You'll make the scene like you always do

so back in lynchburg! WEEEEEIRD!

I am missing the metro hardcore right now because I hate driving to get anywhere and also that even in a car it takes me 15-20 mins to get anywhere I wanna go.

Lynchburg does have its perks though........uh wait. oh yeah La Caretta. the end.


tonight is miss bomans birthday extravaganza so that means some good times with good people.

oh and courtney called me today! woohoo!!! I miss my chouchous!

yes the suburbs make me cry....

so im home.

the last week in Paris was beyond amazing and i love all the kids I met there and will miss them dearly! Luckily anna will be around in the spring!

My last night in Paris we celebrated with champagne for our bartenders at Chez Justine and then I returned home around 230 am to begin packing....needless to say i didnt sleep that night and then had to travel all day friday starting with a 7am metro trip to CDG. Then it was a long day on an airplane with on and off sleeping then another long drive back to lynchburg.

Returning home and knowing i needed to stay up i grabbed coffee with ryan and finally hit the bed around 1230 (6am to me). This jet lag is NO good and has been throwing me off like crazy! I was a basket case yesterday and everything sent me into tears. (including when i looked out my plane window into the DC suburbs and realized I wasnt in paris anymore)

Finally, yesterday was the annual christmas get together at my place and it was wonderful. Good food, good strawberry wine and of course good company!

Its nice to be home but I am beyond excited to get back to europe....i just want a drama free week, is that so much to ask?? oh yeah i guess so!

Joyeux Noel!!!

il etait une fois......

the hands arent quite right but whatev!

hehehe

thats total bollocks!

watch out london....here we come!

So after the stress of a lifetime it turns out I don't have to get a visa after all...What a mess!
So london is a go and im super excited....saturday night at the bar anna and i decided to tell everyone we were british...and it worked! A real brit (some guy from Kent) actually believed us so we were pretty proud of ourselves.


I am SO excited!!

and super sad about leaving paris...if i can even leave that is since there is an airline greve starting the 20th of december and my flight its the 22nd!!!! YIKES!

awkward turtle....struggling for life...then dying....SORRY COURTNEY!

oh mon dieu! soooo fun weekend yet again!

Thursday I chilled out at home to just take a break and get ready for another long weekend.

Friday we were going to do a dinner party at anna's which sadly didnt work out but we ended up hitting up a few bars around my neighborhood anyway....we tried out a new place called Pop In and it was like a frat party, only with eurotrash music (oh AND the postal service which made me super happy!) , there were so many people and the bar has two stories like a house party so it was rather entertaining. After a few hours in the smoky abyss we decided to move the party to Charbonne....we made the walk up (and by walk i mean mosey at the slowest pace EVER!) Then john goes oh wait...i dont think i have my phone. Way to go McG.....hes so chill though and didnt really worry about it where as I would be freaking out and panicking. Around 3 we called it a night and headed home ready for a fun saturday!

Saturday I met courtney and we crossed a few more things off our "to do in paris" lists. We checked out Napoleons tomb at Invalides (the thing is MASSIVE) and then we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie to see Monet's Waterlilies....absolutely breathtaking... afterwards we went downstairs just to see what they had and I actually found my favorite Monet^^! I found a postcard of it when we visited Giverny and fell in love and of course as soon as we walk in the room I was ecstatic! After many more renoirs, cezannes, and picassos we headed off to do some shopping!

*side note * Les Halles on a saturday = BAD IDEA!

Last night was glorious! We finally got our Moules at a cute cafe in Montmartre and afterwards headed to the bastille to try out some hookah. Afterwards was a little oberkampf action and an interesting night.

Today was a lot of sleeping and now i guess a lot of working on this rapport.

oh btw i STILL dont have a visa for the UK....maybe i wont be in london afterall!

bisous mes chous chous!

the chaud, chocolat chaud, cafe....chaud...haha

so the title is in reference to our awesome train driver on sunday morning. As we were leaving and he told us about the offerings in the beverage car thats what happened....we all enjoyed a little laugh.

SOOOOOO fun weekend.

