I didn’t blog on Sunday because nothing interesting really happened. Plus, I was doing EFY online training until late, so that cut into my blog time. Other than church (which was ward conference and was THREE HOURS of sacrament meeting) and playing croquet in the backyard (can we do that when I get home, family?) it was just another Sunday.
Yesterday, however, was full of excitement!...kind of.
I woke up late and missed breakfast. I was a little bummed. We had to meet people at 11:00am at the Institute building to do a walk, so we had to hurry anyways. I may or may not have grabbed some orange juice before leaving though. J We caught the train a little late due to an accident, so we were late to the Institute building. Luckily, everyone was 20 minutes late so we didn’t miss anything!
The walk was an epic fail. We were supposed to see the oldest clock in Paris, but it’s hidden behind a bunch of covers because it’s under renovation. Then, we were going to try and see the cell where Marie Antoinette awaited her execution/Sainte Chapelle but the lady working the booth was SO INCREDIBLY RUDE. We showed her our art cards/international student ID’s and she kept screaming, “ID!!! ID!!!” as if we were complete idiots and the cards we gave her didn’t count as identification. Then she went on and on about how we needed to pay 7.50 Euros to see anything because we’re, "not students in France." But we are students. It was really frustrating and I wanted to be the “rude American” and say some not so nice things. It’s amazing how one negative experience with a French person makes you not want to talk to anyone else for the rest of the day. So annoying.
After the walk, we were starving so we set off to find food. Luckily, the Latin Quarter was close by! I got an Italian Panini (mozzarella cheese, olive oil, basil, and tomatoes) and it was FABULOUS! And then Mckenna and I decided that since we had a rough morning, we needed gelato. I got vanilla bean, speculoos (a ginger snap-ish flavor), and amaretto (of course!). That stuff is addicting!!!! I’ll definitely miss it.
We’re running out of ideas of things to do in Paris, so it took us awhile to decide what to do after lunch. After being here for more than 3 weeks, everything on my to do list is pretty much crossed off! The group discussed what they wanted to do and we couldn’t agree, so we split up. Mckenna, Kole, and I decided to go to the church in St. Denis (where all of the kings and queens of France are buried), and Amy, Sarah, and Lacey went shopping. I have no debit card yet (thanks to the dang bank), so spending money isn’t really an option.
The three of us got on the line 4 and took it to Les Halles to catch the RER D to St. Denis. Paul had been and said the church was in a nice little town north of Paris. WRONG. It was totally ghetto! We stood out like crazy but made it to the church safely. The stained glass was gorgeous and the crypt was really cool! I learned about all of the kings up to 1715 in my French class last semester, so it was neat to see the names and know about them beforehand.
Awesome stained glass reflections
Louis XVII...this kid had it rough. Oh and that jar on the bottom? Yeah, that's definitely his HEART.
My favorite French king! Louis XIV!
After our adventure in the ghetto, we made our way back to the Latin Quarter. Kole (Mckenna's friend who's studying in Spain), is only in Paris until tomorrow and he hadn’t had any pastries yet, so we needed to fix that. He got a raspberry macaron (it looked AMAZING! I’m definitely practicing making them when I get home) and Mckenna and I got strawberry millefeuilles. I wasn’t in the mood to stay in the city and eat it, so I got mine to go and came home to Croissy.
While I was on the RER and walking home, I discovered something - a song that makes me super happy. Seriously, it’s the PERFECT song for walking home in the sunshine. The weather was beautiful, there was a slight breeze, and the sun was shining perfectly. A construction worker on the side of the road saw that I was in the music lovin’ zone and smiled at me too. Definitely a first from a French person! I couldn’t help but smile back and walk a little slower to enjoy the walk and soak in the music. Listen here if you’re curious. J Definitely recommend!
No one was home when I got back from the city, so I went in my room and did some homework. After finishing my blog post for culture class, I saw my little pastry box sitting there staring at me. Seeing as I’d never had a millefeuille, I thought it’d be fun to take pictures of myself eating it. I put my camera on self-timer to take multiple shots and this is what I got:
Not long after eating my millefeuille, Madame called me into the hallway. She got a note from Fed Ex in the mailbox saying that they tried to deliver my debit card, but no one was home. She asked if I wanted to call the number on the paper to find out how to get it. If you know me, you know that 1) I’m terrified of calling people on the phone and 2) refer to 1. She got the home phone for me and I dialed. Thank goodness it was a machine! It asked if I wanted to hear commands in French or English and I pressed English. After a few menus and buttons to press, it put me through to a person. And guess what. He started talking to me in French! I must have looked really confused because Madame kept asking me what was wrong. I did my best to talk to the guy in French and tell him my problem, but I must have sounded like an idiot because he switched to English midway through. Embarrassing? You betcha. They’re supposed to deliver my card sometime tomorrow, so hopefully it’s before I go to school!
After a long day of walking, talking, and millefeuille-ing, I decided to take a nap. It was divine! The only problem is that I was so tired, I slept through my alarm and slept for 3 hours. Oops! Slept through breakfast AND dinner in one day. Hopefully I’ll do better with that tomorrow.
Well that’s all I’ve got for today! Tomorrow is my first day of class with Dr. Hudson, so we’ll see how different it is with him teaching. I had him last semester for French 361 and he was great! Hopefully that applies here in Paris too. Until tomorrow!
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