Allons-y!

Update!

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 21:07:54 -0400

Hi guys! So I’m back in the U.S. (sad times) but I’m starting to compile all of the pictures that I took of my time abroad! I created a Flickr account so feel free to stop by and take a look. I’m uploading a few sets everyday. The majority of my pictures are from Paris but I also traveled to Bruges, Brussels and London.

Check it out:

SallyinFrance’s Flickr

What a week!

Thu, 31 May 2012 18:17:00 -0400

So I’m finally settled in Lille. The dorm room is surprisingly large. There’s no AC, but the breeze feels amazing and it’s at least 10 degrees cooler here than in Paris.

View of my dormroom:

Classes start on Monday, so I have a nice long weekend to acclimate myself to the city and campus. Fewer people speak English here than in Paris, so it’s been a challenge. My French is a little rusty but i’m getting better each day!

I’m going to make up for lost time by talking about this past week, starting with Ted’s bday (May 28th).

May 28th: Le Louvre, river boat cruise on the Seine, dinner at a crêperie.

The Louvre was just massive! I was already aware that it used to be a palace, but jeez…

We spent around 3 hours at the museum, which wasn’t nearly enough time to explore each wing. My favorite part was probably the Italian renaissance paintings. I did manage to see the Mona Lisa, but my picture of it is so blurry it’s not even worth sharing.

The paintings on the ceiling were just incredible. Almost half of my France pictures are ceilings of the Louvre, Versailles, and the Garnier Opera house. My neck started to cramp after awhile from craning to see the artwork, but I didn’t mind in the slightest. Well worth the neck discomfort.

Me and a few other students checked out the Ancient Egypt exhibition. Kinda breezed through it since we had a busy schedule, but the artifacts I managed to see were very interesting and well preserved.

In the late afternoon we boarded a river cruise boat. At this point in time I was exhausted and sweaty, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as the Louvre. It did give me a chance to sit down, relax and take pictures of monuments, though!

Just a row of buildings, but I think it captures the spirit of Paris quite nicely:

Random guitar player (not sure if boy or girl…awk):

For dinner we dined at this delicious crêperie. For drinks they served cider instead of customary wine. I’ve never had cider before and it was pretty tasty! The waiters served it to us in tiny bowls. It was kind of odd drinking out of a bowl- it reminded me of drinking leftover cereal milk, minus the milk ;) Haha

I ordered a ham, cheese, egg and mushroom crêpe. SO GOOD. I had to force myself to take small bites so it would last :/ The actual crêpe itself was salty but I liked the taste of it.

For dessert, the obligatory chocolate crêpe:

REALLY TIRED so I’m calling it a night. Time to catch up on all the sleep I missed in Paris. Tomorrow I’ll show you the pictures I took of Versailles!!

Is it Versailles???

Thu, 31 May 2012 17:57:02 -0400

Yes!

Hi peeps! The wifi hasn’t been working for the past couple...

Tue, 29 May 2012 19:32:40 -0400

Hi peeps! The wifi hasn’t been working for the past couple of days, ergo lack of updates. Here’s a picture to tide you over in the meantime :) Any guesses of where this was taken?

5/27/12: Giverny, Eiffel Tower

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:02:25 -0400

Oh my, where to begin??

Giverny was just breathtaking. It was an hour from Paris via busride. The journey there gave me a chance to see the French countryside. Rolling hills, cows almost hidden in grass, small inns on the side of the road. It was very quaint and so different from the crowded streets of Paris.

The layout of Claude Monet’s property was pretty confusing, but basically we went through this massive garden/wildlife area before exploring the main garden in front of his house and the house proper. I took so many pictures and I DETEST having to choose only a few for this post, but here are my favorites:

The gravel pathway wrapped around this large pond. There were so many different kinds of flowers. 10 points to Gryffindor if you can name these purple ones (I sure can’t…)

Or this?:

Last one of the pond, I promise (this pic gives you a good idea of the area I’m talking about):

We followed the pathway away from the pond and it eventually led us to Monet’s house.

Spy some green shutters up the pathway? That’s his house. It’s more of a cottage, really. Wasn’t as big as I expected. Photography was prohibited inside of the house but we were allowed to take a few from the second story balcony.

Last picture of Giverny and I’ll move on (I just really loved this shot):

We came back into the city around lunchtime. A lot of the shops and restaurants were closed today but my group managed to find this small bakery. I ordered a quiche again. Big mistake. I didn’t even finish half of it because SURPRISE SURPRISE it was way too rich. I’ve learned my lesson. Stick to lighter food, preferably vegetables and simple lunch meat sandwiches.

