busy busy busy busy busy busy...Oh, i'm busy.

Dear BU Paris Internship Program:

You want me to enjoy Paris, right? You want me to explore the intricacies of the city and appreciate its cultural value, correct? And overall, you want me to remain healthy, sane, and happy, of course? Then please explain to me why, for the past two weeks, have I been positively steeped in school assignments and feel as though (mostly) unnecessary knowledge is being regularly and forcefully extruded from every orifice in my body as per your dictatorial syllabi. Please.

Sincerely,
Liz Furze

These week, I have two exposés (which are in-class presentations about assigned subjects), reading, one essay, an essay correction, a crapload of grammar exercises, and a test. Last week, I had two essays (one of them was LONG and the other involved interviewing a French person), a test, more reading, an essay correction, and a private exposé. I'm tired. I don't want to do work. I understand this program is "intensive", which is the nice way of saying "difficult", and it's for my own good, and we're essentially compressing an entire semester into 8 weeks, but really! This is a bit absurd. And by a bit absurd, I mean it makes me want to die a little. In fact, my roommate, Meredith, is sick to the point of being bed-ridden, which I am sure (Italics cue sarcasm) has nothing to do with stress.

Other than the mass amounts of travail, Paris itself continues to be lovely. The weather is finally starting to pick up, and it's supposed to be in the 50's this week, which makes me feel fantastic. I'm pretty sure I have SAD tendencies (Seasonal Affected Disorder...not just "sad" in all caps), and when the weather is nice, I am always filled with these beautiful waves of happiness and nostalgia. For some reason, I have been thinking about summer in New England a lot lately and how I miss summery Rhode Island and Cape Cod. I really want to live in Boston this summer, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that without having to work 60 hours a week. Rent is expensive. And working 60 hours a week means no days off, which means no beach, unless you're talking about the BU beach, which is a plot of grass next to Storrow Drive, which is not a real beach, which makes me sad.

On a different and less tangental note, my friend Lori, who's studying in Madrid, came to Paris for the weekend! I met up with her on Friday afternoon at the Louvre, where we looked at the Egyptian stuff, which was pretty interesting, and then the Italian and French painters (essentially, the Mona Lisa). The Louvre is not my favorite, but you have to go when you come to Paris. This was my third time...and I have a feeling I will go several more times before I leave Paris, if not because I have more people coming to visit and I will have to take them.

After the Louvre, we went to Notre Dame, which is always awesome. Lots of Quasimodo jokes were made, don't you worry. The inside of the church is breathtaking, as is the outside, but those stained glass windows get me every time. They're just freakin' awesome, to put it eloquently. I must go to mass at Notre Dame some time, as I have a feeling it will be incredible.

After Notre Dame, we met our mutual friend Jill, who is also on the PIP (despisèd acroynm for Paris Internet Program), at the Eiffel Tower, and then walked over to the Palais de Chaillot for the lovely view. Afterwards, we walk to the Champs-Elysées where we enjoyed coffee at the House of Ridiculously Overpriced Ice Cream, aka Häagen-Dazs (which is a made-up name, did you know? [also, I use too many parantheses. I constantly interrupt myself. Damn.]), and then went to the Arc de Triomphe. They charge you money to go inside it and climb to the top, to which we said "Eff No", so we just stood under it. They were actually re-lighting the flame for the tomb of the unknown soldier, which burns constantly beneath the Arc, so we watched the ceremony and then peaced.

Afterwards, Meredith and I had a small dinner gathering with our friend Erin. Our host mom is currently on vacation for three weeks at her house in Marseille, so we have the house all to ourselves, which obviously means PARTAYYY. Not. We ate pasta, drank too much wine, and didn't do too much else for the rest of the night.

The next day, I met Jill and Lori for the lunch in the Marais, which is an older area of Paris where a lot of Jewish/Israeli restaurants and bakeries set up shop. We had some absolutely amazing falafel and got gelato afterwards in the shape of a rose. Don't believe me? Photographic evidence (promise not to judge my psychotic face):

We went to Les Invalides, the gorgeous building/series of buildings where Napoleon is buried, but it was closed, so we just admired the architecture and took pictures. I went back home afterwards because we had another little dinner party ; Erin and our friend Trevor came over to eat and watch Paris, a movie we have to write about for one of our classes (which I am supposed to be doing right now but clearly am not). Meredith made the most BEAUTIFUL quiche all from scratch, dough and everything, with spinach, haricots verts, and two types of cheese. It was marvelous. Then we watched the movie, which was not quite so marvelous.

