Paris je t'aime.

Salut!

Paris is a dream. I am absolutely in love with this city, and have contemplated never coming home. Not really. But really.

We arrived on Saturday, to proceed into a lazy, sleep until 10:30 AM Sunday and then departed from our Marceau Avenue apartment to go meet some friends at a Sunday market. Initially just arriving in the city, and not desiring to figure out the metro system yet, we decided it would be a good idea to walk. And walk. And walk. We headed down our street, strolled around the Arc de Triomphe, and continued onward on Charles de Gaulle. Natalie, Ashley and I met up with some friends at the open-aired Sunday market, which was packed with Sunday shoppers, and spent a bit of time walking around and enjoying the environment. We then caught the metro to the Eiffel Tower, where we got off to eat some lunch. I split a yummy pizza with Ashley, but sadly, the environment of the restaurant was stingy and less than pleasing. Definitely a place we don't desire to return to. After some munchies, we were off again on the metro to jet around the city, finding all the locations of our next day events with AIFS and eventually stumbling upon Université Paris-Sorbonne--our school for the next 4 months! It's grandeur and architecture is stunning, as it overlooks Place de la Sorbonne-the plaza that stretches out in front.

Sorbonne

La Place Sorbonne

Headed home soon after in attempts to warm up from the cold. Went on a LOVELY run that late afternoon, right around dusk, and it was beautiful. Rarely can you say that your running route encompasses crossing the Sein and weaving through the legs of the Eiffel Tower. My life is not real.

The past couple days are slightly a blur of a conglomeration of events and activities we did in this city, so I will try and cover the main ones that I can remember.

On Monday we woke up, ate breakfast, and hopped on the metro to make it to our 9 AM meeting with AIFS. We discussed classes and courses, along with meals, homestays, excursions, and any other details you can think of. Natalie, Ashley, Ottocina and I left after to go grab a bite to eat at local cafe, where I ordered my first Croque Monsieur of the trip, and it was scrumptious! Then back to Sorbonne by 2 to begin our French language placement exam. It was a doozy...extremely challenging sections with fill in the blank, definitions, multiple choice, short answer, listening comprehension, and an oral portion. It was explained and written all in French, and meant to assess the language knowledge for all levels, aka: it was almost impossible for myself, as I'm a beginner. After some educated guesses, some not-so-educated guesses, and a couple frustrating questions, we were done! We left the Sorbonne, caught the metro, did some grocery shopping, then headed on home! Evening run with Ashley, once again down the Sein and around the Eiffel Tower, but this time it was all lit up. We had to stop in the middle of our run to just sit on the concrete wall and stare at it in all it's beauty. It wouldn't have been right not to. Jogged back home, cooked up some simple dinner, and then off to bed early for the night!

Tuesday was a slow morning. Up by 8, but low-key around the apartment. We were all just trying to savour what moments we had to be warm, as we would all cringe just looking outside and thinking of how bone-chilling the weather was. Ate some breakfast, emails sent, off for another jog, but this time up and down the Champs-Elysees. Like I said, this has got to be a dream. The sights were splendid, and the people watching was beyond entertaining...with the Arc de Triomphe ahead, it was impossible to let the below freezing weather get me down.

Arc de Triomphe

Back to shower, make some lunch, then catch the metro to meet up with the group at Trocadéro for a bus tour of the city. And thank HEAVENS for busses, because the weather here has been nasty cold. The locals say it is never this freezing, and that somehow, it's only supposed to get colder. Our tour guide was actually a native Brit and was quite the comedian. We toured all around the city seeing every thing from the Louvre to the Gran Palais to the little brick sign that says "Texas Embassy" (whoop whoop!) and ending at Notre Dame Cathedral. It was so interesting to learn about the sculpting and craftsman ship of the outer layer of the cathedral. The main entry way was carved so as to tell the story of Christ in pictures, so that one didn't even have to be literate to learn about Christ.

Notre Dame Cathedral

The main archway with the sculptures that tells the story

Candle I lit for Grandmother

Me in front of Notre Dame

As you can imagine, the inside was magnificent. Words and pictures cannot do it justice. I lit a candle in honor of my grandmother and decided that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime church service worth coming back to one Sunday.

