November 20- Counting Down

When you have less than 2 weeks left in a place, it tends to put things into perspective.  Tonight we dined with some of the friends we met here and played guitar.  I will remember this part of Paris every bit as much as the rest of it, and probably cherish it more.  All of the people I have met mean so much to me, and have taught me that when i think I know everything I actually know nothing.

It's been a long time since I posted, shorry! I have been to London and Prague, both incredible although I must say that Prague was a better experience.  In London we stayed in a giant hostel room with 15 girls.  The bunk beds we stacked up by threes.  It was craziness up in there.  Oh, and did I mention that there was only one sink in the room?  Imagine 15 college-aged girls trying to get ready in the morning with only one mirror... oh boy.  The room would also prove to be a vehicle for what we think was the 24-hour flu as well as the scene of a crime (someone came in and stole a laptop and 2 ipods, one of which was mine.  Boo.)  But other than that it was great!

We did a lot of the usual sight-seeing as a group while we were there.  The girls and I had fun taking random pictures around the city and exploring.  On the 11th, we stumbled across a place where you could get what we like to call a "fish pedicure."  Warning:  The following information is not for the faint of stomach.  At this place, you put your feet in a tank full of fish and they eat the dead skin.  I had heard about this for a while and thought "You know what?  I'm gonna do it!"  So I had the dead skin eaten off of the bottom of my feet by fish.  When I put my feet in, the fish swarmed immediately and started nibbling away.  It kind of felt like bubbles... with tiny teeth... i don't know, it was just weird.  After 5 minutes of shrieking I finally managed to calm down.  My feet were pretty dang smooth after that.


London was so long ago, I hardly remember what happened then!  I guess nothing.  Moving on to Prague then!  It is such a beautiful city, with so much to do!  The first night we were there we actually saw the new Twilight movie.  It was in english with czech subtitles.  Usually I ignored them but sometimes when the plot got boring I would try and fail miserably at reading the czech.  What a bizarre language.  I laughed when Edward said "Bella!" because it translated to "Bello!"  

The next day we took a walking tour around the city and learned about all the history.  We had a great English guide who I liked to call "Tour-guide-Tom."  One of the largest tourist sites in Prague is this giant clock in the town center.  Every hour, the clock sounds and a live trumpet player plays a little tune at the very top of the tower and waves this gimpy little flag.  Tour-guide-Tom told us that this was added in 2008 because tourists would gather every hour to a very anti-climactic display, so they figured they should spice things up.  He also said the natives complain that the trumpet player has the easiest job ever-- working for 90 seconds out of every hour and getting literal applause for it.  Love it.


Our last day in Prague we ended up discovering some beautiful sites as we wandered around.  It was pretty cold out there so we definitely had to stop in at Starbucks for a little hot chocolate action, but it was lovely.  I adored all of the red rooftops and green copper, but I missed too quickly the Art Nouveau architectural suave of Paris.  We stayed in Prague for only about 2 and a half days.

 I will probably update this blog one or two final times before I return home on the 30th!  Time is just flying, I will most definitely cry.  I love you all!

November 9- Barceloooona

Well bonjour, or Hola, I guess!  I did a bit more traveling this past weekend, this time to the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain.  Two of my friends and I decided to take on the city because one speaks lovely Spanish and was therefore deemed the one-who-asks-the-natives-our-questions.  It was perfecto! (Wait, is that Italian?  Whatever, latin languages, it works).

 

We took an EasyJet plane to get over there which is kind of the European equivalent to Southwest Airlines but clean.  After disembarking we managed to find a cheap shuttle that took us to the center of the city and found our hostel.  That place was great, and our stay was complete with free internet/wifi, free breakfast and a good time.  

The next morning we got up and took the Spanish metro (oooh, foreign) to the unique cathedral “La Sagrada Familia.”  This is a gem of a building complete with intricate sculptures, scaffolding for the never-ending construction and hordes of tourists.  We didn’t end up going in because they charged you for it, but we got some great pictures.

Then we discovered a cute little street which, in my mind, looked really Barcelona-y, so we ventured up it.  We ended up walking up a hill and discovering some cool, colorful graffiti, so of course we had to take pictures in front of it for about an hour and a half!  At the top of the hill we found another tourist attraction—gondolas which carried tourists around to see the major sites.  But again, that seemed too expensive, so we moved on.

The city central was vibrant and exciting, despite the fact that it had started to rain.  We sought refuge in a food market and purchased the most delicious fruit drinks I have ever tasted.  We then stumbled upon a free museum for a photographer named Claude Cahun.  Intrigued (and wet), we stepped inside.  I really liked his take on life, although it was a bit odd.

