6/28/13-6/30/13

My Iowa friends were all gone on Friday, so I decided to do a little shopping since there are huge sales going on in France now called soldes. I went to les halles, a “mall-ish” type of place and did some real damage! Just kidding! But I did buy some fun and cute things! I bought a couple clothing and accessory items and a pair of shoes! I also was feeling luxurious and bought myself some Dior, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent. However, my luxurious tastes could pretty much only afford the cheapest items which were J’adore Dior perfume, Chanel nail polish, and Yves Saint Laurent lipstick. It may be little things, but at least I can say I bought some Dior, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent in the fashion capital of the world, Paris!! After shopping, I went back to my apartment went on a quick run and got ready for traveling to Lyon with Alix!

I met Alix at Gare du Lyon around 7pm. She invited me to stay with her and her family for the weekend. She lives a little outside of Lyon on the countryside. We took the TGV (a very fast train!) and arrived in Lyon around 9. Her parents met us at the train station and then took us out to dinner. Alix explained to me that Lyon is known for having the best food in France. It also however, has some of the most bizarre foods. She told me “They make dishes out of animal parts that I didn’t know was possible to eat”. She advised to stick with the basics when it came to eating. I decided to eat a traditional Lyonnais meal, and it was by far the best meal I’ve had in France! After dinner, Alix and her parents took me on a quick night walk of Lyon and showed me some nearby sites. It was getting quite late however so we shortly left and went to their house.

The next day, I ate lunch with Alix and her brother. We sat and talked for a while and then went into Lyon to do some shopping and sightseeing. We first took the metro up one of Lyons main hills and then started to descend down. Along the way, Alix showed me some of vieux Lyon (old Lyon) which consisted of some of the oldest neighborhoods in Lyon. I saw several other things along the way down and after reaching the bottom we decided to find shelter from the rain and went to Starbucks. After we did a little shopping and walked the streets of Lyon. Alix and her brother and I then got dinner at an Italian restaurant. It may not have been French, but again it was one of the best meals I’ve had in France. After we returned home and watched a movie. It was a very enjoyable day!

On Sunday, Alix’s sister, her sister’s husband, and her little nephew came over. We sat out in the sun for a while and then had lunch together on their terrace. After lunch, Alix took me to a nearby Lake that is in the French Alps. It was still too cold to go in the water but we sat at a café near the water and had a drink. The Alps were incredible and breathe taking. Every direction was picturesque and beautiful. We eventually had to leave this beautiful beautiful BEAUTIFUL place as we had to get ready for our train ride back to Paris.

Overall, it was a lovely weekend. It was great to be around a family and they reminded me of my family back home, loving, kind and generous. (Most of the time anyways haha! Just kidding!) Her family was so nice to me, and her home was beautiful. It was more in the country, which was a very nice break from the busy fast paced city of Paris. It was very calm and serene. Her backyard was also incredibly beautiful! I thought my family had a pretty nice backyard, but I must admit the Bouchard backyard puts the Johnson backyard to shame a little… sorry dad! Haha just kidding! But like I said I had a great weekend and I can’t wait for my family to come, and to spend more time with Alix!

Dinner with Alix's parents!

Traditional Lyonais meal, so good!!!!

"old" Lyon

Alps!

Old theater from the roman days

Alps!

Old Lyon

Lyon means lion in French

Lake in the alps

 

6/24/13-6/27/13

I woke up Monday pretty tired as my plane from Dublin came in later than expected and I ended up not getting back to my apartment until 11:30. Work was still the same, boring but at least I could hang out with Claudia. We decided that Tuesday night we were going to meet up after work (she wasn’t going to Work on Tuesday because she had a school thing) and go to a bar called Wonderlust. She didn’t know much about it but we were going to find out!

The next day, I didn’t have to start work until 2:30 because Claudia wasn’t there and my bosses didn’t know when they would arrive in the morning. I was excited not only to sleep in, but I finally had time to go on a run. There is a well-known wooded area close to where I live called the Bois de Boulounge and I decided to go on a quick 3 mile run. Unfortunately my quick 3 mile run turned into a long 6 mile run. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the woods and while I thought I knew where I was, I soon realized that I was completely and utterly lost. Rather than staying calm like a rational person, I, of course started panicking and looked like a crazy person running the streets of Paris trying to figure out where to go. I asked several people, and while they were kind and tried to help, they knew nothing. I eventually saw a taxi and asked if he knew where my street was. He told me I was pretty far and graciously drove me to a nearby metro stop that was close to my apartment. This was extremely nice of the taxi driver considering I had no money.  After finally making it home and getting ready for work I headed over to the office to begin my work day. Since Claudia wasn’t there, I actually did something! While I was much more productive with my time, I was also lonelier and the office seemed much quieter. After finishing work I went to meet my French tutor (provided by my program) and discussed my upcoming assignments. I then went to meet Claudia to go to Wonderlust. The area was quite modern, and was very beautiful as it was right along the Seine. There was a wide range of people, but everyone seemed to be having a drink and having a good time. Claudia and I did the same! We had a French version of beer and Pizza, danced, and listened to some fun music! We even met quite a lot of people! I even met one person from Edina, small world!! All in all it was very fun, and I can’t wait to go back!!!

