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…!