So much to do, so little time! As midterms approach and my consecutive weekends of traveling begin I am overwhelmed with the amount of things that I have to do. I am taking a short study break to tell you all about my recent adventures, and then I will go back to studying for my very first French test. I still think it is funny that I even have to take a French midterm – I mean, I am living in Paris. If I had not picked up any French by now, I would have died of starvation. I think I should be able to walk into class tomorrow and tell my French professor that I held a conversation with a stranger in the elevator this afternoon and gave someone directions on the Metro, and she should automatically give me an A+. One thing I have realized thus far, practical French is much different than French 101. C’est dommage!

My host sister Marianne had a friend in town from Spain this past week. We are all around the same age, so the three of us spent lots of time together eating and talking. I don’t think I have ever been as linguistically confused in my life as I was during these conversations. The combination of Spanish, French, and English (Sprenglish, if you will) had me so mixed up, I could not even tell what words were in which language. Like the ignorant American I am, I spoke the least languages out of the group. So the conversation was mostly English, scattered with Spanish and French. Listening for foreigners speak a language that is not their own made me realize the true value of immersion. But, after months of hearing broken English, I have come to the sad realization that my own English skills have been diminished by this trip. I am hoping this is a temporary side-effect, but please bear with me when I get back to America and sound as if I have zero linguistic skills. I am sure I will continue to use words that French people love to overuse when speaking English due to the French derivation, such as “oblige” and “content,” for which I apologize.

On a different note, this weekend was full of touristy-activities! On Friday, a few of us met at the catacombs only to find out that they are currently closed. This would have been extremely disappointing if it had not been for the delicious Greek sandwich place (a.k.a. KEBABS!) I found nearby. The line for Sainte Chapelle (the church with the beautiful stained glass close to Notre Dame and inside some very important government building) was enormous on Friday, so on Saturday morning we were first in line! The stained glass goes on forever and it is absolutely gorgeous. It is amazing that it is in such great condition considering it was built in the 13th Century. We then took a quick tour around Notre Dame before heading to Père Lachaise, the famous cemetery on the East side of Paris. Far less eerie than any other cemetery I have been in, the graves are all above ground and most look more like miniature houses than graves. Then we trekked over to the Sacre Cœur in Montmartre, the newest of the churches I visited that day. Although disgustingly full of tourists, Montmartre is a charming little part of the city built on a hill that is full of trees (I can see it out of my window!).  

After exploring Paris all day Saturday, Nuit Blanche seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore Paris at night! It is a night that museums are supposed to be open all night, and the metro is supposed to run all night, but I found out the hard way that museums are only open until 2 AM and only certain metro lines are open all night. We started our night at Buttes Chaumont, which is a beautiful park on the right bank that was built for the World’s Fair. This park is highly unusual for Paris, because you can actually sit on the grass, and it is fully equipped with a manmade waterfall and mountain. They had all kinds of special art installations in the park, and it was very lively and fun. We left after an hour or two and headed to what was supposed to be the center of the action, near Chatelet. At this point we all decided to find a café and share a bottle of wine. Good friends and good conversation made the time fly by, and it wasn’t until a little mouse joined us that we decided it was time to go. We then walked along the Seine, which was beautiful of course, and discovered all of the museums had already closed. We ended the night on the Champs Elysees and waited for the first metro home in the morning. All in all, it was a lovely evening. I have now rambled on for far too long, but hopefully this makes up for my lack of installments this past week, sorry Mom! More pictures to come, if I ever stop doing schoolwork for long enough to upload them. I leave for Barcelona on Friday morning, so stay tuned!