Today, a few of us went to IKEA. I think you know that it was AMAZING. The deals to be had are definitely at IKEA. I got so many of the things that I needed but was resisting to buy in Paris..too expensive! ARG.... Now I have my french press for coffee in the mornings (mmmmmmm....), dish towels, a butcher knife and a cutting board, and other great things. It isnt too far from school which is nice. Just a 20 minute bus ride. Had lunch there, which is delicious and cheap. Our new friends Dennis and Maria are from Sweden so it was great going with them too. Even Swedes loves IKEA! They are really nice, good friends now. Joanna (from Sydney) and Alison (Canada) came too, they are both great. We had a blast and took some pictures being 'college students' in France. Looking for good deals and meals. IKEA in France has wine and beer! None for us though, we wanted to be on our game for lots of shopping. I was within my spending range that I had set for myself, which made the day even greater. The only main difference we were ALL a little sad about (even the Swedes!)..the Swedish meatball dish doesnt come with mashed potatoes and lingonberry =( just a heaping serving of french fries. Too funny. Tonight, we are having wine in the lounge with our new wine glasses from IKEA. YAYYYY..
So I learned through random conversation that when we say 'ohhhh my god...' the whatever. Like 'oh my goddddd you guys, this metro is so crowded'. 'God' pretty much means 'dildo'. HAHA So the random smiles of people listening to our conversations make sense now! SO FUNNY.
'Oh my dildo you guys, this metro is crowded'. Just thought I'd share that with everyone.
Another day of orientation over, tomorrow is our last. Today was database training, online 'myessec' training, and french oral examinations to be placed into the appropriate grammar class. YUP. Everyone still has to take French here. All of our business classes are in French, but we still have to perfect the language of the Parisians! ;)
Tonight will be a calm night. This weekend will be big though. First weekend before school. Everyone has moved in and we all are meeting each other. There is a HUGE rock festival called 'Rock en Seine'...rock on the Seine basically. Tomorrow Bloc Party, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, and many others are playing. It is like a Vans Warped Tour or OzzFest. I might go. Tickets are 45euro. hmmmm. Honestly, I might just go to a few museums lol.
Two girls, Lily, from Sydney Australia and Christina from Canada have their birthdays on Saturday so we are all getting sexified up and heading out in Paris for a night of birthday fun. My birthday is around the corner (September 17th! Ill be 22! WHOA). So I will definitely be painting the town red...in Paris. Sounds so freakin' awesome.
Au revoir until tomorrow. I have noticed I like to blog in the early evening while I eat. No TV in the rooms. I kinda like this routine.
Now that we are in the dorms, it is nice because we are all settled into a permanent residence for the next half year. Wonderful feeling. I'm not fully unpacked yet, but as you all know I LOVE to cook, so I have already gone to the local grocery store to get some beginning items to fill my kitchen. Bought some olive oil, red wine vinegar, some fresh veggies, a few spices, and other things. Of course since I just moved in, I dont have anything like, oil, salt, pepper, etc...SO my basket became quite heavy. Luckily some really nice French students in our dorms were there to help up carry things home. Note to self...In France...You carry your groceries home. Well, at least I have to because of me lacking a car. DONT WANT ONE HERE. haha. I knew to shop light, but it kinda slipped my mind. I want to start shopping for food everyday. Here in Cergy, everything is way cheaper than in Paris (we are just slightly outside of central Paris where the university is) which is so different from groceries in San Diego. I need to get me one of those canvas bags to get a good baguette, wine, and veggies to carry home for the night. Tonight for my first meal I cooked in France was: spinach and ricotta tortellini (yeah, italian, i know) with a garlic butter/olive oil drizzle. Oh yes...mmmmmm...and some wine. So yummy. Im going to go meet up with some friends after and hang out. We are going to reserve one of the 'common rooms' to have wine and beer to hang out at. ESSEC encourages parties! Reasonable ones, but they want you to enjoy being a student. It is such a nice change from SDSU dorms. "alcohol is the devil!!!"...umm no, not here in France. Quite the opposite. Not too late of a night for me tonight, another international student orientation tomorrow morning all day. Au revoir for now!
I just got to school today and moved into the dorms. I am SO happy with the studio I have, fairly larger than what I was expecting, which was a really nice surprise. I will post pictures on facebook later. I feel like a freshman again and it's great! I have met SO many people from all over the world. It is honestly incredible. All the international students went to a pub near campus and I met people from Canada, Finland, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, England, Korea, China, Netherlands ETC!!!..you name it! It is out of this world. Everyone here is some form of an International Business major and it is great to hang out with everyone who has somewhat the same interests and similarities. I can't wait to see what the semester ahead here at ESSEC has to hold. Paris is wonderful and I have fallen in love. I miss San Diego though, so i know I will for sure be back...Cant give up the beach life for too long! =) bisous!!
