The light was Green!~ Je suis ici! Paris est mervielleux!

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So, yes, i have been somewhat of a slacker with my blog. That will be the first obvious statement of the day. The second is less obvious, but still evident after spending a couple weeks here- Paris is like a dream! I am studying French in Paris this summer with Columbia University at Reid Hall. I have been keeping a travel journal and today says day 22. So, by way of easing into my train of thought right now, ill give a brief day by day.

Jour 1- Samedi-... I flew in this morning. It was a crazy day, i dont particularly like to revisit these event even with description, so ill give you the gist.. Lost my debit card on the train. Didnt know my way around that well, threw up because i was physically sick from the plane ride or was it because i was worried sick because i didnt know where i was. I was scared about what i was going to do as far as money, and i didnt speak the language all that well?.. so, i Went straight to the church and found some sweet ppl who helped me out so much. It was so nice to meet people in church. Two of the people who made the biggest impression on me were the Shurtleffs. They brought me to their house, fed me, let me use their internet and phone, and i also took a nap on a bed at their house. I also met the Baker Family my first day in Paris. It was just the relief i had needed. I am almost glad that i lost my card, i would not have been as close to these ppl otherwise. I met my host family, Agathe, sunday night and she is wonderful..She is 31 years old; she is a theatre constume designer and worked at a flower shop. She is so helpful. Fell asleep on her couch because she had another girl staying, Betsey, who's visit overlapped mine for a couple days.

Jour 2- Lundi- Orientation for school at Reid Hall- They spoke in all French. I opted for some English so that i could get all the details, but it was only to make sure i knew what i needed as far as money, internet, and class schedule.. ya ya? I went and wandered around Paris today. I like to find little nitches in Paris off of the beaten tourist path. I dont have my camera/comp connector right now, or i would post some pics, go kandice go! eh!?

Jour 3- Mardi- Classes started. First impression of my teacher, Vincent, my teacher is NuTs! First day started and we were already in a little sex edu..hmm...After class i decided to get lost. Ha, and explore Paris. I just walked around. I ended up running in the Luxemburg Gardens, the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay and le Seine River. It was a beautiful trip. I took la Metro back to the house when i was by the Assemblie Nationale and the Petit Palais. I ran into some cool people but also some weirdoes (before you say that i would fit in, get a load of this guy..) I was approached by a man -old man- who was wearing nothing but a small -i would say a 12 yr old's- shirt!! I also was approached by two ladies asking for money.. they were kinda rude when i had to politely (as nice as i could but firm also) turn them down. Boy oh boy. I live pretty close to the Bastille and checked out that area. Bastille day is July 14th... and I WILL BE HERE! Yippe~ fun fun Agathe went to the Opera. When i got home, she was here with her mother. I like them both a lot. They invited me to go to the Opera with them, but it was such short notice and i dont have my debit card yet and they were not sure how much it would cost. Ah, so they said for sure another time. I am excited! She also told me of a pool that is nearby. There is also a pool that floats on the seine river, it looks pretty sweet. Agathe showed me pics of it on the internet. I definitely want to try it out sometime.

Jour 4- Mercredi- Another day of class, second day.. still same impression of teacher got deeper... Got my hair singed today.. My mother sent a money gram today and i got some euros to facilitate those so called shopping habits of mine. The time change is rocking my world.. haha, and that is not meaning two thumbs up, but rather that my world is shaking like a wild one as i adjust to the time difference between USA and France. tres difficile. I went to the catacombs today... whooooo The Catacombs (loads of dead bodies were buried underground in Paris) were pretty sweet.. it was fun to actually see them in person. They are kind of creepy, the route of piles of bones and skulls was so long. Ha, i went with this girl in my class, Kat (she goes to Harvard and was a good friend of my freshman roommate Eunice), and once we came to the exit -winded from the climb of the massive amount of stairs from 30m below- the security demanded we open our bags and Kat said something like 'oh, in case we stole a skull' and the officer gathered a stern look on his face, grabbed a skull, and proceeded to tell us that a few ppl before us tried that very thing.. oh la la, we were almost dead meat and almost had to join the party downstairs.. After the catacombs i came home and Agathe and her mother greeted me. I then went outside to sit in the park and write in my journal. The Metro doesnt smell that great sometimes, and today was a prime example of that to me. I finally made it back home and at dinner with Agathe. She made me a special recipe from her family. Saucission (sausage) et aussi le pommes de terre et cherise. Also, sidenote, the keyboards in Paris are messed up. I was working on one and could not type for the life of me. haha- i am working though, gotta be patient--

