please don't hate me for not being on top of this...

I am so sorry, everyone!! I got back from Italy and had to jump right back into school and work, with finals and all. Therefore, I haven't had much time to write down everything on here. I FINALLY have a free afternoon, so here's my update on Italy and my last few weeks here!

ITALY:

Ohhhh my goodness best spring break ever! It was me, Katy, Laura, and my friend John from my school here. It was the best combination of people, we were in bed by 10:30 every night, woke up around 8:30, and just took our time and relaxed. Our motto for the trip was: NO STRESS.

We started off in Rome, took an overnight train there from Paris on a Thursday evening. Our hostel was average, but in a good location right by the train station. We walked eeeeverywhere - explored, got lost, and saw the sites (the Colosseum, the ruins, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, the Vatican, etc...)! My friend Danielle studied in Rome, so she has italian friends/boyfriend that live there, and we actually hung out with one of them on Friday night! It was a lot of fun, and good to have people our age to spend time with. Saturday night some of our London friends were in Rome as well, so they invited us to their hostel to hang out. Sunday was Easter Sunday, so John and I went to church at this beautiful cathedral called the Pantheon. It was incredible and very moving - the service was all in Italian. I definitely liked Rome a lot, but I wasn't CRAZY about it...

Next stop- Florence. I loved it so much, definitely my favorite city!! It was small, yet still had the "feel" of a big city, yet everyone was very friendly and seemed tight knit. Plus it was absolutely beautiful! There are not that many sites there besides the big church the Duomo, seeing Michelangelo's sculpture David, and seeing the bridge Ponte Vecchio. So we spent most of our time wandering, and we even found this amazing spot along the river to lay in the grass during the afternoon. We also left the city one day by foot and made it up the top of this mountain and overlooked the city - absolutely breathtaking. Our hostel was in a perfect location and the woman who owned it was adorable - her name was Veronica and she spoke no English, but she spoke French! So instead of me having to translate for the entire group from Italian to English, we could just all speak French! It was perfect, and she was soooo cute and nice and warm. She gave us all hugs and kisses goodbye. The last night in Florence, Wednesday, we didn't have a hostel because our train was very early in the morning. So we checked our backpacks at the train station and wandered the city all night. Kind of scary, but definitely a fun experience! We just got really tired =(

Thursday morning we left for Venice by train... SO beautiful! Right along the water, colorful, tiny, no streets - it was very bizarre, but very very cool. Our hostel was in another good location, and we had a room separated from the main building off of an outdoor terrace - how cool is that!? We even had kitchen access, so every morning we went to the fresh outdoor market by our hostel and bought stuff to make food - vegetables, pasta, fruit, spices, etc... Every meal was so delicious and just felt so "real", ya know? Our days mostly consisted of wandering the city and stopping to take breaks by the water. Definitely the most relaxing location of the trip. Words cannot even begin to describe it!! We left Venice Sunday  night and took another overnight train back to Paris, and of course had school that first Monday! Talk about tiring!! 

The trip was seriously so amazing, like I said, and I couldn't think of a better way to have spent my spring break. I'm so lucky to have such good friends like John, Katy, and Laura to do things like this with. =) 

SCHOOL:

 is over!!! I just have finals next week and I'm officially done. I can't believe how fast it flew! These past few weeks after Italy have been intense, however - I've had lots of work to do, studying, papers to write, etc... to prepare for the end of the semester. I'm almost done though! I got a lot of work done last week - a quiz, a translation, a 14 page single-spaced paper (not kidding), and an oral presentation. One more exam and one more paper and I'm home free!!

WORK:

I had my last day at my internship this week =( It was so sad!! My boss, charlotte, gave me a beautiful pair of handmade earrings by a local artist and told me she was really going to miss me. she told me that to be honest, she hadn't originally wanted an intern, but I turned out to be a "more than pleasant surprise". I love her so much and I'm so happy to have met her and worked with her - I can't believe I had to say goodbye! But we'll definitely be in touch, I'm sure. And who knows, maybe I can come back to Paris one day to visit her! ;) 

LEAVING:

I officially have one week left in Paris... scary. I feel like I just got here and like I'm finally getting used to being here. And now I have to leave!! I've already started packing, which is very strange. It's so bizarre to be sitting in my room right now, knowing that in 7 days it will no longer be "my room" and i'll never stay in it again... But don't get me wrong!! I'm incredibly excited to be coming home. I miss all of my family and my friends, and I'm very pumped to get back into the swing of things and see everyone =) I leave the 17th, head to IRELAND for 5 days to see some family friends, and then I come back to Chicago the 22nd. Start counting down the days!! 

Below are pictures from italy, along with a video I made for me and my friends to remember the trip by. I hope you enjoy! I love you all, and God bless! 

photos:

ITALY.

video: 

tapas y sangria - MADRID!

Soooo this weekend I went to MADRID with Katy, Laura, and our friend Marilyn who was visiting from Chicago. 

Thursday night we took a plane and landed about 9:30pm and took the metro from the airport to our hostel. Our hostel was INCREDIBLE! We only had to pay 50euro each to cover all 3 nights, it was clean, our room was private and HUGE, it was in the perfect location. Props go to Katy for organizing that! We freshened up and then went walking around Madrid's most central square, Puerta del Sol, and we found a tapas bar Alhambra, for dinner and sangria. Madrid is so crazy - people eat so late, and even the older generations are out super late into the evening! We were eating at around 11:30 or so and there were so many people just getting ready to go out for the night. The food was AMAZING, and then that bar was closing so we checked out another one called Sol y Sombra. We were soooo full from dinner that we just felt like going back to the hostel after a little while, which is precisely what we did.

Friday we got up semi-early and went back to Puerta del Sol and this other square called Plaza Mayor. The weather was beauuuutiful and it was full of so many people, I just loved walking the city and being able to see everything. We ended up doing some shopping, going to this park and the Royal Palace, seeing a Cathedral, stopping for some lunch and sangria, and walking around some more. We went back to the hostel around 6:30 and took a SIESTA (getting real Spanish, here) and then finally all "woke up" and started getting ready to go out. Around 10pm we found this restaurant in the Plaza Mayor, so we sat outside and got tapas and sangria again, and just people watched. We had plans to go to a club that evening that was recommended to us by a friend, but we didn't want to go yet because it was too early, so we went back to the street that Alhambra was on and ended up going into the bar next door called Venta el Buscón - good thing we did! The place had a decent sized crowd and great music, and we became friends with the guys that work there! This one guy Angel ended up giving us free drinks!! They were so nice and so goofy and we had a great time talking with them and it was nice to meet such friendly people. When we were done there we went to the club, Kapital -- 7 floors, each with a different style of music. Soooo much dancing! Our favorite floor was the one with rap on it, because it's easier to dance to seeming as we don't salsa, haha! We made some friends but nothing "legit", and when we were finally sooooo tired (at 5am!) we left and decided to go to this Chocolateria we heard about that's open 24 hours. Again, crazy Madrid people -- EVERYONE was out and about even at 5am! Even old people! We found the chocolateria and got churros and chocolate - oh my goodness, delicious. We came back to the hostel around 6am and passed out.

