Last day in Paris

Friday, August 6

For the last day in Paris, I wanted to make sure that I visited Chinatown. Jennifer was kind enough to show me around. Before that though, I had to get some macaroons for my family back home. The group met up and we went to Laduree. I also wanted to try Pierre Herme because my French teacher recommended it to me.

one yelp user described these as precious jewels they delicately pack into boxes.

Jasmine, Wasabi, Pistachio-Apricot, Berries: all very creamy and yummy

Afterward, we went to chinatown using the metro line 14. It's the newest and doesn't need a conductor to operate. It's very clean and the air flow in the stations feel like a natural air-conditioning. We walked around and I can really say that "chinatown" just means a lot of asians live in the area and there's a bunch of asian stores. The architecture and environment indicates nothing special about the area. It does differentiate itself from the rest of Paris with it's high sky scrapers.

Banh Beo

Bo Luc Lac

Pho

found a condom dispenser on the street

coconut straw hole pick

just like home, too bad I don't have anything to open it up

this hair salon was definitely popping

After I got back, we went out for dinner at 7pm. We walked to the Quartier Latin to get dinner.

the walk there was nice, I caught a rainbow on the way.

saw this weird land pirate and his gadgets on the bridge

French onion soup: was okay...

mussels were good

i found a little crab

Rib eye, fries, salad. The steak had a lot of fat, unfortunately.

creme caramel: we thought it was creme brulee: still good

School's Out!

Thursday, August 5

Last official day of Class! Had a class "party" with food that students brought. We watched Amélie: loved it! Also had an essay final for my Culture course. Done! Finally!

my french prof. calls me Ratatouille Man =)

French Classmates

Culture Prof. Originally from New York

After class, we went to the wine bar that sold wine at 2€ a glass during happy hour. The place was very nice. Too bad I didn't know about it sooner.

very minimal in decor, but has character.

vin rouge pour moi

outdoors =D

Later, we left to meet up with people at an Irish pub near the dorms to Karaoke. We got a crepe before hand, and it was the best I've had. Talked to the guy for awhile and he was willing to get his assistant to go to the market to buy some strawberries because Christine was talking about it so much. So nice. He even mentioned that the crepes by the Bastille weren't so great. Here... Way better. True dat!

All the crepe guys in Paris seem to be just awesome!

best crepe ever! loved how he crisped the cheese on the ends.

Well... after that, we pre-partied indoors to save money. When we went to the pub, though... it was empty. So we figured we'd look around to see if they were in any other bars. Long story short, I got separated from the group. We ended up running into each other again at McDonald's shouting and cussing each other out about how we were trying to find each other. This followed a sigh... and killed our buzz so we went home. haha... what a way to end the night...

An Open Wednesday to Have Fun

Wednesday, August 4

Today, I only had French class until noon so I had no idea what to do with the rest of the day.
Lunch was a good start.

bo bun, wasn't that bad for take-out food.

chicken curry samosa was moist and delicious. porc nems(pork roll) was okay.

After lunch, I didn't know what to do so I followed Ishmael to two museums.

Monet's Waterlilies: much larger than I thought

awesome bridge to the Musee d'Orsay

found these locks symbolizing relationships' love... neat!

self-portrait of Van Gogh

the musee d'orsay was huge!

model replica of the Opera House

beautiful painting... it popped out for me

Great museum! But I was exhausted afterward. Phil wanted to go to this soul food place(percey's place) that he found online. Unfortunately, it was out of business since he last went there and the website hadn't been updated since 2006. We ended up going to the Quartier Latin and got some cheap food. Only 16€. Food tasted alright. Got what I paid for.

Escargot: sauce tastes like pesto. not bad.

Lapin a la moutard(Rabbit with mustard sauce)

chocolate mousse dessert. yum!

