Quiz Day and Mont Muir

Wednesday, June 30

had breakfast... pate and rolls again... still delicious.
took the quiz.. it was okay? maybe...
had lunch at home, only an hour long. had cumin gouda with my baguette. guess I don't like gouda very much.
back to the ACCENT center for an hour long introduction to the play i'm going to see next week: Kaguyahime. It was a good intro, but I felt like she showed too much content from the actual play
After class, a lot of people went shopping because it's state mandated that this time of the year, all the stores have a sale, and they get better as the weeks progress. I didn't get to look very much yet, but soon.
In the mean time, I went to see Sacre-Coeur at Mont Muir(sp. ck.) and the artist district. It was a huge hill to climb, but I faired alright with my past experience.


These fountains appear to be throughout Paris.

I'm definitely coming back to buy a poster or a poster petit.

So in Paris, the dogs sometimes work as chauffeurs.

One of the serene churches we went into. The stained glass looks like a Picasso to me.

I'm a lost tourist =)

the view

This kid had chinese yo-yos! wtf?

saw this etching in the brick pavement. It's a pigeon if you can't tell.

This old couple played music as we walked by. It definitely felt like the old Paris.

passed by a restaurant and saw these. They're huge jugs of Nutella!

This is the artist district area

portrait of a man playing the saxophone.

this is a portrait of the streets with a crowd of people in the foreground

I was tired, laid on a bench, and saw this

After I got back and parted ways with the homestead people, I prepared to make dinner. Menu: Spaghetti pasta w/ tomato sauce.

trying to make the best of what I've got.

I watched a movie and took my nightly nap, where I wake up in the morning to get ready for the next day...It was a good day.

Is Tuesday just as bad as Monday?

Tuesday, June 29

So when I woke up at 5am, it was raining outside.
For breakfast I had some cheap rolls I got. They taste like the sweet Hawaiian rolls you can get in the states. I also got some pate de champagne as spread. The pate is so delicious and inexpensive. I love it. It has a clumpy texture to it and you can actually see different things in it. I'm going to look for more pates.

i know the can is upside down, that's how you open it...

Then to class.... boring....
Then to lunch.... Ate at home, made a similar sandwich to the day before... boring... but tasty Afterward, I had some macaroons from a local bakery. They were way cheaper, but not as orgasmic.
Then back to class.... zzzz....
After class, I tried to get some sandals cheap at GAP so I wouldn't have to walk barefoot on the cold floors of my room. They only had women's sandals, which are fine, but they were 8€! Crazy bitches. Luckily Camille offered to give me her size 11 American flag sandals that she didn't need.
Did some studying
Ate dinner at that falafel place again from yesterday. That guy is really nice, I think his name was Gerrel? Whatever... but the way to order scrambled eggs in Paris is oeufs and make a "tuck tuck tuck" sound while rotating your hand like an egg beater. Yay for language barriers.
Anyways, this place is gonna keep me well fed and perhaps plump.
Studied...slept...good night, quiz tomorrow.

I hate Mondays.

Monday, June 28

Breakfast: eggs, jambon(ham), baguette.

So, I had 5 hours of French class today.... major killer. I honestly don't want to do anything right now... We had a 10min break and a 2 hour lunch aside from the 5 hours of sitting. That's a 9-4pm day. Almost like a job, doing the same thing everyday with a few variances here and there.

I made a sandwich myself and enjoyed it watching some French dubbed MTV reality show in the TV lounge with Brit.

self made sandwich: baguette, romaine lettuce, butter, dijon mustard, jambon(ham)
Got some more groceries...nothing too exciting.

Dinner was good. We went to this joint in a cramped place and I got a chicken falafel w/ fries and a drink for 5.70€. It was soo good, and the guy was pretty nice and understood English. Definitely coming back.

oh it tasted so good: pita bread, spicy mayo, curry grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, fries and orange Fanta!
For the rest of the day, we just watched a movie on a laptop in my room. It was chill: a temperature and mood I like. American comedy definitely hit the spot.

Afterward, I took a nap at around 10pm. Did not wake up until the next day... Such an unproductive day....

Sunday: Day of Rest and Homework

Sunday, June 27

Woke up, did my thing, went to the bakery and got a fresh .90€ baguette. Had it with garlic spread, Nutella, and butter.

