when in Roma...

While attempting to recover from the excitement of the weekend, I will share my adventures in Rome. We (Anna, Cara and I) woke up at 4:30am on Friday morning to make it to the airport for our 7:10 flight to Rome. We landed in Rome around 9:10, took a bus into the city and checked into our hostel. The hostel was in a less than beautiful part of the city and as it was my first impression of Rome, I was a little surprised and disappointed (this was to change). We dropped off our bags and ventured towards the Ancient City, the area, according to our itinerary, that we would visit on Friday. We wandered around until we happened upon the Coloseum. It was a steep price to enter and a lengthy line but we decided we had to experience this part of history. What I found the most fascinating was the sheer age of that building, it makes you wonder if anything from our world will persist for another two thousand years. We then wandered over to Palantino to look at the ruins. From atop this hill we had a panoramic view of the city. I liked this area because there was a smaller crowd than at the Colosseum. We wandered through the Roman forum and on to Trajan's column and other large famous buildings I cannot recall the names of. We saw tons of feral cats lurking around the ancient city, it was a cute and amusing addition to the monuments. After this we stopped for lunch at a little cafe for a long awaited Italian meal. Cara's pizza was my favorite (I ordered bruscetta which was good but not great). We ordered after-lunch cappuccinos and chatted with our crazy waiter who called us darlings. We then headed to the Pantheon. This was one of my favorite sites in Rome. It has such a grand presence both because of its large proportions and it contrasts dramatically with the surrounding buildings. Walking inside I was hit by a feeling of awe and a higher vibration of energy. After this we had to do some window shopping and eat some gelato (so yummy!) When we got back to the hostel we met our roommate, a Brazilian guy named Christian. He was friendly and being the thoughtful people we were, we invited him to dinner with us. Anna's friend recommended a restaurant in trastavere that was cheap and delicious so we got up the courage to attempt the public transportation. Rome's public transportation is run mostly with buses and trams, they only have 2 metro lines so we had to take a bus and then transfer to a tram. Well once on the bus, we realized we had no idea what our stop looked like or what it was called. We tried to ask someone who didnt speak english, spanish or french (I tried all three of these languages) and figured out through pointing and gesturing that we had already missed our stop and we had to turn around and go back the other direction. We managed to successfully reach our destination an hour after leaving our hostel. Fortunately the food was fantastic and inexpensive but they ran out of caprese salad which was exceedingly disappointing. I ordered a great pizza and got terrimasu for dessert (I had a list of Italian foods I wanted to have while in Rome so every meal was something different and delicious). We fell into bed that night, exhausted.

On Saturday we went to the Vatican City. We headed to the museum first because it had short hours on the weekends. We had to wait in a ridiculously long line that wrapped around the walls of the city, fortunately I think we only waited 45 min to get inside. Once in we went directly to the Sistine Chapel as we heard it was better to go as early as possible to avoid the crowds (everyone else must have had the same idea we did). I was surprised at the amount of art this museum contained (we were ferried through a maze of rooms to actually get to the chapel so by default we saw a lot of the collection). The chapel ceiling was impressive although there were so many people by this time it made it hard to just hang out and admire without being bumped or shoved every few minutes. We escaped that zoo and checked out the Egyptian part of the museum and saw a mummified body. We also saw the rooms with the early Christian sculpture which was so extensive that the display was merely metal scaffolding to display as much art as possible. It is no wonder the Catholic church is worth so much. After the museum, we went to St. Peter's Basilica. The courtyard outside this building was beautiful but jam packed with tourists, as to be expected. The interior decor was elaborate with beautiful details, but way too over the top for my taste. After this we stopped for lunch and I was able to order the calzone I had been craving (not as good as I was expecting from Italy). With full bellies, we wandered along the Tiber river (which looks very similar to the Seine in a lot of ways) and went back over to trastevere to see this area during the day. Architecturally, this was my favorite part of the city because it has winding cobble stone streets and brightly colored building with cute shutters, peeling paint and lush greenery tumbling out of window boxes. For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by our hostel that was just right around the corner from us. The food was great and the waiters were funny (we were invited to go to a club with them after they got of work, something we declined as you can never trust those Italian guys). At the end of our meal a large group of middle aged Italian guys came into the restaurant for dinner and we convinced ourselves they were in the mafia. After dinner we made friends with the employees of our hostel and some of the residents at the hostel's bar, it was a diverse group with people from Spain, Argentina, Australia and we met someone who graduated from Berkeley.

