Spoiled in the Seizieme

So, I live in the seizieme (16th) arrondissement here in Paris. Whenever a Parisian hears that you live in the seizieme, you usually get an "ooh la la" or a smirk because the seizieme is known as one of the more affluent parts of town. I'm not particularly sure as to why it's a richer part of town, because it's almost entirely residential and has no touristy stuff or major shopping areas really, but it is. I've never really thought much about living here until Katrina and I ventured up to the dixhuitieme (18th) today to visit the Musee de l'Erotisme (which was very cool...I recommend it...it's right by Moulin Rouge). We started out on Metro line 13, which is one of the nicer ones and goes right by our school. As we got further north, the train got more and more crowded. When we switched to line 2, the train was positively jammed (on our way home, we couldn't even get on the first train because there was absolutely no room whatsoever). The trains on line 2 are old and have lots of graffiti in them. The stations on line 2 were not clean (we thought it was ironic that the station we got off at was called Blanche - white, in French - but was the dirtiest station either of us had ever seen). When we walked around the Blanche station area, which is surrounded by sex shops and strip clubs and has very little along the lines of landscaping or anything (which is odd for Paris), we were both like...we miss the seizieme! We're spoiled! So, I have a new appreciation for the cleanliness of my Metro lines 9 and 10 and the streets around my apartment. I am content being spoiled by living in the seizieme!

Anyways...despite the rougher neighborhood, our afternoon journey was fun! We got to see the Moulin Rouge, which was exciting. It's basically right outside the Metro station. We just took pictures and left, because it costs like 70 euro to see a show there. We went to the Musee de l'Erotisme (museum of erotica), which was sort of a combination of a history and art museum devoted to erotic things. It was very tasteful and interesting to see. The gift shop and shop next door were interesting experiences.

Only one more week in Paris. Crazy, isn't it?

Riley =)

It's Nicer in Nice

What a weekend!

Nice was amazing! After my day of train travel and exploring Monaco, I was exhausted, so my exploration of Nice didn't begin until Saturday morning. I went to a cafe with Alice and Katrina, then made my way down to the beach! The beaches here are interesting...they're rocky, not sandy. It sounds like it would not be fun at all, but it's actually not bad because the rocks are very smooth. The only thing isn't fun is getting in and out of the water if you're not wearing flip flops. As you can see below, I wore flip flops.

The first day at the beach, I got a little sun, but we didn't stay out too late because we all wanted to have a nice dinner to celebrate our vacation. There were 9 of us from IES who all went to Nice together (and all stayed together at the Hotel Baccarat, a hostel by the train station), and we all got dressed up as nice as we could with the clothes we brought and enjoyed a night on the town! After dinner at an incredible Italian place (Nice is only a half hour from Italy), we went down to Old Nice and explored the night market and found an amazing gelato place that has 96 flavors! Yes, 96! Their more unusual flavors include tomato basil, beer, cactus, avocado, and rose. I stuck with cacao, salted caramel, and coffee. We walked along the Promenade des Anglais after that, then returned to the hotel.

The next day, Katrina and I decided to join Lauren and Laura at a private beach. The beach is set up very differently in Nice than how we are used to at home. In Florida, for example, no one owns the beach...everyone can walk along the whole thing and anyone can sit on the beach wherever they want. In Nice, though, there are little plots of beach and it rotates public and private. We went to Opera Plage, where you pay 13 euro for a nice beach chair, parasol, and mat. There are mats on the ground so you don't have to walk on the rocks. There is a cafe and servers who will bring you drinks and food (at an extra charge). There are showers you can use. And, of course, there is the Mediterrnean Sea to swim in, like all the beaches. The private beach experience was WELL worth the 13 euro! I got one drink and some water from the server and it was definitely nice having the chair and mat separating me from the rocks! I got a LOT of sun on that beach.

And, of course, in France there is a certain part of your body that gets sun that generally doesn't in the States. On all of the beaches in Nice, public or private, topless sunbathing is the thing to do. Most of the women are sans bikini tops on the beach. It's cool because it's not a sexual thing at all...no one is ogling the boobs that are out in the open (or if they are, they're discreet about it). People of all shapes and sizes go topless. It doesn't matter if you're fat, skinny, flat, or saggy...chances are, there's someone who is more fat or more flat than you! Everyone wears bikinis here, too...I only saw a handful of people in one pieces.

So, now the question of course is did I participate in sunbathing French style? Of course! I had to get the cultural experience, you know! It was a very liberating experience that I highly recommend to everyone. It makes you feel much more confident about your body and, of course, makes it so there's no awkward tan lines. Here's the closest thing I'm going to provide to photographic proof (and I'm mainly just putting this on here cause my eyes look cool in it)...

