More pictures of final weeks in Paris with friends

The beginning of the end

A few weeks ago, I spent a final weekend in Freiburg with Brett. Although Brett had to attend a model E.U. with his study abroad program that weekend, we did lots of things together during the nights. On Sunday, we were even able to spend the whole day together. We both had lots of work to do to prepare for finals and finish up our classes, so I spent most the days studying, though.

My last trip to Freiburg was perfect. We ate Schnitzel twice. We went to our favorite brewery. We went to our favorite beer garden. We also went hiking through the black forest in a downpour. I visited the Danube, which happens to run through Freiburg. I ate lots of pretzels, too. Mostly, it was very relaxing and nice to be in my favorite German city again. I can't really describe the experience, but I think the pictures do it more justice. Freiburg is a wonderful city with lots of hidden corners to explore. I'm so glad I had a chance to visit it so many times.

As I left the train station on Monday morning, I felt I had given Freiburg a proper final goodbye. Rolling into Paris, I felt bittersweet, because I had already started my goodbyes to the places that have been so wonderful to me during my stay here. A few weeks later, now, and I'm sitting in my apartment for the last night. My bags are packed, my finals are finished, and I'm off tomorrow to meet Brett, and then Friday, my mom for a week more of Paris, and then I must leave for the final time.

My friends and I in Paris have been going out a lot lately, since we know that tomorrow everyone will be leaving. I spent last weekend watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle on the lawn in front of Trocadero with a few friends, and the next night I met them in our favorite hang out: St. Michel. Yesterday, we went out to a nice dinner in the Latin Quarter, and tonight we will meet up for one last time, before we say goodbye. Walking the little streets in the Latin Quarter today, I felt so comfortable with all that surrounded me. I've been to most of the restaurants and shops down Rue de la Huchette. I even have a favorite place to buy crepes.

But I'm also ready to leave Paris for new adventures. This summer, I will be in Tuscany, Italy. So look forward to a new blog about my Italia experiences. For now, au revoir, although I will probably update again before I leave Paris for the last time next week.

Leah

A weekend in Normandy and Brittany

Last weekend, I headed to Normandy with my study abroad program to visit Mont St. Michel, and then to Brittany to visit St. Malo. We took a bus from Paris early in the morning to get to Mont St. Michel. The bus ride was supposed to take 3 hours, but it ended up taking closer to 5 hours, because our driver got lost and had to turn around a bunch of times.

When we finally made it to Mont St. Michel, we had lunch at a converted barn. Lunch was just ok; the best part was definitely the apple tart at the end. The whole meal took forever though, we must have been at the restaurant for 2.5 hours eating course after course of food. Finally, we were finished, and made our way over to Mont St. Michel.

Mont St. Michel is a monastery in the English channel. The tides there are extremely strong here. Mont St. Michel itself is an island, but during low tide, it looks like a rock in the desert, because the shore is so far away. When the tide rises, it rises 1 meter per second! It can rise up to 45 feet at high tide.

When we went, it was low tide, and beautiful. We had a guided tour of the monastery, where monks and nuns still live. The abbey itself reminded me of a Spanish mission in southern California with lots of nooks and crannys and gardens and chapels everywhere. The views from the top were magnificent.

After Mont St. Michel, we left for Granville, a small coast town where we stayed for the night. We had dinner at our youth hostel and then a group of us went to a cafe where I had two servings of raspberry sorbet. After that, I was tired, and went to bed early, knowing that we'd be waking up early.

The next morning we left for St. Malo, a town in Brittany, also on the coast. For us being so far north, I was shocked to see that St. Malo's beach looked like the caribbean. The water was crystal clear, there were boats sailing int the distance, the sun was shining just right. The only thing that made it seem unlike the Caribbean was the fact that there was an island with a big fort/castle on it off in the distance. Nevertheless, that town was simply gorgeous.

We had lunch at a cafe, and were served a plate of seafood for our appetizer. We got these huge plates full of crawfish, crab legs, snails, and oysters. I wasn't exactly sure how to eat all of it. I had about 3 different sized forks and then a cracking device. It was quite an adventure. The crawfish looked like they were still alive because their little eyes stared back at me while I tore them apart. It was also my first time trying oysters, which I'm not sure if I'm a big fan because of their snotty texture.

We had to leave shortly after lunch to make it back to Paris at a decent time. So we hopped in the bus for another really long ride. This time, we watched a film called La Vie en Rose about Edith Piaf. It was horribly depressing, just like most every French film I've seen. Today I'm in Freiburg for one last time with Brett, but I'll write more about that later. Next week is my last week in school, and then my mom and Brett are coming to Paris to visit for 10 days. So my time in France is quickly coming to a close. As much as I'll miss France, I'm ready for the next adventure ahead this summer in Tuscany. Stay tuned.

Leah

Spring Break in the Land of Pretzels and Fish and Chips

Brett and I have been hit with a mass of end of the semester homework, and have yet to have a good amount of time to sit down and reflect on the past couple of weeks. Today, even though I don't have much time, I feel I need to update about my adventures in the old world. Two weeks ago was spring break. I went to Freiburg for the week to hang out with Brett, who still had class, then we spent the last weekend in London to visit Brett's friend Fernando, someone he hasn't seen since high school because he was deported to Mexico.

Freiburg was wonderful all week. It was at least 75 degrees and sunny everyday. The city seemed more alive to me than any other time I'd been there. The streets were crowded and noisy with people huddled around the various bratwurst stands and beer gardens. Brett and I spent lots of time outside. We walked to a beer garden on the banks of the Danube river. It was beautiful. Everyone was there with their dogs and their kids. We both had dunckel beers (which we could never pronounce correctly to the point where we just had to say "Dark, please!!") and Brett and I agreed that it tasted like bubble gum. We went grocery shopping at the local Penny Market for our sustenance of bratwurst and spaghetti, and I had some treats that I brought from France (crepe mix, Laughing Cow cheese, and salted butter).

Brett and I tried to go to Baden-Baden for one day, to visit the roman baths there. That proved to be an utter sad failure. We went to the train station to get a ticket and I decided to get a week long regional pass. We talked to a man behind the desk who didn't speak English, but Brett did a pretty awesome job of communicating with him with the little German he has learned. Then we talked to another woman in English, and we were 98% sure that we wanted to buy the regional pass. When we got on the train however, we were in for some bad news. The train conductor who didn't speak English, either told us that my pass didn't work, and he wrote us a citation for 40 euros!!! I was so upset, because I had already payed 40 euros for the regional pass. We got off the train in Offenburg, and talked to a man at the train station. He was the nicest man ever. He said I needed to write Deutsche-Bahn and tell them that I was misinformed about what ticket I was buying. So I wrote a letter, and the man that worked there photocopied all my different tickets and helped me edit the letter so that it was perfect. He said not to forget to say how wonderful the Germans are. Haha. Then he mailed it for us. I was so glad, but I haven't heard from Deutsche-Bahn yet, so I'm still a bit worried. We'll see what happens.

