A la prochaine

Heading back to the US tomorrow morning. waterworks will begin the instant I start unpacking my suitcases in CT and realize that I'm no longer in Paris. This was a wonderful year. Could not have asked for a better family to live with or people to be here with. Of course, the regrets of things that I didn't do and should have done shall haunt me until I next come back...but to my credit, I did manage to cram in a truckload of culturalism in the last two weeks after my exams. 

All I know is that I'll be bringing some Paris back with me. In my head, in my heart, in my suitcase...blah blah. 

Evidence of my forays into being cultural:

Giverny

Giverny...pretty sure Monet painted this...

Château de Chambord

Château de Chenonceau 

Napoleon's Tomb

Invalides

Rodin...

Rodin's house

2 weeks

So, I'm definitely not the sappy kind, but after living here for a bit I've come to realize that there is no way that I'm going to make it to all the things on my list before I leave. There are so many streets that I haven’t walked down, so many museums I have yet to see. Instead, I find myself more and more content with the time I spend at home with my incredible surrogate family (and animal farm). I've started actually noticing which metro stop I'm at and what it looks like and how I waited for my friends for 45 minutes at Parmentier last semester and people-watched. When I Vélib to school and pass over the bridge, I (probably shouldn't) look over at the Notre Dame, I stare at the Fontaine St Michel as I ride by. I realize how much I'm going to miss this city. The parts of it that I've gotten to know, at least. But I'm not sad particularly. I'll be back. I'll be back to visit Isabelle and her wonderful family. I'll be back on a Vélib. Many of my friends have been ready to go home for awhile. I'm not even close. I'll live here again. Maybe in a year, maybe in a decade, but I'm most definitely not done with this incredible city.

I'm going to miss so many things that I can't even begin to think about them. The life that I've been living (entirely on my parent's dime...euro...whatever) has been kind of magical. When Anand gave me A Moveable Feast last August, I read it, trying to make some sort of connection with these weird people and this weird city. I don't know what changed, but somewhere in between travels to Germany, Spain, Morocco...Paris became home. Re-reading Mr. Hemingway (in French…for class) this past month made me realize just how much I've fallen in love with this city. I'm sure every single English speaker who spends time in Paris will quote this, but I really can't say it any better. "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young (wo)man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast". So when I leave, I wont be sad to leave this magic behind. I've got a feeling I'll be back soon...Grad school get at me.

Here are some scenes that aren’t famous and aren’t glamorous, but are the Paris I’ve come to know.

my boulangerie

<3

les groceries

on the way to the metro//Place d'Edith Piaf

And now, the famous stuff...

Been walking past Cafe de Flore for nearly a year now and I finally went in. And paid 8 euro for a hot chocolate...

lovely little road near Sacre-Coeur

outside Gare St Lazare, after I slept too long and missed my 2:20 PM train to Rouen.

Place de la Madeleine

election-time in Paris - flags leading up to the Arc

But lucky me! I've got two more weeks of awesome...

Chantilly

How appropriate, my last post was written the last time I had less than 100 things to do at once...in the last two months, my futile attempts at internship-getting were replaced with about 2 20-pagers and 3 10-pagers on subjects that hold little to no interest for me. Literally, can't even imagine the amount of academic information that my brain has processed and rejected in the last few weeks.

Since I went to Turkey and Greece...I haven't left Paris or its surroundings at all. And I'm probably not going to go anywhere between now and three weeks from now...when I fly back to CT. I am SO not ready to move home yet. I really haven't had a chance to be a true tourist in Paris. As soon as school started in September, I more or less only saw the inside of my house, and various libraries and coffee shops. So...I, just like all the people I laughed at last semester, am making a Parisian bucket list...

I did manage to get to Versailles with my mom and brother a couple weeks ago (it was freezing and miserable, but I think they enjoyed the art and pretty things while I moped around behind them complaining about work and listening to my iPod)...and then a few days ago a bunch of us went to Chantilly and saw the chateau there in equally horrible weather.