Friday was another dinner party chez Janelle et Francesca. As usual it was lots of fun and lots of craziness. Afterwards was a night in Oberkampf...bien sur....and a very late (or early since my roomate was leaving when i arrived) return home after getting courtney on the metro.
*Anna and I had lots of fun with our tights that night *

Saturday, after about 3 hrs of sleep, I met courtney for some American style breakfast *3pm mind you* and then we were off to ice skating!!! Every year they set up a rink at Hotel de Ville and it opened on Sat so of course we had to check it out....lots of fun even though I was exhausted and had lost my voice the night before....way to go me.


Then sunday was finally the long awaited trip to strasbourg for the Marche de Noel!
I was still super exhausted but it was amazing! As usual the trip centered around making sure we ATE everything we had been waiting for. Soooo we consumed : Vin chaud (mulled wine) see pic, pain d'epices (gingerbread) other pic, bretzels both salty and sugary, some crazy german noodle things, soup a l'onion, tarte flambee (like a thin pizza), Chocolat chaud, Jus de pomme, macaroons and reisling. Needless to say at the end of the day we were about to pop!
Oh and while waiting for our train john and I found a completely flat soccer ball which we decided to play with for a while....at which time i lost my camera and john got beaten by a girl. the end.

Last night was FINALLY minus the bear and it was rather odd. There were about 30 people total in the venue and it was super awk....i think the band was also kinda weirded out by it cause there was no encore and not a crazy long set....i didnt even get my absinthe party (and the song is ABOUT paris) whatever it was still a FABULOUS show and I even got a cute shirt with a seagull on it :)

Tonight we saw The Golden Compass....sucks to be you americans who have to wait for it to come out there! it was very good and quite pretty :)

only two more days till another exciting weekend filled with dinner parties, dancing and my lovelies!

BISOUS!

rockstar biz.....hmmmmm

So another adventure from the weekend --- trip to the Musée Rodin....FINALLY!

obviously since Minus the Bear sang about it the place had to be good...and it didn't let me down. The day was very grey (typical paris) so the pictures arent as great as i had hoped but oh well...check out the webshots to see them.
The Musée was cool and they had a very neat temporary photography exhibit.

Still need to hit up a few more museums around the city including the orangerie and a trip back to the pompidieu.

Tonight was week one of our Noel movie fest and it started with none other than White Christmas!! YAY....next week we move on to muppets christmas carol! Anna and i played with her camera a bit on the way home and these were the results....

Steven Foster --

You may wonder, 'How can I leave it all behind if I am just coming back to it? How can I make a new beginning if I simply return to the old?' The answer lies in the return. You will not come back to the 'same old thing.' What you return to has changed because you have changed. Your perceptions will be altered. You will not incorporate into the same body, status, or world you left behind. The river has been flowing while you were gone. Now it does not look like the same river.

[The Book of the Vision Quest]

SMS - they're bad for the soul

sooooooooooo fun start to the weekend.....that started on wednesday.

Wed was a chill night at FuBar.

Thurs was thanksgiving....we enjoyed a dinner at the directors house with some turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and corn.....its not thanksgiving chez moi but it was great none the less! Afterwards we met up with Ashley near the Moulin Rouge for drinks and hanging out at O'sullivans....always a good time.
(oh that was also the night i did the 2.5 mile walk home....sweet!)

Then last night was HOT HOT HEAT!!! It was a great show as expected and their double encore left nothing more to be desired! Afterwards we hopped across the street to show Ashley our usual bar and then of course the band stopped in. We chatted it up with the bassist for a while before the drummer and lead singer joined us. We hung out and had a few drinks before they peaced out and we began our dance fest to all our requested songs!

Also had the bell that is hanging up in the bar rung for me....that was a sweet story.

tonight is another adventure in the 11th with anna!
ohhh AND i <3 my hokies!

non merci!

dear greve,

thank you for making it possible for me to walk the 2.56 miles home faster than it wouldve taken the night bus to even GET to my first stop.

