Thanksgiving- Chez- Gladine- Brussles-Guitar Bonding Sesh-White High-Lighting Mystery

Thanksgivin in Paris was wonderful--I celebrated with 42 students, including some people's families who were here for the holiday. Everyone was just so jolly and happy--celebrating a holiday all about enjoying what you have in a great city was perfection.
Thanksgiving night, I got to meet up with Charlotte who was visiting Paris from Morocco where she's studying. We got drinks by Chatelet and caught up. It was great to hear about someone elses time abroad--it seems like we've gone through a lot of the same things when it comes to adjusting to a new culture and language, but we both had so many different stories and adventures. Catching up with Lucy will be an adventure in itself I'm sure.

Friday was lovely, Diana from Germany found out about this little hole-in-the-wall authentic Basque region reataurant by Porte d'Italie in the 13th called Chez Gladine. We had to wait for a table for an hour because so many Parisian college students were lined up waiting to be seated too. I've never waited for a table in Paris...you always just walk in and seat yourself at cafes or just ask the hostess where to sit--there are usually plenty of tables open. This place was so great though, it made sense that there was a wait. The food was so.good. and "bon marché" I payed 15 euro for a glass of Sangria, a bottle of wine split 3 ways, my enormous salad and a cafe with dessert. I loved the place and the people there and our funny waiter and the people I was with--a girl from Belgium, a guy and gal from Germany and 2 Americans--we spoke French almost the entire time. Ah. I loved it. We all went out for drinks and dancing afterward with more folk.


I spent Saturday in Brussels...after 1 hour of sleep before my 6h25 train, I was surprisingly lively and excited to get to the city. I went with Liz...but she missed our train so I spent the morning until 2pm alone in the city until Liz arrived late. I was really happy I got some time alone to just do what I wanted though--I got off my train, got a map of the city and a day pass for the metro, found a cafe to have a tea and pain au chocolat (which they call something different in Belgium) and figured out a museum I wanted to visit while I waited for Liz. I ended up going to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belguim--which turned out to be about 4 museums in one, including an entire museum of Rene Magritte. From 10 to 2, I was in the museum and I still didn't see everything. There was almost an entire floor dedicated to every movement in art history. I loved.my.life.so.much.

One really amazing thing about my visit to Brussels was that my French got me by perfectly. I was so happy to be in an entirely different country, and still be able to communicated well, if not better that I do in Paris. This may be an inadvertent insult to les peuples belges, but they seemed to speak slower (so more clear) than Parisians. I spoke no English the whole time I was there. You can pat me on the back in a week when I'm back in the states.
Even better, everyone was really friendly, the city was clean and a really pretty mix of oldoldold architechture and new, modern things. There was a lot of art, a lot of good food, a lot of unique boutiques and little one of a kind shops, a lot to do. I was obsessed with the fact that there were so many cool boutiques, cheap restaurants and little markets and stands in the Grand Place area and only a handful of "Belgian Souvenir" shops and the type of little souvenir places that kind of make you cringe.
The prices of almost everything in the city, from food to metro passes, were fantastic. I payed 3 euro for the museum, 3.20 for a pint, 4.5 for a day pass on the metro....it was great. So my point is, Jimmy, you would love it. I really am excited to tell you more about it.

SO I did the Belgian thang...are waffles, drank Belgian beer, got fries in a cone with mayo (woof), bought chocolate at Neuhaus, went to the beautiful Grand Place, visited Manneken Pis, chortled, looked at the Christmas lights drank mo' beer, hopped on my train and went back to Paris.

I got back to Paris at 11...and was not planning on doing anything, but then, as I was laying in bed, I hear "Errrrriiicaaaaaa" and it was my lovely neighbor Walsh and about 15 other people getting ready to go over to the Belgian house (who woulda thunk?). So I got changed, and ended up going out with them. We ended the night in the common area of our building, and I met a ton of new folk. We sat around and listened to Becca and about 4 guys out of the 12 or so of us who new how to play guitar and sing. We stayed up until dawn singing along to everyones songs--one of those nights that just makes you love life.

