(Translation: A week in Spain!)
The adventure began early in on a sunny Sunday, January 16th, 2011 to be specific. I was up at the ungodly hour of 7:30 to shower, pack and fetch a pain au chocolat breakfast from the boulangerie before heading to the metro. Our friendly neighbourhood Ryanair, which is much loved for its ridiculous cheap tickets, only flies out of Paris-Beauvais. To get to Beauvais however, you must first take a shuttle that leaves from the edge of Paris and travel for over an hour to finally arrive at the airport. It really shouldnt even be associated with Paris, its so far out. Anyways, you have to catch this shuttle 3 1/2 hours before your flight, and the shuttles are coordinated by flight so if you miss one you are in a tight spot. Based on this, it was mildly concerning that I found out while en route that the metro line 1 to Porte de Maillot/Beauvais Shuttle is closed until 10am on Sundays. Considering I had planned to be there before 10, I had to adjust my route mid flight and took the RER instead. The crew, of David, Annie and Lauren, all arrived just after 10 and we just made our shuttle that departed at 10:15. Close call, but no sweat. The airport, or should I say rickety metal shack that is Beauvais, provided no further problems, except selling these soggy pieces of bread that were supposed to pass as sandwiches. They were pretty rank, but c'est la vie. We departed on time just before 2 and we were on our way!
The flight itself went by quickly, thanks to fact I became immersed in my new novel, The Time Traveller's Wife, which I had picked up earlier that week at Shakespeare and Co. Before I knew it we were landing in Sevilla! We walked off the plane to sunny skies and warmth, no jacket required. Now this is what I was talking about! Next challenge: find the hostel. With the help of a white haired Spanish man with the most awesome, distracting moustache ever and David's spanish skills, we finally made it by about 5. We dropped our stuff and headed out into the pedestrian boulevard a block away from our hostel - Avenida de Hercules. We started it off with some tea, which was refreshingly less than 2 euros, rather than the standard 4 across the board that is Paris. I knew I was going to like this place. Annie and David were also raving about the olives. I am not a lover of olives, but I think it is a strong testament to how great they were by the fact that over the 3 days those two consumed 1.5kg of olives! Ridiculous.
After our coffee break, we decided to take a bit of a walk of the town. It got a little bit chillier at night so we had to don jackets, but it didn't diminish our great first impressions of our walk to downtown seville (about 15min from the hostel) and then back along the river. The lights on the water were amazing, and I was bubbly with excitement. Why, they even have the Sevilla version of the Velib! That means this must be a cool city. We stopped and had a beer on our way back. 1.5 euro for a half pint? I'll take that :) It was about 10, so an acceptable time by Spanish standards to eat dinner. I then got to enjoy my first real Tapas dinner spanish style. It was great, the fact that you can sample so many things for only a few dollars is such a great idea. The big hits of the first night were the ratatouille and a potato dish, and quite possibly the best mojito I have ever had. Afterwards, we just headed back to the hostel to crash, being pretty tired from the previous night's farewell party and the day's travels. We even payed tribute to Corina, our trip organizer who received tickets to Vancouver for Christmas and bailed on Spain. We vowed to have extra fun in her honour. Best to be rested for the days that lie ahead!
Monday:
So much for rested. Our hostel, which was a pretty legit place, had the unfortunate timing of having construction on the street outside, and renovations going on inside the building. These joyous activites became at about 9am. Not much sleep was happening after that, so we were forced to rise at that respectable hour and shower etc before going in search of breakfast. Stoked about the previous day's great weather, I put on a dress and stockings and headed out. No sooner had we finished a few baked goods and fruit though we were back at the hostel to put on pants! That first morning was a downright chilly and foggy. Not what we were looking for but oh well. We decided to head across the river to Triana. The part we were walking through was really weird. There were all of these Olympic buildings that looked like they had been built in the 90s and were now rundown and overgrown. (Apparently the facilities were made in an effort to get the Games, but they still haven't succeeded). There is no way to describe the sense of desolation other than Urban Wasteland. Not a pretty site, but kindof funny at the same time. Thankfully as we headed back across the river, the sun gods recognized our good choice of going back to Seville and came out and boy did it warm up! We walked through the shopping district, and I was seduced by Zara, which was so much cheaper than the stores in Paris. I picked up a pair of walking shoes since my keds now have holes in the soles from fall walking, before we headed for some tapas lunch on a boardwalk patio. Things were definitely going uphill, and Annie and I enjoyed some of the best shrimp I have ever had, accompanied by a melted cheese and raspberry sauce dip. Now that was much more like it!
After lunch the group agreed that it would be good to go on the local free walking tour. I had been on one in Amsterdam, and it was one of the highlights of that trip. Not only is it a great way to see all the major attractions of the city and get oriented, but you also get to learn the history, context, evolution and fun facts that come along with those landmarks. I find them both fun and educational (wow I can't believe I just wrote that.) Anyways, we joined the tour at 3:30 and for the next three hours, walked all through the city. Seville was of great importance in the Spanish empire, being the first stop from ships travelling back from the Americas. It was very rich because of this, and gold is everywhere in the old buildings. It also has a unique mix of architecture because of the muslim occupation, large jewish population, and the reconquering of the region by the Catholic King and Queen Fernidinand and Isabella. There were lots of really cool neighbourhoods and streets. I love how so many of the buildings are while, yellow and pink, so vibrant. It really characterizes the life of both Seville and I think Spain. We went by the new Palace of Spain, which is incredible, and one of Europe's most expensive hotels, Alfonso XIII. Our guide was kindof eccentric, but a cool guy. Another funny thing was we happened to bump into Ai, whom Annie and I went to Marseille with, on the tour! She was travelling solo through Spain and then onto Morroco, having finished her term in Paris. Small world.
After the three and half hours were up, the crew was pooped. We trudged home, making a quick stop at the Dia (grocery store), to pick up some dinner snacks. I was pretty tired and lounged in bed reading for a while, but David and Annie roused me by challenging my competitive card sharp nature and I rallied. We enjoyed a few rounds for a while before getting changed before trying our night at the Sevilla nightlife. At our first stop at a bar across the way, we tried to come up with a nickname for Annie for the trip. I was Liberated Lauren, and I was accompanied by Debonair David. We were stumped in our name hunt. Our creativity hit a real low point when someone suggested Asparagus Annie. We decided to put the name game on the back burner for the time being and after the suggestion of our bartender, went over to this club called Jackson (the j is pronounced like a y). It was weird. There were pictures on the wall of a group of men discovering that their woman was a transvestite, and a plunger on the wall. Weird I tell you. It was dead empty when we first arrived at about 1, and then a huge group of strange men came in and befriended our group and wanted to take pictures with us. We decided pretty quickly we should see what else was happening around town and bounced. It was only 1am after all, very early by Spanish standards. We then went on the most epic walk for over 45min trying to find somewhere else, ended up somewhere in Triana before hailing a cab which was only 5euros between the 3 of us. Score. We didn't feel like quitting yet though, so we went back to Jackson. Thankfully our 'friends' weren't there, but it was still pretty sparse. We finally called it a night at 3 and walked back across the avenida to our hostel. Bed never felt so good. Bit of a fail on the nightlife factor Sevilla. On a monday too. Jeez.
Tuesday:
Darn construction at 8am was definitely not appreciated. I finally struggled out of bed at 9 am showered. David and I then headed up to Dia to get some breakfast supplies, and then Annie gracefully prepared a delicious scrambled eggs with cheese and peppers brunch complete with almonds, bread, juice and yogurt. It was gourmet, and it the spot. After clean up and a quick reading sesh in bed, we hit the road and were greeted by glorious sunshine and warm air! Finally! Tuesday was already a huge hit. We decided to investigate a bit more closely some of the cooler things we had seen on our walking tour the previous day.
Stop 1: The Cathedral.
The largest Catholic cathedral in Spain and the third largest in Europe (after St. Peter's in the Vatican and St. Paul's in Rome), the Cathedral of Sevilla is massive, and sections are over 900 years old. It is really interesting because the one half is the remnants of the muslim basilica that survived two earthquakes. This side was deemed holy, and so rather than demolish it, the Catholics decided to incorporate it into their new monster. Even from the outside, you can see the switch in architecture from Moorish to Gothic. The gothic section however, is the most impressive thing I have ever seen. I can't even begin to describe the interior, other than everything was laden in gold, and altogether incredible. Religiosity is impressive. After touring the main building, we went up the bell tower, la Giralda. At one point, it was the tallest building in the world, and in Sevilla, nothing is allowed to be taller than it. The walk up to the top was a bit of a doozy, but worth it. Interestingly, there are no stairs in the tower, just ramps, this way a horse could take the bellringer up and down 4 times a day rather than having him walk. Pretty lazy if you ask me but being that I hate stairs, I was a huge fan of the ramp process. The view from the top of the building is also incredible. You see all over the city in all directions. It was quite marvelous. I especially liked how many rooftop terraces have swimming pools on them for the summer time, when it can get up to 40 degrees.
Stop 2: The Alcazar Royal Gardens and Palace.
After our tour of the Cathedral, we walked aross the Main Square to the Muslim Royal Palace Alcazar. You could really not ask for a greater contrast in architecture and decor than the gothic interior of the Catheral. All of a sudden you are surrounded by cool tiling on the floors, walls and ceilings, with many different patterns and colour schemes of blue, green, pink, yellow... all sorts. It was so expansive, and incredible. The palace also leads onto the most amazing gardens, with ponds, forests, parks, palm trees, ducks, peacocks and even a real live maze. Of course, like all of Seville, there was an abundance of Orange Trees. We'd been told they are bitter sour oranges not good for eating, and are mainly there for added foliage. Apparently all the oranges get harvested in March and sent off for marmalade. While resting, we finally sampled on, and confirmed that while very tart, also very juicy. I would have to say the gardens were probably my favorite part of Seville.
Stop 3: The Palacio del Toro.
That's right - next stop: The bull fighting ring. En route, I got another magnet for the collection, and a print of a flamenco dancer. We got to go on a guided tour of the Seville ring, which is apparently very prestigious, and see both the ring and all the rooms inside, a part of which has been turned into a museum. The costumes are brilliant, and no one had died at this particular ring until 1912, over 100 years after it was open. Not a bad record. Also learned that three fighters take on 4 bulls per match, and vy for accolades in style. All the bulls must be killed everytime. It was interesting to take in this unique aspect of Spanish culture, however, I don't think I would enjoy watching a live match. The run March through October.
Tuesday was definitely becoming the best day of the Seville portion. By this time it was 6, and we decided to try and get a bit of food before going to the contemporary art museum, or CAAC. Unfortunately, Seville really lives up to its gastronomic timetable and it is pretty much impossible to find a meal between 5 and 8. Kindof annoying of you're not on that eating timetable. After searching for food for awhile, we bailed on the CAAC and just headed back home to have some snacks at the room and chill, as we were all pretty weary from our big day. Being a tourist is pretty tiring. Tough life I know. Back at the hostel I read a bit and then we had some dinner at this small eatery down the road at around 9 that looked good, and lived up to expectation, Casa Paco. Got to sample some yummy cheese, a potato dish and these delicious honey-bacon wrapped dates. Heavenly.
After dinner, we followed the suggestion of our hostel clerk and trekked up to the north of the city to see a free Flamenco show. We arrived early and scored on some free bubbly, a birthday party was finishing up and birthday man was letting the drinks flow freely. We took our seats and watched an interesting traditional singing performance before the dancing began. The feet movement, and arms are so strong and empowering. I was also stumped as to the gender of our dancer, which made it even more entertaining. It was really nice to sit in a clearly very local performance, and appreciate the culture as they do. Intermission came at about 11:30, and all exhausted, we decided to head for home since it would be an early morning for all.
Looking back, Seville was the cultural side of Spain that I had wanted to see, and was very pleased with. Tuesday was the highlight, delivering good weather and awesome touristing. But I was excited for Malaga and its bill as the warmest winters in Europe, and see what it had in store to compliment the Seville portion.
Wednesday:
Annie got up early and peaced, as she was heading back to Paris to meet some Aussie friends who were staying with her. David and I, however, were now heading onto Malaga for another few days of Spanish adventuring. After breakfast we successfully navigated our way back to the train station and procurred our tickets and without any problems boarded our train just after 11. David and I were in different compartments, so I got to dive back into the Time Traveller's wife again. It is really good, if you like a good romance that is, which I do. I'm a big softie like that. I was constantly distracted from my reading however to look out the window. Train riding is such a great way to see the countryside. It was gloriously sunny day, and we sped past green field, endless olive groves and rolling hills. It was beautiful. I'm really glad we decided to move on just so we could take in this train ride. David came up and visited, but it didn't last long as I got pretty drowsy and dozed off. I woke about 30min late and we were surrounded by mountains! It was beautiful, an incredible transition. Landscapes have such a calming and joyous effect on my spirit.
