please don't hate me for not being on top of this...

I am so sorry, everyone!! I got back from Italy and had to jump right back into school and work, with finals and all. Therefore, I haven't had much time to write down everything on here. I FINALLY have a free afternoon, so here's my update on Italy and my last few weeks here!

ITALY:

Ohhhh my goodness best spring break ever! It was me, Katy, Laura, and my friend John from my school here. It was the best combination of people, we were in bed by 10:30 every night, woke up around 8:30, and just took our time and relaxed. Our motto for the trip was: NO STRESS.

We started off in Rome, took an overnight train there from Paris on a Thursday evening. Our hostel was average, but in a good location right by the train station. We walked eeeeverywhere - explored, got lost, and saw the sites (the Colosseum, the ruins, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, the Vatican, etc...)! My friend Danielle studied in Rome, so she has italian friends/boyfriend that live there, and we actually hung out with one of them on Friday night! It was a lot of fun, and good to have people our age to spend time with. Saturday night some of our London friends were in Rome as well, so they invited us to their hostel to hang out. Sunday was Easter Sunday, so John and I went to church at this beautiful cathedral called the Pantheon. It was incredible and very moving - the service was all in Italian. I definitely liked Rome a lot, but I wasn't CRAZY about it...

Next stop- Florence. I loved it so much, definitely my favorite city!! It was small, yet still had the "feel" of a big city, yet everyone was very friendly and seemed tight knit. Plus it was absolutely beautiful! There are not that many sites there besides the big church the Duomo, seeing Michelangelo's sculpture David, and seeing the bridge Ponte Vecchio. So we spent most of our time wandering, and we even found this amazing spot along the river to lay in the grass during the afternoon. We also left the city one day by foot and made it up the top of this mountain and overlooked the city - absolutely breathtaking. Our hostel was in a perfect location and the woman who owned it was adorable - her name was Veronica and she spoke no English, but she spoke French! So instead of me having to translate for the entire group from Italian to English, we could just all speak French! It was perfect, and she was soooo cute and nice and warm. She gave us all hugs and kisses goodbye. The last night in Florence, Wednesday, we didn't have a hostel because our train was very early in the morning. So we checked our backpacks at the train station and wandered the city all night. Kind of scary, but definitely a fun experience! We just got really tired =(

Thursday morning we left for Venice by train... SO beautiful! Right along the water, colorful, tiny, no streets - it was very bizarre, but very very cool. Our hostel was in another good location, and we had a room separated from the main building off of an outdoor terrace - how cool is that!? We even had kitchen access, so every morning we went to the fresh outdoor market by our hostel and bought stuff to make food - vegetables, pasta, fruit, spices, etc... Every meal was so delicious and just felt so "real", ya know? Our days mostly consisted of wandering the city and stopping to take breaks by the water. Definitely the most relaxing location of the trip. Words cannot even begin to describe it!! We left Venice Sunday  night and took another overnight train back to Paris, and of course had school that first Monday! Talk about tiring!! 

The trip was seriously so amazing, like I said, and I couldn't think of a better way to have spent my spring break. I'm so lucky to have such good friends like John, Katy, and Laura to do things like this with. =) 

SCHOOL:

 is over!!! I just have finals next week and I'm officially done. I can't believe how fast it flew! These past few weeks after Italy have been intense, however - I've had lots of work to do, studying, papers to write, etc... to prepare for the end of the semester. I'm almost done though! I got a lot of work done last week - a quiz, a translation, a 14 page single-spaced paper (not kidding), and an oral presentation. One more exam and one more paper and I'm home free!!