Jour 5- Jeudi- It was yet another crazy day, you surprised? I had to first check the registration form that Reid Hall mailed me (becuase im pretty sure that i didnt sign up for sex education), and yep, i chose French 2001.. maybe they gave me the wrong room, i doubt it. Im in this one for the long haul im afraid,, or rather for a month. I went to the sacre coeur after class. The sites were gorgeous - i had a crepe for lunch. Very yummy~ For dinner agathe and i ate asparagus, fish, rice, and cherry pie:):):):) For some reason everything tastes better in Paris.. I really like their oranges especially- and orange juice. Kenton gave me a Book of Mormon in French:) i am reading it with my english version. It is so sweet.

Jour 6- Vendredi- Shorter day at school 11am-1pm instead of 11-2.. Went home to skype after class and then after some wandering a little bit and writing in my journal, I later went to Max's (a guy in the Reid Hall program with me) house for a party. We went out in Paris after a little while. We wandered around for a long time, ultimately ending up at the Bastille which is, luckily for me, close to where i live. There were some French guys that came out with us, friends of one of the girls in my program, Kat. I got back to my house really late, like 3am!!! and had to wake up for a trip with my program the next day.. ya, i dont think i will do that again.. ha, and the metro closes at 1am-- good to know! It was a crazy and long, crazy long night in Paris. I really like the ppl that i am in my program with. To sum up other details of today, a frenchy tried to French kiss me... I am safe, you dont worry.., got to wander around my house, ate a delicious sandwich at a sanwicherie by Reid Hall, et got confused on the Metro. A demain!

Jour 7- Samedi- Went to Chantilly, about 30 min from Paris- a beautiful chateau and gardens... We were supposed to get back at 5pm but we ended up returning around 8pm. Then i had to go find my own dinner because Agathe was gone and i have it arranged to get 4 dinners a week with her, ha, so guess what i did? Ya, went to the supermarket and got peaches, ramen, and crepes for 4 euros (not bad eh)

Jour 8- Dimanche!!! I got back from church, a concert at Notre Dame, and the Louvre because it is free the first sunday of every month:) It was Mother's Day today in France.. They gave me a rose at church.. haha, i got two (one in Boston and one here)out of the celebration of mothers this year . I am extremely grateful for my mother, and yes, am excited for the day that i will also be a mother.. but no rush here~ In church i realized that i know NOTHING!! wow, it is so humbling. I really dont know much church vocab in French, so i will work to pick that up and my church experience will get better. There were visitors there who used translators to hear it in English, i was tempted but was happy that i didnt give in.. i mean, how could i? I am here to learn french (and explore the city and have fun of course)!! and besides, language barrier or not, i was still able to feel the spirit.

Jour 9 et 10- Lundi et Mardi- So, regular class times for these two days and spent most of the rest of the time wandering around Paris and little streets here and there after class. I went to find some good shopping place, not really to any avail unfortunately, but i also went ot the Musee Rodin. It was awesome.. Le penser... the statue the thinker.. was my favorite part. The courtyard is gorgeous there, i could have sat there and felt like i was in paradise all day. So, i would have to say that up to this point, le nuit de mardi was my favorite night in Paris. i had such a great time. We (me, Agathe, and her friend Pricilia) went to a comedy club but we were an hour early for the brazilian music (not comedy..) so we went to this cafe outside and talked with a lot of French people. It was a blast!! I speak franglish!..? Anywho, apres ca, we went back to the comedy place and since we didnt have to pay to get in, we were obligated to buy drinks inside. ha, it was fun telling them i just wanted water.. The brazilian lady who sang had to read the french that she spoke to the crowd at first and from then on she spoke in portuguese. We met a couple guys in the club, danced a little, but mostly sat in these really comfortable couches, talked, and listened to the music. So chill- extremely good time~ We also got free tickets to this other guys comedy show, Rashid (see Jour 19). He stopped us after and began to chat... so, ya, 5 of us are going to go to a comedy show for free next thursday.. So, we got back around 3:30am and then i went straight to bed. Pretty much... I woke up at 10:22, thought class started at 11 (and it takes me 40 min to get to school) yikes, i was so fast this morn..