We arrived in Malaga at about 2, and negotiated the bus route to our hostel without much trouble, minus a close call with a pickpocket who tried to get into my purse, but I caught him as he was going for the zipper. It was my first brush with theft in Europe, and it that's the only one, I will be very thankful. It was still a bit unnerving though. I quickly shook it off and David and I presented ourselves to Picasso's corner and dropped our stuff off in our blissfully quiet private room. We got some directions for lunch spots from the extremely helpful and friendly guy at the front desk and ventured off. 5 min later we were walking down a street lined with cheap and good food restaurants. Now this was more like. Malaga had beaten the food difficulties of Seville instantly! We enjoyed glasses of wine on the pedestrian street. I also got to sample paella, a traditional safron risotto with seafood and chicken. Very very yummy. After lunch, we walked around the heart of downtown, and discovered it was a pretty small place, but really nice, before heading to the Picasso Museum. Malaga was his hometown until 19 years of age. It is also the hometown of Antonio Banderas! But back to Picasso. The building was quiet and this museum didn't provide too much background on him, but it did present the works in interesting thematic and periodic ways. I have to say, for all his fame, Picasso, and this whole cubism thing, doesn't really do it for me. But I felt visiting the museum was part of my cultural duty. There was also a cool, if a bit dry, temporary exhibit on children's toys and art. The best part of the whole place however, was in the basement. There, you can see the old walls of the historic city, and you can see how the city has just been built on top of for centuries. These walls dated back to the 6th century!
After exiting, David and I decided it was beach time, despite the fact it was about 5 and daylight was waning. We walked along the park lined boulevard towards the port and then to the beach. I had another one of those ahhh water moments. The sounds of the waves is so soothing, and the fresh air always invigorates. We took off our shoes, played on a tire swing zip line and just walked along the beach as the sun went down. I love sand between my toes, and dipping them in the water. Thank you Meditarranean. It was awesome.
We walked back to the hostel and got a bit lost along the way. This was good though, because we ended up getting some Churros at a small cafe, a traditional deep fried dessert covered in sugar. Yet another part of the Spanish checklist completed. Back at basecamp, we checked emails, read etc and then went and sat at the bar of the hostel. Mad props on Picasso's corner for the awesome lounge area and bar. Euro glasses of amazing sangria and for only 5 euros, daily dinner! I went for it and enjoyed the delicious chili con carne with homemade guac and tortilla chips. Very delicious. We sat chatting with a middle aged woman from England/New Zealand named Rita, for a bit. After we met a Canadian and an American. The American, whose name escapes me, was going to work on a horse ranch in the south for four months. The Canadian, Rob, is from Markham and actually goes to Queens (commerce) and is in Europe doing a semester in Vienna. He was travelling around Spain and the south of France solo for two weeks before classes started. I really liked this aspect of meeting other people at the hostel and hanging out. Really cool vibes. David, Rob and I then went out for a beer across the square. It was so much fun having someone to talk about home, and Kingston with. We called it a night around one.
Thursday:
Free breakfast of toast, tea, juice etc was served until 10, so David and I got up and took advantage of that, and complemented with our own almonds and clementines. After getting dressed, we invited Rob to join us on a tour of the old castle that is up in a huge hill close to the sea. Highlight of the trip! As we walked along the escarpment walls, which were built to the contours of the hill, and explored the inner portions of Alcazaba, I was blown away. It only got better though as we walked further onward and upward to the Gibralgaro. On one side, stunning views of the Meditarranean and the coast line, on the other, majestic hills and the city spreading out behind you. Add in about 20 degree weather and bluebird skies and I was the happiest camper ever. All the climbing up was rewarded, and then some. Most of the buildings date back to the 11th century, in Arab times. At that point, the sea reached the lower wall of palace, which are no longer in existance. This is the kind of sightseeing a I love. Sorry museums.
We were all riding a bit of a high as we pit-stopped at the hostel around 1 so I could grab my book and sandals. We grabbed doner pitas for lunch and then headed for an afternoon at the beach. This was turning into an amazing day. Sandals off, sand sun, skirts and tshirt, it was pretty fantastic. The only downer was me getting lost in though while walking right along the edge of the water and not noticing my camera fall out of my sweater pocket while it was tied to my purse. I noticed when we reached the breaker rocks, and after a brief panicked search, found it about 50m back. In the water. Damn. I pushed it from my head, not wanting my annoyance at myself and sadness ruin this perfect afternoon, and dove into my book. Reading on rocks to sound of the waves hitting them? Yes please - now this is vacation. We stayed for about an hour, and then headed back to the hostel around 4. I showered, and then went up to the rooftop terrace to read in the hammock. This was the life.
As the sun went behind the rooftops and it cooled down, I retreated inside and Rob and I went for a walk to try and check out the main Church. Unfortunately you had to pay 5 euros, and it was under construction, so we decided to pass on it and check out a different one, Santa Maria, a little bit farther away. Spanish churches are kindof funny because the religious figures in the scenes depicted in the alcoves are always crying, as if in anguish of the sins of the people. I hadn't noticed this in French churches. It was interesting. I also picked up magnet number 2 from Spain, and a funny postcard of three matadors to send to Vince. We bumped into David just as we finished buying our souvenirs and walked over to this tea shop that the hostel had recommended, El Harem. It was down a small back street, clearly a locals spot. It had a very middle eastern feel, with low tables and cushions on the floors. The menu featured over a hundred different flavours of tea, I went with one that was a green tea with white chocolate and I can't remember what else. It was very nice. We sipped our tea and chatted before heading out for dinner, to a recommended restaurant, Pepa y Pepe. It was pretty good, and I got to enjoy lots of seafood, including shrimp and calamari, alogn with those delicious bacon wrapped dates. I am going to miss tapas, that is for sure. En the way home, we hit stopped for churros again, and this time we got to dip them in chocolate. Sinful I tell you. I love food. It was quiet night back at the hostel lounge, with a bit of sangria and cards before calling it a night at 1. It was another great day, and David and I had accomplished all of goals for the trip: Sangria, tapas, paella, churros, beach, sandals, Picasso, hike.
Malaga was a nice balance to Seville. While Seville was really great, with the buildings, Malaga definitely was just so perfect in the abundance of food, cheap wine and sangria, the hike, the beach and most importantly, relaxing. Often vacations leave you more tired than when you arrived, which is both good and bad. This trip had a perfect balance of sitting back and escaping the hustle and bustle of Paris, while also giving a great look at another European country, and made me appreciate the diversity of this continent.
Friday: Breakfasted and checked out of the hostel in good time to catch our bus out to the airport. We arrived good time, and went through security at a leisurely pace, and I enjoyed a salad lunch and made some blog notes while David perused the duty-free olive oils. I strolled up to our gate to board a bit in advance, thinking to myself that this was the most relaxed airport experience ever. Think again. The attendent is about to let me through when she realizes I hadn't had my visa section stamped. I had completely forgotten, since I hadn't had to go through check-in since I had my printed my ticket myself to save 40euros and didn't have to check any baggages. David hadn't had to worry since though American, he has a Swiss passport. The hadn't caught it at security. So now I had about 20min to run with my bags to the farthest terminal to get my ticket stamped and get back through security. You better believe I ran. I made it with 3 min to spare, sweating profusely. Lesson in travel number 5: always read the fine print on your tickets. Fortunately my careless error hadn't had negative consequences, and I got on the plane and the rest of the 3 hour flight went by uneventfully, where I finished my book :) and penned notes for this post. (Sorry its so late going up, I have no excuses, I just couldn't get myself into the blog writing mood.)
Hasta luego Espana! It was great making your acquaintance and I hope to visit you again someday :)
P.S. You now know what has happened to my camera, hence the lack of pictures in this post as well. I got home and charged it and it has passed on. Big bummer. I have ordered a new memory capturer, which should be arriving any day. Once that happens, Iwill be able to put in my memory card from my old camera and finally load them. So pictures to follow! xx
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Exam Season
Normally exam season spells long days filled with books, libraries, cafes and endless dates, facts and memorization. Now I normally find exam season not too bad because at least you don't have to go to class with all the hard work on the horizon. Exam season at Sciences Po, however, was however, even more pleasant than any other I have ever experienced. After a few fun days back in Paris over New Years, we then get into the two week exam period at school. Personally, I think its stupid to have such a long break between end of classes and exams, especially since Christmas is in here. But thanks to the fact that I only had two exams to write, it actually made the time fly by quite relatively enjoyably and lent itself to doing some sightseeing and socializing. Here's how those two weeks went down.
Monday January 3rd:
The first official day of exam break. Since arriving back in Europe and because of late nights, my sleep schedule is terribly out of whack. I, who normally wakes up consistently between 9:30 and 10:30, was sleeping until 1. I really dislike doing this since it makes me feel like so much of the day is wasted needlessly. But then again, if I was sleeping naturally until that time, it was evident I needed the sleep. Anyways, so I slept late on Monday, but once I got up I resolved to start the season off right by getting right into work. I never do this, but for this upcoming exam, French Politics and Society on Saturday, I decided to type up all of my notes. It was quite the chore. But anyways, I was feeling very pleased with myself that I had gotten down to business and was making good headway. Once I get going, I normally feel all pumped about how great I am and try and keep the vibe alive. I took a study break to go for a run and then spent some time organizing a get together later that night to watch the Canada-US World Juniors game, playing at 1:30am. It was supposed to be playing at The Great Canadian Bar by St Michel, but failing that they might close early, I confirmed it would be on at The Highlander, an Irish pub just down the street. I did some more studying before heading to Annie's and then the bar. We were there early, and it was great to catch up with Glenn, Marina and a friend of her's, in addition to Annie and myself. Around 12:30, the Great Canadian told up since pretty much no one was there, they were closing shop and we should head to the Highlander. No sweat. We walked over, and I confirmed with the manager that the game was playing. We took our seats and waited. At game time though, disaster struck. Apparently, they couldn't find the game on any of their channels! I was pretty crushed, and annoyed since I had spent some time all afternoon calling around and confirming this. Oh well. I stayed another half hour and then velibed home and caught the last half of the game of tsn live. Nicely done boys. 4-1 win!
Tues. Jan 4th:
Since the game ended at around 3:30 am, I once again continued my annoying streak of sleeping in much too late. Darn. The rest of the day was restless and unproductive. It was kindof a fail at life actually. It was dreary weather outside, and having champed my review the previous day, I was feeling no motivation to continue so soon with my notes. So much How I Met Your Mother was watched, solo, and later with Etienne. Later that night I also got to chat with Ally for the first time in forever which greatly cheered me and I went to bed resolving to step up my game the next day.
Wed. Jan 5th:
Step it up I did. I got up a little bit earlier than the previous days and polished off the remaining notes to be typed. Went on a fabulous run on my route up around the Eiffel Tower. Later that night, I went to Caveau des Oubliettes in the Latin Quarter to take in some jazz with Glenn, Corina, Shaun and Jordana. In the end we just sat upstairs and had some drinks and chatted. One thing I really got out of the conversation was Shaun and Jordana's stories of making the most out of the visit, and everyday of the week. Sometimes when I know I am here for the whole year, I'm not as active in doing this all the time, but I really should. Tuesday was an example. I need to get out of my routines and comfort sone and try new places. I have resolved to put a museum, or exhibition or something on my list to visit every single week. I took the last metro home and got back in time to stream the gold medal game of World Juniors. I ended up passing out after the first two perios, sure that our 3-0 lead was untouchable. For those who watched we all know what happened...
Thurs. Jan 6th: That's right, I awoke to the news on facebook and tsn of our self-destruct in the 3rd to lose 4-3. Big downer. Of well. I get ready and decided to put my previous night's resolution into action and velibed up to the Musee Rodin by Invalides. I even got to use my Europeen residency card for free entry! It was an overcast afternoon with traces of rain, but it was so calming and soothing. The museum itself is housed in an awesome old mansion in the 7th and there are hundreds of Rodin's sculptures. It was a really cool museum. My favorite was a sculpture by Claudel, the Waltz. Gorgeous. It also showed how sculptures are made which was pretty cool. As I wandered by myself through the rooms, I was also impressed by the large number of art students huddled on small stools and chair by the windows, sketching the works. It really added to the atmosphere. I also visited the gardens, which are exceptional, and I definitely plan on returning in the spring when they are all in bloom. Finally, I also quickly went through a expo on Henry Moore, a British sculptor. It was both weird and cool, an artist who challenged the conventional forms of beauty. Afterwards, I velibed back home, showered, and got ready to go out. I had decided to go to my first Afterwork Party at Club Romeo. They are organized by this group of students, the majority from Quebec/Montreal, at Sc Po who call themselves les Veterans, and they are basically just a social club. Anyways, they have this weekly thursday night soirees at various clubs where from 7-9, you pay 15euro for all you can drink mojitos and all you can eat sushi. Then after 9 the dance floor gets started and you're home by 12. Makes for a good night. It was a lot of fun dancing with Eva, Corina, Annie and some friends of hers, Shaun and Glenn. The other nice thing is that there were a lot of French people there, coming from work to unleash for a little while. Resolution for Paris term 2 #2: get out to places where more French people go rather than always rolling with internationals.
