When you're bored in Paris, go sightseeing!

In order to avoid being completely lazy, my friend Thijs (the Belgian guy) and I made a pact where if one person is bored sitting in front of the computer and has nothing to do all day, we will text the other person and go do something. So we exercised this new pact today, and ended up in the Invalides!

So the Hôtel des Invalides is like a big military monument. It's where the army museum is and it's suppose to be a hospital and retirement home for war veterans. Also, Napoleon's tomb is there, but of course I didn't figure that out until I got back to my dorm room...

Oh and we also thought it would be really cool to do some special effects with the panoramic function on my camera! (I think my photography skills are a little better- the one with the 3 Thijs's came out looking better I think) :)












Here's a little video of the Invalides. Thijs is usually the tour guide when we go sightseeing since he has a book all about the sights in Paris (and I can't read it because it's in Dutch).

Cultural differences...

I thought it'd be interesting to share some things I've been learning here from all the other exchange students. I knew before I came that there where going to be some differences in opinion between people of different nationalities, but even more so between people in general. But here are some things I've been picking up from my friends lately:

• According to my friends, there is a huge stereotype that Americans have about Europeans, and that is that they're all one group of people who are so similar that it's ok to group them together as being European all the time. Actually, all of my friends identify themselves by their country before being European. For example, my friend Josefin, who's from Sweden, says that her culture is more similar to the American culture than any European culture, so it sounds ridiculous to her when people group her together with Europeans!
• My Brazilian friends love cracking jokes about everything and they say their culture is the same. They'll joke about everything from politics to terminal illnesses- but that's just how they handle things. They said that if something bad happens and you can't change it, why not laugh about it instead of feeling upset?
• Like I said before, my Belgian friends are very particular about their beer, ha ha. But they're also particular about where in Belgium they come from. My friends actually speak Dutch and they're from Flanders, so when people just assume they speak French, it looks a bit ignorant to them. But they're pretty cool guys, so they don't mind too much!
• I speak English more than French here! It makes sense because Paris is such an international city and most everyone speaks English and French. Actually, most of my friends prefer speaking English because it's either easier or they want to improve their English language skills. But don't worry, I speak French at least once or twice a day here, and my skills are improving! :)
  

But the biggest lesson I'm learning is the importance of NOT stereotyping people. I haven't made any huge errors yet (knock on wood), but I've seen some people cross the line without realizing it. Every one of my friends is very understanding about our cultural differences, mostly because we're all exchange students here, so it makes things a lot easier, but it's good to make the effort in being respectful. I've been listening more than talking here, and it's been working out great so far! (now I just need to meet more French people, ha ha)

Last night, I went to a birthday party and a housewarming party, so I got to see about all my friends at once (and that's why I have so much info today!). So here is a picture of me and Isabel, who just turned 23 (she's Swedish and really really cool!):














And here's a picture of me looking extra French last night too (it's all about the tights here, ha ha):

Some Ponts in Paris

I'm still so excited we're getting our apartment taken care of! Actually, a lot of people here are starting to get things in order just like me and Shannon. In fact, one of my friends from Frankfurt said he signed for his apartment the same day we heard back from the owner on ours. So, of course, we had to go out and celebrate!


There are several bridges on the river Seine in Paris, but I hear that this one bridge in particular, called the Pont des Arts (pont= bridge in french), is where all the cool kids go at night for an evening picnic- they bring bread, cheese, sandwiches, a bottle of wine to share, and they just sit and eat and drink and enjoy each other's company. Well, we did exactly that last night, except on a different bridge, called Pont Neuf. I haven't made it out to Pont des Arts yet, but the place last night was a nice substitute. :)

For the eating part, we went back out to the Jewish quarter to get some falafels (so yummy!).

And for the drinking part, we just picked up a cheap bottle of red (don't forget, we're all students here!). Denise had some friends over from a different foreign exchange program in Angers, which is towards the west coast of France (and by the way, you pronounce it ahn-ZHAY), but they had some time off, so they came up to Paris to visit. They told me their next stops included Stockholm and Frankfurt (I'm so jealous!).