WORK:

I had my last day at my internship this week =( It was so sad!! My boss, charlotte, gave me a beautiful pair of handmade earrings by a local artist and told me she was really going to miss me. she told me that to be honest, she hadn't originally wanted an intern, but I turned out to be a "more than pleasant surprise". I love her so much and I'm so happy to have met her and worked with her - I can't believe I had to say goodbye! But we'll definitely be in touch, I'm sure. And who knows, maybe I can come back to Paris one day to visit her! ;) 

LEAVING:

I officially have one week left in Paris... scary. I feel like I just got here and like I'm finally getting used to being here. And now I have to leave!! I've already started packing, which is very strange. It's so bizarre to be sitting in my room right now, knowing that in 7 days it will no longer be "my room" and i'll never stay in it again... But don't get me wrong!! I'm incredibly excited to be coming home. I miss all of my family and my friends, and I'm very pumped to get back into the swing of things and see everyone =) I leave the 17th, head to IRELAND for 5 days to see some family friends, and then I come back to Chicago the 22nd. Start counting down the days!! 

Below are pictures from italy, along with a video I made for me and my friends to remember the trip by. I hope you enjoy! I love you all, and God bless! 

photos:

ITALY.

video: 

tapas y sangria - MADRID!

Soooo this weekend I went to MADRID with Katy, Laura, and our friend Marilyn who was visiting from Chicago. 

Thursday night we took a plane and landed about 9:30pm and took the metro from the airport to our hostel. Our hostel was INCREDIBLE! We only had to pay 50euro each to cover all 3 nights, it was clean, our room was private and HUGE, it was in the perfect location. Props go to Katy for organizing that! We freshened up and then went walking around Madrid's most central square, Puerta del Sol, and we found a tapas bar Alhambra, for dinner and sangria. Madrid is so crazy - people eat so late, and even the older generations are out super late into the evening! We were eating at around 11:30 or so and there were so many people just getting ready to go out for the night. The food was AMAZING, and then that bar was closing so we checked out another one called Sol y Sombra. We were soooo full from dinner that we just felt like going back to the hostel after a little while, which is precisely what we did.

Friday we got up semi-early and went back to Puerta del Sol and this other square called Plaza Mayor. The weather was beauuuutiful and it was full of so many people, I just loved walking the city and being able to see everything. We ended up doing some shopping, going to this park and the Royal Palace, seeing a Cathedral, stopping for some lunch and sangria, and walking around some more. We went back to the hostel around 6:30 and took a SIESTA (getting real Spanish, here) and then finally all "woke up" and started getting ready to go out. Around 10pm we found this restaurant in the Plaza Mayor, so we sat outside and got tapas and sangria again, and just people watched. We had plans to go to a club that evening that was recommended to us by a friend, but we didn't want to go yet because it was too early, so we went back to the street that Alhambra was on and ended up going into the bar next door called Venta el Buscón - good thing we did! The place had a decent sized crowd and great music, and we became friends with the guys that work there! This one guy Angel ended up giving us free drinks!! They were so nice and so goofy and we had a great time talking with them and it was nice to meet such friendly people. When we were done there we went to the club, Kapital -- 7 floors, each with a different style of music. Soooo much dancing! Our favorite floor was the one with rap on it, because it's easier to dance to seeming as we don't salsa, haha! We made some friends but nothing "legit", and when we were finally sooooo tired (at 5am!) we left and decided to go to this Chocolateria we heard about that's open 24 hours. Again, crazy Madrid people -- EVERYONE was out and about even at 5am! Even old people! We found the chocolateria and got churros and chocolate - oh my goodness, delicious. We came back to the hostel around 6am and passed out.

Woke up at 11pm because we still had plenty of things we wanted to do! We found another outdoor cafe and got lunch, and then walked to the Museo Reina Sofia - a modern art museum where there is a lot of cubism and surrealism, so lots of Picasso! His most famous piece, Guernica, is there, and i literally died when i saw it. I always wanted to see it in real life and I finally did =) Then we went to a big park right by there and wandered around there, it was beautifullll. Right by all of that was another museum, Museo del Prado, which was beautiful! The art was mostly classical, so I didn't care much for it, but the museum itself was really cool. It was POURING so we took a cab back to our hostel and got ready for the night again. We decided to go back to Venta el Buscón since Angel and the other guys had been SO nice to us the night before, we figured it was the least we could do. We got tapas and sangria there for dinner, and then they gave us free drinks again!! We took pictures with the guys and just had a great time, it was so cool! We went back to our hostel, fell asleep, woke up early the next morning and took a plane back to Paris!! 

