Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

A trip to Strasbourg, "la capitale de Noel", was like passing in to one of our christmas village set ups at home (sans snow unfortunately). But nonetheless, incredibly spiriting. Also, taking trains places is so awesome cause it’s so much less stressful and it takes less time and you can do things on the train and see pretty countryside views. Anyways, big fan of trains, on to the weekend.

Season: Liv and I met up for brunch before getting on the train to Strasbourg on Friday at this healthy trendy brunch spot in the 3rd that some girls had recommended to Liv. We shared an acai bowl and a quinoa salad. I hadn’t had an acai bowl in forever so it war pretty good - as was the salad. But I could have really gone for some eggs. The mugs were so cute though they were big and homey.

Train went off scotch free (again yay trains), and then we met Liz and Izzy at our airbnb which was a 5 minute walk from the train station. Strasbourg is a really cute city with a lot of cobble stone streets and little houses. The city center is also on an island and there’s a canal that runs around it, which kind of reminded me of Amsterdam. However, the city definitely reflects its history of constantly switching possessions of France and Germany. The city reminded me of a mix Paris and Munich. At every crepe place there were also pretzels. Sausages and spatzle were just as common as baguettes. The languages on every menu were in French, English, and German.

We headed straight out to the markets as that was the main event. There are lights EVERYWHERE on every street, so we started at the perfect time as it was just getting dark out. What I didn’t realize was that there isn’t just one big area where all the market vendors set up but lots of markets all over the city! There are 20 markets or something like that. And all of the normal stores were even christmas themed. It was just one big christmas wonderland.

Each market was slightly different but the vendors there were tons of beautiful hand painted ornaments, traditional christmas cookies, candles, lanterns, “pain d’épices” (spiced bread, kind of like gingerbread but loaves of it with all different flavors), jams, teas, wines, beers, liquors, hats, gloves, tablecloths, mugs, bowls, really anything you can think of. And as for food there were tons of crepes, waffles, “baguette flambée”s, sausages, spatzle, and of course “vin chaud”. There were probably three vin chaud stands at every market. It’s warm wine with mulling spices and is utterly delicious.

ornament stand!

ceramic french houses - perfect for the village!
but i didn't buy one :( you're welcome mom

classic christmas cookies

delicious waffle from the luxembourg market - it was different and doughy but warm fresh and SO good

So we spent Friday evening scoping out the markets so that we could get a feel of what had the best stuff to go back to tomorrow. Our vin chaud kept us warm while our toes started freezing up. Then we picked up some cheese and bread along with a bottle of Alsacian wine to head back to our airbnb where we had a little apero session that just turned in to a quite delicious dinner. It’s so nice to just hang out in an apartment with friends some times after being in a home stay for so long.

By 9:30 or 10 we decided we had to leave or we would just fall asleep. So we decided to go to a latino bar that our airbnb host had recommended. It was a little tough to motivate since it was a 20 minute walk away (basically all the way across Strasbourg lol) and it was freezing outside but we bucked up and did it. The bar was on a boat docked to the side of the river and in the basement there was a pretty lively bar with a disco ball and lots of spanish music. We got some mojitos as recommended by trip advisor and our airbnb host. Soon after a huge crowd of people dressed in santa hats came in. I’m thinking it was the Strasbourg equivalent of “santa con”. They seemed to be a lot of drunk english students…. and we were not quite on their level… so we sat at a table on the edge feeling super ~parisian~ and judgmental, had a few drinks, danced a bit, and headed home! We were really glad that we went out at night because the streets were a lot less crowded than they had been earlier and we could get good pictures of the lights.

Saturday morning was met with a slow series of unfortunate events… We discovered we needed to be out of the airbnb at noon and we weren’t allowed to leave our baggage there. So we headed to the train station to put our things in a storage locker there. However, the storage locker service is temporarily closed because of security measures concerning the recent attacks. It makes sense but was suuuuuuuper inconvenient. I immediately regretted bringing my laptop to pretend to do work on the train.

Nonetheless, we took the blows in stride and stopped by a patisserie for some nourishment. After we spent a bit eating a croissant and café allongé while sitting on a bench next to the river we felt a bit more ready to conquer the markets.

We started off in la petite france which is an adorable area of the city with old school houses and great restaurants. After that we basically walked all around the city, stopped at lots of markets, then decided to make our way to lunch in la petite france. As did every other person in strasbourg. Apparently you’re supposed to make reservations for basically all the restaurants there and we of course had no idea. Yet we were able to find what seemed like an authentic alsacian restaurant right by the river. When we walked in I felt like I was in a ski chalet. Everything was warm wooden and cozy and there were christmas decorations everywhere. Pretty much everything on the menu was heavy beef and potatoes (classic germany). So we opted for the munster salads and some foie gras (I think alsace might be famous for their foie gras…?). I also think munster cheese is a big thing there. Anyways, it was a good meal and we were energized enough to head back out in to the markets.

But first we wanted to go inside the famous Strasbourg Cathedral of Notre Dame. We arrived, saw the enormous mob of people trying to get in, and promptly turned back around. (If anyone asks we went inside). After walking around the markets a bit longer we decided there were FAR too many people around and we needed to hide out until most decided to disappear for dinner. So we set up camp with some tea in another cute wooden chalet-esque café for an hour or so.

cathedral... from really up close because there were so many people there was no chance at getting a clear shot from far away

the crew looking festive in front of a christmas tree

After tea we headed out to do our final round of shopping. Everyone at this point knew exactly what they wanted and where to get it so we headed to the markets by the cathedral for one last swoop. By then it was 6:30 so we still had some more time to kill before our train, but could not stand to be out in the cold any longer. So we sat down AGAIN at a restaurant paviano? i think it was called. Apparently it was a chain but it seemed lovely. Wonderful business structure and great decor. lol. I didn’t have any food but it did look quite delicious. By the end of the day with all of our market exploration (interspersed with several sporadic café breaks) we were quite exhausted and ready to get back to Paris. So we headed to the train, I grabbed some dinner from crossainterie in the station, and here I am currently writing this instead of my art history essay! We’ll be back to Paris in about 40 minutes so I guess I should work on my essay but I really don’t want to. However, I guess now that I’ve finished this I’ve run out of fake productive things to do. Maybe I’ll make a to do list. That’s always “productive”.

me, izzy, liz and our vin chaud!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

I don't know why I still go to class, I'm just really hoping my PEC professor doesn't fail me.

