Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, October 24, 2008
Nice: Day 1
Our trip to Nice got off to an intersting start...
For of all, I was very concerned that I was going to forget something and ended up taking an extra half an hour to get ready the morning of our departure. Consequently, I only went to 45 minutes of my stage. Very bad girl.
We snuck out of our stage around 11 and jumped on the train that would take us to the airport. We got off at the stop labeled "Orly" and assumed that we were already there. Butt nooo... We had to take a bus to the airport. And pay an extra 2 euro to do so. And of course we had no clue which stop we needed to get off at because we weren't aware that we would be taking a bus and didn't know what would be closest to our terminal. Luckily, our bus driver was really nice, knew which terminals were at which stop and notified us when we had to get off the bus.
Once in the airport, we headed to our terminal to print out our tickets. However, when we got to the top of the stairs, we were stopped by a security guard. The whole upper level was blocked off. He told us there was some abandonned luggage and that it was a potential bomb threat. He advised us to evacuate the airport. Although the smart thing to do probably would have been to leave, we decided to stay with the group of other daredevils who were gathered on the top of the stairwell. After about 20 minutes of being huddled in the small space with an increasingly large number of people, the we heard a whistle blow. The security guard looks at me and Ahmie and said "Block your ears." (in french, of course). Our reaction time wasn't very fast though. I was still standing there thinking "why does he want me to put my hands to my ears?" when all of a sudden we hurd a huge explosion. Of course, we both screamed. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I turned to the guard and asked "So the luggage really contained a bomb?!" He laughed at me and said "No." From what I understood, they blew up the luggage to destroy it. or open it? Okay so i didn't really understand what he said. My french isn't that good - and they certainly don't teach you how to speak about bombs and explosions in High School or College level French classes. haha.
Basically, the point is that there wasn't actually a bomb in the luggage but that the French blew it up for some reason. I don't know if we do this kind of thing with abandoned luggage at Logan, but if we do and someone who's reading this knows about it, pleassee explain to me what happened haha.
But back to our trip. After that whole ordeal we safely got on the plane and headed for Nice. It was a small plane but the service on the flight was muchhh better than in the U.S. Before boarding the plane I bought a sandwhich because I figured I'd need lunch. Boy was I wrong - on a one hour flight they brought us one meal, and came by twice with refreshments. ALL FREE! I went to Florida once and they wanted me to pay for a glass of O.J. The only thing that was free was the peanuts. CrAzY!
This is Ahmie on the plane after we landed : )
I liked that the sign said "Côte d'Azur." It made me excited to see the water (because Côte d'Azur means "Coast of Blue" in French).
Once we got out of the airport, we had to head to take a bus to our hostel. This is a picture of the bus stop.
My bus ticket! Not that you guys needed to see this or anything lol
Ahmie getting on the bus.
Ahmie on the bus. That woman who's near her ended up talking to us and let us use her map to get a better idea of where our hostel was in relation to where the bus was going to drop us off. It's nice to experience the hospitality of strangers when you're out of you're comfort zone. It reminds me that there's still some good in the world.
PALM TREES!!! I hadn't seen them since the last time I went to Vegas back in 2006.
Ahmie had spent a month in Nice the summer after high school and was quite happy about being back again.
This is the hotel Negresco.
For of all, I was very concerned that I was going to forget something and ended up taking an extra half an hour to get ready the morning of our departure. Consequently, I only went to 45 minutes of my stage. Very bad girl.
We snuck out of our stage around 11 and jumped on the train that would take us to the airport. We got off at the stop labeled "Orly" and assumed that we were already there. Butt nooo... We had to take a bus to the airport. And pay an extra 2 euro to do so. And of course we had no clue which stop we needed to get off at because we weren't aware that we would be taking a bus and didn't know what would be closest to our terminal. Luckily, our bus driver was really nice, knew which terminals were at which stop and notified us when we had to get off the bus.
