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From Paris to Brussels?

Hello! I have exciting news to share I don't know if you remember my post about Paris being mean, but something has changed. It has been the biggest turn around ever. People have been welcoming me to Paris and helping me when I need it. It's strange how fast a place can change from a place I dislike to one I love. To me the people are what make up a place and before I couldn't take it, I was counting down the days to return to the States, but now I want to stay and explore. I went to Le Queen last wednesday night, it happened to be the club that laughed and clapped at me the last time I tried, but miraculously they let me right in. To tell you the truth it wasn't that great, I'd much rather go to Duplex which is about 3 or 4 blocks away. I was just so happy to get in to a place that is notorious for rejecting. If I were you I'd go to Duplex which happens to look like a metro stop. The club is underground and has different rooms for music. The drinks aren't that bad (price wise) 10 to 20 euro and the people are great! On Tuesday nights Le Duplex is free for students. Le Queen is free on Wednesdays for ladies until 1 am, which is ridiculous when they stay open till early the next morning. It should be free all night for ladies.
So I went to Belgium this past weekend with my friend Debbie. We were in Bruges for about 3 hours when we decided to go to the preferred destination Bruges. Brussels to me was dirty and harsh, the only good thing about it was that it had waffle stands everywhere. The famous peeing boy statue is not worth it, its like a foot big. It's one of those Mona Lisa let-downs. Bruges is to the west of Brussels more towards the coast. It is absolutely spectacular. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century, the vikings new the right places to be. Anyway it has this very medieval feel to it, with very old buildings and squares. There are canals that surround the center of the city, you can take a boat tour of the canals for about 5 euro and it is roughly a half hour long. There is also the church of Our Lady and that happens to be the world's tallest brick building. The Basilica of the Holy Blood is said to house the blood of Jesus Christ and it is paraded on L'ascension day every year. You can also go in to the church and touch the canister that contains the blood and say a prayer.
Nightlife in Bruges is very lively. I went to pubs mostly, Charlie Rocket's was my favorite. It was supposed to be an old biker American bar. It did pretty well, the music was from today but the bar itself had an old grungy feel to it, and the drinks were cheap. The bar stays open till 4 and that is late no matter where you go. There is a club in Bruges that is sound proof where you cant hear anything from the street but inside the speakers are blaring techno, my fav. It is called Entrenous. The locals seem to love to interact with the tourists and went to all the places that tourists normally go like Charlie Rocket's. At least that is what the bartender told me.
Bruges is highly recommendable, I want to go back there.

Pursuit of Happiness

So Kid Cudi who is a musical genius has a song titled "Pursuit of Happiness". It just happens to feature MGMT one of my favs, and Ratatat who played at UVM last year. Now Steve Aoki (DJ) made this amazing remix and I think it is about 8000 times better. Here it is, tell me what you think?

A rainy day in Paris

To the 2 followers I have, if you are ever in Paris while its raining there are a few things you can do. First off don't stay cooped up in the very petit apartment you will be staying in here, that's how you go crazy. At least that is how I go crazy, but luckily for me I happened to have 7 hours of classes today so I was interacting with fellow students, as well as the crazy occupants of the métro. Things you should do...

- Go to the aquarium... Aquarium de Paris,
It is located off the Trocadéro Métro stop which has both Line 6 and the 9. Located in the Trocadéro gardens, it has 43 aquariums, 10,000 fish which include 24 sharks!! There is actually a shark tunnel that you can walk through that is 33 meters long. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty exciting. For students it is 15,50 euro, adults 19,50 euro, and children it is 12,50 euro. The aquarium is open right now from 10h till 19h, off season it is open till 18h.

-Go see a flick!!
Most theaters around Paris have english films, you just have to look around. The Gaumont Alesia has at least one english movie a day. The theater is relatively new and if you are a student the ticket is around 7 euro. If you want to check out the American movies in Paris here is a great link.
http://paris.angloinfo.com/information/movies.asp

-Bowling at the Bowling Mouffetard,
Prices for this fun-filled bowling alley range from 3,30 euro to 15 euro. Located on 73 rue Mouffetard in the 5th, you can take line 7 on the Métro and get off at either Place Mange or Censier-Daubenton. It is a retro bowling alley that also has billiards. The bright colors plastered on the walls will definitely lift your mood on a rainy day. If not there are plenty of bars in Mouffetard that I'm sure will brighten your day.