Here are some Chantilly pictures...if that word sounds familiar to you, it should...Chantilly was made famous by Chantilly lace and Chantilly cream (which is, indeed, awesome). 

Chateau at Chantilly

Crepe...with escargots, garlic, cream and mushrooms. 

It has been raining for over one week and it's set to continue raining through next week. That along with zero internship offers, paper grades coming in, and exams looming is making April just SPLENDID. If only I had saved up enough money to go down to the Cote d'Azur for a few days and get in some sun...

Funny things that have happened...when the weather was warm forever ago, I got a huge ice cream and was about done with it half-way through when a homeless gentleman approached me, smiled, and grabbed the rest of the cone from my hand muttering something about how he needed ice cream...I couldn't argue with that. Everybody needs ice cream at some point...not anymore though because it is FREEZING here.

Back to the USA in 25 days :(

Istanbul & pictures

So, been traveling for almost a week now - currently staying in the Big Apple Hostel in Istanbul. It's in the old part of the city and the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Agia Sofia are all walking distance of here. Took a bus/boat tour yesterday. The city is divided into the European and Asian side...not really much of a visual difference except the European side is for working and the Asian side is for living (or so I'm told). Anyways, we got to see the Golden Horn with views of the Bosphorus, the Marmara Sea, and a bunch of mosques...

This city is incredibly huge...which is why when I was demanding a walking tour, the hostel owner was pretty adamant about having a bus drive us around. Anyyywayss...it's freezing here. Currently snowing the huge kind of snowflakes that stick. Good thing I bought a winter jacket at a duty free shop/passport control in between Greece and Turkey at 2 AM on the bus ride over.

Have yet to find a bad hostel or a hostel without free breakfast. ALSO had my first hammam last night. Lady didn't speak english or french so it was a lot of me waiting around wondering what to do and her thinking I'm the stupidest human alive. But now I'm clean and I think I'm missing the entire top layer of my skin.

Let's see...Thessaloniki is the nicest city but lacking in tourism. It was the perfect one day stop off. We ended up skipping Santorini and Izmir because the Greek transportation system is messed up (1) because it's not tourist season and (2) because of the crisis. Therefore we couldn't get to Santorini, then couldn't get to the Mykonos, then had no way under 24 hours of travel-time of getting to Izmir. Instead we took a bus to Thessaloniki, ended up there at nighttime, somehow found our way to a hostel that had reception at the desk...wish I can get back there in the summertime.

Athens...spent three nights there. There isn't massive rioting everywhere...mom, dad. It's pretty calm and functional, with scheduled protests (we didn't go to any). But if you go to the seedier parts of town, you can see the remnants of a truckload of anger being taken out on buildings. Took about half a camera full of political graffiti. There are also a lot of broken windows...anti French and German stuff...communist symbols. Which kind of brings you back to modern Greece. Otherwise, most tourists get entirely stuck in the ancient bits. The city is entirely walkable, the sunset from the surrounding hills is magnificent...the stray dogs are super friendly and escorted us back to our hostel after we went out (it was the final day of Carnivale so people were going nuts).

Back to the real world Friday night. Actually I guess I'm not really back in the real world until May 24th...living in Paris isn't even close to normal. French has come in handy here...some dude who we asked for directions only spoke turkish and french (weird combo) and no english. Also the two girls who were in the sauna with me spoke french and didn't realize I understood them. HAHA.

Gonna stroll around Istanbul today and maybe meet some friends from BC who are here. It's hard to meet up with people when you are either the tourist or the exchange student because the tourist is all "MUST SEE EVERYTHING" and the student is all "HATE SIGHTSEEING SHOOT ME". So if you're ever in Paris...I probably wont be free. KIDDING...

after sunset off one of the hills surrounding Athens. look closely, you can see the Acropolis,.

the creepy dude is drawn on a bunch of buildings...this is somewhere in Athens

part of the Acropolis in Athens...this is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus

me and my friend Paul...and the Parthenon. Athens.

the Acropolis at night, Athens

view from an abandoned house in Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki waterfront

White Tower, Thessaloniki - used to be a prison, then they had a dude whitewash it in exchange for his freedom and changed the name

