To the young ones...

Candida and I were starting to feel like grandmas...so we decided to show the young ones in our program (who range from the age of 18-22) that we could party like the rest of 'em. Every Thursday MIXCLUB throws the Erasmus Party, an event for foreigners to come and learn about other cultures. I Actually it was nothing like that, we walked in to this large club with blaring techno beats full of sweaty 20 year olds too drunk to see straight. We decided to embrace this moment. We grabbed a drink (free drink ticket for ladies) and hit the dance floor. It was the most ridiculous/amusing thing I have done in a while. I felt like I was 18 again ...in cancun dancing to "one more time" with a drink that tasted like fruit punch in my hand.


This morning we begrudgingly woke up, only haven slept 4 or 5 hours, to go on a Parisian Treasure Hunt. The 'treasure hunt' took us to many parts of the city like the notre dame (again), Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Élysées, Trocadero (a great look out point), and I finally ate a nutella crepe! It was such a great way to discover the city and I feel even more comfortable here everyday.




Tomorrow we are heading to northern France, the Brittany and Normandy region. We will be going on an overnight excursion to St. Malo and St. Michel. I am so excited to see St. Michel!!! Here's a sneak peak of where I will be going:


LOVE!!!

Still a tourist

Bonjour!

I am finally getting settled in to my apartment (well not really, I will be moving in 3 days) and becoming more familiar with my surroundings. Candida and I have already made friends with the man at the little marche as well as the man at the cafe on the corner! Tonight we went to get a cafe creme and he knew our order before we even had a chance to speak. That made me pretty excited. I must say though, that my lack of french is becoming ever apparent. Today we went to BHV (it's a huge shopping center) and this man very politely tried to strike a conversation...it was a bit frustrating because I could understand (a bit of) what he was saying but I did not know how to respond. Argg! This will come with time, i know, I've only been here for 5 days!

Earlier today I went with my abroadco group on a Seine River tour, it was such a beautiful and sunny day in Paris! Here is a little snippet of what we saw:


Notre Dame


Sunny Eiffel Tower


Abroadco group

Well you get the idea...after we finished the cruise we walked around the latin quarter as well as the marais.


Down one of the many little streets in the latin quarter, full of cheap food and junk


I'm a big nerd

Check out my roomies blog: www.candidainparis.blogspot.com

Love to you all!!!

First Days

Paris is AMAZING!!!!

The flight from lax to dublin was not bad at all, the plane left exactly at 4 and it was supposed to be a 10 hour flight but it only took us 9 hours! Once we arrived in Dublin we went to have a Guinness (Irish Beer, mom). Then we hopped on the plane to paris. When we arrived in Paris it was cold but sunny, it was really pretty. We took a shuttle to a hotel near our apartment, our apartment wasn't ready until today so abroadco payed for a hotel for us.

Once we put our stuff down we decided to go on a walk...i think we arrived around 7pm. We walked around the area and decided to get something to eat. Candida and I were both a little culture-shocked and nervous at this point. So we finally sat down at this super-french restaurant and tried to order in french. He spoke back to us in english : ) After that we were pretty tired so we decided to go back to the hotel and go to sleep.


On Monday we woke up and decided to walk to the notre dame. After that we walked along the seine river and made our way to the eiffel tower. Here are some pictures:







Later that night, Candida and I went to see Morrissey at the Olympia Theatre. There were loads of people and it was funny to see french people sing Morrissey songs in english.

I just moved into my tiny apartment and we are trying to get settled in...although we just found out that we will be moving to another apartment this weekend. Apparently the director our program was horrified at the size of the apartment and demanded that we be moved to a bigger room.

This city is so beautiful, its hard to describe the feeling here. I have been trying to use my french as much as possible and I can see I have a long way to go. Its a bit intimidating but I know its only my second day and I have a long time to improve...Tomorrow is the beginning of orientation week, we will finally meet all of the other students and we have activities planned this whole week.

Much love to everyone!!!

Oh crap!

I'm leaving in two days and I haven't packed a thing!

Paris Countdown

Shortly after I decided to study in Paris, I decided to create a blog. This blog is meant for my friends and family, as a way for them to see my life abroad. I will be leaving for Paris in February and I can't wait! It seems like I have been planning this excursion for years and now its finally around the corner. Get ready for a blog full of photos and other fun stuff!!!