Anyway, after all of that, we decided we had already wasted too much money and went back to Freiburg without ever making it to Baden-Baden. I was really sad, but when we got back to Freiburg we had some really really good ice cream sundaes which cheered me up quickly. That evening, we went to a different beer garden, and then I ran into my French teacher from high school, Mme. Pappas. I knew it was her, and we both smiled at each other strangely, and then she walked away, because I wasn't 100% sure it was her. Later, I emailed her, and she confirmed that it was her! What a small world!

After a wonderful week of pretzels and beer and Brett and I lazing about in various parks, we left for London. We flew into London late at night, and met Fernando at the Liverpool Street train station. Brett and I were so excited to see people speaking English and signs in English, we could hardly contain it. We spent that night with Fernando and his girlfriend Tess at their flat. We met his 6 flatmates, and Brett and Fernando spent most of the evening catching up over the many years they hadn't seen each other. I was sick with a cold at this point, which was a big bummer, so I probably should have been in bed, but I stayed up to talk.

The next morning, we woke up and cooked a big breakfast of potatoes and eggs and listened to lots of Beatles music, and then we went sightseeing. We went to the Tower bridge and walked from there to Big Ben, the London Eye, Shakespeare's globe, along the Thames river, and St. Paul's cathedral. We also stopped in the National gallery for about 10 minutes to see a painting by Michaelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Da Vinci. It was pretty exciting, since I had never seen any of those artists before except for Da Vinci at the Louvre. Afterwards, we met Tess at the bar where Fernando and Tess work and had a beer before running off to a different bar where Fernando's flatmate works and getting free wine, nachos, and chips(fries)!

The next day, we woke up late and walked to Canary wharf. Then we went to get a cheeseburger at a stand near Fernando's flat and while we were ordering we heard a big bang! and then we looked behind and saw a man falling on the sidewalk in front of us. Then one of those big red double decker London buses came screeching to a halt with it's windshield completely smashed. We didn't know what to do, because we didn't know the number for an ambulance in England. Everyone came running off the bus. Finally someone called an ambulance. The man was really in bad shape and he tried to get up even though everyone was trying to keep him down. He immediately collapsed and it was obvious that his legs were broken. They needed towels to soak up the blood, but no one had any, so I gave up my Monterey Bay fleece. We came back about an hour later and the street was completely closed by the police and they even tried to get a helicopter to pick him up. There was a huge crowd watching. We were scared to cross the street for the rest of the day, especially since the cars drive on the left side of the road.

We went to Buckingham Palace after that, and then to Soho and Picadilly Circus. Then we went to a bar that played live music and was actually a lot of fun. Then we went back to the bar where Tess and Fernando work at to pick up Tess, picked up some Chinese on the way back, and then went back to the flat. I was so tired then, and I had to wake up so early, that I just collapsed on the floor to sleep. I was exhausted, and sick, and needed some time to recover. I didn't get any sleep, though, because I had to catch a bus at 4:30 in the morning. Tess, Fernando, and Brett all came with me, they were so awesome. We fell asleep on the bus ride, we could barely keep our eyes open. Then we barely made the bus and we had to run like crazy to get to it. I made it though and flew off to Paris exhausted, and sad that spring break was over. Soon it was back to school and homework, and now the countdown is getting closer to the end of the semester (2 weeks!) and the end of my Parisian adventure. More to come soon about my recent trip to Normandy and Brittany!

Leah

My First Taste of Normandy

On Thursday, I went to the Musee Marmottan with my art history class. The Musee Marmottan has some of Claude Monet's best works. It has his painting Soleil Levant Impression, the first impressionist painting, in which the term was coined. It also had a fairly good collection of his waterlily series.

We went there mostly to talk about Soleil Levant, because a few people in my class had to give a presentation on it. Getting to the museum was quite an adventure. We had to take the metro, which we often do for this class, but this time, our class hopped on the train, and our professor got confused and hopped off, and the doors slammed closed on her, leaving her on the platform. It was very funny, but our class was very confused as to what to do, so we all hopped off at the next stop hoping she'd take the next train. When the next train came, a friend of mine and I walked down past each car to see if she was in it, and while we were looking, the class saw her in another car and hopped in with her. We turned back and saw ourselves now stranded on the platform as the rest of the class rolled away.

Finally, we took the next train, and met them at the next station, and finally we all went together to the museum. The walk to the museum was gorgeous. I noticed that the leaves on the trees are now sprouting and the flowers are in bloom. April in Paris is magnifique! It has also been 65 degrees and sunny all week! I love it.

The museum itself was beautiful, too. It was just a house, very quiet and small, but with some of my favorite artwork. After class, a couple of friends and I wandered around closely examining the Monet paintings. I especially liked the ones he painted when he got cataracts and could barely see. Seeing all of those colors in one painting was like eating an expensive piece of chocolate very slowly.

The next day, I went with my study abroad program on an excursion to Giverny and Rouen. In Giverny, we visited Monet's garden. Although it was kind of cold in Normandy, the garden was still beautiful. I also got to look around in Monet's house, which reminded me a lot of Hemingway's house in Key West. Monet's house was a beautiful country cottage, that I would have loved to live in in the summer time. I could imagine long slow days lazing in the garden, watching the ripples grow in his waterlily pond.

We had lunch at a very country French restaurant. I had the best apple pie ever.

Afterwards, we drove to Rouen, where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and where Monet painted his Cathedrale de Notre Dame series. I loved Rouen. All of its buildings were timberframed. It was the quaintest little city, but also a very happening place. It was definitely my favorite small French city I've visited yet. We didn't spend much time in Rouen, unfortunately, as we had a guided tour of the city, then had to leave for school, because it was a long drive back to Paris. I would like to return to Rouen sometime and spend a long day sitting at a cafe people watching. If I could paint, I'd love to paint the streets and the shops.

After a long drive, we arrived back in Paris, and I went home for some spaghetti dinner (yum!). Then, my friends called and invited me to the Eiffel Tower to watch it twinkle at 10. Of course, it all sounded so romantic, so I had to go. We were just under the Eiffel Tower, when all of the sudden the lights burst out like fireworks, flickering all over. Brett and I have spent hours watching this phenomenon, but it never gets old for me. We then bought an ice cream cone, because it was so warm, even at 10, and laid out on the grass waiting for the next hour to come and the Tower to twinkle again. While we sat, I got out my cards and we played rummy, BS, and Egyptian Rat Screw. It was a lot of fun, and I felt like it was the 4th of July, the weather was so warm, and there were so many people there. After it finally twinkled again at 11, we left. I came home and went to sleep, so I could wake up today to go to the Our Bodies exhibit at the science center. It's been touring around the world, and Bri recommended I go, so I'm going to check it out with a friend.