Merci!
biz
-jess

ps-i loved the nice touch you added with the creepy Portuguese guy offering to drive me home. sweet.

pas de dinde pour moi!

okay so never thought i would miss thanksgiving so much.

all i want to do it sit infront of a tv, watch macys parade, cook, eat enough food to make me sick, then start watching christmas movies.
The End.

sadly im stuck working.


ohhhhh AND im missing black friday!

dear stranger -- mind if im the little spoon??

okay so grève update.....

today was my first day of really "fighting" the grève. I had to get to school all the way in the 15eme AND it was freezing so i was totally not up for walking.

the greve does funny things to people because even though you are pissed about overcrowded trains and waiting for 40 mins between each one people are still nice...yes people actually SMILE on the metro, laugh even! Everybody i guess just realizes they are in the same boat and theres nothing to do but get over it and laugh at the fact that you spooning with strangers.


soooooooooo big news: Ashley is here so this week is going to be amazing. no questions.

oh and im buying tickets tomorrow for Hot Hot Heat AND Minus the Bear!!!! totally stoked!

doing this so i dont have to do work.

so interesting quotes from the last 2 nights:

Fri - "well see she met a bear in the middle of france and he had a treasure. He was going to fight her but then realized she was a princess with red curly hair so he gave her his treasure." -amine telling anna a story about me

Sat- "what shampoo do you use?.....no SERIOUSLY, we have the same hair...what shampoo do you use?" - the dutch guy at chez justine talking to anna

omd.

I get to see ashley tomorrow!!!!!

dear greve, you suck.

so they are at it again!

the greve is back on! it started wednesday morning and hasnt let up. They really have no idea when this will stop and they arent expecting it to be anytime soon. Thanks guys! That means I will be doing LOTS of walking to try and explore Paris for the end of the semester.

Speaking of walking. Wednesday I walked 16k (10miles)....it was intense. The map is the path I took and basically I spent all day walking the city. Not necessarily by choice to begin with but it ended up being a beautiful day so i didnt mind the walk....and I saw sooooooo many places and finally got to walk Pont Neuf AND Pont Alenxander III.

The webshots will have an album from my walking adventures soon.

So new beginnings this week. Ashley is here. Oberkampf craziness last night.

im back to happy for a while, i hope.


ps--- stoked for christmas vacay at home....even if it is just a week!

I'm dreaming of a white christmas....

Okay so now im officially going to the Marché de Noël in Strasbourg!

Hot Cider, Ice Skating, Gingerbread, Strudel and a HUGE Christmas Market....What more could you ask for??

i mean sometimes you drink wine out of baby bottles.

fondue adventure:

can you believe your eyes...

sooooo good weekend all in all.

it was really nice finally being back in paris and getting to do the nigthlife thing. Friday we checked out FuBar which I didn't realize was actually so close to my work! Had a "apple pie" cocktail and it was mighty tasty.....or maybe it was the glow stick that I could stir it with that made it so great! Either way it was sweet checking out somewhere new.

Saturday John and I attempted to get tickets for Strasbourg again. (The largest christmas celebration in the world!!!!!!) BUT of course my eurail wasn't going to cover the return ticket and so it would be another 60e on top of everything else.....i opted out but now i'm kinda regretting it....i want gingerbread and warm cider while falling down trying to ice skate!

After our trip to SNCF we decided to fight the MASSIVE crowds of people at the Grands Magasins to see the Christmas tree in Galleries Lafayette. Even though I felt like I wanted to kill everyone in the store (literally think Black Friday in the states times 100) seeing the christmas tree was AMAAAAAAAAZING!

We had planned to get fondue with John's two friends from Wake but it turned out the resto was full for the night. So we hopped across the street for a three course french dinner. Afterwards was another night at O'Sullivan's at the Mill....always crazy for sure....then john abandoned me....thanks dude.

ANYWAY, tonight we are going to retry out Fondue adventures.....this place has fondue AND serves wine to you in baby bottles....what could be cooler?

xoxo

Un croissant s'il vous plait

So I totally just had one of those "i live in paris" moments

After showing mom where my school is I was making my way back to the metro stop and passed the guy who works in the boulangerie that is on my way to school. During classes I stopped there to pick up the occasional croissant or pain au chocolat. As I was approaching him he was with another man and he went out of his way to say "bonjour" to me!

I thought it was so nice for him to say hi considering all i do is buy fattening carbs in his store a few times a week!

oh you gotta love it!

paris, je t'aime!

Studio Galande: The new Pigalle.

wow. so after a horrid week at school the weekend started off quite nicely.


the weekend began when courtney decided we should do dinner at hard rock. It was terrible.....well not completely. The food was mediocre and WAY overpriced and the mac and cheese was NOT mac and cheese. LAME. oh well.

Friday was spent lounging and then shopping before a crazy night....

