C'est la fête

La rue Mouffetard, probably my
favorite part of Paris so far

Bonne soirée à tous!

One week into my European adventure and I can honestly say I'm having the time of my life. Whether I'm taking a randonée in Monmartre or sharing wine and cheese with friends in the Buttes-Chaumont (because drinking in parks is casual here), I've witnessed and been a part of so many amazing things that you just happen upon in the streets of Paris. But unlike in other large cities, the feel of Paris is something unique. And as much as our Parisian friends don't understand it, I really and truly believe that there's something in the water that makes everything Parisian a thousand times more magical and romantic than anywhere else in the world (but maybe that's just all the wine talking). /sarcasm

In this post, I have so much to say but I'll try to take you through a weekend in France, from the day events and the people to the nightlife to a beautiful Sunday in the adorable community that is our arrondissement. Allons-y!

Tout d'abord, mise en réseau....

On Friday we jumped right into the Welcome Program for incoming Sciences Po exchange students, which in this case means networking with an elite group of international polyglots who all want to be President / Prime Minister / some diplomat quelquechose of some nation somewhere and who all honestly have the capacity to do so (oh, and then there's us). Remember, this is where 3/4 of the last French presidents have gone so it's understandable that there are some really ambitious kids. So far, my roommate and I have made friends from France, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Romania, Australia, Mexico, and of course America, and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. Most of these kids speak 3-4+ languages, so at every gathering people are constantly switching between languages, and at any moment you can pick out a mix of French, Italian, German, Spanish and English. Being the two (admittedly a little loud) Americans, all our new friends have been getting a kick out of our horrendous accents (they say they're endearing but we know otherwise) and our ability to mimic a bunch of world accents because apparently that's a great American past time. 

With some of our friends on the Pont des Arts, more commonly known
as the "love lock bridge". Some of the boys were not amused...

In getting to know so many people from all around the world, cultural differences I'd never even thought of have become brazenly clear. Even with our Irish friends, we joke about the "English language barrier" since even their slang and sentence structure is pretty radically different from ours at times, to the point that sometimes we have to explain an idea or a thing a little bit before we can come up with the word the other country uses. I honestly think that I'll learn more from the cultural exchange alone than in all my classes combined because there's just no experience like it.

And because I love lists, here are a bunch of random and cool cultural differences to quench your palate for the week:

We visited the Sacré Coeur
in Monmartre during a long walk
in the 20th arrondissement.

• Europeans have never heard of the good ol' American standby Mac n' Cheese, so explaining that was a great time. I explained that the boxed Mac with the shapes is the best (because the shapes "accumulate more sauce", as one German kid so aptly concluded), and I showed them photos of the finished product in it's cheesy, buttery glory. They said it looked like cereal and honestly, they were pretty disgusted. It was pretty hysterical.
• Apparently most Europeans (that we've met anyways) haven't heard of the concept of planning on when you have your kids. I think it's pretty common stateside (where I'm from anyways) to decide when you're going to start "trying" and then space your kids out evenly for the ideal family, but they all thought that was absurd. Apparently European kids just happen...
• Americans are much louder than your standard European, to the point that I get a little embarrassed and self-conscious, especially when my roommate Cassady and I are together because we just get louder and louder. That's the norm for lots of girls in the states I think, especially sorority girls, but here I just feel like we're obnoxious. However, our friends are, once again, good sports about it.
• They all think America is like the movie American Pie. We've literally had people from at least 3 different countries make that reference and tell us that's what they thought of us. Oh boy...

Et alors, on danse!

*I don't have pictures for this section because my phone was dead but it's absolutely worth the read. I've already seen some really cool and weird things that are incomparable to anything I've ever witnessed before in American nightlife!

After a long day wandering around the boulevards, it's time to head to a friend's apartment to hang out as another side of Paris starts to come to life. On Saturday, our group leader had to run home to finish baking his bread (how stereotypically French of him) so he invited 12-15 of us to buy some food and wine and come along. Our Irish friends would call this a "pre-drink", but we were quick to get them hip to "pre-gaming" and how that stems from the day-long affair that is D1 or professional American football.

