India is just a metro ride away....

As Janine pointed out this blog is rapidly becoming a food blog, lol. Oh well, my adventures of going out to eat on the weekends are the most interesting thing I have to report on for the moment. Friday night Clarice and I returned to the same restaurant we ate at the Friday before, this time with our friend Angela from NYU. Clarice and I both ordered the duck with peach again, because we both liked it so much. We had a different waiter, but once again he was very nice. I like the service at this restaurant. Angela ordered a big plate of clams and French fries. The nice waiter showed her the French way of eating them, where you use one clam to scoop out the meat from another. Angela really likes seafood, and she was very happy with her meal. She loved the ingenuity of using the shell to scoop out the meat. Once again my duck was yummy. The waiter caught on that we were trying to have a “true” French dining experience, and he recommended the crème brulee as a true French dessert. It was delicious. Very rich and creamy, with a touch of egg. Once again we were able to talk for like an hour after we finished eating, because at this restaurant they do not rush you out the door, unlike Chartier! It was very pleasant relaxing and getting to know Angela better.

Saturday Clarice and I decided to have a bit of a dining adventure and go to an Indian restaurant. Clarice is Indian, so I felt like I was in good hands. We looked up Indian restaurants online, and found a positive review for one. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, Paris has a little India! I’ve never heard of city having a Little India before. Chinatown and Little Italy yes, but not little India. It was a bit of a metro ride getting over to the neighborhood. It is by Montmartre, which is on pretty much the opposite side of Paris from us. It was funny, right when we stepped off the metro we knew we were in Little India- we were surrounded by Indian people! For what I think was the first time in my life I was the minority! We found the restaurant easily enough. Clarice helped me pick out something that wasn’t too spicy, as I do not have the taste buds of steel possessed by Indians. It was really good! I don’t really know what it was called, but it was lamb in a sweet tasting curry that I put over rice. We also got side orders of yummy Indian bread. I love Indian bread! The total for one meal was 8.50 Euros! That is the absolute cheapest I have eaten out yet. Usually I pay around 20 Euros. Clarice enjoyed her meal too. She got a very spicy dish. The waiter even warned her, but Clarice said “Bring it on!” Clarice was happy to Indian food once again, as she’s gone about month without it. It was a positive dining experience, and we both would be happy to return. Indian food hits you hard though! Even though my food wasn’t too spicy I felt pretty flushed after eating it and my lips burned a little. And I was so stuffed! My stomach was like “what is this food and how do I digest it?” This was Clarice and mine’s last weekend without someone visiting us or us traveling. Weird! But also good, I’m ready to start traveling. Next week- Belgium!

More Dining Adventures....

Saturday night Clarice and I finally got a chance to “go out” or as we like to say “goaaaaaaaaaahhhh”. We got together with some girls we met at orientation from NYU, Angela and Lauren. Angela brought two friends of her’s- Hannah from Germany and Corinne who’s a freshman. I found a cheap resturant for us by typing in google “cheap french resturants.” We’re poor college students after all. I came up with a resturant called Chartier. According to the website is 100 years old. It first opened to provide cheap eats for the working class, and has stayed cheap ever since. Their formula obviously works, b/c it was packed when we got there and by the time we left there was a huge line out to the street. However, I didn’t really like the food. I got lamb and french fries. The lamb was pretty tough and kindof crispy. Paying was an adventure, as it always seems to be at French resturants. Our waiter wrote down the prices of everything we ordered on our paper tablecloth and added it together. He left and we started to divy up the bill, figuring out what each peron owed. The host of the resturant came and loomed over the end of our table. He was very rude saying “59 euros! 59 euros! We have a very long line waiting to get in!” We paid as fast as we could and got out of there. I don’t think I’ll be going back.

