You can stand under my umbrella

My weekend in the Loire valley was wonderful! I woke up at 5:15am on Saturday and ended up being a little late because I didn't realize the metro doesn't come as often that early in the morning. But it was fine, because one guy was about 45 minutes late. His friend was on the bus in front of me and she was pleading with this guy to wait. She even stalled by asking him to tell her how to buy a train ticket so she could stay behind and take the train with her friend. Almost everybody was speaking English, and I was rather disappointed because half the purpose of the trip was to speak French the whole time. Most people slept the first leg of the trip, which was 3 hours. When we arrived at Cheverny, the site of the first castle, it was raining; luckily I had my umbrella. There were a couple of guys who didn't, so I ended up meeting a couple French guys by sharing my umbrella with them. I still don't know their names; when I asked, one of them said, "Bond. James Bond" and the other one said, "K" (although actually I found out his name is Emmanuel). So I hung around with them most of the weekend, which meant I got to speak French. Sunday night, I could already tell a huge difference in my own speech, which is encouraging and will help motivate me to speak less English around school.

We saw 4 gorgeous castles in the two days, and we stayed in a hostel Saturday night. I was put in a room with another girl from the BU program and these two Japanese women who didn't really speak French, but were good at English. I also saw tons of beautiful flowers and Leonardo da Vinci's house. It's so exciting to be around so much history all the time! I told the French guys that my host mother told me I had a German accent when I speak French and they agreed with her, which was pretty funny. Last night, after seeing The Bald Soprano and The Lesson at Theatre de la Huchette, I walked around in the Latin Quarter for a bit and bought some stuff at a couple souvenir shops. In one, the shop owners started speaking to me in English, and I responded in French like I always do. The first guy said I spoke very good French, and then the other guy was like, "Well maybe she is French!" So that was cool, to be taken for a native speaker. They said I spoke the best French they'd ever heard an American in their store speak. So I gotta keep working at it, so people will hear my French and think, "My God. I can't remember the last time I saw a native French person with blonde hair and blue eyes!"

Le boulot

Tonight I babysat for the kids in my host family. Elisabeth is 4 and Stanislas is 2. It was hard just after the mom left, getting them to take baths and stuff. I also fed them (and myself) dinner, read stories and put them to bed. I don't know any French lullabies, so I just sang the songs I always sing when I babysit in the US. When I was done, Stanislas said, "Core, core," which is his precious way of saying "encore." He says that whenever he wants more of anything: pasta, candy, lullabies apparently. He's very cute. So I made 20 euro in about 2 hours, which is pretty excellent (about $15/hr). Now I've gotta get some homework done for Monday because I'm leaving for the Loire Valley tomorrow morning at 6am! I'm going to see more castles and gardens and meet international students....I'm super excited!

P.S. "Boulot" is slang for "travail"

Je veux bien parler francais! Quel surprise!

Attention BU PIP Students: Don't take this personally; I'm kind of hardcore.

Is it too much to ask to speak French sometimes? I made it a goal before coming to France to speak English only when absolutely necessary; as of right now, I am nowhere close to achieving that goal. I have found it very difficult to speak French consistently with the students in the program. Yesterday, when I spoke to two girls in French they responded to me in French and that was encouraging. Today, however, when I spoke French to people, they gave me funny looks and then avoided speaking to me. SO. I'm going to try really hard to suck it up and keep speaking French, and hopefully I will meet some French students on the trip this weekend to the Loire valley with whom I can spend time. I have met a couple already, but the only way I can contact them is by phone and I can't figure out my calling card. I just keep getting what sounds like a busy signal. I will probably buy a cell phone soon, to contact them and to be able to make plans with my BU friends more easily. Wish me luck!

Asian bacon comin' at ya!

Pictures from Courances and Dannemois

You can't exactly drop it like it's hot to Eurotrash

What a long and busy weekend! Thursday night I went to a club with several friends that is free for students with an ID every Thursday until December 20. We're thinking of making it regular. There were three different rooms: Electro and House, R'n'B Chic and Latino, and 80s/Disco. There were a lot of people there and it was really a fun time. It's actually within walking distance of where I live, which was really nice after dancing for almost 3 hours.

