An "AMAZING" Week...

Monday..
Monday started my 4th class. Development of International Business and Sales. Twice a week. Monday is theory, Wednesday is practice... Let's just say it was the earliest I have woken up since I've been to France. Not easy. After class ended at 11, Laura and I had lunch at school. It was my first time eating in the cafeteria, and it was pretty good: Chicken Cordon Bleu. Afterwards, French civ class: Always good :) This week we talked about WWI and WWII. Very interesting and compelling discussions.

Turns out, no French test Tuesday, but the test is after the holidays :(  However, the class was about the process of making wine, so you would imagine that it grabbed my attention. Also met a new friend; his name is Pablo and he's from Peru. We've had French together the whole semester, but this was the first I'd talked to him. He said he thought he knew one of my roommates, Jos. Pablo said Jos was always telling him how "amazing" my cooking was, so I told him he should come over for dinner sometime; it's the southern hospitality, we invite everyone over.  Tuesday night we went to Duplex.. I hung out with Pablo, and he mentioned that his birthday was Saturday, but since vacations were coming up, he wanted to celebrate on Friday. I offered to cook for him and we arranged a dinner party for Friday. After the club, Lauma and I decided to walk home, except in the wrong direction, in the cold. Thank God a bus passed shortly after.

Wednesday started the practice part of the new class. Not too bad, but the rest of my group is French, and they prefer to speak that way as well. So, it's going to be difficult, but I think I can manage.

Thursday we had marketing presentations. I'm not sure exactly what my teacher's criticism was, because to me it seemed like he just kept giving us examples about how our idea was a good one. WHO KNOWS?
Thursday night I went to James Joyce to pay Will back the money he'd loaned me from when I lost everything. Lauma and Laura came to meet me, and Laura brought her friend from Finland. She is so sweet. Always a good night at James Joyce.

AND for FRIDAY, FRIDAY! (in a Rebecca Black voice)
Friday I slept in because now, it's my only day off from school apart from the weekend. I cleaned the apartment and started cooking around 4.. I made a 5 course cajun meal TO DIE FOR!

Yours truly <3

Hors d'oeuvres: Fresh grapes, cheese, and baguettes

Salad: Shrimp Remoulade. Unfortunately my camera died and I charged it and forgot about it, so no pictures of the remoulade :(  But it was DELICIOUS. Fresh boiled shrimp served on a bed of lettuce with a side of homemade-secret-recipe-remoulade dip. YUM, and YUM.

Entree and side: Gumbo and potato salad :) This time, I finally remembered to put the OKRA in the gumbo!

And for Dessert: My very first PECAN PRALINES!!!! My mother was so proud of me, because she had her doubts, but I knew I could do it :)

Not only was Pablo amazed, but I think everyone was impressed. Lauma said I made her night, lol. I must say, I impressed myself...

Saturday was an AMAZING day. Kot, Jos, Lauma and I went to the Eiffel Tower with intentions of climbing to the top, but the lift was closed due to congestion, so we decided to go when it wasn't so busy. However, I did manage to get a picture of my name on the Eiffel Tower!!!

I know I know, I'm famous :)

 We decided to visit the Statue of Liberty and had coffee and eclairs afterwards.

Again, these are just a few pictures. Check out my facebook for the complete album.

Today I went shopping for a Halloween costume with the intent of creating a Moulin Rouge dancer costume; instead it looked more Gangster. I guess this year I'll be going as myself, haha. Just a joke.

All in all, it was an AMAZING week.

Oh, and I'm leaving Wednesday for Barcelona for vacation. Be jealous :)

Later Gators!

À plus tard!

Kristen

..

Internet man, call me. 0637049653.

Oh, Mon Dieu

Although I was up until 3 AM Monday morning updating the blog, I woke up super early. I was feeling productive and decided I would start a new healthy lifestyle. I started Yoga, and I LOVE IT. It's a great workout AND it's relaxing. I also started eating healthier. Mainly because I had no food in the house.. and I had no money to buy food because the wire transfer hadn't gone through yet.
I've pretty much been sticking to it. I mean, I have to, because the WINE is so plentiful and cheap here, I have to counteract it some kind of way. Let's see how long this eating healthy thing will last...