Fri. Jan 7th:
My sleep schedule is getting better little by little, and after showering, I headed over to Daniel's for some pre-exam studying/brainstorming and also enjoyed a lovely cup of tea with he and his roommate Damien. I came back feeling ok, but decided I needed to log a bit more intense review, and did so before heading up to Glenn's for a final party at his, Werewolf Bar Mitzvah (its a song). I stayed for a couple of glasses of wine and left just as things were starting to get funny at 12:30 to go to bed at a reasonable hour since the next day was the exam.
Sat. Jan 8th:
Up, painfully early at 8 (especially after my week of sleep-ins) and off I went to the exam for 10. I think it went very well. The previous day, Daniel and I had pretty much guessed what the essay topic would be and had drafted a plan and problematique for the question. So basically the exam was just putting the plan into essay form. Skill. I time managed well and finished with about a minute to spare. I came out in the best mood ever and decided to velib home to burn off some energy. I relaxed for a bit in the afternoon before going for out on a new exploratory run route that took me along some sidestreets across the 15th and over the the Seine. It is much quieter and totally not touristy down at that end, and I enjoyed some new tunes I had just downloaded. I cut back towards home by the Eiffel Tower and ran through Champs de Mars and home in a tank top since it was so mild out. So sweet. The night didn't produce any exciting plans since all of my friends were pretty beat from the previous night so I just ended up staying in and watching Erin Brockovich for the first time. Really good film.
Sun. Jan 9th:
Got up and organized life a bit before velibing up to Pasteur and meeting Jordana. We then took a metro up to Glenn's and rendezvoused with Glenn, David, Tom and Shaun and went up to Marche aux Puces at Clignancourt. The market up there is so sweet, albeit overwhelming. You can see new things everytime you go. On this trip, we also met up with Annie and her visiting Aussie friends and stayed for about two hours before heading home cold and hungry. I didn't come home empty handed though, having received two awesome 192os style fashion poster which Annie gave me as a Christmas Present, as well as an awesome old key that I'm going to put on a chain and wear as a necklace. I was home for a bit and then headed back towards the center of town to meet Annie, her friends Steph and Mary, and Maia for a lovely girls night at this restaurant Anthracite, which has an awesome vibe. Annie had taken advantage of this site called La Fourchette (the fork) to make the reservation, and so we got 50% off our whole meal! It meant us students could take in an awesome veal dinner with appetizers and desserts for a very reasonable price. I am definitely going to remember the site in the future. They chefs in Paris really know their stuff, and its sinful. After dinner, we rolled by David's who lives just around the corner in Le Marais for a glass of wine before rocking the last metro at 12:30.
Mon. Jan 10th:
Week two of exam season begins! With the next exam, Ethics of War, not until Saturday afternoon, the pressure to study was far away and I when I awoke (back at my normal time) I headed straight for the door before breakfast and went for a run. After I showered and wolfed down lunch I velibed up to Hotel de Ville to meet Ayumi for coffee. Ended up having the most satisfying smoothy from Columbus Cafe, overlooking the small side street. Will definitely have to keep the place it in mind for coffeeshop studying, its perfect. We had a great chat for a couple of hours, resolving to keep the term one kids united. We walked across the river and split up as I headed to check out Shakespeare & Company. It is an old bookshop which has been in Paris for centuries, one of only two places in the city that only sells English-language books. It was the first publisher of James Joyce's masterpeice Ulysses. It has relocated right to Seine since WWII, and it is floor to ceiling books, crammed everywhere. Essentially it is awesome. After browsing the shelves for 20min and taking in to ambience, I bought The Time Traveller's Wife, a book I have been meaning to read for awhile, for my upcoming Spanish vacation. After I exited, I strolled the streets for a little while before heading home. I ended up going out for dinner with Etienne and his mother Gaelle. It was soo good. Two nice dinners out in a row - I am spoiled! Back at home, I watched an episode of Glee and went to bed early.
Tues. Jan 11th:
The morning was leisurely (a nice way of saying slow), and I tidied etc. By the middle of the afternoon I headed up to Sciences Po to study, since I was having a hard time motivating myself at home. I went through all my notes, bumped into Maia and chatted with her, and picked up my paper from Ethics. I went home briefly for the fastest dinner making of life and then headed back to school to Le Basile where I met Josh and Corina for drinks. Joao was also supposed to come, but bailed at the last minute. I hadn't seen Josh since the Christmas dinner, so it was great to catch up. He was the first person I talked to in the Madeleine group on the first real day of the Welcome Programme, and so it was sad to have our last goodbye, as he's heading back U of Florida next week. So begins the farewells that are going to be coming fast and furious. But I'm trying to be optimistic about it and with the wonders of facebook and travelling, I hope that I get to see all these people that have made term one so amazing again soon.
Wed. Jan 12th:
I got up and got ready first thing in the morning and headed to Rue de Rivoli to take in the soldes de Paris. Soldes = sales! In France, sales in retailers are regulated, so all the stores have sales all at the same time, twice a year for a few weeks. Amazing and overwhelming all at the same time. Wednesday was the first day, and I arrived on one of the big shopping boulevards at around 11. Mission: some shoes. My black boots have a bit of a hole in them which is less than ideal in wet and cold weather. Two hours later I walked away tired but thrilled with black ankle boots with a very small heel, dark grey French style shoes (mid-height heel and lace up), a grey midweight coat, a pale pink sweater dress, a cream coloured shirt and a jersey blue longsleeve all for one hundred dollars! I justify it that it was the boxing day I never got. Now to just show restraint for the rest of sale season...I decided to head home before I got any more carried away. I had lunch and went for a run in the afternoon along the perimeter of the city. Afterwards I got ready to go out for dinner with the dutch group for Timon's Last Supper. We went to La Cave de Jojo up in Montmartre. I have been in that neighbourhood only sparringly, but after walking around there tonight, I am resolving to get lost up there some afternoon. Its amazing, and on a huge hill, so good to stretch the legs. It was a nice dinner, with a great turn out, 10 of us in all. Afterwards, Timon, Boudewijn, Lisbeth Sophie and I went to a bar, Aux Rendezvous des Amis to continue the celebrating. The bar itself is cool, with pictures of patrons all over the walls. It was also the first time in Paris that I have been somewhere that serves beer in pitchers! Yureka! It was great night of 'never have I ever', the most fun I've ever had playing that game, and it made me even sadder when the bar kicked us out just after 2. All of those great people are all heading back to Holland. Too many goodbyes. I then requested that as a final goodbye gift, Timon would bike me across the river. It was wonderful. Boudewijn and Lisbeth velibed along, and we rushed down Montmartre, through the 2nd, past Concorde and Grand Palais and across the river by the Eiffel Tower and Invalides. Timon, always the gentleman, even took me right to my door, and we finally got to chat just the two of us for the first time since Christmas. It was really great, and really hard to say goodbye. But hopefully we will see each other again this term as there are plans for the group to reunite in Paris in the spring.
Thurs. Jan 13th:
I got down to some study notes on Thursday until about 2 when I headed across the river by velib to meet Maia and go the Musee Marmottan Monet. I have been really pumped to be biking so much this term. In the case of going to the 16th, it is actually so much faster than taking the metro. We met up and walked by a lovely park on our way to the museum. It is devoted exclusively to Monet, and has a wide variety of his works, from sketches, caricatures, to landscape and of course, his famous paintings in Giverny. Maia and I were thrilled, both by the house and the works inside. It is certainly my favourite museum I have visited yet here in Paris, since it isn't overwhelming, and of course because I love Monet. It took us about an hour to go through everything, I am certainly planning on going back with future visitors. I then headed home, getting a little lost along the way but it wasn't too bad. I had some dinner and finished up a few more study notes before I took exactly the same velib route over to Pedro's (affliated with the Dutch crowd), who also lives in the 16th. He has an awesome studio there, and we had plans to drink a bit there and then head to Erasmus at either mix or Porte de Maillot, but abandoned that idea to sit on the small roof under his 6th floor window and enjoy the stars. It was great, and I got to have a great chat with Eva, Boudewijn, and Sophie. At around 2 we decided to head home, so Sophie, Lauren Bailey, Eva and I took off and tried to perform the 2-person velib. Big fail, and it made my butt hurt for a few days, but when I was finally on my own, I enjoyed the cruising back down to Convention.
Fri. Jan 14th:
I was a little worse for wear in the am but rallied. I headed to Sc Po to fill in a housing form for next year back at UBC, printed plane tickets for the weekend, and worked on more study notes. At 6 I packed it in and enjoyed a lovely walk through the neighbourhood and along the Seine up to the Pompidou, where I met up with Jordana, Melody and her sister for falafels. They just can't be beat. I headed home with the intention of finishing my study notes and going out to celebrate Meltem's birthday, but kindof bailed, feeling tired and not so great. The pouring rain didn't really help motivate me either. It was kindof nice to have a quiet night on the couch watching more How I Met Your Mother. I did look through my notes and was in bed by 1, feeling ready for my exam the next day.
Sat. Jan 15th:
Exam Day #2! I got up in good time and headed straight out the door for a run in the early morning sunshine, since I knew the rest of the day would be busy. I powered reviewed of brunch and got to school with lots of time to spare. As I was waiting in the hall, my History of Fashion teacher Elodie past by and told me I had done very well on my exam, so I was pretty stoked going into the room, just wanting to get it done and be free! The questions were a bit of a disappointment - 3 questions with no choice, and in my opinion rather obscure things from the course. Of course the one lecture I had missed and had borrowed someone else's notes was important on two of the three questions. Most frustrating was that I felt even if I had studied for 10 more hours, I wouldn't have felt better prepared. Oh well. I finished, satisfied with my answers as I was going to be, and left over 30 minutes early. At least it was done! After, I walked along the Seine again, this time in a beautiful crisp sunshine, feeling pretty cool in my new French shoes and grey jacket. I even stopped at some of the weekend stalls and picked up a few cheap prints of the city to decorate my white-walled room, which has been bare up until last week. I walked by Notre Dame and all the way over to Ile St Louis to say goodbye to Rachel. She has decided to head back to Australia early for a number of reason, so it was great that we got a chance to catch up once last time. I wish we had had a chance to hang out more over the semester but c'est la vie - I guess I'll just have to go to Australia and visit her, and all my Aussie friends soon! Home for dinner and then up to Tom's by St Lazare for Glenn's last evening. I had a really great talk with him, and it was a fun night. He is another one that I am really going to miss. All our close friends were there, and we shouted the "Vodka Duck" toast at the end before all heading to catch last metros. I got home and skyped the family since I was heading south in the morning. Packing would have to wait until the morning. Next stop: Espana en la manana!
Cheers!
PS I have been being really good about taking lots of pictures, but my camera had a bit of an accident while in Spain. Fear not, I think the memory card is all good, but I just can't load them right now. Will edit this an insert the visuals as soon as possible! xx
Monday January 3rd:
The first official day of exam break. Since arriving back in Europe and because of late nights, my sleep schedule is terribly out of whack. I, who normally wakes up consistently between 9:30 and 10:30, was sleeping until 1. I really dislike doing this since it makes me feel like so much of the day is wasted needlessly. But then again, if I was sleeping naturally until that time, it was evident I needed the sleep. Anyways, so I slept late on Monday, but once I got up I resolved to start the season off right by getting right into work. I never do this, but for this upcoming exam, French Politics and Society on Saturday, I decided to type up all of my notes. It was quite the chore. But anyways, I was feeling very pleased with myself that I had gotten down to business and was making good headway. Once I get going, I normally feel all pumped about how great I am and try and keep the vibe alive. I took a study break to go for a run and then spent some time organizing a get together later that night to watch the Canada-US World Juniors game, playing at 1:30am. It was supposed to be playing at The Great Canadian Bar by St Michel, but failing that they might close early, I confirmed it would be on at The Highlander, an Irish pub just down the street. I did some more studying before heading to Annie's and then the bar. We were there early, and it was great to catch up with Glenn, Marina and a friend of her's, in addition to Annie and myself. Around 12:30, the Great Canadian told up since pretty much no one was there, they were closing shop and we should head to the Highlander. No sweat. We walked over, and I confirmed with the manager that the game was playing. We took our seats and waited. At game time though, disaster struck. Apparently, they couldn't find the game on any of their channels! I was pretty crushed, and annoyed since I had spent some time all afternoon calling around and confirming this. Oh well. I stayed another half hour and then velibed home and caught the last half of the game of tsn live. Nicely done boys. 4-1 win!
