Happily (ever after)

This weekend we will be in Dorgdone (Périgod) which is where the movie Ever After took place!! Good thing I love that movie to pieces. I remember when I was young watching it all the time.  Mom took me to the Spaghetti factory and while we were waiting I went to "Toys that Teach" (the most awesome toy store in the world) and bought a little bag of gold stones.  Then when I got home, I reenacted the scene in ever after where she drops her bag of gold coins all over the table and states "I slaughtered them!" I got the accent down pretty well.
I don't have very much to say but I wanted to write anyway because I've been missing my family lately.  I am really glad to have made some great friends on this trip. It's just a bummer because it's not like my plate is overflowing with girl friends... and now that I have them I'll never see them again! Because of the whole mission/marriage/children thing. Luckily one of them (Rachel) lives in the bay area so we will go to San Francisco together this summer and she may come and visit Sacramento. Mom and Dad will love her because she's so smart and speaks French and Portugese and she's quiet and nice. Today we saw castles. AGAIN. I hate château's! I don't even care that I wanted to be a princess for years when I was a kid! I'd be happy if I never saw another one again! Tomorrow we're going to see a cave and walk around an old little city. Oh but cool fact, one of the castles I went to today was the city where Chocolat that film with Johnny Depp that mom and I use to watch together is filmed.  I would recommend reading the book to that movie especially to Tana because it was really good.
Tonight I had mushrooms for an entrée, duck for dinner made in this strange looking salty crunchy bag thing.  Those are foods from this region which is apparently considered the place with some of the best cosine in the world. They're known for foie gras, duck/goose, walnuts and apple cake type things.  Its funny because those are all foods i'm not fond of. Another lesson in how horrible I am at trying new foods/ eating things I don't like!
More later when I have more interesting things to share!
I love you all!

It's a beautiful day in Versailles.

For our final open day this Monday the weather in Paris was fantastic. It was sunny, warm(er), and there were only a few pluffy clouds meandering across the sky.  We took the opportunity to visit the Gardens of Versailles. Since we have horrible luck with timing in France, all the buildings were closed because it was a Monday. Mondays are like weekly holidays in France.  We didn't want to go into the châteaux since that was a disaster last time but we did want to visit the Petit Trianon which was Marie Antoinette's village/house.  We all recently watched the movie with Kirsten Dunst and have gone a little overboard in loving her. Her life was sooo amazing. Just wait until you see her gardens. She had acres to skip gleefully and huge expansive meadows to lay in. Its too bad she lived a short life which ended by her beheading in the name of Revolution. Other than the last part, I wouldn't have minded being the queen of France. First we had a little picnic by the lake in the gardens. This is me lounging with the castle of Versailles in the background

Then we rented bicycles and biked around the property. Stopping to explore secret gates and sit in beautiful meadows dreaming that we were princesses or fairies. 

Today I went to the Musée d'Orsay.  It was so big. In my opinion since the major works are on the 5th floor I would start there so you don't get tired with everything else. Which is definitely possible (and happened to me).  I was a little sad that there was no photographing in the museum. I saw Renoir, Monet, Pissaro, Van Gogh, Degas... it was amazing. My favorite was Degas. Renoir was my least favorite which surprised me.  We also checked out a visiting exhibit about dark romanticism . It was almost as scary as the Palais de Tokyo or the exit from RER C (which is a really long enclosed ramp with cement walls in a basement like setting with graffiti all over, or the time when Savannah's way was blocked by a guy (with a crazy eye mind you) on the streets and we turned and ran.  I got to watch some clips from Dracula and some silent French horror movies though. We saw a play (The Bald Soprano) in French.  Apparently its been running for 50 strait years in France because it was SUCH a hit. I understood a lot but the play is so bizarre that I'm going to go read it in English. This was our little theater. 

also today I ate a snail. 