Alright. It's officially my last week in Paris and I'm spending the first day of it packing, studying, cleaning...woof. I did go on a walk with Becca, so that's a good day already.

Love you pals

PS: PostSecret was kickass today.

Ok let me lead into the thing that made my DAY today with a little anecdote about ma life.

Listen up kids.

In the beginning of October, I was assigned to write a paper with the prompt "Why do we travel?"--The most vague topic but with so much potential to be creative and awesome. I couldn't decide how to write what I felt and ended up writing the whole thing in a moment of inspiration on the TGV back from the south of France the day before the paper was due.
I wrote about how traveling is a brave thing to do--it takes you out of your comfort zone and turns you into a vulnerable little thing in a big ol' foreign country...So why do we do it? I wrote about the type of person who travels because their "pays maternelle" isn't the ideal place for them...More importantly, I wrote about the type of person who I am lucky enough to be. I wrote that the other type of traveler can leave their comfort zone and everything that is familiar because they have great friends and family that make them confident enough to leave, who are caring enough to keep in touch while they're away and make them look forward to coming back home.
Ever since I've been here, I've really appreciated all the cards packages and postcards I've received. When I got a package from Brie, Kate and Kayla this afternoon, I remembered how lucky I am to be able to travel to Paris and make some great friends, and still have amazing friends back at home--so thank you.

So Brie, Kate and Kayla--thank you so much for the package. Even before I had opened it, I read the contents on the customs form and I re.joiced. 1 Large Birthday Card, 1 DVD.
The three of you made my day--your card was wonderful and I'm watching Pretty Woman as I type, so THANK YOU : )

I'll be home in 10 days...which is scary and I'm getting a bit emotional about leaving. I'm doing a good job of distracting myself by continuing to enjoy the city and just keep a YOLO mentality.

Love,

Erica

2 weeks left.

La Pagode

Paris has been wonderful. Extra fantastic lately, actually.

Over the past month and a half or so, I've gotten to know the city so well. I have my favorite places, I know the metro like the back of my hand, my friends and I know where to go for just about anything, from cheap food to vintage shoes, and the best part is that we've learned how to enjoy the city like locals, and that's what this weekend was about.

Friday night, Sabina, Katie, and a couple other girls all went right from class and dinner to this film festival here, at La Pagode.



It was free and such a hidden gem. So we saw an awesome French film and were not suspected of being Americans all night. YUS.

Saturday, I spent the morning navigating the metro, which was "perturbed"--that's a common theme around here lately--so I could replace my lost NaviGO pass and go to Chatlet to study for my French Literature final (which is tomorrow).
I spent the afternoon with two gals from my class/program at a cafe chatting and studying and eating lunch and drinking cafes.

When we finished, I went to Le Marais to window shop. I ran into about 8 girls from one of the classes I intern with. They were happy to see me and I was glad to see them. I really love all those students.
I walked from Le Marais, across the Seine to Notre Dame and then back I met up with a couple pals for sushi.

I spent Saturday night with the best people around at a little Jazz bar in the Latin Quarter that Katie and Becca discovered, and then a cool, crowded pub by Notre Dame. It was an extra relaxed, extra jolly night where everyone was just so excited about LIFE in Paris.

This morning, I slept in and walked to the flea market down the street. I found so many things I liked, but they were all tres chere antiques, so I just gazed adoringly.

After that, it was a good Sunday spent listening to Becca play guitar, cooking lunch, making cookies, meeting new people, laughinalot etc.

Love from Paris.

Erica

Deutchland Part II

...Just so you know I didn't forget, I'm amidst a no-good-very-bad-day kind of week so I'll update you with German stories when my mind is clear, work is done and I'm ready to go.
In the mean time, take a look at these lil lovelies.

The best part of my room.

I opened my planner to this the other day. Daymaker for sure.

Big hugs,
Erica

Deutschland

I have so much to write...all good and adventurous things. I'm actually not going to class because I'm so content in my room, in my big sweater while I blog right now.

I'd love to leave a video message, but I think I'll type this one out just because it deserves it.

I left Paris Nord at 11h30 on a Thallys high speed train to Cologne in Germany.
I was actually supposed to be on an 8h25 train, but I ended up running onto the platform as the minute turned from 8h24 to 25 and my train pulled out of the station.

