Rater au blog

So I've been rather terrible about blogging, and for this I sincerely apologize. I think I blogged more before I left than after I arrived! But I honestly think that might have something to do with the fact that I went online for like 10 hours a day while I was at home and now I live in Paris...soooo, I'm kind of more occupied.

Classes are difficult and I have a lot of work, which is a pain in my rear because I'd much rather be out enjoying this beautiful city than sitting inside doing grammar exercises. Paris is really the most gorgeous city I've ever seen. Every area has some charm to it, some hidden wonder just waiting to be discovered. There are alleyways that lead to secret gardens, hilltop views, immaculate architecture, and some of the most beautiful monuments ever constructed. The modern exists alongside the antique, and everything has a sort of charming balance...I think that's one of the best words I can use to describe Paris: charming!

Probably my favorite day here thus far was Friday. In the morning, BU scheduled a course in gastronomy for us, and we were able to sample a huge amount of excellent food and wine. The tasting was separated into sections depending on what shop the foods came from ; for example, we ate rillettes, blood sausage, and salami from the charcuterie, or meat shop (which usually sells procured meats rather than straight butchered meats). The blood sausage was surprisingly delicious. Then the fromage! It was amazing. Cheese is probably my favorite food in the world, and this is the best place to eat it. We sampled chevre, comte, fourme d'ambert (a type of blue cheese), and two types of camembert. All were scrumptious.

After that, we ate food from the boulangerie, where one buys bread - pain au chocolat, chaussons de pommes, baguettes, etc. And we finished off with the patisserie - pastries, oh my! Millefeuilles, profiteroles, beignets...all kinds of yummy sweet items, plus white wine. I stuffed myself with everything, telling myself I had to take advantage of as much of BU's money as possible, as it is a rare occurrence that they dispense it so willingly.

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Afterward, the sun was out, an extremely rare sight in Paris, but I had already decided to go to the Louvre, so we spent most of the sunny afternoon inside. I had another mini identity crisis while at the museum because of my secret desire to be an art historian, but whatever...I'll figure myself out eventually. We got into the museum for free because our BU I.D. cards say we're art history students on them - score! I don't quite understand why I thought the Louvre was so complicated the last time I went...it was extremely easy to navigate this time and I found everything I wanted to see quite easily. I finally got to see the Venus de Milo, which I didn't see last time because I got lost. Again, what's wrong with me?

The Mona Lisa was as disappointing as ever. There was a cool temporary Picasso/Delacroix exhibit, and an awesome sheet music exhibit as well. The art history geek within me swelled with joy. The Louvre, however, is an extremely tiring museum, so we stayed about 2-3 hours and decided to come back another day, since, of course, it's free!

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After the Louvre, we bought some wine (which is very cheap, even for the good stuff, in France) and went over to a university cafeteria to eat because it's only 3 euros for food...though the food isn't the best. Then we went to the Czech cultural society...yes, you read that right. My friend found out about some cool jazz concert, and it's actually a good thing we went, because it was so much fun! It was in this cave-like place in the basement of the Czech society that looked sort of like an old wine cellar. There was a 4-piece jazz band and a great vibe about the place...we just chilled out for a couple of hours, listening to the music, enjoying some wine, and being in Paris.

Thus far, it has all been great. I love Paris, I love the European life, and I certainly LOVE the food. I think the only thing I really miss is American coffee :( The coffee here is extremely tiny, extremely strong, and extremely expensive. I like my coffee sweet and creamy and large. Literally, a caramel macchiato from Starbuck's in Paris costs 5 euros. That's like $7!!! Meredith and I have started getting coffee from the McDonald's down the street because it's cheaper and comes in a to-go cup, but sheesh...I thought the coffee would overfloweth here!

Oh, and I'm officially going to Amsterdam on February 13th, Venice and Rome for Spring Break, Barcelona on April 11, hopefully Germany or Switzerland May 1, and spending a week in the UK in mid-May. Those are travel plans as of late. Ohhh Europe, how I love thee.