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
Making healthy choices while abroad
Ladurée
Making healthy choices while abroad
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