After econ I went to Matamata to grab some lunch and study (aka blog) before going to a ballet barre class with affordable yoga. I had the quiche which was some chicken vegetable mix that was very good and interesting but a lil cold :( I was going to ask them to heat it up longer but the guy behind the counter actually recognized me this time so I didn't want to seem like a snooty jerk. He asked if I had a good Thanksgiving to which I replied "I spent the weekend in London" and he was like "oh." I tried to explain how that related to Thanksgiving but failed
so I think he thought I just misunderstood.

Matamata Cappuccino

I really like this ballet barre class that I've gone too. The teacher is really energetic and funny but also pushes you hard. It seems a little ridiculous at first but she's actually a great workout teacher probably the best class I've been to. Some people were getting tired and she was like "If you're hot step outside. Take breaks if you need to. But all of my american friends I expect you to keep going till you throw up!" and then she starts leading the next kick thingmajig whatever haha. Another favorite "enough of this lazy european lifestyle guys get to work". But she's also inspirational being all be thankful you have a body that moves you're beautiful yada yada.

Spent the afternoon at snack and chill working on my art history essay and made like some progress but not nearly enough as I should have... where oh where has my productivity gone?

For dinner we had beef and potatoes. The beef was so raw that my host mom had to cut it with a mini chainsaw (this is typical). Then fromage blanc with a cherry coulis for dessert.

Tuesday morning was my last macro course!!! We have an exam next week but we don't have the lecture course so it will only be an hour and a half. Natalie and I woke up early and went to Starbucks (necessary as of late) though I screwed up and got a café allongé (evidently different from filter coffee). I also recharged my navigo for the last time *sheds tear* not really I hate navigo ever since I got fined for forgetting to recharge it last month grrrrrr.

Little Café Breizh: After econ Natalie, Ben and I met Liz and Wheeler at this famous crêperie in the saint-germain area. It's a small little café so we had to wait a while but it was worth it. We got the lunch menu which consisted of a savory crêpe, sweet crêpe, and a drink. So ham egg and cheese buckwheat crêpe, a butter and sugar sweet crêpe, and cider for me. The cider was actually very good. I've realized cider with crêpes is a common pairing. Our waitress was so bizarre though. She either had a crush on Ben or was just very nervous/out of it because she kept dropping things and misunderstanding us and apologizing. Regardless, great crêpe restaurant.

Then we walked through the luxembourg gardens on the way to EDUCO, although they're pretty barren now they're still beautiful. We learned about consonants in phonetics (woo) then Natalie and I took a leisurely walk home down the streets that are all lit up with Christmas lights :) We also spent some time in la grand épicerie which is all decked out for christmas as well. And saw the biggest hunk of parmesan cheese I've ever seen.

Wednesday morning I woke up for a run before class. I was then quite surprised to walk in to the kitchen to find Pierre skinning the hare that he caught while hunting in the countryside this past weekend. If you are squeamish then please skim past the next photo quickly. I think I was too in shock to be nauseous, but I most definitely did not stick around home for breakfast.

Coutume Institutti: After class I did some errands in the Saint-Michel area before setting down at the Coutume Institutti before class. This is the original coutume café that I've mentioned multiple times before. It was much larger and airy-er but very crowded and the tables are narrow. I got a coffee and a salad along with a little banana bread as a treat pre-art history 3 hour death class.

In art history we had some woman come in to talk about contemporary video art which was naht my favorite. A little cool. mostly weird.

For dinner at home we had beef and potatoes with Poires de Belle-Hélène for dessert. Margot told us it's a classic french dessert. It's pear slices with vanilla ice cream, a chocolate ganache, and toasted almonds on top yum yum yum.

Thursday I was feeling a bit under the weather so I had a lazy morning and did some work in the apartment after trying and failing to work out to break the haze.

Nanashi: Met Liv, Liz, and Wheeler at this asian type lunch restaurant bento box place in the 3rd. Still not exactly sure what to call the cuisine haha but it's basically a healthy asian restaurant. I got a bento box with some white fish that I don't know but it was good!

Following lunch we slowly made our way to phonetics (which consisted of a quite thorough search for a starbucks sry not sry). Phonetics was average. Talked about "semi-voyelles/consonnes"! woo!

For Art History we "had" to go to this art exhibition/tour out in the 18th arrondissement (aka miles away from anything and everything) at 6 pm. We were all pissed and knew no one would go because it didn't count for a grade but we knew if we went we would be in her good graces and she'd probably give us a good grade on our final paper. So Liv, Evan, Natalie and I wandered out to the 18th and it's a good thing we did because we were the only 4 that showed up. Until about 20 minutes later when Mayumi and Kailey walked in late. (There are a good 20 people in our class....) So we better get brownie points for that.

