destination: la

I'm at the airport right now waiting for my flight to board wondering where the hell the past 92 days went. Really, it doesn't make sense. I just got here and now I'm already going back! I promised I would finish out the blog when I get back, even if it's just for myself. So the paris adventure telling continues, but sadly for the time being the actual adventure part does not.

Thank you paris for being wonderful. I loved you as much as I thought I would. Can't wait to see you again. A bientot!

baby it's cold outside

Hello from art class again! This time I thought ahead and decided to bring my laptop with me so that I could just type the blog instead of writing it out and and having dorene type it up later. I will be back home in three and a half days! I cannot believe it, I’m truly in shock. I really only have two and a half days actually left in paris, the half day being the rest of tonight and the two days being tomorrow and friday. My flight leaves at eleven thirty saturday morning and considering the fact that I’m going to be at the airport around nine my saturday here basically doesn’t count. Dorene and I just started packing last night and of course I’m already stressed. Dorene shopped a lot here (and to my credit I ate a lot of yummy things here instead) so she’s going to have a hard time getting everything back while not going over the weight limit. I’m only mentioning this because I think it’s hilarious. She’s been talking about all the stuff she is going to throw out here to save space and weight. Well here’s her throw out list so far: a pair of super light flats, a tank top, two pairs of socks, her linen pajama pants, an ace bandage and a pad of post-its. All I have to say to her is, bonne chance mon amie, bonne chance.

Last week was gyro-tastic. Saturday morning we went to the biggest flea market in paris which is located in the north of paris. The flea market was in a really ghetto area and pretty much sold nothing but crap so we didn’t stay for long. Since we were already up north we stopped by the montmartre.

I wanted to see the view from the top of the hill, outside the sacre coeur, one more time before leaving. It was fun being able to notice different monuments and buildings I’ve learned about since being here.

I also really appreciated going around and looking at paintings done by local artists. Some of their paintings were beyond beautiful but sadly the artists knew their pieces were beyond beautiful too so they were beyond overpriced it. I hope that one day I will be able to afford flying back to paris simply to pick out and buy some amazing one of a kind paintings to decorate my home with back in la.

For lunch we had gyros from the same place we went to twice before the same week. It was perfection, as usual. We ate in the actual shop this time so we had it nice and warm, which made it even better. I had to take a photo from the inside for memories sake.

Since we had visited the sacre coeur already and were right next to the notre dame we decided to have make it a mini holy day and go inside the notre dame as well.

When we got out we were greeted by about sixty drunk people dressed up as santa clause, pere noel as the french call it. Why were they all dressed up as santa claus running around paris? No freaking clue but it was fabulous, god I love the french.

Saturday night was our last going out night in paris so we needed to make it worth it. We ended up at our usual spot now (no not the gyro place even though that would have been amazing too) duplex, which is right next to the arc de triomphe. We cut the line like before, for some reason no one notices an asian and persian pair of girls and got inside pretty quickly. We had a great final french club night.

We happened to stay awake until the metro opened up again but we were tired so we took a taxi home. My favorite moment of the night was my french conversation with the taxi driver. I figured I would attempt speaking french as much as possible before leaving. I might have a horrible accent and barely get my point across but the fact that I can even try makes me happy.

Sunday was our recovery/resting day. We had some yummy warm baguette at home, watched a movie, wrote our fashion of france essays and tried to comprehend the fact that it was our last sunday in paris together.

Monday was cold. COLD. Before this week I had semi gotten used to dealing with it being 40 degrees fahrenheit outside but I was not ready for the high of the day being 32 degrees, the high! Oh and please keep in mind it was technically 32 but with wind chill and everything it really felt like 22 degrees. I don’t think I can physically fit more long sleeve layers on my arms anymore but I’m doing my best. Anyway, on monday we went to the champs elysees christmas markets again to go see ice magic.

Dorene read about ice magic on some paris website and it sounded pretty cool so we decided to go. What the hell is ice magic? Well it’s this tent which is kept at a constant negative six degrees celsius (sorry for switching between the two different degrees but I don’t feel like converting that to fahrenheit so bare with me) which houses ice sculptures which were made to look like all the most popular parisian monuments.

