Hi everyone,
I'm wrapping up my first night in Strasbourg. We got here late last night on my first real train! It was a TGV, so the trip only took about 2 hours. Today we spent a lot of time just walking around Strasbourg checking everything out. It's a pretty small city, but there was lots to see. I took lots of pictures, but I won't be able to upload them until I get back. There's a river that runs right through the city, so everything is very picturesque. Because it's so close to the border of Germany, there is a huge German influence everywhere. After getting a little turning around, we found this great restaurant for lunch. Everyone else got Tarte Flambee, which is a traditional German pizza-ish dish with creme fraiche, ham, and onions. I got some sort of spurtzel noodles au gratin with a salad. Very good lunch choices all around (pictures to come!). After lunch, we bought day passes to the museums in Strasbourg. Unlike in Paris, the museums in Strasbourg aren't free because they're not nationally-owned (I think), but it was only 5 euro for a day-long pass to all the museums in the entire town. One museum was a history of the entire Alsace region. There were actually a lot of Jewish artifacts (mainly artwork). It had a lot of artifacts from all sorts of different homes and businesses across the region over hundreds of years. Surprisingly cool. Then we went to a museum just of Strasbourg. Definitely not as good, but still interesting, especially at the price. After a little siesta, we went out for dinner and found some more good French-German food. For dinner, I had potatoes au gratin with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and capers mixed in. Also a really good choice. For some reason, hot red wine here is really popular, so we decided to try that with dinner. Very interesting, but probably not something I'm going to be making at home. For dessert, we had a pretty good apple strudel (for Dad :)), so all in all, a pretty good night. The weather was overcast all day, and it poured at night, but it's still been pretty fun. We're hoping for good weather tomorrow, but who knows?
More updates and pictures later.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Le week-end
Hi guys,
All of a sudden, things have gotten much busier here, so sorry for the delays here on the blog.
Today I start my phonetics lab, which is a class where you practice your French pronunciation with other students who speak your first language. I imagine this will be a class with mostly Americans, but there are also Brits and Ghanaians at the school, so we'll see.
Over the weekend, I got a letter with my appointment for the immigration department. I already had to go through a big long process to get a visa at the French consulate in Atlanta, but once you arrive in France, you have to meet with immigration officials and have a medical appointment. My appointment is in two weeks, so that should be a blast.
On a more exciting note, this weekend was actually really fun. Friday night a few of us made tacos. It was kind of difficult to find tortillas and taco sauce, but we found it all, and it was delicious. Saturday night we went to see The King's Speech (Le Discours d'un Roi, in French). It was a reaaaaallly good movie, for any of you who haven't seen it. The ticket was only 5euro80 with a student idea, which is cheaper even that American movie tickets. Luckily we stopped by the grocery store for snacks on the way in because this theater did not have any sort of food for sale. I'm not sure if bigger French movie theaters sell food, but there was certainly no popcorn in this small suburban theater. The theater was so small that everyone had to wait in line for the previous screening to get out before we could take our seats. Unlike American theaters, French theaters play a lot of international films, so The King's Speech had English audio but French subtitles.
Sunday we got up really early to go to Versailles. Unlike all of you lucky folks back in the States, it is freezing here and has been raining for several days. The weather was horrible, but there were still a large number of tourists there. Versailles is about a hour and a half train ride from my house. Unfortunately, they did not have any student prices, but we went anyways. The chateau is as unbelievable as you might think. Some sections were closed off for renovations because it's the off season, but we still saw quite a lot. The gardens are amazing also, but we didn't stay there too long because of the awful weather.
One of the best parts of this program is having class assignments to do fun things all around Paris that introduce you to the city. I mentioned to one of my professors that I was interested in volunteering, so one of my assignments this week was to go sign up as a volunteer at this agency. I'm not sure I understand their entire mission, but they are a secular agency that has an in-house soup kitchen. They may have other services too, but I think they primarily work on distributing food and clothing to needy Parisians. Paris is a huge city, and I see tons of homeless people on the Metro everyday asking for money, so this will be a nice way to give back without actually giving money myself. I'm going to be handing out food there every Friday morning. I took a tour when I signed up, and it's not really like soup kitchens that you guys may be familiar with. This agency hands on common ingredients that can make healthy meals for families. These include a chicken, packs of vegetables, cheese, milk, baby food, etc. More updates on that once I start.
This upcoming weekend I'm going to Strasbourg, which is a medium-sized town almost on the border of France and Germany. It's the seat of the Council of the European Parliament, but since I'm going on the weekend, I won't be able to observe any sessions. This is my first big train trip, so I'm very excited. The train ride is only about 2 hours, so not bad at all.
