Not neglectful, just busy!

YES I know I have been neglecting my blog...but obviously it means I am having a wonderful time here in the City of Light, right? :) Well since I last blogged (13 days ago), I spent February 14th, also known as Valentine's Day, drinking champagne with my friends at the Eiffel Tower, toasting to our single status :) We all hoped to see at least one or two proposals there, which was a complete fail. I did see a couple fighting though! One would think that at the most romantic spot in the most romantic city in the world, one would be able to see a few marriage proposals. Oh well!

Last week was just filled with tons of time spent at school...nothing much to report on otherwise. Friday, after a makeup International Marketing class, my friend Sam and I went to the Arc de Triomphe. I had never been there before and it was so beautiful! I also walked over to the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, and Napolean's tomb. We then went to Notre Dame and walked around inside. No matter how many times you see these famous landmarks of Paris, it never gets old. You find something new and different every single time.

Saturday I went to Chantilly Castle (yes, like the lace or creme). It was wonderful

to escape the city for the day and see the lush greenery and breathe in the pure, non-polluted air that we are accustomed to in Paris. The castle was beautiful as were its gardens. The town of Chantilly is a quaint little town with small shops and cafes. We ended up going to the same restaurant as many other people who were on the trip with us. The restaurant was authentic italian and it sure did remind me of Italy. It really made me excited to go back to Pisa/Cinqueterre for spring break. There were also huge horse stables at Chantilly. We got to see a horse show and then pet the horses--so cool!

Sunday was just a relaxing day to sleep in and do homework. I did not expect that I would have so much to do! So far this week it has been uneventful, but I am going to Strasbourg, France this weekend, which will be my first official trip! For those of you unfamiliar with Strasbourg, it lies on the German-French border, so the architecture, food, culture, ect. has a very French/German mix, or so I have been told. Can't wait to report back on my trip!

I'll be sure to post on Monday when I am back :)

A lunedi!

-MEP

What a day! It has snowed a little the past few days, as I mentioned in my last update, but today was colder than any other day I have experienced here thus far. Bone-chilling cold. This afternoon I had Oenology: The History, Business, and Culture of the Wine Industry of France. We did our first wine tasting which was very interesting. We started off with a white wine from the Loire Valley. We "oxygenated" the wine by swirling it in our professional wine-tasting glasses and then smelled the wine to see what aromas we could smell. We had a piece of cheese bread, a biscuit, and a piece of chocolate that we tasted with the wine. The foods either acted well with the wine or made it entirely too bitter or sour. It was interesting that the white wine tasted extremely bitter with the cheese bread and tasted much better when paired with chocolate. We also tried a red wine, from the Cote de Rhone region of France. This wine tasted horrible with the biscuit and the bread. Some liked it with chocolate however I prefer it by itself without any accompaniments. I also learned how Champagne is made which is useful because I will be taking a trip to the Champagne region in a few weeks. Next week we are going to the largest wine cellar in Europe!

Unfortunately, I have a bit of a sore throat. The nyquil I have been taking at night, usually my savior for all types of sickness, does not seem to be working so I reluctantly went over to the pharmacy and spoke with the pharmacist who was very helpful and told me exactly what I needed to take and how to take it. I explained that the medicines in the US look a lot different and that I was clueless as to which medicines I needed here in France--yes, I said this almost all in French. I just began taking the meds a few hours ago and already I am feeling much better!

Tomorrow I have to wake up very early because my International Marketing class is meeting at La Defense, the business district of Paris, to have class. Yay for field trips :)

A demain!