View from Maiden's Tower in Istanbul

Blue Mosque, inside the courtyard bit. Istanbul.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Athens

Temple of Zeus...what's left of it

Temple of Hephaestos

Acropolis in the background

Syntagma Square sans protests

sunset from one of the hills overlooking Athens

new semester of classes

My Conflict professor, John (75ish year old retired British war vet), took us all for a coffee after class...loving the tradition of getting drinks with profs post-class. He still thinks Germans are the enemy which is also super-funny. More or less, he says stuff like this: "making a dirty bomb requires wrapping some nuclear waste with explosives and making it go boom"...in a British accent.

The SciPo library is not the place for me, so I'm going to pick up drinking coffee since it's cheaper at cafes than hot chocolate. Except whenever I drink coffee I feel like all the cells in my body are going to vibrate off and I can't do any useful work. Can't wait until my internship apps are in, regardless of whether I get the job or not. These apps are making me grumpy...so grumpy that I get into fights with bouncers at clubs over checking my jacket. Can't wait for the next unlucky Parisian who incurrs my wrath.

Got an email from SciPo today saying that my administrative registration or some jazz like that is incomplete and I'm not registered. Now I don't have access to my grades. I'm hoping that SciPo sends them to BC (I think they have to regardless of whether or not they let me see them on my espace etudiant) and I will be able to see them in a nice new updated transcript on my BC portal...then I can send this newer awesomer transcript to all my internships and they can be impressed that I did better at Sciences Po than I did at BC...ignoring the fact that this happens to most American exchange students and most of my classes are in English and that is my first language and school in France is much more conducive to actually learning instead of pretending to learn to get good grades.

Also I have 4 huge papers in the next month. ALSO I'm going to Greece (Athens, Santorini, Mykonos) and Turkey (Izmir and Istanbul) on Friday. Going for a week...super pumped to stay in a cool cave-hostel in Santorini...and do nothing but look at impossibly blue water (have you all seen Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?)...so you may be in for some new pictures. I haven't actually used my camera since Morocco, I think.

Anyways, so much more to say but typing is boring me and I'll wait til I have cool pictures to show you.
SOMEBODY FIND ME AN INTERNSHIP.

back to rue Paul Strauss!

3 Days ago:
It's been a glorious month back home. Sitting at my kitchen table after having just devoured Season 2 of How I Met Your Mother. Also watched insane amounts of Bollywood since I renewed my Netflix membership...which will be cancelled as soon as I finish packing. I head back to Paris in 2 days. This time feels entirely different. I haven't packed yet. I haven't really registered the fact that I'm going back. It seems kind of normal though. And 4 months really isn't as long as it seems. Before I know it, I'll be back home in South Windsor and then...who knows? Anybody have an internship for me?

Today:
Got back yesterday morning, slept for 8 hours, came home to no comforter because the cats have figured out how to levitate up ladders and into my loft bed and they obviously think it's hilarious to poop in beds. Attempted to wake up early and go running. Didn't happen. Got credits for my phone, walked to BNP and realized that I don't have the pin number for my new BofA card because it was mailed home...also realized that I didn't lose my original card...it was in my suitcase the entire time...apparently I used another credit card to buy drinks. I'm 21 and I already can't keep track of which credit card I use when. I'm moving to Zimbabwe or Pakistan...or North Dakota...do they use credit cards there?

Left my metro card at home, so I've been jumping turnstiles all day. Decided to cut back my spending so I skipped the post-lunch coffee. Then I met up with other friends and we went out for coffee...why do I even bother? I've spent today what I spent the entire month back home. Also walked more today than I walked the entire month back home...

As soon as I got here, I felt infirm...not entirely sure that's a word in english...and Isabelle gave me some L52. It's this little bottle of miracles. You put like 20 drops in a glass of water. It's made of eucalyptus and some other things. It says étanol on the bottle...are humans supposed to ingest that? Annnyyways...this stuff literally cures anything. It's like HEY IMMUNE SYSTEM. So now I'm not sick. And now I'm going to nap and go out because I'm not going to be the least bit tired until 5am.

