Castle on a Cloud

This past Saturday, Drew and I went to the Loire Valley to see some castles. You can't spend a large amount of time in France and not see castles! So we got up uber-early and caught a 7:50 train to Tours (where I studied abroad 3 summers ago) to do some excursions in the area. Our 9-12:30 tour took us to Villandry and Azay le Rideau.



Villandry was amazing!!! Built in 1536 by a minister of finance, it is 3 stories tall with a 4 story tower overlooking its amazing gardens. There is a water garden, a maze, flowers, and herbs.




Azay le Rideau was just as awesome. It has an open staircase in the front (making it too cold for me) and is about 3 stories also. It doesn't have cultivated gardens, just an nice wilderness to wander around on.

We were back in Tours for about an hour and I showed Drew the cathedral and we wandered some. Then we headed back to the tourist office for our 1:45 tour which took us to Chambord and Cheverny.




After driving over an hour, we pulled into the impressive drive leading to Chambord. This castle is HUGE-over 400 rooms, 20 something stairways, and 4 stories. The main stairway is a cool double helix Da Vinci-created thing. It's confusing but fun. The place is just massive and was only built as a hunting lodge!!!!!!!!!!!! Can someone say waste of materials!?!?




Cheverny was more of a large mansion than castle but still lovely. The family still lives in part of the house. I loved the furnishings. The grounds were nice; there was a small garden and just a large park to walk around in. This castle also had 120+ hounds to visit but signs asked us not to 'excite' them.

We got back to Tours 7ish and ate dinner and had a lovely dessert. I showed Drew where I took classes and the cool square where we hung out. It was an overall great day!


Photos:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2139130&l=586ba&id=12600427

Play the Game

Drew and I went to the French Open!!!! I know you must be wondering how in the world we got french open tickets...it was pretty easy. At 5 pm everyday for the first 3 rounds, they resell tickets for seats that have been vacated for the day. Drew and I were going to get in line at 4 (haha) and see if we could get any...well we got to that side of town kind of early so we decided to check out Roland Garros at 2:30 just to see and there was already a small line...so we decided to just start waiting...yes, we waited 2 and a half hours!! The time went pretty fast even though it was hot. So, by being at the front of the line, we were able to by 29 euro tickets for row one of stadium Philippe Chatrier (the main stadium) and see Nadal play. Now, I'm no expert at tennis (ask Drew how many times I asked what Nadal's name was) but I know a good thing when it happens to me. And this was a GOOD thing. Nadal pretty much dominated Montanes and won the match. He also ended up winning all of the French Open!!! This was definitely an amazing day!
Nadal

Montanes

in Philippe Chatrier

Philippe Chatrier Stadium


photos:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2137172&l=8edfd&id=12600427

Here With Me

Drew's here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you feel the excitement!?!? The week leading up to his arrival drug on...but he got here safely Saturday May 12. His plane landed at 7:39 AM but I didn't see him until closer to 9:30. His luggage was not with him but that just made our trip back into Paris easier.

After getting back to the apartment and eating a snack, we headed off for a lovely walked tour of Paris. We headed first to the Eiffel Tower and pretty much followed the same route I usually take guests on, crossing the river to Trocadero, walking to the Arc, down the C-E (with a little lunch break), through the Tuileries to the Louvre. But did we stop there!? NO!!!!!!!!!! We crossed the river and walked along the Seine to Notre Dame. I'll admit, by then I was exhausted!! Drew conked out for a bit and then we had dinner and saw Spiderman 3. Poor Drew was falling asleep and I don't think it was because the movie was horrible...I won't go there.

Sunday, we were less ambitious. It was a pretty morning so we packed a picnic and headed to Luxembourg Gardens. Of course, once we got off the metro, it was all cloudy. As we were walking in the park it started pouring! So we took cover in the gazebo with the Frenchies and waited it out. We headed back home and then met up with Guillaume for the rest of the afternoon. He gave us an impromptu (sp?) tour of the Chatelet area and we sat in a cafe for a bit. It was a nice afternoon.

Monday, I had to return back to work and Drew headed to the Marie Curie Institute to start research. Thursday, we had the day off but since the weather was bad we headed to the Louvre. Then we walked around a bit.

The next weekend was awesome. Saturday we went to Giverny to see Monet's home and gardens. It was a gorgeous day and the gardens were in full bloom! There's not much in the town except Monet's home.



The train station was in nearbye Vernon so we toured around there a bit too. Sunday we went to the Longchamp racetrack to watch some horse races. The weather was nasty but it was free and we enjoyed it!