There is no feeling like the feeling of your train leaving without you on it. Watching it move away without me was torture.
All I could think about was the empty seat where I should have been , and how the person who I was supposed to sit next to would just be so happy to have extra room to put their feet up and relax on their way to Germany while I was still on the platform, catching my breath from the run through the station, trying to calm down and figure out what to do while my whole body was shaking out of frustration and disappointment and aggravation and pessimism.

Then someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Excusez-moi, Mademoiselle." A woman was standing behind me with my NaviGo pass (my ID for getting on any public transportation in the city). I hadn't even noticed that I'd dropped it, but it must have happened on the run to the train. I thanked her a million times, especially because she must have found it, and then looked for me using my picture on the ID. So that was when my day started looking up.

I booked another train to Cologne for 70 euro, sat down at a cafe in the station and caught my train at 11h30. When I got to Cologne, since I missed my connected train to Annika (in Bremen) I bought a new ticket to Annika...except I didn't have a seat because the train was full. It was FINE with me because only after I was on that train was I sure that I was actually going to make it to see Annika. So, no matter how I got to Bremen, seat or no seat, 3 hours late or on time, I was so happy. Plus I was pretty anyways for making it from Paris to Germany by myself.

On the train to Bremen, I met the kindest German folk. One man who let me borrow his cell phone to call Annika, and a 25 year old girl named Maya who was going to Bremen for a convention on climate change and geology. She asked me to sit next to her when she saw I didn't have a seat and we ended up talking for almost 2 hours about traveling and languages and hippies and activism and volunteering and LIFE. We hugged goodbye and it was such a day maker...
I got off the train and Annika and I yelled each others names and ran towards each other and hugged the best hug I've had since I said bye to my family at the security gate at Logan in August.

Annika took me to her lovely apartment where we made dinner together, caught up on new things and remembered old things.
Annika made the most amazing scrapbook of her time in the US in 2006. It made me so happy--it was like going back in time--there were so many pictures of great times, ticket stubs, class schedules, track and cross country numbers...everything.

We fell asleep watching The Edukators--such and Annika movie!

The next morning, we left for Berlin and met even more friendly Germans on the way. We bought a group ticket for the ICE (Inter City Express) train and found some kind German guys to sit with us and split the cost.

...Ok To Be Continued tomorrow!

Likelike Greeting from Luxembourg!

Hey everyone!
Got back from Luxembourg late last night! I really can't describe the city to you--you'd have to go there to really understand!

Liz and I got on our train to Luxembourg City yesterday morning and found an elderly couple in our seats. So we went back and forth making absolutely sure that they were in OUR seats before we asked them to move. Finally, I approached them and explained the situation and showed the husband my ticket. It was the exact same as his...same time, same seat, same car...different date.
Our ticket was for 7/11. Not 11/11. We has been in Zurich on the 7th, so what happened was that when we bought our tickets, we were sold the wrong date. Bummer, Luxembourg.
We had to practically jump from the train as it was about to leave the station.
Oh well. It was only 6 euros lost.
I decided to explore Paris instead and I finally got a chance to visit Canal Saint-Martin.
It was a really beautiful little part of the city. I walked along the canal for almost 2 hours, and it was one of those really brisk, fall mornings where the leaves swirl around on the sidewalk, so I stopped in a cafe and got a little kettle of tea.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading.
Last night, Max and I ordered Pizza Hut, drank Heinekens and went American on everyone's asses.
...

Now I'm getting work done with a cup of coffee and getting ready to leave for Germany tomorrow morning!
I checked the dates on my tickets about 8 times to make sure they're perfect.

Here's the plan.

Leave Paris tomorrow morning, transfer at Köln, or Cologne for us non-Germans, and arrive in Bremen where Annika is living in the late afternoon.
Then Annika and I are going to Berlin from Saturday morning to Sunday evening.
A few days ago on the 9th was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall--this will be a good time to visit Berlin.
I'm taking a night train back to Paris in a sleeper car. I'll be back in Paris at 9h30 on Monday.
This is the trip I've been looking forward to the most. I'm so looking forward to seeing Annika. I'm so jolly right now.

