Technology amazes me...

• Stoic
• The island of Mont St. Michael
• In the words of L.A. Mackay – “Torture Chamber”: in the words of Annie Hughes – “You cannot go out in that hat”
• France is windy!
• Protecting the homeland
• I would not be good in war – but I was certainly willing to lie in the mud for a photo
• What a good fighter – hiding behind my comrades…
• Obviously we are pretending to be Germans and are terrified because the Americans are coming!
• Annie and our new flat…
• The American Cemetery which rests atop Omaha Beach – site of the D-Day landings…
• A perfect capture of what being at the cemetery was like
• Claire and Katy braving the German Bunkers
• The hangout of the likes of Van Gogh and Hemingway

Being in France makes you appreciate America...

As I am not skilled enough to put captions next to pictures they are coming...

St.Valetine lives in Paris

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Paris has been fantastic. Last Monday we moved apartments and are now living one block from the Eiffel tower and approximately one mile from the Champs-Elysses. It’s wonderful. The only bummer is that Annie and I are currently sharing one set of keys so we’ve had to keep track of eachother all the time – but we’re working on it. The first week at the new house was very hectic just because we were finally able to get into a routine – all is well now, although I never seem to have enough time to rest. Started classes last week – I am taking a Paris Architecture/History class as well as French Civilization class in addition to my two hours of French per day plus one hour of phonetics work every day every other week. French is hard- but well worth it. There are people from all over the world in our class – Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, China, Taiwan, Canada – it’s crazy that what unites all of us is the ability (or lack there of) to speak French. Last week we mostly explored the Trocedero (our metro stop) area and I fit in a few yoga sessions. Friday night Caitlin, Claire, LA, and I went to this church associated with YoungLife near the Centre Pompidou. It was so neat – so different than the last service that Claire and I went to which was at the Cathedral de Notre Dame! The entire service was in English – but was translated into French – which really helped us to understand some of the common phrases used by “younger” Parisians. After a wonderful pizza dinner and a honey/almond crepe I appropriately went home and stayed awake until past 1am. You all (okay, perhaps just Claude and Ricky) would be so proud of me- I’ve been staying awake so late here – it’s insane – most Parisians don’t even think about going into work until 10am – the outlook on life is completely opposite of the US and A. That’s one thing I’m really enjoying about being here…learning and beginning to understand and appreciate the cultural differences between the states and other countries – it’s fascinating!

Let’s see – this past Saturday we took a bus to Normandy and the D-Day beaches with AIFS. The 7am wakeup was a little rough for most- but since we left from the Tour Eiffel (our stop) Annie and I didn’t complain too much. Thought I was going to have disaster on my hands because US Bank cut off my debit card – but all it well now. The weekend in Normandy/Brittany was unbelievable. Our first stop was in Caen where we walked through a WWII museum and saw two films on D-Day. The museum was interesting because it came from a French perspective rather than the American one that we all know. France calls WWII “the dark years” because of their armistice with Germany and for basically allowing Germany to take over their country. By far the coolest part of the trip was going to the American Cemetery which overlooks Omaha beach. The land that the cemetery is actually hundreds of acres given to the US government by France- there are 9000 graves – all in the form of white crosses/stars (Jewish soldiers) aligned in perfectly straight rows. All of the soldiers buried here were killed in a three month time period between D-Day and the battles that followed. I, of course, started to cry as soon as we entered the cemetery and seeing Omaha was even more dramatic. The whole experience was very moving – yet very strange because the land itself was so beautiful – all green and white and peaceful, yet it represented so much death and loss and sacrifice. I assure you I have never been prouder to be an American. Afterwards we headed to another part of Normandy where actual German bunkers still exist. Although it was rainy and wet and muddy – you know me – I still got down there and took some quality pictures. I assure you though; I never want to have to sit in a bunker. No siree. That was the end of the solemn part to the trip because from there we headed to St.Malo this crazy little walled-in town on the west coast of France. After a night of a crazy Russian carnival, bad crepes, great gelato, and talking to four of my favorite people in the world, we decided to start our morning at 7am to fit it all in. We did awake at 7am and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast of jelly and bread (and broke a chair) but as I’m beginning to believe that it rains in France every SINGLE day – we didn’t actually start to adventursize until a bit later. When Claire, Caitlin, and I did brave the outdoors and had our umbrellas turned upside down by the wind – we still managed to take beaucoup de photos and enjoy ourselves quite a bit…At 11 we got back on the bus and drove some more- this time landing at Mont St.Micheal, the second most visited place in France after the Eiffel Tower. This little island is the host to some scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies and is actually over a thousand years old. The island is accessible by car during certain hours of the day – but it is actually completely surrounded by water during the tides which come twice a day. We ended the trip with a tour of the Abbey, which is basis for the island, from a little old woman who I am convinced secretly works for Hogwarts.