Tues. Jan 4th:
Since the game ended at around 3:30 am, I once again continued my annoying streak of sleeping in much too late. Darn. The rest of the day was restless and unproductive. It was kindof a fail at life actually. It was dreary weather outside, and having champed my review the previous day, I was feeling no motivation to continue so soon with my notes. So much How I Met Your Mother was watched, solo, and later with Etienne. Later that night I also got to chat with Ally for the first time in forever which greatly cheered me and I went to bed resolving to step up my game the next day.
Wed. Jan 5th:
Step it up I did. I got up a little bit earlier than the previous days and polished off the remaining notes to be typed. Went on a fabulous run on my route up around the Eiffel Tower. Later that night, I went to Caveau des Oubliettes in the Latin Quarter to take in some jazz with Glenn, Corina, Shaun and Jordana. In the end we just sat upstairs and had some drinks and chatted. One thing I really got out of the conversation was Shaun and Jordana's stories of making the most out of the visit, and everyday of the week. Sometimes when I know I am here for the whole year, I'm not as active in doing this all the time, but I really should. Tuesday was an example. I need to get out of my routines and comfort sone and try new places. I have resolved to put a museum, or exhibition or something on my list to visit every single week. I took the last metro home and got back in time to stream the gold medal game of World Juniors. I ended up passing out after the first two perios, sure that our 3-0 lead was untouchable. For those who watched we all know what happened...
Thurs. Jan 6th: That's right, I awoke to the news on facebook and tsn of our self-destruct in the 3rd to lose 4-3. Big downer. Of well. I get ready and decided to put my previous night's resolution into action and velibed up to the Musee Rodin by Invalides. I even got to use my Europeen residency card for free entry! It was an overcast afternoon with traces of rain, but it was so calming and soothing. The museum itself is housed in an awesome old mansion in the 7th and there are hundreds of Rodin's sculptures. It was a really cool museum. My favorite was a sculpture by Claudel, the Waltz. Gorgeous. It also showed how sculptures are made which was pretty cool. As I wandered by myself through the rooms, I was also impressed by the large number of art students huddled on small stools and chair by the windows, sketching the works. It really added to the atmosphere. I also visited the gardens, which are exceptional, and I definitely plan on returning in the spring when they are all in bloom. Finally, I also quickly went through a expo on Henry Moore, a British sculptor. It was both weird and cool, an artist who challenged the conventional forms of beauty. Afterwards, I velibed back home, showered, and got ready to go out. I had decided to go to my first Afterwork Party at Club Romeo. They are organized by this group of students, the majority from Quebec/Montreal, at Sc Po who call themselves les Veterans, and they are basically just a social club. Anyways, they have this weekly thursday night soirees at various clubs where from 7-9, you pay 15euro for all you can drink mojitos and all you can eat sushi. Then after 9 the dance floor gets started and you're home by 12. Makes for a good night. It was a lot of fun dancing with Eva, Corina, Annie and some friends of hers, Shaun and Glenn. The other nice thing is that there were a lot of French people there, coming from work to unleash for a little while. Resolution for Paris term 2 #2: get out to places where more French people go rather than always rolling with internationals.
Fri. Jan 7th:
My sleep schedule is getting better little by little, and after showering, I headed over to Daniel's for some pre-exam studying/brainstorming and also enjoyed a lovely cup of tea with he and his roommate Damien. I came back feeling ok, but decided I needed to log a bit more intense review, and did so before heading up to Glenn's for a final party at his, Werewolf Bar Mitzvah (its a song). I stayed for a couple of glasses of wine and left just as things were starting to get funny at 12:30 to go to bed at a reasonable hour since the next day was the exam.
Sat. Jan 8th:
Up, painfully early at 8 (especially after my week of sleep-ins) and off I went to the exam for 10. I think it went very well. The previous day, Daniel and I had pretty much guessed what the essay topic would be and had drafted a plan and problematique for the question. So basically the exam was just putting the plan into essay form. Skill. I time managed well and finished with about a minute to spare. I came out in the best mood ever and decided to velib home to burn off some energy. I relaxed for a bit in the afternoon before going for out on a new exploratory run route that took me along some sidestreets across the 15th and over the the Seine. It is much quieter and totally not touristy down at that end, and I enjoyed some new tunes I had just downloaded. I cut back towards home by the Eiffel Tower and ran through Champs de Mars and home in a tank top since it was so mild out. So sweet. The night didn't produce any exciting plans since all of my friends were pretty beat from the previous night so I just ended up staying in and watching Erin Brockovich for the first time. Really good film.
Sun. Jan 9th:
Got up and organized life a bit before velibing up to Pasteur and meeting Jordana. We then took a metro up to Glenn's and rendezvoused with Glenn, David, Tom and Shaun and went up to Marche aux Puces at Clignancourt. The market up there is so sweet, albeit overwhelming. You can see new things everytime you go. On this trip, we also met up with Annie and her visiting Aussie friends and stayed for about two hours before heading home cold and hungry. I didn't come home empty handed though, having received two awesome 192os style fashion poster which Annie gave me as a Christmas Present, as well as an awesome old key that I'm going to put on a chain and wear as a necklace. I was home for a bit and then headed back towards the center of town to meet Annie, her friends Steph and Mary, and Maia for a lovely girls night at this restaurant Anthracite, which has an awesome vibe. Annie had taken advantage of this site called La Fourchette (the fork) to make the reservation, and so we got 50% off our whole meal! It meant us students could take in an awesome veal dinner with appetizers and desserts for a very reasonable price. I am definitely going to remember the site in the future. They chefs in Paris really know their stuff, and its sinful. After dinner, we rolled by David's who lives just around the corner in Le Marais for a glass of wine before rocking the last metro at 12:30.
Mon. Jan 10th:
Week two of exam season begins! With the next exam, Ethics of War, not until Saturday afternoon, the pressure to study was far away and I when I awoke (back at my normal time) I headed straight for the door before breakfast and went for a run. After I showered and wolfed down lunch I velibed up to Hotel de Ville to meet Ayumi for coffee. Ended up having the most satisfying smoothy from Columbus Cafe, overlooking the small side street. Will definitely have to keep the place it in mind for coffeeshop studying, its perfect. We had a great chat for a couple of hours, resolving to keep the term one kids united. We walked across the river and split up as I headed to check out Shakespeare & Company. It is an old bookshop which has been in Paris for centuries, one of only two places in the city that only sells English-language books. It was the first publisher of James Joyce's masterpeice Ulysses. It has relocated right to Seine since WWII, and it is floor to ceiling books, crammed everywhere. Essentially it is awesome. After browsing the shelves for 20min and taking in to ambience, I bought The Time Traveller's Wife, a book I have been meaning to read for awhile, for my upcoming Spanish vacation. After I exited, I strolled the streets for a little while before heading home. I ended up going out for dinner with Etienne and his mother Gaelle. It was soo good. Two nice dinners out in a row - I am spoiled! Back at home, I watched an episode of Glee and went to bed early.
Tues. Jan 11th:
The morning was leisurely (a nice way of saying slow), and I tidied etc. By the middle of the afternoon I headed up to Sciences Po to study, since I was having a hard time motivating myself at home. I went through all my notes, bumped into Maia and chatted with her, and picked up my paper from Ethics. I went home briefly for the fastest dinner making of life and then headed back to school to Le Basile where I met Josh and Corina for drinks. Joao was also supposed to come, but bailed at the last minute. I hadn't seen Josh since the Christmas dinner, so it was great to catch up. He was the first person I talked to in the Madeleine group on the first real day of the Welcome Programme, and so it was sad to have our last goodbye, as he's heading back U of Florida next week. So begins the farewells that are going to be coming fast and furious. But I'm trying to be optimistic about it and with the wonders of facebook and travelling, I hope that I get to see all these people that have made term one so amazing again soon.
Wed. Jan 12th:
I got up and got ready first thing in the morning and headed to Rue de Rivoli to take in the soldes de Paris. Soldes = sales! In France, sales in retailers are regulated, so all the stores have sales all at the same time, twice a year for a few weeks. Amazing and overwhelming all at the same time. Wednesday was the first day, and I arrived on one of the big shopping boulevards at around 11. Mission: some shoes. My black boots have a bit of a hole in them which is less than ideal in wet and cold weather. Two hours later I walked away tired but thrilled with black ankle boots with a very small heel, dark grey French style shoes (mid-height heel and lace up), a grey midweight coat, a pale pink sweater dress, a cream coloured shirt and a jersey blue longsleeve all for one hundred dollars! I justify it that it was the boxing day I never got. Now to just show restraint for the rest of sale season...I decided to head home before I got any more carried away. I had lunch and went for a run in the afternoon along the perimeter of the city. Afterwards I got ready to go out for dinner with the dutch group for Timon's Last Supper. We went to La Cave de Jojo up in Montmartre. I have been in that neighbourhood only sparringly, but after walking around there tonight, I am resolving to get lost up there some afternoon. Its amazing, and on a huge hill, so good to stretch the legs. It was a nice dinner, with a great turn out, 10 of us in all. Afterwards, Timon, Boudewijn, Lisbeth Sophie and I went to a bar, Aux Rendezvous des Amis to continue the celebrating. The bar itself is cool, with pictures of patrons all over the walls. It was also the first time in Paris that I have been somewhere that serves beer in pitchers! Yureka! It was great night of 'never have I ever', the most fun I've ever had playing that game, and it made me even sadder when the bar kicked us out just after 2. All of those great people are all heading back to Holland. Too many goodbyes. I then requested that as a final goodbye gift, Timon would bike me across the river. It was wonderful. Boudewijn and Lisbeth velibed along, and we rushed down Montmartre, through the 2nd, past Concorde and Grand Palais and across the river by the Eiffel Tower and Invalides. Timon, always the gentleman, even took me right to my door, and we finally got to chat just the two of us for the first time since Christmas. It was really great, and really hard to say goodbye. But hopefully we will see each other again this term as there are plans for the group to reunite in Paris in the spring.
Thurs. Jan 13th:
I got down to some study notes on Thursday until about 2 when I headed across the river by velib to meet Maia and go the Musee Marmottan Monet. I have been really pumped to be biking so much this term. In the case of going to the 16th, it is actually so much faster than taking the metro. We met up and walked by a lovely park on our way to the museum. It is devoted exclusively to Monet, and has a wide variety of his works, from sketches, caricatures, to landscape and of course, his famous paintings in Giverny. Maia and I were thrilled, both by the house and the works inside. It is certainly my favourite museum I have visited yet here in Paris, since it isn't overwhelming, and of course because I love Monet. It took us about an hour to go through everything, I am certainly planning on going back with future visitors. I then headed home, getting a little lost along the way but it wasn't too bad. I had some dinner and finished up a few more study notes before I took exactly the same velib route over to Pedro's (affliated with the Dutch crowd), who also lives in the 16th. He has an awesome studio there, and we had plans to drink a bit there and then head to Erasmus at either mix or Porte de Maillot, but abandoned that idea to sit on the small roof under his 6th floor window and enjoy the stars. It was great, and I got to have a great chat with Eva, Boudewijn, and Sophie. At around 2 we decided to head home, so Sophie, Lauren Bailey, Eva and I took off and tried to perform the 2-person velib. Big fail, and it made my butt hurt for a few days, but when I was finally on my own, I enjoyed the cruising back down to Convention.
Fri. Jan 14th:
I was a little worse for wear in the am but rallied. I headed to Sc Po to fill in a housing form for next year back at UBC, printed plane tickets for the weekend, and worked on more study notes. At 6 I packed it in and enjoyed a lovely walk through the neighbourhood and along the Seine up to the Pompidou, where I met up with Jordana, Melody and her sister for falafels. They just can't be beat. I headed home with the intention of finishing my study notes and going out to celebrate Meltem's birthday, but kindof bailed, feeling tired and not so great. The pouring rain didn't really help motivate me either. It was kindof nice to have a quiet night on the couch watching more How I Met Your Mother. I did look through my notes and was in bed by 1, feeling ready for my exam the next day.
