Update!

I apologize for not updating the second I got back from Spain... I came down with the flu within about 6 hours of being home, which was strange timing. And if you'll excuse me, I'm heading off to Italy for a week in just a little over two hours. I know I know, what a life. I promise that when I get back from Italy there will be a massive update and overhaul and lots of news about everything I'm up to. Promise. In the meantime I'm going to post the links to all of my pictures from Spain and Portugal, so at the very least there is something to look at. I hope everyone had a really really great holiday season, and that you all have a fabulous New Years! Ok, I'm off to Florence, Rome, and Naples!

Love, Nora

San Sebastian, Spain : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010702&l=a4dc9&id=1599570086

Lisbon, Portugal : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010703&l=02e57&id=1599570086

Sintra, Portugal : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010704&l=257e7&id=1599570086

Madrid, Spain : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010707&l=d4e4f&id=1599570086

Valencia 1 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010718&l=2af94&id=1599570086

Valencia 2 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010720&l=48da7&id=1599570086

Barcelona 1 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010721&l=7afc9&id=1599570086

Barcelona 2 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010723&l=92a98&id=1599570086

Barcelona 3 : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010724&l=d88cc&id=1599570086

Girona, Spain : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010725&l=be66f&id=1599570086

Fin de Trimestre

Well, I'm done with part one. It's hard to believe, it all went by so fast. In a lot of ways it feels like I just go here (which is sort of true, its only been 10 weeks). All of my classmates are on their ways out of town, with the eventual direction of the US, and I'm not quite at my halfway point. It's been a bit hard to understand. Everyone has gotten really nostalgic, like 'oh this is my last baguette' and obviously for me it's not. It's definitely been weird, but I'm glad I'm staying on for another 10 week session.

The program itself was really rewarding. My french is way better than it was when I got here, and I really challenged myself to work at a very high level. I love the atmosphere of the Center, and when I go home in March, it will be weird to be back at a school with 5,000 people (as opposed to 50 at the Center).

Exams and papers passed by ok. I liked that I didn't have a "finals week" instead taking an exam at the end of every three week unit. It was less stressful at the end, which was fab. And now I'm done with everything (while everyone in Chicago is just getting into it).

So what's next?

Well, over the next month I will be spending hardly any time in Paris, instead traveling extensively throughout Western Europe. I've got three seperate trips planned:

Trip #1: December 7th (tonight) -- December 23rd

Eurail adventure through the Iberian Penninsula. I will be going to six major cities (with potential day trips throughout) : San Sebastian, Spain. Lisbon, Portugal. Madrid, Spain. Valencia, Spain. Barcelona, Spain. Nice, France.

Trip #2: December 26th -- January 3rd

New Year's trip with my friend Paul through Italy. Florence, Italy. Rome, Italy. Naples, Italy.

Trip #3 January 9th -- January 11th

Weekend trek to Germany with my friend Matt to visit where he studied last spring. Freiburg, Germany.

It should be the adventure of a lifetime!

See you at the end, with potentially the biggest blog updates ever!

Love,

Nora

L'Opera Comique

Our last group excursion was to the Opera Comique. The Opera Comique was established as a place where only French Operas would run, during the 1800s. We went to see Didon et Enee... a Purcell opera that was very hard to make sense of.

Before the Opera, however, we all went out for a nice dinner for Benna's Birthday. I can't remember the name of the place, and I could probably never find it again, but it was amazing. I shared an order of escargot with Sarah. I had to try it! And, surprisingly, I didn't hate it. It sort of tasted like garlicy pond water, but not necessarily in a bad way. I also had an amazing Salmon dish, and one of the best tiramisus of my life. It was nice to hang out with my program, and to do it in a proper french restaurant. We are all getting really good at this French thing. We had no problems ordering or anything.

The Opera itself was fun. Our seats weren't that great, but actually I'm glad we were up pretty high. The theater isn't that big at all, and I could imagine princesses in huge gowns hanging out in the boxes. We all felt really important, dressed up in nice clothes, at the Opera. The show was very pretty. The set design may have been the prettiest I have ever seen, and the dancing and singing was very nice. I didn't really understand the plot of the Opera, but then when I read up on it later I realized there really wasn't one. I get to go again next quarter, to a different one, and it should be just as fun!

Picasso Museum, Eiffel Tower and Holiday Market at La Defense

The weekend after Thanksgiving it was agreed among everyone that we all wanted to spend as much time together as possible, because we were all planning on parting ways the next weekend. So, the Saturday after Thanksgiving I woke up early and went to the Mirais with Alexa and Sarah.

We started out by getting falafel at one of the best (but not the best) falafel places in Paris. I had never had a proper falafel before, and I must say it was much better than I thought it would be. I was a little nervous because eggplants and beets were involved, but I survived. I probably won't go out of my way to have it again anytime soon, but now I can say I've done it.

After falafel we went to the Picasso Museum in the Mirais. The museum is one of the biggest collections of Picasso work in the world, and it also has a lot of his personal collection (of works from other artists). We got in for free with our History of Art Student ID cards (something the Center manufactured to get us into places for free, although its all a lie). I'm glad I went to the museum with other people because a lot of Picasso's work is really confusing, and it was fun to try to figure out what stuff was. Picasso also had some Matisses and a couple really nice pieces from Cezanne. I've decided that my favroite art is the post-impression, pre-crazy stuff. Meaning Matisse, Gaugin, and Cezanne. The Picasso stuff was incredible. There were rooms and rooms of stuff that he'd done... and this museum is only a small fraction of his total life's work.