Anna and I had dinner near St. Michel (very french with our pate, escargot, canard, and creme brulee) Then we went over to Studio Galande for a performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show. (if you dont know about this the best way to see rocky horror is with a live performance along with the movie...its awesome)

So the show was CRAZY, SO many franglais jokes and I had some pretty INTERESTING experiences with the cast members (ask if you want details)
Afterwards Anna and I did some oberkampf exploring and decided to we now have to be regulars....

the fam is here till Saturday and we have already seen SO MUCH. Tomorrow - the louvre. Tuesday - off to Nice (hopefully lots of fun beach time!)

bizoo.

<3 jess

Living My Food Network Dream

This has been quite the weekend.

Thursday: i went out for coffee and found myself in the middle of the greve. Yep thats right the strikers were demonstrating from Place de Republique to Place Nation and they were walking right past us....flares loudspeakers, banners and all. Afterwards I journeyed down to Pere Lachaise which was AMAZING. Its one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Also it wasnt very crowded because I dont think people wanted to venture over there without the metro. The leaves were falling and the weather was crisp. i loved it. Thursday night Anna, Caitlin and I had dinner in our little corner of town and it was great food and company.

Friday: I did absolutely nothing. I did some work and I slept. Thats it. Then Friday night Caitlin and I checked out the bars/cafes in our area and it was a total success. We found a super cute place where we were actually able to SPEAK FRENCH with people and we ended up hanging out till close. Anna and I are planning to return there this weekend sometime for another fun french night!

Saturday: We had a "degustation du vin" at the Musee du Vin where we tasted 5 different wines and learned all about tasting and smelling all the aromas of the wines.....very nice. Then we walked around Trocodero for a while and saw EVERY BRITISH PERSON EVER! I dont think anyone was left in England cause they were all here! and they were all obnoxious and of course they dont make any effort to speak french.....We ran into a couple of Rugby fans on the train who were talking to us about London and our respective cities in the US. Saturday night was then spent, not watching the game but instead checking out Moliere's Le Malade Imaginaire at the Comedie Francaise. It was fun but I was definitely exhausted after.

THEN TODAY!!! My food network dreams came true. I spent the morning at the Salon du Chocolat here in Paris. It is a HUGE chocolate expo with over 150 different vendors from all around the world and i stuffed myself silly with chocolates. I had some amazing Free Trade stuff that I ended up buying, the best chocolat chaud EVER and lots of other great things....including Pate with Chocolate Onions on top (SO GOOD!). Afterwards Anna and I ventured over to the Jardin de Luxembourg which I hadnt seen yet and had a nice little lunch of crepes and croque madame.

Today was good but now i have to crack down and begin preparing for my exams that are at the end of the week. This is gonna be rough! but mommy/sissy/grammy come on SATURDAY!!!

BISES! <3>

Just the "Czech" Please!

Soooooo Lots of news!

First: VIVE LA GRÈVE!! so the french love their strikes. Today there's a transportation strike going on which means the metro is basically non-existent along with the buses and the Commuter trains. This was awesome on Monday when we found out that we didnt have classes today.....THREE DAY WEEK!!! however, not so awesome when we found out it started at 8pm last night so all our plans of moroccan dinner and going out were shattered. However, Anna and I still enjoyed some wonderful wine by the canal since it was a beautiful night out!

Secondly: Anna and I came to the realization today that France doesn't have thanksgiving.....now you might be saying "well duhh" BUT this is not just about not having a holiday filled with turkey, pumpkin pie and American football...this is about Christmas! and the fact that here we get to start celebrating a whole MONTH earlier. No holidays to get in the way so from October-December it is a total christmas party! SWEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!

Thirdly: My family is coming in a WEEK (plus 2 days)!!! and i am soooo excited!

Finally: PRAHA! oh mon dieu. What a weekend!

