parle vou espanol?

This weekend was so incredible! Yesterday was my birthday, and in celebration I took the Eurostar to Paris--which takes you UNDER the English Channel, and pops you up on land in paris france in just 2.5 hours. I will begin at the beginning, and this could be long so skim around for things that interest you.

I arrived on Friday, after sleeping maybe 1 or 2 hours the night before, waking up at 330am to catch a 4am bus and the 530am eurostar. i arrived in paris and was immediately greeted by Ru at the train station with a giant hug! She sort of snuck up on me so it was nice to be almost tackled while i was opening my bags. Quickly--Ru is our friend Rach, Judy, and I met on our last adventure, the Road Trip to New Orleans. We met her at a hostel in Atlanta, went out to eat, and immediately connected, and recently we found out she will be studying in France. She is Croatian, studying English and French, and she's amazing! So positive and fun. OK-- so Ru and I get on the metro and come out at the river looking across at Notre Dame, which was beautiful! And we walked through there, and on our way to the hostel to meet with Rachael Maddox and her friend Anna! Background: Rachael is my best friend from home and she's studying in Florence and she is AMAZING! Anna is her friend from Florence program.
That day was joyous, just knocking on Rach's door at the hostel and having her open it, and then talking and wondering the city together was really really perfect.

We walked along the river and stopped at a little cafe and got a carafe (sp?) of red wine, vins rouge. which seemed to come out of a tap, right into this ceramic container, and it was sooo delicious! Then we made out way to the Musee de Orsay, with impressionist pieces, Manet, Monet, sculpture and more. It is a beautiful museum and relatively easy to get around, not too big. Then we ate paun formagge (cheesy bread) and pizza outside of the Louvre and made our way in. It was free on Fri night for under 25s, but it was SOOO crowded. The building is magnificent, but i've truly never seen a museum so large in my life! I was really exhausted by this point in time and we decided only to spend an hour at the Louvre, seeing things we really wanted to see and then leaving. SO in the rush I got lost in the museum and really stressed out! but i made it to the mona lisa and virgin on the rocks by da vinci, and saw some other pieces i recognized from art history class which was really cool -- and after getting lost again trying to make it to another section of the building i gave up and went to the front to meet everyone! and had a conversation with an older frenchmen about art and music and following dreams, which relaxed me after the stressful art-hunt.

after THIS we returned to the hostel and got CREPES! which were SO GOOD! i got one with nutella and banana, and almost died it was so good. freshly poured (crepe) and melted (nutella) and sliced (bananas) to perfection. we decided to celebrate my birthday early and met some argentinian men at the hostel and a woman from costa rica, and bought a few bottles of french wine and drank them downstairs in the kitchen. It was really fun to speak to our new friends in spanish and they sung happy birthday in english, spanish, and portuguese throughout the night! Then i somehow made it out to a bar nearby with great music and danced the night away, met some cute french boys who couldn't speak english, and called it a night at 3am! it was pretty insane that i stayed awake that long but very well worth it. and i definitely practiced my spanish, even if it was in france.

Saturday we were all pretty worn out, but we met Ru for all you can eat pasta lunch (only 2.80!) which was perfect, and then we split our ways and went to Montemarte, a city on a huge hill in Paris that overlooks the entire city with a giant beautiful church at the top. So we meditated/basically fell asleep in the church prayer area, and then walked to see artists painting in this square and got icecream, and eventually headed back to the hostel for a NAP! That night we got sushi and then went to the Eiffel Tower at night! IT was SOOO BEAUTIFUL! i didn't expect to freak out seeing this monument, but i felt so happy inside. it was also womens day in europe that day so the three of us felt wonderful, drinking a little wine in the grass by the eiffel tower, talking, laughing, having a great night. we had SUCH a great night that we missed the last metro at midnight, and had to catch a cab home. but it wasnt too expensive. we managed to eat another crepe before they closed up around 1 or 2am, and then called it a night.

Sunday it was pouring down rain, anna had to leave at 12, we sat in a cafe and ate food (mozzerella melted with tomato and ham) and drank coffee. the rain was probably perfect for rachael and i because it gave us an excuse to sit and talk for 3 hours! she had to leave around 4pm to catch her flight. and by that time the sun had come out again and i walked around the city and took pictures and stumbled upon beautiful gardens and an incredible mosque. when i got back to the hostel my hostel-roommate Kristen from Boston was home and we discussed travel plans (she had just been to ireland, i'm going in 2 weeks) and talked about our weekends, and then we decided to get dinner together at a little french restaurant, which was delicious and i tried Es Cargo! the waiter gave us a free caraf of wine (i know.. more wine, but it was too good in france to pass up!)

Monday I was really on my own and it was pouring down rain. kristen left in the morning and i checked out after breakfast (which was a croissant and baguette--the all carb diet of france). i decided to take the metro to a museum which happened to be closed when i arrived! so desperate to get out of the rain i walked around and saw a store that said "Musique" and I went in expecting to find CDs or something but it was a music store with hundreds of acoustic guitars just waiting to be played. this was perfect for me. i just sat down and played various guitars for a whole hour, the shop was pretty empty so it was okay, and the owner of the shop said what i think in french meant "you play the guitar beautifully"...or maybe i just made that up! after an hour had passed the museum was open. its the Pompidue, modern art museum. it cost a lot to get in but it was well worth it! There was an exhibit by Louis Burgeious, this amazing french woman who moved to new york city and made really cool art exploring identity, mixing of sexual symbols, and dealing with other life difficulties through sculpture and art. she had a series of "cells" where you could look in which represented memories of childhood. modern art is always a little crazy, but i liked this because it had enough explanations for me to feel like i could grasp or have an idea of what was going on for her in creating these pieces, rather than just being completely puzzled. i liked this.

in the afternoon i met with Ru to go to spanish class (in france!) i felt like i learned more french than spanish! but i got to practice spanish and we even listened to manu chao "me gustas tu" and read the lyrics and i love that song! so it was really fun. Ru and i got cheap dinner at her school, and she took me to the train station!

Last story -- I got off the tube on my way home, and this homeless man asks me for change. here i'll type the exchange
H: Hello with the beautiful face, could you spare any change tonight?
M: eh, no sorry!
H: don't be sorry, just have a really good night tonight! and don't get lost!
M: (walking away), okay thanks!
H: do you want this pizza? do you live with a lot of people?
M: (thinking i do live with 19 people) pizza?
H: yeah i don't want it, just take it
(there is a giant pizza, bigger than i've ever seen in a pizza box on the ground. he slides it over).
M:I can't take pizza from YOU, you should save it for later.
H:I get food all the time, I know I'm fat but I can't eat this much pizza, just take it!
M: Ok... (holding the pizza box) well what do you want? you want money?
H:I'd love some money!
M: what do you want to buy with it?
H: I want some beer, love!
M: well i have a pound, is that ok?
H: a pounds great!

... i walk out of the station with a giant pizza, ppl at the bus station approach me saying "is that a pizza? thats the biggest pizza i've ever seen!" and we all ate it when i got back to the flat, and we're still alive! it was really tasty.

thats my story of when i get pizza from a bum in the undergound.

my birthday was fun, but really busy with class and stuff, spencers parents took us out for belgian beer and a belgian brewery. it was tasty, i talked to my parents and called it a night! i need to go to class, i hope you enjoyed what you read! i'll post pictures and you can just see the weekend that way if reading takes to long! :) lots of love to all of you,

I'm now 21 years old! pretty strange, but good!

adios,

jodi