Tomorrow, I am having brunch with a French friend that I met from the International club. We got together last weekend for amazing hot chocolate and then we got together again for lunch (I had rabbit!) last Wednesday and tomorrow we are going to have brunch at the student cafe. She doesn't speak very good English, and I don't speak very good French, so we are practicing on each other. She speaks English to me, and I respond in French, and then we correct each other. It's all pretty exciting, and hopefully, I'll finally improve my speaking skills.

Next weekend, I'm off to Freiburg for a whole week with Brett, because it is spring break!

A Bientot!

Leah

Champagne for the day

Yesterday, I went to Reims, France to go Champagne tasting with my friend Giovi. We took a morning train and met at the metro station before heading off to the train station. We got on the metro together and waited and waited and realized that it wasn't going anywhere. There had been a problem at the next metro stop, and so they were waiting for it to clear up. So Giovi and I kept waiting. Almost 20 minutes went by and the metro still wasn't moving. I was getting restless so I was looking at my train tickets, and realized that I forgot my youth discount card. Without it, I might have had to pay full fare, which would have probably been over 50 euros! So I decided that I needed to go back to my house; luckily the metro still hadn't gone anywhere. Giovi and I ran and ran back to my apartment, because now it was getting late and we were worried about making our train.

We finally made it to my apartment, huffing and puffing, I ran upstairs and grabbed the card, then we ran and ran back to the metro station. Fortunately, the metro was moving again, but we didn't know if we would be able to make our train. We were super worried. Eventually, we got off and transfered at another metro station, running and running and huffing and puffing. Then it was only 4 stops to the train station. At the train station, we just hopped on a car as quick as we could, and we made it with 5 minutes to spare! It was quite an adventurous morning, but the mishaps didn't stop there.

When we got to Reims, we went to the Notre Dame where every king in France was crowned and where Joan of Arc convinced Charles VII to crown himself even though the king of England sort of ruled France at that time. There were a bunch of monuments of Joan of Arc, and the cathedral itself was extremely old. Clovis, the first king of the Franks was crowned there in the late 400s. So we wandered around the cathedral a bit, then went to the Palais du Tau where they had a bunch of statues from the cathedral and also some robes and crowns that the kings wore. It was actually pretty interesting, and I understood a lot of it, because I've been taking the History of France.

After that, we wandered around Reims not sure what to do. We looked in our tour guide and found a museum dedicated to the end of WWII, because apparently they signed a treaty in Reims to end WWII in Europe. We walked and walked and walked trying to find this museum, and then when we got there it was closed. So that was that, and we walked back to town for lunch. We headed to a cafe determined to have some champagne with lunch, but all the champagne cost over 15 euros for a glass. So I just had water. There was a curious thing on the menu at this cafe. Raw ground beef! I saw lots of people order it, and the person sitting next to me had the waiter put a raw egg over his raw beef. It was disgusting; it couldn't be sanitary. I wanted to throw up looking at that.

After lunch, we went on a hunt for Mumm's or Tattinger's champagne cellars. We walked, got lost, walked some more, got more lost, walked and walked, asked people where to find the cellars and never found them! Apparently they were kind of out of town, and it was too far to walk. We found a couple of cellars that we asked to take a tour of, but they said they didn't have public tours running. So our whole plan was ruined. By this time, it was late in the afternoon and we had to go home. We were so disappointed that we never actually tasted Champagne in Champagne, that we bought some mini bottles of "sparkling wine" at the grocery store and sat on a park bench and toasted. It was sad. But all in all, it was a pretty adventurous day, and we got some good pictures, too!

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to go back to Strasbourg to meet Brett for the day, but we don't know if that will work out, because there is a NATO summit there and apparently there are some dangerous protesters and rioters planned to be there. I think that the public transportation will be significantly reduced, and because we're concerned about our safety, we probably will have to cancel. It makes me sad, but I don't want to be in the middle of a riot! I'm going to the train station today to see if I can get a last minute ticket to Freiburg and bypass Strasbourg. I'll be crossing my fingers, because it's a stretch to get last minute train tickets.

Leah

More Pictures of Scotland

By yon bonny banks

Last weekend was simply wonderful. It started with a picnic on Friday afternoon in a park near my house. I got together with some friends from school and we took advantage of the beautiful, absolutely gorgeous warm weather we've been having lately. Yes, spring has sprung in Paris, it has been warm and sunny, and the leaves on the trees are just beginning to bud. Before heading to the park, I stopped at the boulangerie for a ham and cheese baguette and my very first macaroon. A macaroon is a crunchy cookie-esque thing with creaminess in the middle. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it is the best way I can explain it. They come in lots and lots of flavors, and I chose pistachio. It was delicious; sweet, crunchy, and creamy.

The next day I left for Glasgow. I flew with Ryanair, which was a very strange experience because it is a budget airline, and by making up for their low fares, they spend the whole flight trying to sell you food and other random things. Kind of strange, but the flight wasn't too long, and soon I was in Scotland!

I hopped off the plane, and had to go through a special wing of customs, because I wasn't from the E.U. I had to fill out a paper about my intentions in the U.K. and then I had to talk to the border control woman, who was actually very nice and gave me a beautiful stamp on my passport from Scotland.

After that, I hopped on a train that I hoped was headed into Glasgow. After we started rolling through the green country side, the conductor confirmed that we were headed for Glasgow, and I bought a 3.50 pound ticket and watched beautiful Scotland roll by. The countryside was gorgeous. Even though the train ride was only about 20 minutes, I saw some magnificent ocean views. It was just how I had imagined Scotland: green hills covered in sheep rolling towards the ocean.

When I got off the train, and into Glasgow, I had already fallen in love with the city. Lots of people had told me that it was an industrial city, one to miss, but I think it has lots of character. It reminds me a little of Oliver Twist. Very beautiful old sandstone buildings, but also a smoky industrial demeanor. It was very down to earth, and just the right size.

I decided at the last minute to do a mini homestay in Glasgow called couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is a website to hook up people who have houses in various cities to people that need a place to crash. I learned about it in my Rick Steve's Europe guide book, and of course I had to trust Rick's good advice. On couchsurfing, you choose who you want to stay with, and the hosts and guests are verified with references. I chose two girls in Maryhill named Sarah and Vicky. On Saturday afternoon, I caught a bus to their flat and was greeted warmly by Vicky. She was born in England, but moved to Scotland when she was only 4, so she had a very Scottish accent. She is currently in nursing school. We couldn't talk long, because she had to ride her bike to meet Sarah at a food market, because Sarah had bought too much to carry home.

