Versailles!

Today was the most amazing day! I went to Versailles! OMG it was to die for! I mean the most gorgeous place I've been too. Not only is the palace the Chateau Versailles just overwhelming and amazing, its gardens are too and Le Grand Trianon  and le Petit Trianon/ the queen's hamlet (which were probably my fave)! We went on a 30 min train from Paris center to Versailles. We got there and were just taken a back by the grand entrance! Anyway we took a little train over to Le Grand Trianon which is like the King's/royals get-away from the "rough life" at the palace and from daily routine. It was just so gorgeous and so intricate and just great haha. The gardens there were fantastic and sooo pretty and had an amazing view over the canal of Versailles. Let me just say, a great place to have a picnic and ride around on bikes (which is possible because certain parts of the grounds is free to the public...aka the canal and the beautiful park). Afterwards we went to the Petit Trianon which was constructed during the reign on Louis the XV for his long time mistress. Unfortunately she dies before its completion so it was given to his other mistress, Madame Du berry (remember her from Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette). It was like a dream/fairytale/ fucking fantastic place! Like a girls dream come true get-away.  It was given to Marie Antoinette later by Louis the XVI and she also then had a "temple of love" built outside and a hamlet. The inside of the Petit Trianon was gorge! The rooms were super precious and just amazing to see and know how much history there is behind it. The outside was my favorite. I just loved how organic in looked, the gardens were just beautifully done and so different from the geometric (and also beautiful) gardens around the Palace. The outside also had a swamp that surrounded the queen's hamlet, making it an island country get-away with a dairy farm and various dwellings and more. It just looked like Snow White's village but it was real, a real disney town! It was so pretty and incredible and just beautiful (I cant use that word enough describing this place). I fell in love with the queens hamlet, I just wanted to transport myself to that era and just frolic in the amazing gardens and canal with no care in the world, I loved it! We then ate right outside the Petit Trianon and later made our way back to the Palace and toured the Chateau Versailles. It was incredible! Like ridiculous amounts of marble and the architecture was unbelievable and the frescos and the paintings...sooooo amazing and overwhelming! I got to see Marie Antoinette's room, various King's rooms, billiard rooms, ball rooms, the hall of mirrors and soooo much more. I just enjoyed my entire day there, it was an incredible experience. I highly recommend visiting here, especially the little places like the hamlet!

I am just so grateful to be here, it is such an amazing place! Love you all!

at the entrance of versailles

amazing detail and work at the entrance gate

fountains in the gardens right outside the chateau versailles 

hall of mirrors

the versailles chapel

outside the Grand Trianon

the canal

an exhibition of gowns/couture by famous designers inspired by the period

The Petit Trianon

Painting of Marie Antoinette

gardens of Petit Trianon

The Queen's Hamlet

The swamp/pond area surrounding the hamlet

exploring and learning

So lets seeee, since I last left off there has been SO much going on! Mostly TONS of homework and 3 hour a day french class, but I can't complain...I'm in Paris!

So Jenelle and I have mostly been exploring our area and the bastille area a lot. We visited the Place de Vosges (oldest planned square in Paris), Victor Hugo's home, the Marais, a French art history museum, and some other places around us.

Bastille area 

I've gone on a few excursions around the city, like the Mosquee of Paris and the area of Belleville as well as the Latin quarter. I loved the Latin quarter, it is where the elite universities of Paris are located, like the Sorbonne. Also it is a great spot for us young college kids, a bunch of bars, cheap eats, and cute cafes. Also the Pantheon is located there (which is gorge! and amazing) and underneath/underground the pantheon is where many philosophers and writers and others like Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Voltaire, and Rousseau now rest. It was really interesting to see!


I had another excursion with my class to the Mosque of Paris and I'm so glad they planned this for us because I would have never thought of going. Remember that scene in Paris Je t'aime with Zarka and Francois? Yeah I saw all that on the excursion and more. Like the seine, the botanical gardens Francois runs through and the Mosque of course. I also got to see the Paris Zoo from the outside (Menagerie) and the natural history museum near by. Anyway, the Mosque was BEAUTIFUL, the mosaics were AAmazing as well as all the little details like the tapestries the ceilings and just everything was soo ornate and beautiful.