-MEP

It's snowing here! Paris in the snow is so beautiful :) I am sure most of you reading this are sick of the snow already, and apparently you will be getting more of it tonight and tomorrow. I am slightly jealous of you all, especially because Pitt had not one snow days, but TWO! I still can't believe it!
School is going well. I only have one class on Tuesdays, at 1:30pm: The History of Haute Couture in Paris. It is a very interesting class. We learn all about how fashion has evolved in France and the rest of Europe. My prof has worked with Christian Lacroix and on the Drew Barrymore film "Ever After" as a historical fashion consultant. Tomorrow, I would normally have International Business and French but we are having Intl Bus. on Friday instead (field trip to Paris' business district).
I am in the process of planning all my adventures to other European cities. As of now, I am going to Strasbourg and Brussels. I am planning my trip for Easter to Italy tomorrow. Spring break I am going to Mallorca, Spain in the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean with my mom and I just found out one of my friends from the program will be there with her family at the same hotel so it will be so fun! There are so many places I want to go to but I'll have to save them for another time. I'm only 19, I am sure I will be going to Europe many many more times!
Tonight is a cooking class at my school. I have no idea what we will be doing but hopefully we will learn how to make some delicious french foods :)

Au revoir!

-MEP

Mystery Tour

Bonjour tout le monde! Very exciting and busy week! Today I went on a "mystery tour" my program had organized for us. It was so cool. We were given a time (720am) and place (Gare Saint Lazare) to be and we weren't given any other information. When we all got

to the train station, our chaperones told us we would be going to

Fécamp and Étretat, seaside towns in Upper Normandy. The train was a little less than 2 hours long, I slept the entire way there since I only got a few hours of sleep last night. When we got there, we were free to explore the village for a few hours before continuing on to Étretat. Fécamp was beautiful. As you can see from the picture to the right, there are steep cliffs that drop off into the sea, which is a beautiful clear, blue-green color. The beach is made up of large pebbles, which makes it slightly difficult to walk in. The scenery was just breathtaking, and after two weeks i

n the city, I think we all needed to get out of Paris and see some green grass and breathe in some clean, crisp air. The town of Fécamp was cute; there was a traditional French open air market and lots of creperies and brasseries. My friend, Kathryn, and I ate at a nice brasserie, we both had delicious omelettes, which may seem odd to Americans, but having an omelette as lunch is very common.

Around 2pm we headed over to Étretat, another seaside village with the most breathtaking cliffs, similar to the cliffs of Moher that I saw in Ireland. The walk up to the top of the cliffs was quite steep and I am a little scared of heights so I opted to walk around the village instead. There were plenty of creperies here as well. I indulged in a delicious nutella crepe, which is my favorite. It is heaven!

By 4pm we were on our way back to the train station and enjoyed a 2 hour train ride through the French countryside back to Paris. I am exhausted to say the least, but thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was better than I expected!

First day of class :)

Classes began today! However, I officially hate 930am classes. How did I get away with never having a class before 11am in college? Well now I have 930am class two days a week. Today I had International Marketing and French. I walked in International Marketing and the professor began speaking to us all in french. Everyone looked at each other because we all thought the class was going to be taught in english. I could understand what he was saying but there was no way I could sit through a 2.5 hour class every Monday at 930am listening to someone talk in my non-native language. The Professor was saying we would never be able to understand him in english because of his heavy accent, which he proved to us by speaking english for a bit. He then went on to say something to the effect "if you think this accent is strong, then you will never be able to understand my Boston accent", which he immediately began to use. We were all so incredibly relieved to realize he was American! Other than that, the class was uneventful but interesting. After my class ended, I had a 4.5 hour break (happens on Weds. too!). Another girl has the same long break as I so we went to get lunch at a pasta place which was delicious. I also headed back to BHV (the big department store that is a combination of Macy's, Home Depot, Staples, and Michaels). I finally bought a blow dryer and straightener! I needed them so much. French was ok, I'm a bit rusty so I need to practice a lot but that shouldn't be a problem, as I am in the country where the language was conceived! Tonight I bought a croque monsieur (delicious!) from the boulangerie down the street from me. Tomorrow I only have one class and it isn't until 230pm so I will definitely be sleeping in :)

A demain :)

-MEP