I ate goose-liver and thought it was bologna

Yes, those are baby bottles. And yes, there is wine in the baby bottles.

This past weekend, some friends from Cornell who are studying in Dublin and Copenhagen came to visit us. For this special occasion, we went to this small little restaurant in Montmartre (northern part of the city, the only hill in Paris) and had quite a memorable experience.

The picture covers about 3/4 of the entire restaurant (except for the kitchen). There were two long tables, over which you had to climb to sit on the inside. The walls are covered in graffiti (we even found the words "Pi Beta Phi Cornell 2011", a sorority at Cornell that some of our friends are in) and the waiters are two middle aged men in stained t shirts and jeans. Before I continue, let me make something clear: I will not tell you the name of this restaurant, what it looks like from the outside, or any other details that will help you find it if/when you come to Paris. As much as I like all of you, this is not the kind of place you tell all your friends about, the kind of place you put on touristy forums for the world to know about. This is the place you keep secret, so that it remains untouched by those who pronounce the name of the 600 year old cathedral like the name of the American university (not saying that this describes you, necessarily, but that you might know somebody like that or that somebody you know might know somebody who falls into that category).

OK, revenons à nos moutons. There are no menus, and the only question we were asked was "blanc ou rouge" (white or red). We were served first with a platter of finger-foods or "hors d'oeuvres", which is when the eating of the goose-liver took place. Ignorance really is bliss. Then came the massive ceramic bowl of liquid cheese, in which we dipped pieces of bread and potato, and the bits of raw steak that we cooked ourselves in a little metal truc (for lack of a better word; my fringlish has improved immensely). All in all, we spent two hours impaling bits of bread and soaking them in cheese, eating barely cooked steak and "skolling" every time we got another baby bottle refill (means "cheers"; its a danish thing, apparently). We ended the evening with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate mousse cake. Très, très délicieux.

So, if you're lucky, and you happen to be in Paris at the same time I am at some point throughout life, you may be able to convince me to take you to this little anomaly. On one condition: you can only take off the blindfold during the meal.

I'm sometimes glad that history recognizes many world leaders who were immature, spoiled, and even borderline mentally ill. Without them we wouldn't have Versailles, a grand monument to French absolutism, aka one man's low self-esteem. And, of course, his pretty wife who liked to play dress-up.

The palace is situated in a random little town that has nothing else to its name- I guess if anything has "just" Versailles to its name it is doing pretty well. I was pretty surprised by its greco-roman architecture; I still can't get over my inward hope that each castle I visit will look like Hogwarts. Just about everything is gilded, including the entire front gate. The Sun King didn't hold back.

The inside is a maze of overly-ornate (and very baroque) rooms, halls and even a chapel. I can understand what the bedrooms, the chapel, and even the Hall of Mirrors were used for; but what the heck did they do with the rest of the place? Anna's audio guide described one offensively decadent hall as used for "passing through" (??!). Convenient for a museum, but I just cannot see people leading any sort of productive life in this place. Perhaps because it can hardly be said that they did.

There was a beautiful view of the extensive gardens from the chateau, although we didn't get a chance to walk around in them. I like it better wen you can get the whole effect from a higher point anyways. After the tour of the palace, we made set off in search of la Domaine de Marie Antoinette (exactly what it sounds like). We walked through farmland for about a half hour when we stumbled upon a few thatched roofs in a field. There were chickens, rabbits, an obscene amount of fish in the pond, goats, cows, you name it. It was a beautiful little scene, but for me it was a little eerie knowing that Marie Antoinette had this place built so she could play farm and peasant or something. She was bored, and needed a distraction. Again, convenient for a museum; but for real life...?

If you are looking for evidence of real life, you won't find it anywhere near Versailles.

Okay so I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's start with our trip to Giverny, a little village outside of Paris where Monet lived and worked (and home of the famous japanese garden with all the lilies and bridges that he painted).

The trip was organized by EDUCO (which was nice of them, because in terms of finding classes and figuring out the whole going-to-the-University-of-Paris-thing they haven't been much help, but at least they are doing something). It was nice to be out in the countryside and to see some rolling hills and farmlands. Reminded me a lot of central new york, especially this time of year. Everything is very open and spread out, although the little village itself is kind of crammed together in this little space. It is very small and cute, exactly what you'd expect. The "museum" is basically comprised of two gardens, his house, and his "atelier" (workshop). The japanese garden was my favorite, that one had the pond with all the lilies and willow trees and the cute bridges. It was so peaceful, seemed very well kept but at the same time a little wild and free. The other garden was much more like a regular garden, with rows of flowers. Everything was so vibrant and colorful, the flowers were beautiful. Then we moved into his house, which had a great view of the gardens and was filled with lots of his paintings, which I have come to appreciate as one with no artistic talent or background whatsoever. We finished the visit with a trip to the local cafe where we got hot chocolate (which by the way is one of those things that is SO MUCH BETTER in france than in the U.S.) and crepes covered in hot fudge. Success.

First entry-2 weeks down

This is my first entry, so I hope you aren't expecting too much. I just want to get started (starting is always the hardest part) and lay down some foundations. I wanted to start this blog so that I have one place where I can write down my thoughts about everything I am experiencing this semester, so that you can all experience it with me and so that I can experience it again in the future. I hope you enjoy the ride!

So I have been in Paris for 2 weeks. The first week was uneventful, filled with "intensive language class" and orientation meetings. My first impressions were that all the food is amazing, and that this city is beautiful. I love walking by things like Notre Dame and the Louvre and Place de la Bastille every day. It is hard for me to imagine that people actually lead normal lives here, and that this stuff isn't a huge deal to everyone.

My host family is amazing. They are a pretty young couple with two girls, Jeanne is 3 years old and Paula is 2 months old. They are so so cute, I can't get over it. The food is great, I've been eating things like Vietnamese food and rice and shrimp with weird sauce on it, you'd all be shocked I'm sure. I have my own bedroom with a shower and sink, and I and my housemate (another EDUCO student who goes to Duke) have our own upstairs area and kitchen area, which is very nice. I couldn't have asked for a better set up!

I think I'll leave it at that for now, I don't want to overwhelm anybody. I will put up pictures very soon. My classes start this coming week, so I will be sure to let you know how those are! Thanks for reading.