Monet & Me

Today we headed to Giverny. It was a 1 hour train ride outside of Paris, but so worth it! Especially if you have grown up admiring Monet's artwork!  His gardens are to die for. His house is beautiful and sunny. We watched a video about him in the gift shop. I was surprised to learn that he was manic/depressive.  His mood was also dictated by the weather. Bad weather would drop him into a depression where he wouldn't move for several days. He was also OCD about his flowers. If his children picked the flowers, he would go crazy. We joked that hes probably rolling over in his grave watching thousands of people stream through his gardens each day...
Another crazy fact we learned is that he had a gardener to remove the raindrops from the lily pads each day... I don't even know how that is possible? Did the gardener wade into the water and wear like special gloves to gently brush off the the raindrops clinging to the surface of the garden? any way, here are some pictures.  One picture is in the main garden and the other is in the water garden with my friend Ashley.

Now I want to do a small stint on the Paris Metro... 

Parisian Metro Etiquette

A short guide to navigating the metro like a native 

• The doors to the trams open 3 different ways depending on which line you are riding. More populated lines especially touristy ones (like line 1)  open for you.  Other lines have handles that you swing up (Not down! this is an embarrassing mistake because the door won't open! been there done that...) some have big square buttons that say "push here to open" in french. 
• If the train stops for a long time and no one moves and someone gabs rapidly in french over the intercom, they're probably just saying "sorry for the momentary interruption  be patient, we'll be moving soon." If the train stops and everyone gets out... you'll probably want to follow. 
• Know where your going all the way to your destination before you get on your train. Look for the stops at the end of the lines your taking to know which direction you need to head in since the metro will go both ways.  They're usually signs which list all the stops on the particular line so you can make sure that your right
• Keep you pass ready in your hand when your approaching the entrance area of the metro/changing line/exiting the metro. To get through, you simply drop your pass on top of the purple area until a green light shows and it makes a little binging noise. Push through the turnstiles immediately after or you'll be locked out.  Once you've scanned your pass and not gone through, there is no hope and you are trapped forever. 
• if you want to be french, skip the above bullet and proceed to hop over the barriers or sneak in behind another person. Going underneath is also a viable option. If a cop is watching or there is an information desk in close proximity, who cares! They won't stop you so don't worry about it! 
• If you want to look french while riding, simply grab one of the free newspapers and pretend to read.  Big headphones and dazed stares also work. 
• Feel free to squeeze by people to get to an empty seat if the metro is jam packed. If not, try to sit diagonal or side by side. Avoid sitting directly across. 
• sit strait up in your chair so your knees don't poke into the person across from you/into the aisle/ in the way of the door
• there are chairs right by the doors that you can pull down to sit on.  Its fine to use these unless the metro is standing room only. Then it is polite to stand up so there is more room 
• Don't make eye contact with any of the metro performers. Don't laugh when the accordion players play cheesy french music during your ride. They will know you are foreigners and they will lurk for money. 
• Finally, my personal favorite unspoken role is the usage of the escalators in the stations. Right side is standing, left side is walking. Not all over Paris though. Just in the Metro's. 

Have I mentioned that I love riding the Metro's in Paris? 

I Found a Place Like Home...

.. and its called the mall! haaaa just kidding Dad! But really, we did go to the mall for a little bit today. It was the mall at La Defense.  La Defense is just outside of Paris but is a HUGE contrast to the little city. There are sky scrappers and fast food and 4 story shopping malls.  They're even getting a Chipolte soon. We ate a Mcdonalds today for the first time since getting to Paris. They the best things called Special frites or something (maybe deluxe) which are just yummy potato wedges. They also have a Mccafé inside which sells gourmet hot chocolate, macaroons, croissants and pain au chocolate. They have Minute Maid Orange Juice there too!  

We also went to Saint Chapelle today and La Concierge where Marie Antionette was detained before she was executed. They have beautiful stained glassed windows in the Chapelle chapel. Which, although it is a smaller cathedral, made it more astonishing than Notre Dame in my opinion. Sacre Coeur is still my favorite though. 

Also, my friend Megan and I matched today again. Red dresses for Saint Chapelle! 