Once in the airport, we headed to our terminal to print out our tickets. However, when we got to the top of the stairs, we were stopped by a security guard. The whole upper level was blocked off. He told us there was some abandonned luggage and that it was a potential bomb threat. He advised us to evacuate the airport. Although the smart thing to do probably would have been to leave, we decided to stay with the group of other daredevils who were gathered on the top of the stairwell. After about 20 minutes of being huddled in the small space with an increasingly large number of people, the we heard a whistle blow. The security guard looks at me and Ahmie and said "Block your ears." (in french, of course). Our reaction time wasn't very fast though. I was still standing there thinking "why does he want me to put my hands to my ears?" when all of a sudden we hurd a huge explosion. Of course, we both screamed. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I turned to the guard and asked "So the luggage really contained a bomb?!" He laughed at me and said "No." From what I understood, they blew up the luggage to destroy it. or open it? Okay so i didn't really understand what he said. My french isn't that good - and they certainly don't teach you how to speak about bombs and explosions in High School or College level French classes. haha.
Basically, the point is that there wasn't actually a bomb in the luggage but that the French blew it up for some reason. I don't know if we do this kind of thing with abandoned luggage at Logan, but if we do and someone who's reading this knows about it, pleassee explain to me what happened haha.
But back to our trip. After that whole ordeal we safely got on the plane and headed for Nice. It was a small plane but the service on the flight was muchhh better than in the U.S. Before boarding the plane I bought a sandwhich because I figured I'd need lunch. Boy was I wrong - on a one hour flight they brought us one meal, and came by twice with refreshments. ALL FREE! I went to Florida once and they wanted me to pay for a glass of O.J. The only thing that was free was the peanuts. CrAzY!
This is Ahmie on the plane after we landed : )
I liked that the sign said "Côte d'Azur." It made me excited to see the water (because Côte d'Azur means "Coast of Blue" in French).
Once we got out of the airport, we had to head to take a bus to our hostel. This is a picture of the bus stop.
My bus ticket! Not that you guys needed to see this or anything lol
Ahmie getting on the bus.
Ahmie on the bus. That woman who's near her ended up talking to us and let us use her map to get a better idea of where our hostel was in relation to where the bus was going to drop us off. It's nice to experience the hospitality of strangers when you're out of you're comfort zone. It reminds me that there's still some good in the world.
PALM TREES!!! I hadn't seen them since the last time I went to Vegas back in 2006.
Ahmie had spent a month in Nice the summer after high school and was quite happy about being back again.
This is the hotel Negresco.
Hi again : )
I have returned to my favorite Parisian Café this afternoon to enjoy a cup of tea and good internet access : )
I'm going to FINALLY post my pictures of Nice now.
I'm going to FINALLY post my pictures of Nice now.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Montparnasse et les Galeries Lafayette
September 6, 2008:
Back in high school I had a foriegn exchange student from France stay at my house for a few months.
When I came to France, I was hoping to meet up with her again but never got in contact with her. I did, however, get in contact with her old best friend who was willing to meet up for coffee on afternoon. We ended up going to a café in Montparnasse. Ahmie tagged along - we're always eager to practice our French : )
Once we had finished our drinks, we headed in to les Galeries Lafayette so my friend could pic out some sunglasses. Ahmie and I discovered some hats...
We had a photo shoot:
Oh, we are CrAzY!! We weren't the only ones messing around with everything though - their were two French girls trying hats on right next to us.
Something I felt the need to note: At Montparnasse there is a HUGEEE tower, bigger than the Eiffel Tower, which is said to have the best view of Paris. I haven't been up there yet - maybe sometime soon though.
If you want to know more about the Galleries and what they have to offer, check out their website: http://www2.galerieslafayette.com/international/goFolder.do?f=home_en&lang=en&fontLang=null
(this is their English one... they have a French one too which has much better graphics and information)
Back in high school I had a foriegn exchange student from France stay at my house for a few months.
