Day Eight: Courgette Soup. MMM MMM GOOD.

June 7, 2011

6:45 a.m. Oh boy.  For breakfast we had: yogurt, jam, coffee, apple, raisin bread, and orange juice. Then, off to our first French class. Class was definitely informative and my teacher is equipped to correctly enunciate words. After, we got a dose of European history. For lunch: university cafeteria again, but this time we saw steak hache. And steak hache is equivalent to raw hamburger meat. :/ I thought I liked my steaks still mooing when I order them rare, but I stand corrected. I have nothing on the French. Later, we all trekked to City Hall- where we met the mayor, and an ambassador from Wiggins, UK. We learned that many European cities have “exchange ambassador” programs where different students from a European city’s twin city comes to work for a year. We learned that Angers is looking to aquire a new twin city: Austin, TX. Small world. After our visit, Claire and I set out for downtown for a little shopping; I ended up grabbing a cute skirt/shirt outfit at H&M. Upon coming home, I was greeted by my clothes, colorful underwear and all, hanging out to dry. Quite the spectacle for Serge I’m sure. JOJ. For dinner we had: zucchini soup (C’est bonne!!!), veal, potatoes, cheese and bread, ‘Peach Fantasy’ dessert, and Angers’ own red wine. Also, I got a much needed taste of home with a couple Skype dates: Grace and Chris. Bonne nuit!

Day Seven: ESA

June 6, 2011
First day of school. Wake up knock from Serge at 6:45 a.m., breakfast, and then Serge was nice enough to drive Hannah, Brandy, and I to ESA. At ESA, we had another ‘welcome’ breakfast, first class lecture, and then went on a tour of Angers. We ate lunch at the university cafeteria (10 minute walk from ESA) then went to the town square. After, we stopped in a French supermarket, Monoprix, to pick up a couple necessities and headed back to ESA. #V(% BLISTERS. That afternoon, we had the privilege of sitting through a 3 hour lecture from the director of ESA. Just kidding. 3 hours+. Coming to France, I had every intention of being open-minded to experiences, and what I found is that that state of mind isn’t necessarily reciprocated by the French when it comes to our agricultural and business practices. It’s still too early to form anything but observations though, I’ll keep you posted. After school, we walked home. 30 minutes-ish. For dinner we had: shredded carrots with spices, couscous, a mussel and cheese casserole type thing, green beans, pistachio/praline custard, and vanilla marble cake. STUFFED.

Day Six: Next Stop: Angers.

June 5, 2011 

Woke up a touch late at the hostel in Tours. Oops. Not setting alarms right seems to be a recurrent theme so far, haha. Pierre, the bow-tied bus driver, showed Brandy and I to the 2^nd floor for breakfast. After, we hopped on the bus and set out for the Chateau de Chenonceau. GORGEOUS.  As if I missed it at Versailles, Chenonceau solidified the fact that the French don’t play when it comes to gardens. The chateau and its estate were gorgeous: lavish rooms, elegant decorations, fresh flowers in every room, two spectacular gardens, a wax museum, and its very own maze. Big fan to say the least. In addition, the chateau’s crest was gorgeous: overlapping, mirrored “C’s” with a crown adorning the letters. When I got to the gift shop I was disappointed to find there wasn’t any dainty jewelry showcasing the crest… then I found it. A delicate, gold chain bracelet with the crest stamped on a gold pendant in the middle. Definitely taking that one back with me to the states. Next: Chateau de Breze. Breze was different in the sense that it was two chateaus in one- one built underground into a layer of limestone, the other constructed on top of it. Breze was hosting a small medieval festival that day, so we were treated to watching townsfolk cook and gossip, brave riders on their armored horses, and Jill becoming the newest bride of a townsperson (until his actual wife caught him. drama.). Breze was smaller but nice; it has one of the deepest moats in all of Europe. We only toured the bottom tier of the chateau, but after touring we were treated to a wine tasting of Breze’s very own. We tried three: a white, dry red, and chardonnay/wine hybrid. C’est bonne. After Breze, we were bused to Angers- where we would meet our host family. I was nervous and excited, so I started singing a song titled: “Nervous and excited”… just kidding guys. However, I kid not when I say: Serge and Ghistline Priou = ADORABLE. No doubt about it. I had a good feeling after meeting/seeing them and could tell this was the beginning of something great. The three of us were excited and they were too- the ride home was fun/awkward because neither of the parties involved knew how to speak the other party’s language. Then we were 'home' – I could tell by my google map stalking abilities. Their home is split into three sections; upon entering, you find yourself in what seems to be an apartment style section.  To the left is a staircase leading to an upstairs bedroom, ahead a hallway to the patio with a shower on the right and bathroom on the left, and to the right- another bedroom.  Hannah and Brandy took the bottom bedroom to share, and I the upstairs. The bedroom layouts are quite similar: equipped with a bed, armoire, shelves, table, desk, sink, and food station (mini-fridge, microwave, and cutlery/ pots and pans).  Upon entering my room, starting on the left is a sink and mirror, table for toiletries, table and chair, sitting chair, armoire with my bed attached in the center (with a desk at the foot of my bed), a coat rack, two horizontal shelves, small cabinet with a microwave, mini-fridge, and table housing dishes. Our first meal with our family consisted of: bread, deviled eggs, mushrooms in what resembled spaghetti sauce, pork chops, potatoes, and cherry pie for dessert. We discovered they don’t know much English beyond “Cool!” and “No problem!” but they are really proactive. We also discovered that we know squat when it comes to French- here’s to quick learning and French classes!