Monday was a very monumental day here in Paris as it was my first day back running in six weeks. I must have looked like a fool as I ran beneath the Eiffel tower because I had the biggest smile on my face…Tuesday we had an AIFS fondu party and the best nutella crepe in the world and alas, here we are. Today had some class, ate at a café called “Breakfast in America” where I had the most wonderful scrambled eggs, chocolate chip pancakes, and potatoes, and now we are beginning our Valentine’s Day extravaganza. Our first stop was Hagen-Daz for chocolate fondue – we then ventured for some wine outside Le Louvre and ended up at a crepe stand making friends with French students with whom we exchanged emails and are going to meet with to speak French and English! Hands down – best Valentine’s Day ever…Other than that – all is well – your emails/messages/etc truly brighten my days so please continue to send them (and your prayers) my way…Also – I am wearing a new sweatshirt and am the happiest girl in the world…!

The Captions are probably wrong. SoRrY

1 - Being thrown into the lake at the gardens of Versailles

2 – Being “Classy” at le Louvre

3 – Too bad there’s not a labyrinth I could tackle…

4 – Perhaps that’s the Louvre behind me…

5 – Did you doubt that I would find it?

6 – Caitlin, Claire, Me, Annie, and Lauren in front of Versailles

7 – What is that? Oh, that’s right – Le Tour Eiffel…

8 – The White Envelope Ceremony – proof that this is in fact The Amazing Race

9 – True Adventurers…Actually, just recovering from breakfast in Cannes…

Playing Catchup

Okay - so the number i put in the last blog is not working - once i get it right i'll let you know...SORRY

February 2, 2007
Paris, France

We’ll go day by day to break it down for y’all…

January 31, 2007

Last day of January, where has the time gone? Today we registered for classes at the Sorbonne…I had perhaps my best moment so far in Paris when the professor told me that my results were “not glorious”. Really? I wasn’t aware. Anywho – afterwards I tried to withdraw money from my checking account to pay for our trip to Normandy next weekend and a wine class, but alas I forgot my pin. So after I appropriately woke my family up at 4am (sorry mom and dad) and then dealt with a little more housing issues Annie and I headed to the Latin Quarter for the first time. Our jaunt through the quarter was a little confusing as we walked down Rue St.Martin looking for the Cathedral de Notre Dame, but were unable to find it so we walked all the way to the Luxembourg Gardens where we looked at a map and realized we were right in the first place. So we turned around once more, returned to the place we had turned around the first time, took about 3 more steps and saw the cathedral. Having found our third major monument (after Tour Eiffel and Le Louvre) in an equally monumental way (after coming up the metro steps and falling upon in during an evening walk) we starred in awe for a few moments. Next we headed to Shakespeare’s and Co – an English language bookstore. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the Latin Quarter and enjoying the intellectual area of Paris (just our place)… Splitting ways for a few hours – Annie headed home and I headed to take a new yoga class called Bikram Yoga – an intense 90 minute class done in “summer in Wisconsin” heat. Most of the classes are in French, but the instructor is also fluent in English and hilarious – so I enjoyed myself but sweated more than I thought humanely possible. Annie, Claire, and Lauren met me afterwards and we headed to the Bercy Village for dinner. We ate at a very chic café called Chai 33 where I had my first croque-monsieur (sans jambon) and enjoyed it thoroughly. For the end to a lovely evening we saw “Blood Diamond” in the village’s 24 plex cinema which was outlandishly nice. Blood Diamond was AMAZING. Every single person should go see it. It was especially neat for all of us in AIFS because one of the students in our program is from Sierra Leon and his father is the Minister of Finance there. Crazy.

February 1, 2007

Okay – so today we got new beds. Yes, new beds, because alas, Annie and I have been sleeping on cots for the past few days. After this slight disruption from sleep, Annie went back to bed and I met up with Claire and Lauren for some window shopping and lunch (where I purchased my first baguette!) Another yoga class and then I spent the rest of my evening at McDonalds (yes, you read that right) because I hadn’t checked my email in four days (and am quite sorry I haven’t responded to all of you…) and they have free wifi. I did not have to brave the fastfood capital of the world alone however, Claire sat with me and we got through my 70 new messages quite quickly. NAWT.

February 2, 2007

This morning a bunch of AIFS students (and the lovely Jon) went to Versailles, the home of Louie the XIV, XV, and XVI. We got a guided tour which was very interesting because it included a bit of history. The palace was absolutely amazing – the organ, the hall of mirrors, the frescos, the furniture – all incredible. The day was a little rainy but we did manage to wrestle our way through a few of the gardens and promised to return in spring for a better viewing. The trip wasn’t a total waste though because LA and I made plans to go to Europark together (yea!). After the RER (train) ride home we stopped off at a gym that Annie and I might join – it was huge – so many machines, classes, a wave pool with slides, and aquabikes- but no worries. I get to run in 14 days and counting…After running home quick we met back up with Claire and LA for a night at Le Louvre because students get in free on Friday nights! Looking mighty classy (and thinking of Trisha and Steve) we wandered through several exhibits before landing on the most famous painting in all of history – La Jaconde (aka the Mona Lisa). I had mentally prepared myself that DaVinci’s work was not very big – but was pleasantly surprised to find quite the opposite. We stayed at the museum for awhile because there was a special Boudellaire (the writer – and no he’s not going to be reading his own work Claire…) event. After walking for awhile we found ourselves in the Latin Quarter and discovered a Mexican Restaurant that we had been waiting to try all week. And, as we try as much as possible to assimilate into the French culture, we appropriately got crepes afterwards. So just a quick recap for all of you who just are skimming these well developed stories: Friday = Versailles, gym, Mona Lisa, Le Louvre, Mexican food, and an almond/nutella crepe. Who could ask for a better day?

