One week until spring break!

The weeks here are flying by. I haven't once found myself saying TGI Friday like at home because every day is amazing! One of my program advisors once said to my group, "you'll have good days and bad days here, but your bad days will never really be bad..because you're in Paris." I loved that. Right now I'm really appreciative of being in Paris because I was just angrily planning my classes for next semester knowing I'll be back in freezing Wisconsin. Just kidding, I'm excited to come back. But I've definitely had a really easy semester compared to normal, so the adjustment to real college again will be a big struggle.

With spring break coming up, I figured the days would slowly pass, but this week went so fast. On Wednesday my art history class went to Musée d'Orsay for the first time and it was magical. I honestly liked it better than the Louvre, which feels wrong to say. But I recognized so much of the art, and that's just a great feeling. D'Orsay used to be a train station so the whole set up is just really amazing.

The museum also currently has a Van Gogh exhibit going on, so of course I went to that! I felt my 5th grade art education come right back to me; it was great! All the classics were there (besides starry night, sadly) Pictures weren't allowed, but I managed to snap one.






Prior to going to the museum, I wandered around near the museum doing some exploring. Believe it or not, there's still so much I haven't seen. I grabbed some lunch and walked through the Tuileries garden, which connects the Louvre to the Champs Elysees. It's beautiful.

Louvre in the background

As far as school is going, I don't have too much to do. We rarely get homework, all of our grades are tests and papers. So May will be very stressful with lots of presentations, papers and exams when school is finishing up. Something interesting I learned is that giving presentations in class is super American. Apparently other countries don't put nearly as much of an emphasis on public speaking skills as we do. Half of my french class (all of the non-americans) had NEVER given a presentation in French before. That's just crazy to me. But otherwise school is going great, I'm not stressed out at all like I constantly am at home. I had my midterm in my French class on Tuesday and it took three hours. Unbelievable. It was super easy but still! 

Another observation: Paris might even be more beautiful at night. 

Food updates: 

• It's kind of crazy that I haven't tried much french food, but unfortunately it's very difficult to find affordable french food. My host mom doesn't make anything super french, other than when we have our course of various types of cheeses! This week she made me curry chicken and rice. YUM. 
• This week I finally made it to Le Marais, which is a historic, Jewish neighborhood in Paris. It has so many cute little shops and restaurants, and is definitely known for the falafel! So I tried a huge vegetarian falafel pita and it was amazing. They just handed me this heaping pita out of the "to go" window and I was left to chow down in the middle of the street. 
• My french teacher spent 6 years in Japan so she always has all kinds of crazy facts for us about Japanese culture. Well she suggested we go to this Japanese patisserie right by the university (apparently it was in Bon Appetite magazine in the United States). So I went after class (literally right around the corner from the building my class is in) and I got two macaroons: sesame and yuzo flavored. Très bizarre but I'm glad I tried it. 
• Lastly, I'm getting so good at grocery shopping! I feel like a regular now at the grocery store I go to; I know where everything is, and what brands are cheapest :) I do miss cooking though. I have really just been eating very basic meals that require little preparation because it's a little awkward to cook in someone else's kitchen.
• Milk. At the stores, milk is not refrigerated. It is also often sold in packs of 6 1.5 liter jugs. So my host mom buys the 6 pack, they stay unrefrigerated, but the one we are currently working on is always in the fridge. Very strange. Even stranger..it's SO GOOD. Best milk I've ever had.