Chateau de Chenonceau

To the left

On the left

Down the middle

On the right

Day Five: Versailles ate my cardigan.

June 4, 2011

8 a.m. Broke my deodorant. Nice. We headed out for Versailles around 8:30 a.m. As we arrived, I had to blink my eyes a couple times because what I was looking at was a city outlined in gold. Not a rumor. We started off in the gardens before our tour of the actual palace. I was so entranced by everything around me that I didn’t even realize the fountains weren’t running (they turn on at 11 a.m. everyday). It was absolutely beautiful. Not to mention enchanting. [It was about this time when I realized my cardigan didn't make it out of the gardens, even though I did. oops.] After our introduction to the gardens, we stepped inside the palace. The chapel was spectacular. The Hall of Mirrors was gorgeous. Marie Antoinette’s bedroom was as if it came straight from a dream. Heck, even the sitting rooms made me question if I was allowed to occupy the space necessary to tip-toe through them. Viewing Versailles only reinforced the respect I have for European architecture and engineering. It was absolutely, positively magnificent. After Versailles, we bussed over to Tours to stay the night. Hel-lo sketch hostel. Room 119 was more than slightly disappointing after the splendor we just stood in. Upon our arrival, we had a window of free time- so we moseyed around town. While exploring the town, we stumbled up on a couple doing drugs. Great. I got gelato with Hannah. Only not. It was regular ice cream and I was sorely disappointed with banana flavor I chose- not even comparable to the kind I sampled in Paris. We then went to eat at this cutesy little two-story restaurant Claire chose for us. It was small, but the waiter was cute. Even trade. We were surprised with 10 bottles of blush wine by the river. Only it started raining- cats and dogs, actually. The group was caught under a bridge for upwards of an hour. Our company consisted of a family and a troupe of what seemed to be homeless Toursians- bongo drum and all. After the rain relented for a tad, we walked/ran back to the hostel. Drenched. My nikes = raunch. Despite the rain however, we went to see the finest nightlife that Tours had to offer. Turns out that between Michael Jackson, a touch of green, and a splash of licorice, Tours can show you a pretty fun time. :)

“I don’t see nothing wrong… with a little bump and grind” – BLD, WPH

Just a taste of the gardens of Versailles. Magnificent.

Think we can get one of those in Round Top?

Crystal clear.

The infamous Hall of Mirrors.

"Let them eat cake"

Cheers, Tours!!!

Day Four: Mona Lisa's Smile

June 3, 2011

8 a.m.= Bonjour. I grabbed Grace and we headed out of the hostel in search of Paris’s Opera house. From the Opera, we walked to the place Vendome, a ritzy square equipped with fancy stores and ornate windows in every attic.  From there, we hit the Place de la Concorde that is home to the Obelisk as well as the guillotine that killed Marie-Antoinette, among countless others. Claire, one of our ESA professors, took the group on the scenic route. We crossed the Siene River and strolled through the gorgeous Jardin de Tuileries before entering the Louvre. The Louvre was absolutely unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to quite a few museums before, but WOW. I understand there’s no way I could completely appreciate the pieces of art showcased there and my knowledge of art is limited, but nonetheless- I could have easily spent days in there. And yes, I will confirm that Mona’s half cracked smile and eyes follow you wherever you go. The Mona Lisa itself was much smaller than I imagined from the numerous prints and copies, but it is definitely bigger than your typical 11X17. Stunning. However, I must admit that Nike was my favorite piece. After the Louvre, we had a touch of free time, so a bunch of us trekked back down by the Opera in search of a cafe, crepes, and shopping.  Claire reached her Parisian goal; then, we sat down for a bit in a café for a banana/chocolate crepe and water. Not from a tap though, oh no. Even though we distinctly asked for it three times. Typical. Next, we wandered into H&M- where we all scattered; I ended up finding Hannah, so we scooted off into the LaFayette Department Stores. I bought a coral, keyhole top in Zara (thanks for the heads up Katie! Their stuff is super classy:]). After, we navigated the metro to the Crimee stop and St. Christopher’s where I rearranged my suitcase, chilled, updated, uploaded, and chilled.  BREAKING NEWS: We found out that Claire was in a pharmacy by the Opera, as a male tried to rob it for drugs… absolutely crazy. For sure. I was just relieved she was okay. We ate at 9- then after we all planned to go out to a bar/club. We trekked down to a bar that part of the group went to the previous night. However, the majority of us were sadly disappointed with the bar; we headed back to the hostel- others tried their luck with a salsa club a local Parisian told them about. At around 2 a.m., some guys knocked on our door (I’m sure whichever girl opened the door thought it was some our girls who decided to go to the club trying to get back in) and said they were looking for “Natasha”- Brandy got out of bed to show them the door when their “Natasha pleas” got out of hand. Those guys wouldn’t leave our entire floor alone for quite some time… that lasted until about 4 a.m. Sweet dreams, eh?

