My last day in Paris

This was it.

My official last day of my study abroad in Paris. My flight back to the US was taking off in less than 24 hours so I had one last morning, one last lunchtime, one last dinner, and one last night of sleep before it was all over.

I know this sounds slightly depressing and like I'm expecting to never return to Paris for the rest of my life (completely untrue). But it FELT like that. I was focused all day on trying to burn every remaining feeling into my memory. I have pictures to remind me of the sights, but to me, it was the feeling of living in Paris and being familiar with certain parts which I wanted to remember the most.

First, I had to take care of the packing and moving out of my apartment. My landlord wanted me out a day early so he could move in a new tenant (don't worry, I had a couch to sleep on at Monica's place). I cleaned up everything I could, shipped off my winter clothes to my house (it most definitely would not fit into my luggage), and around lunchtime I met Monica and Catalina for some very delicious pizza near my (now old) apartment.

The next big task was moving my bags to Monica's place across Paris so I could stay the night there. There was no way we were taking the metro for this. My two bags were the size and weight of dairy cows so I opted for a taxi, and it was totally worth it because seeing Paris by car is actually quite beautiful. Anyway, after a lot of struggle and very fatigued hands from gripping the bag handles, we made it to Monica's. By this time, the hard part of my day was over and I was dead tired from it all (my previous paragraphs about how difficult it was to accomplish everything I did really don't do me justice). Monica and Catalina went out for some last minute shopping while I stayed behind and napped for an hour or so. Then Mariel (our friend from Mexico) came over and that's when the reminiscing began...

I wanted to get a few candid photos of us all talking as a group, so I set up my camera on a chair and put it on a timer for a while- the result is a slide show of pictures showing what we all look like when we're just relaxing and having good conversation...

From the left: me, Mariel, and Monica.

Catalina joined us on the right.

I really like photos like these- ones of real life where no one is posing.




But posing isn't so bad sometimes...

It hasn't been that long and I already miss Mariel! She's one of the few people I know who can be the life of the party and make you feel so close as her friend at the same time.

And we couldn't leave Paris without seeing the Tower one more time!

After dark, we brought some wine, cheese, baguettes, and made a little picnic in Champs de Mars, the green space right next to the Eiffel Tower, and Monica's roommate, Nicole, and her friend joined us too.

During our picnic, we all decided to help Monica fulfill one of her promises to a friend back home. She had to take a picture looking as French as possible- meaning she dressed up in a beret and held a bottle of wine, a baguette, and a cigarette in her hand while standing in front of the Eiffel Tower (we bought all the accessories earlier that day).

Here's a video of us all teaming up to make this picture possible...



Obviously, there were Frenchies all around us laughing at the "silly tourists who think they're French"... but we were well aware of how crazy we looked and it only made it funnier! I personally thought it was a bit ironic- here we all are, students who have been living in Paris for almost a year, and some of our last pictures of Paris involve major stereotypes about French people (ha ha). But then again, what better way to conclude an experience like this one than with a big fat joke?

We obviously couldn't stay out too late since both Monica and I had flights the next day, so the time came (too soon) that we had to go back to get some sleep. Of course, we all cried and said long, over-emotional goodbyes to the Tower and Paris and each other.

And the next morning, I was flying home.

Au revoir, Paris, and bisous XOXO!!

Ending Paris... with style

Day 2 of our adventures with Catalina began with a little bit of shopping! Of course, we wanted to get some summer clothes from Paris while we still had the chance, and it was the perfect time to go shopping since almost every store was having their summer sales. I managed to find 2 super chic tops at Zara and Promod for under 10 euros each! :D




After the shopping, we met up with Nicole and her friend visiting from Canada to eat at a gourmet crêpe restaurant.





It was amazing... it's a crêperie, which is French for all we serve here is crêpes, and the one I ordered came filled with goat cheese, honey, and walnuts!

Monica, Nicole's friend, and Nicole! I loved the restaurant decor, too. It looked like an old artisan crêpe shop.

And it came with a cute waiter! Catalina tried several times to get a picture of him and finally managed to get this shot with Monica doing an awkward job at pretending to be the subject of the picture. The 20 minutes we spent trying to sneak pictures of this random guy made my day... it still makes me laugh just typing this, ha ha...



Then we all went to Versailles! I had seen this advertisement for Versailles in the Metro stations about fireworks shows happening on Saturdays during the summer, and we thought it would be a wonderful outing for Catalina while she was in Paris. So here's everyone waiting for the RER to go to Versailles! From the right: me, Catalina, Monica, Nicole, Nicole's friend from Canada, Moni's friend Anka, and Anka's boyfriend. I love big group outings!

In Versailles now and walking to the château.

Fabulous Versailles architecture along the way.

We made it to the château just as the sun was setting.

Now that it's summer, the gardens were amazing! When we arrived at the ticket booth, we found out that the visit included access to all the fountains, which were lit up in beautiful colors, and the fireworks show after nightfall.




I've never seen Versailles look so beautiful. I felt like I was experiencing something truly special that night.




Everything was glowing, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, so we could see very shade of the sunset.

The icing on the cake...there was classical music playing all around us!

