Many apologies for not posting in ages, especially considering that I've been up to all sorts of adventures since my last post which I have not shared. However, I have an excuse...and it's very valid. During one of my adventures, during which I took lots of pictures, I left my camera in the backpack of one of my Rotary friends, so I wouldn't have to carry it around and risk setting it down someplace and losing it. And of course I forgot to get it back. And Rachel, the friend with the backpack, happens to live on the extremely dangerous and forbidden RER train line D, so I can't just hop on a train and get it back. However, I should be getting it back pretty soon, and as soon as I do I promise to upload all sorts of lovely photos of the lovely things I've been doing. So expect a sudden burst of posts sometime within the next month. Until then, suffice it to say that I'm having a lovely time and seeing lots of amazing things that I can't wait to share with all you readers!
lundi 31 octobre 2011
dimanche 9 octobre 2011
Versailles!
I started writing this post a while ago, but then had some difficulty uploading the photos, then forgot about it, so it's quite late...Sorry! Here it is, finally...My Versailles trip.
I'm watching Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette; so it seems like an appropriate time to write a post about my trip to Versailles last Sunday! It was a lovely day, perfect for being outside, so we spent the whole time walking around the gardens. It was gorgeous. We were there on a day when they had the fountains going, so we got to see the whole magnificence of the place. Being at Versailles was like going to Paris for the first time for me in that it was a totally surreal, is-this-really-happening, I-feel-like-this-is-a-movie experience. Especially later, as the sun got lower in the sky and started hitting the walls of the chateau, making the whole thing glow gold...It was incredibly beautiful. But I don't need to tell you about how gorgeous it was, you just look at these pictures...
I'm watching Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette; so it seems like an appropriate time to write a post about my trip to Versailles last Sunday! It was a lovely day, perfect for being outside, so we spent the whole time walking around the gardens. It was gorgeous. We were there on a day when they had the fountains going, so we got to see the whole magnificence of the place. Being at Versailles was like going to Paris for the first time for me in that it was a totally surreal, is-this-really-happening, I-feel-like-this-is-a-movie experience. Especially later, as the sun got lower in the sky and started hitting the walls of the chateau, making the whole thing glow gold...It was incredibly beautiful. But I don't need to tell you about how gorgeous it was, you just look at these pictures...
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| Crazy hair and a huge smile- a sign that fun is being had! |
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| This is the outdoor ballroom in the garden...The fountain was decorated with exotic shells brought back from the Red Sea by the French Royal Navy of the time. |
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| This is also at the ballroom...You can sort of see the exotic shells, along with the obligatory (this is Versailles) large ornate gilded thing. And yes, I know it looks like I have no eyes...It was really sunny, and I'm squinting in almost all of these pictures. |
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| Again at the ballroom...And me in the middle of saying something... |
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| Versailles, the gardens, the fountains, the glory |
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| Ditto... |
mardi 27 septembre 2011
Les Passages Couverts Paris
The Saturday before last I went with my Rotary club to see les Passages Couverts in Paris. I know this post is a bit late coming, but I forgot my camera that day, so I had to wait for lovely people from the Rotary club to send me their pictures before I could post. Thank you to Micheline for sharing the pictures I've posted here.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with les passages (as I was before I saw them), they are basically shop-lined streets covered by glass roofs and (of course, since this is Paris) decorated with beautiful art. The tour guide of course said everything in French, which I couldn't understand because she spoke very fast, but the Rotarians were very helpful in doing their best to translate for me, and with their pretty good English and my very little French, I was able to learn some interesting things. However, the most interesting part of the day was by far the beautiful art, so, without further ado, here are the pictures!
For those of you who are unfamiliar with les passages (as I was before I saw them), they are basically shop-lined streets covered by glass roofs and (of course, since this is Paris) decorated with beautiful art. The tour guide of course said everything in French, which I couldn't understand because she spoke very fast, but the Rotarians were very helpful in doing their best to translate for me, and with their pretty good English and my very little French, I was able to learn some interesting things. However, the most interesting part of the day was by far the beautiful art, so, without further ado, here are the pictures!
mercredi 14 septembre 2011
gqhhh; AZERTY
Trying to type on qn AZERTY keyboqrd is one of the ,ost frustrqting things I hqve ever done: I've been battling the AZERTY transition up until now, but I've decided that as long as I'm in France, I might as well learn the keyboard layout so I can work on computers other than my own without taking five minutes to find the comma. Since my computer obviously has the keys marked for QUERTY, this transition is rather difficult because I have to keep an AZERTY keyboard diagram constantly open in another tab and refer to it whenever I don't know where something is.