Natural History Museum/ gardens

botanical gardens

Mosque

Mosque

Mosque

On another excursion I visited the area of Belleville where many famous french peeps are from like Edith Piaf. This is not the best looking area, but I can appreciate it for its uniqueness. It was known for being a sort of a country side of Paris a long time ago where they would have vineyards  Today there is a great open air market, it has a great street art scene, it is known for being the area where immigrants go to when fleeing other countries, also for being a melting pot of different cultures and for its famous cemetery (pere lachaise). I got to visit the place where Edith was born there. She was born on the steps, on a busy street (Rue de Belleville) in what is now Chinatown...yeah the steps. To make the bio of her short, she had a rough childhood, she had a great voice that made her very famous and she is now one of the most loved people in France. We then got to visit a Park where I got to see the very famous view of Paris. It was gorgeous. I saw the Eiffel Tour on one side and Sacre Coeur on the other, b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Afterwards we visited the famous cemetery Pere Lachaise, where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Edith Piaf now rest. It is HUGE and actually beautiful, old and very very interesting. I visited those three graves and I have to say my fave was Oscar Wilde's, just because it is so interactive (the kisses on the grave/people write on it with lipstick) and interesting. I didn't kiss it, nor would I want to haha. I would only go as far as to write on it with lipstick. Another Paris Je t'aime scene of this place btw!

72 Rue de Belleville: Where Edith Piaf was born

Edith Piaf

View from the top on the Hill at Belleville

The garden/park at the top of the hill in Belleville

Graffiti art in Belleville

Cemetery de Pere Lachaise

Jim Morrison's grave

Oscar Wilde's grave

Oscar Wilde's Grave

Edith Piaf & Fam grave

I'm enjoying the excursions and my time here and will keep you guys posted!


Love you guys!

getting acquainted

So we finally got our bags Thursday evening. So we got settled in after. After settling in Jenelle and I went to a little cafe near by in a quiet area called Le Square Trousseau to celebrate getting our bags! Twas delicious!!! 


Then Friday was our first day of our language class and I have to say I loved it! I love my teacher she is a gem and I was quite surprised that I understood almost everything she said (because she obviously was speaking french the entire 3 hours of class). 


After class we had an excursion. We get to go to like 6 different places with our class throughout the semester and this first one was to Le Villette and Cite de la musique in the 19 arrondissement. To begin, we had to go on the metro. It was my first time going on and I have to say it was actually really easy to understand. It was really interesting seeing a more modest side of Paris and the music culture. My teacher took us in the neighborhood to look at different forms of art like recycled art and like graffiti. It was interesting to see how graffiti artists are using old factory buildings to show their work. I have to say the graffiti was amazing and it was really interesting to see the last of the factory buildings in Paris almost demolished. After the tour of the neighborhood we walked to the canal where Amelie was skipping rocks in the movie haha, it was nice! Then we went over to the museum area where there is a science museum, a music museum, a 3D simulator room, a huge amazing silver round orb, and various other museums and theaters.  Afterwards we got back on the metro and went home.

 Jenelle and I then went to the supermarche, Monoprix, to get some groceries. Monoprix is the best grocery store EVER! There is a whole entire aisle dedicated to yogurt! haha, and there are just amazing products. Jenelle made dinner after (pasta) and we had a nice night in relaxing. 


Today (saturday) we went to visit the Eiffel tower,Champs-Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe. It was really neat! I mean its so typical to go visit these places but they are really just so old and historic and soo amazing because of the history behind them! I just couldn't believe I was there! Jenelle and I took ALOT of pictures. First when we arrived to the Eiffel Tower we ate a sandwich in the park (Champ de Mars) and walked around then got on the metro to Champ-Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe. Right off the metro exit we could see Le Arc de Triomphe! It was insane! We just took it all in and looked around, even enjoyed some music by a native american group?! hahaha, and then we walked down to the Arc de Triomphe  as it started to rain. The rain just made the atmosphere feel that much more Parisian. After that we walked down Champ-Elysées and had a cafe au lait and a nice pastry. Then we decided to go into the huge H&M and I bought a book bag for school, We then decided to go home and now we are going to have another night in because we are exhausted. Anyway that is it for now!! Love you ALL!!!


