Sledding!!

Maggie, Jenna and I went sledding on the most perfect snowy day.

Listen to Happy Christmas from Daniel Radcliffe

Christmas Holiday

Here are a few photos from a family outing. I love these people.

More to come soon...

-M

Things I've learned about travel:

1. Bad idea to bring Les Mis as your reading book. Duh.

2. 8 hour layovers are kind of terrible

3. Travel makes me emotional. Too emotional for anyone to ever see. Or receive telephone calls from.

4. First class is the only way to fly {more on that later}. Seriously.

5. I hate the actual travel part, I only like the arriving part.

6. Handi-wipes. I can't handle germs. Germs germs germs. Ughhh

7. Stand-by is full of stress. Stress. Full.

8. Chocolate. It's the answer to all of life's problems. Always.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

My Christmas shopping is done, my bags are packed {sort of}, I've checked in for my flight online, and now all I have to do is fly home!

Wow wow wow! I can't believe it's here already. I am more than excited to see my family and friends. I've missed them, but I admit that I am quite sad to leave Paris. For those of you who've seen Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone {that better be all of you}, I feel like Harry when he is getting on the train leaving Hogwarts.

Hermione: Feels strange to be going home, doesn't it?

Harry: I'm not going home. Not really.

I definitely feel like France is my home. I can't wait to be with my family, but I will be very happy to come back to France. Je l'adore!

I had the most lovely last-day-in-France-until-I-come-back-in-the-new-year day today. The sun was shining and I couldn't help but feel utterly happy. I went shopping down the Champs Élysées {yeah. That's just my life right now. So cool.}, ate a gauffre {waffle} at the Christmas market, had my first macaroons {unimpressed} and hung out at Tuileries for a bit and soaked up the winter sun. It was perfection.

Today was a shopping day dedicated for my father {aka the most difficult person in the world to shop for}. I spent most of my time in the men's section and as a result I met a new friend! I was looking at some shirts and this guy came up to me and asked me about mixing colors and patterns. Um. He obviously couldn't see my outfit under my winter coat, otherwise I'm sure he wouldn't have asked. Anyway we started talking and he invited me to go to a café with him but I was still shopping so I think we'll meet up in the new year. It's fun to meet new people/friends. Plus, it's nice to have human interaction with people other than 8 year old French children and Mischka. While we were talking he found out that I was from Utah and the usual "oh there are a lot of Mormons there, right?" quickly followed. He said he'd met some missionaries in Canada and they were very kind to him and just happy. Isn't that great?

Well reader, I'm off to America in less than 24 hours. I'm quite excited. I just hope I make my flights. Also, here are some more pictures of me...eating.

-M

CHOCOLATE at the Christmas Market. Oh I love it.

I hope you appreciate that I mixed it up a little this time. Note the open mouthed smile.

SUN!

Macaroons from Angelina's. Disappointed.

I can hear you!

I love MC.

She's wonderfully helpful and sweet and I'm grateful for her. But, it's getting a touch old to hear her conversations about me. Obviously she doesn't realize how much French I understand.

Ughhhh.

New Favorite

Snow?

It snowed the other day and it was like the end of the world here. Traffic for hours, people left their cars in the street and went into cafés, endless, endless honking, and news programs of this debilitating snow storm.

Yeah. This is was a major issue for everyone. One of my teachers told me I might as well stay inside because the roads were so terrible and it just wasn't worth it.

Thank you Utah, for preparing me.

-M

Je Suis en Amour!

Christmas! Christmas! CHRISTMAS!!

Today I decided to go a-touristing in Paris to see some of the Christmas delights. I went past Hôtel de Ville where they set up a skating rink and then I headed to Notre Dame which has a large tree in front of it and met a new friend! It was a perfect Parisian day.

Hôtel de Ville and the skating rink. You can't tell in this picture, but the building had sparkling lights all over it. Magic.

Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame. It was quite lovely.

