On a bus in the fog in a forest.

Welcome to what will be my last proper blog post from Paris! Tomorrow morning, I'll be on the Eurostar hurtling under the Channel towards home and I'm really excited- Mum's put all the decorations up, done most of the food shopping and will be waiting for me, with my sister, at St.Pancras. Yay!!

I can't really remember what I did last week before I went to Strasbourg to visit Sia, so we'll just start from there. The journey there was a bit icky, as I'd come down with a cold and spent most of the journey with a tissue up my nose. Sia was on the platform to meet me though, which was cute, and after heading back to hers for a little rest, we started my sightseeing tour.

I was quite excited to see the European Parliament etc and had compulsory pictures of me taken outside of it. They were in session as well, so God only knows what important things were being decided behind me (you can check on the website)

ridiculous fog!

We also went to this strange little zoo where I met some Strasbourg storks and a very curious looking duck. (there is a video of this, but it's 5 mins long..)After that, we headed into the city centre and I quickly came to the conclusion that Strasbourg is one of the loveliest cities I've ever seen, as well as being ridiculously Christmassy- there were literally decorations and lights EVERYWHERE, even on the cranes (building cranes, not the birds). Sia took me to this lovely little cafe where they do all sorts of tea and amazing cakes. I picked lemon and spice tea, but because I was so stuffed up, I couldn't taste it and it was just like hot water :( We rounded off the day with dinner at Vapiano which was excellent apart from the waiter thinking I said 'feta pizza' instead of 'the same for me please'. Is my French that bad?!

The following day we went on to Baden-Baden where we met up with Sarah. It was so cool (for lack of a better word) to get a bus in Strasbourg and just 10 or so minutes later, get off in the German town of Kehl. Baden-Baden is possibly one of the poshest German towns I've been to, but I still did some Christmas shopping, had lunch in a Chinese and dawdled around the markets where we had Gluhwein, of course. We spent a  good chunk of the afternoon/evening sitting in the famous Casino. We also tried our hand at Blackjack- I think the guy thought Sia was mental for buying 3 chips- and I won a tasty 6 euros! The day trip ended with us getting the wrong bus. We didn't realise for a while, until we could only see trees out of the window. Oops. We ended up in a town called Buhl... but we got home eventually. Sia and I watched Nativity! and I've had the song 'Nazareth' in my head ever since.

SO FREAKING CUTE

entrance to the Casino, Sia has better pictures than me so read her blog instead!

On Saturday, we climbed the Cathedral which was really tough and went to the Museum of Modern Art and were suitably terrified by some very strange videos. I enjoyed it though, mainly because I was with someone just as skeptical as me.

it's like a storybook

quite liked this - 'bit like Kanye West, innit'

Quoi le fuck?

 I tried my first Flammekuechen or tarte flambee that night- they're basically a bit like pizzas but very thin and instead of a tomato sauce base they have sour cream and onions. DELICIOUS. We went for dinner at a very popular restaurant with Sia's friends Nikita and Kat, who were lovely. I also bumped into Niamh! She was a party of one of Sia's friends...small small world. We finished off in a cocktail bar called Wakiki where the waitress seemed to get her sums wrong and we paid less than we ought to have done. Score.

Sia and I at Wakiki

flammekuechen

Sunday was dedicated to the Christmas markets, which were lovely and much more authentic than the ones in Paris. It felt so Christmassy! We had our last meal at a Mexican restaurant before going home, both grumbling about how early we had to get up (my train back was at 5.41 am.)

I arrived back in Paris on Monday morning feeling very Christmassy and refreshed after a long-needed break from the city. Niamh and I went to La Pagode to see a Chinese film which was very violent but quite enjoyable even though I did fall asleep for a bit but I blame that on the blankets that they give you...

Last night, we had a Christmas dinner at the residence which was really cute and everyone brought or made something from home. Naturally, I brought mince pies and there was only one left so hopefully they liked them. Mau gave me spices again but this time she'd thought of me and only put one chilli in the salsa so I didn't spend the evening coughing and going red. 

Elinor, Mau and Ines - will miss these girls!

So today was my last day in Paris and I spent it in a class, running around the St.Michel tourist shops for last minute gifts, sniffing various cheeses in Franprix for mum and packing the rest of my stuff. I also witnessed one last strange thing- there was a man on St.Michel bridge throwing sandwiches into the river for the birds. Yes, not slices of bread, but whole sandwiches.

Tonight, I'm off to say goodbye to Anja and Alexandra, who I've met for Starbucks nearly every week since I've been here. Sad times.

