30 DAYS!!

I can't believe is my 30th day in France! It's going by so quickly!

I'm going to Bruges next week instead of London, where I'm going in February. I am such the procrastinator and I started planning far too late. I'm very very excited to visit Belgium, I've only heard good things about it. Mainly I am looking forward to eating a Belgium waffle and some Belgium CHOCOLATE!!!! My life may be complete after this trip.

I'm also going to try to make it to Disneyland next week. It is decorated for Halloween so I can think of no better time to go.

Yesterday I went into Paris to meet up with my friend Emily. We had a French class together over a year ago and we just happen to be in France at the same time. How lovely! We started at the Louvre, walked by Notre Dame, the Pantheon and went to Luxembourg gardens. It was a crisp day, but supremely beautiful. Sometimes I will have moments where I look up in the sky and see the Eiffel Tower and think, "Is this for real? Am I living here?!" I'm such a lucky girl! Anyway here are some pictures of our little tour through Paris!

This is real!! Oh my gosh!

View from the Pantheon. Can you see the Eiffel Tower?

The Pantheon

I can't help but laugh when I look at these pictures. It's a little unreal how beautiful it is. I mean really.

Paris, je t'aime.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Did you know that food is expensive? Really, really expensive. Sometimes I look at my plate and think "Whelp. That was about 5 euros. Awesome."

Moving on, I think I'm heading to London for Toussaint. How marvelous right? I plan on seeing many Harry Potter sights, trying to find Diagon Alley and possibly dueling someone. I just need to get my hands on a wand! Okay, I know there is more in England to see than HP stuff, but siriusly (as in Sirius Black) is there really? I'll let you know what I find.

I was invited to go to a prison next week that held the king of France. I don't know what prison, or which king but Mme. Raffard (whom I love!) said it is beautiful. I'm so there!

I was also invited to go ice skating with one of my classes on January 6th. I am a terrible ice skater, but I'm open to trying it out!

I have noticed that people are such freakers about making the metro/train/bus. I get it, everyone is in a hurry. But I'd rather not risk life and quite possibly limb so I can catch the train instead of waiting 5 minutes for the next one. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people get stuck in the doors as the train is about to leave. Hello. It's not worth it.

In other news, Halloween is in less than 2 weeks!!! Who is excited?! I am! Exclamation points!!

Also, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

MC made this for my birthday dinner. I'm not quite positive what it was, but it was delish.

My birthday pie!

MC gave me these little birds for my birthday. They have since been named Fred and George Weasley {from Harry Potter}

I know this looks a little creepy, maybe because it is. But this is Marie-Claude gardening in her fur vest and I couldn't help snapping a photo of it! She's adorable!

This isn't an awesome picture, but it was such a beautiful sunset I just had to share it!

Strike.

On Monday I had another awesome Training day. We learned how to play Simon Says and we made cootie catchers. Yeah.

During all of the learning we were doing, we were told that school would not be held on Tuesday because of a transportation strike. Quelle chance! Then when I woke up on Tuesday, MC told me that I didn't go into school either!

That night I got an email from Florence asking me why I didn't go into school. My life.

Last night I booked my flight to come home for Christmas. I am completely excited about this!! I love France with all of my heart and even though I'm not yet ready to come home permanently, I cant wait to see all of the people most important to me. Plus it's Christmas. I have to go home for it! A little part of me is sad that I'll miss Paris at Christmas time. Yesterday they were putting up these lights and garland Christmas trees {I know right? Early start!} and for a second I wanted to stay here, but then I thought about people back home and that second passed very quickly.

Today was my first tutoring session with Lorraine. She is 16 and just so sweet. She is very shy but I had a lot of fun with her. Next time we meet we are going to read HP.

Also I ate a croissant today with CHOCOLATE inside of it. I've found my new favorite thing about France.

-M

5 Days!!

In t minus five days I will be 22! How fantastic is that? Pretty fantastic. I'm not sure what I will be doing on my day of birth. I'm thinking about going into Paris. The only thing is it's not quite as fun sight seeing and spending your birthday alone.

But, no matter.

I'm in France for my birthday and I am just excited! And a week after that is Toussaint. I still need to figure out what to do for it.

I have another "Training" Day tomorrow. This one is for 8 hours. I can only imagine what we are going to "learn" this time...

-M

Water and Bridges (DC reference)

I woke up today with a sour attitude and was feeling a little down. I felt like staying in bed all day but it was too glorious outside. So I made myself get up and I took a walk along the Marne River that is just next to my house. It ended up being one of the best days I have had so far!

The Marne surrounds Saint-Maur on three sides and is completely gorgeous.

The windows on the bottom were for a large sunroom. How wonderful!

Aren't these houses great? I love them!

This was the best part of the walk. It was so Little Mermaid and Mother Willow from Pocahontas.

There are weeping willows all over! They are just my favorite tree.

Whatever. I'm just a tourist. Note the head tilt. Nice.

Seriously? There were swans! It made me miss my best. She's been a swan before in Swan Lake and I know she would have appreciated this.

Saint-Maur is the most wonderful little city. I love it very much and I'm just happy to be here!

-M

The Eternal Flame

Dear Reader,

I love France. It's wonderful.

Yesterday I went into Paris with Patricia {the lady that found me somewhere to live} and Florence {my contact person who has done so much for me!} who both work in the school district.

A few students from my school, Michelet, were going to sing at a ceremony for the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe. There is an "eternal" flame burning there as a reminder for every soldier, whether they were French or not, that fought for France. Underneath the flame is a tomb for the unknown soldier. They do this ceremony everyday at 6:30 and have grander ceremonies on important dates like November 11th, the end of WWI and July 14th, their national holiday.

It was neat to attend and I had a nice time. I met a lady there that was partially in charge of the ceremony and she gave me her blue flower pin {equivalent to the poppies that are worn}. She said that the French owe a lot to the Americans and I really appreciated it.

Also people love that I'm American. They make sure that I can see everything, they tell me all of these historical facts, offer me things like rides and invitations to certain events and at the end of the night when I was shaking the deputy mayor's hand he said "No! Kisses for the American!" And kissed me on my cheeks.

I just miss my America!

Florence, me and Patricia at the Arc de Triomphe. Apparently I was really happy to be there?

They have a procession of flags

Old Glory

The band that played, and played...

The Flame...

into which they put a sword and it gets bigger, I don't really understand why though.

Some military and other officials

The deputy mayor is the guy on the right with the sash. They just placed a big bouquet of flowers above the tomb.

In other news, I may be able to visit Normandy with one of my classes for five days for free! Wouldn't that be nice? It won't be until March so I probably wont know for a while. I hope it works out because I'd love to go up there.

That's all for now!

M

Hot Chocolate!

Today I went to a little cafe and had a cup of hot chocolate. I read some Sense and Sensibility while I sipped my HC. It was complete bliss and I felt so Parisian. The sun was shining and people were walking by with their baguettes and little puppies. Just like out of a movie.

Then my perfect moment was killed by two guys who sat down and started to smoke. That is probably the main thing I don't appreciate about France {okay and the dog-whatever EVERYWHERE}. Even teens smoke. It's so foul. And it's a moment killer. I had to leave because it made me sick.

I guess that makes it a true French experience.

-M