Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Kitty souvenirs
If it weren't 60€, I would have bought kitty one of these collars to show his true punk personality. One of them even has bullets on it.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Placement Results
We got our placement results - I landed in "B2"/38.. which translates to high-advanced, I believe. I don't really know what this means for me at this point. Most people in the class were put into B11 or B12 (intermediate). I'm a little worried that perhaps it will be too advanced for me, but I'm very confident in my grammar. It's the oral comprehension that I have an issue with...
Similar to the way we say "gonna" (going to) - they mesh their words together and speak so quickly that its difficult to catch what people are saying on the streets. Its far easier in classes, where you have a general idea of the topic and oftentimes have a written reference to go from as well.
On Thursday, I have my oral test. I think I will place low for that.. I actually am hoping I do, because drowning in a lack of comprehension has not helped me thus far in my experience. I'd like to work from the bottom up, and really gain an understanding of spoken french.
Things have been going well lately, and we only have one night left of sleeping at Delph's (after tonight), so soon enough we will have our own personal space! We explored the 10th arrondissement a bit today as well, which isn't too far off from our apartment, and ate at a little place called Miam Miam - what they would consider to be the same as "Yum Yum" for us, where you can get a panini, drink, and dessert for 6€20 - only about seventy cents more than our usual lunch spot, with better desserts and warm sandwiches instead! The man working there was extremely nice as well, and it's not a tourist hot spot so they're much more patient in this area.
Tomorrow we meet for class in the Marais, and Wednesday we have off. Thursday our official classes begin.
À demain! Bisous!
Similar to the way we say "gonna" (going to) - they mesh their words together and speak so quickly that its difficult to catch what people are saying on the streets. Its far easier in classes, where you have a general idea of the topic and oftentimes have a written reference to go from as well.
On Thursday, I have my oral test. I think I will place low for that.. I actually am hoping I do, because drowning in a lack of comprehension has not helped me thus far in my experience. I'd like to work from the bottom up, and really gain an understanding of spoken french.
Things have been going well lately, and we only have one night left of sleeping at Delph's (after tonight), so soon enough we will have our own personal space! We explored the 10th arrondissement a bit today as well, which isn't too far off from our apartment, and ate at a little place called Miam Miam - what they would consider to be the same as "Yum Yum" for us, where you can get a panini, drink, and dessert for 6€20 - only about seventy cents more than our usual lunch spot, with better desserts and warm sandwiches instead! The man working there was extremely nice as well, and it's not a tourist hot spot so they're much more patient in this area.
Tomorrow we meet for class in the Marais, and Wednesday we have off. Thursday our official classes begin.
À demain! Bisous!
Nuit Blanche from Holly Norris on Vimeo.
Some random clips thrown together from Nuit Blanche, music is Intro by The XX.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Our quest for an American grocery store
We've been meaning to find one since we came, and though it's probably frowned upon, we decided to go on a quest for American food in Paris. What can I say, sometimes a girl just need a nice package of Oreos to come home to at the end of the day. So I started out with a google search, and this is my list of stores to visit:
The Real McCoy - 194 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris (close to the Eiffel tower)
Epicerie Anglaise et Américaine de Paris - 5 Cité du Wauxhall, 75010 Paris
Thanksgiving - 20 Rue Saint-Paul, 75004 Paris
Today we went for The Real McCoy - which turned out to be an exceptional idea. The store itself on Rue de Grenelle was closed, but it had a sign on the door which lead us around the corner (to 49 Avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris) to it's counterpart café, where they sell the same products AND prepared food. We walked out of Paris and into our own little slice of America. They have a plethora of foods we're missing... cereals, pop tarts, gushers, candy, oreos, popcorn, sauces. So luckily, we know we have access in a case of extreme deprivation, but it is very very expensive. A box of Kraft mac n' cheese is 4€50. The best part was that the two girls working there were American too! No language barrier!!! I ordered an "Extreme Burrito" and Audrey ordered a philly cheese steak sub, both with Dr. Pepper, and we were probably the happiest we've been since leaving. Comfort food takes on a whole new meaning when you're far from home.
We left The Real McCoy and traveled on up to Thanksgiving - another great store, and a bit closer to our new apartment. It mostly sold the same foods, but was a little bit cheaper. It carried Duff beer too, which was a funny edition. And vegemite! I've always wanted to try vegemite, but I don't think I would like it so I probably won't spend the 10€ on it. That's all for today!