Tomorrow night the entire program is going to see a ballet at the Paris Opera. It's called Caligula. I'm not familiar with the plot (I think this version was created just for Paris), but I'm obviously very excited. It's so nice to be busy again after my long winter break.
Here's a little photo update for you guys in the states:
All of a sudden, things have gotten much busier here, so sorry for the delays here on the blog.
Today I start my phonetics lab, which is a class where you practice your French pronunciation with other students who speak your first language. I imagine this will be a class with mostly Americans, but there are also Brits and Ghanaians at the school, so we'll see.
Over the weekend, I got a letter with my appointment for the immigration department. I already had to go through a big long process to get a visa at the French consulate in Atlanta, but once you arrive in France, you have to meet with immigration officials and have a medical appointment. My appointment is in two weeks, so that should be a blast.
On a more exciting note, this weekend was actually really fun. Friday night a few of us made tacos. It was kind of difficult to find tortillas and taco sauce, but we found it all, and it was delicious. Saturday night we went to see The King's Speech (Le Discours d'un Roi, in French). It was a reaaaaallly good movie, for any of you who haven't seen it. The ticket was only 5euro80 with a student idea, which is cheaper even that American movie tickets. Luckily we stopped by the grocery store for snacks on the way in because this theater did not have any sort of food for sale. I'm not sure if bigger French movie theaters sell food, but there was certainly no popcorn in this small suburban theater. The theater was so small that everyone had to wait in line for the previous screening to get out before we could take our seats. Unlike American theaters, French theaters play a lot of international films, so The King's Speech had English audio but French subtitles.
Sunday we got up really early to go to Versailles. Unlike all of you lucky folks back in the States, it is freezing here and has been raining for several days. The weather was horrible, but there were still a large number of tourists there. Versailles is about a hour and a half train ride from my house. Unfortunately, they did not have any student prices, but we went anyways. The chateau is as unbelievable as you might think. Some sections were closed off for renovations because it's the off season, but we still saw quite a lot. The gardens are amazing also, but we didn't stay there too long because of the awful weather.
One of the best parts of this program is having class assignments to do fun things all around Paris that introduce you to the city. I mentioned to one of my professors that I was interested in volunteering, so one of my assignments this week was to go sign up as a volunteer at this agency. I'm not sure I understand their entire mission, but they are a secular agency that has an in-house soup kitchen. They may have other services too, but I think they primarily work on distributing food and clothing to needy Parisians. Paris is a huge city, and I see tons of homeless people on the Metro everyday asking for money, so this will be a nice way to give back without actually giving money myself. I'm going to be handing out food there every Friday morning. I took a tour when I signed up, and it's not really like soup kitchens that you guys may be familiar with. This agency hands on common ingredients that can make healthy meals for families. These include a chicken, packs of vegetables, cheese, milk, baby food, etc. More updates on that once I start.
This upcoming weekend I'm going to Strasbourg, which is a medium-sized town almost on the border of France and Germany. It's the seat of the Council of the European Parliament, but since I'm going on the weekend, I won't be able to observe any sessions. This is my first big train trip, so I'm very excited. The train ride is only about 2 hours, so not bad at all.
Tomorrow night the entire program is going to see a ballet at the Paris Opera. It's called Caligula. I'm not familiar with the plot (I think this version was created just for Paris), but I'm obviously very excited. It's so nice to be busy again after my long winter break.
Here's a little photo update for you guys in the states:
Statue of King Louis in front of the chateau
A little view of the gardens from inside
Either Marie or Louis' bedroom. Forgot which one.
A picture of us overlooking the grounds
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Les cours
Yesterday (Monday) I finally got all parts of my class schedule. It's a little confusing, but not too bad. Monday nights I have my French Politics class from 6:30-9:30, just that one day per week. Every day from 2-4 PM I have a French language class. That is supplemented by a phonetics lab every day from 12:30-1:30 for 1 hour, but only every other week. I'm also taking another class called "Explorations in French", which consists of a ton of stuff, including walking tours and individualized assignments.
My French language class is really interesting because that class includes international students from all over. I think I have students from every continent in that class. So far, it's hard to tell if I'm in the right level because we've started out at such a basic subject, but I think I'll stay there because it's worth 12 credits! This class is also in an awesome spot. From my seat in class, I literally look out over Notre Dame and the Seine. Very nice views...
My classes are scattered throughout the city. I'm not even sure where the Sorbonne officially is. Maybe all of the buildings are scattered throughout Paris. Really not sure.