I loved Madrid so much - I loved the people, the lifestyle, the food, the architecture, everything! and I was SO PROUD of myself and my spanish speaking abilities! I always knew I could read it and comprehend most things, because of my knowledge of french and italian, but I literally did all the talking for my friends! I was able to understand probably 95% of what people were saying to us, and I could respond in basic sentences or ask questions if we needed. It was very invigorating and made me want to possibly learn more spanish, or at least go back to Madrid since I know I can find my way around. It was such a great weekend, no lie! 

Next big thing - ITALY!!! For spring break, Katy, Laura, John and I are going to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I can't wait!! We leave next Thursday already, I can't believe it. Other than that, we've just continued our routine of school and spending time together. The weather is getting so nice here, like 60s every day. For those of you that don't know, my mom and dad came to visit me the weekend before Madrid =) It was sooooo good to see them, because I missed them SO MUCH and I got to show them all around Paris, which is kind of like "my city" now! I know they had such a good time, and I did, too. I'm extremely thankful that they got to come. =)

I just can't believe how many cool experiences I'm having, not just being able to travel to so many different places, but all the things I'm doing here, too. I'm so lucky to be at this point in my life and doing all these exciting things, and I thank God every day for it. I hope you all are doing well, and i'll see you in about a month and a half! Peace and love. 

Here are pictures from Madrid! 

MADRID.

the time of my life.

Helllooooo everyone! It's been so long, I know, I really apologize! It's just that I started my internship, and as school continues on, I've been getting so busy!! Here is an update on a few main points, and then about the best weekend of my entire life (pictures included). 

INTERNSHIP:

I'm working at an art gallery in the 3rd district that sells contemporary abstract art - I love it!! The gallery owner is sooo nice, she's very friendly and talkative and always gives me things to do so I'm never bored. So far I've helped set up a new exposition, put together promotional materials to send out to clients, translated some of her website into English, and done an inventory on all the lithographs/prints that we have in the basement. I absolutely love it and I'm always excited to go there. =) 

SCHOOL EXCURSION:

2 weekends ago, we went on a field trip with our school to Chantilly, a small town where there's a big castle / art collection, etc... It was fun, but when we got there it was incredibly foggy out and we had an hour to kill before we could go to the castle. Naturally my friends and I got off the bus and played in the fog. =) Then we went to the castle, had a guided tour that was really interesting but quite frankly TOO long, then we had lunch in the castle which was delicious, and then we went on another tour of the water pump system of the castle (*yawn*)... All in all, pretty good day, just too long! Pictures are below. 

SCHOOL:

school continues to go well! Just more and more homework, midterms coming up, etc... Honestly nothing really to report, unfortunately. 

BRITTANY:

ohhhh my goodness, this is where it gets interesting!! About a year ago, I did some translation for a french documentary on slam poetry. The guy that was filming/directing it, Youn, didn't really speak English that well so he needed a translator for the weekend and someone to show him around Chicago. It was so much fun, I was in a few scenes of the movie ;), and we've kept in contact since. WELL, he knew I was coming to Paris for a few months, and had said that I should trek out to Brittany for a weekend, where he lives, to spend some time! Ironically enough, last weekend was the first projection of his documentary, which I was in, so he invited me to come out to see it and spend some time with him and his friends. Naturally I went, and it was the best weekend of my entire life.