Sarah and Vicky eventually returned and we had curry for dinner. Sarah is from New Zealand, but her dad is British so she got a British passport and is now working in Glasgow. She had a wonderful New Zealand accent, and was super friendly. After we ate dinner, Sarah took me out to a bar to meet some other people from couchsurfing. We got kind of lost in town, and it took us a long time to get to this bar. Sarah pointed out interesting Glasgow sights along the way (the oldest house built in the 1400s, a beautiful cathedral, George Square). When we finally made it to the bar, the couchsurfing meeting was over! So we just got a beer and talked. I taught Sarah some French, and since she knew a wee bit of German, she taught me some. She told me about how she hitchhiked all over Ireland and recommended I go there someday. She also told me the story of her love affair with a boy named Francois, that she met while camping, and how she wanted to learn some French to better understand him. At the end of our drink, I was tired and needed to go to bed because I was to get up early the next morning. Sarah was going to a party at her friend's house, so we went our separate ways, and I hopped on the bus back to the flat.

I had borrowed Vicky's keys and I guess was a bit disoriented on returning back to the flat and forgot which door was theirs. I was pretty sure I was at the right door, but the key wasn't working, so I just tried to turn the handle. It opened, and I walked inside, but everything looked different. I walked down the hall a bit to see an old man getting up from his recliner, and realized I was not in the right flat! So I told him I was sorry a million times, then found the girls' flat and slunk off to bed completely embarrassed!

The next morning, I woke early to catch a 9am bus tour of Loch Lomond, the Trossachs, and Stirling castle. There is a time difference between Paris and Glasgow, Glasgow is an hour behind, and my phone did not change according to the time difference. I didn't realize this, and so I woke up an hour too early, and couldn't figure out why the bus was an hour late to pick us up, until someone finally told me that I had the wrong time. I suppose it worked out ok, because I treated myself to an early morning tour of Glasgow and a big cup of coffee from Starbucks.

There were 11 people in our tour, 6 of which were a bunch of women celebrating mother's day. I guess mother's day in the U.K. happened to be that day. I thought it was weird that there are different mother's days across the world. Sarah later told me that mother's day in New Zealand happened in the fall.

The tour guide was jolly and had more than a wee Scottish accent. We drove from Glasgow, and he told us about how Scotland doesn't have a big population and some more interesting facts about Glasgow. Soon we were headed out of town and over the River Clyde towards Loch Lomond.

We stopped in a town called Luss where we got out and I walked along the banks. First, I had to go to the restroom, and while in the restroom, a girl was calling for help from one of the stalls. She was trapped in the stall! I ended up having to kick the door in to get her out. When she finally got out, we both were laughing, and she told me how happy she was that I freed her. I walked with her down to the lakeshore, and she took a picture of me finally standing on the bonny banks. It was gorgeous. The lake was surrounded by grassy hills that came and went with the morning mist. The water was calm and I saw kayakers and fisherman quietly sitting on the lake. I walked through the sand a bit to a dock where I saw more great views of the lake, and then wandered into a tiny shop where I bought some souvenirs.

I returned back to the bus a bit early and talked to the bus driver a bit. I told him I was studying in Paris and he asked if I had met a lot of snobby lads there. I told him I'd met a few, and soon everyone had returned and we were off again for our next destination. The next stop was another tiny town with only a general store and a bar. We stopped there so that we could take a cruise of Loch Lomond. It cost extra money so I opted out and decided I'd take advantage of the tiny town experience. I was the only one who didn't go on the cruise. I took a walk down a hiking trail and ended up at the Loch Lomond boat launch. There was a big steamboat there and with a rainbow hanging over it in the mist. It was beautiful.

It was so quiet and peaceful, and I stayed there for a while listening to the pitter patter of tiny waves coming in. Soon, I walked back to the town, bought some postcards at the general store, and had a coffee at the bar. It was the first time in Europe that coffee was actually affordable; about the same as American, and this cup even came with a free shortbread cookie. While sipping my coffee, I spent a long time writing postcards about my experience. After an hour or so, I returned to the bus, and we left for lunch. I ate at a restaurant ham with broccoli, potatoes, and a scotch meat pie. The best part was the scotch meat pie, by far, and it reminded me of eating them at home for a quick lunch. I wandered into a store near the restaurant where there were shelves and shelves of shortbread cookies. In the corner, there was a fancy whiskey section where they were conducting free tastings. Even though I don't like whiskey, I figured I was in Scotland so I should try it. I chose a bottle called Loch Lomond whiskey. It was horrific. It tasted like burnt motor oil. I drank half a sip and then secretly threw the rest out in the nearest garbage can. I then saw a wall of shot glasses that had various "clan" names on them. I found the Smith clan and took a picture. I then found a book about the Smith clan and their place in Scotland. I wanted to buy it, but it was too much money, and so I just took another picture. I then returned to the bus, and was off to my next destination: the Trossachs

The Trossachs are a group of hills near Loch Lomond that mark the beginning of the highlands. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs is the first Scottish national park. The national park is not like the parks in America. There is a lot of open land and wildlife, but unlike America, people live in the park and there are vast fields of sheep dotting the hills. This national park is also kind of strange because it has mountains, freshwater lochs, and saltwater lochs! I think that is so strange. There ares some lochs in this park that have seals and crabs living in them, but the loch itself looks the same as a freshwater loch like Loch Lomond. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see these other lochs because they were a bit out of the way. But the trossachs were still quite beautiful.

The route was very windy, because we were starting to get into the mountains a bit, and I felt ready to throw up. I think this was a combination of the disgusting whiskey I sipped and the windy ride. Meanwhile, the driver was busy telling us the story of the Trossachs and how Rob Roy used to roam this area stealing cows. He said that he would steal people's cows and then when they found him to get the cows back, he told them they would have to pay. If they did pay, he'd give back their cows, and then follow them down the road until they got tired and "took 40 winks", and he would steal the cows again. If they didn't pay him, he would slit their throat and take the cows into town to sell them. He sounded like quite a brutal Scot.

Finally we stopped, and I was able to take a breather. There was another rainbow over the hills in the distance! I think that Scotland is the land of rainbows, not Ireland or Hawaii. We only stopped for a few minutes which was just enough for me to get some fresh air and feel better. We continued down the road past more sheep and even a highland cow, and soon we had arrived in Stirling.

Stirling is a very very old town. It is the town that most people know from Braveheart. The driver told us about William Wallace and the wars against the English and all sorts of history I won't bore you with. I found it all extremely interesting, of course.

The castle was beautiful. It is set on a volcanic rock and overlooks a vast part of central Scotland. Of course, I took lots of pictures. The castle itself was like Camelot. Nothing like the castles in France. It reminded me of a chess board, with it's big rooks anchoring down the corners.

I walked around the castle a bit, taking lots of photos, then wandered into an old cemetery. It was very beautiful and I stayed there for a while watching the wind blow by and the sun move over the Scottish skyline. When I was ready to leave, I saw another little shop and walked in to find more Smith clan souvenirs. Each Smith clan object had a crest on it that said "Touch not the cat but a glove". I can't for the life of me figure out what that means.