Friday: We had to up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight from Orly and we were off to the land of the Czechs. Once we arrived we made our way to the Hostel which was totally awesome. Their "claim to fame" is that they are the most multicolored hostel in central europe.....yeah weird huh? But the place was GREAT! Totally clean, very secure and we got a free welcome czech beer.....who could ask for more. Oh and our room was a 17 bed mixed sex room....quite the adventure but totally worth it.
That day we did lots of walking and site seeing and we even got BAGELS! Yes there is an american bagel style place where we enjoyed some wonderful bagels with Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Then we did lots of wandering and finally ended up at a restaurant for a dinner of Czech specialties! For me this was Beef Goulash and "paste" dumplings....SOOO GOOD! We finished the meal with some wonderful apple strudel and chocolate cake.

side note: in prague they give you bread on the table...however it is not free. If you touch it you pay for it.....thus the phrase of the weekend "DONTTOUCHTHEBREAD" *spoken very quickly and harshly* Also one restaurant told us "its part of the cover charge, like the ketchup and the salt" so apparently you pay for everything in the Czech Republic.

Saturday: Prague Castle and more siteseeing/wandering around. It was another night of Czech-ish food and some of the best fruit drinks we have ever had!
After another long day we decided to hit up the FIVE story club in Prague. We tried some absinthe (pointless and just tasted really bad) and hit the club. We ended up on the "black" floor (hip/hop) for most of the night with a little house music mixed in. It was great until the end of the night when we were attacked with the worst verbal assault EVER!

Story: As we are leaving and talking to some American guys we met some Eastern European guy turns around and says "Stop being so fucking loud! Thats why 911 happened because you fucking Americans are so loud!" Immediately we are appalled by his comments and dont know what to say other than OH MY GOD! then as he walks away he goes "Im glad 911 happened you sluts" (Mind you we are wearing jeans and tshirts to this club)
Basically we were really pissed and just wanted to get home

Sunday: EXHAUSTION STRIKES! we get up and enjoy our complimentary breakfast of cocoa puffs and then head out for another day in prague.....we try to find Kafka's grave and are unsuccessful. we walk through the part of prague you arent supposed to see. we almost collapse from starvation before eating some AMAZING pasta and HORRIBLE "nachos". and then we sat in a coffee house for a ridiculously long time before choosing to get pizza and apple strudel to go and head back to the hostel.

side note: in prague they have a bus system and you have to buy tickets and then validate them on the bus....well we decided that rather than keep buying tickets we wouldn't validate because we had yet to see anyone check.......bad news bears.
As we are taking the bus home saturday we get "webbed" by the spiderman of czech transportation police and are hit with a 500ck fine each (only 25 usd but still!) So needless to say. When in Praha-- VALIDATE!

another food story: EURODOGS! the first thing we saw when we got to prague were these things called eurodogs, basically they are hotdogs that are put inside a bun that just has a hole for the hotdog rather than a slit all the way down the side. They were magnificent.
At the end of our trip i said "well we may not have gotten to see all the sites but we did get to eat all the food we wanted to!" oh what a culinary adventure!

Sunday/Monday: Well since our taxi to the airport was coming at 4am we decided it would be a great idea to just not sleep. Some of the girls went back to the club but Caitlin and I hung out at marabou, ate our apple pie and chatted about the ridiculousness of the weekend. At 3am we all waited around looking like zombies for our taxi. We arrived at the airport very early and i proceeded to nap across 4 seats in the terminal trying not to look homeless. I couldn't sleep on the plane but was amused by anna's half-asleep tantrums with the guy in front of her.
Monday was the most miserable day of my life. I tried napping and then had a museum visit with Cecile before writing another essay for school. it was just bad.Anyway now i am enjoying my four day weekend even though im stuck within walking distance of my apartment due to the greve for today! The weekend consists of a wine tasting, le malade imaginaire at le comedie francaise AND le salon du chocolate on sunday to taste lots and lots of chocolates!!!!

send me some love via email/comments s'il vous plait!
xoxo

pictures on webshots soon!

"We love you miss J!!!!"

okay well after another week of hellish classes/work we finished the night with AMERICAN BREAKFAST!!!! yes, it was a break from the craziness of french life/food (even though i love french food and i think a dinner of confit de canard would have been amaaaaazing!) I had a breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes which i split with a friend who had a wrap so i got a little bit of everything.....oh and we had milkshakes!!! YUM! (i mean its no koffee kup but i take what i can get)
AND THEN.....
WE SAW MISS J!!!!!!
(from america's next top model for those of you who are not lucky enough to know who that was already)
As we left the diner we passed her sitting in a cafe just enjoying dinner. Franprix pointed it out and we all kinda freaked out a little as we made sure she was right....then we walked away as anna yelled "we love you miss j!!" and she turned and smiled at us cause we were being so giddy.

so all in all it was a sweet way to start off an amaaaaaaaazing weekend!!


in 12 hours i will be on a plane to PRAGUE!!! SWEET!!

skyping is way more fun

okay so i have an essay due in t-minus 36 hours. Its definitely the longest essay I've written in french (a whopping 3 pages) and I havent started it.

