So after living here for over a month, I think I can provide a little bit more insight into the random little things that make Paris, Paris.
The metro smells like pee. Why does the metro smell like pee? You ask. Because people pee in it all the time and I seriously mean all the time, not just drunkenly at 3 AM. I saw a regular guy peeing at the entrance of my metro one day on my way to school at around 9 AM. Weird, I know.
People are OBSESSED with their dogs. They truly love their canine companions. Parisians take their dogs anywhere and everywhere: the metro, stores, cafes, you name it.
Because people take their dogs everywhere, there is dog shit everywhere! Apparently, the pooper scooper didn't make it big here. So, watch your step!
Audience decorum: When watching a symphony there is NO clapping between songs. Instead, you wait for the pause between songs to cough, sneeze, blow your nose, sniffle, and perform all other noisy bodily functions during this allotted time. Also, the French are very into encores. We saw a crazy string quartet performance in which there were four encores. You think they would be done, the performers would bow the stage would get dark... and then they would start to play all over again!
Picnicking is VERY in. As soon as it gets sunny and warm, people get their lunches to go and finds a bench, a bank, or a grassy area to sit and eat. It is quite lovely.
I know I continue to harp on this, but PDA is pretty much a way of life in Paris. It is out of control! I went on a date with a French boy who insisted on trying to kiss me at a cafe, in the metro, in a park. I had to remind him multiple times that I am American and only think its appropriate to make out in public AFTER I have had a few drinks.
People don't have dryers here. Therefore, my pants are permanently falling off because I have no means of shrinking them!
Smoking is not as in as it used to be in France. I remember the first time I came to Paris eight years ago EVERYONE smoked incessantly. Since then, they passed a smoking ban in restaurants and bars. Although, there are still way more smokers here that back home its not nearly as much as I remember and its mostly the young people that smoke.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Just an ordinary day
Hello all. I know, I know... I suck at keeping up with this. However, here I am ready to regale you with all of my wonderful Parisian tales. So, I wanted to start off by telling you all about my day. It's Tuesday, March 23, 2010 a very average and mediocre day, EXCEPT I'm in Paris. So here's what my day was like...
Wake up at 8 AM
Get ready for class
Have my petit dejeuner with my host parents and their adorable granddaughter Lucy
Get on the train to school
See the most beautiful view of all of Paris on the train. You can literally see the entire city!
Walk up the GIANT hill in order to get to class
Two hours of intense grammar (which to some may sound horrible, but is actually very interesting not to mention the fact that I am kind of in love with my professor because she is sarcastic and at times a bitch)
Walk 5 minutes with Sarah and Emily to the Jardin de Luxembourg
Get some McDo (which is wayyy more French than getting a baguette and cheese, which I did yesterday)
Soak in the sun, the beautiful gardens, and the people
Get back on the train and head home
Hang out with my host parentals and Lucy
Read/people-watch on a bench in a gorgeous park near my house
Go online
Exercise in my room while Lucy watches/joins in
Shower
Dinner
DONE
So basically, life is not sucking. I know that when I am old and all botoxed out, because I will refuse to be old and wrinkly, I will reminisce and say that this was the best time of my life.
Wake up at 8 AM
Get ready for class
Have my petit dejeuner with my host parents and their adorable granddaughter Lucy
Get on the train to school
See the most beautiful view of all of Paris on the train. You can literally see the entire city!
Walk up the GIANT hill in order to get to class
Two hours of intense grammar (which to some may sound horrible, but is actually very interesting not to mention the fact that I am kind of in love with my professor because she is sarcastic and at times a bitch)
Walk 5 minutes with Sarah and Emily to the Jardin de Luxembourg
Get some McDo (which is wayyy more French than getting a baguette and cheese, which I did yesterday)
Soak in the sun, the beautiful gardens, and the people
Get back on the train and head home
Hang out with my host parentals and Lucy
Read/people-watch on a bench in a gorgeous park near my house
Go online
Exercise in my room while Lucy watches/joins in
Shower
Dinner
DONE
So basically, life is not sucking. I know that when I am old and all botoxed out, because I will refuse to be old and wrinkly, I will reminisce and say that this was the best time of my life.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Food and Booze!
Today has been one of those days that I realize holy shit... i live in Paris. Possibly because today was the first day I ventured outside, after having quarantined myself to my bedroom for two days because I was feeling a bit swiney. But I'm all better, the sun was shining today and I actually saw little teeny plants starting to pop up out of the soil, which means (drumroll please) SPRING is here! Well its almost here at least. Tomorrow is the one month anniversary of me getting to Paris, and for all this month I have been anxiously awaiting the days when its no longer gray and freezing. Finally, the ever cliché springtime in Paris is just around the corner! I foresee an array of picnics, strolls, and time spent basking in the sunshine. Ahhhh it will be quite delightful!
Anyway, things around here have been pretty good! I've been going to classes (although I feel like I'm on vacation), going out, and exploring Paris. Although, I have not been very good at going to museums and churches, I need to start doing that more often!