Du Pain et Des Idées: To make the trek to the 18th worth it we decided to stop at this famous patisserie on the way. They are known for their escargot pastries (think: pain aux raisins) but they have lots of different flavors. So we all split 5: 1 chocolate pistachio, one cream cheese and red fruits, 1 praline, and 2 hazelnut coffee. They were SO good. I think the cream cheese and red fruits may have been my favorite, or praline. Chocolat pistache though is like my dream flavor combo. And I liked the café noisette too! Even though everyone else said that was the least of the best. Anyways, highly recommend this place. Their breads also looked UNREAL so we will definitely be going back next time we have a bread and cheese sesh.

two photos were necessarily because they were that good

Le Plateau: This is the exhibition session our art history thing was at. It's a small space that looks like a typical contemporary art gallery: cement and spacious. They apparently switch the exhibitions every two months or so. It's either all of one artist's work or a few artists together. This artist basically set up a japanese home in the space. But it was like modern and had a bunch of wire objects and pots in it. I don't know how to describe it - it was weird and I was not in the mood to delve deep in to contemporary art.

For dinner Thursday night our family was planning on cooking "le lièvre" (hare) that Pierre caught, so they invited Natalie and I to join them even though we had already had 3 dinners with them that week. Margot made a vegetable soup to start (I think it had pumpkin in it) and then we had the hare that had been marinated in red wine and cognac with lots of vegetables and spices, along with some potatoes. Pierre also broke out one of the wines that my parents brought and was very excited to try it :) He had kept saying that he was waiting for a special time to try it will all of us so I was honored that he broke it out with the hare!

Side note: on the cultural difference level I loled because Christel was chastising Gaelle for not having 5 fruits or vegetables a day. And then Gaelle said she had an apple and a potato. (The potato was not disputed as a vegetable)

A Very British Thanksgiving

First off, big thanks to the Greene family for adopting me this holiday season :)

Liv and I took the Eurostar from Paris Thursday afternoon which was supposed to get to London around 630. Unfortunately, we were delayed 45 minutes or so because of immigrants trying to sneak in to the chunnel. So we missed the cocktails and chowder, but we still made it to Liv's just in time for the main meal! We sat down around 8:30 for dinner which would have been blasphemous in the US haha but it was good because I was actually hungry again.

Mrs. Greene made the whole meal with all the works, turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, and carrots! There was no bread and the stuffing had cranberries and walnuts in it so michael and brian may have not survived but I was a very happy camper. Mr. Greene made a toast when we sat down to dinner which started off with "To religious persecution!" I nearly died laughing. I think that was the first time I heard that one. Sounded like an Uncle Steve joke. Then for dessert there was pecan pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and an apple berry pie. I had the pecan and apple berry with some homemade whipped cream which were both delicious.

Friday morning Liv and I set out to explore London. She lives in Kensington so we walked her dogs around her neighborhood with her Mom in the morning then stopped at a café for brunch near the high street. I must talk about Liv's dogs for a second because they are SO cute. Maisey is the softest dog I've ever held. You pick her up and she just molds in to whatever shape fits your arms and licks your face. Rolo is an older king charles but still adorable and they cuddle together in their little dog bed :)

Café Phillies: This is the café we had brunch at in Kensington. We had really good scrambled eggs with avocado and smoked salmon, along with a berry smoothie. The café also baked their own cakes which smelled amazing although we didn't have any.

After brunch we took a red double decker bus (yay!) to the corner of Hyde Park (I think..? Liv directed me everywhere...) It was unusually warm that day but "spitting" (as I've discovered it always is in London). From the bus we walked through all the touristy sites like...

Buckingham Palace: If I were to live in a palace I'd probably pick a different one but Buckingham is still pretty dang cool. We missed the changing on the guards but the little guys were still there marching around.

Westminster Abbey:

Me: "What's that building?"

Liv: "Oh I have no idea" *looks at google maps* "Shoot it's Westminster Abbey"

We were going to go inside then found out it was 17 pounds... haha nope!

Big Ben: The clouds started to part just as we were walking by Big Ben so he looked pretty fabulous. Though Liv told me he's not doing so hot and there's a huge debate whether they should spend the millions of pounds to fix him or not :(

Also saw the London eye from a distance, went in a telephone booth, walked along the river and through Picadilly, then took the tube to Shoreditch!

Shoreditch is the cool new area of London that I would equate to Brooklyn. There are a ton of cool concept stores, trendy cafés, graffiti wall murals, and vintage shops. Liv had never been and we both loved it! There was this huge vintage market in the basement of some store that we combed through for a while in search of costumes for our Oxford bop to no avail. But I did buy a cool pair of sunglasses! We also tried to get our nails done at this funky salon that was also a café and cinema but they were all booked.

Dock Kitchen: Liv's family took us out to dinner Friday night to this nice mediterranean restaurant along the canal. I had ceviche and sea bass which were verrrry good. They also gave us stellar flatbread with olive oil to start. For dessert they messed up my order but Liv's pistachio and nutmeg cake was very good. The restaurant also had a really cool ambiance with brick walls, fun lights, and huge windows. Would be really cool to sit outside there in the summer I'm sure.

After dinner we met Liv's other sister and her friend at this pizza restaurant in Kensington for a drink - pizza also looked really good!

Saturday morning Liv and I slept in then went to the gym and came back to her house to make some scrambled eggs. Felt like I was actually at home having a nice lazy morning it was incredible. After that we walked to a costume shop in Kensington to get our gear for white and black swan. Then we took the tube to Sloane Square for tea. (But first we waited at a bus stop for a solid 15 minutes before realizing the bus we needed didn't stop there...)

Saatchi Gallery: My one request while in London was to have tea. So Liv took us to this cool modern little restaurant in a courtyard behind Sloane Square where her sister is going to be having her rehearsal dinner next may. The tea was delicious! They had finger sandwiches, scones, and some little cupcakes/macaroons. We also got a few sides of veggies that went well with the sandwiches. I got sencha green tea. The jam and clotted cream on the scone was the real winner though.

