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:
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