Friday I went to the library at Centre Pompidou to work on an art history project. After being there for a couple hours, I came back home for lunch and then tried to go to the Musee Picasso to see the painting for which I'm preparing a presentation. Unfortunately, it's closed until Wednesday, which is the day my presentation has to be ready. I went to the library again on Sunday, because it is also closing for several days starting Monday. Outside, there was a street performer (there are always several in that area) who had taken 4 volunteers from the audience and was directing them in a very funny skit. Unfortunately, I only caught the end, but it was extremely entertaining. Love triangles in comedy always are....

Saturday was another excursion with BU. We went to Barbizon (which houses a museum building where many famous painters used to stay), Courances (a small town with a chateau that has beautiful water gardens and fresh springs, in which three generations of one family currently live), and Dannemois (close to Courances, where we had dinner at the only business in town). It was an absolutey gorgeous day and I bought some rainboots, which is very appropriate because it rained today for the first time. I filled up my water bottle with spring water in Courances. In Dannemois, we also saw the grave of Claude Francois, who is basically the Elvis of France, with impersonators and all. For dinner, I had duck with figs and it was the best meal I've had since I've been here. There was live music and wine and everyone was in great spirits. We got back to Paris about an hour later than expected, but luckily since it was the weekend the metro was still running.

Today I tried doing laundry for the first time. I put all my clothes in my backpacking backpack and walked to the laundromat. I had to have help doing it all right, but after that I helped a guy from South Africa who didn't really speak French figure out the machines. I didn't have enough time to dry the clothes, so they're currently hanging up in my room.

Friday I have a cooking class and this weekend is my trip to the Loire Valley with the Club International des Jeunes a Paris. We're meeting at 6:30am Saturday morning, so I'm staying in Friday night and babysitting the kids in my host family.

On a side note, I went into Virgin Records to buy some books and KT Tunstell was giving a mini-concert, so that was neato. Now....I must get some work done. Until next time..... ca y est!

Ne me quitte pas

Classes continue to be very long (2.5 hours) but interesting. My "Paris Aujourd'hui" class is split up into theatre on Mondays and cinema and songs on Wednesdays, so today was my first class on cinema and songs, and I think it's going to be my favorite. The teacher is lots of fun and I really enjoy French music. We're going to see a film called Moliere in which there is speculation about what Moliere did in the years he disappeared after being in prison. He meets some of his characters, or mixtures of several similar characters (took me a while to figure out how to say that in English). It's a comedy; I'm really looking forward to it.

I have an oral presentation to prepare in each class. I have partners for each of them, and let me just say now I do not like working in groups. I am definitely a people person, which you probably know, but I prefer to work on school projects by myself. No hassling with somebody else's schedule, no worrying about if the other person will do his/her part, nobody else to blame if you screw up.......

I've still got some grammar homework to prepare for tomorrow, so that's it for now!

All I want is salad dressing!

I had another successful grocery outing today. I got some meat to make my own sandwiches instead of buying them, but you can really only buy up to 6 slices at a time. They don't have huge supermarkets like Schnucks or Shaws. I do miss that. I went to this little store down the street from me to get some fruits and veggies, but apparently they're closed on Mondays. I really love salad, and would buy lots of vegetables, but I haven't seen a single salad dressing on the shelf! It's rather distressing. I know I could make my own........send me a recipe?

Versailles

I met some friends at the train station this morning at 9am to take the SNCF to Versailles, where we spent the morning touring the main castle and gardens. Last time I was there, the fountains were off, but this time I got to see them in all their glory, along with 17th and 18th century music playing over the speakers. It really added a lot to the experience. At 1pm the whole group met to go where most tourists don't: le Grand Trianon, le Petit Trianon, and la Domaine de Marie-Antoinette. Her gardens were my favorite. She basically had her own little village and it was just like a painting. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. I spent most of the time at Versailles walking around by myself, which was good because I seemed to be taking a lot of pictures of things that didn't interest other people. The flowers were so impeccable; I took a lot of close-ups of those. Click here to see my photos from Versailles!