Around 3:00 we left the hotel and made our way to the Eiffel Tower! I really don’t know what I was expecting it to be like but the area was so crowded and overwhelming. Street vendors everywhere, people pushing and shoving to cross the street. Absolute CHAOS!!!

There were several lines and all were really long. The majority of the group wanted to go to the very top, so we agreed to climb the stairs to the second floor and take the elevator the rest of the way. Because two floors doesn’t seem that big of a deal, right?!

Wow. Wrong. I was SO out of breath and some people in our group just gave up because they were really lightheaded and scared of the height. I somehow managed to make it up but I was dripping sweat. I’m not exaggerating.

This was the view from the second floor. So high up already!

The line for the elevator was insane. Imagine the worst amusement park line x3 because everyone was sweaty and irritable and speaking different languages.

We had to be pretty aggressive in order to stick together in line. This one French woman completely skipped me and then turned around to thank me! As if I had allowed her to cut in line…lol whatever. I still managed to make it to the top and I’m proud of myself for not having a panic attack. I didn’t feel too scared, to be honest. If we had gone at nighttime then I would definitely have been in full-on freakout mode.

You can literally see the entire city from the top:

Of course I took this opportunity to make silly faces and embarrass myself.

We left the Eiffel Tower around 5 or so. The group split up halfway to L’Arc de Triomphe because the metro line was super crowded. I managed to take a picture but we didn’t stay long.

We found a cafe further down Champs-Elysees and ate there. I ordered lamb chops, green beans and chocolate mousse. Yum!

That’s all for today, folks. I’m going to add a lot of the pictures to a Facebook album so you can see the ones I haven’t posted here.

Goodnight!

5/26/12

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:47:12 -0400

Last night I was exhausted whilst typing an entry, today I’m tipsy (more about that later). Who knows what state I’ll be in tomorrow when blogging time comes around?

Slept for 13 hours (6pm to 7am). Woke up feeling so refreshed and ready to explore the city! Breakfast at the hotel was surprisingly yummy and filling. I had a baguette with some pieces of ham and swiss cheese, fruit medley and café au lait.

@9:30 it was off to the metro! It was a bit nerve wracking at first with such a big group but our program director explained everything and made sure we all stuck together. We got off at the designated stop and Notre Dame was only a few blocks away on foot.

Oh, just an ordinary accordion player. Nothin’ special (sarcasm is harder when you’ve had wine and are typing instead of talking face to face). In short, he was amazing.

1) Notre Dame

The cathedral was actually smaller than I’d envisioned, but the architecture was absolutely breathtaking. Everything- the statues, busks, gargoyles, flying buttresses- was so intricately and painstakingly carved. Imagine how long it must have taken for the masons to build the foundation and nothing else!

The line to go in wasn’t too long, but I was standing directly in the sun for the entire duration (Amanda, if you’re reading this, I WAS SWEATIN’ LIKE A BIA). I was approached by a couple of street vendors selling these Eiffel Tower keychains but I told them to “Va-t-en”! This phrase is slightly less polite than “go away please”, much more polite than “f** off”. Seemed to do the trick as they didn’t bother me anymore :D

Here’s me and my roomie Jessica in front of the entrance:

2) Jardin du Luxembourg

We bought lunch at this sandwich shop and ate in Le Jardin du Luxembourg. I got quiche lorraine (eggs, ham, cheese). It was about the size of my fist and it’s a good thing it was on the small side because it was sooo rich. I could barely finish it- not because I was full, but because the flavors were so intense! My taste buds were spazzing out.

Le Jardin du Luxembourg was HUGE. It would have taken us hours to explore the whole thing, but we were only there for about an hour. A few pictures:

The walkway into the garden…

Hooray for posing in front of awkward statues! Look closely at the white marble couple. A naked woman is flailing on the lap of her lover. Green copper guy (Dad, correct me if I’m wrong about the kind of stone) is peeking over and being a creeper. Idk, I thought it was pretty funny.

3) Latin Quartier

We walked around the Latin Quarter for awhile and went to Le Musée de Cluny. It housed primarily Medieval artwork. I wasn’t that interested in the works themselves, to be honest. Many were repetitive (don’t ask how many statues of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus I saw…I lost count). The museum was built on top of the ruins of Roman baths. We went into the baths but weren’t allowed to take pictures. It was nice and cold compared to the stuffy museum. The baths were drained, obviously, but they were closer to the size of swimming pools than the bathtubs we’re familiar with.