This time tomorrow I'll be in Essex again. Au revoir Paris!

xx

                                             

Bonus post (you lucky people, you)

Hello again hello

Just purely because I realised I'd missed out a day of sightseeing that I had a couple of weeks ago that involved the Rodin Museum, the Madeleine Church and the biggest and most chocolatey doughnut I've ever eaten (it was, quite literally, all over my face.)

the famous Thinker and the tour eiffel

I'm not the most arty person and I'm not usually into sculpture museums, but it was genuinely really interesting and the gardens were so lovely- have I found a new interest? (Probably not)

I had a little cry in here (I don't know either)

Now I will consume more ice cream.

x

Buying tat and pretending to be rich

Cou cou! (I hate this greeting, personally, but w/e)

The last week has gone stupidly fast and 3 of my lessons are finished! No more Gsell, no more Horstmann (cry) and no more Solem...the teacher of the horrendously horrible interpretation class. Which I barely attended and didn't really contribute to, but oh well. I feel like I made good use of my last proper week in Paris though and I really dragged last night out by wandering around by the river and sitting in a bus stop for 20 minutes before realising that N.14 to Cachan was only a night bus. Luckily, I was alone and no one saw me scuttle away to the RER.

Last Sunday, Niamh, Joe and I went to another vide grenier by Gare de l'Est. I think it's safe to say that this area leaves a fair bit to be desired but it was fairly successful in that I bought myself a miniature Chanel No.5 perfume (box and all) for 4 euros, a scissors pin for my big bruvva (he works in a jean tailor shop okay) an old photograph of Trafalgar Square, a Moscow mcdonalds pin and a Paris mirror for my niece (I bluntly told the seller 'I take it for 2', completely forgetting that future tense existed, apparently.)

a crappy picture of my quite crappy purchases

Monday started off as a very shitty day though I was cheered up by Joe and Niamh as per and we made Stollen for our last German lesson with Horstmann. It turned out ridiculously well and was bloody delicious. Though, apparently white marzipan is non-existent? We could only find pink, green and yellow. Okay then.

Fast forward to Thursday,because I can't remember if anything exciting happened in between. Elinor and I went to the La Defense christmas market but were quite disappointed. It was more traditional than the Champs Elysee one and I did chow down on a delicious Bretzel but it just wasn't very...German. Obviously. That night was the ISIT Christmas Gala that Joe managed to persuade me to go to (I really bloody didn't want to) but it turned out to be really good. I literally danced the night away, found a 'secret' room, put my foot through a chair and smoked in a 'fumoir', which I will NEVER do again. It was literally a room with no windows open. I might be a smoker, but ugh no thank you!

IT'S JUST SO BELLE

I didn't get to bed until 6am, which was unfortunate as I was going to the Galeries Lafayette with Elinor, for a free fashion show. I managed it sans incident though and it was well worth it, mainly because I can now say 'Oh yes, I've been to a fashion show in Paris.' Never mind that it was full of Japanese and American tourists. No one needs to know that, okay? 

me and the insane Christmas tree, again

Elinor had a class afterwards, so I had a little wander and decided to go to the opera house. There was a plan in the air to go to a performance with Ines and the others, but it never happened so I decided to pay 6 euros and a have a butchers myself. It was worth it, I just wish I could have dressed up and gone properly!

Imagine sitting up there! One day, one day

On Saturday, Niamh and I ventured to another vide grenier but this one wasn't quite as good and was mainly antiques. Saying that, Niamh did buy some more pins (she's got about a hundred now, I think she has a problem.) As usual, I was whinging about being hungry but Niamh was insistent we get to the church jumble sale she'd heard about. I grabbed a muffin and we took a pleasant walk through Jardin des Plantes where we stumbled upon one of THE most exciting carousels I've ever seen.

I wanted to ride it, but was persuaded not to

We did eventually find the correct church and it actually made me feel very home. Every year, Moulsham Street in Chelmsford has a Christmas parade and the church always has a Christmas fair, so this place actually gave me that warm bubbly feeling (never thought I'd say that about a church). I bought a nice shirt and tried on several pairs of boots (they were all 1 euro!!) but my calves are so horrifically large that they wouldn't go on my legs, fantastic.

After this, we walked to Les Halles and we sat in a 'Nabab' where I had a burger and Niamh pinched some chips. I don't know why, but I insisted on no sauce? Wierdo. It was a good burger though and prepared me for the long walk down Rue St. Honore to the Chanel shop! My sister sent me the money to go and buy myself some No.5 for myself for Christmas and I'm glad she did- I felt ridiculously posh and rich asking for what I wanted and watching as she wrapped it all up. I just hope she didn't notice the tatty carrier bag in my hand. Oops.