After tea we met up with Liv's friend Megan to drive out to Oxford! The drive was really quick, about an hour to a park and ride just outside town where we took a bus for about 10 minutes to the center. We met at her friend CJ's "accommodation" aka dorm room to cook dinner. We had chips and guac and made fajitas while drinking wine in their kitchen - everyone was so nice and fun and I got to learn a bit about Oxford life haha. It was cool to see what a British university is like. Then we got ready and went to the "bop"! Bop's are basically a party that each college throws, usually twice or three times a term. There are 30 colleges at Oxford and this one was thrown by Christ Church which is apparently the most famous for their bops. One year apparently a guy lit himself on fire in the middle of the costume (to be fair it was part of his costume). This year the theme was "celebrity duos" so Liv and I dressed up as white and black swan. We had originally planned on wearing nice dresses since they were the only things Liv had... but then we were told to "wear nothing you care about" and "there will be jelly involved". So we each borrowed tshirts to wear over our dresses. Thank god we did because my white shirt was tie-dyed pink by the end of the night. I only got to see Oxford at night but it was GORGEOUS. Straight out of Harry Potter. The courtyards were majestic looking and there was a huge christmas tree in the middle of them. The bop was in what was probably a common room or event space in one of the dorms. It had wooden floors, a little stage with lights and speakers at one end, and a bar at the other. They serve "bop juice" which is basically punch (don't ask me what's in it). You pay 1 pound for 3 drinks (if i had to guess it was some sort of alcohol with red bull in one cup, orange juice in another, and a cola in the third). But since the party is run by the students it's all your friends behind the bar. So I paid for our first round of drinks and then the guy with the blue frozen glasses and orange carrot nose is just like "nah nah no more, free drinks all night!" The party ended at 12 pretty early but then everyone was in the dorms for a lot longer. They're dorm rooms are again BEAUTIFUL. The one we were in had two single rooms and then a common area with dark mahogany walls, sofas and chairs and huge windows. Looks like some prime minister's office - not a college kid's dorm room. 

Sunday morning was pretty rough - but Liv made it up to drive us home to London in time for me to catch my flight. So I thanked the Greene's again for having me, ate some thanksgiving leftovers of turkey soup and stuffing, then headed to the airport! I bought some Cadbury chocolate on the way out of course.

This was my last big trip (though stay tuned for Strasbourg on Friday!) which is pretty sad. Can't believe my semester in Paris is coming to an end. But London was a great last weekend trip and I know I will be back :)

Paris Paris Paris

It hit me today that I have less than four weeks left in Paris :( I'm kind of getting nostalgic already and feeling the need to do all of my favorite things as much as I can and check off all the things I still haven't done!

Monday after class I headed to the latin quarter to get a crêpe from Aup'tit Grec where I got that amazing crêpe a few weeks ago. I showed up at 11 right when they opened and they still weren't ready for customers... but the man was very nice and offered to make me a crêpe as long as it wasn't too complicated. So I got one of the fixed ones (feta cheese, eggplant caviar, lettuce, and tomatoes). It was very good but I was sad he wouldn't let me add an egg, my last one was better. Though I still think Aup'tit Grec has awesome crêpes, something about the batter...

Strada Café: Spent Monday afternoon studying in this café in the latin quarter. It was very full (probably all americans) but most everyone was studying so it wasn't too loud. My cappuccino was good, food didn't look great, but it was a nice study environment. Everyone was very nice and there were huge windows everywhere.

Monday afternoon I went on a run even though it was FREEZING. And then Margot made pork with a mushroom cream sauce for dinner accompanies by a green bean/pasta mix and a salad. Then we had some cheese (camembert and something else I don't know), followed be crème anglaise with crispy crêpe crackers for dessert!

Tuesday morning had endless macro again, so we decided we deserved another ~Parisian~ lunch and a glass of wine before phonetics. Hey, we only have so little time left.

La Jacobine: This restaurant is right across from cept-figue down the adorable couloir in Odéon. It was rainy and gross and cold today so I was so happy to sit down here. I got a salad which was filled with delicious vegetables, chicken, AND a slice of quiche! In the salad! Bread was also very good and my white wine was nice.

Gosselin: On my way home from phonetics I was hungry so I stopped in the boulangerie across the street for a little snack. I decided to get some choquettes which I have seen everywhere but didn't know what they were. They were SO good. Arguably one of my favorite pastries. They're little cream puffs (but no cream in the middle, misleading) with large chunks of sugar on the outside. They were a little salty but mostly sweet. And they were bite sized so it was a perfect snack before dinner.

For dinner Margot made a Tartiflette for dinner which she said is a classic winter dish that people often have in the mountains when they're skiing. It's kind of like a casserole with potatoes, ham, onions, and reblochon cheese melted on top in a gratin form. It was delicious! And perfect for the chilly day! Then we had it with a salad and fruit for dessert.

After dinner Pierre helped me with my art history essay and reworked my grammar. It was sooo helpful. I had a bunch of little mistakes but mostly it's just interesting how french people just phrase things differently from americans. It was also funny because the american keyboard is different from the french keyboard so it's tough to find the keys and such. But Pierre caught on to the accent shortcuts really quickly!