Such an awkward tourist pose

After many attempts to take a photo of myself in front of Notre Dame {with no luck}, a kind Parisian man offered to take one for me. The above picture is the result. We started talking and he asked me to coffee. I quickly ran through possible plots to get me into an alleyway to kill me, but I decided I was fine and I agreed to some hot chocolate. We found a cozy little cafe just around the corner and I had a lovely cup of chocolate chaud. Our conversation was half-French, half-English which was really interesting and quite entertaining. I'm realizing that there are some ideas that you just can't express in English, and that French is the only way to get a certain point across. It is the most beautiful language to me and I love speaking it more and more each day. After finishing at the café we headed back towards Hôtel de Ville where he headed off to class and I went shopping. He invited me to attend his class with him but I passed {Solar energy? Yikes}. I think I am going to join him another time though. How cool to attend a college class in French? Okay, I take French classes at BYU, but to be with French students in a French University is pretty exciting to me.

Oh reader, I'm in love with Paris. In fact, I'm somewhat sad to leave for home in a few days. I know I am coming back, but it is still difficult to go. France is home and my heart is here. I wish I could more eloquently express the beauty and wonder of Paris, but I hope you can get see just a touch of how utterly perfect it is through my blog. Walking down cobblestone side-streets and smelling crepes or waffles being made on little street carts, sitting in a café with a radiator at your back watching the world pass by or seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance is something one must experience. My heart feels such happiness here and I just don't know how I'll be able to leave in 7 months.

Also, I had some man in the metro tell me I was very beautiful, and I found out one of my students has a crush on me. Hello, why would't I love it here?

-M

Bon Appetit!

This blog should just be about food because every post I tell you what I eat.

A while ago I posted about chocolate bread being my new favorite thing about France {croissant with chocolate in it}. Yesterday I had some chocolate bread just out of the oven. I just. I can't even tell you.

This is chocolate bread. AHH!

Last time I was in Paris with Jenna we discovered hotdog baguettes. Yeah. I had forgotten about them until a few days ago. This face was the result of this rediscovery.

Emily, who was here on study abroad, left for the U.S. on Saturday. I will definitely miss that girl. This was from her last night in Paris.

Bon voyage mon amie!

Although Paris is absolutely beautiful, especially now with Christmas decorations and such, I get to go to the most wonderful place in 10 days! Oh how I've missed my mountains! And my family. And not having to use public transportation.

See you soon Utah!

-M

Merry Christmas to Me!

I went Christmas shopping today and bought this,

for myself.

It's beautiful and I adore it. I was supposed to be shopping for my loved ones but after this purchase I hope they'll settle for looking at this sac à main as their present.

Merry Christmas family!

Street Music

I took this video a few weeks ago. This is so Paris to me. You can find street performers everywhere you go and I love it!

Wait...really?

Okay if you read my last post about being grateful for public transportation but even more grateful for my own car, I had another experience on the bus today that just reaffirmed it.

I was on the bus on my way to the mall and the lady sitting next to me received a phone call. After a few minutes of her talking on her cell phone, a man turns around and starts YELLING at her to end her conversation because it's a public space and all he hears is "blahblahblah" and can't hear his music. She sat there while he continued to yell at her for a few moments until she began yelling back. A girl at the front of the bus started yelling at him to move to a different seat if he is so bothered. He moved but decides that the yelling should continue. Other passengers join in too. Awesome. The lady that was on the phone gets up out of her seat and gets in the guy's face. Because that helps the situation? They continue to YELL at each other until she finally gets off the bus saying "goodbye crazy!!" After all of that, the guy gets on HIS cell phone! What?! At this point the young girl who joined in gets off the bus but then runs back, jumps back on and started screaming at the phone guy. I'm sitting there thinking, I just wanted to go to the mall. She was yelling "erase it now! ERASE IT NOW!" Apparently he took a picture of her on his phone. Geez. Then someone yelled about the police and most of the bus joined in, once again. The young girl gets in the guy's face yelling that he needs to erase it and that he is out of his mind. He chose not to erase it so she starts hitting him. Ah. He takes it for a minute until he starts hitting her back!!! I couldn't believe it. The bus driver stopped the bus and we just sat on the side of the road, with onlookers, waiting for everyone to chill out. People jumped on the older guy and they were finally pulled apart. Somehow the young girl got a hold of the guy's phone but coudln't figure it out so she started to freak out again and once again the hitting commenced. FINALLY he erased it and a younger guy barricaded the old guy in a corner and talks him down.

After all of that, as we're getting off the bus two girls start getting into it with a woman, her teenage daughter and a baby.

Merry Christmas everyone?

In happier news I'll be home in 16 days and I can't wait!