After the day of sunbathing, we all had to head back to the train station all hot and sweaty to catch the TGV back to Paris. Unfortunately, though, we ended up getting delayed 2 1/2 hours and didn't get back to Paris until 2:30am! The Metro was closed by then, so we had to stand in line forever with everyone else on the train to get a taxi (my first Paris taxi experience, by the way). By the time I got home at 3:30am, I was exhausted but I had homework to do. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night!

Only 8 days left. It's crazy how time flies!

Riley =)

Walking Across the Country

I walked across a country today. Granted, it was Monaco, so it's not a very big country, but still...how many people can say they walked across an entire country? Right now, I'm sitting in the courtyard at the Hotel Baccarat, the hostel I am staying in with about 8 other girls from IES for the weekend. We left Paris Gare de Lyon this morning at 8:05am (after thinking we were all going to miss the train cause we were all running so late) and arrived in Nice at about 1:30pm. Three other girls and I hopped on another train to Monte Carlo because we all really wanted to see Monaco (and it was only 5 euro for the 20-minute train ride).

Monaco was AMAZING! I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but it definitely surpassed my expectations. It's super hilly, which I didn't know before. We walked from Gare de Monaco to the Prince's Palace, walked through the Grande Appartements and Musee de Napoleon, browsed souvenir shops (they have a TON of Grand Prix stuff, even though that's already over for the year), and then walked all the way to the other side of the country to go to the Monte Carlo casino. We didn't end up gambling because there was a 10 euro cover to go in, but it was still cool to see. We ate dinner at a cafe on the main harbor in Monaco, looking out at all the yachts and everything. I spent too much money on souvenirs, but I figured this is probably the only chance I'll have in my life to come to Monaco, so why not?

We got back to Nice around 8pm (after a short train ride on a Harry Potter-like train with individual cabin/compartment things!) and walked down to the Promenade des Anglais. For those of you who don't know, that's a big, wide avenue that runs along the Mediterranean Sea! We walked down to the beach to feel the water. The water is very, very blue, but the beaches are all rocks, not sand! It's weird, but I am looking forward to a beach day tomorrow! Supposedly, topless sunbathing is the thing to do here, too...we'll see about that haha.

Tonight, we're all tired from all the travel and walking all day, so it's an early night...tomorrow, though, it's a beach day! I can't wait =) I LOVE being back around humidity, summer weather, and salty ocean air!

Riley =)

America Me Manque

Some things I (and other people sitting in the IES library with me) miss...
- Soft cookies
- Air conditioning
- Fresh milk
- People wearing deodorant
- Soft water
- General cleanliness
- No beggars on every street corner
- English
- Driving
- Coffee shops with more than just plain espresso
- TV and movies
- American food
- Clean sidewalks
- Smiling (and polite) people
- Cute boys
- Non-skinny jeans
- People with curves
- Fast food options beyond McDonald's
- Ball State and my people from there
- Non-smoking areas
- Things being open on Sundays
- Food prices
- Clothes dryers
- Thongs and bras
- Tide laundry detergent

Things From France That I Would Like to Take Home...
- Le M
- The convenience of the Metro
- Les Soldes
- Cheap but good wine
- Boulangeries
- Yogurt
- Cacao et Chocolat
- Muji
- Some of their fashion
- Picnics
- Gardens
- Orange Fanta (it's different here) and Orangina
- Bottled water (or beer) with value meals at fast food places
- French
- Macarons
- The Eiffel Tower (minus the creepers and the gypsies)
- Walking everywhere
- Rue Daguerre
- Awesome fresh, organic fruit everywhere

J'ai Mangé Beaucoup!

I thought I would take some time since I'm bored between classes to write about French food. I know I've mentioned it many times before, but now it gets a whole entry dedicated to it.

Today, my lunch was an apple and two waffles. Yes, that's right...two waffles at lunch. No, I wasn't doing the whole "breakfast for lunch" thing. Here, waffles are dessert, not part of breakfast. They have stands all over that sell crepes and waffles. I think they think of waffles as a cross between cake and a cookie...they sell them in variety packs in stores (dipped in chocolate, plain, etc.) or as desserts in restaurants smothered in whipped cream and powdered sugar. Maple syrup is pretty nonexistent here, though, so you never, ever see anyone eating a waffle the American way with butter and syrup. Also, the waffles are usually cold. It was weird eating a cold waffle at first, but now I'm kind of used to it.