It's a rainy day in Paris, but I have to head off to class in a minute. Next week we're seeing a ballet, Caligula, so that should be nice. Hopefully, if the weather gets better, we'll be able to make it to Versailles this weekend. Versailles is outside of Paris, but you can get there with the Metro system, so it should be easy.
Au revoir!
My French language class is really interesting because that class includes international students from all over. I think I have students from every continent in that class. So far, it's hard to tell if I'm in the right level because we've started out at such a basic subject, but I think I'll stay there because it's worth 12 credits! This class is also in an awesome spot. From my seat in class, I literally look out over Notre Dame and the Seine. Very nice views...
My classes are scattered throughout the city. I'm not even sure where the Sorbonne officially is. Maybe all of the buildings are scattered throughout Paris. Really not sure.
It's a rainy day in Paris, but I have to head off to class in a minute. Next week we're seeing a ballet, Caligula, so that should be nice. Hopefully, if the weather gets better, we'll be able to make it to Versailles this weekend. Versailles is outside of Paris, but you can get there with the Metro system, so it should be easy.
Au revoir!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sorry it's been a little while since an update. I'll try to remember what all I've done since then.
President Sarkozy spoke on TV the other night. It had a much more interesting format than the US State of the Union. Nine "ordinary" citizens got to participate in a round table discussion with him and had pre-recorded a mini-segments on national problems facing their particular job. It was really interesting, but it was very tiring to listen to that much French for that long.
Friday night a bunch of us went out to eat at this really cute Italian restaurant overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame. It was so nice just to go out and order some familiar food.
Friday we had our first day of French class. We had taken a placement test and were placed into levels with a ton of other international kids. I'm not sure how well I like my class so far, but I don't really think I can switch professors, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Another one of these days, we went to visit Montmartre. It's a hilly neighborhood above Paris that used to be a monastery. It's beautiful and is home to the Moulin Rogue and the Sacre-Coeur basilica. It also has some of the best views in Paris.
President Sarkozy spoke on TV the other night. It had a much more interesting format than the US State of the Union. Nine "ordinary" citizens got to participate in a round table discussion with him and had pre-recorded a mini-segments on national problems facing their particular job. It was really interesting, but it was very tiring to listen to that much French for that long.
Friday night a bunch of us went out to eat at this really cute Italian restaurant overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame. It was so nice just to go out and order some familiar food.
Friday we had our first day of French class. We had taken a placement test and were placed into levels with a ton of other international kids. I'm not sure how well I like my class so far, but I don't really think I can switch professors, so we'll just have to wait and see.
Another one of these days, we went to visit Montmartre. It's a hilly neighborhood above Paris that used to be a monastery. It's beautiful and is home to the Moulin Rogue and the Sacre-Coeur basilica. It also has some of the best views in Paris.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
La maison
Hi everyone,
As promised, I have lots of photos today.
As promised, I have lots of photos today.
These two photos are my bedroom. Nice and cozy with a big roof window (I've forgotten the word in English).
Later in the day, I went to the Holocaust museum (Memorial de la Shoah). From the outside (pretty much the only place you can take pictures), it looked very nice, right? There are several very large monuments, some nice quotes in Hebrew and French, and a large wall of names. All of this is very misleading. Now I know that I have seen the best Holocaust museums in the world (Israel and US), so I know that I have very high standards, but still... The permanent exhibit had a bunch of blown up film posters of movies relating to the Holocaust and the physical files that the Vichy government (French government during WWII) had gathered on the Jews. Apart from an obligatory bookstore, some conference rooms, and one temporary exhibit, that was it. I was out of there in 30 minutes. Yes, their permanent exhibits were nice, but I was just a little surprised at how small the museum is. It is right in the central of Paris, very close to the river, but still... It was free, so that was nice, and it was of course better than not having any museum at all.
The next picture down is a picture of the Seine from my neighborhood. The Seine runs all over France. There is a large section that goes through the city, but it also loops back around through the northwest suburbs where I live. A little further down the river Monet's old house has been converted into a restaurant.
Today I went to the grocery store for the first time, and it was a pretty good experience. For those of you who have never lived with me, going to American grocery stores is always a bit of a pain for me. I have to weave in and out of the aisles and aisles of processed snacks that I do not want, and when it comes time to check out, the cashiers always try to give me about 10 times the amount of plastic bags that I want.
