Concerts

Show wish list:

*Jenny Lewis
*The Faint
*Futureheads
*Katy Perry
*Daniel Johnston
*Conor Oberst
*Festival Des Inrock: MGMT, She & Him, CSS, Hot Chip, Black Kids, Cut Copy, etc.
*Lykke Li
*Of Montreal
*Vampire Weekend
* The Dodos!!
*Ratata

& of course lots & lots of lovely local musiq.


Oh, my favorite ladies new song Acid Tounge leaked!!!

Sorbonne

I made it through my first week in Paris! Though I'm not fully adjusted to the time difference (mainly because we've been staying out till 3 every night), I'm feeling comfortable with my surroundings & loving the people i've met so far. On Thursday all the kids that are taking French at Sorbonne had to go down to the school to take our placement test. We all piled into a bus and then were shoved into a charming old classroom to take our exam. Most of the kids were nervous, because they have to place into certain levels for their university, thankfully for me I KNEW I was going to place fairly low;) As soon as the professor walked into the room she started speaking French & continued to through the test. I made it through the first half, then decided to write "I do not speak French" on my exam and turned it in. I am now in beginners French at Sorbonne. Yippee! The school is such a beautiful old building. There are tons of French students around, lots of cafes & book stores. I'm really excited to start class next week. I've been in search for a bike to buy while living here, so I can ride to school. San Francisco bike incident aside I think i'll be fine on a cruiser bike with a basket leisurely riding to school. We also found out the other day that we get to participate in a graduation ceremony once we are through with our Sorbonne program. How nerdy!! They lend us robes and we get to walk as if we were graduating from the school, except we will just receive our French language certificate. I think they are just trying to make the American students feel special. I thought that everyone that signed up through CEA (the program I'm abroad with) was going to Sorbonne, but it turns out only about 20 of us are, so I feel pretty special to be getting to study at such a historic university.

Les Refuge Des Fondu

Before I left for Paris I did my best to get tips from people who had lived or traveled in Paris on all the underground places to go out to. Many of you being the world travelers you are, had such detailed advice to give, down to the metro stop to get off of! While in Paris i've been luck to meet some great people including two guys on the program who speak French beautifully, but also who have lived in paris before. Matt & Lee are keeping me 'hip' to all the off the beaten path palces in Paris. With my new found friend and knowledge Aly, Matt, Noah & I headed over to the Montmartre to eat at a quirky little Fondu Restaurant: Les Refuge Des Fondue. The restaurant is hidden on a tiny little street, at capacity the place probably fits 24 max & there are two rows of family style tables, so in order to get to the seats by the wall you have to step on the table to get to it! The man running the place is a character. He was flirting with all the girls & insists that only women sit along the wall (I'm presuming this is so he can hold your hand to help you over). Once we sat down we were greeted and given our apéritif. Following that you had a choice of meat or cheese Fondu and then they brought you over red or white bottles of wine. We chose cheese & red wine. It was hilarious. I was worried when I was told we would be drinking wine out of baby bottles that I would have a hard time sucking it out, but they had cut bigger holes in the bottle. They wanted to ensure A) that you wouldn't be spilling everywhere B) you were getting very drunk. I think more B than A though. After dinner we walked up the road to the Sacré-Coeur to go see the church. You had to walk up what seemed like a million stairs to get the the church. Aly and I were wearing high heels & definitely had worked off all of our Fondu meal by the time we finally got there. The church was SO beautiful, but the view of the entire city was even more breath taking. There are stairs right in front of the church where everyone comes to sit, drink, eat & more importantly take in the beautiful view. We brought a bottle of wine, which is cheaper than water in Paris & at the local stores they will open for you before you leave the store (although I was told by our program that you kinda look homeless if you drink it out of the bottle, I'm thinking of getting a wine glass to carry around instead!)There was a guy with his guitar and amp set up in front of the steps, who treated everyone to his renditions of REM, Nirvana, The Counting Crows. We all engaged in a Nirvana sing along and passed the wine around. I'm not sure i San Francisco will be the same after this trip;)

j


Pre-passing out in the cab, with his eyes open???

The tables where so close, we think they resorted to serving wine out of bottles to save themselves from the clean up.

All proper french meals start with a apéritif!

out & about

i've made it!

I made it to Paris! Finally after all my talking about it. So far so good. I love my neighborhood. We've already made friends with the local bartender. My room is VERY small, but thankfully my loft mate Ali and I get along really well. I'm loving the dorm life. Since i've always lived in apartments, i'm not use to going out with 15 people at a time and showering together! You have to press the water button in the showers every 30 seconds, so i've been making mine as quick as possible. This entire week has been dedicated to orientation. My dorm has NO storage area, so Ali and I have 4 giant suitcases next to our beds. We will be making a trip to Ikea-pronto! Um, the milk here is warm. No thank you! Lots of cute euro men. Lots of back gasses and leather jackets-yes! Here are some pictures of my first day here. After dinner last night a big group of use bough $2 bottles of wine and walked along the Seine tward the Effile Tower. Only Ali, Matt and I made it. Probably 7 miles. My feet are killing me.







Matt, Ali & Me

4 days & counting!!!

How do big kids learn French?

LA RUE SESAME of course!



and Les Schtroumpfs

Julie Delpy

Two of my favorite french films are Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. I think one of the reasons I am so drawn to them is because they star Julie Delpy. She is  French/American actress, singer and screenwriter and while i'm away I would most like to emulate her. Especially her character in Two days in Paris. Though she is really funny in the film, I would mainly like to wear cool Buddy Holly looking black framed glasses like she does. She makes them look so much cooler than all the hipster kids in the neighborhood
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Although, I would like to be like her I think realistically I will be more like her boyfriend Jack in Two Days in Paris. He is a funny American guys who speaks little to no French and is struggling to get by one mispronounced word at a time. Check it out.