La Fete Nationale-Bastille Day

Today, is the French National Holiday. Bastille Day celebrating the capture of the Bastille on July 14th, 1789. My host mother woke me up at approximately 9:50am to come into the living room for breakfast and to watch the Parade on T.V. Now, in the U.S. on July 4th  I'm usually seated on the curb in the proper location to pick up free candy. But, in the French capital in order to grab front seats you need to get there at 5am or earlier and wait for the parade to start at 10am.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying the day off from school. The thing to do in Paris on the 14th of July is to watch the concert in front of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Marse and then to watch the fire works display (feu d'artifice: en francais). The fireworks display was possibly not the most amazing I've ever seen, but it was played in perfect timing to Broadway songs.

In between singing and capturing a few photos of the Eiffel Tower and all the fireworks, I couldn't help but think to myself "God, what an amazing summer."

How to Survive as an American in Paris

1) Make sure to start your day with a lot of Nutella, they don’t eat things like eggs and potatoes here so be prepared to eat lots of bread and Nutella. Don’t skip the coffee you’ll need the energy.
2) Do not wear athletic shoes with the exception of Converse. The French have three looks Super Buisnessy, Frumpy Gypsy Thieve, and relatively normal casual dress. Don’t worry you won’t be able to pull of any of these looks like the French do. So be prepared to wear a lot of super pointy high heels, tights with your shorts and lots of scarves. This season flowery genie pants are also an alternative.
3) Never leave the house without your metro card.
4) Bring an IPOD or book (in French) on the metro. It acts as two things a distraction device for you and a cock block device for creepy French men.
5) NEVER smile. Just don’t refrain at all time. This is the number one give away that you are american.
6) Rarely say excusez-moi or pardonne…because they won’t say it to you. Be prepared to have your personal space invaded. Make a game out of invading others personal space (creepy but it will help you fit in)
7) Never use a map. And carry a baguette under your arm or in your bag.
8) Drink a lot of wine. But, not too much because the French will not tolerate drunkenness…soooo watch yourself.
9) Eat stinky cheese, and don’t shower. It is okay to be smelly, you’ll fit in just fine. It does take some getting used to.
10) If you get homesick you should do the following buy some chips, coco-cola, and chocolate and watch an american film on tv. there will be one. do not worry. (right now, Miss Congeniality) it will be in French but it will be recognizable.
11) If you want to get into a typical French debate ask anyone about Nickolas Sarkozy…or just mention America.
12) This is only the first part of surviving as an american in France. tooooo be continued.

Back in Paris. 4 weeks left.

I've been back in Paris for about a week and a half. After my trip to Amsterdam I'm finding it more and more difficult to appreciate Paris. I have began and finished my first week of classes at the Intermediate 2 level. With a professor I can't stand. My cynicism is growing profoundly stronger each hour I pass with this woman. Apparently, it is completely in the French fashion to treat 21 year old students like 2nd graders. I don't appreciate, understand, or accept this fact.

On the other side of things my host mother Annick, who I have grown to adore, has decided to take my learning of the French language into her own hands. As a fluent French and English speaker she is helpful, all be it frustrating. We are now implementing French only dinner times. And I've come to realize that one of the only things I can say here with full and utter confidence are "Bonjour," "Merci", and "Je vais prendre ma douche." The latter meaning "I'm going to take my shower." These have proven to be completely useful statements.

Although I feel really down and out about French right now due to my morning professor I will admit that my two afternoon professors are amazing. With them I feel as if I'm learning French and like I'm not completely useless at it. It's nice to have someone competent as a professor here. I kind of wish I had my teacher from last semester at least he treated us all as adults and was organized.

Whenever I get to fed up with France I just try to remember that my time here is over half way over. I have 3 weeks left of classes and trying to cram the left over sightseeing in. I have one week in Rome with my best friend. And a few days back in Paris, until I board the plane back to Michigan. For the mean time I will enjoy these gorgeous sunsets, picnics and days spent in from of the Eiffel Tower. Mais, Michigan, je te manque.