A List

I've been a little homesick for all the comforts of home this week so I haven't been as crazy running from monument to monument like the last couple of weeks. We don't have school for the rest of the week though and we have crazy things planed! Saint Chapelle, the Catacombs, Versailles gardens (we're renting bikes!), Giverny, La Defense's huge mall (a girl in our group spotted a Chipolte there!), and the Concierge where Marie Antoinette was detained. We're also going to go sing Karaoke at our favorite bar in Croissy this weekend. Croissy is where me and 6 other girls live. Its a suburb and takes about 30 min to get into Paris. When we don't want to commute but haven't eaten dinner we hit up the most popular bar in our small little neighborhood. The waiters really hate us because we don't drink alcohol. And because I bet everyone else there are regulars. But give us a few more times and they'll love us!

10 Things Paris 

1. Pain au Chocolate is a really great invention.  I could live on that alone.  I'll probably eat croissants with Nutella for breakfast for the rest of my life since those are pretty accessible in America. 
2. Fruit is ridiculously expensive. You want a baguette? Sure! 2 euros. You want a peach? That'll be 4 euros please. 
3. I intensely study Parisian fashion. It consists of dark colors of black, gray, and blue.  Skinny jeans, skinny black jeans and black shorts with black tights/black mini skirts with black tights.  Blazers on top or loose knitted sweaters.  Scarves every single day in silk, cotton or wool.  Converse for young people and ankle boots for all ages. Preferably black ankle boots. 
4. I overheard my host mother singing Gotye's "Somebody that I use to Know" loudly and in a heavy french accent in the kitchen yesterday
5. French people are very private about there houses. We never got a tour of the upstairs. We're not suppose to have friends over. They don't like us to clean our bedrooms they would rather do it for us (yuck). 
6. French people also curse the rain. They hate it. I didn't understand until it rained this week all week... 
7. Everything either closes at 5 pm or midnight. There is no in-between and its extremely frustrating. 
8. I'm pretty sure my friends and I are the loudest people in Paris. Savannah even mentioned that she was pretty sure all French people took sedatives with their morning café. 
9. On free museum night, there was a 3 hour line to get into the museum we wanted to see (The museum of modern art). The subways were packed and the streets crowded. Would that happen in America? no way. 
10. Most french people like Napoleon and are offended if you tell them he was a dictator. Hello he crowned himself emperor? 

Châteaux de la Loire

This week I've settled more in to my home in Paris. We finally got to do our laundry today (the regular setting is for 2 1/2 hours!!!) and I got to catch up on transferring some of my pictures onto iphoto. As soon as I began to feel comfortable with my surroundings, we took a mini trip to the Loire Valley!  Ironic, but it was still enjoyable. I think the reason why most people go to the Loire Valley is for the castles.  Since that is basically all there is. Quaint medieval towns with large expansive castles suddenly appearing out of the green meadows. In France you can find impressive catholic churches and castles in the middle of the smallest, most random towns.  Its a marvel to see history preserved so carefully. We saw 7 castles and by the 6th one I was already making interior decorating decisions, carefully pondering the personal touches I could give to the massive, austere castles.  Mainly because the tours were in french and it was difficult to follow. I made up my own stories.  I know the procession of the Kings is important, but for me I want to hear about the scandals and the murders and the secrets across each moat.  The last castle we visited kept mentioning the kinds well known "favorite mistresses  and how they would have the best rooms and the prettiest things. One king even left his castle to his favorite mistress (Diana)!  But of course the queen won out in the end and gave her a "smaller" castle instead. That must have been a hard blow. No one wants to settle for a less grande castle! Anyway, here is sleeping beauty's castle:

Here is another castle. It was the biggest and set out in the shape of a cross and François 1st later added a separate private royal wing. I highlighted the french flag because it made me think "Viva La France!" 