When I came to France, I was hoping to meet up with her again but never got in contact with her. I did, however, get in contact with her old best friend who was willing to meet up for coffee on afternoon. We ended up going to a café in Montparnasse. Ahmie tagged along - we're always eager to practice our French : )
Once we had finished our drinks, we headed in to les Galeries Lafayette so my friend could pic out some sunglasses. Ahmie and I discovered some hats...
We had a photo shoot:
Oh, we are CrAzY!! We weren't the only ones messing around with everything though - their were two French girls trying hats on right next to us.
Something I felt the need to note: At Montparnasse there is a HUGEEE tower, bigger than the Eiffel Tower, which is said to have the best view of Paris. I haven't been up there yet - maybe sometime soon though.
If you want to know more about the Galleries and what they have to offer, check out their website: http://www2.galerieslafayette.com/international/goFolder.do?f=home_en&lang=en&fontLang=null
(this is their English one... they have a French one too which has much better graphics and information)
Academic Programs International
Lately, I've had a few people ask me questions about my study abroad program so I decided to use this entry to give you guys a rundown on how things work.
Since UMass doesn't have it's own study abroad program for France, they decided to buddy up with Academic Programs International (also reffered to as API). API offers study programs for many different parts of the world and any student can participate no matter what school they are from. This is why there are a few kids who came on the trip with me that are not actually from UMass.
Once a student decides where they want to go, API helps them figure out which school in that area would best suite their study needs.
In my case, it didn't work exactly like that. UMass only allows you to choose from three schools in Paris: Sorbonne, University of Paris VII (Denis Diderot), and University of Paris IX (Dauphine). Sorbonne is for students who want to work solely on their French. Paris VII, the University that I am attending, is for students who have a decent French background and whose major falls into the Humanities catagory (such as Sociology, Psychology, or Political Science). There aren't exactly any classes for either of my majors (Journalism and Communication), however, I have found some Film courses that may be acceptable for credits toward Comm. The rest of my courses that I am taking here are for my International Relations Certificate.
But that's beside the point.
The last school, Paris IX, is for generally for business majors who already have a good foundation in French. You might be able to take some math courses there too though... I'm not sure.
At UMass, the International Programs Office (IPO) meets with you to find out your study plans, assesses your French level and puts you into the right school accordingly.
**When I say "puts you into the school," I don't mean that they literally sign you up. They merely give you all the information on how to go about applying to the school that they chose for you, BUT you are the one who actually fills out the application. Technically, if you didn't agree with where UMass put you, you could fill out the application for another school and go there. I doubt anybody ever does that though. It would probably cause a lot of trouble because IPO stays very active in the whole study abroad process and they would surely find out that you went behind their back and changed schools.
So back to the whole process... Once UMass gives you the info on how to apply, you sign up with API and the rest is history.
API deals with us now - not UMass.
I honestly don't know much about API other than what I told you. I had no idea what I was in for until I got over here haha. I'm sure there was a link off of the API website that would have explained what the program entailed but I never bothered to look.
It ends up that the $12,000 that I paid to come over here for one semester not only included University costs and housing, but also a meal plan that consists of one lunch swipe 5 days a week, an unlimited metro pass, and the cost of pre-planned excursions.
On top of that, API has a center in Paris where students can go to hang out or use resources such as a computer or wireless internet.
Recently, our group had a Cultural Orientation at the API center. Here are some pictures so you can get and idea of what it looks like:
September 3, 2008:
Anna drinking tea - they have drinks and snacks at the center for us to dig in to :]
Jon and Cheryl hanging out.
Marisol and Melisse in the computer room.
The classroom! Cheryl and Melisse on the left. Melissa and Anne-Marie (the directors) on the right.
Since UMass doesn't have it's own study abroad program for France, they decided to buddy up with Academic Programs International (also reffered to as API). API offers study programs for many different parts of the world and any student can participate no matter what school they are from. This is why there are a few kids who came on the trip with me that are not actually from UMass.
Once a student decides where they want to go, API helps them figure out which school in that area would best suite their study needs.