Jour 11- Mercredi- Class starts at 11:30am on Wednesdays, not 11am. That was very nice since i woke up late this morning after a late night. As a sidenote, one of the quotes in my journal says, "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." -This told me to enjoy the present and made me think of another quote that says something like, you build up too many tomorrows and you will end up with a lot of empty yesterdays. So, my midterm was jeudi and since it was raining outside and i needed stay inside and study today, but of course that was not all that ended up happening, i wrote some letters and also planned trips in and out of Paris.

Jour 12- Jeudi- Midterm Today in French!! I think that it went pretty well, lasted 2 hours and i was ready to be out of there by the end. Went on a tour of Montmarte with a program group, it was a balade "Amour, Amour, Amour" with French students. We traveled around the 18eme arrondissment and the love sites in Paris. Went to the Sacre Coeur, got drinks at a little cafe on a petit rue behind the basilica, saw one of the oldest and fanciest districts in Paris, and ended the tour at Moulin Rouge. There are a lot of little shopping places to go in this area, i found some cute bags for Katie and Trena here. Tonight i went to the Eiffel Tower at sunset with Kat, Dylan, Max, and Sasha. It was breathtaking. After dark the tower is lit up and every hour other lights come on and it looks like it is sparkling. Paris is so romantic and i often think of how it would be to have someone i really cared for here with me.. oh la la! Later we went to the latin quarter and found a place to sit down and they got drinks. I lost track of time and when i noticed it was almost 1am i booked it out of there, but was not able to ride the metro all the way home bc it closed at 1am. It was not that far away- just across the Seine, so i ended up walking home. Never gonna do that again!

Jour 13- Vendredi- Got to chat with my family today for a while. Jordan also called me with a sore throat and i thought that he was Kenton, ha, it took me a little bit to figure out he was not someone trying to play a joke on me but was in fact Jordy Fremon! Randy got him sick and his voice was shot. I went to the Opera house and LaFayette Galeries to shop.. or rather, look around. I cooked my own dinner because Agathe was gone to Marseilles for the weekend.

Jour 14- Samedi- So,at 2pm i went to the concert at the Baker's house, that family in my ward that i met at the Shurtleff's the first day. There was a lot of little ones who played classical music like pros, it was amazing~ Made me want to play:) In fact, after the concert and refreshments, one of the girls, Sariah, asked if i would play with her. She has two flutes:) we played some of her classical music as a duet for about an hour when i decided i needed to jet. As i was leaving another girl in the family, Elizabeth, gave me a bracelet she made. It is red, very tender~ Then as she was walking with me to the door downstairs, she asked if i had a best friend.I responded yes and then she gave me another bracelet that i could give to my best friend. I then went to the Defense Arch. There are lots of skyscrapers lining the sky around that area, it is outside the peripherique of paris. On my way home I met an Italian guy with his son. They came to Paris because his son wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. They live close to Venice. He speaks little French and some English, and obv fluent Italian. hard as it was, we communicated--whether it was a spanish word i amazingly spit out, his english, or both of our broken French.. Anywho, nice family. Into the convo he wanted his son to practice his English with me so his son asked what my name was and asked if i liked pets. lol. It was funny. I replied and his face went blank. It is cool that he knew those phrases though. His dad said it is hard to find places for him to learn English and it is important that he does. He said he wanted an American to come live with them so that his son could learn proper English. He extended an invitation but not deeming a response from me.. we kept talking about other things and and when he was about to get off at his stop, he gave me his card and told me that if i were ever near Venice and needed help or a place to stay, I was welcome with his family and i could call him. Very cool. When i got home i went running, came back and showered, cooked and ate dinner, then watched a french entertainment show while working on my homework. That is a pretty good summation. I dont know what it was about today, but i realized that i have an uncontrollable fire inside me to learn languages so that i can communicate with all these wonderful ppl in the world. I want to be a world traveler~ That would be so fulfilling for me.

