L'Adventure Parisian

I'm home... and I'm bored...

PS. Miss Connie... I hope to get some of Alicia's pictures on here some time tomorrow, so make sure you check them out: http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l62/jerileeinparis/

I only have a few days left, so I'm trying to cram everything in that I haven't done yet! Saturday, Whitney and I went to St. Chapelle, St. Sulpice, and the Consiergerie. And yesterday, I went with a big group to Disney!! We had an amazing time and rode everything! Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster is my new favorite ride. Pirates of the Carribean was pretty amazing too, and Indiana Jones was really cool. A lot of the rides are the same as Orlando, but a lot are really different. We had a great time!

Today, I had class and hung out around here. Then, Alicia, Warren, Corey, Josh, and me went to the Arc de Triomphe at night and went to the top! I'm really beginning to hate stairs!

I'm really starting to get ready to come home, but I'm definitely going to miss this place!

This ,orning; zhitney qnd <i zent to St: Chqpelle; St: Sulpice; qnd the Consiergerie: I q, qt qn internet cqfe noz; qnd I q, leqrning thqt i hqte the french keyboqrds&&&

I'm back from Ireland. We had a blast! We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Jesus Christ Cathedral, Trinity College, the Natural History Museum, Temple Bar, Malahide Castle, O'Connel Street, Phoenix Park, the second oldest zoo in the world, the coast, and the Guinness factory. Everyone but me and Neil saw Riverdance, but we didn't want to spend the money, so we found cheap and free things to do while they watched the show.

Yesterday, Alicia and I climbed to the top of Notre-Dame and today we accidentally climbed to the top of Sacre-Coeur. We hurt!! We didn't mean to go to the top of Sacre-Coeur, we were trying to get to the crypt!

We also went to a museum today. It was a brand new museum called Quai Branly and it was full of artifacts from the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Really cool.

I still have a lot to do before we leave, but I'm starting to get ready to go back to America and see everyone that I miss!

I love y'all!!

We are in Ireland! We got here this morning and have been going non-stop! We checked into our hostel and went for a walk around the city. Then we decided to do a bus tour. Tomorrow we are going into the countryside to visit a castle!

Our hostel is really nice--for a hostel. We have internet and TV! We just watched an episode of "My Super-Sweet Sixteen". It is really nice to be in a country where everyone speaks English!

I am with a great group of people. Danielle, Charis, Tyler, Neil, and my roommate, Whitney. We have been laughing constantly at Neil's impersonations of both the French and the Irish.

Irish people all look like they just walked away from a bar fight. They all have bandages on their faces and black eyes!

We are having a great time! Hopefully, since we have internet here, I will be able to update again tomorrow after our excursion.

I love you all!!

Wow! A lot has happened since Bastille Day!

Saturday, Whitney and I went to les Invalides where we saw Napolean's tomb. It was massive! It's a lot of tomb for just one man! Then we went to the Rodin Museum where we saw the Thinker and the Gates of Hell. Fun times.

Sunday, I went to Normandy with Whitney, Becky, Warren, Alicia, Brian, and Jenny. We had a really good time. The countryside was beautiful!

Monday, several of us went to La Defence to watch Superman in English on the biggest imax screen in the world.

Tuesday, Alicia and I went to Notre-Dame and the surrounding area. Notre-Dame was beautiful! I still have two churches I want to go to: St. Chapel and Sacre-Coeur.

Yesterday, Jenny and I went to the Louvre and the Tulerie gardens. It was all very pretty. We saw the Mona Lisa, which is in a glass case, behind a wooden barrier, another wooden barrier, and a rope! I saw a girl get drug out after she tried to take a picture!

Today, I went to d'Orsay and l'Orangerie. Both were really pretty. We are going to Ireland tomorrow, so I think I'm just going to stay in tonight and listen to this performance by some of the music students from our group.

I love you all!!

Happy Bastille Day!! We went to the military parade this morning at the Champs-Elysees. It was so funny! It started out with Jacques Chirac riding through on a military tank. Then every plane in the French airforce flew over. Then every military vehicle that France owned raced down the street at full speed. We tried very hard not to laugh because we didn't want to seem disrespectful, but it was so funny watching those tanks flying down the street at ridiculous speeds!

The French were letting people crawl on top of their tanks to take pictures. Natalie and Warren were the only ones brave enough to climb up there from our group. I have pictures of them that are hilarious.

Tonight, we're going to watch fireworks at either the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. Then we're going to the fireman's ball. We're told that it's something we don't want to miss. I'm worried about the fireworks though, because Dr. Carter told us to be careful. It seems that the French like to through fireworks at each other rather than into the air!

Last night, we went to the Champs and just kind of walked around and watched people getting ready for the parade today. We went into a store called Peugeot and looked at the cars on display. We saw the Louis Vutton store and a lot of other really expensive stores. Then we went to the Arch of Triomph and took pictures.

After I left the Pompidou Center yesterday, I came across a really old church called St. Eustache. It was beautiful! A girl greeted me when I walked in and told me that they do free tours every day. She said it is the biggest church in Paris. (Notre-Dame is a cathedral.) I was really glad that I stumbled across it.