While we were walking to Pont Neuf to meet up with more friends, we noticed this weird writing on the side of the Conciergerie (national French monument). Except it looked like someone was projecting the writing from a computer across the river, like a small-scale light show! Here's a video I took of it where we try to figure it out (and pardon my doofus commentary in the background, ha ha):

So romantic! Don't you think?? :)

We got the apartment! ...and some clarifications on the Welcome Program

Hello everyone!
First of all, I have some awesome news!! Our apartment lease has officially been signed, so all we have to do now is move in!! And it works out perfectly since my last day at the student dorms is the 30th and we move in Oct. 1st. It's such a relief, especially since it's getting close to when I get kicked out of the dorms.... :-/ ... and I'm starting to think me and Shannon are really lucky- everyone else I've talked to who is trying to get an apartment like us has had to go through so many more obstacles, such as the owner deciding to go with another tenant at the last minute, or the rent being ridiculously high! Our place has everything we need and the rent is average, and it's in a great location... so I can't help but feel really lucky about the whole thing!

So the Welcome Program officially ended today! My mom was asking me a while ago about what exactly we did there because I kept saying I had homework. All that means is that our French professor would give us exercises for practice outside of class and our methodology prof gave us assignments to do to practice the very different style of teaching here, which is a bit complicated to explain, but to make a really brief summary: every assignment has a strict structure that has to be followed or it could mean a really low grade. Sounds easy, but it's a bit difficult organizing every idea into this structure... and they wouldn't take 3 weeks to help us learn it if it was easy!!

But here's a picture of one of the classrooms:





By the way, the 2 girls in the picture made fun of me for taking pictures of the classroom. It didn't help to say it was for my blog.... so I hope you're happy- I do this for you guys!! (Just kidding, it's not that bad) :P







Here's an example of a practice assignment I did. The writing basically says that I did well on the structure of the paper in general, but I missed the subject a bit, because the word "presidentialisme" has more significance than what I wrote about.... so you see, it's not as easy as it seems! (But it wasn't for a grade, so I'm ok so far, ha ha)





The real classes start next week, and I'm nervous, but excited too! I'm taking 4 classes and they're only Wednesday through Friday, so I really don't have much to do from now until then. I heard there's a deal going on for train rides to Geneva, so I might go check that out.... :)

Eiffel Tower by night

Bonjour!
Last night me and a bunch of the girls went out for a late-night picnic by the Eiffel Tower to see the light show. We got some crepes and a bottle of cheap wine (2 euros!) and sat out on the lawn to enjoy! Here's a view of it right before nightfall:




....and here's a view at night! I think it's really pretty how they replicated the EU flag on it. :)





This is me and Nicola- she's from Australia and amazingly nice. :)





And here's me with my not-so-yummy crepe, ha ha. We found out too late that the crepe stand we were at only had pre-made crepes, which i thought was a bit ridiculous because it doesn't take that long to make one by the order. It kind of reminded me of the crepes at IHOP, which are ok, but I guess I was a bit disappointed since I wasn't expecting an IHOP crepe.





Here's a video of the light show they do now! I read this article recently that said that the tower is blue now to commemorate the EU presidency and the light show lasts 10 minutes every hour. But they're "going green" soon: in October, the show will last only 5 minutes every hour, cutting the energy usage in half for the year basically.
So here's a clip of the show with some special commentary by the lovely Denise Baron! :)

Good news on the apartment search!

Shannon and I heard some really good news yesterday: the owner of the apartment we really want has accepted our rent!! So now we're just waiting on the agency to give us a copy of the lease to sign and it's all downhill from there! I'll definitely be happier when everything is finalized (as in, I'm sleeping in my new bed), but this is such a relief to know that we don't have to look around and wait anymore.
I'll put up some pictures of the place- or even better, I can do another virtual apartment tour!- once we're actually there. But just letting you know, it's really nice. The flat is supposedly in the trendy part of Paris (meaning where all the cool bars are, ha ha) and it has everything we need, AND it looks pretty. I think it was meant for girls to live there, based on how it's decorated. And again, I'll show it to you once we get all the official stuff done. :)

Halfway through the Welcome Program

Hello! Today marks the halfway point of the Welcome Program at Sciences Po! And I honestly can't remember if I said what that means in another post, so....
welcome program (WELL kumm PRO gram) n.
1. 3 week period before classes begin in which all the foreign exchange students at Sciences Po perfect their french and learn the methodology of the institution
2. period in which all the work is just practice for when school actually starts, so it basically doesn't count (ha ha)
3. period of unbearable stress and chaos in which half the exchange students must find a place to live, complete several other administrative tasks such as getting a carte de sejour and "Imagine R" metro pass, and learn how to live in Paris all at the same time!!