It was getting late now, and we returned to the bus and headed back to Glasgow. I talked to an Australian on the bus about the differences between Australian gas prices and American gas prices and the differences between the "uni" in Australia and the university in America. Soon we were back again, and I was so satisfied with a wonderful whirlwind tour of Scotland. I loved how much open space and quietness there was in Scotland. Not like the bustling city with sketchy men peeing in the corner of the metro station. The air was so fresh and crisp in Scotland, I didn't want to leave. I wanted to all of a sudden become a shepherd, buy a few sheep dogs, and live on a green hillside for the rest of my life. But alas, it was time to return to reality.

In Glasgow, I went to Borders, and then to KFC (there's lots of American franchises in Glasgow!) to get a drink, then took the bus back to the flat. Sarah and Vicky were so nice and cooked me some more curry for dinner. They also whipped some cream and put it on a bowl of fruit for dessert. It was delicious, and I'm so grateful for their hospitality. We talked for a while, but I had to go to bed really early to wake up early enough to catch my flight. The next morning, I left quietly and returned back to Paris just in time for class. The city of Paris was the same loud crowded place, and it felt so foreign being back in the land of French speakers. But I adjusted back quickly, and now am fully recovered and in French mode again. Speaking of which, I have a chunk of cheese and a baguette calling my name...

Until next time,

Leah

Happy Birthday, Mom, and a much needed update...

Two weeks have gone by, and I have not updated. I'm sorry about that, but I've found myself deep in the trenches of homework and midterm exams. In fact, as I write this, I am looking at a mound of books and papers I need to study for my exams this week. I haven't had much time for anything lately, and hopefully soon, the work will settle down, and I'll be able to enjoy Paris again!

That doesn't mean I haven't been having my fair share of fun. The weekends have been crammed full of fun meeting Brett in interesting places. Two weekends ago, we met in Basel, Switzerland, a town right on the border of France and Germany. Unfortunately, everyone spoke German there, so I wasn't able to practice my French. Brett and I agreed that Basel wasn't that much different from the rest of the Rhine region, and besides for the yummy Swiss chocolate, Switzerland proved to be much too expensive. So we left for Freiburg and I decided to spend Saturday and Sunday night at Brett's apartment.

Freiburg was not as crazy as the last time I saw it. The Mardi Gras Karnival had wound down to an end and now it was a much quieter town. Brett and I visited our favorite eating places. We went to Martinsbrau brewery and had some beer, stopped at the bakery and got a pretzel, went to the grocery store and bought bratwurst...On Sunday night, we decided to go out to eat because I realized that Brett had never had a German dinner in a German restaurant! So Brett and I checked out a place walking distance from his apartment that was very quaint. There was one other party dining there and they laughed at us and barked German. We didn't really know what they were saying or what was going on. After we ordered our Schnitzel, we realized that they didn't take credit cards, so we only had enough money for one plate of Schnitzel. It ended up being ok, because the plate was pretty filling, but it was pretty silly that we were splitting one plate for dinner.

After dinner, Brett took me to Hemingway bar where Hemingway's son hung out when he was in Freiburg. Kind of a bizarre theme, but of course Brett had to check out anything connected to Hemingway. It was decorated with pictures of Hemingway and the bathrooms made bird sounds. We got a nice bowl of pretzles to go with our drinks, so I think we will return to this bar over spring break.

So another week went by and then Brett came to Paris again. We just got a hotel room in the business La Defense district and took it really slow. We walked around La Defense and decided they must have filmed Back to the Future II here, because it looks just like that town. I was waiting for the hovercrafts to sweep over our heads...or at least the DeLorean. One strange thing about La Defense is that although it is a crazy future town with big sky scrapers and no road in between, there is a great view of the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysee. It kind of looked like we were peering into the past from 2050.

On Friday night, we went to my friends' apartment for an American breakfast for dinner party. Their host family was skiing in the Alps, so they had some friends over for this get together. It was delicious!! We had bacon, potatos, eggs, and pancakes. It was hard for them to find all of the ingredients for this, since the French breakfast is usually a croissant and a cup of tea. We even had maple syrup with our pancakes, which proved to be quite a delicacy, because the bottle of Aunt Jamima cost 10e and it was on sale from 12.

Brett and I spent the rest of the weekend sleeping in, watching French game shows where everyone won an encyclopedia, and watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle over and over again from our hotel room window. Soon the weekend, ended and I had serious study time for my midterms. Now, the studying continues! Next weekend, off to Scotland!

Leah

The Most Beautiful Day in Paris

Last week was riddled with homework and endless trips to the Louvre for my art history class. We are studying classicism and neo-classicism right now, and went to see the works of David on Thursday. I also went there on my own to gather information for a paper I had to write about Nicolas Poussin. I've been there three times now, and have yet to see the Mona Lisa. I have to do that.

Thursday was really exciting, because Brett came to Paris with his study abroad program. I met him at his hotel room Thursday evening, and we tried to see Gran Torino, but I got lost (as usual) and couldn't find the movie theater, and we accidentally missed the show. Instead, we went to the Seine to walk from Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris to the Notre Dame. It was a beautiful night, and the sky was crisp and clear. We walked to the Notre Dame and ogled at the creepy gargoyles staring out into the black Parisian sky, then wandered back to the Latin Quarter where we went to a jazz club that used to be a dungeon from the middle ages. The music was good, but the place was packed and we couldn't get a seat anywhere. It was just a tiny musty cave with a ton of people from wall to wall.

After the jazz club, we ended up wandering around some more and then we had to take our public transportation back to our separate places for the night. The next day, Brett had a bunch of lectures and class stuff to go to, and I slept in and lazed around in the apartment for most of the day. I decided to buy plane tickets to Glasgow, in order to go on a big adventure to Loch Lomond for a weekend. The tickets cost me 10e round trip through RyanAir. I'm heading there at the end of the month, and will be sure to report back with lots of pictures of the bonny bonny banks.

Friday afternoon, I went to the Galeries Lafayette again to try on some really expensive perfume. I was really just killing time to meet up with Brett, and he called at about 4:30. I met him at his metro stop again, and we went to a hotel that we rented for the night. It was a really nice 4 star hotel that Brett got on Priceline.com for dirt cheap. It wasn't in the most happening area, but the room was really nice; much better than our vagabond hostel last time. The only trouble we had was that the hotel was a chain, and we accidentally tried to check in at the wrong hotel. The first hotel we went to was near the Eiffel Tower and actually really close to my apartment. When they couldn't find our reservation, I was really worried. We finally had to look up Brett's confirmation email on their computer, and found out we were at the wrong hotel altogether. So we left and trekked it to the other one, which took forever on the metro.