Woke up at 11pm because we still had plenty of things we wanted to do! We found another outdoor cafe and got lunch, and then walked to the Museo Reina Sofia - a modern art museum where there is a lot of cubism and surrealism, so lots of Picasso! His most famous piece, Guernica, is there, and i literally died when i saw it. I always wanted to see it in real life and I finally did =) Then we went to a big park right by there and wandered around there, it was beautifullll. Right by all of that was another museum, Museo del Prado, which was beautiful! The art was mostly classical, so I didn't care much for it, but the museum itself was really cool. It was POURING so we took a cab back to our hostel and got ready for the night again. We decided to go back to Venta el Buscón since Angel and the other guys had been SO nice to us the night before, we figured it was the least we could do. We got tapas and sangria there for dinner, and then they gave us free drinks again!! We took pictures with the guys and just had a great time, it was so cool! We went back to our hostel, fell asleep, woke up early the next morning and took a plane back to Paris!! 

I loved Madrid so much - I loved the people, the lifestyle, the food, the architecture, everything! and I was SO PROUD of myself and my spanish speaking abilities! I always knew I could read it and comprehend most things, because of my knowledge of french and italian, but I literally did all the talking for my friends! I was able to understand probably 95% of what people were saying to us, and I could respond in basic sentences or ask questions if we needed. It was very invigorating and made me want to possibly learn more spanish, or at least go back to Madrid since I know I can find my way around. It was such a great weekend, no lie! 

Next big thing - ITALY!!! For spring break, Katy, Laura, John and I are going to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I can't wait!! We leave next Thursday already, I can't believe it. Other than that, we've just continued our routine of school and spending time together. The weather is getting so nice here, like 60s every day. For those of you that don't know, my mom and dad came to visit me the weekend before Madrid =) It was sooooo good to see them, because I missed them SO MUCH and I got to show them all around Paris, which is kind of like "my city" now! I know they had such a good time, and I did, too. I'm extremely thankful that they got to come. =)

I just can't believe how many cool experiences I'm having, not just being able to travel to so many different places, but all the things I'm doing here, too. I'm so lucky to be at this point in my life and doing all these exciting things, and I thank God every day for it. I hope you all are doing well, and i'll see you in about a month and a half! Peace and love. 

Here are pictures from Madrid! 

MADRID.

the time of my life.

Helllooooo everyone! It's been so long, I know, I really apologize! It's just that I started my internship, and as school continues on, I've been getting so busy!! Here is an update on a few main points, and then about the best weekend of my entire life (pictures included). 

INTERNSHIP:

I'm working at an art gallery in the 3rd district that sells contemporary abstract art - I love it!! The gallery owner is sooo nice, she's very friendly and talkative and always gives me things to do so I'm never bored. So far I've helped set up a new exposition, put together promotional materials to send out to clients, translated some of her website into English, and done an inventory on all the lithographs/prints that we have in the basement. I absolutely love it and I'm always excited to go there. =) 

SCHOOL EXCURSION:

2 weekends ago, we went on a field trip with our school to Chantilly, a small town where there's a big castle / art collection, etc... It was fun, but when we got there it was incredibly foggy out and we had an hour to kill before we could go to the castle. Naturally my friends and I got off the bus and played in the fog. =) Then we went to the castle, had a guided tour that was really interesting but quite frankly TOO long, then we had lunch in the castle which was delicious, and then we went on another tour of the water pump system of the castle (*yawn*)... All in all, pretty good day, just too long! Pictures are below. 

SCHOOL:

school continues to go well! Just more and more homework, midterms coming up, etc... Honestly nothing really to report, unfortunately. 

BRITTANY:

ohhhh my goodness, this is where it gets interesting!! About a year ago, I did some translation for a french documentary on slam poetry. The guy that was filming/directing it, Youn, didn't really speak English that well so he needed a translator for the weekend and someone to show him around Chicago. It was so much fun, I was in a few scenes of the movie ;), and we've kept in contact since. WELL, he knew I was coming to Paris for a few months, and had said that I should trek out to Brittany for a weekend, where he lives, to spend some time! Ironically enough, last weekend was the first projection of his documentary, which I was in, so he invited me to come out to see it and spend some time with him and his friends. Naturally I went, and it was the best weekend of my entire life.

Friday I took a train from Paris to Rennes, his city, and he met me at the train station. It was really surreal/bizarre seeing him at first, because it's already been a year since we were together and although we've kept in touch, it's not like we know each other that well! But it was fine! We picked up right where we left off and were both at ease. We went to his apartment so I could drop off my stuff and then went and got a coffee and lunch with one of his friends visiting from Paris. After that, he told me we had to drive to where the movie was showing because it was two hours away - kind of suprising, but you all know me, i just go with the flow! So we drove two hours (i'm not sure what the name of the other town was) and got there a little bit early, so we went to the ocean and went exploring in the woods. It was raining so I couldn't take pictures, but it was absolutely breathtaking. After that, we went back to the car and drove to this café/bar in the middle of nowhere, called Café Théodore. The people that own it have their house connected to it, and the inside is decorated really cool, like hippie style, and the ambiance was great. The range of people in the place was the best part - kids as young as 5 years old, people as old as 80. Everyone just comes together and talks and eats and has a great time just being together; i felt like I was in a commune! Everyone was very hospitable and interested in what they had to say and helping each other out, playing with the kids, getting behind the bar and helping the owners, etc... Not only that ,but it's not like Youn was paying 100% attention to me, clearly I couldn't just follow him around like a lost puppy all night. So i was just meeting random people, talking to them about how Youn and I met, talking about the movie, my life, etc... It was just a very laidback ,fun environment! Around 9pm they showed Youn's documentary on a big projector, and it was awesome. He did such a good job, and it was cool to see the finished product since I had been there while it was still in process. I saw myself on screen several times, ;), and my name was in the credits! haha 