And so we come to Sunday, which began with a very hungover Joe eating a kebab at 11am and obscuring the tourist's view of Notre Dame. Hilarious way to begin our last touristy day together, I'm surprised he survived the 40 minute train journey! We got to Versailles (which looked like a really lovely town) at about 12 and barely queued, though we did have to leave our picnic (I say picnic, but it was really just biscuits and an orange) at the bag drop-off. Oh, France, all these beautiful gardens and we can't have a picnic. Versailles was incredible though and is probably one of the most luxurious, indulgent and ridiculous places I've ever seen, ever. The gardens were also beautiful, but as Joe wasn't feeling very sprightly we ended up sitting a lot and soaking up the sun- which was not a bad thing, it was refreshing to actually be in countryside.

beautiful...and a woman's butt

'this room is bigger than my flat'

Me and my horrendously large calves at the Palais

I must have been more tired than I thought because today I slept through my alarm and woke up feeling very poorly. I spent the day in bed before venturing out to Franprix to get some ice cream. Boo hoo, woe is me and all that...I just hope I feel better for Thursday as I will be catching a very early train to Strasbourg!

x

Whinging, basically

I'm running out of ways to start these posts, so we'll just stick with 'Hi'.

Since I last posted, I've not done much apart from nearly throw up from fear of a presentation, run around Paris desperately trying to squeeze as much in as poss, accepted that my name is Christy, drunkenly tried to rent a Velib (you have to register or something?! liars), being miserable from lack of sleep and spending 7 euros on potatoes at the Christmas Market.

Thing is, I am sad at the thought of leaving Paris but at the same time, Christmas is around the corner and I'm missing home comforts. I did have a bit of a tear today; I was standing on Petit Pont looking out over the Seine (obviously this is St.Michel, where else) and it hit me that this was coming to an end. I'm so used to having such a unique (code-word for fucking bizarre) city at my fingertips, I'm so used to seeing all the monuments that I can't imagine not waking up knowing the Eiffel Tower is down the road, I'm so used to not being able to eat a decent steak and kidney pie that I've probably developed an allergic reaction to it. Above all, I'm so used to the people around me. I swear, I'll be in Chelmsford and I'll just be like, ooh I'll text Joe and Niamh, see what they're doing OH WAIT. What about my weekly Starbucks with Anja and our random conversations in German? It's weird as well, because I'm one of only a few who aren't coming back to the residence after Christmas...so that means, they'll all be here again bitching about the trains and meat prices without me. Kinda makes you realise how small your own life is in the grand scheme of things, I guess.

WOW this is getting a bit heavy...on the upside of things, Paris is looking very christmassy and lovely, which gives me a toasty feeling inside! I saw a man on a crane-lift thing decorating the christmas tree outside Notre Dame, I've seen some gorgeous shop windows, lots of lights, and perhaps most exciting of all, have learnt that Santa's Village will be at St. Sulpice this year. Which is literally 2 minutes walk from uni. SANTA. I'm such a kid.

Galeries Lafayette

So what have I actually done this week? Monday was a German test I had not idea had, 20 French sentences to translate into German. No dictonaries. Are you fucking kidding me? Tuesday was hideous presentation day, but it's over now. It was awful, just awful, but it's done and I never have to worry about it again (that won't stop me). On Wednesday, it was Hannah's 21st so it was off to Earth's Kitchen (gonna miss that place too ha) where I don't even know how many cocktails I had, before Hannah and I realised we'd missed the last metro, so we wandered around looking for a bus. On the way, I furiously attacked a boris bike with my navigo, we climbed onto the ice rink on the Champs-Elysees, I attemped to climb on a horse, Hannah fell asleep on the bus  and we eventually made it home. Top night.

only time you will ever see me on an ice rink, relish it

Thursday saw me nursing a hangover in Bagneux McDonalds all by myself. Claassssy. It's only really today that's worth mentioning as I had another touristy day and saw some interesting sights, like this random Japanese Pagoda about 15 minutes from the Arc de Triomphe, a library that looked like a castle, a wall in Montmarte that has 'I love you' written on it in every language and an amazing shop called Tati, which I will be returning to. I was actually able to purchase some 50d tights, in my size, more than one, for 4.99. That's rare as rocking horse shit in most big shops here. I was well excited to get a couple of christmas cards that weren't 4 euros a pop and some present bags that mother will love.

pity about the bloody van

this is just really french

I also finally bought myself an oil painting from one of the sellers along the Seine, something I wished I'd done last time I was here so I'm very satisfied with myself. Can you guess what it's a painting of? Yes, well done, it's Notre Dame and St.Michel. 