Wednesday I went to class then pilates, then stopped at cojean for a quick lunch. Had a meeting with a tutor for one of my econ classes but she also scheduled 3 other tutoring sessions at the same time so it was a bit of a mess.... after art history I came home for dinner then Natalie, Liz, Wheeler and I went to go see the hunger games! French movie theaters are so nice the chairs are so cushy and I hadn't had popcorn in forever so I was v happy. Not to mention I've been waiting to see the hunger games forever (although I will admit the whole series tanked a bit toward the end, i'm still loyal and enjoyed the movie)

Thursday was Thanksgiving!! I went on a run in the morning before phonetics but then phonetics was cancelled lol

Du Pied de Fouet: Since phonetics was cancelled Natalie, Liv, Wheeler and I decided to have another relaxing lunch at this café/brasserie in the 6th (friendsgiving!). I showed up at the wrong restaurant at first (ugh apple maps) but made it there eventually. It was small and our waitress was pretty pushy/rushed. But my salad was good.

After lunch I went to La Durée to get some macaroons for Liv's family and we were off to London!

Bleu, Blanc, Rouge

Coming back to Paris after the weekend was a little rattling, but it did feel like coming home. The city has been through a lot and is still going through a lot. I don't want to use my blog to discuss the attacks in detail because I have so much to say and I know I won't be able to say it eloquently here. Instead, I'll continue to use the blog to record the highlights of my study abroad. Because despite all that has happened, Paris is still the glorious city it always has been and continues to persevere to keep living life and enjoying all it has to offer. "Même pas peur"

Monday was a bit of a strange day, as everyone was still a bit in shock and not very sure how to react. The streets were as empty as I'd ever seen them. Every student on the way in to school now has to show their student ID and get their bag checked. However, my professor said nothing about the events of that weekend. My french friend in my class didn't even mention them, and instead cheerily asked how I was doing.

a little uplifting graffiti on the steps of pont jacques <3

Matamata Café: This is a new zealand style café in the 2nd arrondissement that Liz recommended to me a while back. I decided to try it out and loved it! I've been there 3 times since haha. And I've run in to Liz every time I've gone. I got a yummy lentil, sweet potato and spinach curry that came with a little side salad and toast. Their coffee is also very good and I got a peanut butter chocolate gluten free cookie which was also delicious. There are a few small tables upstairs and one large table downstairs with comfy chairs. It's a little dark in the basement but not as bad as arobase. And it's usually just people working so it's quiet! Though the café can have a bit of an eclectic playlist going at times haha.

Monday evening we had a meeting with our program directors but they didn't really have anything new to say. Then we had dinner with our host family, I did some work and went to bed.

Tuesday morning came yet another 3.5 hour macro class and by the end Natalie, Ben, and I were pretty beat. So we decided to treat ourselves to a nice little lunch before phonetics.

Cept-Figue: The three of us made our way down the little "couloir" in Odéon to get to Ben's favorite restaurant. We decided that a "couloir" is really the only way to describe it because it is far too narrow to be a street and far too cute to be an alleyway. I got an avocado and cucumber tartare along with a chicken salad and we split a bottle of wine. Perfect way to relax on a chilly day before phonetics. Definitely loosened us up a bit too. Our phonetics teacher did say that two glasses in is when you'll be at the height of your speaking talents!

On our way to class I stopped to get a "Latte noisette caramel" ....from starbucks. But I have to say this christmas drink is actually very good and not too sweet for me. The red cup is also a nice little pick me up so I've gotten it a few times since then (sue me).

After phonetics Ben, Natalie, Evan, and I went to La République to see the memorials. It was my first time venturing to that part of town since the attacks and I wasn't really sure what to expect. We were shocked at first by all of the television vans surrounding the plaza. In the center of La République was a beautiful memorial with lots of flowers, candles, signs, stuffed animals, little knick knacks, and lots of people. Seeing the memorials really made me feel better about everything going on. The sayings on all of the signs were very powerful and showed the strength of Paris. "Même pas peur" (The same, without fear) ; "Nous devons apprendre à vivre ensemble comme des frères, sinon nous allons mourir tous ensemble comme les idiots" (We must learn to live together like brothers, otherwise we will all die together like idiots) It really showed the unity of the city and how we're all in this together. We took our time reading all the signs, taking it all in, lit a candle, and then headed home.

Wednesday I went to class. Then I can't remember UGH. Then maybe I went to matamata? I had art history in the evening again then went home for dinner.

Thursday it was rainy but I didn't realize so I set out to go for a run then realized it was FREEZING. But Pierre already saw me leave for a run so I couldn't wimp out. So I went back grabbed a vest and continued on my way. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was but it was pretty wet and cold.

Then I was lazying around the apartment before phonetics so Pierre invited me to have lunch with the family! It was the first time I was invited for lunch at home. We had chicken, potatoes, and fruit for dessert. My family is still bent on teaching me how to cut the skin off of my fruit using a fork and knife and I'm awful at it. (They say all the toxins are in the skin) So everyone sat there for a good 20 minutes while I tried to eat my pear with a fork and knife. But they were all very nice and patient and chatted with me while I struggled to eat my fruit.

Thursday night my friends and I planned to make dinner again at Liz's apartment! So after phonetics Natalie and I headed to "trick or treat" (store that sells all american food items) to buy brownie and cookie mix to make slutty brownies. We also stopped at la fromagerie de grenelle which we had been to before to get cheese. I tried to ask for an aged goat cheese and kept saying "un chèvre plus vieux" which does mean older so I had no idea why it was so difficult for her to understand me. Natalie couldn't even help out because we just could not comprehend another way to pronounce "vieux". We had just learned it in phonetics for heaven's sake! Ben later informed me that french people refer to aged cheese as "bien âgé" duh. French is so contextual if you don't use the EXACT phrase everyone uses you're screwed. Then we went to Nelly Julien to get baguettes! The baguettes céreales were awesome (basically whole grain). We also stopped at starbucks for another caramel hazelnut latte ugh sorry ruining the french-ness.