As I'm currently using AZERTY, this post has taken an inordinate amount amount of time to create, so I'm going to sign off now, but not before putting this out there...If any of my friends or family in the United States wants an idea for an easily mailable gift, next time there is an occasion for gift giving please send me AZERTY keyboard stickers!
Now, just for fun, I'm going to write a secret message by typing as if I was on a QWERTY keyboard but using AZERTY:
Thereùs q very zeird Qustrqliqn exchqnge student in ,y clqss qt school: Her nq,e is Qnnie; she zill be in Frqnce for six ,onths; qnd this is q shout out to her1
Best zishes to qll fro, Frqnce;
Sophia
As I'm currently using AZERTY, this post has taken an inordinate amount amount of time to create, so I'm going to sign off now, but not before putting this out there...If any of my friends or family in the United States wants an idea for an easily mailable gift, next time there is an occasion for gift giving please send me AZERTY keyboard stickers!
Now, just for fun, I'm going to write a secret message by typing as if I was on a QWERTY keyboard but using AZERTY:
Thereùs q very zeird Qustrqliqn exchqnge student in ,y clqss qt school: Her nq,e is Qnnie; she zill be in Frqnce for six ,onths; qnd this is q shout out to her1
Best zishes to qll fro, Frqnce;
Sophia
dimanche 4 septembre 2011
Maison Van Gogh
Okay, this is going to be a quick post with mostly pictures, because I really need to clean my room. So basically, the day before we visited Paris my host mom and sister took me to Van Gogh's house, which is about 20 minutes from my house. This is the house he lived in for the last 60 days of his life, where he did his best work and also where he died. It was an incredible thing to be standing in the room where Van Gogh died. I almost cried. It was very intense. We also walked around the village, Auvers-sur-Oise, which is quite gorgeous. So, without further ado, here's the pictures!
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| Lovely corner of Auvers-sur-Oise... |
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| Me, standing on a stairway in said lovely corner.... |
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| And Van Gogh's painting of said lovely corner! |
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| The Hotel de Ville of Auvers-sur-Oise.... |
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| And Van Gogh's take on the Hotel de Ville of Auvers-sur-Oise! |
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| Me in front of the Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh rented a room for the last 60 days of his life. He lived in a small room upstairs. |
mardi 30 août 2011
Paris!
Yesterday...I went...to...Paris!!! There aren't enough exclamation points in the world for me to express my happiness. It was everything I imagined, and, considering that I've spent a lot of time building up Paris in my imagination, it's pretty impressive that it lived up to my expectations. It was like being in a book or a movie. I knew that Paris had an extremely high concentration of beautiful historical landmarks, but the sheer amount was still staggering, when I saw it first hand...You could stand on the oldest bridge in Paris, built by Henri IV, and see the Eiffel Tower, the Conciergerie (which started as a palace, became the prison where Marie Antoinette spent her last few months, and is now a museum), the oldest public clock in Paris (600 years old, still working), the Palais Conti (former national mint), and Notre Dame de Paris, all at the same time. And that's just what you could see from one spot, in the immediate area. And even if a building wasn't historical or breathtakingly magnificent, everything was at least beautiful. Even the brickwork on the streets was in a fish-scale pattern instead of just straight rows. It's still hard for me to wrap my mind around the sheer volume of beauty.
Anyway, here's some chronologically placed pictures of my day:
These pictures show just a sample of the incredible things I saw while in Paris. And, while I spent the whole day there, there is still so much more I need to see! I hope to have the opportunity to visit this amazing (and, luckily, nearby) city many more times. Merci beaucoup to Mike and Alizee, my host father and sister, for giving me an amazing experience of Paris. Also, to give credit where credit is due, many of these pictures where taken by Alizee, who is an amazing photographer. I took my own pictures, but hers are so much better I decided to use them :)
Thanks for reading!
