A weekend in fairytale-city!

So, I've been here a month. I can actually hardly believe I've been here that long! But, being in Paris for about a month sometimes necessitates a break from the hustle and bustle of big city/parisien life.  This past weekend, I was able to catch a break in the fairytale city-Strasbourg.  Now, I say fairytale because if Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty were filmed with real scenery and people today, it would be there. Anyway, back to trip details. I went with 5 of my great IES pals, and we actually met up with another group of 4 a few times from our program (they also chose it for a good away weekend).  After taking the early-bird special train Friday morning (arriving at 10:00ish, left at 7:30am), we deposited our unnecessary items at the hostel (best hostel EVER) and set out to explore.  The nice thing about Strasbourg, among many other things, is the fact that you can walk from one end to another in about 30 minutes at the most, not possible at all in paris. By about 11, we were ready for lunch and stumbled upon a restaurant that introduced into the alsacienne delicacy, tarte flambée. HOLY JOKER, BATMAN! Think about this...thin, crispy crust that is light, nothing like pizza, then some fromage frais, a little brebis, some emmental melted, throw a little cooked lardon (bacon) and some onions and mushrooms et Voila! Delicious meal. Also, it doesn't hurt to have a beer or glass of wine.

After a scrumptious first lunch, we decided to find this cathedral everyone had been raving about. Well. There is much to rave about. First the stone is red, so different from anything I've seen before! Second, there is a crazy astronomical/doomsday/judgment clock that is both creepy and amazing complete with crazy lookin' babies and a cock that crows. Second, the stained glass windows have some amazing patterns that have a very clear german influence in addition to french influence.

After that we made brief rounds at the Archaeology museum before going on our fabulously warm and comfy boat tour.  Now, as I mentioned before, we all got up around 5 to make our 7:30 train, so by 4pm, we were pretty tired. The best place to repose a bit? Warm, covered boat tour in the canals of Strasbourg. While I did take many pictures, it was an hour and a half-ish, so naps were had, it was all part of the package.  After the boat tour? More naps in the best beds ever. Our hostel was fantastic. Free breakfast in the morning, super comfortable beds and adjustable heat in the room. We also had fresh towels and extra blankets, soooo great! 5 digits up to Ciarus! After naptime, it was again, eating time, more tarte flambée and some spaetzle, mmmm...I have missed you german-esque food! Now, don't get me wrong, the french love their butter and sugar and that's all fine and dandy, but the germans, they love meat and potatoes. Oh, how I have missed that. They also love butter and sugar, so...yeah, on to Saturday!

Ok, saturday was a big day.  The highlight of which I will mention in a second. But...we went to the cathedral again to see the giant astronomical clock presentation, which, "bref" told us that the we're all being judged by creepy babies, death, jesus and a cock that crows. Great! Ok. Now here's the highlight...CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!!!!! Ah! I know, you're freaking out, too.  Chocolate+museum+chocolate again = the ultimate happiness. So, as we progressed through the museum, the presence of the chocolate aroma became more and more evident.  Eventually at the end, we saw a the world's best sign: Chocolate Demonstration, and watched a french lady make bunnies and storks and such, and then we heard the world's best words: "est-ce que vous voulez en goûter?" or "would you like to taste some?" uhhh...YES.  So we filled up on large chunks on white, milk and dark chocolate. After all of this, we still got a free gift of chocolate praline truffles. best.trip.ever.  For the rest of the we did some more walking around, discovering and taking in the scenery, ate another tasty, filling alsacian meal, and a few of us decided to go out and dance at Jimmy's bar. An absolutely fantastic choice, actually, so fun!

Sunday, we had to leave around noonish, so Sarah and I got up early to walk around a little, and it was completely dead and quiet. It felt like we were by ourselves on a movie set, it was so quiet, but absolutely splendid.  Before the train left, I walked around Petite France for just a little bit to see it before departing (it's the oldest and prettiest part of Strasbourg).  All in all, a trip that served it's purpose perfectly: we got out of the city and were treated to something new and different and yet still incredibly French.  Amazing.

Everything happens for a reason.

I have always been someone who has gone back and forth on my opinion about fate and chance, but there is one thing that is true for everyone everywhere and that is that everything happens for a reason.  This entry will be short, and not really about Paris, so I'm sorry for that. BUT, I promise pictures are on their way now that my storage device has arrived (thanks mom and dad!).