Sat. Jan 15th:
Exam Day #2! I got up in good time and headed straight out the door for a run in the early morning sunshine, since I knew the rest of the day would be busy. I powered reviewed of brunch and got to school with lots of time to spare. As I was waiting in the hall, my History of Fashion teacher Elodie past by and told me I had done very well on my exam, so I was pretty stoked going into the room, just wanting to get it done and be free! The questions were a bit of a disappointment - 3 questions with no choice, and in my opinion rather obscure things from the course. Of course the one lecture I had missed and had borrowed someone else's notes was important on two of the three questions. Most frustrating was that I felt even if I had studied for 10 more hours, I wouldn't have felt better prepared. Oh well. I finished, satisfied with my answers as I was going to be, and left over 30 minutes early. At least it was done! After, I walked along the Seine again, this time in a beautiful crisp sunshine, feeling pretty cool in my new French shoes and grey jacket. I even stopped at some of the weekend stalls and picked up a few cheap prints of the city to decorate my white-walled room, which has been bare up until last week. I walked by Notre Dame and all the way over to Ile St Louis to say goodbye to Rachel. She has decided to head back to Australia early for a number of reason, so it was great that we got a chance to catch up once last time. I wish we had had a chance to hang out more over the semester but c'est la vie - I guess I'll just have to go to Australia and visit her, and all my Aussie friends soon! Home for dinner and then up to Tom's by St Lazare for Glenn's last evening. I had a really great talk with him, and it was a fun night. He is another one that I am really going to miss. All our close friends were there, and we shouted the "Vodka Duck" toast at the end before all heading to catch last metros. I got home and skyped the family since I was heading south in the morning. Packing would have to wait until the morning. Next stop: Espana en la manana!
Cheers!
PS I have been being really good about taking lots of pictures, but my camera had a bit of an accident while in Spain. Fear not, I think the memory card is all good, but I just can't load them right now. Will edit this an insert the visuals as soon as possible! xx
Sunday, January 9, 2011
I'm Back!
Boom baby! I'm back! After a lovely return back to the native land of snow and ice known as Canada for the yuletide, I returned to adopted home for the year, Paris, on December 30th. I have to admit, as much as I LOVED going home for Christmas, I was really looking forward to coming back. Once you live away from home, you develop certain routines that you miss after a while. So I was stoked to come back to my apartment, friends, and of course, the city itself. After my joyous overnight flight with approximately 2 hours of catnapping, customs, baggage pickup, an RER train ride and 2 metro changes later, I arrived home with my massive suitcase and snowboard gear at around noon. Normally I enjoy the fact that most of the metros lack escalators, forcing you to take the stairs instead and get a little bit of bonus exercise, but I have to say, I was none too pleased with them on this morning. Oh well. I arrived home sweaty and tired and promptly flopped onto my bed in relief.
However, sleep is for the weak so after 5min of motionless bliss, I hopped up and called Annie to announce my glorious return. We made plans to meet later that afternoon, followed by a quick snack and a shower for me, and saying hello to Etienne and his friend Pierre who was staying with us for a few days. I soon headed up to Hotel de Ville to try out their skating rink. Ever since Christmas and having got in quite a bit of practice on my skates, I wanted to show off my new blade work (crossovers and conversion from stops to backwards skating. Oooo...Ahhh). However, the rink was packed and the line for rentals was about 200 people deep so we wisely decided to postpone for a weekday in the near future. Instead, we decided to go New Years dress shopping. Up and down the Champs Elysees, we scoured store after store for what this year's number would be. Annie made a good find at H&M, while I was having a bit of a harder time. Finally we decided that we had to get the amazing leopard print dress from Zara that has been calling to us from the display windows over for the past couple of months. It is fabulous, but a bit of statement piece that can't be worn very many times, so it seems kindof indulgent to buy it. Solution: split the cost and both get opportunities to wear it. All of a sudden it gets twice as much wear, its completely reasonably priced and we are both stoked! At the end of year, whoever wants to keep it the most (probs me), will buy out half of the other persons half. Now that is what I call smart shopping. Riding the high of great consumerist success, we headed back to mine.
We had a great night chatting with Etienne and Pierre, learning many new great French expressions, including "cimer" and "ca va etre SCANDALE!" We even had dinner together as a nice little family. Miraculously, I still had an abundance of energy so after a few drinks, Annie and I decided to head over to the Latin Quarter and hit up La Piano Vache. Reunited with Timon, his girlfriend Steph, Boris, Sophie, and some other friends of various people who were visiting and enjoyed a pint and some chats. I called it in around midnight, having finally been slammed by exhaustion, and headed for home. Had a few issues on my way out and on the way home, what with missing my connection and having to cab, getting home and somehow thinking I had given my key to Annie (but I actually hadn't) and then trying to call Annie (but her phone was dead). Nothing serious though, and I finally hit the hay around one and benefited greatly from a 10 hour deep sleep.
New Years Eve day went by in a flurry. I finally got around to unpacking and cleaning up, and spent the afternoon relaxing, and organizing plans for later that night, and Annie came by the pick up a few things she had left behind the previous day. I even got to play cards with our little family. I was also finally introduced to How I Met Your Mother. Eventually, I got ready for the big evening's celebrations and finally got to put on the dress. Ooo baby is it ever fine. It makes me feel like a million bucks. Sadly, there was not nearly enough documentation of its legendary-ness. But in some ways this is good because it means I can wear it again!
Loving the animal print. BABES.
First stop on the New Years Eve Itinerary: Dinner at a friend of Annie's at this amazing apartment in the 19th. Very chill, met a bunch of cool people, including a cool snowboarder living in Grenoble (looks like another ski trip!) and saw some of her friends I had met previously. I sipped gin and tonics for the next 2 hours, and was a very good start to the night.
Stop #2: Headed off by Velib over to Corina's. I arrived just after 11 and shortly after the whole group of us all hopped on the metro to go to the Eiffel Tower. The ride over was a little hectic. We hadn't left ourselves too much breathing room time wise, and the metro kept stopping for long periods of time at each station. I was worried for a little while that we might be ringing in the New Year of 2011 on a metro car. How romantic. Thankfully, we made it to the appropriate stop at 11:57 and ran out of the station and up around the corner to where we could see the tower. We made it with about 30 seconds to spare and then presto! HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Tower a-sparkle at midnight!
I have never had such a special midnight moment at New Years! The sight of the tower lighting up in sparkling lights, our group popping open numerous bottles of champagne, hugging, pictures, huge smiles...it was magical. I was so happy that I got to spend it with Eva and Corina, some of my close friends, my first friends in Paris, and here we were toasting to our first four months here in Paris, and to the coming months. I hadn't seen Bruno, Bhavani and Cana in awhile so it was so good to catch up with them, all people I had met and befriended at the start of the year. The happiness was contagious. Randoms were setting off fireworks and the Champs de Mars were packed. We were able to get a bit close after about 20 min and stayed under the tower until after 1.
Brazilians Bruno and Bhavani celebrating with champagne.
First friends together on New Years.
About twenty after one Corina and I decided we wanted the night to continue and decided to take a brief pit stop at her place, since it was so close before heading to meet up with my Dutch friends. Easier said than done. Somehow, it took us almost an hour and a half and my first visit to the bushes in a city ever before we finally made it inside. We had a quick glass of wine to celebrate our success at finally making it home after becoming incredibly lost and danced to my new favorite party anthem, We R who We R by Kesha. Its classy, that's for sure.
Stop #3: We then started out once again for Rue de Rennes for a house party at a friend of Boris'. By the time we got there though, it was about 3, and the party was kindof dying down. We only ended up staying about 45 min. A bit of an anti-climatic end to the evening, but such is life. I wasn't going to let it put a damper on my Paris New Years. As the crowds began to head home, Corina, Timon, Steph and I were the last to leave. I walked Corina backed to her house and then hopped on a Velib and biked back to mine. I have really come into my own on the velib factor, and have been loving it. It is going to be a huge plus in 2011. I can feel it.
Final destination: Home, at about 4. Etienne called me and told me he was on his way home, so being that I had a surprising amount of energy considering the hour, I made myself some delicious potatoes, and watched a bit of tv while I waited for the boys to come home. It was worth the wait. They were quite intoxicated and proceeded to have a dance party in the living room. At one point, a Santa suit even came out, and more dancing continued. It was memorable. I finally to dance. Perfect ending. Finally, at 7:30, exhausted, I bid them good day and crashed. Just a solid night. Not too crazy, not too wild, but all around good. I got to spend it with my close friends and was so happy all night long. Can't ask for any more than that on New Years my friends.
Living room dance parties to top off the night.
January 1st of 2011 was pretty anti-climatic. I slept in the latest I have ever slept in my entire life, rising from my bed at 4pm. That's right. It has wreaked havoc on my sleep pattern ever since I will have you know. Annie came over once again, because that evening was Marina and Jordana's double birthday party. People should never have parties on New Years Day. Its pretty hard on the guests. Annie and I procrastinated going for the longest time, (probably since the house was void of food and all stores were closed), but we finally pulled it together and left just after 11. We made a pit stop en route to Glenn and Marina's for pizza and cheesy pastry which was so necessary. By the time we arrived, I was feeling pretty good. Too bad I looked like crap, which I didn't realize until I saw pictures the next day. It was a good night, though not a rager. People trying to party when they are really tired are pretty funny. Naturally, we didn't last too long. Corina, Annie and I tried to catch the last metro shortly before 2 but just missed it and ended up cabbing. Once home, it was pretty much straight to bed, as the whole house was pretty wiped.
Madeleine Group stoked to be rocking out in 2011! Please ignore the bags under my eyes.
All of a sudden it was Sunday at one, and I got up to say goodbye to Pierre, who was heading back to Germany, where he is doing an Erasmus exchange for the year. He was fun to have around the past few days. The rest of the day Annie and I devoted to food. My body was none too happy that it had not been fed fruits or vegetables in about 48hours. We decided that we should cook a delicious savoury vegetable filled meal, and started routing through some French cookbooks. We decided on a lamb casserole. Next came the grocery trek. Since it was saturday, it took awhile to find all the ingrediants we needed, but in the end we came back armed with lamb, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, zuchini and eggplant. Our next hour as we washed sliced and diced in the kitchen, it was pleasantly reminiscent of our epic kitchen day not so long ago back in 2010, the Christmas dinner of course. (I have since talked to most of the guests and they all told me it was one of the best things that has happened to them in Paris. No bid deal).
Two and a half hours of tempting, delicious smells later, Annie, Etienne and I got to dig into our casserole and it was heaven. So savoury and flavourful and vegetably and exactly what was needed. Food makes me so happy. It is just too yummy for its own good. (I am constantly impressed that I have not put on 30 pounds this year, because the food is just so good, all the time).
What a whirl wind the first four days back were. But a good omen for the next six months. Busy, but fun. Productive, filled with food, wine, friends and memories. Oh right. And some school work too. Of course...I'll get to that soon. Promise.
Bisous.
However, sleep is for the weak so after 5min of motionless bliss, I hopped up and called Annie to announce my glorious return. We made plans to meet later that afternoon, followed by a quick snack and a shower for me, and saying hello to Etienne and his friend Pierre who was staying with us for a few days. I soon headed up to Hotel de Ville to try out their skating rink. Ever since Christmas and having got in quite a bit of practice on my skates, I wanted to show off my new blade work (crossovers and conversion from stops to backwards skating. Oooo...Ahhh). However, the rink was packed and the line for rentals was about 200 people deep so we wisely decided to postpone for a weekday in the near future. Instead, we decided to go New Years dress shopping. Up and down the Champs Elysees, we scoured store after store for what this year's number would be. Annie made a good find at H&M, while I was having a bit of a harder time. Finally we decided that we had to get the amazing leopard print dress from Zara that has been calling to us from the display windows over for the past couple of months. It is fabulous, but a bit of statement piece that can't be worn very many times, so it seems kindof indulgent to buy it. Solution: split the cost and both get opportunities to wear it. All of a sudden it gets twice as much wear, its completely reasonably priced and we are both stoked! At the end of year, whoever wants to keep it the most (probs me), will buy out half of the other persons half. Now that is what I call smart shopping. Riding the high of great consumerist success, we headed back to mine.
We had a great night chatting with Etienne and Pierre, learning many new great French expressions, including "cimer" and "ca va etre SCANDALE!" We even had dinner together as a nice little family. Miraculously, I still had an abundance of energy so after a few drinks, Annie and I decided to head over to the Latin Quarter and hit up La Piano Vache. Reunited with Timon, his girlfriend Steph, Boris, Sophie, and some other friends of various people who were visiting and enjoyed a pint and some chats. I called it in around midnight, having finally been slammed by exhaustion, and headed for home. Had a few issues on my way out and on the way home, what with missing my connection and having to cab, getting home and somehow thinking I had given my key to Annie (but I actually hadn't) and then trying to call Annie (but her phone was dead). Nothing serious though, and I finally hit the hay around one and benefited greatly from a 10 hour deep sleep.
New Years Eve day went by in a flurry. I finally got around to unpacking and cleaning up, and spent the afternoon relaxing, and organizing plans for later that night, and Annie came by the pick up a few things she had left behind the previous day. I even got to play cards with our little family. I was also finally introduced to How I Met Your Mother. Eventually, I got ready for the big evening's celebrations and finally got to put on the dress. Ooo baby is it ever fine. It makes me feel like a million bucks. Sadly, there was not nearly enough documentation of its legendary-ness. But in some ways this is good because it means I can wear it again!