Yes, rather than writing it i spent the evening on the phone with my mom and sister. Then skyped with my dad and rachel and ashley back in boston. I had to retell some"interesting" stories I've heard from home and I got to hear about the wonderful new things in their lives since I haven't actually talked to ashley since AUGUST!!!! Anyway I wasted my night doing things other than work so now i have the paper and reading for my art class.

now i sleep. tomorrow i work.

bon nuit.

what? you mean its not all fun and games?

Well the last week has been a complete roller-coaster. i had no idea so many things/emotions could happen to one person in a week. this was ridiculous.

Monday was my Art exam which i was EXTREMELY freaked out about but in the end i think i may not have done too poorly.
Tuesday I had both my oral and grammar exams for french. I felt extremely prepared for the grammar exam even though i learned over the last month that EVERYTHING we have been taught for the last 7 years was wrong....oh sweet! Then i took the test and left knowing that it was a disaster. The entire first page (about 35 points) I completely guessed on (many of which were incorrect).
So I left my first exam with very low expectations and then OH WAIT i still had to go and speak french with Hanadi for my oral exam....SWEET! The exam started off well but only went down hill when i couldnt even remember the english words I wanted to say to her (my english has gotten much worse since being here).
After both exams I rode the metro home having the feeling that I was either going to burst into tears or throw up. Apparently wanting to vomit is my body's new way of dealing with anything stressful. LAME.
Well after what felt like the longest day of my life I had family dinner and then it was out for Courtney's Birthday. We went to an irish bar and had some very "interesting" shooters and then it was over to duplex for none other than a night of dancing with crazy europeans.

Then it was wednesday. All I could do all day was think about Coheed. I had class then grabbed an amazing salad at some cafe before everyone else went out for mexican and I was off to coheed! (obviously you know how that went) It was honestly amazing and afterwards courtney came over and we had a "sleepover" and had girlie chats in my loft. tres fun.......until the next morning.

Well since I was so excited about Coheed and Courtney and I stayed up super late so I got none of my work done for classes. I wasnt really too worried though because I knew I had all morning and just a practice run of our presentation.

So Thursday I wake up super early. Get to school. Start working. Then my cell phone rings. Brendan has forgotten his passport and is at the airport on the way to Italy. Since it is impossible for me to say no to anyone, I said I would get it if he knew i had time to get it there in time. Long story short ---> I ran to his apartment (literally) got the passport then the cab driver said it would be an hour. So I wouldnt make it. Basically I got crazy stressed, ran around and lost an hour of the time I could've been doing my work AND he still didnt get on the flight (plus i had 3ish hours of sleep the night before).
The rest of the day consisted of me getting my not so good exam back, watching/sleeping through a french movie i was forced to see, refusing to let someone hug me because i knew i would cry in front of the entire school and then finally finishing my presentation and it not being so bad. Needless to say I went home and did nothing all night. I sat online and talked to people and did nothing. It was wonderful.

Then Friday....OH FRIDAY! What a day!
I got up super early (a little earlier than expected thanks to a skype call--"no its 7am not 9am") made myself look presentable and went to CHANEL! thats right, it was the end of fashion week here in paris and the girls and I went to celeb stalk at Chanel.....and we definitely succeeded.
We saw the likes of Rachel Bilson, Claudia Schiffer, Kanye West, Kirsten Dunst(see pic), Clemence Posey (Fleur Delecour from Harry Potter), Lilly Allen, Nina Garcia, Dita Von Teese and many of the new "it" models. It was fabulous to say the least!

Yesterday was also a little crazy! It was the quarterfinals for the Rugby World Cup and France was playing New Zeland (the "All Blacks"). Now for those of you who dont know about Rugby the all blacks are unbelievable. They were picked to win and this was a HUGE game!!
So we went to the Hotel de Ville where they had a huge screen set up and a RIDICULOUS amount of fans out screaming and singing for "Les Bleus!" So as France made their comeback we decided to wander around the area and we were floored by the number of people who were actually there.
Once the game was over the city was insane! Every car around was honking its horn. Every person screaming "ALLEZ LES BLEUS!" or just screaming in general and there were riot police all over the place....just in case. Then we came across a scooter/motorcycle that was up in flames....it was ridiculous.

