Ciudad de la Luz

PARIS, the city of light was a must on my list of trips. On thursday Laine, Jeanna and I grabbed a train (thank goodness the bus strike was only one day so that we could go) to Paris to meet a friend of Laine's. While buying our tickets we had the most incompetent cashier EVER. I literally think he couldn't do math. for 3 of us round trip it was 60 euros we gave him 140 (jeanna only had a 100 euro bill) then he gave us 20 euros in change. I did the math for him on paper and he still didn't understand. Finally after him calling over his boss and another worker they helped him figure out how to do basic math and we got the right change.

When we arrived in Paris Laine's friend met us on the platform since she arrived at the same station just 10 mins before us. It was a little foggy and cold that morning but we didn't care because Paris is magical.

First thing first called for a trip to Montmartre and the Sacre-Coeur Basilica




The View from the Basilica:

Sacre-Coeur


The Eiffel Tower



There were artists everytwhere


For mom:



Then it was to the Latin quarter for lunch, specifically for kebabs our newest obsession






From the kebabs we went to Notre Dame for a cheesey tourist moment


I took this exact same photo when I was 14








After Notre Dame we went to the Pompadour Center which is an amazing art gallery. We didn't actually have time to go into the gallery since we only had the day but we visited the bookstore



From there we went in search of this Vintage shop which turns out was in the Jewish district. The Shop was AMAZING and cheap. I got this ridiculous yellow sweater for 5 euros. Then we stopped into a Jewish bakery to look around:

Outside the bakery was this graffiti art that I knew Matt would love so I took a photo

Everywhere in Paris are these stations where you can rent a a bike it is such a cool idea


Pompadour center from the back:


Before heading back to the train station we stopped by Les Halles



All in all it was one of the most fun days I have had in France. Even though the weather could have been a little nicer I saw things I have never seen before and things I wanted to remember from when I was a kid.

I'm so glad I went.

the french ways of class

so the day started and is continuing on it's craziness. It started with a friend crashing in my room over night. Then I had class scheduled at 1.45pm so at ten till 1 Laine (also in the class) and I go to look up where our class is. around noon we ask for help since we can't fine which group we are in which tells us which classroom. We also discover that there is a "mistake" on the board saying our class is at 12.45 not 1.45pm. So we decide just to try and find our classroom (the secretary didn't have our names or groups since we are international students) at around 1:30 we find the classroom and there is a class going that looks like ours. Laine decides to ask if that is our class.

It was. Merde

So we (the only 2 international students in the class) arrive almost an hour late to our first class ever.

At the break we approach the professor and explain that in the international info the class is to start at 1.45 and that we were SO sorry to be late. She luckily said it was no big deal we hadn't really missed anything.

After that we have a 15 min break to pee etc. so we walk across this hallway/bridge thing full of french students smoking, we stuck out like a sore thumb!

when laine returned from the bathroom a girl approached us and asked the time in french (no thanks to the language intensive we didn't know how to answer). Then she asks in english and asks where we were from.

We tell her california, the school calpoly. Turns out she made friends with a girl from calpoly last year and loved us. She offered to introduce us to french students and invite us to hang out. She gave me her number to call at a later point in time. Her name was Camille.

Class went well luckily and we have since figured out the french system a litlle better.

for example the french post you classes on bullitin boards that tell you the professor, time and room to attend that week. Some classes your randomly have weeks off. The french are crazy their system is chaos and we were supremely happy to have a professor that was so chill about us being late and just lain ridiculous.

The end... for now, I still have a lot of day left

Alice in the Wonderland of Versailles

Alice in Wonderland

The entire time I felt as if I was the one to fall down the well into this strange land. Versailles could possibly be one of the coolest places I've ever been (Bilbao and Venice being the other 2)

Saturday night around midnight we decided to join team Finland the Australian and a couple Canadians to a day trip to Versailles the next morning at 7:45

We caught the train to Paris and then a metro/train to Versailles. When we arrived before heading to the castle we were in dire need of coffee, unfortunately starbucks was our only option.

We went to both the Gardens and the Palace in Versailles. The gardens first since the weather was nice but it was supposed to rain later.

Here are some photos from the trip:

falling down the well



the boys



















The Poly Girls









Part of a HUGE ceiling mural that I have become obsessed with


Purple!





Chandelier and statue of Napoleon 1st



The War Room



Vive la France