The coolest part of our trip was actually spending the night in an old small castle from the 12th century. It was converted into a hotel. The lady who owns the hotel said it was haunted by "friendly little ghosts".  Even if you don't believe in ghosts, the attic was not some place I'd want to be alone in. Its open eaves, owl and bird noises, weaving looms, mannequins wearing dresses and creepy old pictures freaked me out. We all wanted to be together so eight of us slept in the same room. I shared a full sized bed with Kiana, two other girls shared a full, there was a twin for one girl and then the last three girls shared a queen! It was so much fun staying up late in the old castle telling stories. This is the best picture I have of our castle room :

It was fun while it lasted, but I'm glad to be home. Tonight is free museum night in Europe so many of the museums in Paris are open for no charge tonight! I'm looking forward to wandering around a modern art museum. I'll end with this awesome picture of an abandoned castle gate opening out to a overgrown meadow (with me in it of course.)

Mes Amies et Moi

France is a whirlwind. This study abroad is flying past me!  I don't have enough hours in the day.  I'm up from 7-1 every day just going to class, seeing the sites, fitting in things I want to do, writing for class, attempting to talk to people back home (the only one who seems to talk to me is Logan which is good but come on family! emails! mom didn't want to skype on mother's day whats up with that!) and doing normal hygienic stuff which takes twice the usual effort. Showers are not worth my time. Also, if someone wants to make a request for a certain type of Paris souvenir... please dit-moi.   Any way, I love it here.  The people are so nice.  I went to church and FHE with the YSA (JA in france) and met lots of french people. I talked to one guy about techno music for like 30 min.  He goes to clubs where they play trance music exactly like the club I went to this weekend. He likes it. I don't understand why. I gave him a recommendation for some American music I like (Made in Heights to be exact) and after he texted me and said "c'est pas mal made in heights!! c'est calme.." and i got excited to get a text in french (made in heights isn't bad, its calm(ing) is what that means).  I'm getting more use to the food.  I might have to go to the doctor tomorrow because Anca is afraid my toe will fall off.  C'est ne pas grave Mom and Dad so don't worry about that! We went to the Louvre today... and it is... big. Thats the one word I have. Well, big and overwhelming. That works too.  The only think I liked was the statue of cupid and psyche, the one I have the poster of hanging up in my room in Provo.  If you have seen my dorm/apartment rooms, I have that scene depicted on my wall. Cupid embracing psyche. The story is the original beauty and the beast! I'm more excited for the musée de Orsay. I feel like I spelt that wrong.  But my mom passed onto me a love of impressionistic art. I love impressionism and modern art.  This weekend we are going to the Loire Valley. Also, I am a master at the Metro.  I love my Paris metro maps/street maps.  I feel so cool planning out my routes and finding streets.  I always look for places to bring my mom and dad when they are here:) love you and I miss y'all!

p.s Also, Alixe.. my nails fell off THE NEXT DAY. Such a rip off! never getting those again! Also, how was Hawaii?

One week down!

I cannot believe it has already been a week.  It literally flew by.  I'm not posting any pictures, because I haven't really taken any important ones in the past 2 days.  We went to Versailles.  It was cool... and huge... but there was so many people there, it almost wasn't worth it. It was so crowded and you moved at a slow shuffle through all the rooms.  The room of mirrors was my favorite.  The chapel for Louis 14th was uncomfortable for me because I just kept thinking about how ridiculous he was squandering all the wealth in France for his own enjoyment and mistreating the people.  He was selfish and I know God was not happy with him. But he built this huge chapel with beautiful gold and paintings on the ceiling.  I didn't get to go in to the gardens because it was freezing cold and we waited in line for so long to get into the building.  I'm going back with Megan in a couple weeks and we're going to rent bikes and ride all over and see Marie Antoinette's house:).  I'm pretty sure the only cool part of Versailles is the garden. And they are so big that making a trip solely for that is fine! Other than that, things have been great.  I don't know if I like French food as much as I thought.  Its just sort of weird.  I love the bread and chocolate and sandwiches.  I love cheese.  I love that they drink a ton of Orange juice.  But every formal sit down meal has been difficult to eat.  We will have a first course with just tomatoes.  Then in the pasta there will be fish, cheese, and some weird swirly vegetable. I won't like the vegetable which is weird because I love vegetables.  I don't like eggplant, and they use that a lot.  Its not that it's gross, It's just too sophisticated for my taste buds.  If I lived here for a very long time, i'm sure I would love it.  My host sister Joan said that he favorite thing to eat in Paris is Sushi!!! I'll have to give it a try. Yesterday we sampled the night life in Paris briefly.  They wear huge heels here!  More like huge formal wedges.  Some wear dresses, some wear nice pants so we all fit in one way or another.   No one goes out here till 1 in the morning.  And no one gets back until 5. The taxi driver was extremely nice and told us to watch out for nice people and don't trust them.  He said that French boys say a lot of "blah blah blah" which i didn't entirely understand because the man was talking in all french. But I think that means they'll just say what you want to hear.  He liked us because we were american and talked to us for a long time in French. I also went to H&M and when the lady said "Combien?" i said "deux" and apparently I said it wrong and she kind of smiled and in english said "two?" and it was upsetting.  I was obviously trying and I obviously understood but I guess I didn't say the world two in french right! Okay, now this is rambling. Pictures tomorrow!
(ok just kidding i forgot i had these. The first is my families garden, the second is my families home!)

