Welcome Back

My second day back in the City of Lights in no way resembled the first. After I woke up I headed out to mandatory meeting talking about all of the trips and activities that are available this semester and waited for them to finish to I could get my hands on the free food they were giving us afterwards, after all thats our only incentive for going to our MANDATORY meetings. Some things I missed about meetings like this include, the free food, the dry humor of Christina Von Koehler as she presents the ballets and operas to us, and Bryan's French translations.

Afterwards a bunch of the freshman guys purchased wine and almost all 200 of us boarded a boat to take a cruise down the Seine. Needless to say they caught the attention of the upper classmen who were overheard wishing they had thought to do that. But the person who gained by far the most attention was Matt's friend from home Brandon. We first spotted him running along the river next to us as we all froze on the upper deck and he followed us up the river and back effectively running three or so miles before our boat actually pulled over and he dramatically jumped from the shore to the deck of our boat. Thats one way to make an entrance.

Here's Brandon Running alongside the boat

I was planning on calling it an early night around nine after I made myself some dinner but I got talked into going out to International a Bar and small band venue that we frequent right down the street from us. We were lucky enough to get there early enough to see two bands playing this time. The first band didn't really do anything for me but the second one called 'Elephanz' was an awesome way to end our night out before heading back to Alex's room to end the night as always. Maybe it was the lyrics, "Not gonna give into the girl next door, I'm just paying attention to the busty whore" that kept me entertained but either way it was a good night.

Back in Paris

I arrived back in Paris yesterday at 10 AM after a 3 hour delay at the airport, which I'm so used to now I hardly even noticed. I didn't sleep, and in a groggy haze I landed, grabbed my bags and a taxi and headed back to Oberkampf chatting with my driver, trying to remember all of the french I'd forgotten over my 40 day break.

Upon entering my dorm it was just as I remembered it and I quickly met up with Allyssa and unpacked all of my things and settled in then headed over to NYU. It was kind of disorienting walking the familiar streets and walking around Campus, seeing all the new faces of the upperclassmen who may become my friends overtime for this next semester. After a short meeting at school I got myself my first crepe of being back and then came back to my room. I took a shower, only to discover it's broken...nothing changes much does it, always problem with slow fixes in France...sigh.

And then I proceeded to sleep for 12 hours and woke up around 6 AM this morning and I've been awake for 3 hours waiting for everyone else to wake up. Mandatory orientation activities today and tomorrow and then the weekend before classes start again on the first.

Excuses Excuses

Hey everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while and I was looking forward to posting last Thursday when the unthinkable happened; My MacBook Pro broke!!! Fortunately, I brought my old MacBook (also broken but useable) but all of my pictures are saved on the other computer. So I'm making due with what I have. But I'm going to check out the new Apple Store right here in Paris later today to get all of my problems solved!!!

But you may ask where I have been these past few weeks and the answer is...everywhere! Three weekends ago I traveled with NYU to the towns of Metz and Nancy in France, very close to the German boarder. I signed up for the trip last minute and wasn't really sure what to expect, but of course as always NYU pulled through and made what could have been a boring trip quite interesting. One of my favorite parts was the tour guide that I had for the English tour in Metz. He was adorable! And he had a cute story about moving to France because of his wife. I took a few stalker shots of him. : )

But beyond that, Metz was beautiful and then we took a side trip to La Maison de la Mirabelle where they grow Mirabelles which are some kind of fruit similar to a peach. I even posed with a giant Mirabelle. And the next day we headed off to Nancy.

Nancy was great mostly because of this great find.

That's right a carnival that just happened to be going on while we were in Nancy. I drank Van Chaud (Hot Wine) which is a typical drink for Noel or Christmas, rode some rides, and even won a stuffed fish and a lollipop.

The next weekend I took a break from the hustle and bustle of Paris and made a quick stop back home in Philadelphia to visit with my mom and with all of my friends I haven't seen for a few months. I went shopping and enjoyed some home cooked food and enjoyed speaking English all the time. But I found I kept saying "Merci" instead of "Thank you" I guess that's what a few months in Paris will do to you.

After saying goodbye to everyone I travel back to Paris...and then left again! This past weekend I visited the town of Grenoble, nestled in the French Alps. It was very scenic and beautiful though there was less snow than I pictured. After deciding to scale one of the mountains (in clothes completely unfit for climbing a mountain in 60 degree weather) we had a relaxing Raclette dinner on top of the mountain. For those who don't know what Raclette is, it is a dish of Swiss origin consisting of melted cheese and potato. Can't really go wrong with that.

The following day we headed to another beautiful town called Pont en Royans. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. This was one of the most beautiful places I have visited thus far in France.

And now I'm off to the apple store to hopefully fix my computer! Hopefully these blogs will start to be more weekly than monthly.

Au revoir.