Ver*sigh*.... Si Belle

Bonjour!
This post is a bit late but better late than never.

We were lucky enough to get to take a little trip to Verseilles last Saturday. Verseilles is home to one of the greatest cheateaus (castles) in the world. It was commissioned by Louis XIV, the self-proclaimed Sun King, to be the most luxurious castle in all of France. He succeeded, and now has his name on one of the greatest castles in the world.

As you walk up to the chateau at Verseilles, you see a building that is rather long and large, but for the most part ordinary. Until you see the golden gates on it, and then you realize that it is not so ordinary.

We took a tour of the inside of the castle first. And it's hard to imagine that someone actually LIVED in this place. It was clearly built to impress people, and the rooms in the castle are the equivalent of having an movie theatre in your house today. We walked into one bedroom and saw a bed. I thought well this must be where the king slept, but psych! It's just for show. Regardless to say the inside is magnificent and if you get the chance to check out all the pictures on facebook (when I finally am able to put them up) you'll get to see all the pictures of the inside: the bedrooms, the ante chambers, and the loooong beautiful hall of mirrors.

Let me just stop here to mention what else was going on at the castle of Verseilles. Jeff Koons is an American artist and he makes large metal sculptures that look like plastic or are models of real people or real things. As shown in the picture in this part (Michael Jackson and Bubbles), you can see that these sculptures are blatantly contemporary. Now what would contemporary AMERICAN art be doing in one of the oldest of FRENCH structures? The answer eludes the French as well as myself. To me, this whole exhibit is a joke. Why would you put an attraction in a castle as beautiful as Verseilles? The ticket sales must have been slow and they must have wanted something REALLY drastic to boost them. But this exhibit is degrading. Enough said.

We finally went outside to the gardens, and this part was truly the most beautiful sight that I have seen in Paris so far. The fountains and the flowers and the beautiful rows of trees. It was simply marvelous.

As we ventured through the gardens, we saw many different structures that were built throughout the grounds. There was a small mansion where Marie-Antoinette 'dressed up and played with the sheep' as Katy put it. Another small structure where Marie-Antoinette entertained her guest. But the most stunning sight, something straight out of a fairytale story book, was this small pond with a few buildings around it that just make you want to sit down and have a picnic. There were SWANS swimming in the pond. TWO of them! It was awesome. I figured out how to take black and white pictures, so I took some nice ones that will be on facebook soon.

So after a looong day of walking we finally wrapped up our tour of verseilles and took the train back to Paris. Katy and I went to the Moulin Rouge and more of Montmartre that night... but that's for a later post. :-)

I'd also like to say a special hello to my Nana who I know is reading this from home printed out from the internet. Miss you Nana and I hope you're enjoying this little bit of France!

A la prochaine
Justin

The Apartment... or as I call it, the Death Star. It's not fully operational....

Welcome to the picture tour of the apartment. I know there's only four pictures but bear with me and I'll give you an idea of the layout of the place. As you walk the front door, there is a small corridor with a small table on the left. Adjacent to the table is the kitchen, which is the picture to the left.




As you walk a little further into the corridor and to the end. On the right is the living room which looks like this. Katy's room is attached to the living room and is quite spacious.






To the left at the end of the corridor is my room. It's all organized and nice for now, but in a week, well... you know... You can see at the back of my room there's a window. That window leads to a very very small balcony with a view that looks like.......






...this!

So it's a very nice place and Katy and I are enjoying it so far. We will probably be getting another roommate since we have the space to do it and it will cut down on our costs.



I'm going to put up a video tour on facebook if you want to check it out. For those of you older readers who don't have facebook, you should sign up for it so you can see all of my pictures. The site isn't just for us young rebellious college students, it is for everyone and is free and easy to use. Soo come find me!

A bientot!
Justin

I (FINALLY) Have an Address... So Send Money

We finally have our address! It is:

Appartement 15, 5 Rue Poirier de Narçay
75014 Paris

So now you can send mail, come visit, etc.

Justin

Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, and some good French fun

So last night we got to go out on the town again with our two French friends, Christophe and Erwan. Sarah and Lauren had told them they wanted to go on a picnic so the 5 of us and Katy's temporary roommate Sunanna went on a good ol' French picnic. I was expecting us to sit on a blanket in a park and tell stories about America and the good times we've had there and teach each other new curse words in the others' language. And it turned to to be much more fun than that.

The guys decided to take us to Montmartre, which is a very pretty place in some parts and a little more dangerous in others. We were in the pretty part. After climbing hundreds of stairs (which I would love to go back to and put a slinky on), we reach the top of a hill where Sacre Coeur loomed, lit up by lights reflecting its awesomeness. Sacre Coeur is a church, if you didn't know, and it sits on top of a hill in the North of Paris. Which I didn't know, but soon enough, we were sitting on some stairs, with our back to the Sacre Coeur, our faces to the rest of Paris, and baguettes, cheese and wine stuffed in our mouths. It was an awesome sight. Breathtaking, to use a cheesier word. You couldn't see the Eiffel Tower, it was hidden behind some trees, but the Notre Dame was clearly visible as was the Tour de Montparnasse and all the pretty lights of the City of Lights.

