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)