After the movie was over we just all hungout at the café for awhile later, until everyone started clearing out around 2am. We didn't want to drive 2 hours back to Rennes, and since it's such a "hippie" environment, I guess it's pretty common for people to spend the night on the property, in one of several places: The attic of the café, the owners' house, orrr in the backyard in this thing called La Yourte. What did we pick? La Yourte! It's kind of like a big tent, but it's constructed out of wood and is circular, with fabric draped on top of it. On the inside, there's a big firepit with a chimney to heat the place up. On the floor are a ton of oriental rugs, fabric hangs from the ceiling and there are candles lit, and then there are mattresses, pillows, and blankets EVERYWHERE. We all claimed our spots to sleep, lit a fire, the owners gave us some food, and we stayed up talking and goofing around until 4am. It was me, Youn, and about 8 of his friends (with whom we spent the whole weekend) and it was the coolest thing ever! We woke up the next morning at 10am and the owners made us coffee and breakfast, and we just sat on the back terrace. The kids woke up and we went in the Yourte with them and got in a big pillow fight :), then decided to go back to the sea since it was so nice out. We brought two of the kids with us, and we just sat on the rocks for about an hour, taking advantage of the sun and whatnot. One of the guys, Swan, is a photographer, so he took a bunch of pictures of us.

After that, Youn and I had to go back to Rennes for another showing of the movie. So we booked it back and showed up at the place, watched the movie, and there was a question and answer session afterwards, which I did a bit of translation for. After that, we went and got coffee with his friends again, taking advantage of the good weather. All the girls were going to a club, but I didn't really wanna go because it's not really my "thing", so I hung out with the boys and went to a rap concert. A rap concert in French... interesting, let me tell you! When the concert was over we went to a restaurant to get dinner, met up with the girls, and then all went back to Youn's apartment to drink some tea and listen to some music and hangout. We stayed up until 6am (lol!) and then everyone left; Youn and his girlfriend slept in his room, and this guy from Paris, Thiphaine, and I slept in the living room on Youn's futons. We woke up the next morning and went and got coffee at a café around the corner and sat outside for a few hours. We met up with Mark Smith, the inventor of slam poetry, from Chicago, whom I met when I did the movie last night. It was so good to see him again! After coffee we went back to Youn's again and he showed us some of his short animation films he has done in the past. After a few hours, Swan (the photographer) invited us all to his house for dinner because he lives in the countryside and he thought it would be cool for Mark to see. 

Swan's house was soooo cool - it's HUGE, with a big fireplace, all his original photography on the walls, good music was playing, we made an amazing dinner (lasagne with fish/crab/crevettes and cheese and vegetables) and drank wine, Alex was playing guitar, I was playing a bongo, we were talking about life and culture and telling stories and again, it was a very laidback atmosphere but one of the best things I've done. All the people were so nice and I had so much fun. We left Swan's at 2am and went back to Youn's, Thiphaine and I crashed in the living room again, and then got up at 10am the next morning and went to catch the train together (we were on the same train back to Paris, oddly enough!). It was sad to say good-bye to Youn, after I had such an amazing weekend and he was so nice and accommodating.. but I guess we all have to return to the real world at some point! 

The main reason this weekend was so amazing was because of the environment - I was completely disconnected from the world, which i LOVED. I didn't have internet access, my phone lost its charge the first day I was there, so I had no phone the whole weekend. I was speaking French the whole weekend, I learned so many new phrases and it was a great thing for me to do. Also, normally when I go out here, I'm still with people I know or other American kids so there's a bit of familiarity. However, this weekend I went all by myself - seeing Youn, whom I didn't really know THAT well, and then being with all his friends, people I've never met before... It was such a good experience, and basically exactly the type of thing i've been wanting to do since I've been in France -- and I finally did it! The weekend was so rejuvinating, I felt "alive" (if that makes sense) and I was walking on cloud 9... Words  cannot even express how thankful I am to have been given that opportunity and how lucky I feel to have passed such a great weekend. =)

I hope everyone's doing well -- I've already been here for almost 2 months, can you believe it!? Below are pictures from my field trip, and then from my trip in Brittany. enjoy! Love you all!

Chantilly and Sainte Chappelle.

Bretagne - Brittany.

friends, museums, and school.

hello everyone!

well the first week of school was a success - nothing much to update on, just getting into a routine and doing homework (yuck!) and still trying to find time to have fun with my friends. So far, so good! =) 

Last Saturday, for Valentine's Day, I had some friends from school over. All Americans, but oh my goodness, was it so much fun! My "group" normally just consisted of me, Laura, and Katy, other DePaul girls. But now, we have friends at school! haha it's a good feeling. Laura and I had Valentine's Day dinner together (we made pasta) and then our friends came over. There were probably like 10 people here, and we all just hung out and laughed and listened to music and had a great time. I was really really happy they all came over and that I'm getting to know them more, because they're great people. =) It feels good to be able to go to school and have a little "circle" of people to talk to outside. (there are pictures on Facebook for those of you that have it.)

I have/had a valentine - kind of! An old old friend, that i've known for about 8 years now, have been talking a lot more recently. Last Friday, the day before Valentine's Day, there was a knock on my door with a flower delivery - a beautiful bouquet of roses. He apparently found local flowershops by my house and had to read the websites IN FRENCH and figure out how to send them to me! Talk about effort. ;) I am soooo happy, to say the least. I'm not gonna divulge the whole story, but I'm sure if you ask my mother she can fill you in, haha! here are the flowers:

Sunday, Katy, Laura, and I went to the Musée d'Orsay, a famous museum in Paris that has art only from the 1800s. It's one of my favorite in Paris, and through our school we have a free pass to go anytime we want, so that was good! I took a bunch of pictures of some of my favorite pieces we saw, which I will post below. It was also fun because I've taken so many art history classes that I knew stories behind a lot of the paintings. Laura and Katy kept saying "educate us, Brittany!" haha so it was cool, I felt like a little tour guide. =) That night, we booked tickets to MADRID!! I'll be going the last weekend in March and I can't waaaait!

Last night I had an orientation meeting (we have them a few times throughout the semester) where we are all split up into groups with a certain member of the school staff. Our leader is the director of the whole program, so it's kind of intimidating, but it was so fun! She took us to a café around the corner from school and bought us all a bottle of wine. It was so nice, we just sat around the table drinking wine and talking about our experiences so far and asking her questions and stuff. She's really easy to talk to, and it was a fun night. 

