Spring, Palais de la découverte, and American food!

Happy Wednesday!

Spring has officially started in Paris and it's beautiful! The weather has gotten much nicer and the sun has been out almost every day for the past two weeks. Flowers are starting to show up and everything is just seems so much happier! But the strange thing for me is that the Parisians seem to be unaware of the change in the weather because most people are still wearing boots, scarfs, and their winter coats. I don't really understand, but whatever.

Last Thursday I went to Palais de la découverte. It's basically a science museum (albeit kind of an old one) with sections on animals, chemistry, weather, space, etc. It was pretty interesting and everything was in French, so that was a good challenge. At the end of our visit, we went to a presentation on electricity. Besides us, the audience was filled with a group of 12 or 13 year old kids. The host of the show asked for an adult female volunteer. I was one of the only options, so somehow I got talked into going up there. I was part of a demonstration of static electricity. I had to take off my shoes and climb up onto a metal platform on the stage. Then the host turned on the power and my hair started to stick straight up on top of my head. I think I provided pretty good entertainment for the middle schoolers that were laughing hysterically at me...definitely something I wouldn't choose to do again. I was also slightly concerned about getting electrocuted and everything being in French didn't help my anxiety level very much. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my self on stage, but here are some pictures of the museum.

This Saturday night I made macaroni and cheese and a cheesecake (lots of cheese ha ha) for dinner. They actually turned out better than I thought they would, but both dishes definitely had a French twist to them. For the macaroni and cheese I used emmental (basically swiss cheese) instead of cheddar and for the cheesecake I had to use fromage blanc instead of real cream cheese. Despite these changes I think it turned out pretty good and it was fun to cook something American! (Sorry no pictures of the food =( ...I forgot)

This is random, but my school showed us this video about stereotypes at orientation when we first got here and I thought it was pretty amusing. I've posted both the English and the French version. Enjoy!

English

French 

Quote: Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present. -Jim Rohn

Stay tuned for a report of my parents' visit (they get in on Friday!) and a trip to Disneyland Paris!



Fondue, l'Orangerie, French kids!

I'm back!.....not that you missed me ha ha.

Sorry for the long break. Last week was midterms, so I was a little bit busy. Also, I didn't have too much time to go out and do exciting things (although I know you would have loved to read a post about me studying in my room!).

Here's a quick recap: I did find that Mexican restaurant again and it was even better the second time! This past Thursday I went out to a fondue restaurant for a friend's birthday and let's just say it was an interesting experience...

 They served wine in baby bottles...?

Definitely a tourist trap, but it was still fun. I went out for another birthday on Friday and then just relaxed Saturday and Sunday.

Monday I decided I needed to get back into tourist mode, so I went to l'Orangerie with a friend. It's probably one of the smallest museums I've ever been in, but it was pretty cool. The most famous thing there is  Monet's Nymphéas.

 So pretty!

 There were two big rooms of these!

There was also some other random stuff that caught my eye.

I started my internship (finally) at a middle school (un collège) last week. I'm working there Tuesday and Friday for about 3 hours each day. Tuesday I have an English club that I lead and then two hours of assisting a teacher. Friday I have 2 different sessions of an English club and I also eat lunch with some of the students. It's been a pretty good experience so far. It's fun to be around kids and it's really intereseting to see the differences in school. Just a couple of observations...the kids come into the room and stand up behind their chairs until you tell them to sit down...very strange for me. They learn British English so they say things like "I have got one brother" and "I have to hoover my room" (hoover means vacuum...it took me a while to understand this). It should be a really good experience!

Tonight I went with my theatre class to see a play called Quelqu'un comme vous (Someone Like You). There were only two actors in it (apparently one was a really famous actor and the other was a pretty famous singer....but of course I don't remember their names) and the whole show took place on a beach, so there wasn't too much action. The slow pace of the show combined with it starting at 9pm (ugh) and being in French (evidently) made me lose interest towards the end, but the first 45 minutes was pretty good. Here's a picture of the stage.

Sorry for the bad picture quality. I was afraid the usher was going to come yell at me.

Random picture, but I successfully made eggs (admittedly with a lot of help- I don't have much experience cooking non-vegan food) this weekend!

Life update: I'm planning on staying here for the summer, so I'm in the process of finding a job/internship, place to live, classes to take, extending my visa, etc. Lots of work...

Another random note, my parents are coming to visit next week, so I'm looking forward to that!

Here's a quote for the day:
"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."- Thomas Merton


I wanted to post on March 10th, but I was super busy and didn't have a chance to. So I'd just like to say that I was definitely thinking of Gerry last Thursday, as I do almost every day. In honor of him and the 6th anniversary of his death here's an extra quote from his original adaptation of Charlotte's Web:

"You are the miracle, you are the vision. You made it possible, things can change. On behalf of the children whom new life you've given, you are the miracle of my life."

Mexican food (!!!), Sirens, and Becoming a Parisian

I finally found a good mexican restaurant (read: my friend found it and brought me there and of course with my terrible sense of direction I'll probably never be able to get back there ha ha)! I really miss mexican food here, so I was super excited to go there for lunch yesterday. French food is good, but you can only eat so many crepes and bagettes before you need to switch it up. I had an awesome vegetarian burrito and guacamole! Sooo good! I'll definitely be going back! I forgot to take a picture of the restaurant or of my food (blog fail), but I did get a picture of the awesome chandelier...albeit not super classy.

Random comment: The first Wednesday of each month at noon there is a test of the emergency alert system for the city (at least as far as I've gathered). Today (March 2nd) and last month my politics class was interrupted by a siren at 12pm and 12:10pm. Maybe some cities in the US do this, but not where I live. It surprised me, but it's probably a good idea.

Tonight I went to see a play called "How to Become a Parisian in One Hour" with my Internship Seminar class. I was expecting it to be kind of lame, but it was actually pretty funny. It's a one man show in English where the guy talks about mostly French/American stereotypes. A lot of what he said was definitely true and I really enjoyed the show, although it was a little past my bedtime...sleepy.

More bad translations....

Really...?

Sounds terrible in English

An actual email I received..

"Mademoiselle,

I don't remember if you speak french. I am writing in english though. I

received the document "achat de timbre". Thank you for zat.

Cordialement"

"Zat" really?...Just write in French

Sorry for a kind of lame post this time...busy week. I promise to be more exciting next week ha ha!