Loving the animal print. BABES.First stop on the New Years Eve Itinerary: Dinner at a friend of Annie's at this amazing apartment in the 19th. Very chill, met a bunch of cool people, including a cool snowboarder living in Grenoble (looks like another ski trip!) and saw some of her friends I had met previously. I sipped gin and tonics for the next 2 hours, and was a very good start to the night.
Stop #2: Headed off by Velib over to Corina's. I arrived just after 11 and shortly after the whole group of us all hopped on the metro to go to the Eiffel Tower. The ride over was a little hectic. We hadn't left ourselves too much breathing room time wise, and the metro kept stopping for long periods of time at each station. I was worried for a little while that we might be ringing in the New Year of 2011 on a metro car. How romantic. Thankfully, we made it to the appropriate stop at 11:57 and ran out of the station and up around the corner to where we could see the tower. We made it with about 30 seconds to spare and then presto! HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Tower a-sparkle at midnight!Brazilians Bruno and Bhavani celebrating with champagne.First friends together on New Years. About twenty after one Corina and I decided we wanted the night to continue and decided to take a brief pit stop at her place, since it was so close before heading to meet up with my Dutch friends. Easier said than done. Somehow, it took us almost an hour and a half and my first visit to the bushes in a city ever before we finally made it inside. We had a quick glass of wine to celebrate our success at finally making it home after becoming incredibly lost and danced to my new favorite party anthem, We R who We R by Kesha. Its classy, that's for sure.
Stop #3: We then started out once again for Rue de Rennes for a house party at a friend of Boris'. By the time we got there though, it was about 3, and the party was kindof dying down. We only ended up staying about 45 min. A bit of an anti-climatic end to the evening, but such is life. I wasn't going to let it put a damper on my Paris New Years. As the crowds began to head home, Corina, Timon, Steph and I were the last to leave. I walked Corina backed to her house and then hopped on a Velib and biked back to mine. I have really come into my own on the velib factor, and have been loving it. It is going to be a huge plus in 2011. I can feel it.
Final destination: Home, at about 4. Etienne called me and told me he was on his way home, so being that I had a surprising amount of energy considering the hour, I made myself some delicious potatoes, and watched a bit of tv while I waited for the boys to come home. It was worth the wait. They were quite intoxicated and proceeded to have a dance party in the living room. At one point, a Santa suit even came out, and more dancing continued. It was memorable. I finally to dance. Perfect ending. Finally, at 7:30, exhausted, I bid them good day and crashed. Just a solid night. Not too crazy, not too wild, but all around good. I got to spend it with my close friends and was so happy all night long. Can't ask for any more than that on New Years my friends.
Living room dance parties to top off the night. Madeleine Group stoked to be rocking out in 2011! Please ignore the bags under my eyes.All of a sudden it was Sunday at one, and I got up to say goodbye to Pierre, who was heading back to Germany, where he is doing an Erasmus exchange for the year. He was fun to have around the past few days. The rest of the day Annie and I devoted to food. My body was none too happy that it had not been fed fruits or vegetables in about 48hours. We decided that we should cook a delicious savoury vegetable filled meal, and started routing through some French cookbooks. We decided on a lamb casserole. Next came the grocery trek. Since it was saturday, it took awhile to find all the ingrediants we needed, but in the end we came back armed with lamb, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, zuchini and eggplant. Our next hour as we washed sliced and diced in the kitchen, it was pleasantly reminiscent of our epic kitchen day not so long ago back in 2010, the Christmas dinner of course. (I have since talked to most of the guests and they all told me it was one of the best things that has happened to them in Paris. No bid deal).
Two and a half hours of tempting, delicious smells later, Annie, Etienne and I got to dig into our casserole and it was heaven. So savoury and flavourful and vegetably and exactly what was needed. Food makes me so happy. It is just too yummy for its own good. (I am constantly impressed that I have not put on 30 pounds this year, because the food is just so good, all the time).
What a whirl wind the first four days back were. But a good omen for the next six months. Busy, but fun. Productive, filled with food, wine, friends and memories. Oh right. And some school work too. Of course...I'll get to that soon. Promise.
Bisous.
Top 10 of Twenty Ten
As I was traveling back to Canada, I was able to reflect on the incredible adventure that has been 2010 in Paris. Going on exchange has been one of the most incredible decisions of my life, and I am constantly in awe of the many extraordinary adventures and activities that I have been fortunate enough to take part in over the past four months. Without further ado, here is a Top Ten list of the year so far (in no particular order):
- Mumford & Sons concert. Such an incredible show, the crowd was amazing and they worked us. Add in the cool setting, being ridiculously close to the stage and getting to meet Ben and Marcus after was definitely my coolest, most rad concert experience. Tom and I had a riot.
- The climb up the mountain to Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille. That hill was the steepest thing I have ever ascended and could do without it in the future. But it made the view from the top even more incredible. The church itself was beautiful, the panoramic views were breathtaking on that beautiful warm sunny fall afternoon and could not have been more perfect. Tasting the fresh sea air, which I hadn’t realized how much I had missed. The wonder at remembering I was in France, in such a beautiful country, about to have an incredible weekend. It was also the real start of my close friendship with the lovely Annabel.
- Walking along the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. Any day, any time, any weather. I feel like I’m in a fairy tale, incredulous that I am living in what may be the most beautiful city in the world, surrounded by history and majesty. The bubbly feeling that rises inside me has yet to go away.
- My Day in London with Christie. Hanging out for the first time with Christie in over a year and a half and picking up like it was yesterday, and having a close friend back was in itself wonderful. Then add in the bus tour, Top Shop, the London Eye and Covent Garden and words can’t express how amazing that day was. It has made me realize that you will always be able to pick it up where it was left up with a true dear friend. Thank you for the incredible day Christie! xx
- Hitchhiking to Amsterdam. One of the coolest things I have ever done. I would recommend it anyone, and I was so lucky to have such a great experience. Simon and I were a kickass team. Our drivers were compassionate, kind, and amazing people, and the race aspect of it made it all the more memorable. Plus, Amsterdam itself is sick and I am in love with the houses. Thanks to Timon and Ayumi for organizing the event!
- Hungover days with Annie Waters. Though we are very opposite, different people, there is something so fun in my friendship with Annie. She is awesome – hilarious, always up to do something, intelligent… this is getting sappy. Anyways, there have too many great hungover days with the little lady, and so much food (potatoes!) and chats and Scrubs and the Big Bang Theory among other things. Woah Woah. I love it.
- Biking with Timon, perched sideways on the back rack. It feels so incredibly euro, and is always exhilarating (I don’t yelp nearly as often anymore). Biking is both efficient in time management, so clutch at night after last metros and a fantastic way to see the city. I will sorely miss both Timon and his bike rides next term when he heads back to Utrecht (the Netherlands).
- Ballet Anna Kerenina at the Theatre Champs Elysees. I have never seen anything so incredible, and I cant put into words the experience of that performance. It was spectacular, the way the ballerina moved. Our whole group couldn’t get over it. Magical, so many goosebumbs. And then the added view of the Champs all lit up with the Roue de Paris at one end of the Boulevard and the Arc de Triomphe at the other, bathed in Christmas lights. It was one of my most memorable evenings.
- Sinterklaas. The poem reading was so touching, and comical. My favorites were Leo to Timon, Timon to Lisbeth and Lauren Bailey to Boris. A very cool cultural experience that I will never forget. Plus there were yummy Sinterklaas treats.
- My Christmas Dinner. The whole day was a gongshow of epic proportions and was the best decision I ever made. I am so glad I got to share it with such an incredible group of friends, in such a unique setting. The legendary aspect of the number of people (18) the conversion of the living room, the meal and the atmosphere was more than I could have hoped for. I love Christmas.
- Ballroom dance lessons. It just feels so classy. I plan on taking them well into the future.
- Nights dancing at Le Financier. Such good times.
- Salon de Vin. I felt pretty damn French. It was a very cool experience.
- Drinking wine at many soirees in general, (and the soirees themselves).
- Pumpkin carving (the evening and day that followed with Etienne and Annie)
- Biking in Bretagne.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Christmas Break!
I know this is supposed to be the story of my year in Paris, but I just wanted to list the highlights that made this 13 day Christmas break back in good old Canada totally awesome:
- Christmas Coffees (with Anne Marie and Tasha).
- Being back in Emily's kitchen, chatting with her and Lorraine.
- Dinner with Jon.
- Bi-annual Saigon dinner with Jon Chan.
- Chatting at Gears with Aarron back in the shop.
- Visiting Aarron's new house, chatting with Emily and holding their new baby Charlotte.
- Pint and Pound with Kyle.
- The old high school gang reunion at Marcus'.
- Poutine at 3:30am with Grace, Nikki, Casey and Emily. Thank you Pita Grill.
- That donair with Mom at Famous King.
- Late night chat with Dad.
- Getting to listen to the Cleavers Family Christmas Album.
- Our rink this year on the lake. Best rink in years. Lots of fun skating times.
- Watching Tamara sweep the rink with a 3 foot broom.
- Chillin with Alex. I miss him.
- Re-reading the 7th Harry Potter, and staying up til 3am on Boxing Day to finish it.
- Winning at Settlers of Catan against the Fam on Christmas Day.
- Christmas Morning and our Christmas morning routine.
- Christmas Dinner with the fam, Grandparents, and UT and Marcia. So special this year.
- Visiting Vince in MTL.
I love Christmas back home, and wouldn't have it any other way. This year was one of the best holidays ever.
Love Lauren
Alex skating on the rink.
- Christmas Coffees (with Anne Marie and Tasha).
- Being back in Emily's kitchen, chatting with her and Lorraine.
- Dinner with Jon.
- Bi-annual Saigon dinner with Jon Chan.
- Chatting at Gears with Aarron back in the shop.
- Visiting Aarron's new house, chatting with Emily and holding their new baby Charlotte.
- Pint and Pound with Kyle.
- The old high school gang reunion at Marcus'.
- Poutine at 3:30am with Grace, Nikki, Casey and Emily. Thank you Pita Grill.
- That donair with Mom at Famous King.
- Late night chat with Dad.
- Getting to listen to the Cleavers Family Christmas Album.
- Our rink this year on the lake. Best rink in years. Lots of fun skating times.
- Watching Tamara sweep the rink with a 3 foot broom.
- Chillin with Alex. I miss him.
- Re-reading the 7th Harry Potter, and staying up til 3am on Boxing Day to finish it.
- Winning at Settlers of Catan against the Fam on Christmas Day.
- Christmas Morning and our Christmas morning routine.
- Christmas Dinner with the fam, Grandparents, and UT and Marcia. So special this year.
- Visiting Vince in MTL.
I love Christmas back home, and wouldn't have it any other way. This year was one of the best holidays ever.
Love Lauren
Alex skating on the rink.Tuesday, January 4, 2011
December in Pariii Part 2
Writing essays is an interesting activity. Part of me always wants to be so ahead, not be rushed, take my time etc. Yet, without a looming deadline on the horizon, it is hard to buckle down and do it sometimes, since you know you can accomplish it in a shorter amount of time, so you might as well wait just a bit longer. Never a good idea. But more often than not, this is the way the essay comes out. I start it allowing a good amount of time to complete, and hand it in with minutes to spare. However, despite this phenomenon, I have only a few fleeting times that I was disappointed in my effort, for having cut myself short.
Thankfully this was not the case with my final essay for History of Chile. After brilliant work sessions on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday morning, I just couldn't finish it off on Sunday night. Sometimes you just need to the deadline to really zone in and focus. This was exactly how it was on Monday. I got up early and champed out the last section, knocked together my bibliography and formatted my footnotes all before my 12:30 class. The essay wasn't even due until midnight, so I still felt so on my game. I ended up editing later that afternoon once I got home and was very pleased with the finished product. Hopefully my prof agrees...
But before that happened I went to my final History of Chile class. I have to say, this was possibly one of the best taught courses I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. Delphine Groues was an exceptional teacher, and I was very lucky to have her. I also have to say another thing that made this class so great was the dynamic between students, thanks to our diner de confs, which happened throughout the semester. Really happy to have taken it, and I hope to have some more jem classes like this one again next semester.
After class I started studying for my final exam for History of Fashion, which would occur the following evening. If you've gone to all your classes and done your readings, most of the work is already done, you just need to study effectively, so I wasn't too worried for the exam, but nevertheless it was only 24hours away so I needed to get cracking. After looking over my notes independently, I met up with Allison to brainstorm possible essay topics and make fake plans, with a problematique, thesis, and evidence that could be marshalled. I find this is the most effective way to study for an essay exam. This way, you are already familiar with the structure and can re-organize your facts to support whatever topic is given. It is the perfect way to link themes and ideas through the whole course, and distill it down. And if you're a real pro, you might even guess the actual exam question and then you're in the driver's seat. Anyways, Allison and I did this prep together, which was great, and though I had only studied for about two hours in total for the exam, already felt pretty good heading in. That night, I edited and submitted my essay as mentioned, did a little bit of studying, and just had a chill night in with Etienne.