Jour 15- Dimanche- Yeah for Sundays!~ Not in Paris, but some exciting news back home: It is Jeff's farwell today in Teasdale ward. I sent out my love for him all day long. I got to see the Baker's, the Shurtleff's, Mallory (she is working here at an architecture place for the summer), Savannah (girl from yale who i met my freshman year), and also met many visitors as well as BYU students who were studying for the summer term but leaving soon. Choir practice after church. Very quiet day. Did homework and read scriptures.

Jour 16- Lundi- So, i have decided that my teacher is not nuts, but rather, my perception of his has changed so much that i think he is a great teacher.. just gets ReAlLy into it. Which i would prefer over a teacher who doesnt care and is boring.. for sure! Got really excited about my plans in UT for the summer after i return from Paris. Looked up some links and also (please dont think nerd as hard as it may be) made a GoogleDoc to plan out the rest of my summer and fun things i want to do with Kenton and my family! Went to Montparnasse today then went to the marche to get some food for dinner. Agathe came back from Marseilles really late tonight.

Jour 17- Mardi- Woke up early today and went to Reid Hall early to print off some things. After class I chatted with people at school for a while and then took off to explore. I hit the oldest building in Paris, built by Nicholas Flamel, then walked to the Pompidou Centre and saw the Stravinsky fountains as well where i sat down and soaked up some sun and watched little French boys play soccer. I next went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery- Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Moliere, and Chopin were buried here. It was a gorgeous cemetery and SO big! Yes, it was an East Paris day~

Jour 18- Mercredi- So, after class that is shorter on Wednesdays, i spent most of the afternoon at the Louvre- exhausting i tell you, but it was amazing. Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, Louis XV crown, the Sphynx, King Ramses, Aphrodite, Psyche... It was so great. I get i for free to all Museums because im a student here. It is a pretty sweet deal, and it is a good thing because i could probably spend days in the Louvre and not see all i wanted to.. I will most likely go again, i was just all tuckered out after a few hours.. It was a very sunny day. Tonight I decided last minute to go to a club called Queens on the Champs-Elysse. It is ladies night girls get in free.. and there is dancing:) Ya, we ended up walking around a lot and then this girl seongmin, who lives pretty close to where i do, was going to go home and so i wanted to catch a ride with her. We took pics in front of the Champs-Elysse before catching a cab.. i did good at ignoring the guys who tried to speak english or french to me.. soengmin taught me some Korean so that when they came up to us we could just starts rambling off in Korean.. lol. It was a fun night, but more than that, it was a very safe night:)

Jour 19- Jeudi-Class was only 2 hours not 3 today. I feel like i am comprehending French so much better, class is Fun! Lots of people showed up to class late after the wild night on the Champs-Elyssee. After class i went with Minji to a cafe by Reid Hall and got a panini. I went home and started to do homework and write in my journal but was so tired and ended up taking a long nap. Ate an early dinner, around 6:30pm, and then went out with Agathe to the comedy show. So, long night, but fun. I understood some but not all, but it was way funny from what my head told me the guy speaking in french was saying.. who knows if i caught the right ideas, but either way, i was in a happy place. After we went to find a place to get some drinks and we ran into the guy who put on the show, Rashid Debbouze, who gave us the tickets for free. We stayed with him and his friends at a little crepe stand and cafe outside. It was really fun, i got to practice my french a lot. They gave me free crepes and drinks.. One of his friends had a guitar and i got to show my stuff lol, and then he taught me some chords for a french song I went with Rachid to buy everyone ice cream and we also stopped at a tabac store so he could get cigarettes and there was a vendor for cartes to recharge my phone so i can call out.. i told him i needed one and instead of just helping me inquire, he bought me the carte with the most credit on it. It was nice of him.. Well, after we all ate ice cream and chatted, there was also a little tizzle with eggs and i thought i was going to be coverd in yoke by the end of the night, but it calmed down. Then we all went back to the comedy place and there was some bands playing, lots of cake, and crowds of ppl. Rachid bought us all drinks, and special for me (bc he knows i dont drink), a delicious virgin smoothie. Got back home around 3am yet again.. Oh, Paris!