Finally...Paris

January 30, 2007

Paris, France

I’m in love. Perhaps because I’ve build Paris up for so long (since I was a little girl and my Dad and I started to save for our own trip) or perhaps because it’s just my soulmate, whatever the reason, I’m absolutely in love with this city. Where to begin… There are so many emotions going on right now that it’s going to be hard to put them all into words for you, but I’ll try. I promise.

Back to the trip from Cannes to Paris. So imagine 75 college students (American students I remind you) boarding the TGV (france’s high speed train) in less than 3 minutes. Chaos does not begin to describe what this trip has been. So we all did in fact make it on the train and I quite enjoyed the ride through the French countryside. During the five hour ride I enjoyed some Jonny Lang and my Let’s Go Europe book and of course the company of mes amies…Upon our arrival in Paris we meet Claire and Martha at Le Gard de Lyon for our “white envelope ceremony”. Now, I’ve been building this part of the trip up for awhile because I’ve begun to realize that AIFS-Paris2007 is a reality TV show that we’ve all become apart of. I thought this part of the adventure was the final task in which we receive our housing assignments, but as you will soon read, it is not.

So – the white envelope ceremony is an event in which all students staying in AIFS housing receive the name and address of their host family and then proceed to take a taxi to their respective locations. Annie and I received our white envelope (and captured the occasion on my camera…) and were placed in the 12^th arr. (Paris is divided into 20 districts). This, we had heard, was a good placing and were very excited about our possibilities. The rest of our friends were spread out over Paris but we arranged to meet at the American Church of Paris (first American church built on foreign soil…)for service the next morning. So it becomes time for Annie and I to get in our taxi and the driver begins to speak to us in rapid French. Able to only catch two words “a pied” meaning, “walk”, we discover that our flat is too close to the train station for this taxi driver to take us, so Claire (gotta love her) instructs us to brave the metro. Nothing like throwing us right into the lion’s cage. We manage the metro and arrive at rue du Bercy in the 12^th. As the next part of the story (housing) is rather stressful and really just makes me want to curl up in a little ball and sleep I’ll perhaps cover it on another day.

Sunday morning Annie and I take the metro to Pont L’Ama for church and as we walk up the stairs from the underground I turn around to get my bearings and there’s the Tour Eiffel rising up from the background. I grab onto Annie to prevent myself from falling as she begins to cry and we just savor our first real moment in Paris. After reuniting with Lauren, Claire, Jackie, and Caitlin at church (you would have thought we hadn’t seen eachother in years) we had a nice lunch and jaunt around the city.

Upon going our separate ways we agreed to meet at a yoga studio for some exercise and dinner in the evening. Although this did not happen (we might have gotten lost…) Annie and I did manage to walk for several hours and ended up at Le Louvre with our mouths open wide. Feeling quite content we called it a day.

Monday we arrived at the AIFS office bright and early and got some quick (haha) information and such. After attempting to deal with our housing fiasco we ate the lunches we packed from our first grocery shopping experience and waited to take a quick bus tour of Paris. This is where we realize our “amazing race” is not over because Jon, our activities director, hands Annie and I another white envelope about housing and the adventure continues. Being the sophisticated person that I am, I deal with stress by wanting to sleep, so I, of course, fell asleep while trying to take in the best of Paris only to awake before the Cathedral de Notre Dame. Dans the middle of the tour we witnessed a cavalry parade and ended up on the Champs-Elyess – what a day. We ended our first weekday in Paris by surprising Claire and Lauren for dinner in which we’re very sure we disrupted the entire café with our laughter, but quite enjoyed ourselves and ventured back to the 12^th.

Tuesday was our placement test for the Sorbonne which was less than fantastic – but was quickly solved by a cup of real American coffee (and by real I mean Ethiopian) from Starbucks. We picked up the rest of our luggage which was shipped from Cannes on Friday and waited impatiently for a taxi for the next 2 hours. After a thrilling taxi ride to the flat I sent out to pick up some essentials and ended up at Habitat and GoSports – I’m becoming very European might I add…Annie’s friends from school are also studying in Paris so we met them and the girls for dinner and the night ended with a nutella crepe.

This has been Paris so far. There is so much more to tell you and to come - I will tried to keep everyone up to date, but just know that I love you and would love to hear from you (via email or phone…) I am the proud new owner of a French cellphone on which you can reach me, but will be charged probably ridiculous amounts of money, although text is cheap J! Number is : 033-06-50-04-68-41

SIDEBAR: We all know how great I am about answering my phone in the states, so let’s see how I am in Europe… BONNE CHANCE

Bisous,

Katy