In my case, it didn't work exactly like that. UMass only allows you to choose from three schools in Paris: Sorbonne, University of Paris VII (Denis Diderot), and University of Paris IX (Dauphine). Sorbonne is for students who want to work solely on their French. Paris VII, the University that I am attending, is for students who have a decent French background and whose major falls into the Humanities catagory (such as Sociology, Psychology, or Political Science). There aren't exactly any classes for either of my majors (Journalism and Communication), however, I have found some Film courses that may be acceptable for credits toward Comm. The rest of my courses that I am taking here are for my International Relations Certificate.
But that's beside the point.
The last school, Paris IX, is for generally for business majors who already have a good foundation in French. You might be able to take some math courses there too though... I'm not sure.
At UMass, the International Programs Office (IPO) meets with you to find out your study plans, assesses your French level and puts you into the right school accordingly.
**When I say "puts you into the school," I don't mean that they literally sign you up. They merely give you all the information on how to go about applying to the school that they chose for you, BUT you are the one who actually fills out the application. Technically, if you didn't agree with where UMass put you, you could fill out the application for another school and go there. I doubt anybody ever does that though. It would probably cause a lot of trouble because IPO stays very active in the whole study abroad process and they would surely find out that you went behind their back and changed schools.
So back to the whole process... Once UMass gives you the info on how to apply, you sign up with API and the rest is history.
API deals with us now - not UMass.
I honestly don't know much about API other than what I told you. I had no idea what I was in for until I got over here haha. I'm sure there was a link off of the API website that would have explained what the program entailed but I never bothered to look.
It ends up that the $12,000 that I paid to come over here for one semester not only included University costs and housing, but also a meal plan that consists of one lunch swipe 5 days a week, an unlimited metro pass, and the cost of pre-planned excursions.
On top of that, API has a center in Paris where students can go to hang out or use resources such as a computer or wireless internet.
Recently, our group had a Cultural Orientation at the API center. Here are some pictures so you can get and idea of what it looks like:
September 3, 2008:
Anna drinking tea - they have drinks and snacks at the center for us to dig in to :] 
Jon and Cheryl hanging out.
Marisol and Melisse in the computer room.
The classroom! Cheryl and Melisse on the left. Melissa and Anne-Marie (the directors) on the right.
Versailles!! (Encore)
September 2nd, 2008:These are pictures from my second trip to Versailles : )
This time, we had a real tour guide... much better.
Our guide explained to us what the dinosaur-esque thing was. It's not normally supposed to be there. I guess some famous, up-and-coming artist named Jeff Koons is being allowed to display his work at Versailles? When I went with my dad, this was the only one of his pieces up on display, however, this time there were a few more things up.
Here is a close up of the front of Jeff Koon's piece of artwork. According to this blog entry I was reading, it's called the "Split-Rocker." The blog goes into a lot of detail about the Jeff Koons exhibit. Definitely check it out.
One side of the Split-Rocker is a monkey...
... the other is a horse.
Both times I went to Versailles this year the weather has been less that desirable. On this day, it was incredibly windy. Ahmie's hair was all over the place.
Inside the Chateaux. I love the staircases. So pretty.
Our tour guide explained to us that the wood floors that currently cover most of Versailles are not the original flooring. During the Revolution, the marble floors got destroyed. Thus, they replaced the marble with wood because it would be more practical for tourists. I found that interesting.
This is our tour guide : ) She was very good - knowledgeable and not boring at all. Also, our whole tour was in French but she spoke slow enough that I understood almost everything. Very helpful.
Ahmie in front of the Hall of Mirrors.
Jeff Koon's artwork inside Versailles. Personally, I feel like it's awful to display modern art at Versailles like this. People come from all over the world to see Versailles and admire the castle's beauty and to have a random lobster hanging (below) in a beautiful, historical room seems kind of distasteful to me.
More of Koon's artwork outside of Versailles. You see this when you exit.