I had my French civ class Monday afternoon, and it was a pretty good class. We got our grades back from our midterm, and I got a 14.1 out of 20. Not too shabby (all my friends got 10s). The reason why it was a good class is because I'm a smartypants. We have group lectures every week, and every week is a different group. This week, the group presentation included information on the catacombs of Paris, etc.. The catacombs is an underground osuary where the bones of about 6 million bodies are stored in old mining quarries. Well you see, I went to the catacombs about 3 weeks ago. So, I was pretty well informed. Nothing against the group presenting, I thought their presentation was good. But after the part about the catacombs, the teacher (the hot one) asked if anyone knew why the catacombs were REALLY built. So of course, I raised my hand, and I said, "Well, the catacombs were built because the decaying bodies in the mass graveyards, specifically the Cemetery of the Innocent, were contaminating the groundwater, and at the time, well water was the city's main source of drinking water. So, the city ordered the removal of the bodies." My teacher said, "50 points for you!" Even though I didn't really get 50 points, I was very proud of myself. After talking about the catacombs and the Cemetery of the Innocent, the presenter, Tim (another Erasmus student from the US, Coastal Carolina) asked the class if anyone knew what the biggest cemetery in Paris was. OF COURSE, I knew the answer to this too, because I went to it a few days before! So I raise my hand, and he laughs at me because I answered the previous question as well. And I said, "Pere Lachaise." He asked if I knew what arrondissement it was in. AND OF COURSE I DO, because my group will have to present the 11th, 12th, and 20th arrondissements. So AGAIN, I answer, "The 20th." And he tells me, wow, you just know everything. HAHA. I love it when other people realize this.

So that was it for Monday; I came home and had a healthy dinner.

Tuesday, however, was also interesting. Tuesday is French class. As if it isn't hard enough learning French IN FRENCH, and majority of the class speaks SPANISH; Tuesday, I had the two most obnoxious people in the world sitting next to me. They talked in Spanish for the ENTIRE CLASS, and it got to the point that I could not hear what the teacher was saying or concentrate on the class. This was important, because we have our first test TUESDAY. So, I had enough. I turned to my side, and said loudly, "Can you two please SHUT THE F UP? Because you keep talking in SPANISH, this is FRENCH class, AND I CANNOT CONCENTRATE." Obviously they were pretty embarassed. The teacher had words with them after class, in FRENCH, haha. I usually "try" to hold my tongue, but this time I couldn't help it. SORRY!

After class, I went to the bank, AND MY MONEY WAS THERE!!! WOOHOO!!! I was with my groupmate Santiago, and he told me that he was happy I got my money, because he was tired of seeing me looking so depressed all week. He said the second I took the money out of the ATM my face lit up. Haha.
So now that I had money, I HAD TO go grocery shopping. I had absolutely NO FOOD at home.
The weather finally got cold, so I also decided to pick up the ingredients for my Momma's homemade chicken noodle soup.
Santiago had never heard of Auchan, and he was so excited that I introduced him to the cheap grocery store that he decided to stick with me for my grocery shopping.
Turned out I bought way more than I expected to, mostly fruits and veggies and such, so I asked him if he would help me haul the groceries back to my apartment. And he replied with, "I'll make you a deal. I'll help you with the groceries if you cook for me tonight." GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!

^^ This was one of the reasons I needed help with the groceries. THE BIGGEST CELERY STALK I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

Went home and made 2 pots of chicken noodle soup, and IT WAS SO GOOD. It was gone by the next day. The Ales were still in Madrid, so it was only Lauma, Santiago, Jos and me.

Lauma and I decided to go to James Joyce after dinner. So after twisting my arm, yeah right, I agreed to go with her. It was supposed to be for ONE beer.
We all know how that goes. But, good thing we stayed.
After Lauma went outside for a smokebreak, she came back inside and said, "Hey, there's someone really important standing behind you..." And of course I turn around, and I ask, "WHO, WHO?!?!" She explains that she met this guy MONKEY, when she was outside smoking.

He just so happens to work for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and they just so happen to be one of my FAVORITE bands, and they just so happened to be playing in Paris that night and the next night. Of course I BEG for tickets, and Monkey says, "I don't know.. name 5 songs." So of course I can't think of the names of t 5 songs, so it takes me about ten minutes, but I DID IT! Monkey says, "OK.OK. I still don't know." Turns out, he was messing with me all along. When he and Lauma were outside smoking, he told her he thought we were cool and wanted us to go to the concert the next night, and gave us 2 tickets, but told Lauma to keep it a secret.