Friday I took a train from Paris to Rennes, his city, and he met me at the train station. It was really surreal/bizarre seeing him at first, because it's already been a year since we were together and although we've kept in touch, it's not like we know each other that well! But it was fine! We picked up right where we left off and were both at ease. We went to his apartment so I could drop off my stuff and then went and got a coffee and lunch with one of his friends visiting from Paris. After that, he told me we had to drive to where the movie was showing because it was two hours away - kind of suprising, but you all know me, i just go with the flow! So we drove two hours (i'm not sure what the name of the other town was) and got there a little bit early, so we went to the ocean and went exploring in the woods. It was raining so I couldn't take pictures, but it was absolutely breathtaking. After that, we went back to the car and drove to this café/bar in the middle of nowhere, called Café Théodore. The people that own it have their house connected to it, and the inside is decorated really cool, like hippie style, and the ambiance was great. The range of people in the place was the best part - kids as young as 5 years old, people as old as 80. Everyone just comes together and talks and eats and has a great time just being together; i felt like I was in a commune! Everyone was very hospitable and interested in what they had to say and helping each other out, playing with the kids, getting behind the bar and helping the owners, etc... Not only that ,but it's not like Youn was paying 100% attention to me, clearly I couldn't just follow him around like a lost puppy all night. So i was just meeting random people, talking to them about how Youn and I met, talking about the movie, my life, etc... It was just a very laidback ,fun environment! Around 9pm they showed Youn's documentary on a big projector, and it was awesome. He did such a good job, and it was cool to see the finished product since I had been there while it was still in process. I saw myself on screen several times, ;), and my name was in the credits! haha 

After the movie was over we just all hungout at the café for awhile later, until everyone started clearing out around 2am. We didn't want to drive 2 hours back to Rennes, and since it's such a "hippie" environment, I guess it's pretty common for people to spend the night on the property, in one of several places: The attic of the café, the owners' house, orrr in the backyard in this thing called La Yourte. What did we pick? La Yourte! It's kind of like a big tent, but it's constructed out of wood and is circular, with fabric draped on top of it. On the inside, there's a big firepit with a chimney to heat the place up. On the floor are a ton of oriental rugs, fabric hangs from the ceiling and there are candles lit, and then there are mattresses, pillows, and blankets EVERYWHERE. We all claimed our spots to sleep, lit a fire, the owners gave us some food, and we stayed up talking and goofing around until 4am. It was me, Youn, and about 8 of his friends (with whom we spent the whole weekend) and it was the coolest thing ever! We woke up the next morning at 10am and the owners made us coffee and breakfast, and we just sat on the back terrace. The kids woke up and we went in the Yourte with them and got in a big pillow fight :), then decided to go back to the sea since it was so nice out. We brought two of the kids with us, and we just sat on the rocks for about an hour, taking advantage of the sun and whatnot. One of the guys, Swan, is a photographer, so he took a bunch of pictures of us.

After that, Youn and I had to go back to Rennes for another showing of the movie. So we booked it back and showed up at the place, watched the movie, and there was a question and answer session afterwards, which I did a bit of translation for. After that, we went and got coffee with his friends again, taking advantage of the good weather. All the girls were going to a club, but I didn't really wanna go because it's not really my "thing", so I hung out with the boys and went to a rap concert. A rap concert in French... interesting, let me tell you! When the concert was over we went to a restaurant to get dinner, met up with the girls, and then all went back to Youn's apartment to drink some tea and listen to some music and hangout. We stayed up until 6am (lol!) and then everyone left; Youn and his girlfriend slept in his room, and this guy from Paris, Thiphaine, and I slept in the living room on Youn's futons. We woke up the next morning and went and got coffee at a café around the corner and sat outside for a few hours. We met up with Mark Smith, the inventor of slam poetry, from Chicago, whom I met when I did the movie last night. It was so good to see him again! After coffee we went back to Youn's again and he showed us some of his short animation films he has done in the past. After a few hours, Swan (the photographer) invited us all to his house for dinner because he lives in the countryside and he thought it would be cool for Mark to see. 

Swan's house was soooo cool - it's HUGE, with a big fireplace, all his original photography on the walls, good music was playing, we made an amazing dinner (lasagne with fish/crab/crevettes and cheese and vegetables) and drank wine, Alex was playing guitar, I was playing a bongo, we were talking about life and culture and telling stories and again, it was a very laidback atmosphere but one of the best things I've done. All the people were so nice and I had so much fun. We left Swan's at 2am and went back to Youn's, Thiphaine and I crashed in the living room again, and then got up at 10am the next morning and went to catch the train together (we were on the same train back to Paris, oddly enough!). It was sad to say good-bye to Youn, after I had such an amazing weekend and he was so nice and accommodating.. but I guess we all have to return to the real world at some point! 