Sophia
Anyway, here's some chronologically placed pictures of my day:
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| The first big landmark I saw was the Eiffel Tower. We rode the RER train into Paris, and in the area approaching Paris, the train is in a tunnel. So we come out of this tunnel and suddenly, we're in Paris and THERE'S THE EIFFEL TOWER. Just like that. Then the first thing we did after getting off the train was go climb the tower. I didn't get all the way up to the top, but I did get to the third level. It was pretty amazing- you can see all of Paris. |
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| Including this... |
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| Me, I think on the second level. |
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| From the (almost) top of the Eiffel tower, looking down...This one's for you, Sean. |
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| After the Eiffel Tower, we walked around a bit. This statue is one of many in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower. |
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| Me again. Just to prove I was there ;) |
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| Next, we made our way to Notre Dame de Paris, which was absolutely awe-inspiring. It was massive, extremely old, and you could spend a lifetime just observing the sculpture on the exterior. Just outside of this picture there was a very old statue of Charlemagne that looked like it belonged in Gondor. |
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| If the outside of the church was amazing, the inside could only be described as magnifique. The size itself was mind blowing. This church is so big, it contains the main church and then at least a dozen chapels on the side. Art covered everything, and the whole place was lit only by the famous stained glass windows and saint's candles you could light for a donation of 2-5 euro. I didn't light a candle, but I did buy a Notre Dame medal for 2 euro. This church is one of the most awe inspiring things I have seen in my life. |
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| Aaaaand...I saw this, and I was gone. As my host dad said, "You saw "Shakespeare" and zip!" I ran towards this store like my life depended on it. This is a very beautiful bookstore, full of antiquarian and/or English language books. Of course, the books are very expensive because they are in English, but it was very fun to look. |
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| A bridge we saw while walking along. I don't have pictures of this, but one of my favorite things we encountered while walking along was the booksellers selling mostly antiquarian books out of green metal stands on the sidewalk. It was very classic Parisian. |
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| Next we went on one of the bateaux mouches, the boats that go on tours up and down the Seine showing passengers notable sites along the way. The guide would repeat everything in French and English, so I was able to understand, and I learned some very interesting things. We went under some of the most beautiful bridges in the world, each with a different mythology attached to it which the guide would explain. Here I am with my host dad, passing by the Eiffel tower. |
Thanks for reading!
Sophia
dimanche 28 août 2011
Long time no post...
Sorry for the lack of posting, I've been wanting to focus on my French and getting to know my host family. The only reason I'm posting now is because it's currently 4:14 in the morning here, I've been up since 1 in the afternoon (23:00 here), I'm dead tired, and I cannot get to sleep. Jet lag creates unhappy situations where my brain is screaming, "I need to rest!!!" while my body clock obstinately refuses, saying, "It's only 7:20, you shouldn't be asleep for at least four hours yet." So here I sit, updating my blog at 4:20 in the morning when I shouldn't be waking up for at least four hours yet.
Anyway. Here's an email I wrote to my familysubscrib excit describing (see how tired I am?) my trip in and my first impressions of France. My mom suggested I use it as a blog post, so here it is!
I am already having a lovely time here in France. Both flights went well, and the flight across the country to Philly was a glorious way to say goodbye to the US. Going over the midwest was gorgeous, the fields are so flat and square that it looks like a tiled floor. Pennsylvania was also beautiful from above. I spent most of the first flight staring out the window!
The transfer went fine, except for a brief scare when I thought I had forgotten my visa card, which was a rather important thing to have...but it all turned out, and I boarded the plane with everything I needed.
The flight to France was mostly spent reading The Count of Monte Cristo, though I also played a trivia game on my video screen and used said screen to monitor the plane's progress using the GPS app. I managed to get about four hours of sleep. The last hour before landing was spent talking with my neighbor, who was a Frenchman returning to Paris from Baltimore where he was doing stuff with physics. Turns out he was born in Algeria, so he speaks both French and Arabic...and he just happens to be seated next to me. And French and Arabic are the two languages I want to learn. I love fate. Anyway, he gave me some great advice about places to go in Paris.
That early morning portion just before landing was amazing...the fields were were flying over were so picturesque, so french, and there was mist hanging over everything...tres jolie. And the moment the plane's wheels touched to runway was magical. Finally, I am in France!
After disembarking the aircraft I promptly realized that the plans for meeting Mike were rather fuzzy, so I got rather panicked and kept desperately trying to find someone who either spoke English or could understand my terrible French. I got all the way to the baggage claim area (Customs was super easy...the guy looked at my passport for about ten seconds, stamped it, and I was on my way) before I finally found got up the courage to use my little French. Turns out he knows Mike, my host dad, so he could lead me to the right place. I am proud to say that I spoke at least three, maybe four full sentences of French to the nice man, explaining the situation, and he understood!
After we found Mike and the Rotary people, I shook hands with all of them, had my picture taken, and set off for home. Mike's spoken English is actually quite good, so we talked on the way home and helped each other with a few words (steering wheel, flour, ect). First place we went was the bakery to get breakfast...leaving with two bags of pastries and three baguettes, apparently a normal haul for the average French family. Then home for breakfast (tea, orange juice, and pastries). Michel has three clocks set up in the living room, one for Paris time, one for Seattle time, and one for Mexico time (since their daughter Maeva is in Chihuahua City while I am here), which is useful.