We went across the street to get some crepes. When it was my turn I said “Je voudrais bannane” “I would like bananna.” The worker handed me a bannana! He was kindof making fun of me, but it was funny so we all cracked up. I did end up getting my bannana crepe, and I ate the free bannana for breakfast! Lauren took a picture of me with the bananna, because it was funny. Then the worker making the crepes was like “Take a picture of me!” So Lauren went to take one. The he said “No, with me!” So Lauren stood next to the cart and I took a picture. Right when I was about to take it the other worker stuck another bananna behind Lauren’s head, like giving someone rabbit ears in a picture! Those crepe guys were having fun teasing us, lol.

Then we went to an Irish pub across the street, O’Sullivan’s. Irish people are crazy. A fair size crowd was there to watch the rugby game that night. However it wasn’t a particullary relevent match- Argentina verses Nanambia. However, the Irish men were still going crazy. They were singing drinking songs and dancing around. I can only imagine what they’re like on nights Ireland actually plays! We chilled in big comfy chairs and talked awhile. I ordered my first drink from a bar- it was called an Orgasm, he he. It was alright at first, but then it got really bitter. Clarice said that’s b/c alcohol sinks to the bottom of drinks. I only drank like 1/3 of it, lol.

Finally we walked around the neighborhood for awhile. We kindof got lost, and Clarice and I think we were in a sketchy neighborhood. There weren’t a lot of people around, and we kept seeing cop cars with their sirens on going by! It was getting kindof late-11:30ish. A man hung out of a car and was yelling something at us, I don’t know what. We struggled to find a metro stop. Luckily, using my map Angela figured out where we were and how to find a metro stop. I sure was relieved when we found one! I love the metro, you can get anywhere in Paris so easily. We got home right quick.

Foooooooood

I had a delicious meal. Last night Clarice and I went to a little restaurant down the block from us. We decided to have a genuine French meal. We went with a three course special for 23 Euros, not too bad. First we started with escargot, the classic. We had to get escargot at some point! It was very garlicky. It as kind of like eating crabs. You have a tong that you hold the shell with, and you pick out the meat with a little fork. The meat tasted better with some bread. Then we had duck, a.k.a. Canard, with peach! It was so delicious. Very savory. Then for dessert we got apple tartes. They were green! Not what I was expecting, but French pastries have surprised me on many occasion. It was also tasty, but by that point I was a little on overload with all the rich food and I struggled to finish. I think Clarice and I will definitely return to this restaurant. It had a nice atmosphere, as we were able to sit outside. It was a beautiful evening, and it was wonderful to get outside of our virtually windowless apartment. Something we noticed about French service was it was much more relaxed. We didn’t feel rushed out at all. After we finished eating we just sat and talked for about ½ hour, and we felt perfectly welcome to do so. I felt like we could have sat there all night and talked and the restaurant wouldn’t have minded, and we probably could have. Much different from US restaurants, where you feel you should leave right after you’re done eating. Perhaps visiting Americans may mistake this laissez-faire eating as a sign of rudeness or poor service, but really it’s just a different attitude about eating. You’re supposed to relax and enjoy the food and the company, not rush through it. I enjoyed it. I was very stuffed!

Classy Classy

So I’m done with my first week and half of classes. My classes are looking interesting. Two of my classes, Museum as a Medium and Paris Architecture take fieldtrips every week to different sites around Paris. My Renaissance art class will also have frequent field trips, most of them to the Louvre. I have study trips in two of my classes- I’m going to Venice for my Venice history class and to Belgium for my Renaissance class. Clarice and I are planning two more trips- One to Rome and one to London. We’ll visit our friends Anna and Janine in Rome. We have to go to London- it’s only two hours away by train and Clarice and I both really want to go. My classes have some heavy reading assignments, but hopefully I’ll be able to handle them.

I’m trying to get involved at bit at AUP so I won’t sit around and be bored in the evenings. I signed up to write for the newspaper. I am also going to a meeting for a service club called Roots and Shoots. I have to do community service for Loyola anyway, so I figure this is a good way to be active and take care of that. I also signed up for a program where art history students give pick a painting at the Louvre and give talks about it on three different evenings. I’m a little nervous for that, it sounds pretty intense, but I had to take advantage of it. Giving a lecture at the Louvre- how crazy is that?!!