Anyway Saturday was also Nuit Blanche....it is a night each october where there are artist displays all over the city and it is FULL of people from 8pm-7am. We saw some cool installation art work and then we went to the tuileries for a crazy display of lots of fire. It was a really cool thing to see but we were EXHAUSTED afterwards (cause we walked another 6k) and we grabbed the metro home around 1am.

Today has consisted of me sleeping way too much and also procrastinating way too much. Tomorrow starts another week that hopefully wont be as intense and then Friday I am off to PRAGUE!!!!! totally stoked! :)

so that was a novel. I apologize.

i <3 emails! :)

(<< a little taste of what the game was like)

i can die happy.

okay so last night was amazing.
I saw coheed and cambria at a tiny venue in paris and then......well hung out with them in a cafe...

heres the deal:
Courtney and I show up and I am totally pumped and ready for some coheed. We meet some british guys who came down for the show and a nice french girl who discovered coheed when she was living with a host family in VIRGINIA (who would've thought!)

The evening began with a french band--pretty good music and they were definitely easy on the eyes ;) They played some of their own stuff--in english?--and then they covered an armor for sleep song which left me quite satisfied with their set.

Then it was time for my loves.

Once they hit the stage it was non-stop bliss. They played all my faves and some of their new stuff which was amazing as usual!! Their encore was final cut which transitioned into one of the most entertaining jam sessions I've witnessed. There was some battling between instruments and lots of interesting playing by claudio....2 guitars??

When the show was over courtney and i milled around and a very nice parisien come up and said "so you like this band?" to which a very quick "uhhh obviously!" comes out of my mouth. So he proceeds to give us two all access passes. SWEET!
As the security guys shuffled everyone without passes out the door courtney and i waited for a little coheed action.
Mike was the first one out and I approached him with the usual "amazing show etc etc" and then basically we just hung out talking to him for a while and then we all headed out for drinks.

We met some nice english girls who had known mike for a while now who have introduced us to a new scottish band who will be in paris on monday?? Courtney and I ended up grabbing some drinks and a seat with mike and hanging out waiting for the rest of the guys.

Claudio and Travis made their way out and we had some random chats before the two headed off to mc-do and we settled back in with mike. We had quite a few ridiculous convos before they had to head off to the airport to head back home. Mike said they will be in back in London in the spring so I'm hoping for another wonderful night next semester!














It was fabulous. I am so in love with the fact that they are so great to their fans. I left the concert/brasserie on such a high.
I needed that concert and a touch of home after this ridiculous week!
(^^post cafe pics)

these pictures are just a taste of the wonderfulness check out my webshots later for the rest...and i have a few videos!

oh and i apologize if you read this blog before i edited it.....wow adding pictures mixed up lots of the sentences....strange....

send love!

"its totally the meme chose"

okay so day one of exams is over and I have absolutely no idea how I did on my first exam. My exam today was for my art history class and the first part was basic memorization.....the next two, however, were analyzing a painting and then analyzing the liberation of color in paintings between two of the movements of modern art. Basically I regurgitated as many things as I could remember and I hope they make some sort of sense.

After my exams tomorrow we are planning to go out and celebrate our ONE MONTH in Paris anniversary/ Courtney's birthday and I'm sure it will be fun as always. ---> a little hint of the craziness that is Courtney and I together

Oh AND I am getting excited about Christmas break because it looks like Rachel and I will be doing some major traveling after new years!!!

EXCITING!
i <3 you guys!

creeeeeeeperie

flashback:
so our first week here we all went to dinner with our director and this was what we found when we went into the bathroom.--> http://youtube.com/watch?v=zetZjG50-kc

So let a smile out and show your teeth cause you know you lived it well.

Okay so this week has been CRAZY busy! i had a project and a paper due today so this week has been less than eventful!
well i did go to the musee picasso.....which was cute but i think he got a little crazy.....oh modern art!

tonight we are finally relaxing a bit! Dinner at a thai restaurant and a bit of partying with some international students! (did i mention that i LOVE all the kids on my program?? SO MUCH FUN!)

oh and im learning fun slang words in my french classes!