My neighborhood is just like the stereotypical French village. The streets are tree lined, the houses all have functional shutters, and there's a tiny bakery and grocery shop down the street. Pictures coming soon!
I'm starting to feel guilty for using this much English, so I'll wrap it up. I'm already having an amazing time here, and I think there are many more amazing experiences waiting in my future!
Anyway. Here's an email I wrote to my family
I am already having a lovely time here in France. Both flights went well, and the flight across the country to Philly was a glorious way to say goodbye to the US. Going over the midwest was gorgeous, the fields are so flat and square that it looks like a tiled floor. Pennsylvania was also beautiful from above. I spent most of the first flight staring out the window!
The transfer went fine, except for a brief scare when I thought I had forgotten my visa card, which was a rather important thing to have...but it all turned out, and I boarded the plane with everything I needed.
The flight to France was mostly spent reading The Count of Monte Cristo, though I also played a trivia game on my video screen and used said screen to monitor the plane's progress using the GPS app. I managed to get about four hours of sleep. The last hour before landing was spent talking with my neighbor, who was a Frenchman returning to Paris from Baltimore where he was doing stuff with physics. Turns out he was born in Algeria, so he speaks both French and Arabic...and he just happens to be seated next to me. And French and Arabic are the two languages I want to learn. I love fate. Anyway, he gave me some great advice about places to go in Paris.
That early morning portion just before landing was amazing...the fields were were flying over were so picturesque, so french, and there was mist hanging over everything...tres jolie. And the moment the plane's wheels touched to runway was magical. Finally, I am in France!
After disembarking the aircraft I promptly realized that the plans for meeting Mike were rather fuzzy, so I got rather panicked and kept desperately trying to find someone who either spoke English or could understand my terrible French. I got all the way to the baggage claim area (Customs was super easy...the guy looked at my passport for about ten seconds, stamped it, and I was on my way) before I finally found got up the courage to use my little French. Turns out he knows Mike, my host dad, so he could lead me to the right place. I am proud to say that I spoke at least three, maybe four full sentences of French to the nice man, explaining the situation, and he understood!
After we found Mike and the Rotary people, I shook hands with all of them, had my picture taken, and set off for home. Mike's spoken English is actually quite good, so we talked on the way home and helped each other with a few words (steering wheel, flour, ect). First place we went was the bakery to get breakfast...leaving with two bags of pastries and three baguettes, apparently a normal haul for the average French family. Then home for breakfast (tea, orange juice, and pastries). Michel has three clocks set up in the living room, one for Paris time, one for Seattle time, and one for Mexico time (since their daughter Maeva is in Chihuahua City while I am here), which is useful.
My neighborhood is just like the stereotypical French village. The streets are tree lined, the houses all have functional shutters, and there's a tiny bakery and grocery shop down the street. Pictures coming soon!
I'm starting to feel guilty for using this much English, so I'll wrap it up. I'm already having an amazing time here, and I think there are many more amazing experiences waiting in my future!
mercredi 24 août 2011
mardi 16 août 2011
One Week
It's one week to the day before I leave, and I must say, it's a pretty crazy thought! One week from now, I will be in Paris. Today I'll be having my last Rotary meeting with my sponsoring club and my last French lesson. It's a weird time right now, because the whirlwind has calmed slightly- I have all the documents and everything that I need, so there's no running about frantically gathering applications and forms and papers of all kinds. So now it's just calm, and all I have to do is wait. I've been doing a lot of sewing (one of my hobbies), reading (The Count of Monte Cristo, which I am reading in English since, alas, I am as yet unable to read it in the original French), and being with my family and friends. Since I've been preparing to leave, I've really been appreciating the people and places of home. At the same time, though, I'm looking forward to meeting new people, going to new places, and making a new home in France!
vendredi 12 août 2011
Visa!
My visa arrived! Happy dance! I have every document I need. All I have to do now is pack and get on the plane. And less than two weeks until I do!
So I'm pretty much freaking out. It's actually weird, I expected at this point to be in a sort of constant state of excitement and happiness, but what's really happening is I'll be just normal, going about my life...then something will remind me of France or exchange or planes or anything remotely related to my trip, and I'll start squealing and jumping up and down with happiness.
Eleven days!
So I'm pretty much freaking out. It's actually weird, I expected at this point to be in a sort of constant state of excitement and happiness, but what's really happening is I'll be just normal, going about my life...then something will remind me of France or exchange or planes or anything remotely related to my trip, and I'll start squealing and jumping up and down with happiness.
Eleven days!
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