I also was standing on the metro and this cute old lady was sitting in the fold out chairs and this annoying woman came on to play her little radio and sing a song. She was blasting her speaker in my face so of course I was like "pfff" and the old lady looked at me and grinned. SOMEBODY SMILED AT ME IN PUBLIC.

Now, going to put on about a ton of mascara and eyeliner out to my ears (whaddup cat-eyezz) and go have a classy dinner of...probably a baguette and some camembert. I accept personal checks and money orders and any currency.

OH ALSO it's soldes/sales season in Paris. People keep saying something about the government being involved in the sales. I went to H&M and literally almost peed myself the prices were so cheap. No wonder people here have money to spend on so much cafe-time...something I'd pay like 50$ for at home is like...10 euro in the store. It also really bugs me that I don't have a euro symbol on my keyboard. 

Examstime is over!

Can’t imagine time passing any quicker. This semester absolutely flew by. Just finished packing ma valise and cleaning my room for the first time in 4 months or so. Can’t wait to go home and explain exactly how much money I’ve spent to my loving parents. Why didn’t I ever learn the accordion? You can’t play a piano in a metro-car…I need to pick up a small instrument so I can go car to car and get money. Or I could just look for a job. Either or.

Since Morocco (going back for sure next semester, and hopefully a few other neighboring countries if I can scrounge up the time and dough), I’ve not really left Paris. Until yesterday, when I went to Barcelona for Alec’s 21^st birthday and came back to Paris all in under 24 hours. I feel like a jet-setter.

Unfortunately, I’ve had exams up the wazoo since late November, so I have no cool pictures to show or stories to tell. Good news: I didn’t fail out of SciPo. Bad news: the wrapping paper I taped on my wall just came crashing down and I don’t have anymore tape.

Discovered some cool Paris places though – the bars by Parmentier and Republique are awesome and conveniently located walking distance from me which is super-rare. So I actually got to sleep in my own bed after going out for once instead of crashing at friend’s places!

Sugarplum is a bakery near Cardinal Lemoine and it is freaking fantastic. It’s an American place and you go in and you’re surrounded by Americans and Aussies and Brits. Didn’t speak a word of French when I was in there. Ate tons of chocolate chip cookies and there is bottomless coffee if you’re into that kind of crazy stuff. Since I don’t drink coffee, I just kept getting pots of jasmine tea and brownies. Like Americanish brownies. I know its lame to go to a place that’s just like home when I’m here to be all Parisian…just not during exams sorry. Wore sweatpants to my last final. It was liberating and scary all at once. Probably not going to wear sweatpants again in public…

Bye Paris. See you in a month!

Can’t wait to be in my own warm bed and take a long shower and spend less and drive more.  

OH RIGHT I went to Versailles with my friend Kendra. It was pretty cool. 

desk where the Treaty of Versailles was signed

the whole palace was too big to get on my camera, so here's a corner

This was about as close to fall foliage as I got this year (in Versailles)

Galeries Lafayette! 

cafe sugarplum

So my friend and I planned on coming here to study a few weeks ago but it never happened. Today, when I woke up to the sounds of the season (in French) and my awesome french family setting up Christmas decorations downstairs, I realized that no way in hell was I going to be able to get anything done at home. Instead I watched Love Actually and Four Christmases while putting up XMas lights and covering my walls in wrapping paper before getting my stuff together and heading out the door for the SciPo library. However, the library smells like BO and brain sweat, so I ended up finding this phenomenal slice of American-speaking heaven in the 5e arrondissement. If I could only explain how nice it is to be in a place with Americans and a Christmas tree and American cakes and bottomless coffee...I even had a conversation with a complete stranger.