Sunday morning we went to Villa Borgese, a large park in the northern part of Rome. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day so we hung out on the grass before going to Galleria Borgese, a small museum full of renaissance sculpture and painting in the park. The interior of the building was beautiful and the sculpture really blew me away, especially a few Bernini works. We picnicked in the park afterwards and ate disappointing paninis, the only time the Italian food let us down on this trip. We wandered to the Spanish steps which were too crowded for my taste and then walked over to the Trevi fountain. This was truly an impressive sight, but again just so many people! After dinner, we met up with a few of Anna's and my friends for drinks in a trendy bar called Flow (I think).

Usually I wouldn't need to share the return trip but ours was one for the record books. Our flight was at 9:30am on Monday so we decided we needed to get on the 7:30am bus to the airport. Unfortunately the alarm didn't go off in the morning so we woke up at 7:30, packed and dressed in 2 minutes and ran to the bus pickup stop. When we arrived the line was so long we were not even able to make it onto the bus. By 8 I was getting nervous because I couldn't afford to miss our flight so I paid for a cab to take us to the airport. We arrived in enough time but once we were on the plain we were delayed for an hour due to weather. We finally landed in Paris at 12:30, my test was in an hour. We ran to the metro station, got on the train that would take us back into the airport only to find out that there had been a wreck on the train line and we could not take it into the city. We had to get off with the rest of the train (approx 200 people) and attempt to take the bus into the city. Unfortunately there was only one bus to take this group of 200 plus people into Paris and it was so full it didn't even stop. At this point it was 1:30, my test starting without me, AHH! We decided to take matters into our own hands and hitchhiked into the city. A very nice woman picked us up and dropped us off at the nearest metro. By the time I got to my class there was 15 minutes left and my professor gave me the test and said good luck, needless to say, I failed this exam. That being said, Rome was totally worth it! I didn't want to leave because I felt like I was just getting acquainted with the city and I had not yet had my fill of Italian food. I liked staying in a hostel because everyone was friendly and hung out together, including the staff. I would love to go back to Italy and stay in a smaller town that was less touristy to experience the culture on a deeper level. Although I loved Rome, I am so happy to be back home in Paris.

Weekend in Rome

I can barely contain my excitement...

I now have internet in my apartment!!! Other than that I don't have much to add but I have posted photos to my Picasa Web Albums:

first month in Paris

Halfway through February

I know I should be drawn and quartered for not posting in over a week. The problem is that once the procrastination begins, it seems to perpetuate itself and then I dread that the list of things to report gets longer with the days that pass. I have chosen to suck it up and hijack a computer in the library to share the goings on of the past week.

I am embarassed to say that as I reflect on what I did with my time since I last posted, I find a drought in activity, I suppose sometimes we need a break. My french class has remained tres fascile (ie very easy) so I have no complaints there. My teacher is sweet, good at explaining things and endlessly energetic. The class is still a review of everything I learned in high school. It amazes me all that I had forgotten until now and now, all that is coming back to me. We have not had to have conversations with our classmates since the first day so my speaking skills have not had a chance to bloom as of yet.

On wednesday evening we had a mini dinner party at Anna's with several members of our program. We made tuna melts as everyone was in the mood for comfort food, it was a fun evening. Thursday of course was Valentine's Day and both Anna and Cara had friends visitng so, as a group of single women we all made dinner together. Prakash sent me a dozen roses and a huge box of French cheeses. We enjoyed this sampling of french cuisine and then made homemade crepes. On Friday Cara and I decided to go on an adventure. Cara had seen a pretty bridge on a post card in my apartment so we set out into Paris to find it. We wandered through a prodominately black area of France, passing no less than 10 hair weaving salons and found the hyphy clothing mecca. When we finally found our bridge, Cara was pointedly disappointed as the surrounding area was not as serene as it looked in the postcard (are things ever?). It was a small canal, no cleaner than the Seine, we were lucky enough to see a lady throw the remnants of her baguette into the water. Later in the afternoon, we met up with Anna and her friend Kaitlyn (Cara's friend had already left), got drinks at Sexy Bar and then went to the Louvre (free on Friday nights for all students). We saw greek, roman and etruscan sculpture along with some interesting interpretive dance being performed in this wing of the museum (we were able to get some choice photots of a man painted all blue with blue wings moving around the museum). We also visited Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Afterwards we went to dinner at Anna's favorite restaurant, L'Atalier. Saturday morning I woke up feeling lousy, and on top of that I had class (what school in their right minds puts class on a saturday to make up for a monday holiday!?). I stayed in bed the rest of the day. On Sunday I layed around at Anna's with Anna, Cara and Sara and attempted to do some school work. The big outing of the day was to go buy an almond croissant (delicious but not so good for the stomach ache). Monday was inconcequential. Tuesday (last night) Anna and I met up with several people from Berkeley who were in Paris and we went to a crepe place for dinner. It was a fun evening, although very strange to see so many people from Berkeley all the way over here (didn't I come here to get away from that place for a while?). This weekend Anna, Cara and I are going to Rome, I can't wait!