There was the eiffel tower of course, and some person and me playing the piano.

And the mona lisa. And the thinker sculpture by rodin.

And a big hotel de ville. (It took dorene and I about two months to realize hotel de ville means city hall.)

And the disneyland paris castle!

And the notre dame.

And the sacre coeur.

And the arc de triomphe.

And an ice bar but sadly no bartender.

We spent about ten minutes inside the freezer aka ice magic trying to take as many pictures as we could. My philosophy was that I would just take a lot of pictures and look at them later on my computer while sitting next to a heater. The craziest part about leaving the place was thinking that the negative two degrees celsius outside was actually warm but at that point my fingers were purple and we both had lost feeling in our toes. I was pretty much convinced that they would be black when I took my shoes off when I got home but I’m happy report that I still have all ten fingers and toes…for now.

la tour eiffel picnic

I just finished my second and last french test. It was as ridiculous as I thought it would be. There was a section where you had to write a letter to your friend about something. I didn't understand what the something part of the sentence meant in french. When I asked my teacher to explain what he wanted us to do my he basically laughed in my face and asked if I wanted him to just take the whole test for me. Yes pierre, me asking you to explain the essay prompt is the same thing as me asking you to take the entire test for me. I miss my amazing farsi teacher, she actually had a heart. I just rolled my eyes at pierre and walked away.

Another great test moment was when he first passed it out and I noticed the last page where he listed ten words and asked us to write sentences using them, to that show the fact that we understand what the words meant. I swear to god I had never seen one of those words before in my life. It's as if he opened the dictionary randomly ten times and picked nouns, adjectives and verbs to put on the test. I couldn't stop myself from asking him where we had seen these words outloud in front of the class. Pierre (that's my teacher's name if its not obvious yet) just smiled while the rest of the class agreed with me. It was the biggest joke but I'm done and that's all that matters. Only twelve pages of essays are standing between me and break. That's twelve too many pages but I will/have to do it somehow. At least I will be an expert on the history of handbags as well as monet and warhol's paintings that were done in series.

Our plan was to go to this outlet mall outside of paris near disneyland paris today after class but thanks to the rer strike (the rer is the train that connects paris to all its' suburbs like versailles) we weren't able to go. Since it was actually sunny outside when I got home I thought that it would be a good idea to finally have a picnic in front of the eiffel tower. I realize that the smart choice would have been to have our little picnic in september when it was actually warm but dorene and I tend to procrastinate so it was either now or never.

Our picnic consisted of quiche (we bought two from the local amazing boulangerie), balsamic vinegar flavored chips (they're our favorite and on the back it says to enjoy it as an appetizer or during a picnic so we had to bring some), creme caramel, some cookies, water and two mini bottles of wine (with twist off tops because we had already left and had forgotten the bottle opener at home.) Dorene found this plastic table cloth in a closet in our apartment so we even had something to sit on.

We took the metro to the bottom of the champs de mars (the park that is below the eiffel tower, where I ran around during my first and only run in paris.) We took some pictures from far away because well we didn't have any pictures from that angle and one can never have too many pictures with the eiffel tower.

All of the middle grass sections in that park were fenced off but of course somehow we found the one and only middle section that wasn't. We felt like crazies being the only people daring enough to sit in the one unfenced part but we did it and survived. Not going to lie though, we kept waiting for some officer to come tell us to move and fine us for having alcohol (apparently it's illegal to drink in public there.) Good thing we decided to picnic in the middle of december when there was no one around to ticket us.

We had our delicious quiches and drank our super cute wines and then took some pictures. I really couldn't believe that I was actually sitting there eating a quiche and looking at the eiffel tower. I realize that it's really there but it just hasn't registered yet. Too bad I'm leaving before it actually sinks in.

We had to take pictures drinking out a wine bottle in front of the eiffel tower because of what our program director, gabriel, said the first week we were here. He was telling us about all the things american tourists do that we shouldn't do so that we can be true parisians and have other parisians respect us. And drinking straight from the bottle in front of the tower was a big don't but of course all dorene and I thought was, oh my god amazing idea!

