D'autres Chats à Fouetter

Bonsoir tout le monde!

The past couple of days have been jam-packed with language-intensive crash courses along with some excursions. Throughout the week, the IES center has been providing trips and free admission (woot woot!) to various attractions throughout Paris. I know that I will be going to certain attractions numerous times, such as the Louvre and Notre Dame, so I wanted to try take advantage of this week to see attractions that I might not otherwise get around to seeing.

On Monday afternoon, I visited the spectacular Paris Opéra Garnier. Our group was given a guided tour throughout the Opera House. We were even able to watch a portion of the ballet rehearsal, which is generally forbidden for the public. Other than the breathtaking foyer, what I liked most about the Opera House was the view. From the balcony we were able to see a postcard snapshot of Paris. I am kicking myself a little as I am writing this because I neglected to take a picture—oh well, looks like I’ll just have to go back!

The following day I opted to join the guided tour of the Musée D’Orsay.  The Musée houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh. We were only there for an hour and a half, but as self-proclaimed ‘art skimmer’—it was more than enough time.

Throughout the week, I have had several hours each day dedicated to polishing up my French. My class this week is taught by a native Parisienne, which has been especially helpful as she has taught us a few native slang phrases. For instance, instead of the North American phrase ‘I have bigger fish to fry’ the French have the phrase ‘j’ai d’autres chats a fouetter’ which translates into ‘I have other cats to whip.’ Strange right? Anyways, I’m not too sure how that euphemism got started…lord only knows what the French get up to behind closed doors. Because of my house mom’s affinity for pop culture and gossip, I have started to read the local gossip magazines such as ‘Paris Match’ and ‘Télé 7 jours’. This new hobby serves two purposes, it helps improve my French and it also gives me some context when my host mom dishes the latest scoop.

While finishing up some grammar at a café today, I had the sudden realization that I had yet to see the Eiffel tower. So I figured I would test out my knowledge of the metro, and go do some solo exploring of the Eiffel Tower. After making it to the tower in one piece, I quickly took some shameless selfies, walked around the perimeter of the tower and then headed back home. What was so great about this little detour was that it made me realize how truly accessible the city of Paris is. In addition, it also gave me a certain sense of adequacy in terms of my ability to independently navigate throughout the city.

This weekend, myself and two other Lehigh students are headed to London, England.  I think I am most excited for the slight possibility of meeting One Direction…one can dream!

C’est tout pour moi à ce moment, au revoir!

                                                                Paris Opéra Garnier

                                                               Looky what I found!

                                                                   Musée D'Orsay

                                                          Selfies at the Tour D'Eiffel

                                                                 Some pointy thing

Macaroons & Ma Coco

Salut mes amis!

Looks like I have made it through my first full week in Paris! I think I am slowly (but surely) starting to get the hang of the city and all of its cultural quirks.

Throughout my past week I have learned that cabs are next to impossible to get on a Saturday night, I talk at least 10 decibels louder than everyone here, I should always bring my umbrella and that crepes are always an option.

While exploring this past weekend, I even had a stranger come up to me and ask for directions. After a minute or so of elaborate hand gestures, the stranger quickly learned that I had no clue what I was talking about—but it was a confidence boost nonetheless.

I decided to play and visited la Rue des Rennes, la Place de la Concorde and walked around the perimeter of the Louvre Gardens. As we were in the mood for some chocolat chaud très célèbre mais très chèr (very famous but expensive hot chocolate) we tried for the esteemed Café Angelina, a café that both Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel frequented. Unfortunately due to the hour-long wait, we redirected our plans for some macaroons and afternoon tea at Ladurée.

Each Thursday and Sunday there is a market directly in front of my homestay where you can buy everything from patisseries, baguettes and fruit to old books and rock’n’roll records. After the market, I did a little more exploring of the 14e arrondisment and actually stumbled upon a park. It turns out—the park is THE place to be on a Sunday. In fact, there were so many joggers that it felt like the first five minutes of a 5k race when all of the runners are moving together like sardines.

On a different note, Chantal, my host mother happens to be a huge American entertainment buff, and boasts quite the collection of French-dubbed Sex and the City seasons. I finished off my weekend watching a couple episodes of francophone Carrie Bradshaw while reviewing conjugations for irregular verbs. Chantal always refers to me as “ma coco”, which she says is a term of endearment. Chantal also says that I remind her of ‘a baby chick who is very lost’—so maybe I don’t seem quite as Parisienne as I originally thought. Oh well, I still have a couple months to try!

Au revoir mes cocos!

                                                              Champs Élysées

Ladurée

                                                                         Making healthy choices while abroad                                                     

Val du Loire

Âllo tout le monde!

So after a couple of days filled with how-to’s and how-not-to’s, we were treated to a field trip to the Loire Valley (Loire du Val) for the overnight portion of orientation week.