I found out I have an internship! I have my first meeting tomorrow. I'll be working at a gallery called Galérie Charlotte Norberg - a small independent contemporary gallery. I am SO excited!! I have no idea what kind of work I'll be doing, but I suppose I'll find that all out tomorrow! 

I hope everyone is doing well. It's very strange - I lovvvvve it here, without a doubt, but at the same time I sometimes think about coming home and seeing everyone and I can't wait to be home! It's like I'm caught in between two different worlds. But hey, I've already been here a month, so i'm sure the rest of it is gonna go by fast! I'm definitely gonna be making the most of it. Love you all, God bless, I'll update soon!

pictures:

musée d'orsay

just touched down in London town.

Soooo last weekend I went to LONDON to see one of my best friends, Molly, who's studying there with DePaul. My friends from here, Laura and Katy, also had friends on the same program, so the three of us headed off to see them (Molly, Caitlin, and Wren) for the weekend.

Friday during the day, Laura and Katy and I went to this lunch through our school - it was actually at a cooking school /studio called Guy Martin and we got to work with real chefs and cook our meal! We had risotto with all kinds of vegetables, learned the different ways to cut them, and also had baked chicken and chocolate soufflé. It was really cool to learn all that stuff and then to eat the MAGNIFICENT food. We all felt like we were on the food network. After lunch, Katy and Laura and I headed directly to the Paris Nord train station to catch our train. We had to go through customs and everything, but it went smoothly and then we were on our way! The train was a lot of fun - it only took two and a half hours to get there and time flew by. We brought with a bunch of mini wine bottles to bring our friends, so we each had one on the train. Going through the English Channel was a bit rough, because we went so far down that our ears were popping like crazy! But we finally got there, and Molly Wren and Caitlin met us at the train station. We went straight to the tube (the subway) and headed back to their dorm. They each have their own rooms, so I stayed with Molly, Laura stayed with Caitlin, and Katy stayed with Wren. We all got ready and then met back up in Wren's kitchen in her dorm so we could make dinner. A bunch of other DePaul kids were with their program, so a whole big group of us hung out eating dinner, drinking wine, and getting ready to go out for the night. We all took the tube and went to this craaaazy club called Fabric. It was so much fun, but definitely kind of an intense atmosphere - with smoke, flashing lights, loud music, 3 floors, etc... Molly and I weren't really "feeling it", (and we didn't wanna drink at the club) so we left a bit earlier than our other friends and went back to her dorm and called it a night. sooo much fun though, nonetheless! =)

Saturday we all woke up and went to Buckingham Palace - that was the one place i really REALLY wanted to see. I had high hopes of taking a picture with a guard, or trying to make him laugh, but we weren't even allowed near them. It made me sad =( I took a bunch of beautiful pictures though, and after that we walked around and went exploring, which I love to do because there are so many things to look at. We saw Chinatown, Picadilly Circus, Soho, etc... and decided to go to an authentic English pub to get Strongbow (hard cider - an English classic apparantly) and fish and chips! Both of them were soooo good, and after that we went back to the dorms to shower and get ready again. We all met back in Wren's kitchen to drink a little bit of wine and socialize, and then we all went to dinner at an Indian restaurant in this area called Brick Lane. Apparantly London is known for its Indian food, and I must say, it was AMAZING. We were all so full and decided to go to a bar close to their dorms, so that it would be easy to get home. The London girls told us Paris girls that we had to try a drink called a Snakebite - Black Current juice, Foster's Ale, and Strongbow. It sounds revolting, I know, but we tried it, and it was delicious, haha. There was a band playing at the bar, all American music, so we all just danced and had a good time. Everyone left except for me, Laura, Caitlin, and Molly, because we wanted to hangout a little bit more. We ended up leaving around 1:30 and went back to the dorms. Molly had two friends she wanted me to meet - Mike, who's British, and David, who's another American student. We just went to their dorm and hungout and listened to music and watched them play video games (they're boys, what do you expect) and it was a very relaxed, "American" night. I felt like I was at home. =)

Sunday we woke up and went to an area called CamdenTown which is really eclectic and a rock scene -- the London girls kept saying it was "my people" - I'm not sure what that means haha. We went to an American diner and i got a CHEESEBURGER - oh my goodness it was so amazing, we definitely don't have food like that over here in Paris, haha. When we were done eating we wanted to go see the London Bridge and Big Ben, but the tube line we needed was closed for the day, so there was no way to get there. =( We ended up going towards the train station and going into a pub - I got a Bailey's Latte, and then we got on the train and headed back to Paris! It was so weird to say i was "going home" - but really I was going to Paris. I guess it kind of IS my home now! haha =)

London was so much fun - it was a nice break for the weekend, to see our friends and hang out in a university style setting and just relax. Way different from the homestay experience over here. I won't lie, though, I definitely missed Paris... the three of us all did. We realized how much we like it over here, just because it's so different and such a different lifestyle. It was a good "awakening", so to speak. Molly and Caitlin are gonna come to Paris to visit me and Laura in March, and i can't WAIT to show them our lives just like they showed us theirs.

Monday was my first day of school -- woo! I still am not sure what is going on with my internship, or my outside course at the French university, but my classes through IES are all okay. I'm really excited, they all seem interesting and my professors are cool. I have a seminar that goes along with the internship - we'll just meet every other week to discuss our experiences. Then i have a literature class on comic strips - how cool is that!? Our book for the class is this HUGE binded thing that the school copied for us full of different comic strips, and we'll be talking about the history, style, different genres, art, etc... and my teacher is hilarious. He did an impression of Sarkozy the first day - love it. Then i have a sociology class on women and conflicts - we'll just be going through different experiences with women and how they adapt and react pre-conflict, during conflict, and post-conflict. My professor is a sociologist and focuses on gender studies and she's very passionate, very into the subject, and energetic. I'm really interested to see how it goes! My other class is translation - pretty self-explanatory but we get to translate literature - excerpts from Sylvia Plath, George Orwell, Woody Allen, J.K. Rowling, etc... I'm so excited!!

Laura and I found a new cafe by school that we love. It has good coffee, and just a really good ambiance. We'll definitely be going there a lot. This week I just have more classes, but Saturday is Valentine's Day, so I'm thinking of having some friends over for dinner and whatnot to have a little "celebration", since it's not really common over here (except at bars or clubs, but I don't think I wanna do that.) Anyways, I hope everything is going well at home! For all of you Chicago people - enjoy that 50/60 degree weather! I'm so jealous!! I love you all so much, you're in my thoughts, and God bless!

here are the London pictures:

Londres - London

even the frozen food is better here.

i've learned that, seeming as a) that's all me and my friends have attempted to cook thus far, and b) my host family's stove broke, so we've been eating a lot of frozen things lately! haha but wayyy better quality, i'm tellin' ya...