-Shopping at Forums des Halles
This isn't your ordinary shopping center it happens to have; an indoor pool, two cinemas, children's playground, a library for art and multiple restaurants. It even has a Starbucks. Some of the more popular shops include H&M, Swatch, United Colors of Benetton, Bershka, Darjeerling, FNAC, Gap, Mango and much much more. It is located in the 1st, and is the Les Halles station for the Métro and the RER.

-Louvre
As you hopefully know Paris is home to some of the most impressive museums in the world. One of which being the Louvre which houses the Mona Lisa It's been said that if you look at every piece of art in the Louvre for three seconds each it will take you three months to get through the entire museum. There are two Métro stops for the Louvre called the Louvre Rivoli and Palais Royal Musée du Louvre on line 1. If it is raining or sunny the first sunday of every month is free!

-Musée d'Orsay
There is also the Musée d'Orsay which houses impressionist artists like Monet, Manet and Renoir. It is spectacular and highly recommendable. It is 7 euro for students to get in, and is normally 9,50 euro. It is within walking distance from the Louvre, just on the other side of the Seine. If you want to take the Métro the most direct route is on line 12 stop Solférino.

-Centre Pompidou
If you are into contemporary then the Centre Pompidou is for you, located right next to Forum des Halles. It houses the most contemporary of artists (Andy Warhol one of the most famous) and is in an extremely contemporary building for Paris. The façade looks like a steel web covering it. This is also a great place to go to when it is sunny because when you are on the fifth floor you have the view of the city! If you can pass for an EU student it is free, if not it will be about 8 euro, regular priced tickets are 12 euro (depending on season). The closest Métro is Rambuteau on line 11.

This will fill up your time for now, more fun things to do coming soon!!

Tights Galore

While walking around Paris today I was of course people watching to see what everyone else around me was wearing. One thing that I have noticed while doing this was that the women have an obsession with tights. I'm not complaining at all because tights are miracle blemish workers. I feel like when most people think of Paris they think of well sex-appealed, romantic fashion, and you do see that when it comes to the magazines. Like in this months French Vogue where they have a spread of this very beautiful model and in every picture you either see her breasts or her vagina. Yes I said her vagina, it seems to be a reoccurring theme in everything French a full naked woman is just as common as the cafes that blanket the streets of Paris. So the appearance of clothes is slim to none in high-fashion magazines, but in real life Paris there is plenty of clothes. They don't really show skin they cover it with tights and sweaters. One of the fashion statements that I have seen on numerous occasions here is the short and tight look, not even skin-tone tights but black ones. At first you ponder and look up and down to try and figure out why someone decided to do this. I think that it is cute as long as it is done the right way. I think jean shorts that have the ragged cuffs and light washes are a no-go for black tights but maybe something funky like neon prints or even skin-tone and a pair of converse. I think in order to have the black tights look work you should wear colored(grey, khaki, black, red, maybe even dark purple) twill shorts or clean cut dark jean shorts. I think this look could even be brought out in to night wear with a cute pair of heels and a flirty top accompanied with a cardigan.

Here is an option for a classy look...


Silk cargo shorts
Banana Republic
$69.50




















Sheer tight
Banana Republic
$15.00
















Caryssa
Steve Madden
$89.00





and for the easy daily look...











Embroidered Jean Cutoffs
Gap
$59.50










Couture Lace Tight
Kate Spade
$28.00









Converse Chuck Taylor® 'Sparkle' Sneaker
Converse
$59.95






Whatever you do, do not wear tights with the awkward line that is on the top part of your thigh with short shorts it is awkward and not necessary. It either means you are buying the wrong tights or your shorts are too short. To be clear I am a follower of the tight thing I'm all about it, but I haven't ventured to anything but skin-tone but maybe soon I'll try the Parisian way.