France is crazy today. A tank just drove by McDonlad's! I miss you all!!!

Hello, tous!

I am sitting in the Centre Pompidou right now. My field trip was here today, so I've been looking at art all morning. Some of it is amazing, but some of it is not really art, in my opinion. But I guess I'm supposed to learn that anything can be art, so I'm keeping an open mind. The best thing about this place is that there is free wifi, so I'm taking advantage of that!

My field trip is technically over now, so I have the rest of the day free. I'm thinking of going to the Rodin museum, if I can find it. It's supposed to be one of the best museums here. I need to catch up on my art-seeing. I haven't even been inside the Louvre yet, though I have been to the outside of the Louvre.

This morning we went to a cafe called "Le Select." It is the place where Hemingway wrote "The Sun Also Rises." It was very expensive, so I just got a coffee for two-and-a-half euros. I think I'm about to go try to find something to eat now.

Oh, Mom, you're going to love this: On the way here, we passed a place called "Le Pied de Cochon." Translated, it means "Pig's Foot." I had heard about it before, so I got really excited. It is supposed to have the best (French) onion soup in Paris. It is open 24 hours a day, and supposedly it becomes packed at around 2am to 4am with people leaving the bars and going there for soup. It's no Boar's Head, but I think I might try it for lunch and see how it compares.

Well, I miss you all and I hope to hear from y'all soon either on here or through my email: jlhall@uga.edu.

Love y'all!!

London was so much fun! We got there on Friday and went to Mary Poppins. The show was AMAZING! Mary flew over the audience, and Bert tap danced on the ceiling of the stage! I'm really glad that I chose that play to go see because it was set in London, and Disney really went all out in the set design.

Saturday, we went sight-seeing. We saw Big Ben, Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, and the changing of the guard. We ate fish and chips and met some really nice people. I was popular with the boys in London. I think it's because people don't really place much importance on tooth-care in England, so when they see a person with decent teeth, they think it's amazing. It was nice to speak English for a few days and London was incredible, but I'm really happy to be back in Paris! There is a lot more to do and see here and everything is so much prettier. Plus, the cost of living is a lot cheaper here, so I can save a lot more money!

We went to Versailles today. It was absolutely beautiful! It was incredibly crowded there, though, so that was a little dissappointing. Everywhere we went, we were pushed around. After Versailles, Jenny and I did some window shopping and watched some artists painting, which was fun. Last night, we decided we all needed to have a crepe in Paris, so Alicia, Jenny, Warren, and I went to this little crepe stand and all ate a crepe. They were delicious. Somehow, Warren got my camera and started taking tons and tons of pictures of us girls as we were walking down the street eating crepes. The Parisians started following us like we were celebrities and he was the paparazzi. It was hilarious, and we all got started laughing and couldn't stop. I have about 50 pictures of us laughing hysterically and Parisians staring at us like we're crazy!

Scotty, so far, I have gotten you a rock from Paris, London, and Versailles.

Mom, there should be a link to my pictures under "scrapbook" or "gallery", but I'm uploading all my pictures to: http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l62/jerileeinparis/
-- See if you can find them and let me know.

I love you all!!!

Yesterday was a lot of fun! After our 8:30 class, Alicia and I went to les Catacombs. It was crazy! So many bones! And, it was really cold underground, so that was a nice little break from the heat. It stays pretty hot here until about 6:00, so any cool air we get, nous adorons!

After the Catacombs, though, my feet were aching. I’ve been doing so much walking since we got here that I’ve rubbed blisters between my toes. I wear flip flops everywhere in the states, but here, I guess my feet sweat more or something. I was trying to wait and see if the blisters would go away, but today I couldn’t take it anymore and I broke down and bought a pair of tennis shoes. I wear a size 40 shoe in France.

The night before last, Doug, Warren, Alicia and I went out to celebrate Independence Day. We had heard that Hard Rock was having a celebration for Americans in Paris, but when we got there, it was full, so everybody decided they would just eat McDonald’s since it is an American staple. McDonald’s here isn’t as greasy as McDonald’s in the U.S.

Last night, Jenny, Alicia and I went out with almost all the girls who were with our group to go watch France play Portugal at Haggan Das. We all wore blue and screamed, "Aller Bueu!!" and "Viva la France!!" with the French people who were there. They loved that and tried to teach us more cheers. Afterwards, most everyone decided they were going to this Canadien bar down the street, but Alicia and I took the Metro back to the FIAP because she had to catch a train this morning and I had a field trip. I was glad we left when we did, because the Metro closed at about 1:00 and several of the girls didn't get home until about 9:00 this morning. Some of them even missed their field trips. CRAZY!! France was absolutely INSANE last night after we won the game!! I've never seen anything like it!!

Today, I had another field trip. We went to a medieval museum that I never would have known about or gone to myself. It was really cool. It was called the museum de Moyen. There were a lot of Christian relics dating back to the 1200s. Statues, tapestries, crosses, etc.