The next morning before heading back to the airport, we decided to hit up the “Parc Güell” which turned out to be fascinating.  There were tons of things to see and do in the park but with our limited time we could only look through some of the buildings, most of which resembled the Hansel and Gretel Gingerbread house.  There was a beautiful view on top of the main building.

Well, that’s all for now!  Today I am heading off to London for my last group trip (no big deal or anything).  My time here is almost over, I can’t believe it.  I love you all.  Tchao!

October 30- Bon Iver

To start off I would just like to say: Bon Anniversaire Adam!  I hope the next 23 years are every bit as fulfilling as your last.  This week has been absolutely incredible for me.  It was rough at the start with all of my academic responsibilities to tend to (yes I actually have those here), but it was all worth it once the weekend came around.  

On Wednesday I went to and modern art-ish museum called “104.”  My friend and I weren’t quite sure what the museum had in store but we thought it must be pretty good because the lines for each exhibit were at least an hour long.  We stood in a line that looked particularly promising as it was beside a giant black box and, well, who doesn’t want to see what’s in a giant black box?  After over an hour of waiting, we were finally allowed to go inside.  The exhibit was as follows: each guest took turns lying down on a mattress underneath a long tube that had air blowing up inside of it.  An employee smashed plates into the tube and they would fly around up in there and then crash down on the thick piece of clear plastic right above your face.  And that was it.  I think I threw off the whole existentialist/philosophical/twilight zone aesthetic they were going for as I laughed shamelessly before, during and after my turn under the tube.

 

Friday morning I got to play guitar along the Seine again with some of my Parisian friends.  There is something so fulfilling in playing the guitar so beautifully that the bum on the bench behind you falls asleep.  Well, I can safely say I have accomplished that much.  I’m running low on bucket list aspirations. 

 

Later on Friday, I headed off to the Pitchfork Music Festival for round 1.  This was a huge concert with 12 or so bands held in the Conference Center at the Parc de la Villette in Paris.  Mom and Dad, we visited this park for a total of 5 seconds that one day.  It was a good time.  We managed to push ourselves through disgruntled concert attendees all the way to the front so we could see the faces of bands we actually didn’t know right up close.  I found it rather ironic that I could only hear people conversing only in English around me.  

Saturday I slept in so that I would be up for round 2, and what a great round it was.  That night was chalk-full of the big names: Kathleen Edwards, Lykke Li and BON IVER!  Again, my friends and I pushed ourselves all the way to the front of a crowd of 5,000 to be front and center.  All of the acts were incredible, especially Bon Iver.  I got a little choked up when he played my favorite tune “Skinny Love” but am happy to report that I didn’t actually start crying (unlike the girl next to me who was uncontrollably sobbing for half of his performance).  By the end of the night, I was happy to sit on the RER home, ankles swollen to the size of tomatoes and a head full of memories.

This next month is going to be a busy one, and I’ll be traveling a lot.  I love you all and miss you.  Oh, and have a Happy Halloween!

October 23- Halfway There

Well beloved family and friends, it has definitely been awhile.  I apologize for the lack of blogging, it has been a particularly busy week (and a half) with my wonderful family that came to visit me!  Adam unfortunately couldn't make it and, if you're reading this Adam, you were greatly missed…  Now moving on!

There has been a lot of sight-seeing going on lately.  I finally have the quintessentially Parisian Eiffel Tower  pics, although it was raining the day we took them. We also visited Sacre Coeur in Montmartre.  This is a large Cathedral atop a lovely hill.  Many artists sit at the base of the hill to capture Paris at its finest.  I scoffed at the tourists who were paying 3 euro to be shuttled up to the summit of the hill when the stairs were right there, but after the first 50 I was basically crawling.  It was probably worth 3 euro just to watch me gasping up those dang things.

That day we also saw the Moulin Rouge!  No, we didn’t go in, but it was a little surreal to see the windmill in person.  Oh!  And I almost forgot, we also got to go to a Jazz Club one night which was way fun.  We chilled out with our non-alcoholic drinks and listened to the improvisational skills of a pianist, bass player and drummer.  They were way good, and everyone was so classy.  

Enter McNevin family.  My parents and Kinsey stayed in a classy hotel right next to the Arc de Triomphe.  Apparently they have impeccable taste, because we definitely ran into the Disney Channel mediocre singer/terrible actor Joe Jonas in the hotel lobby.  Kinsey pointed him out to me, and, not really believing it was him, I said “Um, excuse me, are you Joe Jonas?”  The affirmative response threw me off guard a little bit.  Only then did I notice the blinged-out, tree-trunk of a body guard that he had standing next to him (How could I possibly miss that? I don’t really know).  That guy meant business.  We got our picture and left with little trouble.

