The amazing things I've done outside of class
Trip Start
Jul 28, 2008
1
7
17
Trip End
Aug 30, 2008
Paris,
France
Thursday, August 7, 2008
I've discovered during my stay that the Parisians are great readers. I at first thought that it must be the rich wealth of a culture surrounding them that would motivate them to take a sip from the proverbial cup and enjoy the written word. That was naive. Instead, I realized that the only time I see anyone reading is on the metro. If you've never been on the Paris metro (or the NYC subway), you won't be able to appreciate this. On the metro, your goal is to not make eye contact with anyone, remain as nondescript as possible, hold your belongings in a way to ward off pickpockets, possibly look like you're so bored that you're falling asleep, but then suddenly become alert again to get off at the correct stop
Artistic shot in the Park
. Reading is the only one of those that I've found I can do comfortably, and I think many agree with me. Unfortunately, War and Peace is a rather large book to be lugging on to the metro, so I am in search of a smaller book. I make this digression because it makes me rather sad that the people who live in this city would rather have their heads stuck in a book rather than looking up and seeing everything there is! I know that its not nearly as exciting if you see the same things everyday, but I do think that becoming a little less cynical wouldn't hurt anyone.
Instead of doing my summer reading (ooops), I've been trying to see everything. I have a very long list of everywhere that I want to go while I'm here and I am steadily working on it. It's rather funny that one of the places I wanted to see the most (Luxemburg Gardens), I get to walk through everyday on my way to and from class. On Monday, the only thing that I did of any excitement was go to school, and then I went to the park across the street (Park Montsouris) to do my homework. It is lovely and I have become a frequent visiter already.
Tuesday was my day of school and missing the Opera :(..
Pretty lights
. sad. I will get there though, no worries. To make up for that disappointment, the rest of the girls in my group and I decided to have a picnic by the Eiffel Tower at night!! I hadn't been yet this trip and I would say it definately made up for the Opera. It is different than when I saw it last because it is lit up blue in honor of the EU Conference here this month. I think that is about the most cliche french thing to do- eat bread and cheese on a blanket in the park overlooking the sparkling Eiffel Tower. Lauren was ecstatic needless to say. Wednesday was a great day for sightseeing. I went to class in the morning and then after that, headed right to l'Institut du Monde Arab, or the Arab Institute of the World. It was absolutely fabulous. I am sad that I couldn't take pictures inside because they had such a beautiful collection of Islamic art. I was especially excited by the arabic calligraphy. Because I am an overachiever, I made a vow to myself right then that someday, I might understand a little bit of it. I found some great books there and I was able to have tea on the roof of the building which had a beautiful view. I was very pleased with my visit.
After that, I headed over to Notre Dame where I sat and gazed at it for a good 45 minutes. It gave me a sense of peace that I haven't had since I left home
Eiffel Tower!
. Maybe it was just that sense of being surrounded by Americans... ;)Either way, I was reluctant to leave after I went inside.
I stopped to get some really amazing ice cream at this glacerie on Ile St Louis called Berthillon. AMAZING. I'm going back. Every day. For ever. At least until I leave. I am not exaggerating.
Last night I went to the Canadian Ballet on Champs-Elysses. I went up to Champs-Elysses early and walked around for a bit but soon tired of the mob of people. I had a really nice dinner and then went to the ballet. It was beautiful, and while I don't know too much about danse, I know that this was top-notch.
Of course, getting back from that early this morning did not bode well for getting up to go for 6 hours of class. It was a long day. Our program had boche ball scheduled for us tonight, since apparently that is a big thing in France, and I was debating the entire day as to whether I should go, since I need to get to sleep early this morning. After class let out, I figured I needed a pick-me-up so I decided to go. Sometime in-between 6 PM when I got on the metro and 7 PM when I finally got to my destination, it started downpouring and storming, so there we are. No picnic. No Boche Ball. Just Lauren- wet, hungry, tired and taking another hour ride on the metro sitting far too close to people she doesn't know. Oh well, I had a nice hot cocoa to make it better and I got to write my much needed journal entry. Next I'll have to figure out what to do tomorrow afternoon!
Comments
me and my shadow
I love all the pictures!! It is nice to see that you haven't changed since you have been gone-especially your shadow. The bag looks a bit bigger though. Are you feeding it too many books? HAHA!! I love the pics of the Eiffel Tower. It does seem like we just went up in it, though! I'm glad you are having fun!
Love you.
Amazing
The pictures are wonderful. You look great. We are glad thag you are having a good time! Abby said yesterday that if anyone wanted to go to school they had to go to Paris because that's where Lauren is, and then she said I want her to come home. She misses you! Have fun. Love from rainy New England!