All of this only serves to remind me how excited I am to be home for the holidays. As much as I love Paris and being immersed in another culture, Christmas is supposed to be spent at home with friends and family everywhere. I can't wait to go to the Strasbourg XMas markets next weekend, I can't wait to see the Parisian XMas markets either for that matter. But more than all of this glitz and glamour, I can't wait to be back in SDub with snow, swiss-miss, my fam, and a small Christmas tree decorated with homemade ornaments. Granted, if I wasn't coming back for second semseter, it would be horribly bittersweet to be going home for the holidays. But I'll be back in the city of lights soon enough. I'm going to be a wreck and a half when I have to leave Paris for good...eek. My little host sister is already like "Divya, why is you have to leave? Just move here forever"...Celeste, be careful what you wish for...

Also almost done with the onslaught of exams and papers. All thats left after tomorrow is 2 final exams in 2 weeks. Finally.

tangier & fez

this has been one of the best trips of my life. never experienced anything like it. morocco still has state-religion (sunni muslim). women don't have equal status to men. everywhere you go (especially since we were traveling alone) you get cat-called, jeered at...if you react, it only gets worse. had to learn to keep my mouth shut and my temper down pretty quickly. ended up swearing at the first guy to annoy us in tangier (55 year old creep followed us down the street spouting out some really uncomfortable french/english come-ons)...instead of going away after i yelled at him, he proceeded to follow us and threaten us "I'll fu*%&ng kill you you f*%&ing f*%&s" (there ya go dad, i didn't actually swear in public)...but seriously dude, please don't kill us, that would suck...wish i hadn't been so taken aback so i could turn around and be like "nah dude, i'll f*%&ing kill you..." stare at him blankly and see what he did...just kidding i would probably have run away faster...

apart from that colorful incident, morocco is AMAZING. we only had 4 nights, 2 each in tangier and fez. we met some awesome people, Moroccans and foreigners staying in our hostel. we visited to tanneries, the mosques (not allowed inside most of them), the souks, the beach (snow storm back home and i was chilling on a beach wishing it was socially acceptable to wear shorts and a t-shirt)...

now in a hostel with some well-travelled dutchies and aussies. Tom (dutch dude) has been literally bumming around western europe, sleeping in garages and on the roofs of bars. He gets a hostel whenever he needs a shower, and goes where he pleases. Went 3 days without showering since our hotel's shower didn't work in Tangier and there wasn't time to shower before sightseeing in Fez...I could do it...backpacking across northern africa and europe in 2013? 

i can't really do this trip justice in words, so here look at some pictures...the ones that would load on this internet connection at least.

 back to cold and dreary paris tomorrow afternoon. gonna find a good way to spend my last 40 dirham tomorrow morning...

the tanneries in fez, they give you mint to hold over your nose

the view from our hotel, the bay of tangier

entrance to the medina, tangier

fight scene, bourne ultimatum, tangier

fez

tangier

beaches near tangier and smiley camels

bronze hand-crafted stuff, fez

entrance to the medina, fez

salon du chocolat

So, the Salon du Chocolat was in Paris this past weekend. It's basically a huge festival where different local and not local vendors come with their gorgeous and delicious chocolate creations. Some were inexplicably good. Some sucked. I had some really creative-looking Japanese dark chocolate...but I think it had seaweed in it and I had to chase down some orange liquered dark chocolate to get the gross taste out of my mouth...I went back for the orange ones about 15 times. I definitely got my 12.50 euro worth out of it...however I conveniently forgot my camera, so here are some pictures courtesy of my friend Liyan.

Also I looked at my planner and I don't think that I can quite wrap my brain around how much work I have to do before I leave for Tangier and Fez (in 3 days). Today I gave in, bought a grande chai latte and sat in Starbucks next to the most affectionate couple in the world. It was seriously too much, I was about to get all French and angry on them however I managed to keep my anger in check by listening to early 2000s crappy Top 40s at super-loud volume so everyone around me could hear.

this isn't the salon du chocolat, this is at gare du nord...it's like india-central

rainy and cold. HI DAD.

Oh and I finally got my bank card from BNP. Only took 2 months. But is it activated yet? OF COURSE NOT that would be too easy. I have to go home, find (in the 2000 letters I received from BNP) my confidential code, which I then try and doesn't work. Go figure. If this doesn't work itself out in the next week I'm cancelling my French bank account and sticking with good ol' BofA.