This past weekend, some of our friends from USC came to visit: Ellory, David, Josh, and Jess. Despite the nasty weather, we had a great time seeing all the touristy things and just being silly together.



photos:

Drew
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2134220&l=88fd3&id=12600427

David/Josh/Ellory/Jess:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2136350&l=a45bf&id=12600427

Good Golly Miss Molly!!!

One of my many favorite people in the world came to visit me last weekend. That's right, I got to spend 3 whole nights and 2 whole days with MOLLY!!!!!!!!! I love this girl dearly and we had a great time in the city of love ;-)

So we met up at the Louvre because I had to work till 6. We wandered around there for a bit, mostly just chatting instead of enjoying the art. After dropping stuff off at my apartment, we went back into town for dinner. I drug her, like I do all my guests, to my favorite crepe place in the latin quarter. yum!!!! Then we walked around a bit. We were going to take a bus back because there had been creepy guys at the metro but of course my nightbus wasn't running...this is why I NEVER take the bus. Luckily we were able to hop on the metro before it stopped running.

Saturday was a fully day of seeing Paris. We started at Montmartre with Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge. Then we metroed down to the latin quarter area to see Notre Dame and grab lunch. Then we walked along the Seine to Musee d'Orsay. We were cold so we took in some art. Then we crossed the river to the Tuileries and walked towards the Louvre. Molly wanted to see it during the day. We decided to grab coffee after that because we were still cold, so we sat in a cafe for a bit before heading over to the Lequire's for sausage and grits...fantastic!!!! On the metro home, Emily, Nanda, Tara, and I were a bit crazy from boredom but Molly survived :-P

Sunday we got up early to hit the Eiffel Tower line before it was a mile long. The line wasn't horrible, just the guy in line behind us. OMG can we please learn about personal space!?!? Anyway, we went up to the second level and took loads of pictures and had a coffee/hot chocolate to warm up. From there, we crossed the river to go to the Trocadero so Molly could get a full photo of the ET and then we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. There were stands and stuff set up for the May 8th holiday and the Champs Elysees was all decorated with flags. It was so pretty!! So we walked down the Champs Elysees to the Tuileries where we hung out a bit since it was warming up. Then we walked to Opera so Molly could see the prettiest building in Paris :-D We decided to stay outside a bit longer so we headed to Luxembourg gardens where we sat and bambini-stalked. It was a great afternoon.




Molly left Monday morning and I returned to my internship. It's been a good week and Drew arrives this weekend!!!!!!!!!!

photos:
last week of school:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2130631&l=af2d2&id=12600427

molly!!!
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2130637&l=4b4b8&id=12600427

The End Has Only Begun

Hi...it's been awhile, practically a month a guess. But what a month! I'll pick up from the second when I got my internship. The next day my advisor Louis arrived for the week. I was excited to tell him I finally had an internship. We had french track family dinner at a lovely restaurant (thanks Darla). The next week was our second week of vacation. I wish I could say I went somewhere exciting and exotic but hey, I already live in Paris...where else is better. I had a wonderfully lazy week of sleeping in.

One of the days we went to Reims (say the word rinse with a snotty french accent), the capital of Champagne for a little visit. We had such beautiful weather. It was the cutest little town. The cathedral was beautiful. Twenty-six French kings were coronated in that cathedral! How awesome is it to be in the same place where 26 kings were!?!? We also took a tour of Madame Pommery's 'cave,' one of the oldest and well-known champagne makers. The cave has different art exhibits each year which made the tour quite exciting (and the photographs really funny).

On Sunday of the break, I did a little walking tour of Montmarte based on an article I found (well technically Jenna found it) of Amelie film sites. It was a gorgeous (but hot) day and Paris is starting to fill up with tourists. Nevertheless, I saw some pretty little streets and it was good to be out of the house and get some exercise.



After vacation, I had three days of class left and then we had to take the TEF (test of evaluation of french). After finishing the test, we picnicked in Luxembourg gardens. It was the perfect ending to a not so perfect semester. On Friday, some of us did a daytrip to Normandy!! We visited Caen (um, con with a snotty french accent) and drove up to the coast and saw Omaha Beach. It was a fantastic road trip...we heard crazy music on the radio...video killed the radio star, wonderwall, just crazy stuff! The beach was cold with the breeze coming off the English Channel. But it was nice to be out on the coast...we took a little walk on the beach. It was an amazing place.