“Guess who took one in the Louvre today” – BLD

Grace and I makin' moves by the Obelisk

Nike of Samothrace

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa

Texas A&M.

The Louvre

Department Store in Paris

Day Three: “For an old lady, I’m impressed for her age.”

June 2, 2011 

Wake up call at 8 a.m., ate breakfast, and then headed out with the group for the Champs-Elysees at 9. We started the day at the Arc de Triomphe- the group did its fair share of vogue-ing there. As we were leaving, I saw that Ken fell victim to a street vendor selling bracelets. After my encounter yesterday, I did what any reasonable person would do and tried to help him out of being swindled. As the man was putting a bracelet on him and I casually walked by and told him to take it off. As a result, Ken jerked off the bracelet pretty dang rapidly - then the vendor got really upset. Hence, I got cussed out for the first time in Paris. In English, nonetheless… He was quite proficient in his mastery of English profanity, I must admit. From there, we walked down the Champs-Elysees and saw tons of stores. Abercrombie and Fitch had the longest line by far- with its very own model as a ‘bouncer’. We then detoured to the Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower. After seeing the “Old Lady” we jumped on a train. Destination: Notre Dame.  Notre Dame was a sight in itself. Immense stone pillars. Beautifully constructed stained glass windows. Towering wooden doors with whirls of iron designs. Gargoyles. Attention to every detail.  After Notre Dame, we explored the Latin Quarter. From there, we walked for what seemed like for.ev.er… I was getting a headache from dehydration so I ended up buying a drink off a street vendor. Then, we lost Shane. Or... it was more like we discovered we lost Shane… We walked to towards the oldest square in Paris, place de Vosges- we viewed 18^th and 19^th century architecture and the University of Paris while en route. The architecture was absolutely stunning, and that side of Paris was more of the “real” Paris- less tourists and more Parisians hanging out/ going about their normal routines. The square was lined with shops with living quarters above- I stumbled upon one of my new favorite designers too. Also, let me mention that never have I ever seen so many people in a park so absolutely carefree. On the way out of the park, the group got split up and a little lost BUT we found gelato. And it was GOOD. I got a medium cone with amaretto, crème, and strawberry- cookie included on top. J’adore gelato= complete understatement. From, there we headed back to the hostel with miss Claire leading the way. The group discovered I sat in bird poop or some jazz like that on the walk back, so I implemented the use of my tide-to-go pen and threw on some skinny jeans. At the hostel we sat down for a split-second, headed to dinner (my table didn’t get any dessert but it was this flan jazz that they said we weren’t missing out on), and then away we went to the Eiffel Tower with Dr. Vedenov. LONGGG lines and CHILLY- but so completely worth it.  I got a couple pictures and then my camera died. FML again. But nevermind that- because when I got to the top, it was absolutely spectacular. Sure, we’ve all seen pictures of/from the Eiffel Tower, but a single picture cannot capture what it’s like to see it with your own eyes. Not even close. LONG lines on the way down too- plus the chill of the wind gave us all a run for our money. Outside of the tower, we thought we lost Shane again… and Claire... Cue Dr. Vedenov’s heart attack #1. We heard the metro closed at 12:30- giving us all of 3 minutes to get to the metro stop- but it was open until about to 1 AM. Thank goodness. That saved us the cab fare- but not our tired legs or Dr. Vedenov’s heart rate and stress level. I collapsed into bed around 2 a.m. Great. day.