So, everything happens for a reason. My dearest dog Charlie, my longest and closest companion in my life thus-far, passed away Tuesday.  There are many great stories about him, which I won't go into now, but his qualities as a dog and friend were very special.  The reason I'm writing about things happening for a reason? I found out this morning about my pup, and guess what I had waiting for me in my mailbox when I arrived at school? A care-package from my parents and a letter from my grandpa.  Now. This may seem "small" as a "sign".  But, just knowing that I was going to open it, find my favorite cookies from mom, and a special letter from both my parents and grandpa, was splendid.. After finding out this morning and later, totally by chance, having comfort immediately here? Unbelievable.

I also must say, that my friends at IES have been truly wonderful.  I love you all, and I appreciate your love and support.

Dearest Charlie-dog,

May your bowl in the after-life have a never-ending supply of dinner scraps, may you always find a good carpet on which to scratch your back, may there be grand lakes in which you find a number of sticks larger than your body and endless sandy beaches on which to dig vast holes, may you always have a cozy blanket to sleep on at night with a down pillow for comfort, and may you forever be able to get the tennis ball (or 8) from under the couch.

Rest in peace, old boy, you will be forever missed,

Love, Kelsy

PS. I ate a crèpe with nutella and banane in a toast to Charlie as he very much loved all things decadent :)

Cultivation

Everyday I have been in Paris, I feel as thought I am participating in a grand scheme of cultivation-"parisien" style.  That is to say that I feel as though all that I experience in one day is helping me to embrace the art, the literature, the fashion...the absolute wealth of culture in Paris. I've made some really great friends at IES whom I feel have a similar take on Paris and are just as excited to be experiencing it in similar ways.  I simply love Paris and can't wait until I get the chance to come back here again!

Here's what went down this week:

We've officially had a week of classes and it really has been nice having that schedule back in my life. I am really enjoying them so far, especially Paris Francophone and my European Union class. It's hard to believe it's already the second week in February! I've really made some wonderful friends, some of them, along with me are going to Strasbourg for Valentine's weekend. More on that later, back to this week!

I went to Père Lachaise cemetery twice this past week (once with Court, once with Candice, Ellie, Julia and Sarah), and before you start thinking I've become completely morbid and love the dead (catacombs, cemeteries), you have to understand the beauty of Père Lachaise. Literally 2 métro stops from me, it's a humongous, square-ish mass of cobblestone pathways and immense gothic tombs. It's not the kind of cemetery one would imagine in the States, it embodies you with a sense of peace and calm. My friends and I are talking about returning there with baguettes and wine in the springtime for a cliché, yet obligatory "picnic-in-a-park-in-Paris" moment. After the second trip to PL with IES girls, we had a dégustation de vin at our IES abroad center at which our knowledge of the french word for tipsy,"pompette," came in handy.

Also during the week I ended up eating around 6 or 7 crèpes, here's why (as if you were questioning it): Chandeleur was last Tuesday, and it is the day of crèpes, so my host family made them for dinner Tuesday night. Then Wednesday rolls around, and Courtnée and I go to a crèpe soirée together with some fabulous people to eat, in celebration again of Chandeleur, more crèpes.  Now, I know what you're thinking, crèpes every week? doesn't that get old? I'm here to tell you, it DOES NOT.  Nothing beats a gooey, warm crèpe on a gray and chilly Paris night/day.

Also, exciting news for my internship! As some of you know, I, at the fabulous hands of my professor/advisor and her colleague/internship coordinator extraordinaire, was able to procure a once-in-a-lifetime internship working in a winery.  I recently found out what I will be doing more specifically...drummmm rolll... I'm working in the wine cave! Whoohoo! Among other things, I'll be giving tourists tours of the wine cellar as well as providing information on the domaines. My other responsibilities include updating the customer database and marketing systems of this winery. sweeeet.

Well, more updates with pictures to come, I promise! Right now I can't upload because I have 700 MB of memory left on my computer and am awaiting an external hard drive so I don't crash my computer and have a spazz attack :). 

bis-

Kels

Londonland! and the start of school

I know, I know shame on me, I haven't blogged in a week...blah blah moving on! I went to London this past weekend where it was...sunny! What? Yes! The WHOLE WEEKEND! Dad and I did quite a bit of walking and picture taking so as to take advantage of the weather.  It was very strange being an english-speaking country, as Courtnée (:D) mentioned in her blog after her visit.  Much of the time I expected to be hearing people speak french, so that when they actually spoke english, I had no idea what they were saying! I did love the architecture in London, and I especially love that Hyde Park is right in the center of the city (and so beautiful!).