Beautiful stained glass window in Notre Dame

Notre Dame center aisle

Once again, due to the freezing temperatures and biting wind, we headed on home for the night to cook us up some dinner and stay warm!

Wednesday we woke up and headed on back to the Sorbonne to find out the results of our placement test. Now, I've had quite the difficulty making it out the door on time here in the mornings. I've found in life that I am a person whose ability is affected strongly by temperature. With it being frigidly, below freezing cold outside, and inside it's not quite warm but warmer, and the warmest spot is my bed, it's made it QUITE the challenge to be motivated to put on outdoor clothes, bundle up with 4 layers, and head outside. So, after a late start, we caught the metro and headed off.

The artistic Sorbonne metro stop..aka: my commute to school every day!

Now, I knew full well that beginner level is where I would go and where I belonged. And of course, I'm in beginners level! However, there were only a handful of other people satisfied with their placing. French academics are more rigorous than American, thus their placement was lower than they anticipated. Lets just say, it was not pretty for some people. After an exhausting morning there, Natalie, Kate and I walked on over to the Pantheon and then to the Cluny Museum, where we saw some beautiful stained glass windowns from Saint Chapelle and original, defaced statues from the outside of Notre Dame. Mobs of the French Revolution had thought the statues represented the french kings and monarchs so they proceeded to ransack and destroy the statues on the outside of Notre Dame Cathedral, when in reality the statues represented religious figures. The originals were in the Cluny, and replicas now replace them outside Notre Dame.

Stained glass room from St. Chapelle

Back to the apartment for some warmth, a delicious dinner made in the kitchen, and out for another beautiful evening Eiffel Tower run. Crazy to think, but it's somehow getting colder here. The run was almost unbearable with the wind, and chapped my face in hilarious ways. But I really really enjoy running here. Taking in all the people, the atmosphere, and the sounds. I love just being in this city. Blows my mind that I'm able to do a daily workout past the Eiffel Tower. Craziness.

Today we headed off in search of the AIFS office near Sorbonne. We've found that with multiple metro stops, changing of 3 lines, and wait time for metros to arrive, it takes us a total of 35 minutes to commute. Once we arrived, got lost trying to find the office, then finding ourselves, we went up to make some copies and accomplish some tasks. Then we were off to meet the group to tour the Marmottan/Monet Museum, which was VERY interesting. I have to say, carrying around my Rick Steves book has been extremely helpful! He gives thorough tours of certain museums, and teaches background information which I would not have otherwise known. Helps give insight to many of the artworks and stories behind them. After a couple hours of touring, Ashley and I caught the metro to a local cafe where we had some delicious nutella crêpes...after all, it is National Crêpe Day!!! Headed back to meet up with Natalie, who had gone to attend a seminar, and we cooked up a delicious chicken and vegetables for dinner!

Camera fun in the cafe with our bottle of water and 2 glasses

More camera fun...Note: the people walking by

Tomorrow we head to Reims for the day and champagne tasting in their cellars. It should be fun, but once again--FRIGID. The high today was 30, with a wind chill of 14 degrees. Tomorrows high is 28...how will I ever survive. This is a typical me these days:

BUNDLED.

It's been nice to have a full kitchen to cook in every meal and spend time with the roommates. We have fun together and enjoy congregating and laughing. They definitely have added a huge positive tone to adventuring around, weathering the cold, and being in Paris!

Our cute milk carton

Learning the language is a process, but I'm working on it. I can comprehend a good amount, but still have a long way to go on speaking it.

All in all, I'm absolutely in love with the city. No complaints when I am waking up in Paris with my morning greeting from my bed looking like this:

Good morning Paris!

If you've made it this far reading my blog, I commend you. If you haven't, well can't say I blame ya. It's a long post!

French word I'll leave with you for the day: "Flaner" which technically translates to "to stroll", but in actuality, there is no direct English translation for it. It means to walk about with your eyes open--to be aware of your surroundings, the people passing by, and the artwork of the day. So don't walk around with your head down in a rush to get from point A to point B, make sure to lift up your chin and observe the beautiful world around you.

Best from a girl who is freezing cold 24/7 in this country but it's worth it,

Me