Obsession: There is a free newspaper that you can get if you take the metro. Seeing as I took the metro every day, I usually took one to practice my French reading. I happened to notice that there was a Sudoku puzzle on the last page one day and decided to give it a try. It’d been a while (since high-school really) since I’d regularly done Sudoku puzzles, but it wasn’t difficult at all to become obsessed again. What started out as a French reading exercise became “I wonder whether the Sudoku will be hard today?!” Really though, sometimes they’re super easy, do-it-in-3-minutes puzzles and sometimes they’re stare-at-them-all-day-think-you’re-getting-somewhere-and-realize-you’ve-made-a-mistake-and-give-up puzzles. I’ll have to find my Sudoku book so I don’t have complete withdrawals from my daily life in France.
Fete de la Musique: The national festival of music was on Tuesday. In the evening, all you have to do is walk into the street and you'll happen upon music of some sort. Stephanie and I went to the Eiffel Tower and wandered around. We actually went out too early and there wasn't much to see/hear so we stopped at a cafe and tried escargots (snails!) to wait for more musicians to come. The snails were quite interesting; they're not something I'd order on my own, but if they were an appetizer somewhere, I wouldn't hesitate to have another. After our pit stop, we finally happened upon this awesome rock band. It was the perfect moment - rock band playing outside for free in front of the Eiffel Tower on a beautiful summer day. Oh, Paris, I love you!
Also on Tuesday, our art class visited the Francois-Mitterand National Library (which was quite impressive, albeit a bit cold,) Bercy Park and Bercy Village. On Wednesday we met at the Arc de Triomphe, took a bus ride (my first public transport bus ride there!) to a museum right in my arrondissement (area of Paris.) It had many lovely impressionist paintings and they had an exhibit on the paintings of these brothers whom were quite talented. Their work was original and I really enjoyed this last museum (wish I could remember it's name, oops!)
Also on Tuesday, our art class visited the Francois-Mitterand National Library (which was quite impressive, albeit a bit cold,) Bercy Park and Bercy Village. On Wednesday we met at the Arc de Triomphe, took a bus ride (my first public transport bus ride there!) to a museum right in my arrondissement (area of Paris.) It had many lovely impressionist paintings and they had an exhibit on the paintings of these brothers whom were quite talented. Their work was original and I really enjoyed this last museum (wish I could remember it's name, oops!)
National Library
Different Angle of the National Library
In Bercy Park
Bercy Village - sooo cute!
All good things must come to an end and all classes must end with a final test/project. In art I’m doing my final project on Sacre-Coeur (that basilica atop Montmartre.) The presentation went fine in Thursday and the paper’s not due until a week from now so I have plenty of time to finish it. I’ll probably upload it because it’s really rather interesting. In French we had our final test (and they didn’t get stolen this time!)
My last day was quite lovely (and long if the size of this paragraph gives any indication.) In French class, we had a low key class period and at the end we headed to the Luxembourg Garden for a picnic. We got our certificates of completion of the French program, and I got a 16/20, hooray! Why hooray when that’s only an 80%? Because the French grading system is bizarre and a 16/20 is an A! They don’t give 20/20 ever and 19s and 18s are nearly as rare. After French, I went chocolate shopping with a couple of classmates and then I headed over to the Bois de la Bolangue to check it out. It’s a wooded area that’s about 10 minutes from where I was staying. Stephanie and I really enjoyed our promenade through the wooded area (especially after all the city streets we face every day – I see why everyone wants to live in the 16th arrondissement where we were staying!) We marveled at how a two hour walk in sandles was no big deal at the end of our stay, but had that been the first week, we would’ve turned around after 30 minutes. I feel like I can walk anywhere after Paris! The walk was stupendous until we came upon some women wearing micro skirts and stilettos . . . did I mention that area is renowned for prostitutes? We were told we’d be fine anytime before 8pm; however, these ladies must have been eager because it was only 3 in the afternoon! It was quite shocking! We turned around and went back the way we’d approached them, so no harm done, I’m just sad that Christine was right – she’d warned (teasingly) that it’s never safe of them there. After that, Stephanie and I headed to happy hour with a bunch of classmates. Funny story, I did a terrible job of hearing where we were meeting up and as nobody was picking up their phones, we’d resigned ourselves to meandering the streets until the farewell dinner. However, by chance, we ran into one of our peers who was already there with everyone and we made it after all! It’s really lovely when things work out by miracle like that! I had a last glass of rosé and I heard a French rock song that I love and have on my ipod in the bar – my taste in music is popular there (I’d found that song through my own research)!! After cocktails, we all headed to the farewell dinner. It was super sad since everyone was taking pictures and saying their goodbyes. However, the night wasn’t over yet! A few of us headed to the Eiffel Tower one last time. We sat on the lawn, chatted, and then at 11:30, it was finally time for goodbyes. We promised one another to contact each other if we’re ever in someone’s area of the US while traveling, well wishes were made and hugs were to be had. I headed back, showered and finished packing and that was that.
Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but my house mom watches her grandchildren all the time. There’s never a dull moment (if a little sibling disagreement is healthy, then these kids are set for life) and one has to be careful about leaving the door open because a two-year old might just decide to play cars inside your room. This is exactly what her grandson did on Friday and I stole a picture :P He’s just so cute and after all, we did play cars together – that’s some hard core bonding! Also, we said goodbye to Madame Reynaud and got a picture with here. I did appreciate when Edgar (the dog) tried to photobomb my pic by jumping between us during the photo shoot!
Adorable.
Mme Reynaud and Myself :D
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