February 5th- 3 other people in my program and myself met our resident director at the Saint Michel fountain at noon. For 6 hours we did a 'treasure hunt' around the city finding a bunch of cool places and learning some random things about the city. We were each given a paper with a list of places and how to get there from the stop before and we had to take a picture or collect something from the place. Most of the places were things I have seen before but it was fun to see the excitement in the other peoples faces that were experiencing all the cool things Paris has to offer for the first time. One place I hadn't been to before was Trocadero, its a large platform that has a wonderful view of the Tour Eiffel. Trocadero is sort of the start of the park that sits under the shadows of the tower, there are fountains and gardens and beautiful tiles on the ground and a museum to one side. We also went to Rue Mouffetard which is near where I live. It is a well known street that really captures the Parisian feel of life. Its a narrow, cobblestone road with shops filled with cheese and meat, restaurants and pubs that are so pretty and classic Parisian that you question if you're on the set of a movie, crepes stands with amazing street food and flower shops that you can't pass by without smelling the lilacs. If you know the french movie Amelie, Rue Mouffetard is the street that is used a lot in the movie. At the end of the 'treasure hunt', our resident director rewarded us with a bottle of French Bordeaux red wine and a delicious cake topped with strawberries.
February 6th- At 1pm, everyone that is attending the Catholic University of Paris and a part of Abroadco, 8 students, met our resident director in front of Notre Dame. For about an hour we walked around the Notre Dame area with a tour guide who told us some facts and showed us some cool sights. I learned that originally Notre Dame was a place of business and inside was a loud place where people did things like sell live chickens and pigs. Also, back in the day Notre Dame was very connected the the city rather than standing out on a pedestal as a monument. I saw where the monks used to learn and heard a story of the only women ever to enter the back part of the island that was specially a place for the monks to live and learn. I also learned that Notre Dame was almost completely ruined and had to be redone to be what we all see today. The man who was chosen to redo the architecture put his face on many of the things seen on, around and in the church (I thought this was funny, especially when you start to notice the same face all around). After the tour we went on a boat ride down the river. Although it was nice to go on a boat ride this was kind of boring, something you'd probably ever only want to do once just to say you did it. The boat ride is a good way to see a lot of the city if you are only in Paris for a little bit.
February 9th- I had my first exam and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The test consisted of listening and reading comprehension and a writing section.
February 11th- Kathy, the girl that lives next to me, had a dinner party and invited other students in the program over. Kathy made quiches, two girls brought salads, three people brought wines, and myself and another girl brought dessert. It was a fun night, we talked about a lot of random things and got to know each other some more.
February 12th- We had our first excursion today to the city of Tours and the Chenonceux Chateau. Kathy and I left our apartments at 6:40 AM and we had to be to the train station by 7. We met everyone at the station and left for a two hour train ride to Tours. When we got to Tours we went to a wine museum and then the old part of town and walked around. Then we slowly started walking back towards the train station when Kathy and I decided to side step and check out a few stores. She was looking for shoes and I wanted to browse the Soldes (the government mandated sales that were lasting for one more week. We were provided money for lunch so Kathy and I also stopped and got lunch to go that we could eat on the train. We both got there lunch special, I got the mozzarella and tomato panini, an apricot tart and a coke. We got back to the train station and had a 20 minute ride to the chateau. We had 4 hours to tour the chateau and walk around. Once we got inside we were all given iPods to do a self guided tour, we could chose from a 40 minute or 90 minute tour. I think most people did the 40 minute tour but I figured we had so much time so I chose the 90 minute tour and I'm glad I did. The chateau was amazing. I would advise anyone to see it, it isn't as big as other chateaus but I just really loved it and how it was situated over the river was so cool. One thing I love about Europe is all the little details put into the buildings and this chateau didn't disappoint. Also, all the gardens around the property were beautiful.
February 16th- I had my second and final test of my intensive class and it was extremely hard. Most people in the class had no idea what to even do for the test. This was was twice as long as the first test and consisted of a listening comprehension and then long answer responses and then a short essay. I ended up doing decently well on the exam, getting the same grade as I did on the first one.
February 17th- This was my last full day of the intensive course, I had the morning session left the next day and then I was finally free! The 2-5 section of the class today was fun. We were all given a picture and a notecard with a question. The pictures were all places in Paris and we each had to place a picture on the map and then answer the question as a class. My teacher brought wine, bread and cheese for the class to have while we did this last activity. I learned I also like the cheese 'chevre' today and another cheese that sort of tastes like parmesan. My host mom had a dinner party tonight with two men I had met before and then a couple I hadn't met yet. For dinner we had minestrone soup then duck and some sort of mashed green vegetable then cheeses and bread and then dessert. Dessert was oranges and apples, macaroons, and a pasty that is sort of like a chewy donut, I'm a fan of it.
February 18th- The last morning of class was fun as well. We did a few activities and then went and walked around town asking random people questions. Split into groups, we started off at Saint Surplice and then walked to the Luxembourg garden, talking to 5 different people. It's awkward to stop and try to get people to talk to you but fun if the person you catch is actually nice. We did this type of thing once before in class, and each time I've talked to some extremely nice and understanding people and then some people that understand you're a student learning and still won't give you three minutes to ask them a few questions. That evening I had Alia over and we watched some french TV and drank champagne and then met up with a couple other people at a bar near the Luxembourg garden. When we were walking up to the bar, we could tell it was packed and they weren't letting people inside. Luckily, since we already had two people inside and they had a table with two extra seats saved for us we were allowed to go in. The people at the two tables on each side of us happened to be members of two different bands touring Europe right now. It was fun to talk to everyone and hear about what they do and what goes in behind the scenes.
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