Last night was one of our real nights out in Paris. We started it with dinner at a great Indian restaurant on rue Moufftard, which is a really famous 'local' street market and at night great for restaurants and bars. We were all dieing for something full of flavor and spicy so Indian food was perfect. It was delicious. Rue Moufftard is also nice because the prices are much lower than over near all the touristy spots. Paris can be expensive or not, depending on where you go. I guess just like any city really. We bar hopped around and had beer and wine (much cheaper than soda most places! A Coke costs 4.50 or 5.00 euro! WHOA). Our favorite spot was this one bar that our friend John on our program wanted to stop into to see if they play sports (he wants to watch sports in the fall at a cool bar). It was super small and an 'American themed' sports bar. It was so great. The bar tender and owner was an amazingly friendly guy who has been in Paris going on 8 years and is from Nigeria. The wild thing about Paris that I didnt know to well until I got here...there are people from EVERYWHERE. Not typical places we are used to in So Cal. I have heard almost every language spoken here and seen so many different people. It is quite interesting. ANYWHO. So this bar was really fun. He gave us all free shots and Nora a free drink because it was her 21st birthday in the States a few weeks ago and the bar guy knows how big of a deal it is over there. So nice of him. The best part...they have BEER PONG (total SDSU sport of choice haha). I am going to bring some ESSEC students there when we settle down and I meet some new friends. The funniest part of the night however was at this other bar...Nora had to pee and she freaked out when she saw they only had one of those old fashioned squatting porcelain 'toilets'. Tried and failed by peein on herself a bit. Might kill me for writing this, but it was hilllllarrrrious! She forgot that those kinds of toilets are super common in older places who havent or dont want to modernize their bathrooms. So great.
The night ended around 5am by takinga taxi with a bunch of us (more SDSU people are here for ESSEC too. We have been meeting up). Woke up at 1pm and am emailing =)
I hope all is well. I miss you all and cant wait to show Paris to those who come
Tomorrow we relocate to ESSEC and move into the dorms. CANT WAIT. Our hostel is cool, but I'm sick of living out of a suitcase.
Bonjour everyone! I am journaling this after a wildly long but amazingly full day of walking around what seems like the entire country…but no, it has just been Paris. I feel like there is a ridiculous amount of things to see here! I have only been here for two days now yet I feel I have seen SO much! Yet, with SO much MORE to see. It is kind of nice. For those of you wanting to visit Paris, definitely have in mind what you want to see because every day is priceless when you are only here for a week (this first week before class starts, I have been treating it like I’m on vacation, so I’m trying to be like, whoa! 7 days, lets see it all!) haha. Throughout the year I will come back to all the spots and just sit and watch the world go by.
I started my day today waking up around 10L30am…it felt nice. After walking around all day, this hostel bed feels like a temperpedic mattress! For a hostel, this place is quite cool. Very SDSU University Towers esq. I then headed out to Île de la Cité, which is where Notre Dame is. It took quite a bit of walking around and some getting lost, but I eventually found it! And it was marvelously beautiful. Breath taking really. I took more pictures there than at the Eiffel Tower yesterday! Wild I know, but there are SO many fascets and pilars…and ohhhhh the Stained Glass. Oh yes, I could just stare at it for days. My mom would love it the windows.
We then wandered over to ‘hey, that place looks super cool’ building. It ended up being the Louvre! So funny. The Louvre is MASSIVE…and I mean MASSIVE!! Haven’t gone in yet because of the crazy crowds, but the building itself was amazing to look at and wander around. When you come visit, I will definitely be taking you to the Jardin des Tuileries, which is the large garden (more of a park) in front of the Louvre. It was so peaceful and relaxing just sitting on a bench there. Can’t wait to show you!
After the Louvre grounds walk, we walked over to the Madeline (huge Greek column type cathedral) and right when we got in they were closing, so we had to leave. Bummer! Definitely have to return one day. The best part about the old cathedrals, is they have free entrance just to wander around without a tour (which you can listen in on anyways haha)
So far the day has been exhausting. I had my first real Café experience! Ordered an espresso and just sipped and soothed my caffeine addiction.we look the Métro right in front of the Madeline home to freshen up and rest for a bit before going out to look for food and a drink or two ;) The best weirdest part about Paris so far is the sun doesn’t set until around 9:30pm! CRAZY. We eat late obviously because it feels as though the afternoon just ended haha.
Just chillin’ in bed relaxing, jouraling, and still in awe that I am in Paris…whoa???
More to come with posts. I am thinking of some fun themed posts:
Ex: Every Frenchman looks sexy and gay…but they aren’t…damn..
Ex: A lot of people have a B.O. problem on the Métro.
Ex: Paris, the Living Museum
Just some thoughts : )
Take care for now everyone. This post was a long one…sorry for the novel. But I have so much on my mind!
Bisous,
**Please refer to facebook for lots of pictures!**They should be posted by sometime next week (ish)
It is finally here! Monday I depart for Paris out of LAX. Today I finished packing with much help from my Mom. Such the accomplishment. I don't know how I packed for 10 months, but we did it! Wish me luck, 11 hours on a plane is a doozy, but my friend is on board with me, so we will try and entertain each other. We will be in Paris for a week before we move into our dorms at ESSEC. More posts to come once we are settled. Look to facebook for mass picture uploads, but here for a piece of me. Much love everyone, Au Revoir!
Student from sunny San Diego, California heading to France to experience all that Paris and the people I meet have to share. New experiences, adventures, and friends ahead.
that I had set for myself, which made the day even greater. The only main difference we were ALL a little sad about (even the Swedes!)..the Swedish meatball dish doesnt come with mashed potatoes and lingonberry =( just a heaping serving of french fries. Too funny. Tonight, we are having wine in the lounge with our new wine glasses from IKEA. YAYYYY..