Dinner at Liz's was very fun once again :) Stocked up on wine from franprix and Liv and Ben brought back pasta from Italy for us to cook! So we made a salad with tomatoes and avocado to start, followed by pasta with tomatoes and zucchini, and chicken on the side. Then of course came the cheese course, and slutty brownies for dessert! Liv and I were in charge of the slutty brownies and forgot to put the timer on (whoops) so we took them out as soon as we smelt them and they looked great.... turned out they were goop. But really who's going to complain about gooey brownies? The gooey-ness also went really well with the speculos butter we found in Liz's cupboard tehe.

awful photo

Friday morning I stayed in bed until 1 watching Gossip Girl cause it was rainy and gross... but then I got hungry and finally made moves to go meet Liv, Liz, and Izzy at Matamata. I got a quiche for lunch/brunch and then did some work for the rest of the afternoon. Stopped in to a cute little boutiquey vintage shop next door on the way home, go back to look at rings!

La Bayadère Ballet: Friday night EDUCO bought tickets to the ballet at the opera. Originally some of my other friends were going too but they last minute cancelled so I decided to go alone because I've been wanting to see the ballet for a long time. I was a little rushed getting ready, picked up a salad from mucha café, and then headed to le palais garnier. I get in the doors just in time as the buzzer is ringing to signal the start of the show. I get upstairs and can't find my door so I ask an usher to direct me. She responds frantically "Oh non! Vous êtes au mauvaise opéra! Vous devez aller au Opéra de Bastille!!!! Vite vite!" aka. I was at the wrong fricking opera house.

L'Opéra!...... de Palais Garnier.... ugh.

Luckily, there is a direct metro line from L'opéra de palais garnier, and l'opéra de bastille. However, I still arrived 20 minutes after the ballet started. It took me a while to find the entrance which put me in an even better mood! Once I finally got there a very nice security guard opened the door and apologetically denied me entrance. I was not completely surprised, but was nonetheless pretty frustrated. He couldn't be lenient at all either because of vigipirate (the security system in Paris that was on high high alert because of the attacks the week before). He said that I could enter during the first intermission in a half hour. I completely understood and was glad he was being careful but was still pissed. He looked so sorry and worried because I probably looked incredibly distraught and on the verge of tears. He pointed me to a café across the street. I sat down outside and ordered a glass of wine for myself. The waiter responded "petit ou grand?". "grand" (I needed it). They also brought me nuts and olives so I had a nice little time at the café by myself looking artsy and reflective downing my fat glass of wine. However, I was not so pleased when the bill came and I discovered a "grand verre" just meant a "twice the price glass". Anyways, I finally made it to the ballet and sat with some very nice girls on my program. The first act was apparently hard to follow so I didn't miss much plot-wise. They caught me up so I was all ready to go for the rest of the show! It was very beautiful and brought me back to my ballet days. The story line is still unclear but I think it was something like there was a prince who was promised to be wed to this princess (who was a witch with a b), but he also loved this servant girl. But then the servant girl gets poisoned. But then I think the prince ends up with the servant girl in heaven or something (again, unclear, no words at the ballet). The third act was definitely my favorite. All of the ballerinas were dressed in big elegant white tutus and were moving perfectly in sync. On the way home I really wanted a crepe so I stopped for a ham and cheese one from a stand in bastille. It tasted like play dough. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Unsure if I ended up over or under that night.

Paperboy: Saturday morning I met Liv, Sarah's friend Nina, and some of her friends from the University of Edinburgh for brunch. I got the Paperben which was SO good. It was eggs benedict with your choice of avocado, salmon, or bacon (I got avocado), with a caramelized banana. And it came with a hot drink, smoothie, and bread basket complete with butter, jam, and the house-made peanut butter(!!). I got a matcha latté cause I figured why not and it was pretty interesting... and the smoothie was some delicious orange lemon ginger apple thing.

After brunch I walked through the Marais a bit and did some shopping (Nina Kendosa is a great store). But then it started raining so I headed home and lay in bed for pretty much the rest of the day haha. I also stopped by a little sandwich place near me to hang with Evan, Ben, and Ryan while they ate lunch. Oh and I did laundry (exciting!)

Chez Graff: Liv and I had date night at this restaurant in my neighborhood that we have been meaning to go to since basically our second week here. It was amazing. We literally got there when they opened at 8 and left as they were closing around midnight. We got a bottle of white wine from Languedoc which might be one of the best wines I've had (or at least that I've ordered myself haha). It was fruity but not too sweet. Our waiter was also so nice and gave us great recommendations. I got an artichoke and kale soup to start, Liv got ceviché, and we shared duck croquettas. Then we both got the pork for our main dish. The pork was very well done and came with mushrooms, haricots cocos, onions, and some other veggies. Then for dessert we split a Paris Brest and some chocolate mousse. A paris brest is an almond and praline pastry that kind of looks like a bagel and has a flaky texture, filled with cream. We hung around for a while talking and I guess stayed in to the next seating because our waiter politely asked us to move to a smaller table (and gave us a free glass of wine for our flexibility ;) ). LOVED this meal, highly recommend.

Prescription: Bar in the 6th close to Odéon that doesn't have signage from the outside. There's a bouncer at the door that was a little cheeky (in a funny teasing way), but he let us inside. He gave Ben and Ryan a little trouble but luckily Liv and I walked by the door right as they arrived. The place had a sort of modern speak-easy type feel. It was dark with wooden walls/ceilings and cool wallpaper in some parts. There were a lot of little armchairs around to sit with friends. There was also a second floor with another bar and a similar set up with another bar upstairs. The light fixtures also had cool old school hats hanging from them. The place was small and it was pretty full but not too full which was perfect. The also had the BEST cocktails I have had in paris so far. They were delicious, but also strong. I'm not exactly sure what I got first haha but it was some sort of lemon/limey, rum type drink. After that I got a caprihna and we also all shared a punch bowl of the house mojito. It didn't really taste like a mojito but it was also very good. And it was pink, the waitress said there was champagne in it? and probably something else. The waitresses and bar tenders were also so nice and were excited talking about their drinks and stuff.