Ma Novelle Masion, Famille, et San Malo

It has been a crazy couple of days.  Everything at this point is sort of a very french-like blur.  I can't even speak English anymore!  I don't conjugate my verbs in english and say sentences that don't make sense and my writing is really suffering! So I think this blog is going to get progressively worse each day.   I can't even think of the things that are the most important because EVERYTHING is so new and interesting and vibrant and beautiful and foreign. We met our host families today (ah!) but before that on Monday and Tuesday (Lundi et Mardi) we were in Normandy to see the D-day beaches and the American Cemetery.  My friend Megan and I were talking about how each historic site made us feel a certain way.  The Cemetery was beautiful and peaceful.  My favorite part were the quotes and the white crosses like the picture below.  There are thousands and thousands of white, evenly spaced, pure white crosses.

On the contrary, when we went to the place where the Americans had to scale the cliffs as the germans shot down on them, it really felt evil.  The german hide-a-ways were small and damp and dark and cramped.  The landscape was torn apart by the bombs still. Huge fissures some 15 feet across or bigger.
     On Tuesday we visited Mont St Michel which is a major tourest site and the castle from tangled.  It was cool to see because it is this huge monastery built up in the middle of the ocean to keep it safe from intruders. Our professor got us audio guides all in French. We all laughed because after about the 3rd place we had to play our audio guides we admitted that we really didn't understand anything. So I pretty much know that it was a big Monastery   Which is all I really need to know anyway.  Also, me and three other girls walked in real quick sand! Not the kind that goes fast, but the kind that goes real slow and you don't notice until your up to your knees in muddy sand trying to get a picture.
That night we landed in Saint Malo which is by far my favorite place so far.  Its a small Medieval City where people still live but it has kept all its old buildings and charm. Its in Brittany which is known for being cold and rainy but we lucked out with warm dry weather! Which sort of sucks because all I packed was sweaters!! Saint Malo is also on the beach.

(Yes that photo is just edited to bring out the colors! But the water is literally that beautiful turquoise green) And the people are so nice.  We talked to one old man in his antique shop and he told us we had good french! But I'm sure he was being nice... or creepy and hitting on us.  But I felt bad since we didn't even look at the antiques. It was a little out of price range.  Also Brittany is known for cooking in Butter!  I ate 3 crepes yesterday.  They have this famous crepe with carmel and salt I think and its not super sweet like other crepes but very good.  I bought some caramels with my friend Savannah and they taste like butter! The crepes taste like butter!  The pastries too! I also ate an apple pastry made pretty much purely out of butter.
On a side note. There is a lot of bread here. I eat bread in 3 different forms each meal .
Finally in Saint Malo we ran into these 18 year old (high school seniors basically) who lived right outside the city walls.  We talked to them in French for 3 hours and then we took rides on their motorcycles. Yes. We did. This is Megan with "Martin".  But it doesn't really sound like Martin at all.  Also there was a "Ranon" and a "Pierre-Olivier". Imagine that name!

