Today was another super busy day! I went running around La Cité, but it started hailing/raining...gotta love that unpredictable French weather. This morning we also had our appointments to register for classes...that was stressful! Because my Sorbonne classes are Monday-Friday in the mornings, I couldn't register for any science classes at Université Pierre et Marie Curie; they all interfered with my other classes. I was pretty upset about that, because I was really looking forward to anatomy and physiology in French. Anyway, I will hopefully be enrolling in another class at Paris 4 this week. After our class registration appointments we grabbed some lunch at a café in the area and walked around. Eventually we made it to the Latin Quarter and Place Saint-Michel. We went in a lot of small shops and talked with many owners...they really enjoy speaking French with us. They usually can tell we are Americans from the moment we say "bonjour" so they tend to slow down their speaking pace and help us to understand what they're saying. Most of them are interested in why we are in Paris and how long we are staying. We also stopped at a Starbucks because Hannah WEITZMAN (the French capitalize last names, which we find very amsuing) was in the mood for an American drink. From there we headed to Denfert-Rochereau, a cute shopping area we went to a few days ago. We visited the Greek market and got some delicious food for dinner! We bought dolmades, spanakopita (not better than Yia-Yia's of course), tzatziki, pita, and hummus. I spoke to the Greek owners in French and explained that I am Greek. They asked if I had ever been to Greece and where my family was from. We were speaking French, English, and Greek all together! They also gave us a great French phonetics lesson! We will definitely be heading back there. When we got back to La Cité we relaxed and enjoyed our dinner. I will be spending the rest of my night deciphering French class schedules and course descriptions. Au revoir pour maintenant! 

Today we explored the neighborhood around la Cité; there are some cute streets and boulangeries, mais  it's pretty residential. Nonetheless, it's wonderful to have a boulangerie and pâtisserie down la rue. After exploring the area, we practice some French and headed off to the Sorbonne to take our placement exams. The exam was extremely difficult and included grammar, reading comprehension, listening, and an oral interview. We will find out what Sorbonne classes we will be taking later in the week. After a bit of a stressful afternoon, we continued to explore the Latin Quarter. This area is beautiful and is characterized by stone churches and boulevards, small cafés, and shops. I bought a new scarf and had hot chocolate! We stopped by the Panthéon, a beautiful former église and we walked around le jardin du Luxembourg. While it was beautiful, I am excited to see it in the spring. Afterwards, we headed back to la Cité and cooked dinner. I won't have pictures from today for a few more days...stay tuned! 

After dinner, we spontaneously decided to check out l'Arc de Triomphe around 9:30 pm. While we were one le métro, we passed by la Tour Effiel, and it was bright and beautiful! We took the métro directly to l'Arc de Triomphe, and there it was, right in front of us! Unfortunately it was too late to climb to the top, but we went beneath it and saw the tomb of the unknown solider. From there, we went shopping on  Avenue des Champs-Élysées. 

Marais-The Jewish Quarter

 

Falafel!

Je voudrais pain au chocolat s'il vous plâit!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Today we slept in because we stayed up late and were super tired. I worked on my blog and edited some pictures this morning, and then we all headed into Marais and Ménilmontant, also known as the Jewish Quarter. As the French name implies, the area was a marsh/swamp before it was converted into farmland. It was once home to aristocrats and their mansions. It is now a trendy area with quaint shops, bookstores, and cafés, and cobblestone streets. Because it was cold and cloudy and we were quite tired, we didn't plan to see any of the major landmarks such as Bastille ou Place des Vosges, mais we did go to what is supposedly the most popular place to get falafel...and it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted! It was falafel topped with spices and veggies in a toasted pita...yummmmy!! We also walked around, and I got my first pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) from a pâtisserie. Afterwards, we came back to la Cité and explored the campus. We found a pool and a workout room...success!!

 View from the cruise on La Seine

Tofu!!

Notre Dame 

La Tour Eiffel à Minuit (at midnight)

Today was a great and busy day in Paris! I woke up around 6:00 am and went for a run around le Parc Montsouris and le Cité Internationale. Our campus has 40 houses, each for students from a different country. Each house looks as if it were in that country, so the architecture of each building is different. After my run I took a very cold shower and had some breakfast with other students from UConn in our dorms. We then ventured on the RER for the first time (a super fast métro) to visit the closest Monoprix, a Paris superstore with food, cleaning, and cooking supplies. Afterwards, we walked around the area; it is full of cute shops and open-air markets (marchés de plein air) with fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood. There were even shops selling fresh, homemade pasta and sauces! We also stopped in a small Greek shop (shout out to mon père), and the owners were so nice! I then stopped at my first boulangerie and purchased a fresh baguette! The bakery smelled amazing, and I couldn't get over how many different kinds of breads and pastries there were. After our shopping excursion we had a meeting about classes with our advisor and then took a cruise on La Seine. It was a bit cloudy and rained intermittently, but it was beautiful. We saw the tour eiffel for the first time, and it is most definitely a sight to see! Unfortunately the wind was so rough on the boat that we were a bit more preoccupied with keeping our fingers from freezing than staring at the tour eiffel. Nonetheless, it was a great first sight. We also saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Bastille, and many other buildings and famous landmarks. Afterwards, we went to Conforama, a store similar to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (I finally found a tea mug!). We then went back to the le Cité to drop our goods off and headed to our first true dinner in Paris. We went to dinner at L'Hydophobe; a small delicious restaurant. They had vegetarian options (woot woot) and amazing wine! I also tried some of the cheese, which was great (although my morals were a bit confused). We also ate so much fresh baguette (an endless supply) and the dessert was an apple-filled crêpe with ice cream and a hazlenut/caramel sauce...yes, it was as amazing as it sounds. I ate so much, but we did so much walking throughout the day that I didn't feel overly full. After diner, we hit up another grocery store where I found tofu! And then we headed to " downtown Paris" for a night on the town. While we had wanted to do a lot of exploring, we only got to see the tour eiffel. Once we got there, we were so mesmerized that we kept staring at it and tried to take pictures of every angle. We also kept staying a bit longer to see the lights flash (the lights flash on the hour for five minutes and flash at different speeds; we stared at them for the full five minutes each time and tried to decipher the patterns of the flashes). Seeing the tour eiffel made me feel as though I had truly arrived in Paris; it is a sight I have been waiting to see for years. It is massive and beautiful and no pictures do it justice; this is a must see at some point in your lifetime. After seeing the tour eiffel at midnight, we headed back to la Cité; however, we tried to experiment using the public transportation by challenging ourselves and taking a different route home...that was interesting, but we definitely know how le métro and the RER work now. Overall, it was a great first night on the town, and I am excited for the weeks to come!   

Fun Facts...

LOL= MDR mort de rire (dying of laughter)

OMG= OMD oh mon dieu (oh my God)  

I have officially arrived in Paris! Our flight left JFK around 10:00 pm, and we landed at Charles de Gaulle around 10:00 am. We were wandering around the airport for a bit after we picked up our luggage looking for our advisors, but we eventually found them. We are also being filmed for MICEFA, so a camera man follows us around everywhere. From the airport we headed to La Cité, where we are living. It's beautiful on the outside; there are several buildings on the campus, each for students from different countries. Our rooms are singles, but they are, well, interesting...And the bathrooms and kitchens on each floor are also interesting...But I had my first trip to the grocery store, a small market down the block. I found quinoa, almond milk, and lots of fresh fruits, veggies, and baguette. I also had my first experience on Paris public transportation. It's cloudy and raining but in the fifties. Tomorrow we have a cruise down la Seine and a dinner.