Bassin de Latone - I explained it in one of my last blog entry about Versailles. (The link to it is at the bottom of this entry).
Another Fountain - I thought that this one was funny because their are birds sitting on the statues' heads.
To read about my last visit to Versailles check out the following links:
* Inside Versailles
* Jardins de Versailles
** Picture of Lobster hanging in Versailles courtesy of "Direct Matin" newspaper.
This time, we had a real tour guide... much better.
Our guide explained to us what the dinosaur-esque thing was. It's not normally supposed to be there. I guess some famous, up-and-coming artist named Jeff Koons is being allowed to display his work at Versailles? When I went with my dad, this was the only one of his pieces up on display, however, this time there were a few more things up. 
Here is a close up of the front of Jeff Koon's piece of artwork. According to this blog entry I was reading, it's called the "Split-Rocker." The blog goes into a lot of detail about the Jeff Koons exhibit. Definitely check it out.
One side of the Split-Rocker is a monkey...
... the other is a horse.
Both times I went to Versailles this year the weather has been less that desirable. On this day, it was incredibly windy. Ahmie's hair was all over the place.
Inside the Chateaux. I love the staircases. So pretty.
Our tour guide explained to us that the wood floors that currently cover most of Versailles are not the original flooring. During the Revolution, the marble floors got destroyed. Thus, they replaced the marble with wood because it would be more practical for tourists. I found that interesting.
This is our tour guide : ) She was very good - knowledgeable and not boring at all. Also, our whole tour was in French but she spoke slow enough that I understood almost everything. Very helpful.
Ahmie in front of the Hall of Mirrors.
Jeff Koon's artwork inside Versailles. Personally, I feel like it's awful to display modern art at Versailles like this. People come from all over the world to see Versailles and admire the castle's beauty and to have a random lobster hanging (below) in a beautiful, historical room seems kind of distasteful to me.
More of Koon's artwork outside of Versailles. You see this when you exit.
Bassin de Latone - I explained it in one of my last blog entry about Versailles. (The link to it is at the bottom of this entry).
Another Fountain - I thought that this one was funny because their are birds sitting on the statues' heads.To read about my last visit to Versailles check out the following links:
* Inside Versailles
* Jardins de Versailles
** Picture of Lobster hanging in Versailles courtesy of "Direct Matin" newspaper.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
More Montmartre
September 1st, 2008:
As we decended the tower of Le Sacré-Cœur, we realized that the long walk had made us rather hungry. With growling stomachs, a few of us made our way down the streets of Montmartre in search of dinner.
Ironically, we ended up at the same exact place where I had gone to eat with my two high school friends four years earlier when we were in Paris.
It's a great restaurant - we got a 3 course meal for only 10 euros. I think it's called La Pétaudière or maybe the Piano Bar; if you're ever in Montmartre ask around for it and go there!!
From front left: Pat, Marisol, Me
From front right: Jon, Ahmie, Wilnerys
The waiter was very friendly.
He let me take a picture of him with everybody : )
Ahmie and I decided to go to the redlight district after dinner... I saw pretty much all the same things as last time. I did think this kid was rather funny though:
I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure his father was coaxing him to do this in French.
It's still funny.
As we decended the tower of Le Sacré-Cœur, we realized that the long walk had made us rather hungry. With growling stomachs, a few of us made our way down the streets of Montmartre in search of dinner.
Ironically, we ended up at the same exact place where I had gone to eat with my two high school friends four years earlier when we were in Paris.
It's a great restaurant - we got a 3 course meal for only 10 euros. I think it's called La Pétaudière or maybe the Piano Bar; if you're ever in Montmartre ask around for it and go there!!
From front left: Pat, Marisol, MeFrom front right: Jon, Ahmie, Wilnerys
The waiter was very friendly.
He let me take a picture of him with everybody : )Ahmie and I decided to go to the redlight district after dinner... I saw pretty much all the same things as last time. I did think this kid was rather funny though:
I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure his father was coaxing him to do this in French.
It's still funny.
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