Ok, the last one was an exaggeration.... for most days. :)
I have managed to get a lot of important things done, and I've already posted most of it (my student card, cell phone, etc.), but I still have one last HUGE thing I have to finish, and that's to secure an apartment before the Welcome Program ends. The search is going well- Shannon and I have been looking through the market constantly and I think we're nearing the final stages, but nothing is final yet. Unfortunately, we're doing better than most, from what I've been hearing at Sciences Po- there are a lot of students who haven't found anything yet and a few that I've talked to who have just barely started their search!


On a much lighter note..... The other day Denise and I were doing some French homework out on the lawn by our dorm, and all of a sudden this crazy-looking band wearing something that looked like a cross between old military uniforms and clown costumes started playing on the terrace outside the cafe! They were pretty entertaining though, and I managed to get a video:


And I promised my mom some pictures from inside a classroom, so here are a few pictures of me and my friends in one of the main auditoriums for our class on the history of Paris (by the way, all our other classes aren't this big).

























Also, thank you to those people who voted in my poll!! I'll do my best to mix it up for you! :)


And one more thing: to Denise's parents, Debi and Dennis, Denise and I both say hi!! :)

My first full weekend in Paris (the Pope was here!)

Hey everyone!!
Today marks my first full week in Paris and to celebrate, I did a lot of cool things this weekend!
Me and my new international friends (ha ha) saw a few new sights, including the Conciergerie, which is where the Paris courts are, but mostly we just hung out and talked about culture and politics (it sounds cheesy, but that's really what they do here!). I've heard so many different perspectives already from "this is why Belgian beer is the best in the world" to "this is what the Swedes think about the U.S. presidential election". It's all really interesting, but it's too much to talk about here, so if you want to know something specific, just ask me and I'll do my best to tell you what my friends said about it. Or I can find out.

But in case you haven't figured out who's who yet: some of my friends are Denise (American), Thijs (Belgian, and you say his name something like "dayzz"), Josefin (Swedish, "YO suh feen"), and the other Belgian whose name I have NO idea how to spell, but you say it sort of like "yeh ROON", and it's got some back-of-the-throat pronounciation in there too. :)














We also went to catch a glimpse of the Pope who came to Paris on Friday. He rode in his Pope-mobile through Paris, stopping at different cathedrals and his final stop was at Notre Dame, so that's where we were. It's too bad we couldn't get close enough to actually take a picture, though. :(













Then on Saturday, we all met up at this beautiful park in the north part of Paris. There was a ton of greenspace and a lake and waterfalls- it was gorgeous! You'd never know it was here unless someone told you- which is good that the Sciences-Po student groups organized a picnic there for us.


Also, since the Belgians have been teaching us Dutch, Denise and I decided to teach them about our culture of using hand gestures to symbolize our home towns! (Like how people in Atlanta do the upside-down peace thing, ha ha) So we all made up a sign for Cité U (our university city).




Oh, and I got my french cell phone! I saved about 10 euros by going to a smaller store than the popular ones here, and it's a pay-as-you-go thing with texting and calls.

And it's not finalized yet, but my future roommate, Shannon, and I found an apartment today! We already responded to the proposal from the agency and we're waiting to hear back, and we also found a couple back-ups just in case that one doesn't work out. I'll post pictures once it's ready to go. :)

Tour of my room and some sights in Paris

First order of business: I need to show you my place!! It's a bit delayed because of technical difficulties, but I figured out the problem so now you can see it. So voila! Here's a virtual tour of my dorm room:





After classes today, me and some friends from my group in our welcome program decided to go grab lunch and walk around Paris some. For lunch, we went to the Jewish quarter (which, by the way, was very traditional with the hats and beards and everything ha ha) and had falafels... SOOO delicious!! Then we saw a few tourist sights:







We saw the Tour Saint-Jacques, which used to be part of a church, but the church was demolished at the end of the 1700s, and it's where Nicolas Flamel is buried. We went to te Hotel de Ville, which is the office of the mayor, and we also saw the Centre Pompidou, which is basically a huge modern art museum/gallery. I think it looks a little out of place next to all the historical architecture, but that's just me.