"wow ive never seen so many shoes....or someone actually buying prada ones" -cd

today caitlin and i were quite overwhelmed by our shopping adventure.

This afternoon I went to Galeries LaFayette and Printemps (ridiculously large department stores)...they each have like 3 different buildings (one men,one women, one housewares) with 6 floors! They also have so many different designers that you just dont know how to comprehend what you are looking at. These places are BEAUTIFUL! I'm telling you the french really know whats up when it comes to shopping...


oh yeah and i wanted to buy 100 pairs of jimmy choos....maybe on my next excursion!

anyone know Czech??

IM GOING TO PRAGUE!!!!!


i bought my tickets today so it is official.. i will be gone the 12-15 of oct......now whats in prague you say? we arent really sure....but its gonna be great :)

you cut a bitch; you slap a ho.....

okay so tonight/today was filled with some of the best quotes of my life...including:
"please let it be the syph"
"Its okay john....you can touch my things"
"get ready cause its gonna be a rough ride"
"ikea, office depot, mc donalds?? its like we're back in north carolina"

and oh so many more.....

i am in love with this place.

all blacks anyone

my future husband on the far right>>

washington dc is the northeast....duhh....

okay so last night was clubbing with the Samoan national rugby team and tonight was drinking with some crazy scottish guys on the champ de mars.....you gotta love paris.

how do you say sunburn in french?

walked from Notre Dame to the Arc de Triomphe today(quite a long stroll)....it was a good time but it didnt help my sunburn.....it actually just increased its reign over my arms....merde!

ass crepes? i think that means assorted....

So the first week is coming to a close and it has been quite the adventure.
Lots of crepes and cidre....maybe a little more cidre than crepes!

We went as a group to see Paris, je t'aime....which is wonderful....a little strange but great....and we got crepes with everyone at a place with the STRANGEST bathroom ever. it was like a rave. black lights and strobed colored lights --> mine and "franprix" reaction

We have hit a few bars this week....one which was less than impressive....a mouse on the wall, fake breasts, thongs hanging from the ceiling and penis lollipops....needless to say we had five minuets left of happy hour so we had no choice but do stop there for drinks....happy hour here runs till 10pm....how sweet is that?

After movies, crepes/cidre, and sketchy bar Anna and i went totally classy and went to a very classy bar in the bastille area...we had "mojitos in love"...really they were heaven in a glass (mint, lime, strawberries!!! YUM!)....after spending a sufficient amount of euros on our one mojito we joined some of the other students for a night of dancing at Barrio Latino.....it was a good time and im looking forward to many more nights of dancing in Paris!

Last night was the kickoff of the Rugby World Cup which is being held in france and it was craziness....we went to try and watch the game on what we thought would be giant screens but turned into plasmas in a tent?? anyway we spent the evening on the champ de mars (the grass area infront of the eiffel tower) and listened to the game on the radio.





Today was Versailles. It is the most amazing place I think I have been in my life. The palace is wonderful and enormous beyond anything you can even understand. However, the gardens are better than everything in the chateau. There are so many beautiful gardens and fountains all across the grounds and it is breathtaking. You can visit my webshots but no photo will ever do it justice. Everyone should see versailles.


Tomorrow is an adventure to the Louvre (free the first sunday of the month!) and maybe Notre Dame then a night of partying at Johnny Depp's nightclub "Man Ray" for birthday celebrations!

i love with everything-ly yours,
<3jess

Week One

Bonjour!!
I created this to give everyone a chance to catch up on all the craziness here in Paris while I'm away. To catch you up to speed....
I took a million hour plane trip to get here
I am living with another student, Caitlin, and an older couple in their house in the 11th arrondissement.
I did get a cell phone and all incoming calls are free....so CALL ME....or just get skype and talk to me like that.

Anyway the last few days have just been spent exploring the city and trying to get a feel for life in Paris. Classes don't start until monday which means my French is FAR from improving!! The school is very close to la tour eiffel so we have eaten lunch there for a few days and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Last night was our first major night out with a trip to le creperie and then had wine on the seine (though i was only there for a moment) and then went out to a bar....tres amusement!


just a few pictures to give you an idea but check out my webshots for the rest....
http://community.webshots.com/user/jesswitt

xoxo