Photo Album Link

Even if you don't have Facebook, you can click on these links and see my photos. I will post links as I make each new album.

Boat Tour on the Seine River

Fun with New Friends

Homestay Photos

Please let me know if these don't work!

Bienvenue à mon blog!

Welcome, hello, bonjour, salut, holler, what's up, quoi de neuf?

I'm sure it's obvious why I'm starting a blog; it's ridiculously time-consuming to update each person individually and I'm sure you want to know what happens every minute of every day that I am in Paris. In case you aren't aware, I am doing the Boston University Paris Internship Program. I have classes starting Monday until October 25, a break until November 4, and then an internship (I don't know where yet) until December 22.

I'm living with a family of four in the 16th arrondissement on avenue de la Grand Armée, which is (for those at all familiar with Paris) is just west of the Champs-Elysées on the other side of l'Arc de Triomphe. Christine and Antoine LeDeuff have two kids: Elisabeth is 4 and Stanislaus is 2. I have my own room with a comfy bed, a bedside table with a lamp, a tv that gets 5 channels, a fairly big desk that also has a lamp, some shelf space, a large closet with more shelf space, a couple of small plastic drawers, and a connecting bathroom that has a sink and half-shower but no toilet. It's certainly more than I was expecting.

So far, I've eaten out a lot, but I do plan to cook for myself often. The Rugby World Cup begins tonight with a match between France and Argentina, so there are French flags hanging up all over the place, especially in bars. It'd be fun to attend a match, but the tickets are basically sold out. Most people in public have been happy to speak French with me, even when it's clear that I am American. I am so much more confident than when I was here the summer of 2004. It's very overwhelming, but I am adjusting and adapting well.

The school is a five minute walk from la tour Eiffel, so we've eaten lunch on le Champ de Mars a couple of times. We always have to watch our bags and purses carefully and deny that we speak English when the gypsies are around asking for money. We are going to visit Versailles on Saturday and there is a trip to the Loire Valley in a couple weeks through an international club for students in Paris. I'm going to join in the hopes of meeting some French friends that I can spend time with; this will be the best way to improve my French. I did meet Alex, a Parisian guy, in the airport in New York. The line to go through security was impossibly long and he asked me to hold his place right in front of me while he went to the bathroom. When he came back we started talking and he gave me his phone number and said I could call him about anything and hang out with him (and his girlfriend and friends). You may think this is sketchy and/or dangerous, but even when I told him I had no phone and offered him my email address, he said I could just call him. One of the program directors also has a 21-year-old Parisian intern who is happy to give us advice about life in Paris, especially when it comes to popular weekend activities.

My classes start on Monday. I am taking an Art and Architecture class, a Parisian culture class (in which we study Paris through the performing arts), and a French language class. I have class from 3:00-5:30 and 6-8:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and 3-5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm usually partial to morning classes, but I didn't have much choice and it will be nice not to have to set an alarm.

One quick story and then I'll leave you until next time. I went grocery shopping for the first time at a big store called Monoprix (kind of like a mix between Target and Schnucks or Shaws). It was difficult because I was totally unfamiliar with the layout of the store and the brands are mostly different so I don't really recognize much. I managed to pick up some things to make a pasta and chicken dinner plus some other stuff and went to check out. He scanned a few things and then got to the fruits and veggies that I had put in separate plastic bags and told me I had to weigh them myself. I had completely missed the scale in that section, so I had to rush back over there and weigh everything. The machine printed out stickers for each product. Then I came back and he finished checking me out (there were people in line behind me). I was completely embarrassed and the guy could have been extremely annoyed with me, but he was really nice about it.

Until next time.....

Bisous!