The main reason this weekend was so amazing was because of the environment - I was completely disconnected from the world, which i LOVED. I didn't have internet access, my phone lost its charge the first day I was there, so I had no phone the whole weekend. I was speaking French the whole weekend, I learned so many new phrases and it was a great thing for me to do. Also, normally when I go out here, I'm still with people I know or other American kids so there's a bit of familiarity. However, this weekend I went all by myself - seeing Youn, whom I didn't really know THAT well, and then being with all his friends, people I've never met before... It was such a good experience, and basically exactly the type of thing i've been wanting to do since I've been in France -- and I finally did it! The weekend was so rejuvinating, I felt "alive" (if that makes sense) and I was walking on cloud 9... Words  cannot even express how thankful I am to have been given that opportunity and how lucky I feel to have passed such a great weekend. =)

I hope everyone's doing well -- I've already been here for almost 2 months, can you believe it!? Below are pictures from my field trip, and then from my trip in Brittany. enjoy! Love you all!

Chantilly and Sainte Chappelle.

Bretagne - Brittany.

friends, museums, and school.

hello everyone!

well the first week of school was a success - nothing much to update on, just getting into a routine and doing homework (yuck!) and still trying to find time to have fun with my friends. So far, so good! =) 

Last Saturday, for Valentine's Day, I had some friends from school over. All Americans, but oh my goodness, was it so much fun! My "group" normally just consisted of me, Laura, and Katy, other DePaul girls. But now, we have friends at school! haha it's a good feeling. Laura and I had Valentine's Day dinner together (we made pasta) and then our friends came over. There were probably like 10 people here, and we all just hung out and laughed and listened to music and had a great time. I was really really happy they all came over and that I'm getting to know them more, because they're great people. =) It feels good to be able to go to school and have a little "circle" of people to talk to outside. (there are pictures on Facebook for those of you that have it.)

I have/had a valentine - kind of! An old old friend, that i've known for about 8 years now, have been talking a lot more recently. Last Friday, the day before Valentine's Day, there was a knock on my door with a flower delivery - a beautiful bouquet of roses. He apparently found local flowershops by my house and had to read the websites IN FRENCH and figure out how to send them to me! Talk about effort. ;) I am soooo happy, to say the least. I'm not gonna divulge the whole story, but I'm sure if you ask my mother she can fill you in, haha! here are the flowers:

Sunday, Katy, Laura, and I went to the Musée d'Orsay, a famous museum in Paris that has art only from the 1800s. It's one of my favorite in Paris, and through our school we have a free pass to go anytime we want, so that was good! I took a bunch of pictures of some of my favorite pieces we saw, which I will post below. It was also fun because I've taken so many art history classes that I knew stories behind a lot of the paintings. Laura and Katy kept saying "educate us, Brittany!" haha so it was cool, I felt like a little tour guide. =) That night, we booked tickets to MADRID!! I'll be going the last weekend in March and I can't waaaait!

Last night I had an orientation meeting (we have them a few times throughout the semester) where we are all split up into groups with a certain member of the school staff. Our leader is the director of the whole program, so it's kind of intimidating, but it was so fun! She took us to a café around the corner from school and bought us all a bottle of wine. It was so nice, we just sat around the table drinking wine and talking about our experiences so far and asking her questions and stuff. She's really easy to talk to, and it was a fun night. 

I found out I have an internship! I have my first meeting tomorrow. I'll be working at a gallery called Galérie Charlotte Norberg - a small independent contemporary gallery. I am SO excited!! I have no idea what kind of work I'll be doing, but I suppose I'll find that all out tomorrow! 