For food, we thought everyone would get something quick so we got frozen pizza that would be done in 15 minutes. Of course, we were so, so wrong. The Germans brought some sausage something that they were in the process of frying and putting into baguettes ("like European hot dogs," they told us, because they thought that would help us understand -___-), the boy from London was making something intense with avocado or something, and the French group leader was busy seasoning and perfecting his homemade rolls of bread which he's been making from scratch for 4 years now. Needless to say, everyone groveled at our pizza, particularly the Italian/Irish kid (who actually has a wood fire pizza oven IN HIS HOUSE.)

Later in the night, a French kid rolls up with something long and wooden wrapped in a carrying cloth and slung around his back all nonchalantly. I asked him if it was a rainstick, which would have been sweet, but no, it was something even cooler. Wait for it... it was a DIDGERIDOO! This random French kid brought a didgeridoo to a party. Can you imagine? It wasn't even the Australian kid. And we were all feeling pretty good so we started dancing to it like it was some weird dubstep club music because that's honestly kind of what it sounds like (okay maybe not but at the time it seemed like a good idea haha). It was insane.

Come 3 AM, they were finally ready to go out. Wait what? Yes, Europeans start going out right around when American bars are closing or already closed. And the place we went to was the coolest clubbing experience I've ever had. It was pretty "ipster", as the french would say (hipster, but they don't pronounce the 'h' so it sounds kind of silly.) The club we went to was extremely cool and really the polar opposite of anything I've been to in America. All the music was 1960's-era American dancing music, so everyone was twisting and I taught them how to do the mashed potato and it was probably the cleanest, most legitimately fun club experience I've ever had.

In Europe, apparently everyone dances face-to-face, even when it's more raunchy music, but this was even more kosher. This was the coolest bar/club I've ever been to because it really was amazing fun minus the creepy factor, so if I can find out what it's called, I'll be sure to put it on here so you all can go and get down just like your mama used to.

La vie en ville

Of everything, I'm probably most happy with what is now our home in the 13th Arrondissement near the Place d'Italie. I can't even put everything into words why it's so amazing, so for this section I'll just put a bunch of pictures with captions and hopefully that will suffice for now

Eats on rue Mouffetard really close to where I call home. And they said I wouldn't
be able to find any food!

Today is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of France so while sitting at a café near us last night we were a little surprised to see over 20 tanks and army vehicles from the 40s roll by. There was also 40s music and swing dancing outside the Mairie and I got to pretend I knew what I was doing! There are some great videos of me attempting two-step (read: embarrassing)

Our new favorite café that's a one minute walk from our house has a café cat named Licorice! Say it with a French accent and you'll sound like everyone else when they're calling her. She's a main attraction for the whole neighborhood because she sits with you in the window! They bring licorice a little plate with shrimp on it so she can eat with us and it's absolutely precious.

I set my electric stove on fire yesterday morning making tea.... yeah. The neighbors were all trying to help us  (/also laughing at us a little bit because we were freaking out) by yelling at us across the courtyard "Il y a un feu! Appelez 18!! 1- 8!" to call the fire department. The fire department was very nice though and they were all laughing at our mistake. Plus they had space age-looking helmets so that was sweet

Finally, We live right behind the Mairie, which is the center of the community in each arrondissement. Everyone has to have a civil marriage service at their local town hall, so on any given Saturday there are a few happy couples tying the knot. It's really sweet. This is also where 100 or so neighbors gathered to dance and celebrate liberation day last night!

I have so much more I could say but this is becoming a short essay on life in Paris and I'm sure most of you skimmed it anyways. I hope you all have a fantastic liberation day wherever you may be and I'll be back soon with more weird/crazy stories (but hopefully no more fires haha).

À bientôt!

Sally