Claude Monet's Gardens plus some

Believe it or not in three weekends today I will be back in New York. It is a crazy thing to think about. I have my schedule pretty packed up so I'm sure it is going to go by really fast, yesterday I went with my program to the Normandy region of France which is in the North-west of France. We went to two towns; Giverny and Honfleur. Giverny is the home of Claude Monet who is an extremely famous impressionist painter. His home in Giverny is surrounded by gardens of the most beautiful flowers, trees, ponds, and animals. It was very impressive and it smelled so delicious. My favorite flowers which I can never remember their names were scattered all through out the garden. These gardens feature the pond with the lilly pads that are featured in multiple paintings by Monet. It was really cool seeing them, knowing that Monet was painting where I was standing was very exciting. I love Monet he is one of my favorite artists.
Pretty similar huh?

After Monet we drove to this village Honfleur, that was absolutely adorable. My program just let us wonder and failed to mention that it was a fishermen's village. It reminded me so much of the Fisherman's village I went to in the Netherlands. It was so cute. I had soupe de poissons which is fish soup, but it wasn't that great sadly. My favorite fish soup is at a tiny restaurant in Lillesand, Norway. This soup had a strange consistency and it didn't have any fish taste to it. When we walked around the docks we came across a Ben and Jerry's, I thought that was hilarious it made me feel like I was in Vermont. Overall, it was a really nice day. I wish we had stayed the night there but my program had it as a day trip so whatever. Next time I come to France I'll just have to wonder around on my own.
Today I went to a market in Paris in the north of Paris, and right now I was looking up information on it to tell you but I realized we went to the wrong market. The funny thing is that when I was there I thought to myself that this seemed awkward and there were no antiques. The market that I want to go to is the Saint Ouen market which is the largest antique market in the world. How we missed it, I don't know!?! Funny I guess. I am going to go the last sunday here I think. Anyway, this upcoming week I only have three days of classes due to L'ascension day which is supposedly a religious holiday that no one in the states celebrates, so my friend Debbie and I are going to Belgium!! We are going to have one day in Brussels and two days in Bruges. We have been hearing great things so I am really excited. Till next time!!

Spring Break: part 2

Upon my arrival in Athens I was stuck with excitement. Greece has been one of the places I have wanted to go to since I can remember. I couldn't believe that I was actually there. Ever since my dad told me some of his stories about the Greek Islands I knew I had to get there while I was still young ;) We were in Athens for a total of two days; the first day and our last day, the rest of our Greece trip was spent in Santorini and Mykonos. My favorite you ask? Well, I'd have to say Santorini. You probably know Santorini because of the famous blue and white houses draped over the side of a volcanic mountain. It was serene, beautiful and filled with happy people. The experience there was amazing even our hostel was amazing. It was actually more like a bed & breakfast. My friends and I were the only people staying there except for the owners of course. The hostel itself was painted bright hues of purple which stood out from the white houses that surrounded us. We spent a day on the beach which was really nice and relaxing except that the sand is volcanic sand meaning its black and prickly which doesn't add up well with bare feet. We also couldn't walk in to the water without yelping because of the amount of rocks, but if we just laid there it was marvelous.
Oia is the part of Santorini that has those houses, that is also the area where you can ride donkeys up and down the huge steep mountain. Allie and Rob did it as Debbie and I stood from the top taking creepy photos of them. The bad part about the islands was that it was so windy that it became difficult to wear any of our warm weather clothes we brought with us. We learned to deal by layering with everything we brought.
Mykonos was extremely commercialized the first thing we saw was a Starbucks disguised as a traditional Greek home. We stayed at a campground called Paradise Beach which to our surprise wasn't a gay resort that the Athenians told us about. Our rooms were concrete huts that you could picture in a Discovery Channel special about an indigenous species from thousands of years ago. Debbie and I had our own little roommates; 2 snails, millions of ants and some mosquitos that left me with 14 mosquito bites. I named one of the snails GusGus from Cinderella but the other one wasn't as exciting so I didn't name it. Talene, Caitlin, Debbie and I ventured off our last night there to find the wind mills according to a Londonite, George he told us that windmills used to power everything on the island (I'm not sure if that is still true). We stumbled upon this really cute restaurant right against the sea and when Tal and I went to take pictures to our surprise the windmills were right there! It was a coincidence but perfect because we didn't think we were going to find them. The waiters at the restaurant were very nice; one was talking about Chicago calling it the "town of wind", he was close. When we returned to Athens we of course saw the Acropolis which was how I pictured it. To this day my favorite historical site/building is the Pantheon in Rome.
Athens reminded me of China Town in Manhattan because of the amount of fake merchandise you can buy it was almost ridiculous. I wasn't expecting that at all. Athens seemed a little dirty and the people weren't as nice as everywhere else I had been, but I still enjoyed it. I also realized that the gyros in Greece were the same thing as what you'd find in a traditional greek restaurant in NY (I wasn't as gyro-crazy as my friends). While in Athens we went on this tourist train that brought us through the city, we were being presented to the world is what it felt like because we would drive down allies that were lined with restaurants and everyone in Athens. Moral of the story don't go on the trollies unless you are prepared to turn red, laugh a lot and feel completely embarrassed.
This is the Acropolis!!