All I wanted to do today was curl up in my bed, read, talk to friends, look at my favorite blogs, listen to my favorite songs, eat chocolate, drink tea and wear a bath robe.
I did all of those things before noon...except I do not own a bath robe.
So from noon onwards, it was a slow day. I called home and caught my parents before they left for work.

The main metro line that I use is on strike...it has been since yesterday, so going to class has been rough...it is usually a 5 minute commute, but it took almost an hour today. Woof.
The good thing is that I get to walk through the Luxembourg garden on my way to class.

After class, I went to see Away We Go with Liz. We got a glass of wine before the show, too.
I adore that gal and the movie was fantastic. There were a lot of jokes in it that didn't translate well into the French subtitles or were just not the French style of humor, so we were the only ones laughing at some hilarious lines. Oh I really just loved that movie. Makes me want to fall in love.

I'm going to Luxembourg tomorrow for the day. Tomorrow is Armistice Day here and we don't have classes, so Liz Walsh and I are heading out.

Love as always
Erica

This is what you do on your very first day in Paris.

You get yourself some rain, not just a drizzle but honest-to-goodness rain.

Then you find yourself someone really nice, and drive her through the Bois de Boulogne in a taxi.

The rain’s very important, because that’s when Paris smells its sweetest.

It’s the damp chestnut trees, you see.

Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina.

Zurich, Suisse

Bonjour a tous!
J’ai passé le week end en Suisse Zurich avec Liz et Walsh, comme d’habitude : )
Zurich était une ville vraiment charmante, plein de l’art modern, les gens tout habillé en mode du moment mais chaleureux et gentil aussi; un melange rare a mon avis! Le shopping etait le meilleur. Mieux que Paris peut-etre, juste parceque les magasins a Zurich sont tous mon style. D'accord--En anglais maintenant.

Hello to all!
I spent the weekend in Switzerland with Zurich and Liz Walsh, as usual:)
Zurich was a really charming city full of modern art, people dressed in current fashion but also warm and kind, a rare mix in my opinion. The shopping was the best. Better than Paris maybe, just because the shops in Zurich are all my style.

We planned Zurich perfectly. It was honestly a flawless weekend...except we were surprised by how expensive a city it was (even though they use the weak ass Swiss Franc still), and that everyone speaks German or English and they kind of hate French.

We arrived Friday evening and caught a train back to Paris Sunday at 6--so we had two great nights and two full days in the city.
Our hostel was in the very center of the city, on the street that had all the shopping, the restaurants, bars and we were a 5 minute walk from about 3 museums and steps away from the river that leads to Lake Beautiful Flippin Zurich. We really had such a wonderful time. It was the best weekend get away because we could walk everywhere we wanted--there was no stress about planning when and how to get where.

Well, I'll go over the highlights.

Saturday, we woke up early and went to an adorable cafe with the best outdoor seating. The was a long bend running along the front of the cafe, covered in pillows and blankets. Since it was freezing, we were the only ones outside, by we couldn't pass it up.
We spent the rest of the day at the market outside our hostel and exploring the cute local shops. Almost every single shop in Zurich is a boutique with original, handmade items. I bought myself a pair of sock monkey mittens that were calling my name. It was the biggest splurge ever, but I decided it was my birthday present to myself.
We spent the rest of the day at the most amazing museum called Kunsthaus Zürich. It was mostly modern art--some of which was too weird to take seriously, but almost all of the modern stuff was beautiful and really moving.

We met some great people in our hostel on Saturday night. Two girls from Sweeden and a guy from Brazil plus a bunch of other folk went out to find live music. We ended up at this great local jazz club with the jolliest folk/ young crowd.
Zurich is full of college tourists and chic yuppies who live there--and that was basically the crowd in the bar.