Next week is my last full proper full week (well 3 days) of uni and my last long weekend here in Paris, so I have so many other little things to do- I REALLLY want to go to the Sewer Museum, you get to wear a hard hat and everything.

Laters x

Disneyland and other pictures of me being a tit

Bon soir! So yesterday I realised that it's now exactly 4 weeks until I'm home, snuggled in front of my Christmas tree eating my body weight in oven-cooked meals. Where the hell has the time gone, seriously? I don't think my French has massively improved, which is ideal. My confidence is definitely a million times better, but my actual ability to form coherent sentences still leaves a lot to be desired.

I did, however, backchat a beggar the other day (only me, right). Basically, he told the whole train carriage that Sia, Sarah and I were 'little tourists' to which I snottily replied 'I'm not a tourist, I live here!' That sure told him.

I've also realised that I have no idea what I've done in my time here. I've still got some touristy things left to do, I've only been drunk about 3 times and the farthest I've been out of Paris is to Disneyland. Which is still in the same region. Will I ever escape Ile-de-France? Yes, because in 3 weeks I'm finally going somewhere! I'm heading to Strasbourg to see Sia (and the Christmas markets) for 4 days, which will be lovely!

Saturday before last, I had a nice little touristy day all to myself; I went to the Catacombes (grim, but fascinating)

rows and rows of bones...

sums the whole experience up really

taken by a nice Russian lady

 I finally climbed Notre Dame! It was well worth the half hour wait and 400 steps. I'm not even being sarcastic (well, maybe a bit) but it really was quite nice. Did you know that the animal sculpture things aren't actually called gargoyles?! They're chimeras, the gargoyles are the drain/water spout things! I know right, fun fact for you all.

quite proud of this one, obvs a professional now

I also visited the Archaeological Crypt and learnt all about the Romans in Paris, no award-winning pictures of this I'm afraid, but I did find out that the massive aqueducts over the train tracks into Cachan were built by the Romans, how mad is that!



I rounded off my day with a nice visit to Napoleon's tomb.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

The following night, we had another soiree at the residence, which involved a hell of a lot of food. Everyone made something (apart from me, Alessandra and Elinor because we got the wrong day). Spanish omelette, fried potatoes, Greek salad, Czech potato fritters, smoked sausage from the Swiss-French border, hot milk and honey, and some scary Mexican lollipops that made me want to cry. I did try my best and even took a big bite but I just couldn't finish it. Mau did take a picture of my first lick...saying 'Don't worry, I won't put it on Facebook, I'll just show my mother.'

Watermelon and tons of chilli powder, why

Last Monday, Joe and I took a trip to Alfortville, which was, I don't mean to be rude, full of Gypsies. We did see a rather impressive Chinese pagoda hotel though and had nice walk by the flooded river, which made a change to being in a rush around Paris all the time. Got some fresh-ish air in our lungs, went to see the Francois-Mitterand library, which I really don't understand the fuss about? And then headed to the cinema to see Quai d'Orsay - think The Thick of It but less offensive and more French. Most of the jokes went over my head, naturally, but I did enjoy the fascination with highlighters.

This weekend just gone, Sarah and Sia came to visit, which was cute! It was Sarah's first time in Paris so we did the obligatory tourist stuff (naturally, the Museum of Erotic Art comes under that category).

Intriguing

We also had a coffee in Cafe des deux Moulins, made famous by Amelie, so I can cross that off my bucket list! Saturday arrived and off we went to Disneyland, wearing our Mickey/Minnie ears. It was literally freezing, but it was amazing, obviously. Thunder Mountain remains firmly in my list of favourite rollercoasters and I absolutely LOVED posing for pictures with a statue of Buzz Lightyear. My kind of day out.

CHRISTMAAAAAAASYYYYYY

Sleepy is my favourite, and the best. Don't argue.

Sia and I, smileeey

Sarah and I, Buzz fecking Lightyear and what

The weekend also went far too fast though and now I'm facing the last vocab tests and assessments of term, ugh. Though, I did beat a couple of French girls in our German to French translation test, so I'll be sure to hold onto that when I think all hope is gone.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the Saint-Denis basilica with Niamh, and then we're going to watch the Christmas lights switch-on on the Champs-Elysees. Which will be stunning I reckon!

A tout l'heure! x

p.s Sorry that I nicked your photos off Facebook, Sia, does this count as an acknowledgement? Please don't sue me, I can't afford it.