OH MON DIEU! WE GOT FREE TICKETS TO THE FREAKIN RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS CONCERT!!

All in all, it was AN AMAZING NIGHT.

Wednesday, I was asked by a fellow student to be a "business angel". Even though it wasn't MY presentation, I thought I should look professional :) So I got all dressed up and listened to RHCP ALL DAY!

I had to sit in on their presentation, and at the end, decide whether or not I would invest in their company and business concept. It was a really good experience, and I'm glad I volunteered to do it. The class and the teacher were SO HARD ON THEM. I couldn't be so harsh. I was a softy.

After the presentation, I decided I would stop by H&M to get something cool to wear for the concert. I ended up finding this cool set of tees. One ws one half of a broke heart with LO, the other had the other half of the heart with VE. PERFECT!
Lauma was so excited when she saw the shirts. So we put them on and headed out to Palais Omnisports BERCY. It just so happened to be in the 12th arrondissement, one of the districts I have to do a presentation on. Hitting two birds with one stone!

When we got to the arena, we were so excited. Our tickets were at willcall, and when we saw them, we couldn't stop giggling.

We managed to find our seats and have a few beers and enjoyed the concert. IT WAS AWESOME.

Our uber cool tees :) LOVE!

They have a few fans...

The arena was PACKED!

Yep. That's the Red Hot Chili Peppers ^ :)

What was funny was that not only did everyone around us get to see the RHCP, but they got to see me fall from our row to the row below us. THAT was a rough one. But hey, it's not a real rock concert unless you leave slightly injured.

Thursday morning I woke up bruised, sore, sick, and without a voice. I managed to get myself out of bed for my marketing class. The teacher was talking about Freud's ego theories and how they apply to marketing; but not only how they apply to marketing, more specifically PEANUTS. YEAH, Peanuts. After the peanut lecture we did some groupwork, and surprise: we have to give "pre-presentations next class". I don't think it's going to be a problem...I got this.

After class I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things to make another soup, since I was sick. This time it was tomato, corn, and sausage. Pretty good. But the roomies didn't make it home :(

They went to a party, but I needed to stay home anyway because I was sick, and I'm still a little sick...

Friday was a pretty lazy day. I spent the day drinking mint tea, eating Riccolas like candy, and popping Sudafed to try to get myself better. It worked! I was feeling better, so I decided to go to the Belleville Chinatown to get some pictures for my french civ project before going to a get-together at a friend's. It was nice.. I practiced my French a little :)

Saturday I slept in, and then Lauma came over and surprised us with a Baguette and fresh cheese and ham and tomatoes. It was so yummy. Saturday night, Lauma and I went to a friend's apartment, but we ended up parting ways, and I went off by myself for the rest of the night.

Today Kot and I deep cleaned the apartment. You would be disgusted at the things we found in the toaster.

Now, I have LOTS OF STUDYING TO DO, especially if I wanna catch the Saints game. WHO DAT?!

My 4th class,  Development of Business and Sales International, starts tomorrow at 8 AM AND its on Wednesdays at 2. No more Wednesdays off :/

We already have a huge case study to look over for the new class, I have a French test Tuesday and a marketing presentation Thursday.

Wish me luck!

That's all for now.

Later Gators

À plus tard!

Kristen

C'est La Vie

...The shrimp and corn bisque came out quite wonderfully. There was only enough leftover for Lauma to try. Boy was she happy I saved her some :)


Well, well, well.. TUESDAY NIGHT:
It was inevitable that I would lose everything important while living in Paris. Well not EVERYTHING important, but my license, my navigo pass (for the metro), my student ID, and my American bankcard. Yup. Only me.
Imagine it: Me, outside of Paris, just realized I left my coinpurse containing the above items in a cab, so I have NO MONEY to get back home, standing in the COLD. What a sight. I had to call Lauma to come and save me because I didn't know where I was, and this "friend" wasn't even polite enough to tell me where I was or where the train was. Good friend, eh? NOT.
I need 2 hands to count the number of times I've lost licenses, phones, and debitcards. And you BETTER believe I got lectured for it... ALL DAY LONG.
So I had to cancel my debit card, blah blah blah; report everything to the police, try to call the cab company etc. Luckily, the cab drivers are "supposed" to turn in lost items to the Paris Lost and Found Office, and the office tracks you down if they've found your stuff. I've called for the past 3 days, but nothing yet :(  I will keep trying though. So, since I have my french bank account and managed NOT TO LOSE my french debit card, I made a wire transfer from US to France. Yeah, that takes 5 days.
I'm down to ramen noodles, a slice of ham, and some cheese. Will, the bartender at James Joyce offered to loan me some money because I'm sure I seemed so pathetic; I'm budgeting 30 euros for about a week. This is REAL COLLEGE LIFE.
But at least I still have my passport and everything else important. At first it seemed like my ENTIRE LIFE, and it REALLY SUCKED, but I got over it. "C'est la vie." Once again, just material things- things that can be replaced (except for the damn Navigo pass). It's good to know I have plenty of people that love me and care about me both HERE AND HOME to help me out :) I LOVE Y'ALL!