Our French friends treated us to delightful food at our picnic. They brought: about 6 baguettes, (which is far better than any American bread in my opinion), duck pate, cochon (pig) pate, two other types of pate that I don't remember the names, a small wheel of camembert cheese, a roll of fantastic sausage, and two bottles of wine. It was less of a picnic and more of a feast. Just simply fantastic.

As we were eating there was a small band playing a few French, but mostly American songs behind us while so youths sat around, playing music on some speakers and dancing along. At one point, Sarah/Lauren mentioned they wanted to hear Soldier Boy to us. The youths heard them, and a few minutes later the song was playing and the two girls were dancing, while the rest of us enjoyed the show. :-) In all, the night turned out to be pretty magical, worth raving about in a blog post.

In other news, our landlord e-mailed us again today (the first time he has ever e-mailed us twice in a one week period) and said that we could sign the lease, pick up the keys, and move in on Sunday. What a relief. I am excited to get into my new apartment to see what I need, how far it is from the school, and what Parisian life is outside of this stinky dorm room.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

A bientot,
Justin

The Loooooouvre

Mmmmm the museum known throughout the World as having one of the most prestigious collections of art and antiques known to mankind. If you've never been to the Louvre, it's a museum. And for me, when I hear the word museum in English, I think of American museums that are displays usually situated in ordinary buildings. The Louvre is far from this. It is a former CASTLE that has been transformed into a museum. Kings of France have lived in this 'museum'. it was converted in the 19th Century to a museum by one of the kings and was probably one of the best decisions of his Monarchial career.

The Louvre is massive. Of course, you might have seen or heard of the Da Vinci Code and seen the pyramids both above and within the Louvre. Really and interesting stroke of architecture, and if I knew anything about architecture I would comment more on it... but I don't, so let's move one.

Inside the Louvre where the exhibits are displayed are huge vaulted ceilings that are more ornate and intricate than anything I've ever seen. And it seemed to get better and better as we went along until it kind of peaked in this long room that had antiques and pictures of old kings and architects in it.

And of course, among the other extremely famous pieces of art in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa, known in French as La Joconde. Though our tour guide and group seemed to skip over the Mona Lisa without taking pictures, I had to stay, and Katy stayed too, to take a few photos. I tried to do my best Joconde impression, but she has it down. What is so fascinating to me about the Mona Lisa is how extraordinarily ordinary it is. It baffles me. You can see how huge this picture on the right is... why not that one? There are tons of other paintings that could be just as important, but none of these paintings has had such a long complicated history as the Mona Lisa. She's been stolen, stabbed, and restored, and though it would seem like destruction to a painting would devalue it, this one appreciates in value. It's amazing.

Anyways, that was during the later part of the day. During the early part of the day, we had a history lesson (which really wasn't the best idea with a bunch of jet lagged college students in the middle of the late morning). Not naming names, but a certain someone was definitely nodding her head down, would look up at the teacher once in a while and nod her head yes then drift again, and would once in a while pick up her pen like she was writing, and would all asleep with her pen in her hand. Heh heh. Been there, done that, and it's even more obvious than just passing out.

After the history lesson we decided to walk back instead of taking Le Metro which is the train that goes underground through Paris (ie the subway). We got lost a bit and finally figured out where we needed to be and in the process of getting there, we walked through a cemetery. You can see for yourself in the pictures that this was no ordinary cemetery, and I'm sure there were some very famous people buried there, but we of course didn't know anyone specifically who was. But that was a very interesting place nonetheless.

Seems that is all I have to post about now. The day today has been much better than yesterday. Hopefully, soon I will get to post a little bit about the 'food scene' here so you can get an idea of what we can eat and what they offer on the streets.

A bientot

Justin

PS there are now pictures of for the Eiffel Tower post, as well as a nice video.

The Apartment Redemption

So you can imagine the basket case of emotion that has been these past few hours. I've gone from being totally down in the dumps to full of life and about to watch Heroes. The landlord e-mailed us and told us that the apartment was reserved for us and that he would be returning this Sunday. What a relief. Seems we may be alright after all.

Could have done without the emotional roller coaster though.

