wasting away my days at cafes

My host mom returned last night from New York which was a really nice change. The past 5 days were so quiet. As we caught up she told me my french sounded better! :) It's so crazy how much new french I learn every minute I'm here. Together we watched the news and then one of her favorite shows - it was so corny and she thought it was hilarious, lol. She also said she didn't like TV in New York and nothing good was on. But that was the first time I'd seen a french TV show.

This week I started school! I had only my two classes at ACCENT: Art History and Contemporary France. My Art History teacher is super french but really good at explaining artsy words in english that we would never know what they mean. I had Art History Monday and Wednesday. We'll only have two papers, two exams, and no homework. But I was a little overwhelmed because I've never studied art and it seemed lots of the students already had. On Wednesday, we had class at the Louvre! How cool is that? I'd take a class in the Louvre any day over a lecture hall at UWM. We'll be having class on Wednesday at the Louvre for about the next month or so.

one of many beautiful rooms in the Louvre

My second class is only once a week and all about modern France. We'll talk about politics, family living, schooling, marriage rights, adoption rights, and other important subjects. We'll also be having field trips almost every week!

Yesterday I also had a placement test for my french classes at L'Institut Catholique. I had an easy, ten-minute written portion and then another ten-minute oral section. So now I know my whole schedule! I'll have two french classes once a week for 3 hours each, Tuesday and Thursday. 

random observations

• Garbages on the sidewalk are a very rare find
• Public water fountains do not exist
• Ice does not exist ..your water will never be cold
• Paris is most definitely not wheelchair accessible. This is one of the downsides of all the buildings being so old. Although they're so beautiful, none have elevators. Everything in the U.S. is handicapped-accessible but unfortunately, it'd be a total mess for someone in a wheelchair here. At some of the metro stops you need to go down 4 flights of stairs before you're at the metro.
• Speaking of the metro, it always smells like pee. :( 
• The only soda they have is Coke, Coke Zero and Fanta Orange. No Dr. Pepper :( :( :(
• French have the mentality that United States schooling is very strict and not fun. Apparently "lectures" aren't a thing 
• American music is super popular. Every place I walk in is jamming Rihanna or Eminem. They love Beyonce and the Black Eyed Peas. 
• "To go" simply does not exist here. You take your time and eat or drink what you order. The only places you can order something to go is McDonald's or Starbucks.. which I haven't been to yet don't worry! But I hate not being to get coffee to go :| #collegestudentproblems
• Some of the fashion I've seen would be considered ugly in the U.S. but here they look so great!
• All women have a very natural look. Makeup is not popular. Red lipstick is very popular. And nobody has their hair done. Everyone's hair is frizzy and messy and they still look awesome.
• As long as we're talking about fashion..I HAVE SEEN ONLY ABOUT 3 PAIRS OF UGG BOOTS SO THAT IS SUCH A NICE CHANGE THANK YOU
• Even young teenager smokes cigarettes
• Drinking on the street or in a public place is legal
• There are often soldiers in groups of three with huge rifles walking on the street..especially at big tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre or the Arc de Triomphe. I've been told this is to make Parisians feel safe in case anything bad would happen at these locations, in other words, they're always prepared for a terrorist attack.
• Going to the movies is veryyyy popular and they still get dressed up for that even though you sit in a dark theater..

tous les jours sont incroyable

Who would have thought Paris would be one of the best places to find asian cuisine? Well apparently Paris is home to some of the best authentic japanese, thai, vietnamese, etc. Last night, I went with 3 friends to one of the streets that has many asian restaurants, and we were blown away. In a matter of 5 blocks there were about 20 different asian places, and that was just one street. We ate a Mandarin restaurant, which I've never had and it was amazinggggg / very reasonable. Kinda risky since it's a mandarin food menu and it's in french, but I know enough to know that I ordered chicken in thai sauce.  All our food was delicious, and the restaurant was packed because this weekend and last weekend the french are celebrating Chinese new year.

Kind of a side note, but restaurants work very differently here. You walk in and they'll ask if you're they're to drink, to snack or to eat, and this determines where you will be seated. Then once you are seated a server will not come for about 10-15 minutes and you just have to order everything at once. It's definitely not like the United States where the server comes every two minutes refilling your drink or asking how everything is. After ordering they only come back to deliver the drinks then the food then to deliver the check. After you get the check, they will come back and ask for the money and count it right in front of you. Very bizarre. But I guess it's understandable since you don't need to tip here. Service is always already included in the price of your meal…this could explain why prices are so high!   Also I've figured out that places (not just restaurants) appreciate when you have exact change. They get so frustrated when they need to make change for you! Annoying.