Tuesday marked the last 8am (cross my fingers) of my undergraduate career. I really cannot deal with them. My enjoyment of the class was just so diminished by it. However, this final 8am French class was altogether enjoyable. Got my final mark back for the course (very respectable if I say so myself), and then our teacher took us on a walking tour of the St Germain neighbourhood. We walked through tiny back alleyways and streets that really bring out the character of the quartier. Some of it I had already seen, but others not, and I always enjoy just wandering about in this city. Our destination was this small pub called Le Procope. Founded in 1686, the restaurant was one of the major meeting places for revolutionaries during the French Revolution, and even a march on the Tuileries palace left from this very spot. Pretty cool if I say so myself. Inside, the place has maintained the grandeur of its glory days, and has also become a historical museum of sorts, with ancient letters, pictures, newspaper typewriters, and even a hat of Napoleon 1's. We went on a tour of the place, and then the 10 of us enjoyed coffee together, talking with Madame Benoit. It is so interesting talking to your teachers outside of class, about comparisons of France and other countries, politics, gender issues, you name it. They are a wealth of knowledge, and it is interesting to talk to them when they are not your authority figure. Madame even treated us all to the coffees, which was incredibly gracious of her. Even though I was not the biggest fan of French class, I had to say it was a good class solely because she was such a genuinely nice lady, and an old pro in classroom.
I headed for home after class, and on my way home I picked up my two turkeys. As some of you already know, after my Sinterklaas experience, I realized that many of my foreign friends had no idea what a real Canadian Christmas, and thus Christmas dinner, was. I decided that it would be fun to host a few friends and cook up an old fashioned turkey dinner with all the fixings right before everyone took off for the holidays. Fastforward two weeks. My guestlist has ballooned to 18 people and I'm standing in line at my neighbourhood butcher picking up two pre-ordered turkeys, weighing 8kilos, or about 16lbs, (because I couldn't get one that would be big enough - they dont exist apparently in France). I pretty much have a heart attack when the cashier pleasantly informs that will be 158 euros - approximately 200 CND. Thats right, I payed 200 dollars for 16lbs of turkey. All I could say as I was walking down the street with my two birds muttering that these had better be the best damn turkeys I have ever had.
Once I deposited my precious cargo in the fridge, I had lunch and did some more review for my exam at 5 before heading out to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the supplies for the feast. You may ask why I didn't opt for a potluck. Well straight up I wanted a real christmas dinner, and I didn't trust others to make it the way my mom does, so after a good hour of Skyping with mom on the previous saturday, armed with my list, I marched off to Monoprix. It was quite the armful, and when over half your guests are 20ish year old males, I figured it was better to guess high and get extra than to run out. I will say I am constantly impressed by how cheap vegetables are. I really need to become a veggie, it would be so much friendlier on the student budget. Or at least start by not buying 160 euros worth of organic turkey...
Anyways, I knocked off everything on my list for the cooking marathon that would by my Wednesday, and got back home with just enough time to unpack, do some last minute review and head off to face my exam. I have to say, I think Elodie (teacher), was being nice, because the question was so broad, there was no way you couldn't have had loads to say about the topic. If anything, you had to be selective so that you wouldn't run out of time, that is how much you could say about "Fashion and social status". An endless discussion. Long story short, I put down my pencil with maybe 10 seconds to spare with a fierce hand cramp, but nevertheless pleased with my effort. Hopefully it correlates to another good mark. And with that, I AM DONE TERM 1 BABY!!! Well, pretty much. Just have two exams now in January, but at least I was done for 2010! (Gotta take what you can get).
Post exam, I got treated for the second time that day to a drink bought by the teacher (score!), this time by Elodie, at the campus watering hole, Le Basile. About 8 of us came, and enjoyed some chats about the class, Sc Po and its successes and failing concerning international students etc. Also got to question Elodie about her elusive past. She is pretty much the coolest (and most fashionable) professor ever. She is also hilarious because she puts on this big show of being mean, but she is actually really nice, and her life always seems to be a bit of gongshow/struggle. Anyways, turns out she did her masters chronicalling the development of the Maison Yves St Lauren (so cool), and became friends with M. St Laurent, and they had weekly wednesday afternoon coffees together for a couple of years. She actually went into the industry for awhile, but got out because it is too drama and backstabbing, and now just does consulting work, for labels like Chanel and Dior. We also asked her about her hatred of Ohio, which stems from a stay she had while doing her PhD where she got asked out on a date to Taco Bell. Pretty pleasing. Needless to say, these stories confirmed my earlier statements of how much fun it is to talk to your teachers outside of class and get to see a whole new side of them. I commend Sc Po for encouraging this more so than UBC. It is fabulous.
After this lovely beer, I took the metro up to Eva's in 18th, where she was hosting her own small Christmas soiree, of cheese and hot wine. Yummy. It was a nice time, visiting with some of her friends whom I hadn't seen in quite a while, as well as snacking on the tasty treats. Headed home before midnight though so I could get a full night's rest in preparation for my own Christmas soiree.
Wednesday December 15th 2010: The most LEGEN-wait for it- DARY day of cooking of my entire life!
Woke up at 9 and got right to work. First dish of the day to prepare: the (reserved only for turkey dinners) mashed potatoes. Now in my mind the mashed potatoes are the best thing about dinner so I definitely wanted to ensure that we had enough. I spent the next hour and half peeling and cutting 5kg of potatoes while watching episodes of Entourage. Time actually went by quite quickly. Since I hadn't noticed the massive pot on top of the highest cupboard at this point yet, I had to boil them in batches. This was probably easier actually since yesterday's shopping mission hadn't yielded a potato masher, so I was forced to mash them by hand. I had just seasoned them up when Annie came by at about 12:30 to help with the food preparations, and brought along her electric mixer, which we used to smooth out the lumps left by my efforts. Dish one done!
About half the potatoes that I peeled and mashed by hand.
Next challenge: the dressing. Also known as stuffing, this is clearly the second best part of turkey dinner, so again, I wanted there to be lots. Also, there had to be enough for the turkeys, but also a reasonable amount left over for the vegetarians in the crowd. After washing, dicing, and tearing the necessary incrediants with the help of Annie, we sauteed it all together and knocked the dressing off the list lickety-split. Things were rolling along quite smoothly.
Challenge 3: The preparation of Turkey 1: Kevin
It was a good thing that the butcher couldn't give me one massive turkey when I was ordering originally, because I wouldn't have had a pan big enough for a bird of that size, nor would I have been able to fit it in my oven. However, this did mean that we had a long afternoon of turkey cooking ahead of us, so we got right to work. First step was stuffing the turkey and oiling it. That's right, I had to touch a dead bird and then stick my hands inside the carcass. Eww. It was actually surprisingly ok and I wasn't too phased. I think the adreneline of the day got me through it. The first bird was in the oven by 3 and we were rolling!
Oiling up Kevin, about to stuff him.
While Kevin was for cooking, Annie and I each got to business on the remaining tasks. I began to cut and peel pounds and pounds of carrots and sweet potatoes while Annie got to work on making brandy butter pudding. By this point, I was getting a little tires of peeling, but the dulcet tones of Stuart McLean christmas stories kept me going. The man is a storytelling genius. My hand was protesting from overuse, so I had to switch grips to the death claw. For the next hour and a half, Annie and I were interrupted from our labours every 15 min as we had to remove Kevin from the oven and baste him. Having been unable to find a turkey baster and being unable to use a spoon to access the juices to baste Kevin, every time we went to baste him, we were forced to tip him his side to get at the juice and douse him, and then repeat on side two. Quite the laborious process. Add in the fact that the pan was burning hot and our oven mitts were not up to par, every 15min presented quite the ordeal. But that was part of the adventure of the day.
Soon enough, Kevin was done and I took him out of the pan and wrapped him in foil and stored him in the microwave. By 5, bird # 2, George was on his way into the oven at 5. Right on pace. Now that we were old pros, we thought we had everything under control. And it was, sort of. Just as David arrived at 6 to lend a hand, we made a realization while attempting to baste Kevin. We
had cleverly decided to leave Kevin's juices in the pot with George so there was lots at the start. Unfortunately we had not forseen that the butter used on the bottom would burn after the first turkey was cooked and that the gravy would start to burn. After a brief moment of panic, we were able to take George out, save the juices, and re grease the pan. George, the second child, of course being the difficult one. Thankfully his tantrum cnly caused a delay of about 15min. I count myself extremely lucky that that was about the only kitchen catastrophy.
At this point, guests could be arriving in about 2 hours. This was a crucial juncture. We still had to prepare, the carrot and sweet potato dish, the bean casserole, bake the potatoes, set the table, decorate the living room and I had to shower. Without Annie and David I don't know whaat I would have done. They took care of the living room and banquet table while I got the carrots and sweet potatoes cooking, set an oven mitt on fire, and prepped the beans. We finally got George out of the over and wrapped, potatoes baking and I finally felt like things were falling into place. After I transformed into my dinner self, I emerged just as the first guests began arriving. The next hour and a half were a blurr as people came in, wine and homemade eggnog were consumed, gravy prepared, cranberry sauce simmered, dishes finally heated and by 9:30 the table was heavily laden. Final count of guests: Myself, Etienne, Loic, Annie, David, Joao, Daniel, Emmanuelle, Maia, Timon, Boudewijn, Eva, Corina, Josh, Glenn and Tom. 16 in total. Ayumi was sick and Emmanuelle's Mexican boyfriend was stuck home writing a paper. Not a bad total.
Glenn carving up George. We even had mistletoe.
The meal itself couldn't have gone smoother. The food was delicious, the turkey oh so moist, the mashed potatoes divine, and the bean casserole a smashing success. Everyone was dressed up and the table was a bubble of chatter. It was an incredible evening. I am so glad that I got to share christmas dinner with all my close friends from this term, many of whom are leaving at the end of January. This was probably the last time we would all be together. That made the evening so much more special.
Finally, after I was so full I almost felt ill, I put on my the classic Stuart McLean christmas story "Dave cooks the turkey", while I cleared the first course. Though I had made a valient effort to keep the kitchen clean throughout the day, it had finally gotten the best of me and there were plates and food everywhere, which I started dealing with, with the help of Timon, as the story played in the living room. After it was done, Annie and I brought out the brandy pudding and set it on fire for the crowd, who were duly impressed. After dishing it up, people lounged around until just after 12, when the rush for the last metro began.
The banquet table and guests. A night to remember.
A few stragglers stayed until about 2:30: Timon, Boudewijn and Corina, as well as Annie and Loic who stayed over. I gave up on the kitchen and retreated the couch for a well deserved rest. Mothers are amazing, how they cook up that feast every year. Its a tough job, and under appreciated. Not by this kid any longer. 12 hours in the kitchen proves that too you. I couldn't have asked for a better night though, one of my most special memories in Paris.
On thursday, I thankfully slept in, and with the help of Loic and Annie, put the kitchen and living room back in order. The entire day was a rush. After the house was in order and I showered, I
walked up to Corina's to return some cutlery. Its amazing how many little things, like chairs and cutlery, are needed to throw a big dinner party. I then went up and walked by the Christmas windows at Galleries Lafayette, which I had heard so much about. They did not disappoint. Some were glamour, some were for children, but the 10s of decorated displays were worth the visit. Afterwards I walked around the neighbourhood for a bit, just having a much needed moment of quiet. Paris streets are wonderful.
Fabulous dresses I saw on my walk.
I headed towards the center of town to pick up a few presents for the family, stopped by school to print off my ticket and headed home to have dinner, sushi, with Etienne and Vassia. Packing finished, I almost stayed in my last night, but then couldn't resist going out with the dutch crowd, to Corcorans, an Irish pub, for a bit of dancing until 3. I enjoyed a very nice bike ride home with Simon. He is the first person I have had to say goodbye to, and its weird to wonder when and if I will ever see some of these friends ever again. Bed by 4. That made for a painful wake up at 7 to get to the airport. But I made it, breezed through check in and security only to discover my plane was delayed an hour. Oh well. But it didn't matter because I was on my way home!!!! Home for Christmas!!!
xx
Thankfully this was not the case with my final essay for History of Chile. After brilliant work sessions on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday morning, I just couldn't finish it off on Sunday night. Sometimes you just need to the deadline to really zone in and focus. This was exactly how it was on Monday. I got up early and champed out the last section, knocked together my bibliography and formatted my footnotes all before my 12:30 class. The essay wasn't even due until midnight, so I still felt so on my game. I ended up editing later that afternoon once I got home and was very pleased with the finished product. Hopefully my prof agrees...