The fam and I also got to climb the Arc de Triomphe at night and watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle.  It was a great end to their trip.  Seeing them made me miss home and all of you so much!  I have been craving Café Rio like nobody’s business, and every time someone speaks English on the street I want to hug them.  I have a busy school week (well, busy in Study Abroad terms), so I may not have much to report for a little bit, but I will definitely fill you all in!  Bisous, à bientôt!

October 9

Salut!  I kind of feel like a missionary with these blog posts.  Time is just FLYING by.  Each time someone asks me how long I will be in Paris, I say "Three months... well, now two months... wait, no, just a month and a half..."  I don't have enough time!  There is so much to do and see, I haven’t even done the half of it!  I thought that I would be jetting around Europe every weekend but I find myself perfectly content staying here amongst les parisiennes.  Also, my family will be here very soon, and I can't wait. 

This week was, as usual, full of Paris walks and other cool shtuff.  On one of the walks, my friends and I stumbled across the “Locks Bridge.”  Since who knows how long, couples from all over the world have come to this bridge across the Seine and placed a padlock on the bars to symbolize their undying affection.  There were thousands of locks, some with trash bags tied to them (Don’t ask me what THAT says about their relationship), some with ribbons.  What if the relationship doesn’t work out, you ask?  Well then, I guess they could try finding the lock and throwing it the Seine… maybe that’s what the trash bags are for, making the locks easy to find? ...awkward.  

Also, this week, I went with two of my girlfriends to a Kina Grannis concert!  For those of you who don’t know who Kina is (aka everyone), I will post some sort of video of her because she is INCREDIBLE, especially live.  I also got a picture with the opening act.  His first name is Jessie, but he goes by “Imaginary Friend” in the music world.  

I need to just expound on this whole night for a second because, it was incredible.  While we were waiting in line before the concert, there were a few people playing the guitar.  They asked the crowd if anyone played, and at first I was nervous, but after my friend did it, I picked up the guitar and started playing!  So yes, I have played an instrument on the streets of Paris and sang.  No big deal.  The crowd was getting really into it—there were people filming me and everything.  

When they finally let people in, we found out the hard way that we couldn’t buy tickets at the door.  We were so openly devastated that the bouncer told us to wait by the door.  “Après la première partie, vous pouvez entrer” (After the first part of the show, you can go in).  Alright, we can deal with that.  We waited until everyone went in and then, to our surprise, the bouncer motioned us in.  We walked through the hallway and received FREE tickets to the show!  The moral of this story?  Bouncers are just big teddy bears, especially in foreign countries.

The concert was fabulous.  Afterwards, our friends and I met Kina, in the flesh.  We all gathered around the guitar and we sang to her.  All of us.  It was so precious, we sounded terrible (especially with our clashing accents), but she was tearing up because we sang one of her own songs.  Easily one of the best nights of my life.

This weekend, a bunch of the girls gathered together at our little house in Vésinet and we had a tea party (with Nannick’s permission, of course).  It was so cute—my roommate Brynn planned it all out and cooked all of the food so, it was delish.  I have grown so close to all of the girls in the program, I’m so glad I have them here with me.

Well, I guess that’s it for now.  Soon to come—the McNevins come to Paris!  And, the Bon Iver concert.  Donc, au revoir!

October 2- Normandy

Alors, bonjour.  Bienvenue à mon blog.  We have recently returned from another group trip, although this one was significantly shorter than the last.  As the title suggests, we traveled to Normandy and visited a few sites that I found fabulous.

First we went to the town of Bayeux and had a guided visit to see the Bayeux tapestry.  This 70-meter-long tapestry dates back 1,000 years and details the history of Great Britain.  We all found it very interesting, but were also laughing at the British male voice in our audio guides.  He sure had a way with words.

Then came the emotional portion of our journey.  We visited the American Cemetary à Colleville-sur-Mer, otherwise known as Omaha Beach for the D-Day invasion.  We first walked through the exhibit honoring the American soldiers and their sacrifice.  I got goose bumps as I read the quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower upon my entry:

“You are about to embark upon the

Great Crusade toward which we have striven these

many months.  The eyes of the world are upon you…

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion

to duty and skill in Battle.”

From then on I was at the mercy of the pictures of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of freedom.  I was filled with a powerful feeling of patriotism which is quite rare for me.  Near the end of the exhibit, I approached a short tunnel.  The tunnel was made of gray stone and lined with thin lights near the top.  A woman’s voice slowly and clearly read off the names of the 9,000 soldiers who were represented by Christian crosses and Jewish stars just outside.  That’s when I lost it.  I think as I have grown, I have come to realize the importance and value of life and living.  I have been blessed with the opportunity of living a full and happy life if I choose to.  I hope to be able to take advantage of that.