After dinner we wanted dessert (obviously) so we walked and walked until we were out of the asian zone to a little cafe. With coffee, dessert and about 3 hours of talking, I felt so french.

Today I woke up early and went to mass at Notre Dame with a few friends. It was incredible. Although I'm not catholique and the priest spoke french, it was easier to understand and follow than I expected. Such a great experience. Upon walking into Notre Dame, the power of the room takes over you. It's beautiful and simply sitting inside the church is unlike anything I've experienced. The place was packed.. Tourists are still able to walk through while mass is going on so that's a little annoying but no talking is allowed. The mass was called an "international service" so some parts were in English, some were in Latin, but for the most part it was in French.

before it filled up

After that, we decided to make our way to the Champs-Elysees. On our way there we found this tiny little market about a block long just outside Notre Dame and decided to check it out. Turns out it's a pet market. All the venders were selling BIRDS. I saw literally 1,000 birds today. They had all kinds of supplies for sale like cages, bird food, toys, everything. Strange, but pretty cool. 

After walking away from the market along the Seine, we're on a random street and I see all these cages outside of a shop. I get excited, like yay a pet store! Let's go in! We go in, so cute. We come out..another pet store next door. Then another and another and another. We seriously found the best street in Paris. Animal central. <3 My friends and I decided to call it "Rue des Animaux" and said we'd come here anytime we're feeling down or homesick. Here are some of the highlights: 

It was so hard to leave! All the little babies were sticking their paws out just looking for some love :( But we finally dragged ourselves out 5 pet stores later..

Here are a few random other pictures so you can see what I'm up to… 

Macarones! They're sold everywhere, even McDonalds, but this specific place is Laduree, the oldest pastry shop (patisserie) in Paris. So far I've tried coffee, chocolate, salted caramel, and raspberry. 

L'institut Catholique!! Just the outside of it of course, but this is where I'll be taking two french language courses, starting February 17th. 

My host families apartment building. Kinda weird right now because my host mom had to go to New York on Saturday and won't be back until Wednesday. I have this huge, beautiful french apartment to myself. I wonder if it's normal to trust a stranger in your home for 5 days? 

Moon! He's keeping me company and my new sleeping buddy :)

A group of people in my program in front of the Louvre; most are from UW-Madison. 

THE EIFFEL TOWER IS WHY I STUDIED ABROAD HERE

FAVORITE DAY BY FAR BECAUSE I GOT TO GO TO THE EIFFEL TOWER.  But anyway. I woke up this morning to my host mom practically waiting for me to wake up. We finally got to get to know each other a little bit and I learned that my home stay will be perfect for me. We match each other very well and agree on lots of things. She said on Saturday she'll take me for a walk around the neighborhood and show me the best places to buy groceries, bread and whatnot. I learned not to buy baguettes during the day. Only in the early morning or at night when they're fresh out of the oven! I adventurously made myself breakfast, just some toast, coffee and an orange. But it's still a little awkward, I'm not sure what I can and can't do at the house. After breakfast I took a European shower, meaning it was très vite (very fast!) and without a shower curtain. Those apparently aren't a thing here, so of course the entire floor was soaked. I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the shower, there are so many nobs and hoses. I asked my host mom for help and she didn't even know how to either. Haha.. She said "I'll ask the cleaning lady" I figured it out eventually lol.

Later in the day, I had a group lunch with the other students in my program au Petit Colbert, a traditional french restaurant. We had a traditional three-course meal, meaning everything took very long and was very french.

crusted goat cheese with salad and beetroots

chicken and mashed potatoes…I had to

caramel cream cake and coffee

The whole lunch took three hours; maybe that's why french people are so slim but can still eat so much. There were about 20 minutes or more between each course. If that happened in American restaurants people would complain. Everything was delicious besides the dessert. The texture of the cake was something like uncooked tofu and I unfortunately just couldn't eat it. :( The coffee is extremely strong,  but delicious. It's most common to drink it black. They know you're american if you ask for un café au lait..coffee with milk. And if you just ask for "un café" you will be given an espresso. It's necessary to clarify that you want a whole cup of coffee (café longue or café allongé). The other students in my program said they think the coffee is so good here that they don't even need creamer/milk. But I'm struggling. The stores don't even sell creamer. Our server was very helpful with knowing we're not experts at french and helped us pronounce all the food correctly. She also continuously brought bottles of Evian water for us..knowing we're american and we like to chug the water. I'm so dehydrated. French people do not drink water like we do. It's super american to carry around a water bottle and people look at me weird since I have been. If you sit down at a restaurant you won't get water unless you ask. Then once you ask you will get a small cup only filled halfway and without ice. 