Of course, my San Pellegrino. Tastes the same.

I was really tired today and didn't do much. I looked up online for a frozen dinner store around my area because I heard that Paris does it so much better than America. I found the place, Picard Surgeles, but they closed at 12:45pm on a Sunday. Along with everything else in Paris... Pain in the ass. On Sundays, almost all stores are completely closed, or they close early.

Ran into this market near the dorms; will check out later on.
Anyways, had lunch at McDonald's. They have the option of Deluxe Fries...yum! The burger itself wasn't to my liking though....

Please don't shun, I'm still trying new foods in another country
What you see below was originally a rail way. Now it has been converted to a garden path for pedestrians. Today there was some public art display so enjoy.

video of my stroll will be posted here.


I don't know how the people here keep their shoes clean... There's dust everywhere.
Ended the day with a movie, staying in eating cheap food and drinking a beer or two.

No party tonight, just chill...

Saturday, June 26

So I woke up on my since I had soo much rest the night before. I got ready and stuff and made a fried egg for breakfast. yummy.

Orangina. Egg. Done

After Skyping with Andy, Nancy, Stephanie, and kinda Jonathan. I went to grab "lunch".

powdered sugar croissant w/ Nutella spread

I then went to the Lourve to meet up with some homestead people with Brian and Jennifer. We decided to try and hit the Arc de Tromphe. Along the way we saw a bunch of shops that I think I may hit tomorrow when sales all over Paris start.
We ran into one of the famous Macaroon Shops. Mini macaroons are 1.50€ each. I'm definitely coming back or getting more. These things are so delicious...

It is an orgasm in your mouth. Cherry tasted amazingly sweet, Mimosa was okay. These things are so delicate and just melt in your mouth with an abundance of flavor. And I agree... I do think it also resembles a certain part of the female anatomy.

Finally made it to the Arc de Tromphe after a few hours

After getting back to the dorms, I took a nap while Megan used my internet. It was an awesome nap. At around 9:00pm we rendezvous at Brian's room and they were trying to figure out their Eurail passes forever. Eventually, we ended up going to the Tour Eiffel at night to see it light up and eat bread, formage(cheese), and wine. It was beautiful.

out on the grassy area around other drunk Parisians and Americans.

Le Tour Eiffel at night.

Field Trip to Chantilly

Friday, June 25

We had a class excursion to Domanie de Chantilly. We took a pretty comfortable and nice charter bus there. Negative: the air conditioning was way too cold and for the whole hour there.
We got a sandwich and fruit lunch provided. It's the first day that I've had whole fruit since I've left the states. Anyway, the photos will be posted in my Facebook. Here are a few to enjoy:

Chantilly

I'd like to have a study/library like this one day

gold leafed print

enter the labyrinth!

Labyrinth!

inside the labyrinth

exiting the labyrinth- approx time: 13min

The group told us to do the Titanic pose

Q:What's a garden without many flowers? A: Chantilly

After the trip back, we ate at an Asian (not Chinese) restaurant. We had such a hard time ordering, even in Chinese(my Mandarin sucked). We ordered a combo that included a dumpling/roll, rice/noodle, meat entree, and drink/dessert for 9.50€. We did not know that seafood and meat were different prices, etc, etc. It took awhile to understand what they were saying... They microwaved our food to heat the stuff up too... This shocked me, it looked like a legit good Chinese fastfood restaurant. Food was as good as microwaved food could get.(Sorry, no pictures)
We went back to nap at 8-9pm and were going to go back out. However, I was really tired and never woke up from my nap until 3am... so I just slept in until 7am. 1st day 100% sober.

Wonder what I'm going to do this new day?

Thursday is a Party Night

Thursday, June 24

So I woke up better today and had left over microwaved pizza...again.... from one of the home-stay people that didn't want to take it home.

Mixed up my baguette with garlic spread and nutella, each under 2€!!!!

I did some French homework and it makes me miss all of you when you chat with me online in real time... I apologize if I cut you off short, because I may be really tired, need to do homework, blog, or etc.... Time is short. FYI: the sun sets here around 10-11pm and the sun comes up like 6am. It's because it's summer, so it's a bit annoying...