After that Liv and I went in search of crepes to no avail :( ben and ryan ran away from us lol so we ubered back to Liv's apartment. Her host mom is away for a few days so I stayed with her saturday night. We stayed up for a while snacking in her apartment haha then I went to bed on her trundle.

Le Sésame: Café/brunch place in the 10th on Canal Saint-Martin. Liv and I tried to go to HolyBelly but we didn't really expect to get in (2 hour wait HA) so we settled on Le Sésame. We split bagel sandwiches, one with goat cheese and grilled vegetables, and one with artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and arugula. Bagels were alright. Also got the smoothie of the day which tasted healthy. They had a really good kiwi jam though, so I'd say that was the highlight. Not the best brunch place I've been to but it was definitely good and there wasn't a long wait which was clutch.

Sunday afternoon I went to a Ballet Barre Fusion class with Affordable Yoga and Fitness which ended up being awesome I really liked it. It took me forever to get there (metro problems, I hate the Saint-Lazare/Saint-Augustin station) but it was a great workout and really fun and different.

Le Solférino: Sunday night I didn't really want to leave home cause it was freezing but I was hungry so I ate dinner alone at the café across the street. I just got grilled chicken with green beans which was dece. Nothing to write home about but fast and the waiter was also pleasant.

Guess that pretty much means I'm all caught up now! Let's hope I don't get behind again yikes.

xoxoxo

Sevilla: aka Sun, Siesta, and Sangria

As any other family vacation starts, Thursday began very early with lots of tired people and Mom ushering us out the door to make our flight on time. Although Vueling seemed to be a pretty low budget slightly frightening airline, and we discovered that Charles de Gaulle terminal 3 is pretty ratchet, we got all our bags on board, made our flight, and got to Seville without a problem! (Sevilla? The constant debate... to spell in english or in spanish? I'll go with spanish from now on)

Our airbnb was so nice, huge apartment, very airy, and everyone got their own room! Our airbnb host (Roberto) was also very nice and promptly set us down with a map and wrote down all of the places he likes to go.

Casa Blanca Tapas: Recommended by Roberto, this place was not far from the apartment on the main pedestrian street with a few little tables outside in the sun. It was definitely busy, but we managed to get a table standing outside and got to enjoy the beaaaautiful weather while munching on tapas. All of them were quite good, until we got aggressive and ordered the monkfish meatballs, but in hindsight that just never would have been a good idea. Brian bartered with a street vendor for a pair of nice "and totally real!" ray bans. The guy asked for 20, Brian insists he only has 10, "sorry man that's all I got", the guy settles on 10. Brian turns to Dad, "hey can you spot me 10 euros?"

La Fiorentina: Ice cream place also recommended by Roberto that proved difficult to find but was well worth it. I had this awesome ice cream that tasted just like blueberry muffin batter. Soooooo good.

Dad=ice cream :)

After ice cream we tried to find the wine store Roberto suggested but discovered it was closed for "siesta" so we took that as a sign to return home to nap ourselves. And nap we did (it was wonderful).

We slowly got moving around 8 for a drink in the apartment before meeting Maddie for dinner at 9.

Mamarracha Tapas: Oh mamarracha...... This place had been recommended by Leona and looked really good so we show up around 915 expecting to have to wait a little while. We put our names down and the waitress says it'll be at least a half hour. We say no problem! and get drinks from the bar. The sangria was probably the best I'd ever had I loved it. But half an hour later we checked in on our waitress and she said another 30 minutes. After another 30 minutes she said ANOTHER 30 minutes. After that we noticed they were just letting tons of 2 person groups in and there was no concept of saving spots for a party of 6. So we had a few tapas at the bar and called it quits 2 hours later to head to a paella place Maddie recommended around 11. I thought the paella was very good but of course the boys weren't fans and thought it was too "fishy".

After dinner the parents headed home again and Michael, Brian, and I went out with Maddie to meet up with some of her UNC friends and courtney! We started out at this bar called "the room" and quickly discovered how cheap drinks are in Sevilla. Tells ya just about how the night was gonna go! The room closed soon after we got there so we went to another bar called Rocky Roll that was playing good music and we took these funny shots that they then set on fire and you inhale the smoke (it apparently gets all the alcohol out of the glass?). They also had huge red bull vodkas that put the mix to shame. Strangely enough they also played hitler esque videos on the wall in the background.... but that was kind of brushed over. We also found Andrew Kohler's dopple ganger - mind blown. Then after rocky roll we went to Tokyo, a club across the street. Danced there for a while had some fun then made moves to go home around 4:30! We were only a mile or so from our apartment so we decided to walk. About five minutes in to our walk we find a kebab restaurant that was still open. Brian takes a bite of some irish guy's kebab (unclear, see Michael's video). Keep walking. 20 minutes later realize we don't know where we're going. I plug our address in to my phone. We're 2 miles away... oops? So then began the long journey home that took years, with the boys throwing burritos in the streets, brian going shirtless and nearly faceplanting, and maddie missed her train! Though the walk took forever it was a lot of fun and pretty cool to see the Sevilla streets deserted at night.

brothers!