Food and a Class Trip

Sunday, August 1

I went out to the open air market today to get some fruit and lunch. I couldn't resist getting this chicken for only 4.50€ Unfortunately these are cooked slowly from a frozen state. I witness them bring a fresh group of chicken and I could see flakes of ice on the skin. The guy helping me also made a racial remark to me when I came back with my paid ticket stub, "Karate!"

rotisserie chicken

devoured 3/4 of it with baguette

madeleines du chocolat: c'est bon avec lait

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Monday, August 2

Last day of French class instruction... we had an oral group presentation to do and for my portion I talked about the food the average UC Paris student ate and of course I had to prepare some food for them. I made ratatouille on a slice of baguette. Class loved it. Professor calls me ratatouille man now. lol..

ratatouille avec une trance de baguette

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Tuesday, August 3

Had my oral exam today at 11:20am. Woke up late, and barely prepared, but she said the class did well as a whole. Relieved...

lunch, have no idea what I made, just heated it on the stove. Had a cumin like taste to it
Second class, regular stuff happened, but we also had one last field trip that was walking distance from the Accent Center. We toured around Saint Paul village to see how the streets of Paris were like before they repaved the streets. Very quaint with the courtyards and cobblestone roads. We went into Saint Paul Church, which was very beautiful and didn't look like an tourist attraction. Wished I knew about it sooner. Afterward we went to the garden nearby; don't remember what it's called. And we departed from the teacher because she had to leave. But she told us to check out Victor Hugo's house, and we did. It was pretty neat. Camera died so no photos... =(

this wall was the original Lourve walls still intact originally connecting from the landmark we now call the Lourve

Woot! Party Day

Saturday, July 31

So this day begins with Club Gibus. We went around 12:15am to get crazy for Britt's Bday, but today wasn't so great. They had too many DJs playing the same music. There was too much "rapping/shouting" on the mic in between songs. In-between as in they stopped the music to use the mic. And Britt didn't get a swarm of guys over her when she wanted it, unlike last time. The free champagne at 12-1am for ladies only was cool. Aside from that we left at 5am. Over it. Since nothing was open, we got food at a restaurant that was somewhat pricey. The food was okay. Afterward, we went to sleep before the sun rose at around 6:00am ish.
Waking up later was a given. Made myself some microwaved alaskan cod w/ provencial sauce and pasta on the side.

microwaving it was a bad idea and the fish didn't taste that great either

I then went out to the see the Moulin Rouge to take a tourist photo in front of it with Phil. That area had a lot of strip/lap dance clubs and the promoters were definitely aggressive in getting customers. Some guy kept talking to me and when I walked about half a block away when he wasn't looking, he came after me. Another guy actually stopped me from moving forward.
There was also an exotic sex museum, but it was 7€ to enter.

me being touristy in front of the Moulin Rouge

a stand selling marshmallow looking things

I went up Mont Marte afterward to get some gifts for my family.. shhh... secret. Saw these along the way.

this bakery/chocolate store radiated gold in the dark so we had to come in. The smell of butter and sugar greets you. Although it doesn't taste as great.

got hungry so i got a hot dog. Damn delicious even if the center was a little cold!

always as crowded as ever

After we were done we met up with the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower to relax. We saw a group of teenagers harassing girls and being assholes and we saw a street vendor get tackled by a police guy. The authority in Paris are in shape, they definitely can run.

not a bad night photo with my dinky camera

Into the Lourve

Friday, July 30

Woke up late and ate. Then went into the Lourve before I have to leave Paris...

breakfast at lunch time Grec Sandwich avec frites

inside the Lourve

inside the shopping area of the Lourve

Mona Lisa, of course

loved how the ceiling looks like it's a real sculpture up there

hit it and quit it. not cool

replica of the wall mural of Napoleon III from Versailles

related to the last supper?

I liked how the contrast effect was employed in this piece

In a room of paintings, this painting is of a room of paintings.

I recognized these guys from Mesopotamia

reminded me of Joseph Ducreux's Archaic Rap. Look it up

After I came back, I got some dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby the dorms. I was craving it but it just made me miss home that much more because the food wasn't great. Again, they microwave the food to reheat it. Surprisingly, the son that was working didn't understand Mandarin: only French. He called his mom when I was talking in Chinese. The food overall tastes like something you can get from the frozen food isle. Even though it's called "Chinese Food" they mix everything up and given regional names to dishes instead of calling it what it is.

got these because everyone else was getting them last time, but they weren't great.

Thailand style chicken(sweet and spicy chicken) with curry fried rice (was dry)

xiu mai: tasted close, but mushy inside

dessert: coconut thingy-not too bad.