-M

B-I-N-G-O

Today I taught my first, real lesson! The students at Champignol are learning numbers so we played Bingo. They do very well with numbers 1-10 but it's quite difficult for them to discern between the "teens" and the "tys." Thirty and thirteen sound the same to them so as I was calling out the numbers I had to be very precise. I felt so proper. "Thir-ty!" as opposed to "thirdy." It was a lot of fun and went very well. Next week I am teaching the "Old MacDonald" song, which probably requires singing. In front of everyone. Lovely.

It is funny to see that children are the same wherever you may be in the world. They are just as competitive and worried about their neighbor's work as students in America. They were sure to tell me when someone else was wrong, or to voice their disappointment when someone shouted bingo before they did. Oh how I love children.

It "snowed" again today. Mainly the world looks like it has been dusted with a soft layer of powdered sugar. Nothing like that of Utah, and I'm grateful for it!

I'm also grateful for public transportation, but more grateful for a car at home. Yesterday on my way to church I was waiting at the bus stop after taking the RER to Nogent. If you picture a murder scene from any scary movie you've seen, this is what the bus stop is like. It's down two flights of stairs in this poorly lit {flickering lights included}, cold, concrete, tunnel-like depot. I hate waiting for this bus because I literally fear that that will be the last place I see alive. Seriously. I had to wait for twenty minutes yesterday and I was freaking out the whole time. This guy with 4 teeth walks up to me, gets up close in my face, looks me deep in the eyes and says "bonjour." Ah. I say hello back to him and slowly back up while he is still intensely staring into my eyes. I kind of turn around looking behind me to see if I was missing something but his creepy stare follows me. He says hello again and I say, "um hi?" This happened again, the whole time I'm just praying that he won't try to kill me while I'm waiting for the bus. Luckily he didn't kill me but it was weird and he just kept staring at me. I didn't like it! I truly am grateful that I don't have to walk everywhere, but I just can't wait to have my own form of transportation again. Yikes!

Until next time,

-M

Pompidou?

It snowed!

Today Emily and I went to the Pompidou. It's a museum focused mainly on modern art, like that of Picasso. There were some interesting things, and some really, really bizarre pieces. I am still trying to process a lot of what I saw.

Extreme Tension

Pieces of wood painted red, leaning up against the wall. Art.

Picasso

This was pretty much my face the whole time. Huh?

Love that tower

This was one of the more normal movies playing. It was so much like The Ring. We didn't like it.

I don't know what this is a movie of but there was a heart beat to accompany it. I just don't understand!

I'm Thankful For...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

You would be here a very long time reading about all of the things that I am thankful for so I will just name a few.

Family, Jenna, friends, phone calls with Jordan, MC, skype, my cousins, France, the teachers I work with, Emily, the church, all of the adventures I've had so far, all of the adventures I've yet to have, living in France, being able to come home for Christmas, emails from my Gma B, the radiator that keeps my room nice and warm and of course, chocolate.

I'm also grateful for the study abroad group that is currently here from BYU. Emily invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with them and they were all so welcoming and I had a wonderful evening.

We ate turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, all sorts of bread, cranberry sauce, chestnuts, stuffing, green beans, home-made pumpkin pie, a raspberry tarte {that wasn't even good but I can say that because I purchased for it. For 27 euro. Ah.}, caramel ice cream and wassail!

After dinner I spoke with my family for a moment and then Emily and I went to the Christmas market that lines the Champs Élysées. Jenna and I were there 2 years ago give or take a few days and I am so grateful that I was able to be there once again. It was bitter cold tonight but it put us in the Christmas spirit. As I type this, I am snuggled up in my little French bed listening to Christmas music. It's just the perfect ending to a perfect Thanksgiving day.

Our Thanksgiving feast!

I feel like every other picture is of what I'm about to eat.

Outside the skating rink

Ferris Wheel at the end of the Champs Élysées

Free caviar? Yes.

Free caviar and vodka? Done. Minus the vodka.

Candy!

I've been watching a lot of America's Next Top Model

We got some chocolate chaud that was parfait for our cold little hands!

You probably can't tell, but this building was decorated for Christmas. And I liked it.

The family in the van definitely makes this picture. And the green light in the distance is SO Great Gatsby!

We found condoms for 2 euro in the metro. Convenience at it's finest.

I hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-M