I hope everyone is doing well. It's very strange - I lovvvvve it here, without a doubt, but at the same time I sometimes think about coming home and seeing everyone and I can't wait to be home! It's like I'm caught in between two different worlds. But hey, I've already been here a month, so i'm sure the rest of it is gonna go by fast! I'm definitely gonna be making the most of it. Love you all, God bless, I'll update soon!

pictures:

musée d'orsay

just touched down in London town.

Soooo last weekend I went to LONDON to see one of my best friends, Molly, who's studying there with DePaul. My friends from here, Laura and Katy, also had friends on the same program, so the three of us headed off to see them (Molly, Caitlin, and Wren) for the weekend.

Friday during the day, Laura and Katy and I went to this lunch through our school - it was actually at a cooking school /studio called Guy Martin and we got to work with real chefs and cook our meal! We had risotto with all kinds of vegetables, learned the different ways to cut them, and also had baked chicken and chocolate soufflé. It was really cool to learn all that stuff and then to eat the MAGNIFICENT food. We all felt like we were on the food network. After lunch, Katy and Laura and I headed directly to the Paris Nord train station to catch our train. We had to go through customs and everything, but it went smoothly and then we were on our way! The train was a lot of fun - it only took two and a half hours to get there and time flew by. We brought with a bunch of mini wine bottles to bring our friends, so we each had one on the train. Going through the English Channel was a bit rough, because we went so far down that our ears were popping like crazy! But we finally got there, and Molly Wren and Caitlin met us at the train station. We went straight to the tube (the subway) and headed back to their dorm. They each have their own rooms, so I stayed with Molly, Laura stayed with Caitlin, and Katy stayed with Wren. We all got ready and then met back up in Wren's kitchen in her dorm so we could make dinner. A bunch of other DePaul kids were with their program, so a whole big group of us hung out eating dinner, drinking wine, and getting ready to go out for the night. We all took the tube and went to this craaaazy club called Fabric. It was so much fun, but definitely kind of an intense atmosphere - with smoke, flashing lights, loud music, 3 floors, etc... Molly and I weren't really "feeling it", (and we didn't wanna drink at the club) so we left a bit earlier than our other friends and went back to her dorm and called it a night. sooo much fun though, nonetheless! =)

Saturday we all woke up and went to Buckingham Palace - that was the one place i really REALLY wanted to see. I had high hopes of taking a picture with a guard, or trying to make him laugh, but we weren't even allowed near them. It made me sad =( I took a bunch of beautiful pictures though, and after that we walked around and went exploring, which I love to do because there are so many things to look at. We saw Chinatown, Picadilly Circus, Soho, etc... and decided to go to an authentic English pub to get Strongbow (hard cider - an English classic apparantly) and fish and chips! Both of them were soooo good, and after that we went back to the dorms to shower and get ready again. We all met back in Wren's kitchen to drink a little bit of wine and socialize, and then we all went to dinner at an Indian restaurant in this area called Brick Lane. Apparantly London is known for its Indian food, and I must say, it was AMAZING. We were all so full and decided to go to a bar close to their dorms, so that it would be easy to get home. The London girls told us Paris girls that we had to try a drink called a Snakebite - Black Current juice, Foster's Ale, and Strongbow. It sounds revolting, I know, but we tried it, and it was delicious, haha. There was a band playing at the bar, all American music, so we all just danced and had a good time. Everyone left except for me, Laura, Caitlin, and Molly, because we wanted to hangout a little bit more. We ended up leaving around 1:30 and went back to the dorms. Molly had two friends she wanted me to meet - Mike, who's British, and David, who's another American student. We just went to their dorm and hungout and listened to music and watched them play video games (they're boys, what do you expect) and it was a very relaxed, "American" night. I felt like I was at home. =)

Sunday we woke up and went to an area called CamdenTown which is really eclectic and a rock scene -- the London girls kept saying it was "my people" - I'm not sure what that means haha. We went to an American diner and i got a CHEESEBURGER - oh my goodness it was so amazing, we definitely don't have food like that over here in Paris, haha. When we were done eating we wanted to go see the London Bridge and Big Ben, but the tube line we needed was closed for the day, so there was no way to get there. =( We ended up going towards the train station and going into a pub - I got a Bailey's Latte, and then we got on the train and headed back to Paris! It was so weird to say i was "going home" - but really I was going to Paris. I guess it kind of IS my home now! haha =)

