Monday was actually rather uneventful. I spent the majority of the day lamenting over my separation anxiety from Bristol, wallowing in my remaining homemade pasties and English snack mix, and putting the "study" back in study abroad. There had been a serious lack of schoolwork attended to over the weekend because England was way too fun, and it was time I tackled the first of my two midterms. For dinner we discovered a hidden restaurant row only a couple of blocks from our hotel, so we grabbed tapas at a Spanish joint (because why would we want to eat French food in France?). We also uncovered a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop that offers a footlong baguette sandwich, drink, and dessert for only 6 euro. Beat that, Subway. But really that's a steal, considering the cheapest meal one can find at a cafe here is at least 10 euro. Needless to say I was stoked because that meant I no longer had to steal food from the breakfast buffet every morning to survive the rest of the day.
Tuesday involved more class and midterms, followed by splurging on my newfound three-course lunch. We decided to go out on Tuesday night, participating in happy hour at a local bar and heading off to the Eiffel Tower so my friends in the program could catch it lit up at night. They turn on the main lights around 9 or 9:30pm when the sun finally sets, but from 10pm-1am the tower lights literally sparkle for 5 minutes every hour on the hour. The sight is truly spectacular, and one of my (if not most) favorite views in Paris.
My ADPi sisters and I making "diamonds" along the bank of the Seine. And all creepily wearing leather jackets.
We walked all the way to the base of the tower to grab a midnight crepe, but ended up missing the last Metro train home (it closes at 1am, lame) so we had to pay for a cab home. We managed to squeeze seven of us into a minivan cab so it only came down to a couple euros a piece. Phew.
Wednesday was way more eventful, as it involved a nearly seven-hour walking tour of Paris with the other students in my program. Our professor lead us to some of the lesser known sights in the city, including l'Orangerie museum, the Paris Opera House, and Madeleine Church.
Monet painted several murals around the circular walls of the l'Orangerie, to be opened after his death free to the public as a gift to the people of Paris. The paintings were beautiful (and enormous), providing a few panoramic-like scenes that you could easily spend ten minutes walking from one side to the other if you wanted to examine every single detail.
French impressionism is not a joking matter.
It's a very small museum, so within 45 minutes or so we were walking over to our second stop, the Paris Opera House of The Phantom of the Opera fame. All I can say is WOW. Over 15 types of marble stone, pure onyx, giant mosaic murals...so much detail I can't even begin to describe all the grandeur. It was so over the top that it is somehow all pulled together. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I was too busy gawking, plus all the gold made the scenes too bright for my camera to capture, but I managed to snag a picture of the Phantom's personal box inside the actual theatre.
The far right was the Emperor's box, and the second from the bottom box in the second column (Box 5) belonged to the Phantom. I wonder if he picked that himself on Ticketmaster.
We hit up Madeleine Church afterwards, which, let's be honest, looks like every other several hundred-year-old ginormous church I've scene in Europe these past three weeks. I think everyone else felt similarly, because within 15 minutes or so we were all headed down the street to the famous Laduree macaroon shop.
Macaroons are basically meringue cookie sandwiches with cream fillings. And they taste way better in Paris. Laduree makes like 20 different flavors inside its super fancy store. I sampled raspberry, vanilla, and pistachio, and had a mini heart attack after every bite as the perfectly cooked meringue melted in my mouth. The 1.5 euro per cookie was the only thing stopping me from trying every flavor because they were to die for.
The Sprinkles Cupcakes of Paris.
I stayed in Wednesday night in preparation for our whole day field trip to the Loire Valley on Thursday. Our professor sent us all wake up calls at 6:30 in the morning, and we were on the bus by 7:30am leaving any stragglers behind. It was obvious that the group had partied a little too hard the night before because everyone on the bus spent the entire three hour ride sleeping, and everyone else didn't even make it out of bed.
First stop was Chenonceau chateau. To be honest I was not paying attention at all to the history of the castle (there's a limit to the amount of trivial French history I can absorb in one week) but from a real estate perspective it was like attending the open house of a place you know you'll never be able to afford but enjoy dreaming about living in nonetheless. Except they don't give you those blue booties to wear.
Apparently these people weren't into the idea of having neighbors.
Compared to the chateau we saw later this one was actually rather small, but the gardens were gorgeous. My favorite was this little garden house that reminded me of my home in Hinsdale when my dad hasn't Paul Bunyan-ed the bushes in awhile.
Maybe it's an outhouse. I'd do my business in there.
We hopped back on the bus for a 30-minute ride to another chateau in the area, Amboise. Leonardo da Vinci spent the last few years of his life hanging out with Francis I of France. The king hired him just for his company.. I think that relationship might be misinterpreted nowadays. Either way that's the reason the Mona Lisa ended up in France at the Louvre. Da Vinci is actually buried in a small chapel on the castle grounds, so we got to see his tombstone.
The other 4/5ths of Amboise was destroyed over the years. I think I would turn into Jack Nicholson in The Shining if I lived in this place. Thank goodness there's no maze.
Amboise also sits on a hill on the bank of the Loire River, offering gorgeous views of the town below.
Modeling for next year's brochure.
After walking castle grounds all day, again the entire class passed out on the bus ride home. It's the quietest I've ever seen a group of 40 college kids. Of course two 3-hour naps in one day leads to nighttime insomnia, and what with having Friday off of school, us UCLA-ers spent Thursday night the only way we know how:
Discussing important world issues, of course.
The French are very encouraging of this lifestyle. Here, the drinking age is 18 and wine is cheaper than water, which really leaves us no choice but to take part in the cultural experience. If I'm being honest right now, this is what study abroad is all about. Hope that's not TMI, Mom and Dad. But as much as I'm learning about international business law and taxation, the school purposely makes the classes easier abroad so you have time to truly experience Paris beyond its tourist attractions. Now that the secret's out, you can probably gather that the reason I exploit the free breakfast buffet is because I'm allocating funds toward other uses: drinks and cabs home. And truly these are the moments that provide the greatest learning experience and growth through the study abroad program. I won't deny that it's an extreme privilege, but regardless this is where the maturing process takes place.
Making friends with the bartender. Even the French practice "photobombing"-the art of unexpectedly dropping into a perfectly good picture right before it is taken.
Taking a break now to finish a midterm and allow my parents time to recover from this information. More about my weekend to come later.
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