Normandy and Brittany

This past weekend was my first venture outside Paris.  Abroadco arranged the trip and all the students part of the program (amounting to about 50) participated.  We had to meet at the train station at 7:30am on saturday, the earliest I have gotten up all trip and it was a little painful.  We were apparently on the fast train to the western coast of France although it did not seem to be moving especially fast and the trip was 3 hours.  I did enjoy the ride because it was my first taste of the French countryside which, even in February, was lush and timelessly pastoral.  We arrived in Saint Malo (a walled, coastal town) and immediately boarded a bus that drove us along the coast to a fishing town who's name started with a C.  We stopped here for lunch and a photo op.  This part of France is known for the dish Moules Frites which are mussels in a white wine sauce with a side of french fries.  I opted for the scallops which were absolutely fantastic.  After lunch we found an ice cream parlor and I consumed within minutes, the best coffee ice cream in the world.  We hopped back on the bus and drove to Mont Saint Michel, a castle/cathedral/walled town turned tourist trap that sits on an island/peninsula.  I add the slash because at high tide Mont Saint Michel is an island and at low tide its a peninsula.  We arrived at low tide.  The structure was interesting to see because it towers above a flat landscape like a stereotypical medieval castle.  Inside the gates, once we passed through the maze of 15,000 tourist shops and pay 5 euro to hike some steep stairs, Anna, Cara and I reached the abbey at the top of the island to be rewarded with a phenomenal 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape.  The architecture was all very medieval and I could just imagine smelly peasants roaming the halls drinking beer and gnawing on a leg of lamb.  Part of the group ventured out into the "quicksand" surrounding the castle, something I opted out of.  After this we took the bus back inland to a little hotel where we would stay the night.  The strip of road where our hotel sat reminded me of a little roadside stop on the I5 in the middle of nowhere.  For dinner we were served a meal of traditional veal and potatoes.  As a non-meat eater I was lucky enough to be able to eat the vegetarian option of plain noodles and overcooked vegetables (apparently the French think people who don't eat meat hate flavor).  We went to bed early because that was our only option.  

In the morning we went back to Saint Malo (the place where we arrived on the train) for a guided tour of the city.  The town was started by a monk named Cartier a long time ago (the date slips me) and is entirely walled in.  It looks like a medieval castle town much like Mont Saint Michel.  Several of the off-shore islands had small castles built to protect the city.  The city was occupied by Germans in WWII and one of the islands was used as a prison.  In the pirating era, a famous privateer (ie legal pirate) resided in Saint Malo and the pirate theme is now woven into the tourist scene.  Our tour guide was full of information and had a cute sense of humor.  For lunch we had a seafood meal with a delicious starter of a half avocado with tuna on top, an interesting concept and surprisingly good.  The main course was mediocre.  I did use the opportunity to get to know some other people in the program and ended up chatting with two other Berkeley students who had just arrived in Paris a week previous.  Funny coincidence, the guy from Berkeley lived in my apartment building last semester... small world!  After lunch we had free time to roam the city so Anna and I  visited the cathedral.  It has taken over as my favorite church we have seen so far, he stained glass is beautiful and the vaulted ceilings are majestic while still rendering the environment intimate and peaceful.  It surpasses Notre Dame for me mostly because it was much less commercial.  After our brush with the spiritual world, Anna and I walked out on the pier and sketched for a while.  We made it back to the hotel just in time to grab our bags and be hustled to the train station.  I enjoyed Saint Malo the best because it was a quiet seaside town but still big enough that one could spend some time exploring.  Returning to Paris was nice though, it feels like home now and there is only so much organized group travel I can do before I get annoyed.  