Amsterdam, Holland

After a day running around Mini-Europe with a bunch of Belgium 5th graders, my travel partners and I split up. They got on the Train headed for Paris, and eventually the United States. I hopped a train to the Netherlands. For 3 hours, I sat on a crowded train. I wrote in my journal listened to music. And had many people try to speak to me in Dutch. I apparently look much more Dutch than I do French (which is mildly understandable due to my Finnish heritage which is much more similar to Dutch than French.)

I arrived in Amsterdam, alone and melting in the 90 degree weather. Lucky for me my hostel was only a 5 minute walk from Central Station and the staff was very nice. So I took a shower (an amazing gift for any traveler) and went to the local grocery store. I bought things that I'm still not sure about what they were. But, I absolutely enjoyed the local delicacy stroopwaffel. It's two mildly crunchy waffle cookies with a type of caramel/toffee in the middle. I could have lived off of those. My first night I wandered around. Looking for a place to have a nice drink. I found one with a wonderful bartender at place called the London Bridge.

I've never felt as international as I did drinking an Irish beer, in an English Pub, speaking French, in Holland. It was a great night. I got back to the hostel around 11 and decided to rest up for my excursions the next day. I started off the day by wandering through Amsterdam looking at Tulip Markets, Rembrandt's statue, Dutch Houses, the outside of the Van Gogh museum (should have went in but there was a huge line), I ended up at the Heineken Factory. The tour there was 15 euros and a lot of fun. You learn about the history of Heineken and the process of beer making. At the end of the tour you get to taste the beer...3 glasses of it.

After the Heineken museum I wandered more, around the canals and side streets, and met some wonderful dutch people. Upon, returning to the hostel for some lunch I met a few of my roommates. Two lovely Irish girls who invited me out to a pub crawl with the 4 Irish  boys they came to Amsterdam with. I don't want to go into detail here, as I feel mildly like what happens during a pub crawl stays in a pub crawl. But, the night ended with me guiding 4 drunk Irish people back to the Hostel in the dark. I'm so glad I'm great at paying attention to my surroundings.

I finished the trip to Amsterdam the next morning with a delicious breakfast and a traditional Amsterdam coffee. I boarded to train for a 3 hour journey back to Paris...which ended up to be a 4 hour journey. It probably took me 3 days to recover from my trip to Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam. But, it was really worth it.

Bruges, Belgium

I love Bruges. It's known for its quaint architecture, cobbled streets, canals, and chocolate. Sounds like my kind of place. We arrived early in the morning to a dead little Bruges, which gave us all enough time to explore the streets, and take some cool shots. After we explored town a little we made a few finds, the first being that Bruges chocolate was about half the price of the chocolate we bought in Brussels. And it tasted just as great. We also discovered that there was only one real way to see Bruges, and that was by boat.

So, we each payed the 7 euros to board a boat with 30 strangers and take a tour in French and in English (oddly enough it was easier to understand the French portions.) It was a very neat ride. My absolutely favorite part was when the tour guide pointed out that almost every time he gives a tour there is one dog who just sits in the window and watches. The first time we passed the doggy in the window was not there. When we turned around to return to the dock he was waiting for us.

In the afternoon the sun shine came out and we walked all over residential Bruges in search of their Wind Mills. Which we found and were absolutely adorable. We also saw a group of swans three ducklings and a mother Swan. The ducklings were molting and it was cute to watch them shed their baby feathers.  We also climbed to the top of the Belfry Tower 366 steps to the top...366 winding tiny steps to the top. It was rather terrifying actually.

 

The Bell Tower had a very cool markings all around the window sills that tell you how far away and in what direction certain cities are. We were so excited to find the Paris marker! To end our day in Bruges we stopped by their biggest church and took pictures of the Michaelangelo Statue there.  Very neat. 

We returned to Brussels happy, but a little sunburned. So we found ourselves some real food, NOT CHOCOLATE. And then headed to bed, excited to visit mini-europe the next day and get our super tourist on.