Madame, madame, exusez-moi madame, bonjour

It's been a while since I've posted on here properly, mainly due to laziness and the fact that my life really isn't that interesting. I've also left it so long that I don't really know what to tell you. I've been feeling quite homesick since Lewis and my sister visited, only natural I guess but it's been a tough couple of weeks. We've had a few tests and graded homework at uni and it's been stressful and I'm still awful at contributing to lessons (apart from my German ones, which says a lot about what language I prefer...)

Anyway, aside from feeling sorry for myself, there's been some good parts too. We've had a crepe party at my residence, which is just what it sounds like- just eating a fuckload of crepes really. I met a couple of Peruvian girls which was lovely and Mau, a hilarious Mexican girl, taught me to salsa which was a laugh.

international amis

I also had a 'cultural' Sunday with Niamh, which consisted of going to a jumble sale, visiting the Pantheon (where they keep all the important people's bodies, basically) and sitting in MacDonalds waiting for the rain to stop. I was a bit relieved with the jumble sale, as it's called a vide grenier and I thought we were actually going to go to someone's attic and rifle through their unwanted belongings. Which would have been a bit odd.

a really rubbish picture of the Pantheon

I've been out a couple of times too, back to Earth's Kitchen with the Hannahs and Hannah's lovely spanish flatmate. Managed not to get locked out this time. Joe and I also attempted to go to an Erasmus get together in Bastille last week but I can't even tell you how awkward it was. Everyone is incredibly clicque- y here. We said hello to a few people and then ran away to a cheaper bar.

Bit of a nightmare when I got home that night, as I realised my sister was arriving that morning NOT Friday morning as I'd started to think. Cue frantically (and drunkenly) doing the washing at 1am. I managed to collect my sister sans incident and we had a wonderful weekend together. We stayed in a very cute hotel a stone's throw (well, a 10 minute walk) from the Arc de Triomphe, ate some decent meals and walked everywhere.

from our hotel window, my camera skills are shocking

Naturally, there were some hiccups along the way -it wouldn't be my life otherwise. I actually had my first proper confrontations in French. One was with a beggar woman who practically tried to rob us and the other was in a restaurant in St. Michel. The food was rubbish and I tried to get our money back, didn't work but I held my ground for a good 5 minutes and argued the whole thing in very angry French.

We did a lot of touristy things as well, as it was Joy's first ever visit to Paris! It was actually really nice to see her excitement at everything, as it brought it all back for me. We ordered room service one night as well, which went swimmingly until I dropped it (a massive chicken sandwich) all over the floor. The poor bellboy said he'd get me another one, but then reception rang up to the room and said it would be another hour. "Have you still got the one I dropped?" is probably one of the oddest requests they've had in a while.

the one I dropped, complete with elastic band to prevent future accidents

Joy was also a bit shocked by the amount of beggars and homeless people here, but I'm used to it now. Everyday, someone will approach me or say to me as I walk past 'Madame, madame, un euro, madame.' In fact, I'm so used it, I've perfected the art of completely ignoring them, which is awful, I know but let me just quickly explain. A lot of them that roam the trains are just chancers (they have little printed cards explaining their plight), some are just evidently not genuine (I've seen people pretending to be deaf and then having a conversation with their beggar mates...). It gets to the point where you just don't bother to even try to work out who really needs help or not.

We said byes on Sunday afternoon and it felt so strange to know she would be back in Essex, with my mum, and I was going to be in my room in Cachan drinking chocolate milk and crying into my vocab books.

This week has been alright though, have spent most of it with Joe as we're both miserable and sans amis at the moment (my residence is practically empty because everyone is on uni holiday). Wednesday night we went to La Defense, which is the business district, just outside the city border. I actually love how they've kept it seperate from the city. It also looked like something from the future. Were we on the set for the film adapation of 1984? Must have been.

La Defense (from the Arc de Triomphe)

I did absolutely rien for Halloween except watch the Shining by myself and as a consequence, didn't go into my ensuite for about two hours, for fear of some axe murderer hiding in there.

Yesterday was All-Saint's Day and we attempted to be French by visiting the Montparnasse Cemetery. There didn't seem to be as many people there as we expected, but it still felt a bit cultural. (I'll keep telling myself that.) Then we went to the cinema to see Gravity which was INCREDIBLE. Except, we queued to buy our tickets and then had to go back outside and queue again to get into the film. This country, seriously.

I'm still enjoying being here, but I think I'm definitely getting a bit sick of the city. You're probably thinking 'But it's Paris, stop whining!', I know, yes it's lovely, but it's very stressful after a while! My horoscope said I should take a holiday....if only!

can you tell we're related? scary innit