Speaking of the Louvre, I went for the first time last weekend. I went Friday night with Clarice b/c it’s free for anyone under 26. We hit up all the biggies like the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory. Winged Victory was my favorite. She’s at the top of a flight of stairs and it’s very dramatic. I’ve always loved pictures of this statue, so it was great seeing it in person. Then on Saturday morning I went with my Museums Studies class. We got a tour and learned about the history of the museum. It was really interesting and I enjoyed it. I had to pinch myself- I’m taking a class that often meets in the Louvre!

Yesterday I went on another field trip with my Paris Architecture class to the Notre Dame. I had been earlier, but it was cool to get a lecture on it and learn all about the catherdral. It helped me brush up on my gothic architecture vocab! Then we went to Saint-Chapelle, which was the royal chapel. It was beautiful- like being in a stained glass bubble! Or a greenhouse all made of stained glass.

So I’m glad that I’m seeing lots of the different sites in Paris. I want to see as much as possible!

In the Steps of Van Gogh

I’ve had a busy weekend. On Thursday I met up with an old friend from High School, Tristan. Tristan is French, and was an exchange student at my high school. He drove Clarice and I around Paris, showing us the sites and the layout of the land. It was great getting a tour from a native. That night Clarice and I went on a bus tour sponsored by AUP around Paris. It was awful. Our “tour guide” was an AUP upperclassman. One of his quotes “The Arc de Triomphe was built by Napoleon, after WWII.” It soon resorted to him telling us a bunch of drinking stories. Call me uncool, but some of us signed up for a real tour. We did stop by the Eiffel tower, and I saw it at night for the first time. It was beautiful! I took lots of pictures of course.

The next interesting thing I did was on Saturday. Clarice and I went on a walking tour of Montmartre, where all the artists like Van Gogh hung out in the 1800 and 1900’s. One of the first sites we saw was the Moulin Rouge! That was exciting because I love the movie. How ever I did not see Ewan : ( We saw the Sacre Coeur, a huge white Gothic church. It had an amazing view of Paris. This tour went a bit better, because it was led by an adult. He told us real information, not drinking stories. How novel. Then we went out to a restaurant for fondue. Montmartre is known for fondue. The food was good, we had some raw meat which we cooked in oil and also precooked meat that we dipped in a pot of cheese. We sat with a nice group of people too. Then we walked around a bit with two girls, Lauren and Ashley. We came home around 10.

Today, Sunday, we went to Versailles. Surprise Surprise, the trip was completely unorganized because it was run by AUP. We all bum rushed a metro stop to get the tickets we needed, and that took about an hour for everyone to get their tickets. Then we were shepared through the metros and train routes by several student advisers. We parted ways at the gates of Versailles, with our guides telling us to be back at 3, and they would help us get home. The way to and back Versaille is a bit complicated. So Clarice and I wondered around the palace and the gardens. It was crazy to think this is where Marie Antoinette and Louis 16^th lived and walked. The palace was completely resplendent, as expected. Every surface was gilded and painted. The gardens were huge, Clarice and I probably only saw about 1/8 of them. However, not much was in bloom because its fall, and all the fountains were off. Clarice and I returned to the appointed spot at 3:00. Surprise Surprise, the student advisers didn’t show. We waited 20 minutes and they never came. So we had to find our way to the Versailles train station on our own, which we weren’t sure about. We had to stop a nice old lady for directions. Thank goodness we found it, and then using a metro map we got home.

I love Paris, seeing all these sites has been my dream for as long as I can remember. However, I am so fed up with AUP. Over and over again they have disapointed me with poor organization. Many times they have dropped us off at sites and left it up to us to get home. We’ve only been here for less then a week! It’s ridiculous. So my conclusion is I like Paris but I hate AUP. We’ll see if classes change my opinion. Classes start tomorrow. They sound interesting, let’s hope they redeem my opinion of the school.