After a four-hour bus ride accompanied with our bus driver’s unusual preference of the Rolling Stones at full volume, we arrived in the beautiful (yet rainy) Loire Valley.  According to the brochure I kept from the field trip, the Loire Valley is home to more than 50 chateaux that once housed the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci and Francois Premier. During our two-day visit to Loire Valley, we visited Chateau Chenonceau, Chateau Villandry, Chateau Clos-Lucé and Chateau Amboise.

Although January in France can be a little cold and dreary, the chateaus were absolutely breathtaking. The wine tastings at Villandry led by the charming proprieter, Hubert (Oooo-Behr), definitely helped ward off some of the chill as well.

After some bubbly and goat cheese (chèvre), it was time for dinner. I was a little apprehensive to try the meat on my salad as earlier that day I had unknowingly eaten rabbit. The meat on the salad resembled pork so I was very confident in my belief that I was eating pork. Turns out—I was fooled again. Gizzards, I ate a whole lump of gizzards. So now after those two experiences, I am much happier eating whatever is on my plate with blissful ignorance.

The next day we visited the final resting place of Leonardo Da Vinci at Chateau Clos Lucé. Replicas of Da Vinci’s paintings and inventions were studded throughout the Chateau. All of the beds featured in the chateau were extremely small and it looked like there was no possible way that the 6’2’ Da Vinci was ever comfortable sleeping in his final years. According to our guide, people slept sitting up because they felt that lying down on one’s back was a bad omen as it resembled lying down in a grave. Who woulda thunk?

After a lunch of pork fat and deer, a true French dish we were told, we were headed to Amboise, which was the largest and most celebrated Chateau in the valley.

The Loire Valley was a great cultural experience, but I would recommend it during warmer months in order to see the gardens in full bloom!

A demain!

                                                             Chateau Chenonceau

Chenonceau

                                                             Artsy fartsy Chenonceau

                                                                   Chateau Clos-Lucé

                                                    panoramaaaa Chateau Amboise

                                                                                     Chateau Amboise

Bonjour!

So after my first full day studying abroad in Paris, France, I decided it was time to write my first blog post!

Like many other abroad students, I am creating a blog so my family and friends can keep tabs on me as I travel throughout Europe, get up to no good and maybe even study a little bit!!

To give a little backstory to this adventure, I have wanted to study in Paris for as long as I can remember. I have never been to Paris before yesterday, nor had I ever been to Europe, but for some reason I always had an attraction to the city of Paris. I know that s a 20-something-year-old moving to Paris and then immediately becoming enamored with the city is a overused cliché, but hey, it’s been less than 48 hours and I’m already head-over-heels.

I left Toronto Pearson airport Saturday evening, and after the small hiccup where I forgot the French translation for pasta (pâtes) during the food service, the flight went off without a hitch. I even watched ‘Eat, Pray, love’ on the plane to set the ‘eat-a lot-and-learn-a lot’ tone for the semester.

I am staying in a flat in the 14ieme arrondissment of Paris above a sushi restaurant, a chocolatier and a boulangerie. This semester I will be staying with another French-studies IES student, Elizabeth, my host mother, Chantal (Mme. Gendilloux) and her little pup named ‘Julienne.’ Chantal always says that Julienne is like bubble gum (cucul) and I just smile and nod because I have no idea what she means by that. Chantal also loves reality television and every night at 8:15, we watch the soap opera ‘La Ville la Plus Belle’ which is set in Marseilles. As Chantal tells us, people from the South of France are notoriously fast speakers so I am not entirely sure what the show is about yet, but I will keep you posted when I find out. 

I am only just beginning to learn the subtleties of the French language and culture, and even as I try to demonstrate my finest French, I still have quite a bit to learn. For instance, this morning I asked Mme. Gendilloux if there were any preservatives or jam (préservatifs) for the toast, to which she just smiled and walked away. I wasn’t entirely sure if this was the correct translation, but it sounded correct enough. After talking with an IES administrator, I quickly learned that conservateur is the correct translation for preservatives whereas préservatifs translates into ‘condom.’ So now I know.

Walking to and from IES abroad center is helping me get to know the local area a little better. To my surprise, I only became lost once today while trying to meet up with some students at a nearby Starbucks, but as my dear friend Casey puts it, I probably should’ve brought a map.

Tomorrow, Chantal is taking Elizabeth and I on a guided car tour of central Paris and on Thursday the IES center is sponsoring a field trip to the Loire Valley where we will be able to see des Châteaux and the death place of Leonardo da Vinci. 

Although I am still a little jet-lagged and overwhelmed, I am looking forward to this semester and all of the wonderful experiences that are sure to follow!

À bientôt!

                                   My new room featuring complimentary Ferrero Rocher and the Deeg
                                                   

                                                                    Julienne the 'cucul'