I feel like I spend the better half of each day on the metro, so when I get days off, I tend to stick very close to home, to avoid getting sucked into that underground abyss. I'm starting to get pretty familiar with the subway. I know that at one stop, there happens to be a lot of blind people with canes or guide dogs. I suppose there must be a school near here, because I don't think I've gone a day in Paris without seeing a blind person. I talked to my friend the other day about how wheelchair inaccessible this city is. It would be impossible for someone in a wheelchair to take the metro, which would delegate them to the bus, and I don't think that is even accessible. I never saw a person in a wheelchair in Paris, until yesterday when Brett and I saw a troupe of retirees wheeling over to the Eiffel Tower. I actually got a little excited to see my first wheelchair in Paris.

Anyway, I digressed. Brett and I made it to our hotel room, then left and tried to find dinner nearby. This was incredibly difficult, because I wasn't familiar with any of the metro stops near our hotel. I just took us to random places hoping there would be food there. First we went to the Place de la Concorde, where Marie Antoinette and other nobles had their heads chopped off in the street. No food there. Then we went to the opera, with it's golden winged angels resting on each corner. No food there, but we were tired of the metro, so we walked down a street near the opera and finally found a grocery store. There, we bought some ham and cheese sandwiches, a baguette, some laughing cow cheese, champagne, and chocolate. It was all very Parisian.

After eating our dinner on a park bench, finishing with the baguette and cheese, we went to Trocadero, a pristine viewpoint of the Eiffel Tower. We sat there drinking our champagne and eating our chocolate and watched the Eiffel Tower twinkle, as it does every hour on the hour. It was exciting waiting for the little lights to twinkle. I felt like it was the fourth of July. When they started to twinkle, everyone around us gasped and said "oooooh". It was a magical experience.

The next morning, we slept in, then we left for an open air street market to buy a picnic lunch. We went to a boulangerie(bakery), charcuterie(butcher), a fromagerie(cheese shop), and my favorite, a fish market. The fish market had a huge head of a marlin, or swordfish, I'm not sure which, in the front. After I saw that, I had to go inside. Brett and I saw lobsters on the counter still moving their legs, and tons of large dead fish spread out over ice staring up at us. I looked to the other side and saw a bucket of escargot that cost 60e/kilogram. I thought that was just a bit too pricy.

At the fromagerie, Brett and I stepped inside really quickly to "smell the feet of angels" as Rick Steves put it in his tourbook I bought. But to me, even the feet of angels still smelled like feet, so we left there quickly and headed to the grocery store to find the laughing cow cheese. We had no success for the cheese, but we did run into a crazy old French man who talked our ears off, and I had no idea what he was saying, so I just said "oui, oui, oui" and laughed along when he laughed.

After Brett and I bought all the food for our picnic, we left Rue Cler searching for a good picnic spot. Voila! Around the corner, the Eiffel Tower was in plain sight calling us to its base. So we picnicked in the Champs de Mars, under the Eiffel Tower. It was the most beautiful day I've seen in Paris. The sun was shining, and there were no clouds in the sky. It was warm enough to not wear a coat. It was the first time I saw people on the lawn of the Champs de Mars, and there were lots of people picnicking and laying in the sun. Brett and I watched a baby waddle around trying to play badminton with some adults.

Our picnic lasted a long time. We were there for at least an hour and a half. Probably two hours. We ate and ate and ate. First, ham and cheese sandwich(but Brett had chicken), and fresh tomato soup. Next, we had a baguette and the rest of our laughing cow from the night before. Afterwards, we had our fancy desserts that we bought at the boulangerie. I got a delicious raspberry tart, and Brett got a pudding filled donut called a divorce. Kind of a funny name, but still a delicious dessert.

After the picnic, we went to Montmartre to climb the Sacre Coeur, and check out the old windmills. Montmartre used to be an agricultural area, and there are still two remaining windmills that used to grind corn and wheat. The Moulin Rouge is not one of these windmills. That cabaret does have a windmill connected to it, but it isn't functional and is purely for decoration. The Moulin de la Galette was one of the windmills. That was turned into a cabaret at the turn of the century, and Renoir painted a famous work there: "Bal au Moulin de la Galette".

After wandering the crowded streets up to the Sacre Coeur, Brett and I walked through the gloomy cathedral, then lounged on the grass admiring the view from the top of the city. We took a tram back down the hill and went to a cafe to get some really expensive espressos, and so Brett could write a postcard to his sister. We stayed at the cafe for a long time playing war with my deck of cards. I was so close to defeating Brett, but then he came up from behind and took me for all I was worth. It was a sad day of war for me.

Next, it was getting dark, and we hopped on the metro to the Latin Quarter to take a walking tour from my tour guide cards. The walking tour wasn't the most exciting, because it was supposed to be a window shopping tour and all the shops were closed for the night. We cut the tour short, and headed over to St. Michel for dinner. Unfortunately, the place I had in mind for dinner jacked up their prices for some reason, and we ended up quitting that scene and having kebabs for dinner. It was cheap, but good, and we ate on the banks of the Seine again. Another exciting weekend with Brett, and soon he was off again for Germany. I said my goodbyes, and he boarded the metro back to his hotel for the night.

Today, I spent the whole day doing homework. Lots and lots of homework. What a drag, but it has to get done sometime. Tomorrow is the beginning of another busy week, and then Saturday I'm going to Basel, Switzerland for the day to meet up with Brett again and explore another little city.

Leah

German Craziness

Last weekend, I went to Freiburg, Germany to visit Brett. It was a crazy weekend, because they were celebrating "Karnival" which is connected to Mardi Gras somehow and is also a pagan political protest. Very very strange. Anyway, Brett wrote a wonderful blogpost about our experience, and I will attach the link here:

http://einamerikanischer.blogspot.com/2009/02/freiburger-karnival-for-leah.html

Be sure to check out the movie at the end; Brett is a master at film making.

Leah

New International Friends and a Valentine's Day in Strasbourg

Parisians are very difficult people to convince. That is my lesson I've learned from the past week. Most of my days have been consumed lately by trying to get train tickets to visit Brett in Germany and France. This has proved to be impossible, impossible, impossible.

My struggles started when I found out that I need to reserve a seat to use my railpass. Next, I found out it is impossible to do this online, so I had to go to the train ticket store to reserve a seat. At the train store, I stumbled around in my French trying to tell them I need to get to Freiburg (they pronounce it Free-burg, for some reason). After a long confusing conversation with them, I decide to purchase tickets to Free-burg, and reserve a seat to Strasbourg for last Sunday. "Impossible, impossible, impossible" they said. Apparently, there is only one car on every French train reserved for railpass holders and once that car fills up, there is no chance my railpass will work. They love to say the word "impossible". After demanding that I get to Strasbourg this weekend using my railpass, not leaving the desk after they say "impossible", and coming nearly to tears in their office, they look one more time and find a seat for me. It is a crazy system they have where at one moment, there is nothing available, but the next moment, there are plenty of seats.