So, I have realized that I have yet to talk about the food in Paris! I found French cuisine to be EXTREMELY paradoxical. Some of the richest, most fattening and delicious food is made here... but everyone is skinny. How, you ask. Well, I think I have found the answer! So, since I've come to France... I've been hungry, a lot. First of all starting with breakfast. Now everyone knows this is them most important meal of the day bla bla bla, but more importantly this is my favorite meal. I am a breakfast person. As my father would say "el mal comido no piensa," so I take my breakfast seriously. However, in France, breakfast is bread. Yes, its a baguette and its nice. But bread just doesn't cut it for me. Where are the eggs?! But I digress. So, after having had my breakfast of bread I am usually STARVING once noon rolls around. So, I eat usually street food or sandwiches from adorable boulangeries. Its all quite nice, BUT dinner at my house (like the rest of France) isn't until 8:30 - 9:00. That's a looooong time without eating! So behold, the secret to French skinnyness, they don't believe in snacking. Seriously, they look down upon any sort of snacking! Fruit, granola bars, nuts? Nope, not for the French. I however, can't hack it. So everyday at around six I have to have an apple. Seriously, I don't think I've every consumed this many apples in my lifetime. But they are delicious, portable, and filling... so an apple a day it is!
Now that I'm done complaining about the food... let me tell you all the things I have loved about it! My family believes in courses. Every single day we have a starter, a main dish, cheese, sometimes dessert, and fruit. Now this sounds like a lot of food, doesn't it. But its not. Its the perfect amount of food. You know that feeling after you've gone to the Cheesecake Factory and you have to unbutton your pants because you can't breath... well that has never happened to me here. My madame is a wonderful cook and I'm really NOT picky at all. So this has made for wonderful meals!
Now back to the French paradoxes... Before coming to France, I have never in all my life eaten any sort of frozen meal (if you know my mother you would know why). I am the only American that doesn't have a microwave in the house. However, after I've come to France, the capital of fine dining, I have had soo much frozen food... and you know what, it's delicious! They literally have a store entirely dedicated to frozen meals. You can walk down your neighborhood and see your local boulangerie, fromagerie, charcuterie, and Picard (the store that can meet your wildest frozen food dreams).
Now to my favorite part of eating... drinking! I feel like I've been permanently dehydrated since I came to Paris. Seriously, people don't drink water with their meals. When you go to a restaurant and ask for a pitcher of water. They bring you the water with a bunch of teeny glasses and don't expect a refill. So I've made do with wine. Everything is expensive in Paris, EXCEPT wine and cheese. You can find perfectly delicious bottles of wine for two euros. Last week, I bought a bottle of champagne for 1.33 Euros. Ridiculous, I know. However, booze at your local watering hole is sooo expensive! Cocktails are all at least ten euros, and they suck! They are neither strong nor delicious. So, I have been doing some heavy duty pregaming with wine before I go out so I don't go broke.
Anyway, things around here have been pretty good! I've been going to classes (although I feel like I'm on vacation), going out, and exploring Paris. Although, I have not been very good at going to museums and churches, I need to start doing that more often!
So, I have realized that I have yet to talk about the food in Paris! I found French cuisine to be EXTREMELY paradoxical. Some of the richest, most fattening and delicious food is made here... but everyone is skinny. How, you ask. Well, I think I have found the answer! So, since I've come to France... I've been hungry, a lot. First of all starting with breakfast. Now everyone knows this is them most important meal of the day bla bla bla, but more importantly this is my favorite meal. I am a breakfast person. As my father would say "el mal comido no piensa," so I take my breakfast seriously. However, in France, breakfast is bread. Yes, its a baguette and its nice. But bread just doesn't cut it for me. Where are the eggs?! But I digress. So, after having had my breakfast of bread I am usually STARVING once noon rolls around. So, I eat usually street food or sandwiches from adorable boulangeries. Its all quite nice, BUT dinner at my house (like the rest of France) isn't until 8:30 - 9:00. That's a looooong time without eating! So behold, the secret to French skinnyness, they don't believe in snacking. Seriously, they look down upon any sort of snacking! Fruit, granola bars, nuts? Nope, not for the French. I however, can't hack it. So everyday at around six I have to have an apple. Seriously, I don't think I've every consumed this many apples in my lifetime. But they are delicious, portable, and filling... so an apple a day it is!
Now that I'm done complaining about the food... let me tell you all the things I have loved about it! My family believes in courses. Every single day we have a starter, a main dish, cheese, sometimes dessert, and fruit. Now this sounds like a lot of food, doesn't it. But its not. Its the perfect amount of food. You know that feeling after you've gone to the Cheesecake Factory and you have to unbutton your pants because you can't breath... well that has never happened to me here. My madame is a wonderful cook and I'm really NOT picky at all. So this has made for wonderful meals!
Now back to the French paradoxes... Before coming to France, I have never in all my life eaten any sort of frozen meal (if you know my mother you would know why). I am the only American that doesn't have a microwave in the house. However, after I've come to France, the capital of fine dining, I have had soo much frozen food... and you know what, it's delicious! They literally have a store entirely dedicated to frozen meals. You can walk down your neighborhood and see your local boulangerie, fromagerie, charcuterie, and Picard (the store that can meet your wildest frozen food dreams).
Now to my favorite part of eating... drinking! I feel like I've been permanently dehydrated since I came to Paris. Seriously, people don't drink water with their meals. When you go to a restaurant and ask for a pitcher of water. They bring you the water with a bunch of teeny glasses and don't expect a refill. So I've made do with wine. Everything is expensive in Paris, EXCEPT wine and cheese. You can find perfectly delicious bottles of wine for two euros. Last week, I bought a bottle of champagne for 1.33 Euros. Ridiculous, I know. However, booze at your local watering hole is sooo expensive! Cocktails are all at least ten euros, and they suck! They are neither strong nor delicious. So, I have been doing some heavy duty pregaming with wine before I go out so I don't go broke.
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