Sunday we got breakfast at the same cafe as the day before--except on Sunday, when my "Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Espresso" arrived with latte art on top, and I said "Beautiful!" our waiter replied through a German accent, "Why thank you...oh you meant the coffee" So that made my day.
We spent the rest of the day walking along Lake Zurich, cafe hopping, drinking delicious coffee and chocolate cake...but this is the best part.
We were walking over one of the many bridges by the lake, and we see a crowd of guys with megaphones...so we all steered away for a moment until we say the signs:
Free Hugs.
If you can imagine this--I jumped in the air and ran towards them with my arms open and hugged away. It was one of the happiest moments. Ever.

So I'm back in lovely Paris again, catching up on some work, planning the week ahead and dealing with another metro strike.

I'll be home in less than a month, and I'm just absolutely looking forward to it, because I think I've spent my time here so well, that I'll be ready to go home come December 6th when I take off from Paris.

Je vous embrasse
Erica

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

I visited the Pere Lachaise Cemetery with Becca
in the cold and pouring rain...

We saw a lot of the cemetery...but we'll be visiting again to enjoy it more since we were cut a bit short. We stuck it out for an hour in the rain, but then I wimped out and we went back to our rooms and Becca made coffee for us. Lovely as usual.

I'm off to Zurich in Switzerland tomorrow afternoon!

Have a lovely weekend,

Erica

Le Centre Pompidou

I visited the Pompidou this morning!

I got there and was freakin out because it is enormous and really crazy and modern. Not even the galleries...just where you buy your tickets.
The best surprise was that my admission was free--I should have payed 9 euro, but the woman at the guichet (I can't think of the English word...) was kind and gave me the EU resident reduced price and the student's price, which equaled nothing.

I started my visit on the very top floor--which was a wonderful view of Paris.There was a temporary Surrealism exhibit of film and photography that I visited first.

Let me be a debbie downer just for a moment. I have never visited a museum or gallery and just dismissed/disliked everything. I did not appreciate a single piece of artwork in the exhibit. Normally, when artwork isn't my taste, I still enjoy figuring it out and appriate the crafftmasship behind it...but I couldn't even do that with this, I just walked right through the gallery of tiny black and white photos.

Ok now the good stuff...

elles@centrepompidou

"For the first time in the world, a museum will be displaying the feminine side of its own collections. This new presentation of the Centre Pompidou's collections will be entirely given over to the women artists from the 20th century to the present day."

Elles@centrepompidou was the most amazing collection of artwork I've seen in Paris, and without question, the most interesting and beautiful collection of modern art I've visited. I spent 3 hours on 1 floor, and there is still one more floor of the exhibition I need to see, plus the permanent collection that I didn't get a chance to see at all!

Here are some photos I snagged of some of my favorite works...

Inflammatory Essays, Jenny Holzer 1979-82

Rubble, Monika Sosnowska 2006

Guerrilla Girls

Diary, Sanja Ivekovic 1976

My favorite work in the exhibition was a slideshow of images by Nan Goldin called Heart Beat. It was beautiful All of the images were of couples just living life together. The image below is one from the series of images of my favorite couple.


Big hugs & miss you lots,
Erica

Le Musée Marmottan-Monet

I visited Le Musée Marmottan-Monet this morning.

I woke up
made coffee
went outside in the Parisian rain
stopped at a patisserie for a pain au chocolat
rode the metro and read
gave 50 centime to an accordion player
walked through a lovely park to the museum
and that was the start of my day.

I'm going to the Pompidou tomorrow. It will probably/hopefully be a similar day.

Big hugs,

Erica

Exploring Paris and planning weekend adventures.

In the first 2 seconds of this video...well, just watch it and embrace the zog.

Halloween #20 Amsterdam

This Halloween was the first Halloween where I did not hand out as many Kit Kats and Butterfingers as I ate (I didn't see a single trick-or-treater for that matter), where I did not eat Stump Cake from White's with my family, I didn't see a single pumpkin let alone carve one, I did not wear a costume...I could go on.
This is the first Halloween that I spent away from MA--which is craziness. It might sound dramatic, but Halloween and my birthday are such a constant in my life--always with friends and family, always in a place where Halloween is looked forward to and celebrated like there will never be another one. Every year it is pretty much the same thing--which is great because I love Halloween traditions, but this year going to Amsterdam was just such a good way to celebrate the holiday that technically doesn't exist here...oh, and my birthday.