On Wednesday, I again did nothing at work but after I went to a Miss Paris Pageant with Claudia and her sister. Claudia has a twin sister, and talks about her quite often so it was nice to finally meet her. The pageant was a little difficult to understand, and was quite different than a typical US pageant. We ended up leaving early because it was getting late and to be honest it was a little boring. I then went and ate dinner with my host mom and went to bed.

Work on Thursday was slower than normal. For a while it was just us two and Claudia gave me a lot of ideas of things to do in Paris. I also gave her a little gift of American candy, American vodka (the mini version of a few kinds), and an etched beer mug. She was extremely thankful for the gift and really appreciated it! After work, Claudia and I went out to celebrate our last day working together! This was her last week interning there, so we decided to go to a little bar on the seine and get some drinks. It was very pretty because it was along the seine but it was also very hip and modern. It was quite expensive though, (15 euro for a mojito) and we soon realized we were a little out of place. Not only were we the youngest, but also probably the poorest and cheapest! We still made a great night out of it, drinking our 6 euro beer (the cheapest drink on the menu), eating our 5 euro Panini’s and having great conversation, which was the only free thing of the night!!

Bois de bouloung... definitely saw a lot of it after running 6 miles in there...

Miss France! (pretty much the coolest part...)

Claudi trying her first piece of candy that I gave her!

Claudia and I getting drinks!

Dublin

6/20/2013-6/23/2013

                At work on Thursday, there was absolutely nothing to do. In the morning, Claudia and I talked and looked stuff up on the internet. In the afternoon, my boss left for a weekend trip with her boyfriend leaving Claudia and I alone in the office. We decided to watch a movie, so we found one on youtube and relaxed in the office. I wouldn’t necessarily say we relaxed considering it was a horror movie, but again it was French so who knows if I even understood correctly! Haha. I was planning on going straight to the airport after work since I was going to Dublin to visit my boyfriend, but Claudia asked if I wanted to join her and her friend for a quick drink. Since I would have been 5 hours early for my flight, I happily agreed to get a drink. It was a lot of fun getting a drink, and I really enjoyed their company! I ended up leaving rather quickly however, as I was excited to go to Dublin. Getting there was quite a struggle however considering the airport shuttle was leaving right as I got there so I had to take a very expensive taxi. Then in security, for some reason I set the alarm off so I had to step aside while they swiped me with the metal detector. I was also a little unhappy because I had to throw out my shampoo and conditioner which I had just bought. (And you have no idea how hard it is to find conditioner here!!!) I was welcomed in the gate by then having to stand in an atrocious line. Once I made it onto the plane, all was well after the turbulence that made me think I was never going to see my friends and family again. While my day started great, it didn’t end the best but luckily Joe knows me well and took me straight to a pub when I got to Dublin to get a beer. We went to temple bar, one of the most famous bars in Dublin and I had my first Guinness!

                The next day Joe and I went to The Guinness Brewery factory. It was very cool to see the factory and the process of brewing such a famous beer, but by far the best part was going to the top of the building to have a beer. The top part of the building had the best view of Dublin. One can see everything, and it was a very serene place to drink a Guinness. By time that was over, all the beer was starting to make me sleepy so we went back to his apartment to take a quick nap. We then went to a pub very close by. The interior was secretly hidden by a simple small door, but when one enters you realize it’s a very large beautiful place filled with flowers. This pub was called Brazen Head and it was the oldest pub in Dublin. We then went to dinner at a very nice restaurant called Rustic Stone. It was really cool, as they served the food raw, but also brought a little rustic looking grill so we could grill our food. It was very good and very fun! After dinner, Joe showed me around Trinity College. It’s a very pretty campus, and I believe one of the top schools in Europe. It started to rain, so we went to a local pub within the campus for a drink. We then went to a different bar to meet up with his friends and have some drinks. It was a lot of fun not only being with Joe, but meeting his friends as well!