The first day I arrived, dad and I very diligently searched for the elusive cornwall pasty.  Now, I know some of you are thinking...pasty? What is that? Well. It's delicious...think of it as a pot pie without the sauce, and more potatoes. It's basically meat, potatoes, carrots, sometimes onions or turnips in an all-butter crust hand folded and baked to golden perfection (can you tell that I am a fan?).  I have pictures...BUT dad stole them, and I will post them later in order to make your mouths water. Also, when I say "diligently" search, I mean it.  The tube, much different than the métro, tends to close at early, inconvenient hours, or often have many stops closed, yadda yadda, all in all, what seemingly started as a simple trip turned into the Spanish Inquisition for a pint and pasty.

Days 2 and 3 were spent sight-seeing in the lovely weather! Saturday we went to the Natural History museum, which is rather unbelievable with soooo many things to see! I couldn't believe it, the exhibits were incredibly detailed as well as a feast for the eyes.  After said museum we decided to trek over to Westminster/Parliament area to get some good pictures...turns out Westminster closes early on Saturdays! But we were able to make it over to St. Paul's Cathedral in which you can climb up roughly 400 stairs to the second tier of three for a great view of London (Dad said 'no' to tier three...Old! I gest, he bought me food).  St. Paul's also had a really fantastic memorial to soldiers lost, particularly American soldiers, in World War II, and an excellent crypt.

After St. Paul's, we decided to go to Piccadilly Circus and walk around a bit, and were surprised to happen upon an awesome, awesome Van Gogh (as the french would say: "Van Gogggg") exhibit at the Royal Academy.  It was actually open late that night and consisted of 7 rooms filled with some of his most beautiful and fantastic paintings as well as drawings and letters.  Spectacular.  I could go on and on, but then you wouldn't hear about the fantastic fish and chips I had for dinner.  Food in England tends to have a bad reputation EXCEPT for the fish and chips, gosh are they good.  We had them at a restaurant at the Blackfriar tube stop (well, we didn't get off at that stop, because it wasn't working...) known for it's quite beautiful décor.  For dessert, dad and I got chocolate truffles (what else would we get? like father, like daughter) earlier in the day. Sunday consisted of walking through green park to see Buckingham and then a relatively short trip to Harrod's, although I'm sure dad would argue otherwise on the actual "length" of the trip.  And a little later, I had to leave! It was a little bittersweet going back to Paris, because I love and miss my dad and everyone else at home, but I've also come to love Paris as a home and a place I feel comfortable.  I am very much infatuated with the city of Paris. Bref. Here are pictures:

 

This week, starting the 1st of février, I started my cours! yay! I'm actually somewhat excited to have a more tightly organized schedule...is that nerdy? yes. Am I a nerd? Yes. ok! Moving on, here's a short run down of my classes:

Paris Francophone: Prof is a woman, super smart anthropologist. The course itself will discuss french-speaking Paris, particularly people coming from francophone countries outside of europe and the issues that have ensued. Super interesting so far!

Politique française étrangère et en Europe: Prof rides a moped, hellllo? Awesome. Also incredibly brilliant and very interesting.  He likes to draw his parentheses in the air when he uses them in his lectures.  The class is basically talking about political parties and views in France and how they relate to the Union Européenne and the world.

Traduction: or Translation.  Throughout the course we'll be translating english texts into french, learning the ways in which to say things in a similar way that are often not direct translations.  Should be great for my french, lots 'o' work! Prof has hair like my Aunt Marcia (crazy! but fab) and a lovely demeanor.

Histoire de Paris: Ok. This class could be potentially VERY boring. Here's why. The prof is older and more experienced and likes to lecture, sans questions, for the entire class period. BUT, he is nice and the material is interesting.  I can't complain because we have 6 free visits to sites in Paris. Uhhh...Sweet!

History of décolonisation in Africa from 1945-1960: hasn't started yet as it is at the Sorbonne. Until February 8 for that!

Wow. I'm bushed. Starting class again has made me more tired than ever, but I've found time to have lots of fun with my lovely IES friends, my kindredly-spirited (it's not a word, but I'm in France) friend Courtney, and my fabulous, new french conversation friends. Things to look forward to? Upcoming trip to Strasbourg in 2 weekends, bar night at Nenette, Musée de Picasso, and open-air markets!

Bisous!

Kelsy