Needless to say, I spent most of the week on the couch, especially Wednesday. Good thing my last class of the week happened to be Tuesday.

I needed to get myself out of my funk, so I got back into my routine.I got out of bed, got myself dressed, and decided to go to La Defense to see if I could get my NavigoPass reinstated. YEAH RIGHT. I went to school to see Farah, and she kindly sent one of the guys from the student office to walk with me to the Police Station, so I could report my loss. After the Navigo disappointed, I needed a pick-me-up, so I called Lauma. And to my surprise, she invited me to the POOL! I was so excited! She said yeah, it's free, please come. She made my day. But she lied about the free part so that I would go with her. She's so sneaky :)  The fee was only 1.70 euro, so not too bad. She's such my savior. So we get to the pool, and come to find out, you need a swimcap to swim in the pools in Paris. There went another 2 euros. (My debt to Lauma is adding up!! haha) Me, in a swimcap. Yes, it was as funny as you are imagining.

                                                

I had to pick up my UBER cool underwater camera because the pool boy fussed me :( So I had to take a picture of myself in the totally rad HOT PINK swimcap before putting my camera away :)

It turns out, Parisians don't go to the pool for leisure, unfortunately. It's exercize. NO FUN! Oh well.

She really made my day :)

After the pool Thursday, I cooked shrimp alfredo. Jos and Ale invited their friend over. Lauma and Laura came over, too. So that makes 7. Good thing I made a big pot. No leftovers. haha.

Lauma is such a good photographer:)

Because we had so many guests, we ate Japanese style on the floor. It was fun.

Friday I was determined to get out of the apartment. Santiago and I attempted another field trip. This time it was a little more successful. We only managed to find the Père Lachaise cemetery, though. This cemetery is famous for being the home of the tomb of Jim Morrison (The Doors).

Also, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Delacroix, Molière, and many more.

But the COOLEST thing was finding this:

This was the best part of the entire trip. Seeing my family name right in front of me, all the way in Paris, really made me realize how wonderful it is to be here. Seeing all of these last names that we have in Louisiana in France only strenghthens the idea that blood is thick. Across the world, we still have family and traditions that have lasted for centuries, and even longer.

Here are some pictures that many of you will enjoy. I found so many family names here that we have in South Louisiana:

Lecomte

Gros

Plaisance

Riviere

Landry

Baillet

Berger

Lagarde

Bourgeois

Bourg

Dubois

Leblanc

Simon

A few more interesting things in Père Lachaise:

Beautiful stained glass...

Lacoste? The brand? Maybe.

More stained glass

Bellini

Why hello, CRUELLA!

Merci Monsieur Gustave Charpentier, the man my street in Paris is named after.

Great views

This was a crematorium...Creepy, huh?

More stained glass...

And how cliché? The crows in the cemetery. Also very creepy.

Friday night the roomies and I went out. I needed some fun. First we went to a FREE champagne bar (you can never go wrong with that). After, we went to a place called six seven.  The music was AWESOME. It was a pretty calm night..no pictures because we ALL forgot our cameras :( After that, we took the night bus home.

Saturday, the Ales left for Madrid and Jos left to bring Pilar to the trainstation. So, I stayed home and cleaned house and did laundry. Saturday night I went out with Laura and Lauma and we drank wine and ate a baguette in the street. hehe.

Sunday, I stayed in bed until almost 3 and did more laundry and homework. It was a pretty lazy day. Now, we are here, early early Monday morning (3AM Paris time), because it takes SO LONG to load pictures onto this blog. So now, TIME FOR BED :)

Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite!

Later Gators!

À plus tard,

Kristen