I walked around the area with Jessica, Deb and Caiou. Deb’s been to Paris before and stayed in the Latin Quarter so she knew her way around. We hung out at this small park for about an hour and then bought ice cream. I got Violette flavored ice cream- yes, it was made from actual violets. It was subtly sweet and super rich, just like the quiche. Maybe that’s how all the food’s gonna be?

I had my first three course French dinner at La Potte de Terre. It’s this really old restaurant. Apparently the Musketeers used to dine here, although I think it was just your average pub back then.

First course: Chicken liver salad. Tasty. The liver took some getting used to but it was alright once I got over the fact that I was eating liver! Blegh! Second course: peppered steak with fries. The meat was medium rare but I like it just a little bloody, so it was all good. The fries weren’t salty at all. Very different from French fries in America. Third course: chocolate mouse! I hardly ate any of it bc I was so full, but it was truly mouthwatering. Best thing I’ve had so far. Me and three other girls polished off a bottle of Merlot. Red wine is my favorite and this particular “vin rouge” was no exception! Just an FYI, I typed that last section from my phone. Idk if the paragraphs are separated or not, and I couldn’t add any pictures of the food :( The wifi in this hotel is unreliable. Well, until tomorrow, my loves! Hope you are all doing well!

Finally here!

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:23:36 -0400

I’ve been up for 24 hours straight so the bed is looking pretty tempting right now, but I’ll share a short update and the few pictures I’ve taken thus far.

If there is one word to describe my journey to France, it’s LATE. Our scheduled flight from RDU to JFK was delayed an hour so this gave us little time to go through security AGAIN and board the Air France plane! At one point we were literally running down the terminals because we had only a few minutes left to board.

The flight from JFK to Charles de Gaulle was pretty uneventful (and uncomfortable!). My back has been aching all day from sitting in a seat for 8 hours straight!

We arrived in Paris around 7:15 AM (that’s 1:15 AM EST!). The traffic into the city was HORRIBLE and when we arrived at the hotel they told us the rooms wouldn’t be ready until 4:00 PM. Sigh…

So we took a picnic to La Place des Vosges. It’s in the same arrondisement as our hotel and it’s so pretty and family friendly. Kids of all ages (little toddlers to teenagers) were hanging out with friends and family and making the most out of the beautiful Parisian weather.

I had a ham and cheese baguette and a really yummy apple for lunch. The apples are so different in France! They taste fresher and they’re not as hard to bite into.

Here are a few more pictures of La Place des Vosges:

This building surrounded the perimeter of the greenery area where we ate lunch.

Some cutie pies playing on the swing set :)

Finally, I ended the day with a much deserved glass of Chardonnay:

Tomorrow I’m visiting Notre Dame, Le Jardin du Luxembourg and Le Quartier Latin! This is one of the oldest districts in the city. La Sorbonne is located here as well. The university is eight centuries old!

I’ll keep you guys updated. Expect more pictures tomorrow!

Carry-on pillow. Haven’t decided on a name for him...

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:57:42 -0400

Carry-on pillow. Haven’t decided on a name for him yet…

Hey you :)

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:55:26 -0400

Hi sissy :)

Packing kinda sucks

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:44:27 -0400

Packing kinda sucks

Just wanted to see I'm really excited to hear about your adventures in France. (Especially Lille!)

Fri, 11 May 2012 22:55:59 -0400

I’m excited to share them with you!! 2 weeks and counting!

5/6/12

Sun, 06 May 2012 02:15:42 -0400

I leave for France in 20 days! AHH.

I’m not even done with exams yet and I still have to head home to Charlotte and pack. I’m not stressed about it at this point in time, but I’m sure I will be!

So, a little about me:

I’m a Psychology major at N.C. State

I’ve studied French for 8 years. I am more than ready to put all of my knowledge of the French language to good use!

Here’s the outline of the trip:

The first week (May 25th to May 31st) I’ll be touring this quaint little French city that goes by the name of Paris. Ever heard of it?

From May 31st to June 29th I’ll be studying at the University of Lille.

…I don’t think I’ll have a problem staying in this town for a month.

I’m also taking side trips to Brussels and Bruges (yay Belgium!). I’d also love to go to London for a weekend because Lille is pretty close to the English channel. I’ll keep you updated on this development; I’m sure I’m not the only student who wishes to visit the Motherland!

It’s currently 2am and I’m still awake doing laundry (ah, the life of a college student). Follow this blog and check back regularly for updates!