So that's quoi de neuf with me. I need to stop writing such novella-length blog entries ; it's the reason they happen so infrequently.

In summation, I've been extremely busy, but love Paris.
I miss singing.
And I have decided I someday want to be Janis Joplin, minus the rampant drug use and early death.

Eaten an Drinken

I apologize for the lapse in entries. After a few days of not writing, it's easy to get overwhelmed with how much there actually IS to write about, and then I simply don't write at all. Who knew blogging could be such hard work?

I spent this weekend in Amsterdam. While it was fun to laugh at the novelty of legalized cannabis and hookers proudly displaying their wares in front of full-length windows, I actually wanted to go to Amsterdam because it looked like a beautiful city, and it definitely lived up to that expectation. It was adorable...tiny, laid-back, welcoming, and overall charming - that's definitely the best word I can come up with to describe the Dutch capitol.

However, I think I was most in awe of the native Netherlanders. Not only were they friendly and helpful, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, spoke English. And not broken English. They spoke fluent, idiomatic English, with fabulous pronunciation. I have so much respect for people who are dedicated, intelligent, and open enough to learn another language, and because I now know how hard it is to speak a foreign language fluently, I respect them even more. So, here's to you, the Dutch!

Anyway, one fun activity on our trip included nearly missing our plane from Paris to Amsterdam. We underestimated the time it took to get to Charles de Gaulle by RER, and we ended up going through airport security at 7:50 for an 8:00 flight. Thinking we were doomed, we sprinted to our gate, where people were still checking in and not rushing at all. More people, in fact, boarded the plane after us. Put one more checkmark in the Europe column for the Europe vs. United States battle...because you know that NEVER would have happened in the States.

Other notable experiences: The food in Amsterdam was a lot cheaper than that in Paris. Coffees were approximately twice the size and half the price, including lattes and cappuccinos, which cost approximately $yourfirstbornchild in Paris. However, the price of museums and attractions was much higher in Amsterdam, so it pretty much evened out. I get in almost everywhere in Paris for free or for a drastically reduced price because I'm a student. Amsterdam has no such discounts unless you're under 17. This means that we chose NOT to spend 15€ for the Van Gogh museum (because the Musée D'Orsay has a great Van Gogh collection and is free for me) and instead opted for the Heineken museum, which was 12€ and included two beers. I mean, it was the cheesiest thing I've ever experienced, but hey, I was in Amsterdam!

On Saturday, we visited the Ann Frank house, which was an incredibly moving experience. We saw the rooms in which Ann and her family hid during the Holocaust, saw the original diary she wrote, watched interviews with her father and the people that helped hide the Frank family...it was a very emotional museum in many ways. I felt sadness, disbelief, anger, shock, and yet a deep sense of appreciation that Ann had written that diary and put a face to the horrors of the Holocaust for the rest of the world to see and sympathize with.

We also ate at a traditional dutch Panekkoeken house, where they serve giant, delicious pancakes stuffed with all kinds of yummy things (they're more like thick crepes than American pancakes) and had French fries smothered in mayonnaise (just like they say in Pulp Fiction) and took a cruise of the canals. Of course, we explored the Red Light District...and yes, it's everything you've heard and more. Our hostel, Shelter City, was actually a Christian hostel. They were extremely nice, our rooms was super clean, we got free breakfast, and I felt very safe there. I definitely recommend it! In fact, I recommend Amsterdam in general. I think it would be difficult to spend more than 3 or so days there as a tourist because it's EXTREMELY small, but if you ever get a chance, check it out!

Now it's back to the grind. I have tons of work this week, and I'm honestly getting sick of not being able to enjoy Paris as much as I'd like. Four more days til the weekend...I just wish I didn't have to countdown the days, it makes me feel awful. I want this experience to last as long as possible, not wish weeks to be shorter! Oh well. Please enjoy some lovely Amsterdam pictures!

La cuisine

Sundays are always an interesting day, because we have our weekly dinner with our host mom. Today's dinner led me to thinking about food and my experience with it in France thus far, so I've decided to dedicate today's entry entirely to la cuisine.

I don't consider myself particularly adventurous or experienced when it comes to eating, despite the fact that my father is a chef. Tsk tsk, shame on me. I mean, I'm not a strictly chicken-fingers-grilled-cheese-and-french-fries sort of girl like some people I know (Meghan Madore, this means you), but I find that when I go to restaurants, I find ONE thing I like, and always order that. So even though I am willing to sample many different kinds of ethnic food, I usually miss out on the great variety that each variety of food has to offer. For example, I love Indian food, but I always get chicken korma and naan. Always. I will occasionally supplement with a samosa. But otherwise, I'm missing out on a whole world of curries, tikka masalas, and vindaloos.