Sorry i haven't updated in a few days - to be honest there hasn't been anything big to report! Monday through Thursday I just had school all day / academic meetings / dinner with the family. My academic meetings went well -- my advisor, who is the director of the program, told me i HAD to do an outside class at a French university, despite my reservations, because i'm "too good and too advanced to be taking only classes at IES. you will bore yourself to death." haha it was again, quite a compliment, and pretty encouraging. She thinks I'll definitely be able to handle the load because she had heard so much about me. =) So it looks like I have Translation (as my grammar class) , Sociology on Women and Conflicts, Litterature on French Comic Strips, and the Internship Seminar, all at IES. Then I am enrolled in a Contemporary Art class at a smaller university called l'Institut Catholique à Paris -- it's exactly what it looks like, The  Paris Catholic Institute. My advisor said I'll probably like it better there than the Sorbonne, and plus the times for the classes worked better than the ones at the Sorbonne. I'm very excited!! 

Today I went to the huge art auction house in Paris called Drouot, with a close friend of one of my professors at DePaul. He nicely enough agreed to meet me there and take me around the building and show me "how it all works". It was so cool; there are about 10 or 11 different rooms with huge varieties of objects, but only antique stuff. Anything modern or recent, they don't sell. I saw furniture, clothes, paintings, drawings, photos, posters, WINE, jewelry, firearms, china, sculptures, etc... he explained that every day the rooms are "restocked" so to speak. If you go on a Monday, for example, you make a note of what objects you liked, and then come back the following day to bid on them, of course at a starting minimum price. It was very interesting to see that whole side of the art world that i had never known before! I really wanted to try to get an internship there, but he explained to me that those types of things have to be done WAY in advance, like i should've gotten in contact with people back in  October. I guess it's understandable since there's so many private commissioners there, like "hotshots". But nevertheless, it was a great experience. After Drouot he took me around the neighborhood to show me other galleries and private dealers. It was so cool, and he was really knowledgeable about everything, which was a big help! Not to mention incredibly nice. 

After that I just came home and relaxed. I'm packing right now, going to LONDON tomorrow!! To see my friend Molly who's studying there, and she has become good friends with two of Laura's friends, ironically enough. So Laura, Katy, and I are going to stay with them in their dorms. It should be a blasttttt! I'm positive i'll have stories up here after the weekend. =) Love you all!!!

do you love me? (do you love me?)

i heard a French band play that song on Saturday night. =) we all danced.

Friday I had school from 11:30-1:30, but i woke up at 7am and went with my hostmom to drive Lucie to school and then to the open-air market! It was really cool; we definitely don't have things like this in the U.S. very often, nor for that low of a price! I always found it funny that you have to pay MORE for the real/organic food from a market, less for the fake/processed stuff. But here it's not like that at all! My hostmom bought so many different things, and it was cool to be with her and see what it was all about. So then I went to school, went shopping and bought some school supplies (hooray!) and came home. Lucie gets out of school at 1pm on Fridays, so when I got home from the store she was here, and she asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her. So we went to an area called Marais, which is a huge shopping area, combined with the gay neighborhood of Paris and the Chinatown. Talk about an interesting mix! haha. It was cool to people watch and then to go in random stores. Lucie says it's really hard to remember your way around that part of town because there's so many side streets and shortcuts and whatnot, so we were basically wandering for a few hours. We found a thriftstore that Lucie LOVES -- she bought two skirts and a purse. I found boots! made in italy, for 30€! not bad, not bad. Then we got crêpes and went back to the train. We went to the grocery store to get stuff to make for dinner, and then home. Laura, Madeline, and Katy came over for dinner with me and Lucie, we just made pasta and had bread and wine. It was a good dinner, though! We hung out for a little bit, Laura and Katy left to go to a bar, and I went to bed pretty early. 

Saturday, Katy, Laura, and I went to an art exhibit in Laura's neighborhood in this gallery called Dorothy's Gallery -- it was all about OBAMA! Ranging from photography to paintings to sculptures to collages to caricatures to drawings -- it was a really cool exhibit and interesting to see foreigners' views on him, as well. The lady who owns the gallery was really nice and explained to us some of the stories behind the paintings and the exhibit, but she was a bit psycho. She was American (who spoke horrible French) and just kind of spacey and pushy. She would ask us questions such as "Who's that person in the background of the painting?" We would say "ohhh i don't know" and she would say "Yes you do. yes you do. Think. Yes you do." haha it was really intimidating. But anyways, then we left and we wanted to go to the Catacombs -- too late, they closed at 4pm. =( So we walked around that area, there was the Montparnasse cemetery which is huge, and Baudelaire is buried there. So we took some pictures and whatnot and then got on the metro and parted ways, except Laura came home with me. We went to the grocery store and got stuff to make for dinner, my hostparents went to dinner at a friend's house. So we ate dinner and hungout with Lucie for a bit and then met up with a bunch of friends for this free concert / battle of the bands thing going on. It was fun, and something different to do. There were 5 bands, each one could play one original song and one cover. All the covers were American of course, so this one band played "Do you Love Me?" by the Contours and we were all dancing and it was a ton of fun. After the bands were done, the place turned into a nightclub, but we left and all went home. I got home and just went to bed.

Today I'm not gonna do anything -- i have some homework to do for school and laundry to do etc etc so i'm just gonna have a lazy day. I may treat myself to Starbucks, today ... we'll see ;). Love and hugs and kisses to all! 

here are my pictures -- clearly it wasn't 1/1/08 for the date -- my camera just screwed up the date when i took them =(

Obama à Paris - Obama in Paris

hey, remember when Katy's hostmom gave us Pringles?

yeah. she did. haha

Ok, this is gonna be a lonngggg entry, just to warn you. let me backtrack once again:

Tuesday we had a meeting on "How to meet French people" which was actually pretty uninformative -- all they did was have a guy come and talk to us who represents an international student organization, he talked about events they do but you have to pay to be a member. So that rules that out! I went shopping afterwards with my friends Katy, Jocelyn, Katie, and two other girls from my school Nikki, and Cathy. We went to this area right by the opera house Opéra Garnier and went in this store called Zara. Apparently it's Lucie and my hostmom's favorite store, so we figured we should check it out. I got my first clothes from Paris! Two button-up shirts (that are long enough to be dresses), stretchpants (those are in here?), and sunglasses. In France, every January and July there are Soldes (sales) regulated by the government, where everything, literally everything, is marked down super low. Makes shopping a bit easier on the wallet! ;) After we all got things at Zara, we decided to call it a day and headed back to our houses. I had dinner with Lucie and Laurène (mom), my hostdad had a doctor's dinner he had to go to so it was just us three. Afterwards, I watched this tvshow with Lucie called Koh-Lanta -- it's basically Survivor, remember that show?? But in French, with French people. So corny, but so hilarious. Lucie and I were cracking up. When that was over she had to go to bed because she had school, so I went in my room and watched some more of this tv series Lucie got me into called Skins. Then I went to bed!