Then we went to find a view of the river Seine. We all decided to hang around here and eat gelatos for a while. :)





And lastly, I wanted to introduce you to my friends!! There are 4 people, and each one has a different nationality: Belgian, American, and Swedish (2 of them are Belgian). See if you can guess which one is from where! (Hint: listen closely to their names)

Deck of cards and the Jardins du Luxembourg

Hello!!

So my registration went worse than I thought but it turned out ok- if that makes any sense. I couldn't register for any of the classes I originally wanted because almost every class was full by the time I found my courses online (which by the way took about 10 minutes). But I did manage to get courses that will be worth elective credits and language credits at Georgia Tech, meaning I'm still on track to graduate a semester early (so don't panic, Mom). And by the way, every class meets only once a week for 2 hours, so since I'm only taking 4 classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I get 4 day weekends!!! Heck yes! :)

I got a lot of administrative stuff done today too, so that means I got a stack of important cards now:


This is my CROUS card- I use this at the university restaurants. It works like a meal plan because I can put money on it and they only accept this form of payment at the restaurants, and it's great because at these restaurants you can get a full meal (salad, entree, dessert) for 2,80 euro!! The food isn't particularly amazing but it's better than the dining halls at Georgia Tech (and by the way, who cares?! It's less than 3 euros a meal!).



Here's my student card. I can use this to go to museums for free every Friday and every 1st Sunday of the month.



This is my "carte orange" and it's my Metro pass for one month. I'm applying for another pass that costs less per month, but since it takes about a month to process it, this card will do for now.


Since registration this morning was so crazy, my future roommate, Shannon, and I decided to take a walk and eat sandwiches in the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is this huge park in the middle of Paris.
Here's the center of the gardens. A lot of people like to go jogging around the grounds after work (that's what it looks like anyway).



This is the Palais du Luxembourg. I think it was used as a prison during the French Reign of Terror (but don't quote me). :)



Here's a sculpture I found in the gardens. There's actually a ton of art about this size all over the park, but it's not all this style. Some of it was Classical, some really abstract, and the rest I didn't see.



Here are some ribbons I found tied to the branches in a tiny section of the park. I don't remember what they said exactly, but it translated to something like "It is the dream of every leaf to be carried by the wind when it dies". It was so random and poetic, I had to take a picture.



And apparently, an old Parisian man's hobbies include going to the Jardins to play chess- there were several other games going on while we were there. (Here's some daily life for you, Mom)

Today is registration day

So today is the day all the Sciences Po students register for classes... and from what they tell us, it's going to be crazy. They're not very technologically advanced and they don't have a time slot system where students get online at different times so there's no overload on the registration system. Basically, I and everyone else has to get online and pick the classes we want starting at 10am and pray that the system doesn't kick us out long enough to have all the classes fill up before we get to them! AAAHHH!
But I have back-up classes in mind just in case. And I'm going on a tour of Sciences Po and the city today so that should be a good stress reliever. Wish me luck!! :)

My school and my dorm!

Here are some pictures of Sciences Po! The campus isn't at all like a normal college campus in the U.S. where it's like a mini-city- instead there are several buildings spread out around Paris. The buildings are clustered together right in the center of Paris too, so there's a lot of cool stuff really close by!






And here are some pictures of the University City where all the dorms are for Paris...

I'm actually not staying in any of these buildings, but I thought they looked nice! :)
The picture above is the street in front of my building (I'm on the right outside the shot). If you really really want to see what the building looks like, then I'll post a picture of it, but I honestly think the other ones are prettier from the outside. :)

This is me with my grocery cart!! Since my dorm is a bit far from the grocery store it's so much easier having one of these to carry stuff in! I see a lot of people around Paris using these every day (a lot of people don't have cars here), so I guess that makes me pretty cool to have one.

Yeah groceries!!

I love jet lag like I love stinky feet!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I am officially here in Paris and I have been to Sciences Po already for the big Welcome Session. I am safe and sound in my temporary apartment and I am also in the process of adjusting to the time difference (boo!). But the pictures and videos are coming- probably more so once I get more situated in my new surroundings- but it will happen soon, I promise! I've already seen a ton of stuff I want to show you so my posts will be not-so-boring soon! :)