Since I have come to France, I have tried a lot of different foods, and I am extremely proud of myself. Eating regularly with my host mom forces me to try new things, because I'm not going to be rude and say, "Mmm, you want me to eat THAT? How bout 'no'..." Sundays, as I said, are always interesting because of the fact that Mme De Cremiers always makes some kind of food I've never tried before, and she's an exquisite cook.

Today, Meredith and I were a little terrified, because when we went to have breakfast this morning, there were fish fins in the sink. The fish was for lunch, in which we did not partake, but we did have a different fish for dinner. Fortunately, it was already fileted and we did not have to touch any scales, spines, or fins. Dinner tonight consisted of shrimp (which were still whole, heads and all, when she presented them to us), sole with watercress salad and warm potato chips, cheese, and fruit salad. The shrimp, which scared me to death at first, were EXQUISITE. I watched my host mom peel one first and I followed her lead, dipping the meat in a little bit of salt and popping it in my mouth. It tasted just like lobster. Delicious. The sole was really great as well, and I'm not a big fan of fish most of the time. It was slightly crispy, served with fresh lemon juice, and very fresh and tender. She had warmed up some potato chips in the oven to serve with the meal, which was unexpected and delightful. And the watercress salad was GREAT. I hate vegetables with a passion and I really enjoyed eating it.

So this interesting meal has led me to share with you the other things I have learned and experienced about food here in France. Friday morning, I had a cooking class with one of my French professors from BU. A group of about 8 or 10 of us gathered to cook lunch at the Fondation des États-Unis, where some of the kids in the program live. We made tartelettes with tomato, warm chèvre salad with walnuts, baked endive and ham with a béchamel sauce, and chocolate mousse. The meal was very collaborative, but we all made our own mousse, which was incredibly easy and delicious...I will definitely be trying that recipe at home. The endive with ham was...interesting. The sauce was delicious, though not a true béchamel because it was made with juice from the endives instead of milk, but the endives themselves were rather bitter and I didn't like them much. Everything else, especially the warm chèvre, was lovely, and I am always so proud whenever I cook anything because normally I'm such a failure at it.

My eating situation varies greatly. Breakfast is usually cereal and yogurt at home, while lunch is usually a sandwich purchased at a boulangerie. I have pain au chocolat at least once a day because it's cheap and absolutely delicious, and then dinner is a toss-up. This week, Meredith and I have designed a menu plan for each evening, because dining out has become far too expensive. We got all our food for the week for 27 euros, which isn't bad at all for 2 people (about $35).

Thursday night, we were out shopping and decided we wanted a nice meal after a long and productive day. Most restaurants have some kind of prix fixé menu, meaning in addition to the regular items on the carte (in France, a menu is called a carte and this prix fixé list is called a menu...terribly confusing, I know), there is a list of meals you can order for one fixed price. For example, you'll usually have a 14€ menu that has a choice of appetizers (called entrées...I know, everything is backwards!), main courses, and desserts. You get one of each, usually from a choice of 3-5 items in each category, all for 14€, including tip. Well, we found a few restaurants in the 5th that had a 10€ menu, so we hit that up. For a place so cheap, it had a great atmosphere and really friendly staff. I got onion soup (which was ok...I don't love onion soup that much anyway), steak au poivre (which was delicious), and mousse au chocolat, plus wine for the table. It was a lovely and welcome end to our day.

Last night, Meredith and I did a little more shopping (it's the sales! We have an excuse! We can only shop til mid-February!) and wound up in cute little area that had some ethnic food. We were both craving pasta and found an authentic Italian restaurant, owned and run by Italians, and we definitely got our pasta fix. I got fettucine with pancetta and mushrooms in a cream sauce and fresh parmesan cheese. Deeeelicious. I can't wait to go back to Italy...I'll be there March 6! Mm...gelato, affordable cappuccinos, and fresh pasta. But for now, I'm enjoying the food in France, which is just as good as Italy.

Sometime this week or next week, I'd like to go back to the Marais district where all the Jewish delis and bakeries are. They had bagels! And they looked to die for. Bagels have got to be one of my favorite foods ever. They also had some hoppin' falafel stands and awesome Middle Eastern restaurants...the lines were super long, but hopefully if I go during the week it won't be bad. Another goal: try something at the patisserie other than pain au chocolat. I hear the macarons are delicious.

All right, I feel like I've made all your mouth water sufficiently. I leave you with one last food-related photo:
mmm, Obamalicious.