Today I started my Sorbonne class (my french, finally!) at 8am.  For the rest of my time here I will be required to get up this early monday through friday!  Its good for me though, I need to practice my french and a reason to get up and start the day.  I'm in the elementaire level, I knew what was going on today so thats comforting but I think I will definitely learn a lot.  Its interesting to be in a class with people where our common language is French rather than English.  There are mostly asians in the class, a few older women and one other girl from California.  Its exciting to go to class there because there are so many French students around, I feel like I'm really apart of it all.    

Apologies...

Im sorry that I have not posted at all this week, it has been sunny and I just can't make myself sit inside when Paris is sparkling in the sun.  Needless to say I have broken down and taken the time to share my chronicles of the week.  

Monday was class as usual, I still feel like I'm on vacation so other than showing up at class, I don't put in a lot of effort (I know some of this isn't what a parent would want to hear but I'm just reporting the facts).  After class Anna and I headed over to the Champs Elysee to see if she could find a winter coat on sale.  We ended up spending several hours in United Colors of Beneton where I found a coat and Anna found some shoes and a dress.  We were followed by security guards at one point, I regret to say that we did not provide any entertainment for them.  That night Anna introduced fruit soup to Cara, Brandon and I... a delicious concoction of yogurt, orange juice and lime poured over chopped fruit.  

On Tuesday Anna and I went to the Latin Quarter and walked around a little bit and found a cafe to camp out at.  We journaled, wrote post cards and sketched... we are both on a quest to improve our artistic abilities while in Paris, so far its slow going.  When Cara got out of class, we met for a snack and then went to see a movie called La Voyage du Ballon Rouge.  Despite the fact that the film was in French with no English subtitles, we were able to get the general gist of the film and even then we found it soporific (I literally fell asleep for a few minutes).  It was one of those artsy fartsy films with 30 minutes of footage of a red balloon floating through the air and lots of unresolved conflict... we decided the novelty of the movie was that nothing actually happened for 2 hours.  Post this disappointment, we decided we needed a break from french food and set out to find a way to make Asian food.  We were able to pull together fried rice an even found a wok for 5 euro at Franprix, victory!  After a satisfying meal, we met several people from our Abroadco group at a bar called FUBAR for Maggie's 21st birthday.   The novelty of this place: Tuesday nights are Happy Hour all night.  It was ok although most of the bar was filled with American students. 

Wednesday brought class again and afterwards Anna, Cara and I met to visit the Picasso museum.  It was smaller than I expected but I loved it all the same.  The architecture was beautiful and its ornate nature was an interesting juxtaposition to Picasso's art.  The museum featured a lots of sculpture which I liked seeing up close (I was able to see the variety of mediums he used), especially his goat.  We wandered around the Marais after visiting Picasso and found a cute little Spanish tapas place so we stopped for a coffee, sketched and read.  For dinner, Lauren got up the courage to be the first of our group to attempt baking in France.  Apparently they don't have baking powder or soda in France (that she could find) but she managed to make 2 loaves of banana bread that were thoroughly satisfying. 

Thursday was beautiful and sunny so I walked over to Hotel des Invalides and sat on a bench in the topiary garden and sketched the museum.  The tricky thing about sunny days in Paris is that they fool you into thinking its going to be warm but you still need 3 layers and a scarf to ward off the chills.  When Anna got out of class, she and I met at our favorite cafe we call Club Sexy or Sexy Bar (we don't know its real name) for a snack and some prime people watching.  We got chilly after a while and decided to visit the oldest bakery in Paris, something my Parisian friend Florent pointed out to me one day.  It was fun to see but didn't stand out to my taste buds.  I tried a chocolate eclair which was way too chocolaty for me and I felt like I needed to run a marathon afterwards to make up for the amount of calories I consumed.  Anna made herself sick by eating both an almond croissant (she is on a quest to find the best one in Paris) and a macaroon.  Cara got her classic ham and cheese combination in the form of quiche lorraine.  We decided it would be a good idea to walk to the Musee D'Orsay to attempt at justifying our pastry stop.  This museum is free for students on Thursday nights so we thought we'd say hi to a few famous guys for an hour or two.  I saw some photos of Comtess de Castiglione (I wrote a paper on her photos hence my interest) and visited Manet's Dejeuner sur L'herbe which was a kick to see in person.  We went upstairs to visit the Impressionists and saw Degas, Pissaro, Monet, van Gogh among others.  It was crowded and there is only so much impressionism I can take before I feel overloaded so we got out of there after about an hour.  It was a great museum and I cant wait to go back and see more.  We were still tired of french food last night so we decided to check out a Thai place that one of my travel books recommended.  Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered that it had been replaced by an Italian place, damn!  So we went to Montparnasse where we know there are a ton of options and settled on tex-mex at a place called Indiana (why the French think Indiana is the home of tex-mex is a mystery to me but it was nice to eat guacamole and drink margaritas).  