London was so much fun - it was a nice break for the weekend, to see our friends and hang out in a university style setting and just relax. Way different from the homestay experience over here. I won't lie, though, I definitely missed Paris... the three of us all did. We realized how much we like it over here, just because it's so different and such a different lifestyle. It was a good "awakening", so to speak. Molly and Caitlin are gonna come to Paris to visit me and Laura in March, and i can't WAIT to show them our lives just like they showed us theirs.

Monday was my first day of school -- woo! I still am not sure what is going on with my internship, or my outside course at the French university, but my classes through IES are all okay. I'm really excited, they all seem interesting and my professors are cool. I have a seminar that goes along with the internship - we'll just meet every other week to discuss our experiences. Then i have a literature class on comic strips - how cool is that!? Our book for the class is this HUGE binded thing that the school copied for us full of different comic strips, and we'll be talking about the history, style, different genres, art, etc... and my teacher is hilarious. He did an impression of Sarkozy the first day - love it. Then i have a sociology class on women and conflicts - we'll just be going through different experiences with women and how they adapt and react pre-conflict, during conflict, and post-conflict. My professor is a sociologist and focuses on gender studies and she's very passionate, very into the subject, and energetic. I'm really interested to see how it goes! My other class is translation - pretty self-explanatory but we get to translate literature - excerpts from Sylvia Plath, George Orwell, Woody Allen, J.K. Rowling, etc... I'm so excited!!

Laura and I found a new cafe by school that we love. It has good coffee, and just a really good ambiance. We'll definitely be going there a lot. This week I just have more classes, but Saturday is Valentine's Day, so I'm thinking of having some friends over for dinner and whatnot to have a little "celebration", since it's not really common over here (except at bars or clubs, but I don't think I wanna do that.) Anyways, I hope everything is going well at home! For all of you Chicago people - enjoy that 50/60 degree weather! I'm so jealous!! I love you all so much, you're in my thoughts, and God bless!

here are the London pictures:

Londres - London

even the frozen food is better here.

i've learned that, seeming as a) that's all me and my friends have attempted to cook thus far, and b) my host family's stove broke, so we've been eating a lot of frozen things lately! haha but wayyy better quality, i'm tellin' ya...

Sorry i haven't updated in a few days - to be honest there hasn't been anything big to report! Monday through Thursday I just had school all day / academic meetings / dinner with the family. My academic meetings went well -- my advisor, who is the director of the program, told me i HAD to do an outside class at a French university, despite my reservations, because i'm "too good and too advanced to be taking only classes at IES. you will bore yourself to death." haha it was again, quite a compliment, and pretty encouraging. She thinks I'll definitely be able to handle the load because she had heard so much about me. =) So it looks like I have Translation (as my grammar class) , Sociology on Women and Conflicts, Litterature on French Comic Strips, and the Internship Seminar, all at IES. Then I am enrolled in a Contemporary Art class at a smaller university called l'Institut Catholique à Paris -- it's exactly what it looks like, The  Paris Catholic Institute. My advisor said I'll probably like it better there than the Sorbonne, and plus the times for the classes worked better than the ones at the Sorbonne. I'm very excited!! 

Today I went to the huge art auction house in Paris called Drouot, with a close friend of one of my professors at DePaul. He nicely enough agreed to meet me there and take me around the building and show me "how it all works". It was so cool; there are about 10 or 11 different rooms with huge varieties of objects, but only antique stuff. Anything modern or recent, they don't sell. I saw furniture, clothes, paintings, drawings, photos, posters, WINE, jewelry, firearms, china, sculptures, etc... he explained that every day the rooms are "restocked" so to speak. If you go on a Monday, for example, you make a note of what objects you liked, and then come back the following day to bid on them, of course at a starting minimum price. It was very interesting to see that whole side of the art world that i had never known before! I really wanted to try to get an internship there, but he explained to me that those types of things have to be done WAY in advance, like i should've gotten in contact with people back in  October. I guess it's understandable since there's so many private commissioners there, like "hotshots". But nevertheless, it was a great experience. After Drouot he took me around the neighborhood to show me other galleries and private dealers. It was so cool, and he was really knowledgeable about everything, which was a big help! Not to mention incredibly nice. 