Dorene had brought straws because she thought it was classier to drink her mini twist off cap wine bottle using a straw. I didn't understand it but obviously went with it.

After quiches, it was time for creme caramel and more pictures, jumping this time.

Even though we spent a good minute or two jumping by this point both of us were absolutely freezing but it was entirely worth it. We walked up to the eiffel tower, walked under it, and crossed over to below trocadero to another parisian christmas market. In case you lost count this was my third christmas market, my first was on the champs elysees and my second was at la defense.

There was a little ice skating rink there too which was just too cool. It was about the size of two small pools but you can't ask for a rink with a better view.

Once we got to the top of trocadero, where we were last friday, we decided to take a few more pictures, just in case.

If you didn't notice already, I had purposely brought my longchamps eiffel tower bag to the picnic because well it needed to see the big momma. Apparently nordstrom just brought a black and white version of my bag with a long strap so I had to make my lovely blue one a little more special.

Once we were completely frozen (I don't know why I felt it was okay to just wear a peacoat versus my normal down jacket) we hopped on the metro and came home. We napped a bit (thank you wine), watched some friends and had dinner. We have a full day (and night!!) ahead of us tomorrow so trust me we needed the down time.

things I'm going to miss about paris

1. The Food, surprise surprise! From coke light (made with a better tasting fake sugar!) to falafel to fresh baguette to cheese to the yogurt to balsamic vinegar flavored chips to mcdonald's to tarts and galettes, I'm going to miss it all. I was lucky enough to eat almost everything I wanted and still be able to fit into my clothes. I don't know how the french stay so thin but what I do know is my pant size is happy that I'm going back home to the land of reduced fat foods and gyms.

2. Monoprix. Speaking about food, I'm going to miss the supermarket three blocks away from my apartment which I've grown to love. It's where I bought everything from chicken breasts to pantyhose and I'm going to miss it immensely. It's going to be weird having other people bag groceries for me. From now on I'm going to be that girl that brings her own reusable bags to supermarkets, but I'll be the only girl with monoprix brand reusable ones. Okay, well I'll be one of the only two girls with them since dorene bought some too.

3. The Metro. The metro rocks. The whole idea of driving places just doesn't make sense to me anymore. I would take being crammed into a metro during rush hour versus sitting in a parking lot like freeway any day. The french metro system is so efficient and easy to use and I say this from experience. Barcelona, madrid, and london's railway systems sucked and I say this without any biases, which usually isn't the case. I think I'll need to have a chauffeur when I get back home. Let's hope I remember how to change lanes!

4. The Monuments. There's no feeling like being able to see the arc de triomphe when leaving a club, or seeing the light from the eiffel tower when walking home at night, or shopping next to l'opera. I don't think I can ever get used to passing by such famous monuments on weekly basis and not being excited. I got to live in one of the top touristic cities in europe for three months and I must say there is nothing like it!

5. Dorene. I’ve realized that I will probably never spend as much time as I spent with dorene the past three months with any other human being besides my family and my future husband. The craziest part of it all is that we’re still actually friends. I mean I was willing to bet that I would have hated her by now, even if it was just a little bit but I don’t! We’ve grown even closer, obviously, and have picked up both good and bad traits from each other. I will no longer be able to cuddle without having a leg straddled on top of me and dorene will no longer be able to talk without going into this weird “roxanne” voice from time to time. To sum up, if I had to pick a woman to marry, dorene just might be the one. (Keyword might, I need to keep my options open.)

life is beautiful

Tuesday and wednesdays are all-day class days (9am to 6pm) and all-day class days suck. I cannot begin to explain how much I look forward to college hours back home. French classes are a little too long for me to handle. I haven't been at school for over nine hours a day since high school so it is a bit rough. I never thought I would be excited for two hour long classes and how short they will be. I even have an 8am class twice a week and I'm still excited which must says a lot.

