If I was a rich girl...

What better way to ward off illness than a little (window) shopping?  After class today I checked out Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette, two of Paris' big department stores.  I must say that nothing can really compare to Harrods, but I love seeing the elaborate displays.  

My phonetics class started today and I think it will be very helpful.  Unlike most of the AU students here, I've only taken one semester of French so I haven't had any time to develop any sort of accent or even a feel for the pronunciation of a lot of words.  It's been a lot of trial and error so far but the class should help me move along at a faster pace.  

After class, before shopping I went to the Musee National Eugene Delacroix.  I really like Delacroix's work and the museum was in his most recent apartment and studio from the 1800's.  It was quite small and most of his more important work is at the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay, but now I have context for his work!

While waiting to meet friends I peeked into the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which was gorgeous.  I've never seen so much painting on the inside of an old church, usually it's strictly stone and stained glass.  Also I like finding the occasional oasis of calm amidst the crazyness of Paris!  It's kind of sad though because after struggling to (somewhat) translate and understand the history of the Abbey, you step outside and can spot a Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and other crazy-expensive shops.  C'est la vie.

My illness has transformed into a bad cold, now I am able to breathe solely through my throat instead of solely through my nose.  Fun!  On the whole, I'm feeling better and am hoping for a miraculous recovery before I ship out to Strasbourg on Friday afternoon.

Je suis malade

I woke up this morning with a throat so swollen I can barely swallow.  I've self diagnosed myself with strep throat.  I usually get either strep or bronchitis every single winter, so that combined with not getting enough sleep and exposure to new bugs/strains that my body's not used to has resulted in a sick Lauren!

Luckily, the pharmacies here can give out medicine that's a lot stronger than what's offered in the U.S.  I wrote down what I wanted to say in French and the pharmacist gave me two medicines..Mom here they are since you wanted to know.

Besides that I'll be sure to self medicate with naps and tea but getting up at 6 every day isn't particularly going to help.

Yesterday I ended up going to the Musee d'Orsay which was wonderful.  It has mainly impressionist art, and it's always neat to spot artwork that you actually recognize in a museum.  It was very crowded though so I'll need to head back on a weekday.  

Afterwards a few of us headed to the Marais, which is a Jewish district and one of the few places in Paris where things are actually open on Sundays!  I then experienced something life-changing: incredible falafel.  I'd had falafel before in the states but nothing compared to this.  Forget crepes, this was totally the best food I've had since I got here!  We just stumbled upon the place but I just googled it and found a New York Times article about it-- so I guess not exactly a 'hidden' treasure.  

Off to do massive amounts of reading and rest up to kick this sickness in the butt!

What a wonderful weekend!

This weekend has been lovely.. nice weather combined with friends visiting from studying abroad in London!  Friday we all went out in a big group to a few different places and had a blast.  Yesterday, a friend's host family was gone for the day so two of us went over for lunch.  She lives near the Arc de Triomphe in a massive, beautiful apartment with fantastic old-style molding and ceilings.  I love to see where people live so this was really fun for me.

Then we enjoyed the lovely day and went for a walk down the Champs-Elysees towards the Louvre.  Even though it was a really long walk, it felt great to be outside.  We stopped at the Petit Palais on the way.

 Mostly, the structure of the building impressed me much more than the art on display because the floors were very intricately mosaic-ed and the cielings had incredible moldings and paintings.  They did have this Monet painting though which I loved, it is not as dark in person:  

Then we met up with the Londoners for hot chocolate at the Louvre and got out student Louvre cards which get us in for free there and at the Delacroix museum which I am very excited to see!  

Our program basically gave us fake student ID cards that say we are studying Art History which gets us into lots of museums for free.  At this point the Londoners wanted to go down and picnic by the Eiffel Tower but some of us split off because a) it was very cold and b) until then I had successfully forgotten it was Valentines Day in the "most romantic city in the world" and I didn't need to see fifteen proposals to remind me!

Instead we went to some strange Greek restaurant that had a boar's head mounted on the wall because it had a 10 euro menu and they hustled us in by offering free sangria.  Afterwards we ended up going out with some French guys that one of the girls in my program knew.  That was fun even though they spoke only French (very rapidly!) to us, so it was a major effort for me to follow the conversation.

Have I mentioned that out of the fifteen people in my program, three of us are named Lauren?  We are all friends too, so when introducing ourselves to the French guys last night, 3 out of the 5 of us were Laurens.  I don't even know what kind of impression that makes.  

Phew! Thank gosh for Sundays because after typing all of this out, I'm tired just thinking about it!  Today I think I'll mostly do homework, and go to another girl's apartment for dinner.  Also, I am booking my flight to Prague today!  I found a great 2-for-1 flight deal online, so me and a friend are going the weekend of March 13-15.   

Did you know..?

(This is me in deep thought about these fun Paris facts)

-The writing on the spine of French books goes in the opposite direction of English books..so if you place a book face up on a table, the writing on the spine will be upside down!

- There are 5,975 streets and boulevards in Paris.  I've only been lost on about 5 of them so far.

-There are 40,000 public monuments and 536 fountains in the city.

-I've paid anywhere between 40 cents and 3 euro for a (plastic) bottle of water.

-Lindt chocolate sells a chili flavored chocolate bar here.

-In a lot of places, getting a glass of wine is cheaper than getting a diet coke!

In other news..unlimited metro is the best thing ever! For 5 euro, you can buy a metro card here and then for 50 euro you can refill it every month.  Otherwise, it's 1.60 euro for each ride, and I've figured out that without the unlimited pass I'd be spending at least 150 euro a month!  

I had my first test in class today..it was mostly review for me so I think it went pretty well, but I'll see how I do grade-wise.  We've been warned that they grade very differently here- getting an 8/20 is a passing grade, 12/20 is good, and anything above 15/20 is considered superb.  At home, I'd be in a panic if I got a 15/20!  

Today the weather features a delightful mixture of snow, sleet, and rain. Bienvenue à Paris!  At least it's the weekend.  

A nice day.

After class, a nap was pretty tempting but I couldn't waste a day without rain or snow!

Here's the view of Notre Dame if you take a left out of my class building.

Then, turn left again and hit Shakespeare & Co, a really famous English/American bookstore. 

Then I had to take a test to be placed into a phonetics class and the woman told me I was in the highest class-subset of my level.  Awesome!  

I can't believe I hadn't taken this photo until today..we definitely have a family photo from a few years back in the exact same spot. Someone should have pointed out how much I blended into the bush though.

The Thinker in the sculpture garden of the Rodin Museum-- I know nothing about sculpture but I DO know this is baby's pretty famous.

Overall, a good day!  I'm definitely going to sleep well tonight-- all this walking on cobblestone streets all over the city can really tire a girl out!