After that I just came home and relaxed. I'm packing right now, going to LONDON tomorrow!! To see my friend Molly who's studying there, and she has become good friends with two of Laura's friends, ironically enough. So Laura, Katy, and I are going to stay with them in their dorms. It should be a blasttttt! I'm positive i'll have stories up here after the weekend. =) Love you all!!!

do you love me? (do you love me?)

i heard a French band play that song on Saturday night. =) we all danced.

Friday I had school from 11:30-1:30, but i woke up at 7am and went with my hostmom to drive Lucie to school and then to the open-air market! It was really cool; we definitely don't have things like this in the U.S. very often, nor for that low of a price! I always found it funny that you have to pay MORE for the real/organic food from a market, less for the fake/processed stuff. But here it's not like that at all! My hostmom bought so many different things, and it was cool to be with her and see what it was all about. So then I went to school, went shopping and bought some school supplies (hooray!) and came home. Lucie gets out of school at 1pm on Fridays, so when I got home from the store she was here, and she asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her. So we went to an area called Marais, which is a huge shopping area, combined with the gay neighborhood of Paris and the Chinatown. Talk about an interesting mix! haha. It was cool to people watch and then to go in random stores. Lucie says it's really hard to remember your way around that part of town because there's so many side streets and shortcuts and whatnot, so we were basically wandering for a few hours. We found a thriftstore that Lucie LOVES -- she bought two skirts and a purse. I found boots! made in italy, for 30€! not bad, not bad. Then we got crêpes and went back to the train. We went to the grocery store to get stuff to make for dinner, and then home. Laura, Madeline, and Katy came over for dinner with me and Lucie, we just made pasta and had bread and wine. It was a good dinner, though! We hung out for a little bit, Laura and Katy left to go to a bar, and I went to bed pretty early. 

Saturday, Katy, Laura, and I went to an art exhibit in Laura's neighborhood in this gallery called Dorothy's Gallery -- it was all about OBAMA! Ranging from photography to paintings to sculptures to collages to caricatures to drawings -- it was a really cool exhibit and interesting to see foreigners' views on him, as well. The lady who owns the gallery was really nice and explained to us some of the stories behind the paintings and the exhibit, but she was a bit psycho. She was American (who spoke horrible French) and just kind of spacey and pushy. She would ask us questions such as "Who's that person in the background of the painting?" We would say "ohhh i don't know" and she would say "Yes you do. yes you do. Think. Yes you do." haha it was really intimidating. But anyways, then we left and we wanted to go to the Catacombs -- too late, they closed at 4pm. =( So we walked around that area, there was the Montparnasse cemetery which is huge, and Baudelaire is buried there. So we took some pictures and whatnot and then got on the metro and parted ways, except Laura came home with me. We went to the grocery store and got stuff to make for dinner, my hostparents went to dinner at a friend's house. So we ate dinner and hungout with Lucie for a bit and then met up with a bunch of friends for this free concert / battle of the bands thing going on. It was fun, and something different to do. There were 5 bands, each one could play one original song and one cover. All the covers were American of course, so this one band played "Do you Love Me?" by the Contours and we were all dancing and it was a ton of fun. After the bands were done, the place turned into a nightclub, but we left and all went home. I got home and just went to bed.

Today I'm not gonna do anything -- i have some homework to do for school and laundry to do etc etc so i'm just gonna have a lazy day. I may treat myself to Starbucks, today ... we'll see ;). Love and hugs and kisses to all! 

here are my pictures -- clearly it wasn't 1/1/08 for the date -- my camera just screwed up the date when i took them =(

Obama à Paris - Obama in Paris