La ville de Paris

This is the homeless man on Rue St Michel holding his weiners. Dogs. It was so cold today, and the puppies were shivering. I wanted so badly to give them a blanket, or anything. Oh my goodness puppers... at least I know Zeb has a home and isn't at the shelter anymore. He is loved. (BTW: VOTE FOR POTTER LEAGUE. They are finally moving into the new building!! :) )I know the picture is tiny, but I didn't want to be completely obtrusive.





For Societe Francaise I have to discuss the city and the country of France. Am I going to just get up in front of the class and speak? No no. These are my ville and campagne mice. Guess who needs education classes ...

Aujourd'hui au Pantheon

Today after class a group from AIFS went to the Pantheon to tour it. Since I walk by the Pantheon every day to go to class, I figured I would take advantage of the opportunity of not having to pay to go in.









Got to see the man, Rousseau himself. Or the box he's in.



















And then I was a freak and laid where someday, someone will be buried.

I have an exam tomorrow, so I should continue studying. However, I wanted to put these up.

xoxox

Bonjour, Paris!

Took these this morning during Histoire de Paris. Bonjour, Henri IV! Good morning!

Bonjour, soliel! Good morning, sun! Loving the autumnal leaves at Place Dauphine.

Bonjour, quai! Sun glistening off the rain-covered sidewalk.

Bonjour, Seine! Not the ocean, but it's a body of water.

Bonjour, fontaine!

Bonjour, architecture d'Haussman!

Bonjour, Metro!

St Severin

I am taking a break from studying the past tense (controle mercredi - exam Wednesday!) and eating peanut butter and Tucs for dinner, so I figured I would update. Today for Histoire de Paris I got to present on this church, St Severin. Prepare to be educated. The bell tower seen on the left is the oldest part of the church which dates back to the 13th centure. The bell is the oldest in Paris - 1412 - and is referred to in a poem by Alan Seeger (who is that? I don't know either).




This is considered to be a flamboyant Gothic church because of its design.


















The stained glass windows in the tribune (uhh, the part shown here) are from the 15th and 16th centuries. They were removed during WWI for preservation reasons.











The pointed vaults are an indication of Gothic style.













The organ was installed in 1745. Yet another oldest in Paris?













Ohhh the pretty contemporary windows from 1960 by Jean Bazaine.

















Some people described it as "tres bizarre". Whatever. I like it.

















Ohh man check out these wicked awesome pillars. They are designed like palm trees, and it is symbolic of Christianity because of the Tree of Life, like the garden of Eden.

I'm a do the things that I want to do

Carmen and I decided to go out Saturday soir because dude, we just wanted to dance. The first club we went to, the only person dancing was the dj. The next place was a 20euro cover charge, and each of us only brought 10 so that was out. We walked down the street to an Irish pub, so I got to be with my people. A place where it is acceptable to be pale, gosh darn it!!! (Back story: Madame went crazy the other day because I didn't have make up on and looked pale in comparison to Carmen. Monsieur said "Carmen est italienne, Rebecca est anglaise" Yeah, that plus Irish equals a really pale girl. Awesome.)

Oh my pretty housemate!

Ummm... apparently the epitomy of our night.

Two wines and a tasty apple frost beer later, I was talking to a "cop" from I don't remember where and these two were hitting on poor Carmen who had the good sense to get us out of there.

Oh, look, my happy face!!!

Elf? Anyone?

Carmen and I refer to Friends on a daily basis. Does anyone recall the episode with Unagi, where Ross jumps out at Rachel and Phoebe screaming DANGER!!!!!!!! Funniest thing ever.

Quick "Salut"

Salut everyone. I promise I'll put up pictures from Paris soon. I found these and wanted to share though. This is the mini long haired dachshund that I met over the summer... I swear that's my next dog. I already have names picked out. There is a homeless man on Rue St. Michel who begs for money with two weiner dogs. I considered taking one and running, but I think I'm just going to buy dog treats and give some to the pups everytime I walk by. (You miss your dogs when...)



Paris is lovely. However, I am very glad that this week is over. Having phonetics made it a very challenging week because it was an extra hour of class every day. It is very exhausting, because after all these hours of class (and trying to stay fed for cheap, and trying to walk by store windows without buying everything,) you still have to get on the metro and make sure you're awake to get off at your stop. On top of it all, I have a decent amount of work which must be done all in French. At the end of the day, my body and brain are fried. It is nice to know I can sleep in tomorrow and take some time to get work done, as well as have some fun.

Is anyone else surprised at how quickly October has gone by? Whenever I get those homesick pangs (which happen more often than I would like) I remind myself that I will be home before I know it. 57 days sounds like a long time, but that's two months, and I've already been gone a month and a half. C'EST FOU.