Overall this Spring Break definitely tops all the other ones I've had, but next year who knows where I'll go :) I'm so glad to have enjoyed both Spain and Greece, I want to go back to both to explore more parts of them but that will have to be for another time. I only have 3 weeks left in Paris, and most likely the next two weekends I will be traveling again so I have even less time in Paris then I thought. I want to go to the YSL exhibit at the Petit Palais which is supposed to be incredible, but I have to hurry because I think it is done soon! I definitely want to do the cliche picnic in the parks with a bottle of wine in one hand and a baguette in the other, but I might save that for when my cousin comes in a couple weeks!!
With Love.

Spring Break: part 1

Sitting in my overly small dorm room in downtown Paris I started to think about my wonderful spring break vacation I just returned from. Mostly because it is pouring here I am dreaming about the beaches I laid on in Spain and Greece. I left last Thursday for Barcelona, Spain. Upon my arrival with my good friend Debbie we decided to roam the streets where we landed on one of the biggest shopping streets in Barcelona, extremely similar to the Champs in Paris. This is one of those streets you window shop on and don't walk in the stores because your wallet will run away. Well we ended up finding this really cute cafe called Ou Ou where we indulged in our first real spanish tapas. I actually wasn't that big of a fan, on most of them they put this orange sauce on it that looks like the hot sauce americans put on there wings, but instead it was sweet.
After checking in to my hotel we were bombarded by club promoters and pub crawls. One of them was from the states and his aunt was supposedly from Manhattan off Park Ave. I couldn't tell if he was faking to try to get us to go with him, but he was very excited about it so who knows. We ended up not going on a pub crawl or to a club, we went to this really authentic restaurant where we had Sangria and Paella. Paella is my new favorite food and I plan on learning how to make it at home and eating it like once a week. It consisted of spanish rice, chicken or craw fish or both, vegetables and probably a whole bunch of other stuff I had no idea that was in there, but it was so good. Of course the Sangria was amazing we ended up going to a cafe afterwards and shared a carafe of Sangria, delish!
The next day when we met up with our friend Rob we went to the Sagrada Familia a church that is still in the process of being finished but was originally designed by Antoni Gaudi. The church was magnificent, it looked as if it was melting it had fruit, and animals draped over the church, there was lots of color and inside which is completely under construction there was the most gorgeous stained glass it had such bright colors. It was definitely a site that I recommend seeing. That night we met up with people from our program in Paris and went out to the clubs with them. The club was not that fun because there were mostly 35+ year olds there. I didn't enjoy watching the old men trying to dance.
We spent our last day in Barcelona at the beach. On our way to the beach we walked to their Arc de Triomph which happened to be red. Through the arc there was a market that had traditional spanish foods we hopped from booth to booth trying fruits, tapas, guac, and much more. It was really neat. The beach was beautiful and we found out from a local that this happened to be the nicest day they have had this year. That night we went to this bar called the Chupito which sold over 200 different shots for 2 euro a piece. The oasis and the boy scout were my favorite. The oasis was very fruity and the boy scout was sweet but the special thing about the boy scout is that they put the shots on fire and then give you a marshmallow on a stick that you roast over the shot. Needless to say it is a go-to place in Barcelona, but don't think you will have a lot of space to chill because there is pretty much a two foot gap between the bar and the wall, and no seats. I enjoyed it still. If you ever go ask for the Monica Lewinsky.

next stop Greece!!