On Saturday, Joe first showed me where he works. It’s quite a long walk, but there are very interesting and pretty sights along the way with all the buildings and canals. Considering there’s Pubs every 100 feet it seems like, Joe showed me some of his favorite pubs and when it started to rain we found a pub to hide out in and stay dry. Once it finally stopped raining for good, we went to Gafton Street. This street is the typical tourist street filled with street performers, shops, pubs, and restaurants. After purchasing a few things, we decided to go to a restaurant called The kitchen. It was very modern and nice and very yummy! After Dinner, Joe and I went on our own little Pu crawl. He took me to some of his favorite pubs where we would have a beer and listen to the live music. They were all very authentic pubs with not a lot of tourists.

Throughout the weekend, I went to 13 different pubs and tasted 6 different beers. It was quite fun, but I must say Im glad to get a break from beer now!

Guiness factory!

View from the top!

Our Guiness at the top!

Drinks at the oldest Pub in Dublin!

Our do-it-yourself dinner!

Inside of a cute little Pub

Lunch at a pub. Had to take a break from Beer and got a cosmopolitan! (So good! and I love being able to drink legally!)

Gaffton Street, very crowded

Dinner at the Kitchen

Temple Bar!! (Picture didn't turn out to well)

Trinity College

inside of trinity college

local bar within trinity college

6/17/2013-6/19/2013

Work was its typical boring self. And when I say work, I mean sitting there and staring into space. One night I worked until 8pm which was pretty brutal. The only thing that makes work fun is that I get to work with Claudia. She’s my age and we talk quite a bit about our interests and lives. She is really into music, so I made her CD with music that I like. She was very appreciative of it!

                I know I say I don’t do anything at work (which is mainly true) but I was finally introduced to the project that I will hopefully start to work on soon. My company has been working on a new teaching method/program for English speaking students trying to learn French. It’s a program for an ipad, and has commercials in French, with explanations and other information related to the topic. My role in developing this product will be to do some market research.

6/16/2013

Today, I woke up and went to Jardin Atlantic with my friends to have a picnic and finish our leftovers from the previous night. Jardin atlantic is a rooftop garden at an old train station. It was quite nice and there were even tennis courts in the park as well. This garden was in Montparnasse so we then decided to go check out the tallest building in Paris which was just a block away. We climbed to the very top, and once again saw an amazingly beautiful view of Paris. We then went down a level to have a couple drinks while taking in the beautiful view of Paris.  After that we decided to go see Musee Carnavelet which is a museum dedicated to history of Paris. After the museum, we walked around le Marais which is where the museum is located. This is a very rich but was filled with people, both Parisians and tourists. We stopped and rested on the street and listened to some street performers playing instruments. This area is so busy because it’s one of the few places where clothing stores, cafes, and restaurants are open. For almost all other areas in Paris, everything is closed on Sundays. After relaxing, Magdalena and I decided to go to Palais Tokyo. This is kind of like a convention center building, however nothing was going on a time so we just walked around and left. It was still very cool to see though! We decided to go to a restaurant around Champs Elysee where we ate Japanese food!

Jardin Atlantic

top of the tallest building in Paris

View of Paris from tallest building

Musee Carnavelet

Palais de tokyo

Pretty view of the eiffle tower that we found!

 

6/15/13

pont neuf

bridge with the locks!

Square de Vert galant

yummy drinks!

I slept in later than usual because I was still a little sick and wanted to get as much sleep as possible. My sleeping in was still not early enough for friends however, so I decided to go to Paris’s perfume museum. It was a small interesting museum, but however many of the tools and instruments that they used to make perfume in the olden days reminded me of the tools and instruments used in the show breaking bad. If you know that show then you know what kind of tools and instruments they used, and what they used it for. I thought it was quite funny. The area around the Perfume Museum is very commercial and is full of shopping departments and stores. I went into a few to pass some time, but eventually got bored and decided to go check out Pont neuf. Magdalena was on her way to meet me there so I walked around the area while waiting for her. The area is quite fun because it’s along the seine and the seine sidewalks is full of boquinist. These are little shops along the seine and they sell a variety of things from souvenir trinkets to books and posters. I really enjoyed walking along here and looking at all the art too. There was also a bridge close by that is very well known because the gates on the bridge are filled with locks. What one is supposed to do is buy lock and write their name and their lovers name on the lock and it hook it on to the bridge. By doing this, it will create eternal love for you and your significant other. However, now a day you just write your name on a lock and put it on the bridge. When Magdalena finally arrived we went and checked out Square du vert gallant. This is a little park and we decided to sit and rest for a while. We then went to a café to have some drinks and then went home to relax before dinner.  For dinner, my friends and I decided we were going to have a picnic in Montmarte. We bought some food and then headed to Sacre Coeur to find a place to sit. It was a lot of fun finally being with everyone and the view of Paris was also incredible. It was really nice to watch the sunset with such a beautiful view. We hung out around that area for a while marveling at the beautiful city that we were in and also sharing a couple bottles of wine.