The kiddies slept in on Friday morning since we didn't get home until around 5:30. We walked through the alcazar gardens which were beautiful on our way to a tapas restaurant in Santa Cruz that Roberto again recommended. However this time the tapas were not as great and the novelty of a bunch of plates of fried potatoes and meat had worn off.

Plaza de Espana: After lunch we walked through a lot of pretty lush parks to get to Plaza de Espana. I wasn't really sure what it was and I'm still not totally sure (it was built for an exposition of sorts?) but it was beautiful! A huge castle with a huge fountain and lots of pretty mosaics like I saw in Barcelona. Spanish architecture is very pretty and bright.

After that we finally gave in and decided to rent bikes to fulfill the empty space in our hearts from epernay. It's one of those 30 minute city bike systems which seemed easy enough. But then it took forever to actually set up and pay for everyone's accounts. But it's ok cause then we had bikes! They actually became very handy later in the trip and were very fun to ride. We took them to the town center to go to the top of this hotel that Roberto recommended, but it was too hot and crowded so we left (Roberto's recommendations getting worse and worse.....). We decided to sit at a café in plaza de san francisco instead to grab a cup of coffee. Pretty plaza - then we siesta'd!

beautiful orange trees everywhere!

Friday night we decided to round two Mammaracha cause the little taste we had was so good the night before. We got there right as it opened and were seated right away woo! The waiter recognized us and was like "quick! come this way i have a table for you!" The tapas were incredible and we could properly enjoy them sitting down with tons of space.

Rayas Ice Cream: Of course we needed to get ice cream after dinner! This ice cream was good but not as good as la fiorentina, it was very rich. And Michael spilt his and it got in my hair so that put a damper on things. (He would say it's my fault. I would politely disagree).

Friday night when I got back to the apartment is also when I heard about the attacks on Paris. It was overwhelming and escalated very quickly from a shooting, to a bombing, to a full on terrorist attack. It was very hard to piece together being in another country. I was very lucky to be with my family during this time and not in Paris. However, there was a part of me that itched to be back and was worried for the city and all of my friends there. Once I established that everyone I knew was safe I felt a bit better, but there was (and is) still so much that was unclear, so that put me in a bit of a daze for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning we were all more energized and awoke semi early (1030 haha) to have some toast and fruit for breakfast in the apartment before heading out to do some sight seeing.

The Grand Alcazar: Islamic mosque turned in to a Catholic Church. Incredibly beautiful building but the gardens are even more incredible. Mom and Dad wanted to get audio guides so I got one too while Brian and Michael continued to make fun of us. (The audio guides were rather dorky, obnoxious, and baton shaped). I could definitely see the Islamic influence as the architecture reminded me a bit of Istanbul. They also filmed some scenes of game of thrones there!! So that was pretty cool. Michael, Brian, and I got lost in a labyrinth. And there were lots of orange trees!

Rio Grande: After La Azotea we biked across the river to have lunch at Rio Grande. We were pretty sick of tapas and wanted to eat at a nice sit down restaurant so this was it! My swordfish was alright. Dad definitely got the best dish. Some bacon wrapped beef thing with a risotto.

Bull Fighting Arena: After lunch we took our bikes back across the river to the bull fighting arena. We took a tour of the arena, but since it was no longer bull fighting season there weren't any fights. Not that I'm really sure I'd want to see one anyways - it's absolutely horrible what they do to the bulls. The arena reminded me a bit of the colosseum. But it's crazy cause it feels like you're getting a tour of something ancient but it's still being used today. We saw the gate where the bull enters, the gate where the dead bull is pulled out, the winner's gate, the entry gate, and the gate to take matadors to the hospital in case they get hurt. Yes, there is a gate specifically for each of these things. I also found out that matador means killer. There was also a little museum where we learned about the history of bull fighting and how it fits in to the culture and the different forms of bull fighting. There apparently was a matador that started fighting bulls at age 9!

3rd day means 3rd siesta! Watched some gossip girl before headed out to a casual dinner saturday night.

La Azotea: This was the tapas place maddie recommended we go to the first night but we didn't. We should have cause it was so good! (Although mamarracha was great, and I would say better, but this was a very close second) I had a white wine sangria (per mom's suggestion) and our waiter was very nice. We got lots of good tapas like croquetas (of course, they eat them with everything), some good salads, some burgers... and I can't remember what else.

the cathedral looked prettier at night than this but hey

La Carboneria: Mom was insistent that we see flamenco before we leave. And I must admit I really wanted to see it as well. This place is known for good flamenco so we walked there after dinner, got a mojito and sat down. But apparently there were no flamenco dancers that night :( only weird guys playing guitar and singing in the corner. So we left shortly after it began in favor of some Hagen-Daaz ice cream on the way back to the apartment. Because no day with the Kosniks can be spent without ice cream!

The family left early sunday morning :( I was sad to see them go, we had such a great time and I'm so happy you guys came to visit!!!! I can't wait to see you again at Christmas!! :)

Since the family was gone I spent Sunday with Courtney! Went on a run by the river in the morning then Courtney took me to

Metropol Parasol: aka the mushroom building. Has a cool view of sevilla! That was pretty much it, we took the elevator up and came down lol.

Alfalfa: Then we went to this tapas place for lunch that was also very good and courtney says it's always packed. Had some warm cheese and good bruschetta before walking around some more.

Montaditos: Courtney took me here to grab some nourishment for the plane ride home. It's basically a sandwich tapas restaurant. They have 100 different types of mini sandwiches - and they were all 1 euro each! They even had chicken! Should have come here with the brothers they would have loooved it.

Then Courtney put me in a cab and I headed to the airport to make my journey back to Paris! I had an amazing weekend in Sevilla but was ready to get back to Paris to see how everything was and to get settled again.