The Real McCoy - 194 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris (close to the Eiffel tower)
Epicerie Anglaise et Américaine de Paris - 5 Cité du Wauxhall, 75010 Paris
Thanksgiving - 20 Rue Saint-Paul, 75004 Paris
Today we went for The Real McCoy - which turned out to be an exceptional idea. The store itself on Rue de Grenelle was closed, but it had a sign on the door which lead us around the corner (to 49 Avenue Bosquet, 75007 Paris) to it's counterpart café, where they sell the same products AND prepared food. We walked out of Paris and into our own little slice of America. They have a plethora of foods we're missing... cereals, pop tarts, gushers, candy, oreos, popcorn, sauces. So luckily, we know we have access in a case of extreme deprivation, but it is very very expensive. A box of Kraft mac n' cheese is 4€50. The best part was that the two girls working there were American too! No language barrier!!! I ordered an "Extreme Burrito" and Audrey ordered a philly cheese steak sub, both with Dr. Pepper, and we were probably the happiest we've been since leaving. Comfort food takes on a whole new meaning when you're far from home.
We left The Real McCoy and traveled on up to Thanksgiving - another great store, and a bit closer to our new apartment. It mostly sold the same foods, but was a little bit cheaper. It carried Duff beer too, which was a funny edition. And vegemite! I've always wanted to try vegemite, but I don't think I would like it so I probably won't spend the 10€ on it. That's all for today!
Nuit Blanche, 5 Octobre 2013
Nuit Blanche directly translates to "White Night". Indirectly, it means the same thing as what we'd call an all-nighter. Nuit Blanche happens once a year in Paris (beginning in 2001) and it is a big all night long event of art, music, and food all throughout Paris. The metro runs later than usual, and everyone comes out to see the different projects in each neighborhood.
We started out by heading to Pont-Neuf to see the most interesting-sounding event around 6 - four violinists inside four helicopters. I don't know much more about it than that, but we didn't know what to expect so we wanted to check it out. It turned out to be pretty anticlimactic, as the violinists were shown on a large screen (which I couldn't see) and then we just got to see the four helicopters fly by us one time, after about an hour of waiting.
At 7, all the bells in the city ring, and people join in with bicycle bells, hand bells, there was even an app you could download in advance that would ring for you.
Around 7:30 we met up with Delph and headed to Centre Pompidou, where we saw a strange German artist wearing a skirt and blush drawing on a large piece of paper while mixing things strangers were saying into a microphone. Very abstract, to say the least.
We then went on the search for falafel on our way to Place de la République for a Fog Installation. The wait for falafel was about 25 minutes, so we decided to go on our way and just eat something that we found. We ended up stopping at a little street café/restaurant, where we all got croque-monsieur and I ordered my first beer while here (1664). Both the food and beer were delicious.
We made it to the Fog installation, which was exceptionally less cool in person considering the mobs of people present, took some pictures, and left to come home (by this point we had been walking around for easily 5 or 6 hours). I'm glad I was here for it, and I'm glad we had Delph with us to guide us to the better places, but I do think Nuit Blanche may be more exciting as a native-french speaker with a group of friends. Regardless, we still had a great time.
We started out by heading to Pont-Neuf to see the most interesting-sounding event around 6 - four violinists inside four helicopters. I don't know much more about it than that, but we didn't know what to expect so we wanted to check it out. It turned out to be pretty anticlimactic, as the violinists were shown on a large screen (which I couldn't see) and then we just got to see the four helicopters fly by us one time, after about an hour of waiting.
At 7, all the bells in the city ring, and people join in with bicycle bells, hand bells, there was even an app you could download in advance that would ring for you.
Around 7:30 we met up with Delph and headed to Centre Pompidou, where we saw a strange German artist wearing a skirt and blush drawing on a large piece of paper while mixing things strangers were saying into a microphone. Very abstract, to say the least.
We then went on the search for falafel on our way to Place de la République for a Fog Installation. The wait for falafel was about 25 minutes, so we decided to go on our way and just eat something that we found. We ended up stopping at a little street café/restaurant, where we all got croque-monsieur and I ordered my first beer while here (1664). Both the food and beer were delicious.
We made it to the Fog installation, which was exceptionally less cool in person considering the mobs of people present, took some pictures, and left to come home (by this point we had been walking around for easily 5 or 6 hours). I'm glad I was here for it, and I'm glad we had Delph with us to guide us to the better places, but I do think Nuit Blanche may be more exciting as a native-french speaker with a group of friends. Regardless, we still had a great time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)