(some pics of our room and our journey so far!)

our room

desk area

kitchenette 

yummy snacks!

our bathroom

arc de triomphe 

eclair, cafe au lait, macaroon 

park in the villette 

Notre Dame

park outside of Notre Dame

le geode 

the Eiffel Tower

arriving in Paris...

So lets start this series of unfortunate events. Get to the airport, wrong terminal (thanks STA travel). Get to the right terminal and notice our seats are separate from each other when they were supposed to be together (thanks Delta/KLM) and the plane is full. Start crying when saying goodbye. Try to see if we can get our seats together, not happening. Get seated next to a crazy old lady from Arizona going to Nairobi (we'll get to her later). And also get seated to a nice old man that actually switched seats with Jenelle because he was SO kind (first thing that went well). The plane is the crampiest/ tiniest space ever! Got to enjoy watching "No Strings Attached" (loved it), and some "Sex and the City" (carrie in paris!) and brushed up on some French on a learning French game. Oh, yeah, didnt sleep the entire 9/10 hours. When it was time for b-fast on the plane I accidentally spilled my orange juice on the crazy lady next to me. I liked her up until this moment because she swore I did this on purpose and yelled at the top of her lungs "SHE JUST SPILLED HER DRINK ON ME!! HELP! SHE JUST SPILLED HER DRINK ON ME!" Well that made me feel great....ugh. The stewardess was nice and understood and said it was bound to happen because of the small space.
Anyway, our plane landed in Amsterdam late (because of "heavy fog"), and Jenelle and I had about 20 minutes to get to our other flight, to Paris. Well, after going to the other side of the airport, not only did we have to go through customs there, we were led to the wrong gate (C5), and then to another (C11) and then to another (C7) and then finally to the right one (C4), thanks Amsterdam airport (so disorganized). All the while I'm wondering if our baggage made it on such a short amount of time given to transfer over to the other plane. Anyway we board the plane, I am now a row ahead of Jenelle. And finally got to sleep about an hour. I wake up and I realize I'm finally almost to Paris (yay!) and then I see the Eiffel Tower as we are starting to land (such a great feeling after all the stress).
We finally arrive in Paris, and both of us are really exhausted and feeling kinda sick at this point. We get to baggage claim and our baggage didn't make it to Paris with us. Fucking fantastic right? Well Jenelle found where to go to let the airport/airline know our baggage didn't arrive. We then gave them all the information, our ticket numbers on our luggage/what it looked like/ and what not. Well it turns out everyone that had that connecting flight did not receive their luggage. And with their "sincere" apologies they gave us a bag of toiletries and a shirt, and told us not to worry. Anyway luckily I packed ALL my underwear in my carry-on and a couple changes of clothes. Jenelle had a couple underwear in my carry on and a couple shirts in her carry-on. We shared a taxi with some other students we met from the same flight and from our program and that was good. We arrived finally to the ACCENT center (school) and checked-in and also told them about our situation, and they were so helpful and actually currently taking care of the luggage situation. Anyway we lugged our carry ons over to our  dorms a couple blocks away and finally got to rest.
Currently we are still waiting for our baggage and it is supposed to arrive today (hopefully it does). We got to explore the area a bit, went to a general orientation and got a pre-paid phone.
Being here is amazing, despite all the went wrong. I cant believe we're actually here! We went over to see the Bastille, since we are living in the area and got to see what shops and what not are around us, and even shopped at the supermarche and at a home store (casa). As soon as we get our luggage we will be going out and exploring a lot more, in the meantime we are resting and hoping we get our luggage soon!
Anyway, we will post pics later and update on more later!

Getting ready to depart!

MY adventure beings TOMORROW! AHHH! I am so nervy! I will be leaving out of the country for 4 months TOMORROW! I cannot believe this is actually happening! Destination: Paris, France, but technically before that Amsterdam....only for an hour, so no I cant enjoy the scenery. Companion: my lovely lovie Jenelle Moad! We will arrive in Paris at noon! 
Currently I am sitting at home wondering if I have everything prepared yet not doing anything about it and also watching the obese pussy kitty hiss at my baby kitty teddy haha. It's funny because I think one of the things I will miss quite a lot is that stupid cat! But of course I will miss all my family and friends!

Sadly this is not an interesting blog just yet because I have not yet arrived in Paris. But stay tuned all, and follow me/us on this amazing experience!