Class wasn't so bad today. It was tolerable, but still a bit long and really warm. Our professor joked today saying that air conditioning, not enough elevators and dog shit are the only major problems with France left.

For lunch, our group tried to find a sandwich shop that the ACCENT center recommended for cheap eats, but we couldn't find it. It may have closed down or something. Hence I directed them to the store that the home-stay people showed me. I got another sandwich, but I forgot what it was called.

Delicious and cheap baguette sandwiches...love it

Next door, there was a chinese restaurant that had some food from back home and it actually looked good. Some people I knew said the food wasn't bad either. I'm definitely going to hit this spot when I'm missing gyoza, chow mein, shu mai, ha gao, bbq pork, etc...

After dropping my stuff back in my room, we went to the market. There was a strike today for Air France due to something about retirement policy changes, so there was a really large parade down the street for most of the day. It really sounded like a party because they had speakers pumping music and most people had flags in hand. However, we didn't get involved because the school advised us not to in order to not get caught if the situation escalated.

Air France Street Party/Protest against raising the age of retirement to 62 years.

I got a bottle of bordeaux, san pellegrino, orangina, and a riesling. The bordeaux was less than 3 € and was a bit vinegary, but other than that it was good.
Christine got a babel. That thing was huge!

Needed to use the restroom so I got a 1.75€ cheeseburger at McDonalds. It tasted so good.

Afterward, we headed out to the hotel de ville area to look for a good AND cheap bar. We found this nice one that offered etudante especial (a cup of beer) for 2.50€! But the method of how they pour beer from tap is so wasteful.... They just let the tap run as the foam pours out and they just casually wait until they cut the flow off. They really need to learn how to pour to minimize the foam from the beginning....From there, I had a really good time dancing. You know me, I had to let loose and do my thing.

Just some of the awesome people to have fun with!

Party with seizure-inducing strobe lights

At around 3am(maybe?) we walked home. Metro was closed, so it took maybe 20-30min to get back. Thanks to our navigator Phil, we didn't have too much trouble. 3 counts of public urination, 0 arrests!

it was a fun and tiring night

Worst/Most Tiring Day So Far

Wednesday, June 25

So today, I didn't wake up as early. I actually had my alarm at 7am, took a snooze and woke up at 7:30am. I had to shower and shit because I had class at 9am. Anyways... class was.... long and boring. French class was alright, but it was so intense. Soo much information and stuff in 3 hours.
I ate lunch with some of the homestay people and it was cool. They showed me a place to get cheap baguette sandwiches for 2€-3€. I got a pate de champange sandwich and a chocolate eclair. DELICIOUS AND CHEAP!!!!
sooo delicious.... again... sooo good!!!

Then back to class. I had a social science emphasis course and it was two hours long. Interesting, but a little dry and did I mention, loooong. After class, apparently we had a class outing to visit the Lourve to talk about the history behind it and how to interpret the decorations on the walls.
This was the first building she talked about. This right side was actually a bell tower to indicate that it was time to kill the, I think protestants. It was balanced with a building on the left of good (not pictured) to harmonize it and repeat the idea of symmetry.
Inside the Louvre fortress walls. The design here is a big mix of different regimes.

The current main entrance of the Louvre at the tip of my finger =)

Well..... after a 2 hour walk about after a day of 5 hours of class.... we were exhausted. The walk was interesting, but, again.... looooong.

We wandered around looking for some people we were going to meet at a pub, but we never found them... frustrating after another hour of walking and searching. Especially when we missed the America futbol game.

On our way to find the people, we stopped by Notredame.. took some pictures, and left for food. We were to tired to be tourists.

We ate at a Italian restaurant that we found to be okay pricing. 12.50€ for a combo. The waiter was an ass to us though, throwing the plates everywhere.
Spaghetti Bologonese was filling. I know I could make this at home, but... it's good to settle for.
Orangina was still expensive at a restaurant and tastes exactly the same as in the states... disappointing....

When we got back home, I checked my email and GOOD NEWS! All my financial aid was sorted out and I'll be getting my long awaited loan in my account soon.
Our small group were all tired, so we ended up just staying in and chatting for the rest of the night.

Hopefully tomorrow is better.