Jour 20- Vendredi- Super Friday! It was a nice day outside so i spent a lot of time outside, ha, that is after i woke up from my late night out.. (yes, I slept in a little bit) While outside I worked on my homework, wrote in my journal, watched people, and daydreamed. Tonight was the Pari-Roller shindig. I didnt know how many people will show up and who gave empty promises to participate and who did not. I at least want to go and see what it was about, i was way excited. I had been planning to go do it for such a long time. Turned out to be only Minji and me, but it was still a great night. We met around 7pm and rented our skates, the group of thousands of Parisians didnt meet up until 10pm so we had time and decided to put on our skates and practice up. We went by the river and took pics then skated around the Bastille- worked up and appetite and ate at a restaurant called Hippopotamus, it is like TGI Friday's in the USA. They were very slow and we ended up getting out of there five minutes to ten, taking a 20 min metro ride, and getting to Montparnasse Gare late- the group had already left us. But luckily, after asking many people, we found a man who knew about the group and was actually skating to find them too. So, we followed them. Ya, as a disclaimer, we still were not over our initial fearlessness and the only way we knew how to slow down or stop was to grab things... oh, it faired for an interesting ride! The guy, Nicholas, jetted off, super fast and it was a race to keep up with him. We were fine until we hit that hill (all things aside, the hill was very scenic, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.. but i didnt get to enjoy the view bc i was occupied with the danger that lied ahead) We were on a slight decline and were hastily picking up speed. Suddenly, and ignorantly i realized that I was not going to be able to stop.. I heard something behind me (later realized it was Minji) but couldnt look back. I looked ahead and saw that at the next intersection the pedestrian light was red. Nicholas stood there.. Instinctively i started to yell "Aidez-moi, Aidez-moi(help me)!!! Arretez-moi, Arretez-moi(stop me)!!!" Very fervently. Nicholas's eyes grew big, he prepared a wide stance for my impact and WHAM~ we collided so hard that we were both strewn backward then i wiped his legs out from nder hima nd he came tumbling down on top of me. Ouch. I looked back and Minji was just getting up fro her fall> Minji couldnt skate that well bc she was so sore and so she found a Metro stop to snag. I kept skating around. The last stretch of the scenic route we took, placed us right next to the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais, Notre Dame, et Invalides as we skated along the Seine back to the Bastille around 12am. It was gorgeous to see at night.. and so fun to experience on skates, even with a bruised butt and ego:)

Jour 21- Samedi- Trip to Versailles!! Took a 45 min train ride out of Paris to the Chateau of Versailles. Explored the gardens, ate some lunch, took pictures. It was fun to think of how the palace was when kings lived there. So gorgeous! Came back around 7pm, ate dinner and prepared for Sunday.

Jour 22- Dimanche- Fete de la Musique!! I went to church and saw all the wonderful people again, met some new people as well. Choir sang in sacrament meeting, the room was packed with people. After church i practiced flute with Sariah to play prelude music for church next week. Came back home and now i am finishing writing this blog, preparing to go walk around Paris and take in music for le Fete! Today is the longest day of the year.. Oh, summer time:) It is also Father's day. I tried calling home.. but no luck, so i sent my dad an email. I am so lucky to have him in my live.. he loves my mom and us kids so much and is a humble, superb example to everyone.

Ya, so that update was not so short.. Did you really think it would be? jk, but if nothing else, get out of this blog that i am super happy to be in Paris, i have had so many adventures and am so grateful to my Heavenly Father to guide me every day and give me these opportunities to grow and be happy.

A bientot!