Home Sweet Home

Clarice and I found someplace to live! We're living in the heart of Paris, blocks away from the Eiffel Tower. We each have our own bedroom. They're really big, especially by Paris standards where students can expect to live in rooms the size of broom closets! We're on the first floor, a major plus! We're living with an older lady, Madame Fahmy. She has had an interesting life. She grew up in an aristocratic Egyptian family, in Egypt. She lived in a 56 room house! We saw a picture, it was huge. Then there was a revolution and her family lost everything. A dictator took over and eventually she moved to Paris and became a world journalist! Now she's retired and travels around alot. So much in fact that she'll hardly ever be here! We're basically house sitting for her. I like our location. We live next to a boulangerie (bakery) heavens knows I'll be hitting that up alot : ) We also live a block away from a laundrymat and a cheap grocery store, so our location is very convenient! Oh did I mention we live only a few blocks from the the main buildings of our school?
Today I got my classes all set, I got everything I wanted, thank goodness. I'm taking Museum as a Medium, which includeds field trips to the Louvre. I am SO EXCITED for that class. I'm also taking Paris Architecture, History of Venice (which has a study trip to Venice) European art and film between the world wars, and a Renaissance Art history class. The Ren class has a trip to Belgium! Call me a dork, but I'm excited for classes to start : )
Last night Clarice and I went grocery shopping for our dinner! We went to a little cheap place near us called Ed. Selection is pretty sparce, but we picked up a bag of chicken filets, cheese, and some rip off nutella that we've named fauxtella. Clarice also couldn't pass up the 2 euro wine, which was about the cheapest thing in the store! I had my first glass of wine, but I'm sorry to report it was really cheapo wine that tasted like vinegar! We cooked the chicken in a pan in some butter, then we decided to make use of the undrinkable wine and we dumped some in the pan to give the chicken flavor. We also melted slices of cheese on the chicken. It ended up tasting really good! So that's our improvised recipe for chicken- add wine and cheese! Very French, I deem it French Chicken, lol.
The other day Clarice and I had some free time so we took the metro over to Notre Dame. It was so beatiful! Lovely stained glass. We didn't go up in the towers, which costs money, but I'd like to go back and do it. I put up a bunch of pictures on facebook. I can't believe that all these famous sites are within a metro ride of me. YAY!
I have a list of all the things I want to do in Paris, I hope it get to see everything! Tonight I'm going on a night bus tour of Paris, I bet it will be beautiful. Ta Ta for Now!

Settling In

The first few days in Paris have been really hard. My flight was smooth and uneventful, thankfully. However, registration was a mess. I had to stand in line for hours to register and to get dinner. I went at least 36 hours without sleeping and without much food. For orienation I got housed way out in the boondocks of Paris, in the freaking suburbs. I'm almost an hour from school, where all the events are. However, things are starting to look up. I've jumped some hurdles, like getting a metro pass and setting up my phone. My hotel roomate and I have gone on the metro a couple times without getting lost, that makes me feel more confident about getting around. Yesterday was fun, b/c Clarice, my roomie Kim and I had some free time after going to orientatin sessions. We walked around the neigborhood our school is in and we got some food at a really cute little boulangerie. I had my first French Croque-Monsieur, a classic french food. We also got some yummy Pain au Chocolat. We walked up to the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up, but I'll definately be back! It was crazy seeing the Eiffel tower, so surreal. I can't believe I have actually seen it, I've wanted to for so long. My next two hurdles are figuring out classes and housing. I have a housing meeting today, I hope it goes well! I'm doing a homestay, I can't wait to meet my french family! I think it will be fun, though everyone keeps warning me it might be awkward and what not. I want to move in as soon as possible. I've been meeting alot of cool people, everyone is very nice b/c we're all going through this madness together! I met two nice girls from Saudia Arabia and Finland. I've also been talking to people from Tulane, b/c alot of them are at my hotel. I can't wait to be all settled in!