Jenny and I just went and had gelato down the street. It was tres bien! We made a new friend who worked there. She was a French girl who was really interested in knowing where we were from and why we were in Paris. Between her broken English and my broken French, we were able to have a semi-conversation. I actually understood a lot of what she said, but it was just because she spoke really slow and said simple words.

I have not run into a rude person yet. We try to speak French, and the French people seem to love that. They help us out and teach us phrases. Alicia had to use another really weird bathroom today at the shoe store that was unisex. There were men using the urinals at the same time she was in a stall. I didn’t see it though because I was trying on shoes.

I'm going to London tomorrow. Going to ride through the chunnel and see "Mary Poppins." I'm really excited! However, the exchange rate right now is horrible! For every dollar I spend in London, I will only be able to get fifty cents worth of stuff! Needless to say, my one and only splurg in London is going to be on fish and chips.

I miss you all!!

Jenny and I are sitting in McDonald's down the street from the FIAP using the internet. Today, we had our first classes. They went really well. We are planning our side trips around Europe. Right now, we're planning to go to Itlay, Ireland, and Amsterdam. I'm hoping to meet up with Tierney in Italy.

Our first field trip is tomorrow. We're going to Patheon and some other place I've never heard of. Alicia and I are planning to go to the Catacombs after our mandatory field trip.

Yesterday, we floated down the Seine River in a riverboat. It was great because we got to see all of the big sights, but it was incredibly hot!! It has been really hot here today and yesterday, and there is no air conditioning anywhere! We found a small pizza place near the Eiffel Tower that advertized air conditioning, and we stopped and ate there. The pizza was good, but the air conditioning sign was a hoax. It was just a ploy to get people in there, because it was still really hot! Two people from our group got engaged under the Eiffel Tower the first night we were here, and they ate lunch with us. They were really cute.

Everything is going great! Miss you all!

I’m here! It didn’t really hit me that I’m in Paris until we passed the Arc de Triomphe on the way to the FIAP. We actually saw the Eiffel Tower before that, but suddenly we came up on the Arc de Triomphe, and it hit me. It is absolutely HUGE!! I knew it was big, but I never realized just how big it is. There must be something wrong with French drivers, because the worst drivers I’ve ever seen have been here and in Louisiana. The circle around the Arc de Triomphe is absolutely INSANE!! There were no street signs or even any lines in the street. Driving there is every man for himself. (Pictures of the Arc to come.)

Our plane ride across the pond was miserable! It was the most cramped I’ve ever been, and I got no sleep. The service on Air France was incredible, though. They served us a dinner of chicken, green beans, potatoes, cheese, some sort of pudding that was really good, oatmeal raisin cake, and coffee. For breakfast, we had yogurt, juice, a pastry, and coffee. Tres bien!

After we got here and got moved in, Alicia, Jenny, Warren, and I went for a walk around our block. We found the Monoprix, which is the French version of Wal-Mart, and we bought some coat hangers. Alicia and I wanted to try out our French, and Warren and Jenny wanted a drink, so we ordered them one at a very small bar where there was hardly anyone there. We wanted to get our feet wet with speaking at a very small place that we wouldn’t have to go back to. The bartender was very nice and told us to come back there tonight to watch France vs. Brazil. (We don’t have televisions at the FIAP.) We hung out with a girl named Karis tonight who is really nice and is sick of hearing “Karis in Paris.” (Lucas, she goes to Georgia College and she’s really sweet, so you should look her up.) France has been crazy tonight since they won the game. People are hanging out of cars blowing their horns, running through the streets waving the French flag, doing the Tomahawk Chop, and screaming at the top of their lungs: “Viva la France!!” The bartender made us say that many times and said that Americans are “the best.”
I was so excited about the outcome of the game that I had to call home and talk to everyone, especially to Jonathan about soccer, even though I know he was probably wanted Brazil to win.

Earlier today we went to the Eiffel Tower and went all the way to the top. It was amazing and I filled up a memory card with all the pictures I took. I hung out with Jenny, Alicia, Warren, and Doug Johnson. On our walk back to the Metro station to come back to the FIAP, we stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch. I ordered in French, but when the waiter asked me a question about my water, I had no idea what he was saying. Finally, he said, “Fizzy or no fizzy?” He was very nice. On a side note, the “toilette” at the restaurant was in the floor. On our walk, we came up on a memorial for Princess Diana that was over a tunnel. After a small debate, we realized it was probably the tunnel where she was killed.

My roommate’s name is Whitney, and she’s really nice. I think I’m going to Amsterdam with her the weekend or the 14th, but that’s Bastille Day here in France, and I really don’t want to miss it.

There is no air conditioning anywhere in Paris, and there is no ice either. It’s not bad though because it hasn’t been really hot. We discovered that we could buy 1.5 liter bottles of water for .30 euros, so we have been doing that and just drinking them at room temperature. Alicia and I have been craving Gatorade, and if we find any we’ll probably buy five gallons.

Well, I’ve practically written a novel here, so I guess I’ll run. I’ll try to update this thing regularly. I love you all!