So I got my seat to Strasbourg after over an hour arguing in the train store. Unfortunately, I would arrive there Sunday at 3pm, and have to leave at 8pm. But, Brett and I decided that we'd still have fun even though I only had a few hours in Strasbourg. My first time on the high speed bullet train was exciting! I actually got to see some French country side and the woman speaking next to me was very eager to speak French to me. The trip passed quickly; it was only about 2 hours.

Brett was standing at the platform in Strasbourg with a rose for Valentine's day. We went to the river in town that lines the German style architecture on the streets and had some champagne on a bench. After, we went to a cafe, then wandered around town. Because it was Sunday, it was a bit quiet, but still a charming little city. We saw a massive cathedral with a man playing guitar in front of it. The cathedral reminded me of the detailed walls of the Notre-Dame, complete with gargoyles and gothic looking people. After walking around, we went to a restaurant and had steak-frites (steak and french fries). It was a delicious dinner, and I was shocked to see how "cheap" everything was in Strasbourg compared to Paris.

After my few hour adventure with Brett, I had to hop on the TGV back to Paris. I brought the rose all the way back with me and it is sitting on top of my dresser. I arrived in Paris at about 10pm, and slept in yesterday because my earliest class was at 2:15.

Yesterday, after class, I went to the movie theater with a Paris international club that I joined. It is for young people that are from different countries. It was my first time out with the club, and I have to say it was a very fun time. We saw the film Eden a L'Ouest, about an illegal immigrant from Greece trying to get to Paris. I really enjoyed it. At the end, he traveled through Paris, and went by all the places I've been the last few weeks.

As a side note, speaking of films, Gran Torino has made it to Paris! The poster is all over the subway stations and pretty much any open wall. It doesn't open until the end of the month, but I think I should go to see it again, just because I can. I can't believe a little piece of Michigan is in Paris.

Anyway, after watching the film yesterday, I went with the club to a cafe to chat in French. We stayed there for 3 hours! I met an Austrian, someone from Sevilla, Spain, a Parisian, and an Italian. We all spoke in our mangled French and it was really a fun experience. They were all in Paris for different reasons, some for work, some for school. I enjoyed their company, and felt like a true world citizen with so many different countries at one table. I also think the experience helped my confidence in French, because tonight at dinner with my host family, I found myself speaking more fluidly. I'm pretty sure I'll go out with the club often, because it really helps me to perfect my French.

I had another wonderful dinner with my host family tonight. The Bexons like to hunt, which reminds me of Michigan and its many hunters. They were telling me about the animals they saw while hunting, but I didn't understand most of the words they were saying, and they didn't know how to translate the specific animal words in English. So M. Bexon tried to draw what they were describing and it turns out he has horrible drawing skills. I had no idea what he drew. It looked like a kiwi bird, but it also looked like Big Bird from Sesame Street. So we remained for the rest of the evening lost in translation...

Tomorrow, I'm going with my art history class to the Louvre for my first time. I'm pretty excited. We are going to see an exhibit by Nicolas Poussin, who is supposedly the leader of classicism. It should be interesting, and I'll have to update everyone about the experience.

This weekend, I'm traveling again, oh goodness! I'm going to Freiburg to see Brett, again. It's so lucky that we get to see each other so often, but also I still have time to see everything in Paris. I'm spending spring break in Freiburg just hanging out with Brett. We decided not to travel to save money, and I'm going to get a small regional pass to see the area around Freiburg in Germany, Switzerland, and France. As for other travel plans, I've been seriously considering a weekend trip to Loch Lomond, because I found a really affordable ticket there. It's kind of crazy, but I really want to see Scotland, because it is the homeland.

Well, time for bed. I have to wake up early tomorrow to do homework and get a youth pass to the Louvre. Until next time...

Leah

Brett Arrives in Paris!

I'm sorry this update is so late, but I finally started classes and have been very busy! Also, last weekend was really busy because Brett came to visit me in Paris. He came on Friday, and left Sunday. On Friday, we went to my homestay to cook lunch and Brett met Mme. Bexon who doesn't speak any English, so I had to do some translation (but kept forgetting to clue Brett into what Mme. Bexon was saying). Anyway, she told us that it was supposed to snow on Saturday, which I couldn't believe because it was such a beautiful sunny day on Friday...

After lunch, Brett and I had to walk around the 16th a little bit to kill some time because it was too early to check into our hostel. We went to a bakery and split a tart while we sat on a bench and people watched. The time passed quickly, and soon, we were on the Metro headed for the Bastille, where our hostel was located. I forgot to pack a map of Paris, so when we got of the Metro, I just had to randomly ask people where the hostel was, and no one knew, so we ended up asking someone at the grocery store, and the woman was very helpful with her directions.

Checking into the hostel was the biggest hassle of my life. Well maybe not the biggest, but it was way too much trouble than it should have been. We sat there for at least an hour waiting first for a group of German school kids to check in, and then, I'm not even sure why we kept waiting after that. Eventually, she finally finally checked us in. Our room was really a crash pad. It was the cheapest hostel in Paris! We had a private room with two bunked beds. We found it much more comfortable to throw the mattresses on the floor then sleep on the bed springs. So we took a nap in our vagabond hostel room, and then in the night we walked around Bastille looking for some nightlife.

There wasn't much we could afford, but we did have to meet up with my friends at a bar, so we did that quickly and had one expensive drink, then left. Not knowing what to do for the rest of the night, Brett and I decided to go to the Seine and hang out by the banks of the river. It was pretty late at this point, and the Metro was about to close, so we had to walk back to our hostel. The Seine was gorgeous. The sky was clear and the moon lit our heads and made white sparkles across the water. We sat on a bench for a while, and then, with no map of Paris, we wandered back to our hostel following road signs pointing towards the Bastille.

The next morning, I woke early. Brett slept in, and I went downstairs to get the continental breakfast. The dining area was very crowded and I ended up sitting with a girl from Australia, and a girl from China. We were all studying abroad in France to learn French, but the other two girls weren't studying in Paris. We ate breakfast and all spoke mangled French to each other. After eating, I had promised Brett I'd bring him something back, so I walked outside to get a little something from the supermarket. I got lost, as I usually do, and ended up instead at a bakery, where I bought two croissants, and then an open air market where the friendliest old man sold me lots of huge oranges. I didn't actually have enough money to pay for all the oranges (he even stuffed a few clementines in there), but he said that was fine and to come back later to buy more. So, it was a wonderful start to the day. Brett and I sat on our little beds on the floor and had our little breakfast of oranges and croissants, then left for Paris excitement.