We finished the museum at 3 or so, and stopped to get a coffee before heading off towards La Defense to see the Christmas Market. It was really fun. Just stalls and stalls of gifts and food. The food was the best part. I got a hot apple cider, and it hit the spot! There was also some nice music and a great general atmosphere. None of us had money so we agreed to go back the next day.

Our final stop (after dinner at home) was to go see the Eiffel Tower (at night). I've been past it several times, and of course you can see it rising up from just about everywhere, but I'd never been on the grounds when it was lit up. We headed over at about 8:30 to check it out. It was cool because it's currently lit blue to celebrate Sarkozy's presidency in the EU. It looks really awesome. And, at the top of every hour, for five minutes, they do a sort of flash bulb thing, so that it looks like it twinkles. It was amazing. I'll have to head back and see it next quarter when it is no longer blue (Sarkozy's term ends the 31st of December) to compare the beauty.

Sunday we went back to the Christmas Market to shop a bit for our families. I'm not going to tell you what I got in case they see this! But, it was really fun! I also ate the biggest hotdog of my life. Think footlong, but two of them, in a baguette. Haha!

Thanksgiving in Paris

The French don't understand Thanksgiving. Not at all. And its very difficult to try to explain the history and tradition behind Thanksgiving in French anyways...

So my Thanksgiving wasn't a holiday at all. It was the first and last time that I will probably ever be required to be somewhere, which was a bit sad, but an indication that I'm living with a different people. I had class on Thanksgiving, a meeting with a corrector to go over a paper, a required class trip to the Musee Carnavalet (very cool in its own right), and I was supposed to have a meeting with my conversation assistant. Luckily my conversation fell through, though not because of the holiday. The whole day was sort of played out as if no one realized it was a holiday to us Americans, which I later figured out was true. The Center had no real idea that Thanksgiving was so important to us, and at the last minute they tried to throw together a little "pot," which translates to "hors d'oeuvres and wine." It was nice of them, but very strange. Instead of turkey at midday, it was canapes.

The original plan for Thanksgiving dinner was to eat leftover chili from the night before and watch Survivor on my laptop. But, since my conversation got cancelled, and my friend Janet's was rescheduled, we decided to do a mini-Thanksgiving dinner. We bought a pre-cooked chicken at the grocery store, and we made some mashed potatoes and mixed vegtables. It was nice to have a semi-traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Initially I was kind of down about the whole Thanksgiving away from home thing, but after the day I was feeling pretty good. I had had a fun day with my classmates, and a great dinner (seriously, my cooking isn't that good, and this was very tasty). I also had a nice talk on the phone with the family. I got passed around to everyone, which was nice because I haven't talked to most of them in a really long time. After all of this I realized that I really have a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful that I have this incredible opportunity to spend my time in an amazing place, and that instead of being down about it, I should enjoy every minute I've got!

Poptarts in Paris

So I've been feeling a little bit homesick the last few days. Nothing serious, just kind of realizing that I've been in another country for two months, and that there are some things that are so American that I've sort of been missing. Maybe because Thanksgiving is approaching, and the holidays. I don't know, I just know that I've been desiring something very very American.

With that in mind I went to find the fabled "American Store." People in my program are always talking about this store that sells American things like peanut butter and pancake mix (neither of which you can buy here in regular stores). So, I googled it, and then went searching this afternoon.

The American store is actually called "Thanksgiving" which is a bit ironic considering the time of year, and it's owned by an American couple. It's situated on a narrow side street in the Mirais, one of the older parts of Paris with all the narrow cobbled streets and old buildings. When I finally found it, which took awhile, I stepped inside, and was immediately met with images of things I hadn't thought about in months. Root beer, chili powder, cheerios, they had it all. Of course the prices weren't pretty, because this stuff was shipped overseas, but still. I wandered for awhile, listening in on the conversations (in english), before selecting my treat, a box of poptarts. I spent more than I will ever spend again on poptarts, but when I got home, they were so so so good.

While at the store I asked about Thanksgiving dinner in Paris, but from the sounds of it I should have been asking a month ago. The store has a cajun restaurant attached, but they have apparently been booked for weeks. And the lady didn't know any other places doing thanksgiving. I'm not sure what we'll do yet, because we don't have an oven where we live, and we have conversations that night anyways, but it will work out.

La Defense

After class ended yesterday, early at 12:15, Benna and I decided to go check out the Arc de la Defense. The Arc is relatively new, and it lies in a direct line with the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, and Louvre. The arc itself is really cool. It's massive and very square and modern-looking. The district it is in is also very modern, and I just read that 14 or so of the 20 most important companies in France have their headquarters there. All of the buildings are skyscraperish, and very new looking. It was a bit strange to be up there, when the rest of France is so old-looking. They were setting up a Christmas Market there too, so we might have to head back in that direction in the near future.

Benna and I also walked along from La Defense to the Arc de Triomphe, a nice walk in itself. The Arc de la Defense is actually not in Paris, but in the banlieuex (suburbs). So it was fun to walk into the city of Paris, and to the Arc de Triomphe. I guess this was Napoleon's intention in building the Arc in the first place. Too bad they never walked through triumphantly?