La vie Parisienne

I'm currently in one of my longer stretches of being in the Parisian area. Of course, as I write this, I'm currently in the Loire Valley which is decidedly not Paris, but I was there for a while before that! Not too much to report, other than Rachel's visit. I had midterms last week, which pretty much shut down my social life. My internship continues to go well, if slowly. Last week, I spent a few hours with a Belgian girl. We managed to have a good life chat while walking around rainy Paris handing out Oxfam flyers. In exchange for carrying on a conversation completely in French (she wasn't comfortable at all in English), she did all the scary asking people we didn't know to take a handful of flyers. Even though I love speaking French, it still makes me extremely uncomfortable to talk to an unknown person, particularly when I'm asking them for a favor. It was an awesome experience to hang out with her, though!
Rachel came the weekend before this past one! I saw a bunch of things that I've already seen, but it was definitely one of the best weekends while I've been here. I hadn't realized how much of a difference it makes to travel with someone you really know, someone who will be flexible and responsive when you need something in a way that new study abroad friends really can't be. Anyways, with no further ado, it's picture time!

Together in front of Notre Dame!

It's kind of big. And I love me some Gothic architecture

St. Joan of Arc!

That evening, we went to get drinks with a few of my friends. We went to a bar called Harry's that we'd heard was good. It was great, but the cocktail you see in Susannah's hands cost 15 euros. Four of us split one because we couldn't stomach the price to each get one.

Saint-Chapelle!

The Hotel de Ville! The last time I took pictures of this, it was half covered in a special project. I was excited to take a picture of the whole front of it.

Workers on strike outside of the Louvre... I wasn't impressed by the numbers or the excitement, though I did like their hard hats.

In the distance, you can see the Grand Palais, which currently houses the Monet exhibit that I saw Sunday night!

That evening was my friend's 21st birthday, so she hosted a potluck. There were so many of us that we resorted to drinking wine out of mugs. 

Northwestern stair step picture! 

It's a touch screen... at McDonald's! I had Rachel pose so it was slightly less obvious that I was just taking a picture of where one orders a hamburger...

The line at Versailles Sunday. So many people!! We probably waited 45 minutes to get in the gates because we got to skip the ticket line (thanks to the marvelous 18-25 rule!).

We walked down this hallway, which was full of statues, making fun of the faces they were making. Yes, in Versailles. It was my second time.

The Japanese art, on the other hand, looks no better the second time through.

Ahh love the Hall of Mirrors the second time through!!

Myspace attempt... eh...

Fall colors in the Gardens!

A painting of Napoleon by David, whose work you will see again in this blog. I'm writing a paper on him!

The makings of a good Frat party for Friday night. Lots of different kinds of beer. Oh, and Glee.

I can't get over how beautiful the leaves are when they turn here.

The Eiffel Tower isn't bad either :-)

For our last activity before Rachel left, we went to the Salon du Chocolat, which was this huge chocolate exhibition. There were tons of free samples (which is good because we paid around 12 euros to get in) and information about the making of chocolate and lots of other wonderful things. Beyond trying an amazing fondue-ish mix, a bunch of little chocolates, and a cookie, we also got to try Bailey's (not positive how that relates) and a very sweet wine that apparently goes well with dark chocolate. The Bailey's window was hilarious for two reasons. Rarely have I been so happy to speak French-- otherwise I would have missed this. First, there was a woman who simply could not wait for the entire presentation to take place before getting her sample. The man was explaining a bit about what it was while pouring tons of samples, and she reached for one before he was finished. He asked her politely to wait, but she ignored him and grabbed one anyways. He asked her if she was in a hurry, to which she responded, "yes" before continuing to stand there, empty Bailey's sample cup in hand, for another few minutes. Apparently she wasn't in a hurry to leave-- just in a hurry to get the first sample. Another woman obviously thought that flirting would get her somewhere. She told the man pouring the samples that his arms looked so strong, and shouldn't he be tired from pouring from those heavy pitchers all day? She then asked him how old he was, and appeared shocked at the answer. Oh, dear. I said nothing and I think my sample was still as good as everyone else's.

Open-faced crepe with Jessen!

Well, it's dinner time here so I guess I'll head out. I hope you're all doing well! Next up: journey with my parents to the Loire Valley and Reims!