After lunch, a number of us wanted to walk off all the food we had just eaten. So we walked to the Louvre!  

Musée du Louvre

 Musée du Louvre

 Musée du Louvre

Musée du Louvre

It was sooooo beautiful. I had no clue how gigantic it was. We didn't go inside because we'll be going with our Art History class. Just walking around the outside was incredible; the beauty of the architecture is breathtaking. I love seeing these places but every touristy place like this has tons of people trying to sell you trinkets and tourist items, or many people begging for money. I've seen many people playing music in the street with cups to throw change in, people pretending to be deaf or blind to earn money (or trying to distract you while a friend attempts to pickpocket), on the metro people try to sell things to you, today there was a man with a whole karaoke system on the metro singing his heart out and then asking for money. 

After the Louvre we walked a long time along the Seine, to the Eiffel Tower!!!!! 

La Seine. If you look closely you can see Notre Dame in the distance!

We could see it in the distance from the Louvre. The closer we got the bigger it got. I was freaking out. It was perfect timing too because we were walking just as the sun was starting to set..so when we got near, the sun was shining right behind it. 

So obviously today was my favorite day yet. <3 <3 <3 More amazing adventures to come!!

school things

Today was another adventure of course. I had another orientation at 10 am at ACCENT and I was leaving from my family's apartment. This being said, it would be the first time I went somewhere in Paris by myself! eek! I had to take the metro (first time) and guess what happened..I got lost. Are you surprised? I'm not. But after like one second I realized I was going the wrong way and, whew, I was back on track. The metro is actually super easy, it looks complicated but it's so efficient and makes me absolutely hate the Milwaukee bus system. A metro for each line comes literally every two minutes so there's basically no waiting. I was just freaking out about being pick-pocketed the whole time because that's all anyone ever says about the metro.

In my orientation I learned about my classes. I begin class next week. I'll be taking two classes at ACCENT: Art History and Contemporary France. We will be going to a new art museum every Wednesday in Art history!! :) and I'll also have two french language classes at l'institut catholique, but I need to take a placement test first before knowing what those classes are. But it's looking like I'll have class just Monday-Thursday. Yay!

After orientation, I stopped at a Creperie (a place to buy crepes) for a quick lunch. Literally on every other block is a window like this where you can buy a crepe on the sidewalk. It'll either be its own little window or it'll be attached to a restaurant.

This specific Creperie was attached to a Haagen-Dazs, near the Notre Dame, but the one I went to today was it's own little shop. I got a crepe au Nutella banane..crepe with nutella and banana. YUMMY. Notice the giant container of nutella in the window….. After that I did some shopping with friends. Look what we found…just a casual Parisian department store, no big deal.

Galerie Lafayette

So yeah it's this gigantic department store filled with designer clothes that cost 400 dollars. But it was really cool to look around! 

orientation and my new home (:

Okay wow every time I want to post something I don't even know where to start because I see and learn so many new things every second I'm here. I guess that's basically the point though. Today was by far the busiest day. I had to check out of my hotel that we stayed in for one night and then I had two orientations at my program headquarters. After breakfast, I had to head over to my program headquarters, ACCENT, for orientation. 