In french class on tuesday my teacher asked who there was from los angeles. I raised my hand thinking I can't possibly be the only one but apparently I was. Luckily he didn't ask me too many questions. He loves watching movies and I guess one movie he had seen recently was based in los angeles. He asked me if I lived in the heart of los angeles and I said no and that the heart of los angeles isn't the best place to live (I was thinking of downtown as the "heart" of la.) I don't know why I felt the need to explain that not living in downtown is a good thing. After that he asked me if I had heard of sunset blvd and I smiled widely and I said yes, I live off sunset. He looked at me like I was some sort of mini celebrity. He then told the class that sunset blvd was really long so I told him that I live closer to the beach than to the hollywood part of sunset. You could tell that he lost interest in me once I wasn't actually from hollywood and I was glad that the short q and a session had come to an end because obviously our conversation took place in front of the entire class, in french.

For lunch I had wanted to eat at this place right near school which sells chic looking croque monsieurs (remember, it's like a toasted ham and cheese sandwich I've talked/made before) and I'm pretty much obsessed with croques for the time being. This croque tasted very different from the others I have had here. It was made with one piece of bread (usually it's two), ham, swiss cheese and creme fraiche. The bread was made out a dark wheat so it had a different unique taste and the addition of creme fraiche (which means fresh cream in french but its more like a thick yogurt/soft cheese instead of whipping cream) added a new delicious element.

Dorene and I were both pretty tired once class was over on tuesday so we just spent another night at home cooking our own dinners and attempting to do school work. We are going to miss watching the show friends in french while eating dinner. We finally figured out what channel and the timing so we've been watching french friends consistently for awhile now. Thank god we've both have seen every episode of friends in english because I'm pretty sure I would have no idea what was going on if I hadn't. I feel bad for the french though, the characters just aren't as funny without their actual voices. All of their voiceovers don't do them justice but at least the french are able to somewhat experience the amazingness that is friends.

Dorene is the one who flips through the channels and knows how the whole french television thing works. I know it's not super complicated but she's always done it so I just sit back and semi watch. The other night she had left it on a french sport's interview because she thought the french soccer player looked cute but after awhile I had to tell her to change the channel. We've been able to watch the devil wears prada, grey's anatomy, dawson's creek (dorene was obsessed), my wife and kids and a few more I can't remember the name of right now, all in french. If you saw how big or should I say small our television was you would be shocked that we actually even use it.

Wednesday at the end of art class, which is usually not as exciting as it sounds, we went to le marais (the jewish quarter in paris where we go to eat falafel) to visit a few contemporary art galleries. I fell in love with the first one we went to. It was this exhibition by a man named farhad moshiri (yes, he's persian!!) I actually wasn't a hundred percent he was persian until I got home and googled his name but I was pretty sure that all the farhad's in the world are persian. Anyway, I loved his work before I even knew who he was. He made a bunch of paintings using some paint but mostly beads. It was incredible. He had sewn on thousands of thousands of beads on canvas for just one painting. My two favorites are below.

The first one is called Yipeeee and the second piece is called Red Head. Just looking at Yipeeee up close made my head hurt thinking about how much time it took to put all of those beads on. The colors he used looked amazing.

I also loved Red Head because all of the hair in that painting was made of beads which looked gorgeous because of the way the light hit them. The fake diamond heart earring was super cute too. He had another piece but I don't know what it was called. It was made up of different color paint blobs that were piped out of one of those icing piping bags people use to decorate cakes. It was insane.

Lastly, you can see another favorite of mine below, the piece was called Life is Beautiful (his work is creative enough so I forgive him for not being creative with his titles.)

He wrote out what you see above with knives! I thought it was so cool.

Maybe the most exciting part for me was the fact that I noticed a farsi word on some of the knives that were used and was able to figure out what it said. Some of the knives had the word "tongue" on it in farsi. I realize that after two years of studying farsi in college I should be able to read books but being able to read one word on a knife is still a big accomplishment for me.

After the gallery visits dorene and I went and got gyros again for dinner since we're addicted and realize that we don't have much time left to eat them. It wasn't as good as last time because the guy was different and didn't listen to all my requests despite the fact that I asked him twice. I wanted the guy who called me princess back, he knew the proper gyro-making way. Then we got home, did some work, watched some friends and eventually went to bed. I would say the past two days were a bit uneventful but there is no such thing as an uneventful day in france. Oh boy, I'm going to miss paris so much.