Outside, I walked slowly through the memorial stones, looking at the names hollowed out and thinking about how most of these soldiers were not much older than myself when they were drafted.  I came across three that were particularly interesting for me.  Someone had gone down to the beach, scooped up sand, carried it back up the hill and filled in the hollowed letters on the memorial stones.  Two flowers were at the base of each.

On a lighter note, Saturday we had the opportunity to visit the Monet gardens in Giverny.  It was so beautiful, it was painful.  No wonder Monet was able to produce masterpiece after masterpiece, he needed only to look at what was right in front of him.  We also got to walk around in his house.  They were sticklers about pictures, but it was a very quaint place.  And I now believe Monet was secretly a master chef as well as an artist, as his kitchen housed nothing shy of 20 pots and pans hanging on the walls.  We were envious.

This morning we listened to the Saturday Morning session of General Conference (for the LDS Church).  It was so nice to hear the talks in English, and see the faces of our beloved leaders.  We need to wait until 6 o’clock tonight to stream the Sunday morning session live because of the time difference.  

I love you all!  À tout à l’heure!

September 25

Bonjour!  Je suis très desolée that I haven’t written in a while.  Paris is so vibrant; there is always something to do.  With classes starting, my days pass in a flash.  I just hope that I will be able to keep up.

Also, I keep conveniently leaving my camera at my house.  Usually I would just say “Je m’en fiche” (I don’t care), but that doesn’t sit well with these blog posts.  Fortunately, I do almost everything with the girls in the group who come prepared with camera in hand, so I’ll just steal some photos from facebook.

These first few are from the beautiful grounds of Versailles.  When we first approached the palace, some dudes from Chile stopped and asked us to take their picture.  Then, they asked to take a picture with us.  I think they managed to get every combination possible—just me and one guy, Anna and I and that same guy, Anna, Riley, myself and two guys, etc.  As icing on the cake, we finally managed to walk away when we heard them say “You are very pretty!”  At least we’re a hit with the folks down in Chile.

The palace was marvelous, as you would expect, but my favorite part of that day was when we walked down into the gardens, rented bikes, and biked along the path to Marie Antoinette’s petite village.  It was a beautiful day—the sun was shining, but in the shade it was the perfect temperature.  The pictures you see are mostly from this little escapade.  My friends and I had an ongoing argument I like to call “if-you-could-live-here-but-had-to-be-beheaded-would-you-do-it?”  It’s more difficult to decide than you would think.

After traipsing around the gardens, we decided to just chill out on the lawn by the… lake? Pond?  Agh, who knows; it’s an abnormally large body of water for a backyard, let’s just put it that way.  I might have to do this more often before the weather gets cold.  I have a “Student Arts” card which allows me to get into all historical sites for free.  Might as well take advantage of THAT while I can.

One day we decided to climb the never-ending spiral staircases into the towers of Notre Dame.  This, so far, is my favorite view of my Paris, easily trumping the view from atop l’Arc de Triomphe.  We also got to see and hear the “Great Bell.”  I could almost see the hunchback of Notre Dame lurking in the corner.  Maybe it was just a confused tourist.

Another treat (literally) was when we went to Ladurée, a pastry shop famous for its macaroons.  This is not my favorite picture of myself, but that forêt noire macaroon was impeccable, as was the fruits rouges one.  You gotta love the pastries of Paris.

Other than these excursions, I have been a busy bee with school and such.  This was my first week of classes (try not to be too jealous, BYU students).  We are lucky in that we get to go to l’Institut Catholique for our French class and mingle with real French students!  Unfortunately, I am super intimidated by these super model-esque fashionistas, so I think the only “mingling” I’ll do is with the Young Single adults at the LDS Institute.

Speaking of which, what sweet souls they all are.  We had an activity with these good people which was way fun.  They had a lesson and a buffet and then a dance, and let’s just say we Americans know how to get the party started.  I have been anxious to show off my geeky dance moves in Europe for quite some time, so I was going nuts along with the rest of the party.  Several French people were filming us do extreme versions of “the sprinkler,” “the catwalk” and “the funky chicken.”  Just keepin’ it classy.  I made a few friends that night, but unfortunately nothing too substantial.  I’ll need to work on this later.

I know I have done so much more than these few things but, I can’t remember at the moment.  I will try to take my camera with me like a smart person from now on.  I love you and miss you all!