That van is a little creepy. And was WAY out of place in the tiny French streets.
Just quickly since this post is taking an hour because all the wifi here is so slow and pictures upload in a little under 15 min, I will talk about my host family.  My host parents are at a funeral in the South of France so my host brother and sister came to pick Kiana and I up!  He is 22 and is named Quentin.  She is 14 and named Joan.  We basically had a huge party with 20 of Quentin's friends and his beautiful girlfriend tonight. The 14 year old just left.  The house is tall but still small.  3 stories and we have the basement to ourselves!  We have separate rooms with a bathroom and small kitchen area and access to the washer and dryer. There is a beautiful garden where we spent the whole night.  There is a big  dog. Not small and cute but big and slobbery and VERY energetic.  They named the dog "winston" because that is an English name and its an english dog! I loved that. The rooms are color themed a little bit. The kitchen is the most beautiful thing in the world. Its purple. The dining room is green. I will try to snap secret pictures.  Tonight we ate the grossest food of my life.  It was Ratatouille, "bbq" which is just meat (i'm honestly not sure what type of meat I ate" and a salad with tuna in it.  I didn't know that it was so hard for me to eat strange food!!! I didn't know I was like that because I consider my palate quite adventurous! I tried so hard to swallow the food and think of other things and quickly drink water but it was hard.  I've talked in french for so long today, I can hardly think in any language. They smoked so much .Everyone smokes. All ages. from the age of like 14 up.  They all drink so much too.  Its funny that I don't even drink soda. Not soda, not alcohol, i don't smoke... nothing. They laughed. And asked different ways 5 times.  I was offered Vodka.  And champagne. Tomorrow is a holiday so I think that could have a hand in things. Either way, I excused myself at 10:30 to come in and figure out how to find the RER and the metro and all for class tomorrow! Quentin is so nice. The best host ever and he drew us two adorable little maps of how to get to the train station!!! Ok. So tired. Thats all. This is a very long post.

"Vous êtes ici"

Well I finally arrived in Paris this morning!  It was a long week at home getting reading for my 7 week adventure in Europe.  From finding the perfect messenger bag (which I finally tracked down at Clarks), getting gel nails for the first time (hopefully to last 2 whole weeks without chipping), and cutting my hair EIGHT INCHES, I was ready.  Packing was a pain and I had to leave almost all my books at home including my french to english dictionary, french Rick Steves tour guide book, french Book of Mormon and preach my gospel.  My suitcase had to be 50 lbs. What a pain!

After arriving, we checked into our hotel and the rooms are the smallest little things i've seen! We checked in at 11, but they weren't ready with our rooms. We checked in again at 2 but they still weren't ready.  I was smelling by that point. And I really wanted to shower.  Only one of the 9 rooms was ready so we decided to drop all 20 of our full sized suitcases into a 8 by 8 foot room. It was complete chaos!  in order to avoid jet lag, our professor gave us a detailed itinerary for the days adventures including seeing Le Tour D'Eiffel, Notre dame de Paris, and taking the Metro at least once.  We had many exciting adventures on our first day here.  Here is Savannah, one of my friends here in a boulangerie where we bought yummy sandwiches and croissants

We asked two french people for directions. And they responded so nicely! Of course we (ok not actually me, another one of my friends I was with whoops!) used the magic words! (bonjour madame/monsieur, excusez-moi de vous deranger, mais j'ai une petite probleme...".  Everyone was very friendly! Except the metro lady. Who was scary and scowled at us when we couldn't figure out how to get through the gates with our passes since rubbing them on the machine like everyone else just wasn't working.  Opening the doors for the metro was intimidating too. The metro, in reality, was a fiasco.  I'm excited to move out to the suburbs and live with my host family.  I can't wait to take pictures to post of their house and to give detailed description of each family member!  Everyone here smokes and has dogs.  And wears scarves like they say in all the books! So far, so good.  After all, it is Paris!