This past week was a change of pace. Some of the awesome Global Trackers came to visit us the first half of the week, but we still had seminars and business visits. Monday, we visited a L'Oreal factory. Nerdy, but it was awesome. We saw different assembly lines. The robotics and machines were incredible, especially for hair dye kits where three different things go in a box with a set of instructions...it's so cool how the process is lined up with 3 empty bottles that get filled up, labeled, capped, and shoved in a box together. Tuesday evening, we hung out at the Trocadero with the Global Trackers. It's doing stuff like that that makes me love living here in Paris. On Friday, we visited the Paris Chamber of Commerce. We were all expecting boredome like on our visit in Brussels, but this building was beautiful! We were given a tour of the mansion and a little bit of the history. In the afternoon, we visited Ariane Space...the French NASA. We got to see how rockets were made and actually saw some in different stages of production. It's amazing that building something that can go into space is possible.

So now I'm just chilling till my internship starts on Thursday. I'm excited and nervous. There will definitely be an update at the end of the week. Till then enjoy my millions of photos:

champagne:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123535&l=f5214&id=12600427

montmartre:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2124014&l=abb2a&id=12600427

spring photos:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122186&l=504cd&id=12600427

roadtrip to normandy part 1:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125672&l=bce4f&id=12600427

roadtrip part 2:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2125674&l=5f5cc&id=12600427

At Last

At last....
My stage* has come along,
My worried days are over,
And life is like a song!!!
Oh at last!

*stage = internship

So, as you might have guessed, things went well with my Michel Dyens interview. I will be doing research on industries and companies and reporting my findings. I am soooo excited about this opportunity. I met two ladies, Amelie and Katri, who both seem very nice so I'm looking forward to working with them. The office is on rue Montaigne...along with Chanel, Valentino, Armani, Jimmy Choo, and other fancy boutiques. The street is off of Champs-Elysees if that explains anything. Nanda is working at L'Oreal at place de la Concorde, so I expect lots of lunch dates with her :-D I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Days Go By + Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

I know it's been awhile....there hasn't been too much going on. The weekend after Jenna left, Casey and Becca came and stayed with me. That was a fun weekend...I did some things I hadn't done yet and it was fun playing tourist again. We went inside Opera Garnier which was a GORGEOUS building. We visited some museums I hadn't seen yet. It was fun to have more girly time.

Besides that...I've just been living. Classes are going...the teachers have started giving tests...not fun. I've been desperately searching for an internship. In the span of 5 days I applied, had an interview, and was rejected. At least they didn't leave me guessing. I have a lead with Michel Dyens, a financial advisor. Check out their website www.micheldyens.com. Hopefully they will be the one. I'm really excited about what this company does, so I hope this works out. So there are only 3 weeks left of school with a week of vacation in there too. So I'm starting an internship in four weeks. I am terrified!!! I enjoy new things but a new job + new people + new experiences = scary.

Since I've just been going back and forth between school and home...I've noticed lots of things about my neighborhood. There is a vent on the sidewalk down the street from my apartment. Pidgeons love to sleep on it...I guess it's warm. But walking by, when the thing is covered with pidgeons and you can't see it, it just looks like homeless pidgeons sleeping on the sidewalk. The other day, as I was walking by, a little boy ran through and scattered them. I thought it was funny, his mom just had a tired exasperated look on her face. I also pass a daycare on the way to the metro. I love watching kids get dropped/picked up. They are so adorable and happy.

So, the other evening we had an 'etiquette' dinner at the school restaurant. We met at 7:15 and didn't leave until midnight! This dinner was 7 courses long!! and it could have been 8! First we started with calamari as the mise-en-bouche (kinda like an hors d'oeuvre but at the table) and then had a hot appetizer of either foie gras or boudin (sausage). There could have also been a cold appetizer but the restaurant didn't include one. We had a fish plate and then a meat plate. There was a nice selection of cheeses and then DESSERT!!!!!! The meal ended with coffee and a plate of sweet goodies. There was a nice professor there that taught us a little big about the history of the french table and a little etiquette.






Yesterday was Jamie's golden birthday: 31 on the 31st!!! We had dinner at a cute little restaurant in the Oberkampf area. This dinner also lasted four hours, but it was a lot more enjoyable!!! The weather is finally picking up. Today is a gorgeous day! The only problem is now tourists will be flooding in and the metro will be a lot smellier...I guess it's a small price to pay for living in this fantastic city!

march photos:
in like a lion:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118262&l=8f131&id=12600427

out like a lamb:
http://scarolina.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118357&l=72058&id=12600427