Then the snow came, as my host mother predicted. It was horrible. It wasn't nice small snowflakes, it was big globs of slushy snow. It was wet and cold, and awfully unpleasant. We went to the top of the Galeries Lafayette, a big shopping mall, to see a view of Paris, and the snow wasn't too bad at that point. After, we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower, which was almost invisible in the clouds and fog. We walked and ate ham and cheese sandwiches for quite a while in the snowy wetness. Finally, we got there and took a few pictures under the tower (of course). Then, we decided to get out of the cold as soon as possible, and hopped on the Metro towards the Musee D'Orsay.

With my museum pass, I cut the line and got in for free and had to watch Brett freeze in the cold waiting in line. Luckily, the line wasn't too long. We wandered around looking at some impressionism (Monet's poppy field painting is one of my favorites) and some wonderful sculptures. Then we wandered into a ballroom, which was very strange because there didn't seem to be any reason for this ballroom in the middle of the museum. It was ornately decorated with gold sculptures of angels and hanging chandeliers and mirrors all over the walls.

We got tired quickly at the Musee D'Orsay, and left for our hostel for a little nap. We woke up at dinner time and went to a fancy little restaurant where I butchered my French (as usual) in trying to order. Brett and I dressed up very fancy. It was the first time I saw Brett in a suit! I had two things for the first time: Escargot, and Duck. They were both very delicious, but I didn't know how to eat the escargot, and I felt like the waiters were all looking at me like I was a fool the whole time. There were these weird plier like things I guessed I used to hold the shell and then a tiny fork I guessed I used to pull out the meat. Then, I got escargot oil on my dress, and I don't think I'll be able to get the stain out. :( Then, the waiter came to my table and told me to go to the bathroom to try to wash off the stain! I couldn't believe he said that! It was a very strange French restaurant, and I felt very foolish.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel and fell asleep! We were so tired! On the way to the hostel, we went through two different metro stations where there were string ensembles playing classical music. We also went to through a metro station with a jazz band playing. It was all a very musical day!

The next morning was sad, because Brett had to leave too soon. We went to a cafe with Wifi for lunch so that Brett could figure out the train schedule back to Freiburg. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks for Brett's coffee fix. Starbucks is expensive in the States, but it's about double that in Europe! We stayed in Starbucks for a long time just passing the time before he had to go to the train station.

At the train station, he went to the office to try to buy a ticket, but the man was very mean and told us that there was no chance Brett could get a train to Freiburg that day! I couldn't believe it. We were all of the sudden extremely panicked, because Brett had a class to get to the next morning. I was about to take him to the airport to get a flight back. We stepped outside to consider the situation, and then went back to the ticket desk and talked to a different man. He got Brett a ticket to Freiburg no problem. I have no idea why the other man said that he couldn't get a ticket. Somehow, everything worked out, except Brett had to wait 3 hours more before the train boarded.

So we left the station and near the Louvre and the little islands in the Seine to have an early overpriced dinner. Afterwards, we had a glass of wine at a cafe overlooking the sun setting on the Seine. The time passed quickly, and soon Brett had to go to the station again. I was sad to see him go so soon! But today, I was able to get some train tickets to meet him in Strasbourg. I'm very excited for this, and can't wait to see Strasbourg and Germany soon!

This week, classes have started. I am taking French (obviously), French Cinema and Society, Woment in Conflicts, Paris Museums (an art history class where each class meets in a different art museum), and History of France. All of my classes seem pretty interesting, except sometimes I have no idea what is going on because they are all taught in French. French Cinema seems to be my favorite so far. Today we didn't even watch a French film. We watched a clip of Fellini's "Rome". I really enjoyed it. The professor is a French film director, himself, and is very passionate about movies. Tomorrow, my Paris Museums class goes on it's first museum visit, and I'm so excited for that.

The classes at the Sorbonne for IES students have been canceled this semester! :( This is because there is an ongoing strike at the Sorbonne, and none of the classes are in session. They have no idea how long the strike will go, and thus, we can't take classes there, because we probably won't get credit. That is pretty disappointing, but I guess it's all a part of French culture.

Well, now I have to have dinner with my host family. Last night was an adventure because I flung lentils all over the table, and accidentally a blueberry tart, too. They had to get a vacuum to clean up after me. That was embarrassing. Anyway, that's all for now. Au Revoir!

Leah

Free Sunday and Snowy Monday

Yesterday was the first Sunday of the month, so all of the museums and such were free. A few of my friends and I woke up early to do some touristy sight seeing. First, we met at the Notre Dame cathedral, but it was very cold, so I went inside to wait for them and ended up sitting through mass twice. The mass was gloomy like at the Sacre Coeur, and the church looked very much like the Sacre Coeur on the inside. After my double mass, my friends came and we decided to go up to the top of the cathedral.

Of course, there was a long line to go up top, so we stood for a long time, and my toes and fingers began to freeze off. I almost couldn't stand it, I was so cold, and ended up buying a warm crepe just to keep my fingers warm as I held it and ate it. The wait was about an hour, and I was able to eat the lunch I packed while standing in line. By the time we got to climb to the top, I was so miserably cold, that I just wanted to get back down and inside the church as soon as possible. It was a shame, because the view was wonderful...although I was able to snap a few pictures before running back down the millions of stairs.

After the Notre Dame, we walked to St. Chapelle, another church. This church was very beautiful on the inside. It is definitely my favorite so far. It was crammed full of rainbow colored stained glass windows that sparkled all over the floor. It was a small chapel, so I felt like I had stepped into a kaleidoscope, watching the colored light float by me.

Next, we went to the Conciergerie, where all of the nobles were imprisoned and executed during the French Revolution. Surprisingly, this was a pretty boring exhibit, because the original cells and execution rooms were renovated, and then changed back to how they think they looked. Everything was just a replica, except for Marie Antoinette's chair, which she sat in while in her cell waiting to be guillotined. Since normally, the Conciergerie costs money, I'd say skip it if you ever have to pay. It isn't worth any money to visit.

We were getting tired at this point, but somehow, we convinced ourselves to go to the Picasso museum in the Marais. So we went there for about an hour, but I spent most of the time sitting on the benches watching people pass the paintings on the walls. I was so tired, but I enjoyed examining the Picassos from my bench, and soon we left for home.

I didn't do anything last night but watch a movie on my laptop and go to sleep. This morning, I walked outside to see about an inch of snow on the ground. It was snowing and sleeting all the way to school, but by the afternoon, it just turned into a cold ugly rain. Today, I had grammar class (gag!) and then I went to a university cafeteria with a few people from class. Paris just has a bunch of cafeterias around town where any university student can go eat. We decided to check it out, but it wasn't very good at all, so I don't know if we'll go back. I spent the rest of the day lounging around at the apartment. Tonight I will eat dinner with my host family. Until then, I'll do some homework, and maybe take a nap. That's all for now.

Leah