Thursday, March 24, 2011

Oh You Fancy, Huh?

Hey y'all!

Sorry for being so remiss in my posting...my laptop adapter died and I didn't use it for a few days until I finally decided to cough up the 79 euro ( a lot more than 79 US dollars) to get another one. I'm paying for my stubbornness/cheapness though...it's taken me approximately 15 minutes to type 2 sentences because I've basically forgotten how to type on an American keyboard...

Anywho, spring has definitely sprung in Paris, and I for one couldn't be more pleased. I was emailing a friend of mine about Paris and mentioned how hard the winter had been for me, and he pointed out very astutely that living in South Carolina and Los Angeles for my entire life had given me little to no preparation for a "proper" winter.Spring has traditionally not really been a big deal, but here in Paris for me it really has been a rebirth. Just seeing the sun again on a regular basis means so much...
Last weekend, students from the other Sciences-Po campuses around France came to Paris to check out the school and to sight see around Paris, and I signed up to go on the outings in the hopes of meeting some friendly French students. We went to the Château Versailles on Saturday and the Eiffel Tower on Sunday. While waiting to meet the rest of the group to go to Versailles, Lindsey, Leah and I decided to indulge in a school sponsored dégustation, or wine tasting. This was my first wine tasting, and I must say, I felt très classe. We learned about what it means if the wine is "crying"after you swirl it around in the glass (high alcohol content or something to that effect) and how there are a lot more words in french to describe wine than in english. It didn't hurt that some of the guys giving the serving the wine were pretty cute. After some shenanigans involving being left by the rest of the group, Lindsey, Leah, myself, another American student and two nice Russian girls ended up making our way to Versailles. It wasn't very spring-like...pretty cold actually, but hey, it's still Versailles!

French Guy Leading the Group- "How did you like Versailles?
American Student- "Oh it was really grand and fancy..."
French Guy- "It's French"

Givin' Versailles the ole thumbs up

 
ooooh. fancy.
sweet gilded doors
Marie Antoinette's gorgeous bed! (they know how to do beds here, my madame has an awesome one as well)
A ceiling painting being restored, hence the bits of paper
Me in the Hall of Mirrors

Ze gardens
Me (or should I say, Zee) in front of Ze gardens
Sunday was the Eiffel Tower...
readying for the ascent!

haha a little dark, but you get the idea

haussmanism in action



shiny seine
Two main touristy things gotten out of the way in one weekend. And on the Sunday that I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, it was magnificently sunny. It made the Seine glitter like a platinum ribbon running through the city. Through the exchange I met a French girl who totally defied the typical stoic cool-girl stereotype that I had in my mind up until then. She regaled me with tales of going to Drake concerts and dancing in hip hop clubs near her university. All in all, a pretty cool weekend, full of surprises and new experiences

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