Wednesday I had to be at school at 11:30, our French classes have officially started. For two weeks before real classes start, we have what's called Propédeutique. Based on our scores on the placement test, we were all split into groups and have 2 weeks of French revision before jumping into school. I'm in the most advanced level, called Alsace, with Jocelyn and Madeline. We had class for 2 hours reviewing some basic points of grammar, and when real school starts the class will be Translation, since at our level we don't need that much intense grammar work. After class we had about an hour to kill, so we went to get some lunch and then came back for a meeting on internships. I'm not gonna lie, I got really intimidated. They were explaining to us how much time an internship takes, and how there is a class we have to take too as a seminar, and write reports on our experiences, and we have to have a real desire to do it. At first I was kind of freaking out, but after thinking about it some more, I realized that it's more smart to think like a "grown-up" and give up my time to have this amazing experience, as opposed to throwing it away just for some extra free-time. I mean, how many times in my life am I gonna have an opportunity to work in France? So i'm definitely gonna go for it. The only question now is a) what will my internship be; I have an interview with the woman in charge next week so we can plan it all out, and b) if it's gonna be too much on my plate to do this internship in addition to an outside class at the Sorbonne. They said it's not impossible, but it is quite a lot to handle. So when I meet with my advisor next week, I'm going to ask her for her opinion. I don't want to wear myself out too much, and when it comes down to it, I'd much rather do an internship than an outside class. It's way better for my career and probably more worth it in the long run. We'll see how that all plans out... 

After that, we split up again with our French classes for what's called SOAR. I forget what the acronym stands for, but it's basically little orientation groups; we have one faculty leader and we meet a few times throughout the semester. Our leader is Marianne Devaux, the director of the IES Program. When I walked in, she was in the middle of trying to figure out everyone's names on her own. She pointed at me and said "ahhh, i know you, you're Brittany. Because of your enormously good reputation at DePaul, courtesy of professors Andrew Suozzo and Pascale-Anne Brault. Yes, I've heard a lot about you." I was like "oh, really? Well, that's intimidating!" and she said "why, yes, but in a good way!" and winked. It was kind of embarrassing that she said that in front of everyone, because I didn't want to be like put up on a pedestal or anything, but I was glowing, haha. =) We just talked about different things to do in Paris for fun, she asked us for any questions we might have, and then she took us around the neighborhood where our school is to show us some things. She's extremely nice, and she's also my academic advisor it turns out, so I'm really looking forward to getting to know her. 

Then I went home and relaxed for a little bit and had dinner with my family, always a good time. HERE is when the crazy night starts... Katy's hostbrother Laurent, who's 23(?), invited us to a party being hosted by his school. He told Katy to come, so she could go out "for real" in Paris, and to invite her friends. He gave us the address, and told us to meet him outside between 11 and 11:30. So around 9:30 I left and went to Katy's house, her hostfamily said she could have us over beforehand, which was so nice of her. So I showed up around 10, and then Laura and Madeline came over, too. They brought a bottle of wine to drink beforehand, so we had to go in the kitchen to ask the parents for glasses and a bottle-opener. The gave us both, and then said "ohhh it would be better if you ate something, too, right? A little snack?" So we said ok and she gave us a bowl. We went back to Katy's room (it's really big, with a desk, several chairs, her bed, etc...) so that we could drink it there and hangout before going. Katy looks down at the bowl and says "guys... I think my mom gave us Pringles." and sure enough, in the bowl, were Pringles and a few crackers. We just found it so bizarre -- Pringles aren't exactly a French snack, so it was pretty funny. We drank our wine and listened to some music and talked, and around 10:45 decided to leave. We took the métro and when we got off at the right stop, Katy's brother was right there with his friends! Perfect timing. So we met all of them, they were incredibly nice and gave us 2 kisses and everything. There were 2 girls and 3 guys, and the girls both spoke English so they were so excited to practice with us, haha. We walked out of the metro to meet some more of their friends in the square across from the club called Place de Palais Royal. We get out -- and we are RIGHT in the middle of the Louvre, the State building, the Hotel de Louvre, in the middle of this big beautiful square. The party we were going to was actually in a highscale club called Cabaret -- right next to the Louvre itself. Like seriously, a Wednesday night, in Paris, next to the Louvre, about to go to a club? We couldn't believe it. We stood in the square for awhile and then finally went inside. It was free entry and girls also got a card when they walked in good for one free glass of champagne. How awesome is that? We walk in and there is pounding music and lights flashing and fancy tables with candles and we just couldn't believe our eyes. We checked our coats and got our champagne, toasted, and the 4 of us just started dancing! The played all American music, like rap/pop but there was a DJ mixing it all together so it was actually pretty cool. We met and talked with a lot of different French guys the whole night, danced with Katy's hostbrother's friends, and we just didn't stop. Finally it was 3:00 am (not kidding) so we decided we should probably leave. We got our coats, said goodbye to people, and Katy's hostbrother called us all cabs. In Paris there's a shortage of cabs, so it's normally pretty hard to get. Some people have a special number you can call and type in a code to get a cab to come, so luckily that's what he did for us. Laura and Madeline took a cab together because they live together, and Katy and I took one together because we're not far. He dropped her off first and then me. I got home at 4am (ahh!) and went to bed right away. It was seriously such an amazing night -- clearly we can't have energy (nor money) to do something like that every night, but it was a good closing to our first official week in Paris. We all still feel like it was kind of a dream of sorts. SO FUN. 