Yogurt here is not sweetened. You can buy sweetened yogurt, but most people just buy "natural yogurt," which is just plain yogurt...no sugar or flavoring or anything. The first night my host family served it, my host mom asked if I wanted sugar or honey with my yogurt...she thought I didn't understand her French when I responded that I didn't know. I had to explain to her that we don't eat yogurt like that generally at home. But, now, I've started to love natural yogurt with cassonade (a very, very light brown sugar)...I actually had some with my breakfast this morning!

Coffee, as most people with their French stereotypes in their heads know, is sort of a big deal here. Espresso, especially...they really only drink espresso. However, it's virtually impossible to find a coffee shop other than Starbucks (and there are only like 8-10 Starbucks here...which isn't a lot considering Paris's size and how many we have at home). Most people just drink their espresso at home or after dinner with their dessert. They just drink a tiny, double-shot sized cup of straight espresso. They don't really do all of the fancy coffee drinks that we are obsessed with in the United States. You can usually find a cafe au lait somewhere, but that's about it. Even Starbucks does't even sell that many fancy drinks here...their menu board only lists cafe mochas and caramel macchiatos as the only two "fancy drink" options, and everything else is a variation of espresso (espresso with water, espresso with hot milk, espresso with regular milk, etc.).

French people put sauce on EVERYTHING! And I mean everything...French fries (and I'm not talking about ketchup...they have special "pommes frites sauce"), steak, vegetables, desserts... Seriously, I don't understand how everyone is so thin when they eat like that! Most of the sauces are just like butter sauces that don't even add much flavor. At a restaurant on our field trip to Giverny the other day, everything was drowning in this brown gravy-looking sauce...but it didn't seem to add any flavor at all to it. Every dessert is served with some sort of sauce...tart comes with coulis, ice cream with caramel or chocolate sauce, fresh fruit with yogurt as a sauce. It's funny when my host family asks me to choose the sauce at dinner, because I never have any idea what to choose. Their sauces are also nothing like our salad dressings or usual sauces at home, either.,,no Ranch dressing here (and no French dressing, either, interestingly enough).

Well, I think that's enough food observations for now. I'm sure I'll have more in the future! I'm just full of observations...what can I say?

Riley =)

It's HOT!

So, all of the sudden, it's in the 80s in Paris. Which is something I thought I wanted...but the fact that there is no air conditioning in Paris means that you are sweating and hot ALL the time when it's hot outside! Some of my friends and I are going to try to find a public pool somewhere so we can go swimming this week. We need to cool down!

Today, I went to the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, better known as the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed. It was very emotional. Memories of watching Princess Diana on TV are some of my earliest memories, and I always loved reading about her in my mom's magazines or seeing her on TV. I remember being glued to the TV the day of her funeral. It's incredible how lasting her impact on the world is, though...even today, so many years after she died, people write messages all over the walls of the tunnel about how she will never be forgotten. There are messages in dozens of languages from all over the world. It's incredible to see the impact one person can have.

Since it's Sunday, everything is closed here, so I went grocery shopping yesterday then went to the Eiffel Tower with some friends for a very French, five-hour picnic lunch. I got quite sunburnt, too! We had fun. Some French creeper who was still drunk from the Fete yesterday came over and bugged us...but we've all gotten pretty talented when it comes to getting rid of them. I don't get where the "French guys are hot" stereotype thing comes from...because all of them I've seen have just been creepy (and everyone else agrees with me). I will take American boys over French ones any day.

Riley =)

Fête de la Musique and Giverny

Today is the Fête de la Musique here in Paris. What is that? It's an all-day music festival that goes on all across the city. I wandered around the 16th arrondissement (which is where I live) with my friend Katrina earlier and we walked by a few concerts, but they were ones you had to pay for. Still, it was cool seeing all of the people in their "concert costumes." I hadn't seen people in Paris dressed in punk/goth/whatever clothes at all, but apparently they save it for concerts. We're going to go over to Bastille later because there's supposed to be more going on over there, including a band called Madamoiselle K that Katrina likes. And it's supposed to be free! The Metro runs all night tonight in honor of the Fête de la Musique.

Yesterday, I went to Giverny, which is Claude Monet's old home. It was BEAUTIFUL! I definitely recommend that anyone go there if they ever come to Paris! It's in Normandy, so it's a good hour and a half drive outside of Paris, but it's worth it. The gardens are breathtaking. It was amazing seeing the Japanese gardens and the water lilies that Monet made famous in his paintings. There are literally flowers everywhere at Giverny...growing up the sides of the house, planted in gardens, growing up trellises, covering signs... We ate at a restaurant that had gorgeous gardens out in front of it, too, and had some amazing apple tart.

I'm off to enjoy the music!
Riley =)