I was so glad to be able to share this experience with people I love!

Adorable! They seem like such great sisters to each other.

And Moni's like family to me! :)

Versailles is so much better when the fountains are running. I remember coming at the beginning of the year during the winter when everything was covered with tarps and turned off, and it just doesn't compare.




They also had bubble machines everywhere for the kids to run around in! I couldn't help but run around in them too. :)




This had to be my favorite fountain that we saw. When you enter this section of the gardens, it looks like a glowing amphitheater where the seats are actually part of the fountain, and the water cascades down its sides. There was fog everywhere, too, so as you walk by it, you feel like you've just stepped into a mystical lair. Amazing.




Then, the announcement came telling everyone to grab a seat and get ready to watch the fireworks!

Four girls ready to watch the show!

The show was absolutely beautiful! They timed the fireworks to play with classical music, and I was amazed by what I saw. I took several clips of the show so I could post them here for you to see too. Enjoy!











Magnifique! It felt like a beautiful finale to my study abroad experience.



We came back to Paris right after the show ended, and while everyone else went home, Monica, Cata and I went to the Eiffel Tower for a midnight picnic and a little Tower light show!

This was Catalina's first time seeing the Tower!

I'm still amazed when I see it.

Before we went to Versailles, we bought all of our goodies for our picnic: peaches, chocolate, and a big bottle of sangria! :)




We even got the chocolates with liquor inside (those are probably my favorite). And since there was liquor, we had to make a toast!




Here's a video that Catalina took of us enjoying our picnic and watching the light show (half of it is in Spanish, but don't worry, they're just describing the scenery..."Here we are at the Eiffel Tower blah blah...":




Like I said, I felt like this day was a kind of grand finale to my study abroad experience... if you're going to leave a place like Paris, you might as well leave with a bang.

Bisous XOXO

Fête de la Musique

This day started out with a little bit of Islam!

I've been hearing great things about this mosque in Paris which is supposed to be pretty spectacular. I heard that it has beautiful gardens, tea rooms, and even a restaurant inside. The fact that Monica's two friends who were visiting at the time (Firdowsa and Nafisa) happen to be Muslim, gave us the opportunity to visit it finally with people who could explain what we saw.

The outside looks very clean and simple, but with touches of Arabic architecture.

But the inside is amazing! The gardens were gorgeous, with plants and fountains everywhere.





While we were there, Firdowsa told Monica and I some interesting things about the religion, too, such as why some women wear the headscarf and others don't, and about some of the rituals they have.

We couldn't go inside the mosque since they were praying at the time, but I was impressed enough with the gardens.

After visiting the mosque, we all went to Montmartre in the north to enjoy some of the Fête de la Musique!

The Fête de la Musique is basically a city-wide music festival, where all day long, there's music being played all over Paris. This can take the form of live bands playing music from their home countries (I heard Brazilian and South American music), or even just a van parked on the street with enormous speakers, blasting electro and trans to passersby. No matter what the style of music, it was all played outside and it resulted in TONS of people wandering around listening, glasses of alcohol in hand, and an overall feeling of the city coming alive!



So we decided to grab a quick bite from one of the many barbecues set up for the festival and go sit on the steps below Sacré-Cœur to enjoy the music there.

And take a cute picture or two, of course.

They were playing Arabic music by where we were sitting...

Nice belly-dancing!

Like I said, the streets were packed!

Here's some more music:

And while we were walking around, we passed the Moulin Rouge! One of these days I'm going to a show.

Out of all the music, I think my favorite was actually the bizarre-sounding electro music from the vans parked on the street close to where I live. Maybe it was the people dancing nearby- they had multi-colored mohawks and studded jewelry- it was definitely something you don't see often in Paris.

But I can appreciate any kind of music. Or at least make a decent effort.

Bisous XOXO

Fashion show, daaahling!!!

I did it. I saw a fashion show in Paris!

It was free, too! All I had to do was make a reservation with the Galeries Lafayette well in advance, and then just show up. I reserved seats for myself, Monica, and her two friends visiting that weekend from Canada- Firdowsa and her little sister Nafisa. It worked out so well too, since they love love LOVE fashion.

The best part: we were allowed to take pictures during the show!

So here we all are waiting for the show to start! From the left: there's me, Nafisa, Firdowsa, and Monica.





Runway! I was surprised that the show seemed like more of a tourist attraction than a show for locals. I definitely heard a lot of English.




And then the show began! I only took videos, but here are some still shots from the show:
The way it works is that there are six models, and they show clothes from the Galeries every week. It's very simple, but still cool, and the fact that it's in Paris makes it awesome.

The clothes were just ready-to-wear and nothing too crazy, but still very nice.

My favorite part was the shoes, though.

Some of the designers featured: Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Mexx.

The music was pretty good too!

For the finale, they showed a Western-style wedding dress and groom's suit.

Now for the videos! Enjoy...














After the show, we went to the roof of the Galeries Lafayette (I didn't even know you could go up there!) and enjoyed the view.

Nothing like a fashion show followed by a great view of the Tower!

All the ladies looking fierce!

Posing by the Tower.

Me and Moni!

Another lovely Parisian experience! :)

Bisous XOXO