Today, my classes were cancelled! The French strike a lot, so today was a huge Métro strike (which happens more often than the others). That means some trains don't run at all, and others have less trains that come less often, so it's very difficult to get where you need to go because of time and the amount of people trying to get on less trains. So I got to sleep in, thankfully, and couldn't really go anywhere all day because of the strike. So around 2pm I decided to take a walk and I went to this small museum my hostmom had told me about, not far from our house. The current exhibit is all these remastered photograph prints and film reels from the early 20th century, like 1916-1920 that this French explorer/historian/etc... took in India and other Eastern countries like that. The prints were one of the first attempts at colored photographs, so although the quality is not that good, the color has been remastered and they were absolutely beautiful. Also, at that time, India wasn't as modern as it is today so some of the pictures were very interesting and it was cool to see that way of life. There were also several black and white film reels being played on screens and some antiquities collected during his trip. In addition, the whole exhibit was decorated in Indian fashion, with curtains, floor pillows, engraved walls, etc... It was one of the coolest things i've seen. The museum also has gardens that are open year round, so when I was done looking at the exhibit I went outside to those -- absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately my camera died after I only took 4 pictures, but I feel I got a majority of the good stuff. The section I was in was Japanese style -- I thought of my mom's friend Jon, who designs gardens, and how much he would've loved it. There were bridges and stones and trees and Japanese tea houses and it was seriously breathtaking. I had my iPod on and just walked around in circles for about a halfhour looking at things, and i sat down next to a pond at one point and just sat and took it all in. After that, I came back to the house. The dad was home, which isn't normal, so i said "what are you doing home?" and he's like "I'M STRIKING!" hahaha. Not really, just a lot his patients couldn't come because of the trains, but it was still funny. Tonight I'm gonna eat dinner with the family again and just relax -- after last night, I need it! Plus, my class got rescheduled to tomorrow since it was cancelled today, so I'm gonna have to get up for that. Not sure what this weekend will include, but we'll see! Although I don't think anything can top last night. I love you all so much, I'm so glad I get to share this experience with you on this blog and I send my love and blessings! 

if you wanna see what the club was like that I went to, go to this website, click "Club", and then at the bottom it says "photos" and shows what the interior looks like. 

www.cabaret.fr

la soirée folle et le jardin - the crazy night and the garden

wow, look at the leaf John brought us!

I'll explain that title a bit later in the entry, don't worry!

Soooo Sunday I slept in, thank goodness, but then my friends Laura, Katy, and Madeline and I decided we wanted to go exploring the infamous Latin Quarter, so off we went.  Katy and I can meet each other on the métro at one of the transferring points, so we normally travel together. We got there a bit earlier than the other two so we walked over to Notre Dame-- absolutely amazing. It's just so breathtaking inside and out, and as we were entering a mass was finishing, so there was beautiful loud organ music playing; it gave me goosebumps. Katie paid 2Euro and lit a candle, it was beautiful. I want to light a candle, too, but to be completely honest I'd like to pray when I do it and reflect on things, so I felt it might not have been the right time. After that we met up with Laura and Madeline, who arrived finally, and we basically wandered (it's what we do best.) We ended up stumbling upon the Luxembourg Gardens -- much prettier in the spring and summer, i'm sure! But it was fun to walk through nonetheless. We saw this giant metal head sculpture in the garden with no labels... so we're not really sure what his purpose was, but he was cool enough to take pictures with, evidently. 

After that, Madeline was going to meet up with some other friends, so Katy, Laura and I headed back to the Eiffel Tower area to see the Peace Monument, which is on the other side of the tower from where we had been Saturday. When standing directly in front of it, you can see the Eiffel Tower between the towers, and the word "peace" is repeated in a really abstract way in multiple languages. It's really cool to see, check out the pictures. When we were done with that, we went to the Trocadéro, which is another Eiffel Tower viewing place, but on the opposite side, so we walked a LOT, and under the tower itself, again! We all went our separate ways, home for the night. My friend Alyssa from high school is actually studying in Rome right now and came to Paris for the weekend with her friend, so they came out to my suburb and we went to dinner together. It was really fun! When I got home I just went to bed, because I had to be up early.

Today we had a French placement test and then orientation allllll day long, so I was basically sitting in a room for 9 hours. It was not a very enjoyable day. The funniest part was when this woman Jeanne was talking about the differences in cultures, and how one of them that we probably notice is French people don't smile or talk to each other in public, unlike Chicago where you can smile at a lot of people, or engage in conversation with a stranger on the train. Her opinion for this difference was how we are educated. In France, she said, you are not complimented when you do good work. It is expected of you, therefore the only comments made are negative ones. She said for example the 6-year-old Jean, "Jean, you were supposed to underline this in red! Your 'o' isn't round enough! You shouldn't go past this line! We said 6 words, not 7!" etc etc, as opposed to a 6-year-old in America: *starts speaking in English* "Wowwww John! What did you bring us today? A LEAF? a LEAF from your GARDEN?! Oh my goodness, John, that is wonderful! Everyone, look at the leaf John brought us for show and tell today! wow John, this is really great! Look at how amazing that is!" --- i was CRACKING UP. It's so true though! When I reflect on my childhood, or how I act around children at that age in the U.S., we really do act that way! We hype the unnecessary -- which isn't at all a bad thing, it's just funny how different the cultures are. I told this story to my hostsister Lucie tonight and she couldn't stop laughing. She agreed that it was so true and she couldn't wait to tell her friends that story.

After school, Jocelyn, Katy, Laura, Katie, and I went to Laura's neighborhood (which is right by the Bastille) to look around and wander a bit. I didn't have my camera, unfortunately, but i'm sure i'll be back! Laura got lost twice, in her OWN neighborhood, which was hilarious. Eventually we found our way and got back on the train and just all went home. I got home and did some picture uploading and whatnot in my room, then had dinner with the family. The mom is definitely warming up to me, no problems with Lucie, and the dad LOVES talking to me in English for some reason. Dinner was kind of different tonight than the other nights -- they were all laughing and joking around, there was no more small talk like there was when i first arrived, and I felt way more comfortable. it was definitely a good night =) After dinner, Lucie and I watched episodes of the show House on the computer (with french subtitles for her, so it was really no different for me) so it was fun to spend time with her. Now i'm just writing this, uploading pictures, skyping, etc.. I don't have anywhere to be until 2pm tomorrow, so i get to have another lazy morning, hooray!! =) goodnight everyone, love you all!

here are pictures of the past few days:

la ville - the city.

you speak french like chickens.

yep, yep, that's what a man said to us all on the street today as we wandered through the neighborhood called Montmartre... we weren't really quite sure what that meant.

but anyways, let me backtrack:

Friday, despite the jetlag, I had to wake up at 7am to get ready and go to school for orientation. My hostmom printed out a travel itinerary for me so i would know what metro (subway) stops to take-- i had to transfer 3 times, but it was actually WAY easier than chicago. It's like the eL is useless, no signs anywhere! Here, however, it's so clear, so no problems there. When I got off at the stop for my school, I definitely wandered around for a halfhour not knowing where I was. Like a big girl, I pulled out my map and figured it out. A little late to orientation, but hey, it's the first day, they were lenient. Orientation was long and boring, apparently the more "interesting" stuff will happen next week? We'll see if that's true. I got home around 2 or 3 after getting lunch with some friends from school and my hostmom took me around our neighborhood to show me everything. After walking for about 40 minutes (in circles and up and down different places) she was like "well, i'm off to the dentist! think you can find your way back?" uhhh...sure? haha talk about immersion. I was proud of myself though, did it no problem, made 2 friends on the street (long story short they asked me for a lighter for cigarettes, i didn't have one, but we ended up talking and they didn't believe i was American blahblahblah) and came home, relaxed a bit, and had dinner with the family. The host student from last year came over for dinner because she's visiting here for a few weeks so it was cool to get her take on things. I wanted to go out with my American friends but I was too tired, so I just relaxed in my room and went to bed early.

Saturday - still jetlagged. We got a free touristbus pass from school, so i met up with a bunch of girls at the Eiffel Tower and we all took the bus together. It was suuuuper cold! (we sat on the roof seats) but definitely worth it because we drove past a majority of the major landmarks and got to take pictures. We ended up splitting ways and I stuck with 3 girls from DePaul and another girl from North Carolina who's actually staying in the same house as my DePaul friend Laura, and we all got lunch together and decided to do more exploring. We got on the metro and found our way to Montmartre, the part of the city where Moulin Rouge is, and went to this beautiful church called Sacré Coeur, where a man on the steps was playing "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman and singing along, which made me smile. and then we basically wandered streets and looked at buildings and people watched for about 2 hours. An artist asked us to do draw a portrait and we said no, and that was when he told us in english "you speak french like chickens!" We continued to wander, and for those of you that have seen the movie Amélie, remember the restaurant she worked at, Les Deux Moulins? We found it!!! We're definitely going back to eat one day, to soak it all in ;). We all decided to go home, I ran into my "two friends" as i was walking out of the metro station, they were coming out of a store so they walked me back towards my area of the neighborhood. They were gonna come out tonight, but decided not to at last minute. I, however, ate dinner with the host sister Lucie and her 2 friends who had come over for food before they went to a friend's party. It was my "parents" anniversary tonight so they went out together. 

Around 9 i met up with a girl named Jocelyn who lives one street behind me and we went to the metro to meet up with my DePaul friends. The "metro police" were checking everyone's tickets because i guess they've had problems lately with people sneaking on the train without paying. Unlike chicago, it's not a card pass. You actually get small tickets that you cannot reuse, a stamp shows up on the back. So Jocelyn threw hers away after we got into the station (i probably would have done the same thing! who knew?) but the police came up and when she didn't have a ticket to present, she got charged a fine of 25 Euro. =( Kind of a downer to start the night, but at least now we know! We took the metro to this area called Oberkampff, which is basically a big bar area. It was fun, just required a bit too much energy on our only third night. I'm still sooooo tired! We left at 12 and Jocelyn and I took the train together and walked each other home. Our friends were staying out later, but they all kind of live together so they have each other to depend on. She and I, since we're living in a suburb, have further to go, so we decided it was best to leave. Unlike my family told me, the metro is actually really crowded at night and I definitely didn't feel uncomfortable or unsafe at all. It seemed no different from Chicago. I went to put my ticket through the machine and it kept saying they were "invalid" -- i'm not sure why! I just bought them today, because we cannot buy a monthlong pass until February starts. So i bought a package deal of 10 tickets and none of them were working! just as my friend Katie was gonna hand me one of her tickets to use, some random guy came up and said in english "no no, don't use her ticket, stop, i'll help" and he swiped his month pass in for me and let me get through! It was the nicest thing, i couldn't believe it, talk about a good Samaritan! =) So Jocelyn and I made it home safe and sound. It's time for bed for me, I'm still so wiped outttt. Luckily tomorrow I get to sleep in and catch up on my rest before another full week of school stuff to do. It will be a nice lazy day, which you all know i adore. ;)

Sooo there's my novel for the night! Unfortunately I forgot my camera cord at home (hopefully Dad mailed it to me already!) and so for the moment, the only way to get pictures up is by putting my memory card in on the family's main computer. I'll try and do that tomorrow, so stay in tune! goodnight everyone, i miss you all terribly, and God bless. =)

arriving safe and sound.

why, hello, everyone! i made it!

the plane ride actually went a LOT faster than i expected. i slept most of the way (rather uncomfortably, but hey, what can ya do?) and we landed around 8am Paris time. i was luckily on the plane with 4 other girls from depaul so we all went through customs together and partedz our ways to catch cabs! my cabdriver was SOO nice. there was a ton of traffic and it took over an hour to get to my house so he didn't charge me extra for my baggage (which is typically 5€ extra per piece) and helped me into the house. 

nobody was home, but they had left the door open for me, and about 5 minutes later "Papa" got home. he helped me carry all my luggage upstairs and made me coffee - what a guy! His name is Guy and he's a doctor-- not sure what kind yet. "Mom" has already called me 4 times from work to check on me and making sure i'm eating. her name is Laurène and she works at a small boutique designing handbags. she left me a map of the neighborhood and my key but unfortunately it has been raining and super windy all day, so i've just been organizing my room and writing this to all of you! i may take a little walk if it clears up before Lucie (the daughter) gets home from school at 5pm. There's a cat here -- don't know what its name is yet but i'll find out soon enough haha. We're all having dinner together tonight so i'm sure i'll learn more about this family and be able to fill you in! love and hugs to all.z

here are pictures i took of the house...

la maison : the house

contact information

Bonjour, everyone! 14 days and counting... 

Here are all the ways to get ahold of me while I'm gone. 

Brittany Gignac

c/o IES Paris

77 rue Daguerre

Paris 75014

France

phone: 33.676359426

e-mail: brittany.gignac@gmail.com

skype: brittanygignac

**for those of you that don't know what skype is, it's a free messaging program. You can talk either by typing, by voice (like a phone!) if you have a microphone, or by video-chat if you have a camera. I highly recommend it, so go to www.skype.com and download it and add me as a friend!