“For an old lady, I’m impressed for her age.” -JER

“Don’t be alarmed, it’s just me and my bottle…” -DV

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower at Trocadero

Notre Dame Cathedral

Hannah and I with the Parisian nightlife

Day Two: 1664 white with a twist of lemon

June 1, 2011

Got up around 8 a.m., checked out, had another disagreement with the luggage room, and then had breakfast in the hostel.  Bread, butter, jam. small cup. real small. Met up with Claire downstairs around 9; we also met the two advisors from ESA, Claire and Gael, along with another girl on the FESIA trip, Megan. The now five of us headed out to conquer the Champs-Elysees via metro. Confession: I may or may not have fallen in love on the metro. He was blonde. Huge eyes. And had a great smile. He waved and flirted well. He was sitting on his father’s lap- must’ve been about three or so… complete catch. We exited the metro and ended up right in the middle of the Place de la Concorde: the area in-between the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe. First we went left through the Jardin de Tuileries and stopped short of the Louvre because we’re seeing that tomorrow as a group. We crossed the street to look at all the shops lining the Champs-Elysees. We found Angelina’s Tea Room (I’ll definitely be stopping there when I get back to Paris and meet up with Mitch). We arrived back at our original starting point by the Concorde, and set out towards the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way, we saw an Egyptian pharaoh and shortly after stumbled upon a film crew for a movie they’re shooting in Paris. We then got side tracked by the shops on the right, so we moseyed that way. #typicalgirls, amiright? We got sidetracked again at the idea of seeing Moulin Rouge, so we grabbed lunch at Julien, a sidewalk café. I had a chicken sandwich with a touch of really good horseraddishy mayo and a water; I think the girl gypped me out of a euro but maybe I can’t do math… let that one go- and again to the metro. Once aboard the metro, Claire found out that our stop to Moulin Rouge was under construction… we did a pretty big shuffle but we finally got there. Well. Not quite. We got a bit turned around (which isn’t bad for your first mix-up in Paris if I do say so myself).  We asked a police officer for directions- wrong police officer to ask- he couldn’t really tell us how to get to Moulin Rouge, but a nice lady did, so away we went. Before going there though, we took a detour to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur de Montmarte. It’s a huge basilique on the north side of Paris that offers a spectacular panoramic view of the city. As we started our hike upwards, the five of us were solicited by street vendors “selling” string bracelets. We dodged most of them, but a persistent vendor followed me. After several “no, no thank you’s” and him assuring me that “if I didn’t like the bracelet, I wouldn’t have to buy it’s”- I 'was nice' and let him start a bracelet. Hannah forcefully told the vendor we had to leave, I agreed, and he took off the unfinished bracelet, smiled, and let me go on my way. Hannah was quick to inform me of their ploy: the vendor will begin to make the bracelet after gaining your attention, then tie it on you in such a manner that you can’t remove it- forcing you to pay for the bracelet… and pay substantially more for it that it’s worth. After that encounter, we stumbled onto another. A male duo was putting on an acrobatic routine on the first tier under the basilique. They stretched to some Fergalicious and then continued with their show- which gave me some good material for the routine Mitch and I will perform after we meet up in July. Lots of hat tricks. Stay tuned. After that substantial hike (and seeing a two-story carousel) we made it back to the main road and made our way to Moulin Rouge. Definitely passed a plethora of G-rated shops on the way there. Finally, we spotted the windmill and knew that we made it. Granted, I’m sure it comes alive at night rather than the middle of the afternoon, but it was still a sight to see. After, we explored a French Starbucks (even more expensive than normal. Ugh.) and hit the Juarez line to St. Christopher’s. Brandy and I grabbled some Swiss ice cream at MK2 after we got off the metro and checked in for the second time. Thank goodness the elevators worked today- yesterday they didn’t- because our room was lucky number 504 rather than one on the first floor. Allie and Tess were the first girls to arrive after us for the FESIA trip. The entire group was scheduled to meet at Belushi’s at 6:30 for dinner- where we got the official ESA introduction from Claire and Gael.  Our waitress, Izzy, suggested our group get acclimated to Paris in the form of a Jagertrain- I’ll conclude that topic by saying she is quite persuasive. After dinner the group retired to our rooms, then met downstairs again at 8:30. We went to Casino, a French grocery store, and everybody grabbed a bottle of wine to drink in a nearby park. Tess and I split a bottle of blush wine -which was great until you actually swallowed it, it had quite a bite. We all sat in a circle on the grass that overlooked the river and drank our first bottle of wine in France. However, it wasn’t for as long as we hoped. A sketchy French male caused us to end our rendezvous early, and we departed back to the hostel soon after. As everyone got back to St. christopher's, we ran into Izzy and had a pint with her (1664 white with a twist of lemon). Highlight of the night: we talked Izzy into letting us leave our mark on the hostel. Jake drew a TAMU sign on a dollar bill and Izzy hung it above the bar at St. Christopher’s. Called it a night at about 1 a.m.

Place de la Concorde

Montmarte

Moulin Rouge

A-A-A WHOOP!