encounter hanging out with the French outside of school. It was fun to get their advice on places to travel, tips about Paris, and just what is like to be European vs. American. Only 2 more days of class left until I can enjoy my weekend!

Louis Vitton!

First nights out

Things have definitely become a little less stressful since I arrived in Paris. On Thursday we had orientation most of the day about cultural differences. I never realized how much culturally the French is different from us, and some how some other cultures that were there (South American, Mexican, Hawaiin, Canadain and Asain) were so different from the Southern United States. For example, In France, their upbringing is really strict and their children are not told that they are "the next generation that will change the world" like in the USA. The french also have to have a strong balance between work and play, while in the US work is more strongly emphasized. It was really cool to see all the differences. After that we had a wine and cheese social where I met some awesome people from ABS, a guy from Brazil who spoke 5 languages and owned his own business, a really nice German guy, someone from Ghana. As we were the last ones leaving, the dean of our school came down to enjoy the social but everyone was almost gone. We talked to her about internships and as one of girls in our group is a fashion major, she asked about fashion internships. Our dean, Mme.Bert called her son who works for a designer and got us tickets to fashion week on Monday!!!!!!! It is a dream come true and we were so surprised and happy about going to one of the most exclusive events in the world!

After the wine and cheese social we went to some of the girls  apartment that we met from San Francisco State. After drinking some wine, we took the metro to a really nice club where we got tickets for the night from the school. The club  "Palais Maillot" was so much fun and a lot of people from our school were there. Unfortunately my purse was somehow stolen along with 20E, my metro card, license and credit card. After trying to wait for the night bus for about 30 minutes, we decided to take a taxi home.

The next day we had a short orientation about American Business School and then we were done by 12:30. After being exhausted and not feeling like cooking, we decided to try "le Macdo" or McDonalds. People in France love McDonalds which I find hilarious. It was actually really good, instead of fries I had deluxe potatoes which were delicous.  We were walking home and saw a huge outdoor market that is every Friday from 9-2. We decided to take a walk and see what the market was all about. It was awesome! They had literally miles of tents selling fruits, vegetable, clothes, scarves, meats, fish and shellfish. They had some really exotic looking stuff from Africa because there are a lot of North African immigrants here in France. Unfortunately there is a lot of prejudice and racism against "la beure" slang for Muslim North African. We actually saw their prayer ceremony at one of the 5 times a day that they pray during the market. I have never seen that before in real life so it was a little bizarre. In the market I got a kilo of tomatoes (2.2 pounds) for 1 E and 20 kiwis for 1 E as well. They also had some really cute scarves that I got for 2 E. It was a great experience and I felt very proud of my bargaining ability.

For dinner, we ate at Cafe Ronal on Rue de Voltaire. It was an amazing dinner.... I had roasted chicken with fries and a salad. The portions are smaller than in the US, but everything is so delicious. I definitely could get used to this! After meeting some friends from ABS at an Irish sports bar, we hung out and drank some Guiness.