Classes, Shopping, Mass at Notre Dame

Classes are going well. I succcessfully finished a week of classes in intermediare 3. Its much better. Wednesday, I didn't have to babysit, because Marie's grandma was in town, so I had the day off. On thursday I went over to Rue Rivoli to look around and maybe do some shopping. I stopped in this Dutch chain store called C&A. I started to look around and prceeded to find a really cute long sweater that is black and white striped, as well as a smaller messengerbag for school. Originally I was looking for a trench coat or something, so that I could have a non winter coat to wear, but there were none to be found. The only ones that existed, were wool coats or puffy winter ones. After C&A, I went to a store called Etam where I got two pairs of shoes, a black pair of ballet flats, and a brown pair with a bronze colored bow. Today, I went to 11:30 mass at Notre Dame. It was so beautiful. It was the international mass, so they did the second reading and part of the mass in English. The choir sang, and they are so amazing. When mass was over, I went to one of the Crepe stands and had a banana and Nutella crepe, and it was amazing. That's all for now. I will write more next week.















The Organ at Notre Dame. 

Trocadero Aquarium, Mont St. Michel, and Class!!

Last week I went to the Cine Aqua aquarium at the Trocadero. First off, the student ticket price was 15 euros which is about $18. I figured that although it was expensive I might as well give it a shot. To make a long story short, it was the WORST Aquarium that I have ever been to. Maybe I'm a bit biased b/c I work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There were no guides or people to help you , and their touch pool consisted of Coi and Sturgeon. They did have some really cool interactive games for kids. All in all it was a complete waste of 15 euros considering I was only there for an hour. On Sunday, our group took a 5 hour bus ride to Mont St. Michel. That's right 5 hours there, and 5 more back. Mont St. Michel is this really cool abbey on top of a rock jutting out in to the Atlantic Ocean in Normandy. We paid 5 euros to go inside the Abbey and it was really cool. We even were able to listen to part of mass. After that, we went to a Biscuiterie, aka a cookie factory. Classes are going well. I moved up a level in my language class, and it is much better. The last class would have bored me to tears for the whole semester. Now I have two classes Monday, two on Tuesday, and one Wednesday morning. After class on Wednesday's I babysit. Everything is going well here. It is really starting to feel like fall, as the temperature has dropped. Time for scarves and peacoats!! YAY!!!


Shark at the Trocadero Aquarium.

The Abbey of Mont St. Michel.

Me at Mont St. Michel.

Paris Week 2, Classes, Notre Dame and the Louvre...

Our second week of Paris was great. We had more walking tours of the city, including the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur, the Marais District, Versailles, and many others. Classes started for me this past week. Monday, I have 20th Century French History from 2-5. We are talking about background events leading up to WWI. Tuesday's I have French Language in the morning from 9-12, and in the afternoon, I have Phonetics. My French Language class is like my regualr french classes back home. Phonetics is really cool, it is basically learning the proper pronounciation of words, as well as learning the different vowel sounds. It should really improve my oral French. Wednesday and Thursday mornings I have French Language from 9-12. My half day off on Thursday plus half a day on Monday gives me 4-day weekends. On Friday I didn't have any class so I decided to go to 12pm mass at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Church itself is absolutely gorgeous!! Mass was really cool. I followed it for the most part, but it would have been easier if I had a miselette in French so I could follow the readings. However, the only two prayers that I know in French, the Hail Mary, and the Our Father came right back to me. I then went to Maison Berthillion, the best ice cream in Paris which is located on the Ile St. Louis. The Island in the middle of the Seine. I had one scoop of Raspberry, and one of Lime, and it was so amazing. Saturday, I woke up with a stuffy nose. Instead of wasting my daym I decided to head over to the Louvre for a bit and wander around. I bought a "carte Louvre jeunes" for 15 euros I have unlimited access to the Louvre for the entire year. It's a pretty good deal. Sort of by chance, I found the Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde), and the Venus de Milo. Today I have just been hanging low and doing some homework. Next weekend we are going to castle of Mont St.- Michel in Northern France near Brittany. More to come later.