typical breakfast

 So I had to be at ACCENT today at 10 for general orientation. This is where I'll be taking two classes. In our general orientation we learned all the basics there are to know about living in Paris. Such as how to go about the metro, general etiquette, where to eat cheap, where to go out, what to do when we're bored, social norms, where to grocery shop, how to buy a cell phone here, how to avoid being pick-pocketed and we got an activities list of things we'll all be doing together and weekend or day trips we'll be taking. It lasted about three hours and was EXTREMELY OVERWHELMING. So much to know. I'm sure I'll get accustomed fast but literally everything is different. For example, ordering a Coca-Cola in a restaurant… you will get a small small bottle of coke with a glass; in this glass will be a spoon and a lemon…not sure what to do with the spoon... The small bottle of coke will cost 4,90 euros or $6.60 (not good for soda addicts like me). 
After this orientation we had a break for lunch where me and a few others in my program went out into Paris to get some food. One of the girls I was with, who is a vegetarian and has been for 8 years, and has already spent about two weeks in Europe, spontaneously decided to no longer be a vegetarian! I had just met her and she was ordering chicken for lunch. Basically every cafe or restaurant in Paris has little to no vegetarian options, so she felt she'd be better off eating meat. But I just wanted to share that because I was totally shocked! Anyway, we also purchased our metro pass. So as you probably know, Parisians use the metro to get everywhere. (metro = subway). The metro pass can be purchased for one week or one month at a time. It cost about 67 euros for the month which is $90.00. This pass can be used for the metro, the city busses and the RER, which is a train. So it's actually pretty convenient. 
After lunch, we had to be back at ACCENT for our homestay orientation. There are 22 people in my program (four from UW-Milwaukee, 18 from UW-Madison), about ten of the students are living in international dorms, and the other 12 will be living with a French family, like me. It was kind of overwhelming to meet the other people in my program. Oh I forgot to mention that 21 out of the 22 people are girls and only one is a guy. hah! Poor guy. But I've already exchanged numbers and made plans with a few girls so hopefully these are friends I'll be hanging out with often.
At the home stay orientation we learned all the general guidelines for how to be a guest that stays for 4 months. We discussed etiquette at the dinner table, how to say certain phrases, bathroom/living room guidelines and more about french vs. american norms in the home. The french are very private and keep to themselves. We learned proper conversation starters, as things we might talk about in the U.S. over dinner may not be appropriate in France. They recommended sticking to easy subjects like books or movies, and not asking much about our families personal life. I've noticed that this may be why most Americans think the French are rude. But they aren't, they just keep to themselves! They see Americans as very friendly and smiley, because we constantly smile at each other or say hi to strangers on the street. Here they just look down, look straight ahead or walk with headphones in. Nobody makes eye contact or smiles at you..unless you walk into a store somewhere.. then it's necessary to say Bonjour, comment ca va? (how are you?) Ok that was random but anyway, after the home stay orientation we individually met with the home stay coordinator who chose our families for us. I didn't know any details about the family I'd be staying with up until this point! Crazy! So obviously I was freaking out. But thank god! What I found out about my family was parfait!
I was only given very general information like that I'll be with a single mother who is a lawyer and her 23 year old daughter, and their cat :) :) :) My host mom has her office in the house. She works from home and her clients come to the house for meetings. Upon arrival, I was given a tour of their extremely spacious apartment. Everybody in Paris lives in apartments, apparently a 3 bedroom apartment is very uncommon, which is what my host family has. I was told that half of Parisians live alone, and the other half live in studio apartments. To get into the apartment from the street, I needed a code to open the gates, and then another code for the elevator. It's just like the movies. The elevators here require you to close a door behind you and only oner person can fit in at a time. After a tour and seeing my adorable room where I could put my bags down, my host mom made me what she called a light dinner, but I was stuffed. It included sausage, hash browns, toast, various types of cheese, salad, another raspberry salad thing I wasn't sure what it was, Coke, and then she showed me a couple options for dessert. Wow! I was speechless. 
Her and her daughter are adorable, very smiley and french, but they both speak English. They have a beautiful home. I have my own section of the house basically, but we'll share the kitchen. 

kitchen 

living room

my own bathroom

hallway just after coming in the front door

my bedroom!

Moon. my new bff. he's currently sleeping next to me <3

So yeah basically I feel very lucky to have ended up in such a beautiful home. The program leaders at ACCENT prepared us for extremely small, basic homes and to have low expectations. I am very happy and cannot wait to get to know more about how the french live!

more sight-seeing

So today was my last day at the hostel. Finally! I'm so anxious to get to orientation/check in at my school tomorrow. But of course we had to make our way to another tourist attraction before it's time to leave here. Me and another girl I came with decided to go to Sacre-Coeur (sacred heart) a famous church which was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel. It was BEAUTIFUL. There was no talking allowed inside, similar to Notre Dame, and no photos allowed inside.

Sacre-Coeur

After walking through the inside, we sat on the steps in front staring at the amazing view of Paris. Sacre-Coeur is in Montmartre, which is basically the highest part of Paris you can go, meaning the best views. 

It was so nice out today, especially in the sun so there were tons of people from all over the world sitting on the steps eating lunch. In a nearby cafe I got some snacks to eat on the stairs as well. After talking with the cashier for a little bit (in french, of course) he thought I was german. When I told him no, I'm actually from the United States, he asked for my phone number and address. Hah…kinda weird. I just laughed it off. After a couple hours hanging out in front of Sacre-Coeur, we left and just walked around more of Paris finding various shops and cafes to stop in. We found a cool clothing store that seemed like a secondhand or thrift shop. I got a pair of pleather studded leggings for only 5 euros and sparkly black tights for only 2 euros! Of course the first clothes I buy are when I'm bargain shopping. So American of me.