Justin

The Apartment Scramble

So I said I would keep you updated on my progress in Paris, so I will follow through with it even though this is kind of a bad news post. Today we pretty much decided that our apartment situation was not going to come through for us. As easy as one might think it would be to find an apartment in a town the size of Paris, it is surprisingly difficult. Katy and I today walked to at least 15 different agencies today and had no luck at any of them. It is even more frustrating to see all of these ads in papers for open apartments and then to ask if these agencies have any open and they do not. It's even more frustrating because I feel like Katy and I are alone in our search. Our program director seems to not be terribly concerned with what happens to us, even though after the 1st of October, I will be homeless in one of the most complicated cities in the world. If this happens, I may be forced to come home. Obviously I do not want this to happen, but I truly have nowhere else to go. I know these are trying times and that things will probably eventually work out, but it's so hard to get through this stuff without a phone to talk on, and ear to listen, or (right now) a shoulder to cry on. This is proving to be one of the toughest experiences of my life, and right now all I can is sit around and wait til morning.

I guess on the bright side, Katy and I got to walk around Paris and get lost a few times. And in the process we saw some pretty neat things. There was a butcher and poissonerie (fish shop) one right next to the other. We stopped at a panini place for dinner and ate for 4 euros which wasn't bad. Lots of sights, but too bad we have been too busy to enjoy them so far.

Hopefully things will turn around for the better. But, again, I'll keep you posted. if you'd like to get in touch with me I'm probably going to be around tonight. I've downloaded Skype which is a free program and you can talk to me for free if you have a microphone that you can talk into. Just shoot me and e-mail or if I'm online with AIM you can send me a message. My screenname is SSDareDevil31.

Plus tard,
Justin

The First Days

Well my arrival in Paris was smooth and everything has gone swimmingly so far. Paris is, of course, a beautiful city and the second I arrived I knew I was in another world than the one I had been living in my whole life.

After we got off of the plane, our coordinator Dr. Costello picked up the 8 of us who were on the group flight. None of us knew what vehicle would be big enough to cart all of us and all of our luggage to the foyer. But sure enough, when we went outside there was a full sized charter bus waiting for the 8 of us. Needless to say the ride was spacious.

We cruised through Paris in our big bus, and the first thing that I noticed oddly enough was that the Pharmacies were all flashy and lit up like they belonged on the Las Vegas strip. Very different from what we have at home.

We made it to the dorms and didn't have any meetings so myself and 5 other people from the dorms went exploring a little bit with Chloe, who has been here for a month now already and knows the place a little bit. Of course, we wanted a tasty beverage on our way, so we bought a few bottles of wine and a cork screw (the Key to Fun as I like to refer to it now) and popped a squat on one of the rues of Paris and sipped on cheap wine and chatted for an hour. After which, we proceeded to walk around the 5th and 6th quarter a bit before finally calling it a night and went back to the dorms to crash on our terribly uncomfortable mattresses.

The next day we had our first lesson in geographie and learned all about the layout of Paris, transportation, and some of the major attractions. After our meeting, we had a break, whcih I believe was spent by everyone napping. At about 1600 we had a guided tour with a very knowledgeable tour guide M. Peigne who took us around Le Marais. Our most notable stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is by far the most stunning work of architecture that I have ever seen. I don't have pictures of it yet because I forgot my camera but when I do you will see what I mean.

After our tour we came back and Katy and I shopped around for apartments a little bit since our good friend the landlord has apparently decided to ignore us. After browsing the apartments, a few friends and I decided we wanted to see the magnificent Eiffel Tower lit up at night. I grabbed the Key to Fun and we were off. We stopped just before le Rue de Montparnasse and sat on a bench and drank our first bottle of wine, and then proceeded to walk through the area of town known as Montparnasse. This was a fantastic little area because it was all lit up with tons of restaurants and places to see. I have quite a few pictures of Montparnasse and basically every restaurant you see in those pictures are ones that I decided were noteworthy enough to take pictures of.
After venturing through Montparnasse we came across a courtyard about 10 minutes away from the Eiffel Tower which had about 200 students waiting in it. Of course, being with 3 girls around male students, they were subsequently cat called and eventually 2 of our friends went to talk to their suitors. A young gentlemen who was friends with the cat-callers approached myself and Sarah and began speaking to us in rather good English. I was suspicious at first, but it turns out he was just a really nice Frenchman and was just looking for conversation with us. After about a half hour of chit chat, we finally decided to head to the Eiffel Tower, and Christophe offered to be our guide. We went there and of course took tons of pictures and left just before the sparkling began right before they were going to turn off the lights. It was an awesome sight.

The ensuing walk back was loooooong but Christophe was nice enough to point out some notable buildings. After finally arriving to the dorm and being locked out for a few minutes, I was finally able to go up to my room and go to bed. I did not sleep well last night though the uncomfortable bed was a welcoming sight. I think I'm still getting through the jet lag.

I hope this first post clues you in on what I'll be doing here. I miss all of those who are still at home but hope that I can share a little bit of my experience with you as time goes on. Please continue to keep in touch for these first couple months. I hear it is easy to get homesick and I wouldn't want to be a Debbie downer because I didn't hear from you.

A Bientot!

Justin

The Blog!

So here's the blog that I will be sharing with you all. I'm going to be posting to it later today because I have a massive headache right now and am still quite tired. But you will hear from me soon!

Justin