Today was fairly uneventful although I did go to the dry cleaners and dropped off some shirts without incident (I was expecting some sort of miscommunication disaster but i did ok).  Tomorrow we leave for Brittany and Normandy.  I was supposed to get internet today but yet again Abroadco fell through and i am left to harass my friends for use of their computers.  More later! XO

 

Three weeks in

As if Dali wasn't enough for the week, Cara and I decided to visit the Louvre and Centre Pompidou on wednesday.  As art history students in France, we are able to apply for and receive a student card to the Louvre that allows for free unlimited access for a year.  Cara and I went to the Louvre to pick these up for ourselves and then decided that while we were there, we would go say hi to Mona Lisa.  I was thoroughly unimpressed as the original was not very different from the millions of reproductions I have seen and the painting was behind glass and a barricade.  Its like seeing a celebrities on the street, you hear so much about them and everyone talks up out fantastic they are but up close, they aren't any more interesting than any other person one might run into.  But that aside, I can now say I have seen her in person.  The more interesting part of the trip for me was the discovery of the ancient greek pottery and sculpture.  I studied this in one of my classes last year and it blew me away to see many of the pieces that I saw on slides.  I hated the class at the time but being in the museum and seeing the pieces up close, I was so happy I had taken it.  I had a whole new appreciation for the works and I was thoroughly blown away by how large the works were (everything looks small on a slide screen).  I loved the Louvre and cant wait to go back.  In addition to the artwork, the building's architecture is breathtaking.  It deserves to house the pitvital art work of the past in my opinion.  

Post Louvre adventure, Cara and I met up with Anna at the Centre Pompidou, the contemporary art museum in Paris.  On wednesday nights the museum is free for students so we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.  We went to the floor of all the most recent art works (1945-present).  Some of the pieces were exceedingly creepy (I wont even try to describe anything here, because I could never do the art justice), others were very emotionally powerful and others were thought provoking.  We only stayed an hour and a half though because there is only so much strange contemporary art one can take before one needs a break to absorb what was just seen.

We were starving at this point (whats new?) so we went to a bumpin japanese restaurant near the museum.  It was nice to take a break from bread and cheese and eat something a little lighter.  The food didn't compare to sushi in the US but they tried.  

On thursday, we did some shopping and went to an International party in the evening.  Every week a venue called club Mix hosts a party called Erasmus where international students from all over Paris are invited to come and dance to a variety of music (Americans get in free before 12!).  The assistant director of our program met her now husband here two years ago, although I am amazed that they were able to communicate in such an environment.  It was fun to club with my girlfriends and we managed to fend off all unsavory characters. 

Saturday we booked our hostel for Rome so the trip is becoming more real with every step, I just can't wait!  We went out to dinner with Anna's friend from a class and her roommate and friend.  The restaurant was a cute rustic place tucked away in a tiny street in the Latin Quarter.  The food was excellent but we were heckled by the other french people in the restaurant because we were being loud americans.  It was the first experience I have had so far that I was negatively received by virtue of the fact that I was not French.  The waiter tried to smooth things over but we left with an unsavory taste in our mouths.  After that we went to a crowded bar called the Pearle which is THE place to be to network as an artist.  Everyone was very friendly, seemed to all know each other but several people made an effort to talk to us and "welcome the newcomers" to their bar.  It was a great opportunity to practice our french but it is so challenging to speak french when the other person is speaking english, the language gets all jumbled up in my head.  Random coincidence, Cara met someone who had gone to her school (U of A) and studies for a semester and they enjoyed laughing about shared experiences.  After this bar we went to a club called Showcase which is located under one of the bridges over the Seine.  It was a large club but open and airy and had cool architecture and lighting.  Several DJs spun all night and it was a blast to dance.  We stayed there until 5 so we could take the metro home (it closes between 2 and 5 30 on fri and sat), oh the things we will do as students to save money.  Definitely a taste of the parisian nightlife.