I can sum up my weekend in Amsterdam like this--if Pineapple Express had a baby with The Hangover and the offspring was 8 college students celebrating Halloween and a birthday, that was the weekend.
I kind of just want to leave it like that, but I suppose I will share the details with you.
Maria, Kate, Walsh Liz and I left Paris on the Thalys high speed train at 6h30 and arrived in Amsterdam at 10h30 where we met up with Max, Becca and Ashley who had come via bus. We got all settled in the hostel and then went to a coffeeshop right away--and from then on, we were just continually stoned, like every other tourist in Amsterdam. We went to the Heineken Brewery, where we enjoyed 2 drinks with our tour ticket...but Maria and Ashley don't like beer...so being the birthday girl, I ended up drinking 4 pints...that was at 5pm.
From there, we went to a coffeeshop again, went back to the hostel to get ready for the night and played kings with the Italian guy staying in our room.
We left at 9 to go the Red Light District...which was weird and I was bummed out to be there. It was super depressing. The girls who stand in the window and just sad looking, but what makes it worse are the middle aged men walking around, drooling and picking out a girl. I really am torn about this who prostitution thing...because my gut tells me that I'm disgusted by it, like when I saw the Red Light District in all it' glory I was so bummed out and my stomach was just turning. But my head, when I over think it I suppose, tells me that if these girls are voluntarily doing this for a living and they can make good money, they should be able to use their bodies however they want. OK, on a lighter note...
We found a bar that looked fun, and Karaoke was happening, so we hung out there for the night and got absurdly drunk. Mostly because I bought myself one measly pint, and then a guy next to me at the bar overheard it was my birthday, so he bought me a pint, and when I was almost done with it, I knocked it over and it spilled, so he bought me another. Then this man who was desperate for female attention bought all 6 of us tequila shots...twice. Then we all shared a celebratory midnight birthday shot together. So we were already pretty tipsy when we got to the bar, and then alcohol seemed to start raining down from the sky and things got just drUnk.
Kate, Becca, Liz and I stayed at the bar singing Karaoke and drinking until about 2, when the bartenders became concerned for our well being. Before that though, the bartenders kind of loved us and were singing Karaoke with us the whole night.
The walk home...oh noe. If you don't want the gritty details, stop reading now. We walked the wrong way for 30 minutes...and then I started to get sick, but at the same time, I felt completely jolly and I was doing fine besides the occasional pit stop to vom...then we had to catch a taxi when we all became desperate for a bed and a shower. We got back to the hostel, passed out and I woke up at 8 to begin the most horrid hangover of my life. I was violently ill from 8 to 12 and then just painfully nauseous until 5...nothing stayed in my stomach until after I had smoked (I was so grateful to be in Amsterdam).
We enjoyed the day on Halloween, despite my horrendous hangover that I foolishly brought upon myself. I can't regret it though because I had such a good night on Friday.
We went to a coffeeshop, and after that, we got dinner at this little Italian restaurant in what I think is the best part of Amsterdam. It right by Museum Square and it was fully of galleries, ethnic restaurants, little boutiques--right across the way from the Van Gogh Museum and the National Museum.
Dinner was so good...I miss it. It was like eating at an Italian place in the North End--sorry Paris, but your Italian food is terrible.
After that, we went to another coffeeshop and I got cake and hot chocolate, because it seemed wrong not to have cake on my birthday.
We were thinking about going on a pub crawl too, but we all sincerely didn't want to in the end for fear of missing our 8am train the next morning (it's happened before).
We ended up back at the hostel at 10h30 or so where we just stayed up and enjoyed each others company and laughed together as usual. It really makes my day that I got to share my birthday with all these people--I really had a great time. I missed all you home and Stonehill folks and the one that overlaps, too. Molly, at dinner on Halloween I was thinking about how we met 8 years ago exactly. And on a less graceful note,when I was nauseous and hungover I really wished you were there to sit with me and rub my back in that way mom's rub their kids backs and tell them it will be OK when they're sick. I hope you can take that as the best possible compliment.
I hope you all had the best Halloween. Is it selfish of me to throw a Halloween themed party this winter/spring?