VOTE FOR POTTER LEAGUE

Before I begin: This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the upcoming presidential election. It does have to do with something that really matters to me, so please read. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my pups. They also probably know the story about Zeb - I work at an animal shelter, no one wanted to adopt him because he's an old fart, I ended up bringing him home at the end of spring semester - blah blah blah.




Potter League for Animals is extraordinary. There are so many volunteers who come in to help take care of the animals because it is such a great place. Not only do they take in animals from around Aquidneck Island, they board dogs that cannot be kept by their families at the moment AND they take in animals from their sister shelter in the south. I've worked there, and I intend to become more involved once I'm back in school.




And so I ask you, please please please vote for Potter League: click here Type in Middletown, fill in RI and "Potter League for Animals" should come up. Please vote for them, this is an animal shelter that really deserves to win a contest like this. If it weren't for this shelter, I wouldn't have met Zeb-a-roo. THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am drowning in a digital sea

So here I am, procrastinating away. It is almost midnight and I still have to work on subordinate prepositions in the indicative. What does that mean? Not quire sure. However, I was listening to Thrice and I heard these lyrics and it reminded me of a picture I had taken in Angers, which is shown here. Enjoy!

A song from somewhere below

Deadly and slow begins

Both sickly and sweet

Now picking up speed

Ushering in the world's end

And the ghost of Descartes screams again in the dark

"Oh how could I have been so wrong?"

But above the screams the sirens sing their song

Mardi

Bonjour, investigators of my life. As for not updating, recently, um, oops. It gets very busy during the week, and then this weekend flew by. Here are some fun pictures though!!!































Saturday Carmen and I did some shopping. I found some clothes, and we both got tickets to go to DISNEY!!! That's what we are doing with our Halloween!! I am so excited.















































One of our missions in Paris is to find a good ice cream place. We want a place where we can walk away with our ice cream (not Haagen Daaz, we already did that) but Paris is not bountiful in their glaceries. We ended up getting McFlurries at McDo. Not quite what we were looking for, but MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.






















Sunday we went over to Place d'Italie hoping to find some good food. Little Italy? Nope. It's actually Parisian Chinatown. And the location of a strike that we got caught in the middle of. Oh, Paris.



























HOWEVER. It was an education strike! HAH. My overseas people!!! This dude was so empowered, he hung from the building singing.









































"less schools!
less teachers!
and the success
of all
our young?"
This was just the protest for education. There was a teacher strike about a week ago, and I suppose now they are making sure their point got across.






This is a sign in the metros that makes Carmen and I laugh.













On Blvd Grenelle by where I live. CUTE. Tonight Carmen and I are going to go hunting for food because we are very hungry, and then go to a cafe to get some homework done. Studying in a cafe? YAY. Okay, she just came bouncing in my room. Time to go!

Yawn

I am wicked tired and going to bed within the next five minutes, but I figured I should write something. I've been pretty exhausted the past two days, and today was busy and I didn't eat well... I ended up passing out when switching metro stops. I am fine, but I just want to crawl into bed and sleep now. I'll do my devoirs in the morning before class. I'll write more when I have energy and a functioning thought process.




"I'll turn this world upside down to get back to you"

Le vandalisme

D'accord, I apologize for the lack of updates as of late. I did not do much picture taking during the week since classes have been starting up and I have been spending time getting organized for them. I found a pseudo-Barnes and Noble to hold me over until I get home (it has 4 FLOORS!) and a cafe to go to for breakfast. Oh, and did I mention that in order to get to my cours pratique class which is held every day, I walk past the Pantheon? No joke. My life is incredible. So, here is an update!!!


Aujourd'hui Carmen and I woke up and climbed the Eiffel Tower. Talk about a morning workout. We get up to the observation level, and I find, a picture of New London?? What the heck, that's where my ferry docks!!




























The weather was like a spring day this morning.








































I love this city.








































Shadow of the Eiffel Tower across the Seine. There's a lot of itty bitty people because they were running a race. Of course it ended in the 15th district where I live, so taking a metro to see anything else was next to impossible. Sweaty, gross, smelly runners, grr.








































La Tour.

Devaloo, I lovee youu!!















As promised...


















"I called you from Paris to tell you that I
wrote our names on the observation deck
of the Eiffel Tower." Je te manque!!! :)












So after the best toning workout ever, Carmen and I went up to Monmartre to see the Moulin Rouge and had the best lunch EVER. It was a burger with an egg on top. I didn't even ask for the egg, they just gave it to us. I was so incredibly happy. I do enjoy eggs.









So now I have to do devoirs (homework), and then tonight is dimanche (Sunday) alors we eat with Monsieur et Madame. All that shall be done after a petit sieste, parce que I am incredibly tired. A bientot!