This is not the case in Paris. They still do have processed snacks and all, but they also have much more exciting things. For just a short list of some of the cooler items that I saw, they had pre-made crepes, refrigerated apple crumb cakes, and ready-to-go beef carpaccio. I did not get any of this, but they did have a good supply of fruits and vegetables and cheeses. I was also able to get a big bag of quinoa for only 2 euros, which I thought was quite a bargain. However, the best part was that the cashiers do not even offer you plastic bags. At the register there were probably about 3 plastic bags left, and they were clearly not a popular item. I just brought this large bag in the picture with me, and it worked out perfectly.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
La famille
Hi guys,
It's been nice here since the last time I blogged. Saturday night our entire group of 16 people went out to dinner at this adorable cafe right beside Notre Dame. It was so nice and delicious and very Parisian. And of course it was nice to go out to eat at a nice restaurant all together. I had a salmon entree and, of course, a crepe. Always with the crepes.
Today (Sunday) was the day that we moved into our host families' houses. It was cute and very camp-like to see each other leave with our new hosts. As nice as our hostel was, it's even better to be in an actual house. My house and my hosts are really nice. I'm living with a married couple, Monsieur et Madame de Saint Marie. They have four kids, but they are all either married or in school, so they are empty-nesters. We ate lunch and dinner at the house today, and they were both delicious. For lunch, we had roast, green beans, bread, fried potatoes, a cheese course, and an apple crisp. For dinner, we had a yummy salad with avocado, a salmon quiche, and more cheese. I could eat French food all the time.
Tomorrow is my first day of class, but I don't have class until 6:30 PM. Hopefully I'll take pictures of my new house and the Seine, which is right around the corner. Also a few of us from class are going to the Crypt under Notre Dame. That should be interesting, so I'll keep you guys updated.
Stay tuned for photos tomorrow...
It's been nice here since the last time I blogged. Saturday night our entire group of 16 people went out to dinner at this adorable cafe right beside Notre Dame. It was so nice and delicious and very Parisian. And of course it was nice to go out to eat at a nice restaurant all together. I had a salmon entree and, of course, a crepe. Always with the crepes.
Today (Sunday) was the day that we moved into our host families' houses. It was cute and very camp-like to see each other leave with our new hosts. As nice as our hostel was, it's even better to be in an actual house. My house and my hosts are really nice. I'm living with a married couple, Monsieur et Madame de Saint Marie. They have four kids, but they are all either married or in school, so they are empty-nesters. We ate lunch and dinner at the house today, and they were both delicious. For lunch, we had roast, green beans, bread, fried potatoes, a cheese course, and an apple crisp. For dinner, we had a yummy salad with avocado, a salmon quiche, and more cheese. I could eat French food all the time.
Tomorrow is my first day of class, but I don't have class until 6:30 PM. Hopefully I'll take pictures of my new house and the Seine, which is right around the corner. Also a few of us from class are going to the Crypt under Notre Dame. That should be interesting, so I'll keep you guys updated.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
La grande ville
For the moment, I'm loving living in a big city. I love never getting in a car. I love taking the Metro everywhere. I love being able to get pretty much any type of food I want within a 10 minute walk. So far, this trip has been much better than driving around North Carolina.
For some reason, I was under the impression that the French were not that environmentally-consciencious, but that is not so much the case. The showers in the hostel we staying at only stay on for about 2 minutes at a time. While initially annoying, I can greatly appreciate water conservation. They have giant recycling bins all over the streets, which is also great. However, I'm not so sure that recycling within businesses or homes is so big, so we'll see. In addition to a great public (but expensive) transportation system, Paris also has bikes all over the city that you can rent right on the street.
Yesterday, we went to the Louvre, the biggest museum in the world. We saw the ruins of the first Louvre and several famous Italian paintings, including Raphael's. Apparently Napoleon stole a lot of what is currently in the museum.
Sunday we move into our host family's homes, so I'll have more to report then.
A demain...
For some reason, I was under the impression that the French were not that environmentally-consciencious, but that is not so much the case. The showers in the hostel we staying at only stay on for about 2 minutes at a time. While initially annoying, I can greatly appreciate water conservation. They have giant recycling bins all over the streets, which is also great. However, I'm not so sure that recycling within businesses or homes is so big, so we'll see. In addition to a great public (but expensive) transportation system, Paris also has bikes all over the city that you can rent right on the street.
Yesterday, we went to the Louvre, the biggest museum in the world. We saw the ruins of the first Louvre and several famous Italian paintings, including Raphael's. Apparently Napoleon stole a lot of what is currently in the museum.
Sunday we move into our host family's homes, so I'll have more to report then.
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