Weekend in Paris

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a good weekend back home! I thought I'd give you an update on how I spent my weekend in Paris :)

I started by going to La Défense with a couple of friends Friday after class. La Défense is a suburb of Paris that has more modern architecture and commercial space- it's home to the skyscrapers and business district that is kept outside of central Paris in order to maintain the architecture and skyline that is historically significant and one of the defining characteristics of Paris itself.

It is also home to the Grande Arche, which is supposed to be (I'm going to Wikipedia for this one) "a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe: a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than military victories."

On the way home we also were able to catch the wonderful view down Champs-Élysées of the Grande Arche on one side and the Arc de Triomphe on the other.

Friday night a few of us met up to explore the city and see a few of the sights lit up at night while enjoying a bit of French win. We started at the Louvre....

 And then began our walk to the Eiffel Tower....

The walk to the Eiffel Tower from the Louvre should take about twenty minutes, maybe a half hour.... It took us two hours. We got very distracted by things such as this giant statue of Thomas Jefferson....

It was a very fun walk though. We arrived at the Eiffel Tower and watched a light show while enjoying a bit of cheese that one of the girls had kindly brought with (which, by the way, I cannot stop eating now!).

On Saturday I walked around Montmartre (a neighborhood in the 18th arrondissement) with one of my friends. We did a bit of shopping and intended to go to a famous cemetery there, but it was closed by the time we finally got over there. That night a group of people from my program went out for drinks and I went with. It was a lot of fun, it was nice being able to hang out with them outside of class, especially since I was in Germany the first weekend of the semester. And it really reiterated my initial impression that I am with a very wonderfully friendly and nice group of people.

Sunday morning I went to the market at Bastille with a group of friends. I mentioned this market and posted pictures in a previous entry, in case you have been reading my blog and remember that far back :) It was a lot of fun, and a wonderful place to get cheap fresh produce!

Today was back to the grind with class from 9am until 6pm, but I'm actually enjoying the classes quite a bit. Especially the French class! It's so wonderful to slowly be learning to communicate here. I appreciate so much having simple communication skills - like asking how much things are at the market, and understanding what cashiers are saying to me in grocery stores instead of just nodding dumbly and hoping that they're saying something that it makes sense for me to nod to! And actually I've been quite blessed with new friends here that are more experienced in French and are willing to help me a LOT with my French. Without them I absolutely would not be learning as much of the language as I am!

On that note, ever since I mentioned the market I've been thinking about the kiwis I have from there... I am going to go eat some! I hope everyone is doing well back home. I feel like I will be home soon, time is flying by!

I love you all and miss you!

Wandering about Paris

Hello again!!

I am camped out at the one place near my apartment that has free wifi - McDonald's. Yep, I came to France to eat McFlurries and go online.

I'm going to try to update on my last few days as quickly as possible.... On Tuesday I went to the Musee Marmottan Monet - a smaller museum with a large number of Monet pieces and pieces by artists he influenced, as well as a few other smaller exhibits. It was amazing. It's smaller than the Louvre or the Musee D'Orsay, so you can really take your time and enjoy the pieces without feeling like you'll  never see everything. Alas, they do not allow cameras, so I can't share any of the pieces, so a picture of the outside of the building will have to suffice....

It was a gorgeous day, so after the museum I stopped at a bakery and got a bit of food for lunch and wandered over the the Eiffel Tower to picnic in the park.

After that I spent the afternoon just wandering around....

The next day (Wednesday), I decided I enjoyed my picnic the day before so much that I was going to picnic again. I went to a different bakery and got food and headed out to the gardens in front of the Louvre (the Jardin des Tuileries).

After lunch I walked around the gardens for a while and came upon a fountain with a guy next to it renting out sailboats and sticks for kids to play with. It was adorable and I stayed there for a little while....

Wednesday night I picked up the key to my apartment and spent my last night in the hostel. Thursday and Friday I spent moving in to my apartment - getting my luggage, buying groceries, buying household things like sheets, and just getting settled in my neighborhood.

On Saturday I spent the entire day walking around. I'm not exaggerating when I say I walked for hours. I went by the Arc de Triomphe....

....came upon some of the most stunning views I have ever seen at the Eiffel Tower....

... and wandered in the city center for a while. At night I went to a restaurant and had a bit of wine and a nice meal. It was a pretty good day :)

I'll be perfectly honest, it's a bit lonely at my apartment right now. Classes haven't started yet, so I haven't met people, and it's been hard to adjust going from constantly meeting people at my hostel to being alone in my apartment. But it's getting easier, and once school starts I'm sure I'll think back and treasure these moments of solitude!

I think I'm going to head to Berlin next weekend before school starts, so I will try to update again before I go. I miss everyone back home and love you all so much!!!

The Louvre and Hôtel des Invalides

Bonjour! I am nearing one week in Paris, and starting to feel more comfortable living and interacting here. I've met some fantastic new friends from all over the world, and seen some great sights. I'm excited for my apartment to be ready soon, but I am really enjoying my time in my hostel! This is the view from my window....

On Wednesday (after watching the band I posted the video of) I wandered over to the Notre Dame and walked around the grounds for a while. There was a girl singing outside with an absolutely beautiful voice. It turns out she had challenged herself to travel from Athens, Greece up to Edinburgh, Scotland using only the money she could make off of singing. So she was street performing and making enough money for the trip. Really interesting!

On Thursday I walked the few blocks from my hostel to the Louvre....

... and spent the entire day wandering around the Louvre, getting lost and enjoying some fantastic art. There are so many fascinating pieces of art and different exhibits there, and the architecture and design inside the former palace is breathtaking in its own right!

On Friday I walked over to the Hôtel des Invalides....

...which is (to take a description from wikipedia) "a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France." The grounds were absolutely beautiful...

... and the displays were incredibly interesting. The exhibits on the World Wars were particularly fascinating, as was being able to visit Napoleon's tomb in the beautiful dome chapel.

Sorry I haven't been updating my blog as much as I had hoped, but the internet is down in my hostel, so I have to go to a cafe in order to get online. Right now I am sitting in a little corner Parisian cafe drinking a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) so I can update.

I hope everyone is doing well in the states, I miss you all terribly!

Lots of love,
Sarah