But before that happened I went to my final History of Chile class. I have to say, this was possibly one of the best taught courses I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. Delphine Groues was an exceptional teacher, and I was very lucky to have her. I also have to say another thing that made this class so great was the dynamic between students, thanks to our diner de confs, which happened throughout the semester. Really happy to have taken it, and I hope to have some more jem classes like this one again next semester.
After class I started studying for my final exam for History of Fashion, which would occur the following evening. If you've gone to all your classes and done your readings, most of the work is already done, you just need to study effectively, so I wasn't too worried for the exam, but nevertheless it was only 24hours away so I needed to get cracking. After looking over my notes independently, I met up with Allison to brainstorm possible essay topics and make fake plans, with a problematique, thesis, and evidence that could be marshalled. I find this is the most effective way to study for an essay exam. This way, you are already familiar with the structure and can re-organize your facts to support whatever topic is given. It is the perfect way to link themes and ideas through the whole course, and distill it down. And if you're a real pro, you might even guess the actual exam question and then you're in the driver's seat. Anyways, Allison and I did this prep together, which was great, and though I had only studied for about two hours in total for the exam, already felt pretty good heading in. That night, I edited and submitted my essay as mentioned, did a little bit of studying, and just had a chill night in with Etienne.
Tuesday marked the last 8am (cross my fingers) of my undergraduate career. I really cannot deal with them. My enjoyment of the class was just so diminished by it. However, this final 8am French class was altogether enjoyable. Got my final mark back for the course (very respectable if I say so myself), and then our teacher took us on a walking tour of the St Germain neighbourhood. We walked through tiny back alleyways and streets that really bring out the character of the quartier. Some of it I had already seen, but others not, and I always enjoy just wandering about in this city. Our destination was this small pub called Le Procope. Founded in 1686, the restaurant was one of the major meeting places for revolutionaries during the French Revolution, and even a march on the Tuileries palace left from this very spot. Pretty cool if I say so myself. Inside, the place has maintained the grandeur of its glory days, and has also become a historical museum of sorts, with ancient letters, pictures, newspaper typewriters, and even a hat of Napoleon 1's. We went on a tour of the place, and then the 10 of us enjoyed coffee together, talking with Madame Benoit. It is so interesting talking to your teachers outside of class, about comparisons of France and other countries, politics, gender issues, you name it. They are a wealth of knowledge, and it is interesting to talk to them when they are not your authority figure. Madame even treated us all to the coffees, which was incredibly gracious of her. Even though I was not the biggest fan of French class, I had to say it was a good class solely because she was such a genuinely nice lady, and an old pro in classroom.
I headed for home after class, and on my way home I picked up my two turkeys. As some of you already know, after my Sinterklaas experience, I realized that many of my foreign friends had no idea what a real Canadian Christmas, and thus Christmas dinner, was. I decided that it would be fun to host a few friends and cook up an old fashioned turkey dinner with all the fixings right before everyone took off for the holidays. Fastforward two weeks. My guestlist has ballooned to 18 people and I'm standing in line at my neighbourhood butcher picking up two pre-ordered turkeys, weighing 8kilos, or about 16lbs, (because I couldn't get one that would be big enough - they dont exist apparently in France). I pretty much have a heart attack when the cashier pleasantly informs that will be 158 euros - approximately 200 CND. Thats right, I payed 200 dollars for 16lbs of turkey. All I could say as I was walking down the street with my two birds muttering that these had better be the best damn turkeys I have ever had.
Once I deposited my precious cargo in the fridge, I had lunch and did some more review for my exam at 5 before heading out to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the supplies for the feast. You may ask why I didn't opt for a potluck. Well straight up I wanted a real christmas dinner, and I didn't trust others to make it the way my mom does, so after a good hour of Skyping with mom on the previous saturday, armed with my list, I marched off to Monoprix. It was quite the armful, and when over half your guests are 20ish year old males, I figured it was better to guess high and get extra than to run out. I will say I am constantly impressed by how cheap vegetables are. I really need to become a veggie, it would be so much friendlier on the student budget. Or at least start by not buying 160 euros worth of organic turkey...
Anyways, I knocked off everything on my list for the cooking marathon that would by my Wednesday, and got back home with just enough time to unpack, do some last minute review and head off to face my exam. I have to say, I think Elodie (teacher), was being nice, because the question was so broad, there was no way you couldn't have had loads to say about the topic. If anything, you had to be selective so that you wouldn't run out of time, that is how much you could say about "Fashion and social status". An endless discussion. Long story short, I put down my pencil with maybe 10 seconds to spare with a fierce hand cramp, but nevertheless pleased with my effort. Hopefully it correlates to another good mark. And with that, I AM DONE TERM 1 BABY!!! Well, pretty much. Just have two exams now in January, but at least I was done for 2010! (Gotta take what you can get).
Post exam, I got treated for the second time that day to a drink bought by the teacher (score!), this time by Elodie, at the campus watering hole, Le Basile. About 8 of us came, and enjoyed some chats about the class, Sc Po and its successes and failing concerning international students etc. Also got to question Elodie about her elusive past. She is pretty much the coolest (and most fashionable) professor ever. She is also hilarious because she puts on this big show of being mean, but she is actually really nice, and her life always seems to be a bit of gongshow/struggle. Anyways, turns out she did her masters chronicalling the development of the Maison Yves St Lauren (so cool), and became friends with M. St Laurent, and they had weekly wednesday afternoon coffees together for a couple of years. She actually went into the industry for awhile, but got out because it is too drama and backstabbing, and now just does consulting work, for labels like Chanel and Dior. We also asked her about her hatred of Ohio, which stems from a stay she had while doing her PhD where she got asked out on a date to Taco Bell. Pretty pleasing. Needless to say, these stories confirmed my earlier statements of how much fun it is to talk to your teachers outside of class and get to see a whole new side of them. I commend Sc Po for encouraging this more so than UBC. It is fabulous.
After this lovely beer, I took the metro up to Eva's in 18th, where she was hosting her own small Christmas soiree, of cheese and hot wine. Yummy. It was a nice time, visiting with some of her friends whom I hadn't seen in quite a while, as well as snacking on the tasty treats. Headed home before midnight though so I could get a full night's rest in preparation for my own Christmas soiree.
Wednesday December 15th 2010: The most LEGEN-wait for it- DARY day of cooking of my entire life!
Woke up at 9 and got right to work. First dish of the day to prepare: the (reserved only for turkey dinners) mashed potatoes. Now in my mind the mashed potatoes are the best thing about dinner so I definitely wanted to ensure that we had enough. I spent the next hour and half peeling and cutting 5kg of potatoes while watching episodes of Entourage. Time actually went by quite quickly. Since I hadn't noticed the massive pot on top of the highest cupboard at this point yet, I had to boil them in batches. This was probably easier actually since yesterday's shopping mission hadn't yielded a potato masher, so I was forced to mash them by hand. I had just seasoned them up when Annie came by at about 12:30 to help with the food preparations, and brought along her electric mixer, which we used to smooth out the lumps left by my efforts. Dish one done!
About half the potatoes that I peeled and mashed by hand. Next challenge: the dressing. Also known as stuffing, this is clearly the second best part of turkey dinner, so again, I wanted there to be lots. Also, there had to be enough for the turkeys, but also a reasonable amount left over for the vegetarians in the crowd. After washing, dicing, and tearing the necessary incrediants with the help of Annie, we sauteed it all together and knocked the dressing off the list lickety-split. Things were rolling along quite smoothly.
Challenge 3: The preparation of Turkey 1: Kevin
It was a good thing that the butcher couldn't give me one massive turkey when I was ordering originally, because I wouldn't have had a pan big enough for a bird of that size, nor would I have been able to fit it in my oven. However, this did mean that we had a long afternoon of turkey cooking ahead of us, so we got right to work. First step was stuffing the turkey and oiling it. That's right, I had to touch a dead bird and then stick my hands inside the carcass. Eww. It was actually surprisingly ok and I wasn't too phased. I think the adreneline of the day got me through it. The first bird was in the oven by 3 and we were rolling!
Oiling up Kevin, about to stuff him. While Kevin was for cooking, Annie and I each got to business on the remaining tasks. I began to cut and peel pounds and pounds of carrots and sweet potatoes while Annie got to work on making brandy butter pudding. By this point, I was getting a little tires of peeling, but the dulcet tones of Stuart McLean christmas stories kept me going. The man is a storytelling genius. My hand was protesting from overuse, so I had to switch grips to the death claw. For the next hour and a half, Annie and I were interrupted from our labours every 15 min as we had to remove Kevin from the oven and baste him. Having been unable to find a turkey baster and being unable to use a spoon to access the juices to baste Kevin, every time we went to baste him, we were forced to tip him his side to get at the juice and douse him, and then repeat on side two. Quite the laborious process. Add in the fact that the pan was burning hot and our oven mitts were not up to par, every 15min presented quite the ordeal. But that was part of the adventure of the day.
Soon enough, Kevin was done and I took him out of the pan and wrapped him in foil and stored him in the microwave. By 5, bird # 2, George was on his way into the oven at 5. Right on pace. Now that we were old pros, we thought we had everything under control. And it was, sort of. Just as David arrived at 6 to lend a hand, we made a realization while attempting to baste Kevin. We
had cleverly decided to leave Kevin's juices in the pot with George so there was lots at the start. Unfortunately we had not forseen that the butter used on the bottom would burn after the first turkey was cooked and that the gravy would start to burn. After a brief moment of panic, we were able to take George out, save the juices, and re grease the pan. George, the second child, of course being the difficult one. Thankfully his tantrum cnly caused a delay of about 15min. I count myself extremely lucky that that was about the only kitchen catastrophy.At this point, guests could be arriving in about 2 hours. This was a crucial juncture. We still had to prepare, the carrot and sweet potato dish, the bean casserole, bake the potatoes, set the table, decorate the living room and I had to shower. Without Annie and David I don't know whaat I would have done. They took care of the living room and banquet table while I got the carrots and sweet potatoes cooking, set an oven mitt on fire, and prepped the beans. We finally got George out of the over and wrapped, potatoes baking and I finally felt like things were falling into place. After I transformed into my dinner self, I emerged just as the first guests began arriving. The next hour and a half were a blurr as people came in, wine and homemade eggnog were consumed, gravy prepared, cranberry sauce simmered, dishes finally heated and by 9:30 the table was heavily laden. Final count of guests: Myself, Etienne, Loic, Annie, David, Joao, Daniel, Emmanuelle, Maia, Timon, Boudewijn, Eva, Corina, Josh, Glenn and Tom. 16 in total. Ayumi was sick and Emmanuelle's Mexican boyfriend was stuck home writing a paper. Not a bad total.
Glenn carving up George. We even had mistletoe. The meal itself couldn't have gone smoother. The food was delicious, the turkey oh so moist, the mashed potatoes divine, and the bean casserole a smashing success. Everyone was dressed up and the table was a bubble of chatter. It was an incredible evening. I am so glad that I got to share christmas dinner with all my close friends from this term, many of whom are leaving at the end of January. This was probably the last time we would all be together. That made the evening so much more special.
Finally, after I was so full I almost felt ill, I put on my the classic Stuart McLean christmas story "Dave cooks the turkey", while I cleared the first course. Though I had made a valient effort to keep the kitchen clean throughout the day, it had finally gotten the best of me and there were plates and food everywhere, which I started dealing with, with the help of Timon, as the story played in the living room. After it was done, Annie and I brought out the brandy pudding and set it on fire for the crowd, who were duly impressed. After dishing it up, people lounged around until just after 12, when the rush for the last metro began.
The banquet table and guests. A night to remember. On thursday, I thankfully slept in, and with the help of Loic and Annie, put the kitchen and living room back in order. The entire day was a rush. After the house was in order and I showered, I
walked up to Corina's to return some cutlery. Its amazing how many little things, like chairs and cutlery, are needed to throw a big dinner party. I then went up and walked by the Christmas windows at Galleries Lafayette, which I had heard so much about. They did not disappoint. Some were glamour, some were for children, but the 10s of decorated displays were worth the visit. Afterwards I walked around the neighbourhood for a bit, just having a much needed moment of quiet. Paris streets are wonderful.
Fabulous dresses I saw on my walk. I headed towards the center of town to pick up a few presents for the family, stopped by school to print off my ticket and headed home to have dinner, sushi, with Etienne and Vassia. Packing finished, I almost stayed in my last night, but then couldn't resist going out with the dutch crowd, to Corcorans, an Irish pub, for a bit of dancing until 3. I enjoyed a very nice bike ride home with Simon. He is the first person I have had to say goodbye to, and its weird to wonder when and if I will ever see some of these friends ever again. Bed by 4. That made for a painful wake up at 7 to get to the airport. But I made it, breezed through check in and security only to discover my plane was delayed an hour. Oh well. But it didn't matter because I was on my way home!!!! Home for Christmas!!!
xx
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