France Day 20

This day is dedicated to Maxime because he hasn't been in the past few days and it's making him sad. Today was my last day in France :"( Marion and I woke up and first went to the bank and then the grocery store to take photos with the alcohol selection.

When we finished there, we came back to the house and left to go to Jessica's for lunch. It was a lot of fun. Helene, Mathilde and Marine met us there. We had a Chinese food feast because Jessica is from China. It was sooo good. I have been wanting an egg roll for the past two weeks. We talked and ate and had a nice time. Saying good bye was very, very sad! I am going to be back to see everyone as soon as I can.

After lunch, Marion and I got on the train and went to Paris one last time. We first went to the Eiffel Tower so I could get some gifts from the street vendors and an "I Love Paris" bag. Before we got on the subway, I got a Nutella crepe and ate it in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Tracadero station.

The last stop of the day was at Sacre Coeur! Finally, I got to see it!! :) It was the most beautiful church I have been in on this trip. I think the inside was better than Notre Dame. Sadly, you can't take any pictures inside, so I only have ones of me in front of it. I really recommend everyone visit there if you are in Paris or France in general. I loved. After we walked around the church, we went outside to walk around and go to some of the souvenir shops. If you didn't know, Sacre Coeur is on a huge hill surrounded by shops and the court yard type place where all the artists hang out and sell their original pieces. It is a wonderful place to be and might be my favorite in all of Paris.

Leaving Paris for the last time was a very sad event. At least I know that I will see it again. SOON. Next summer.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog and looking at my pictures! I am so glad you at least some what enjoyed it, which if you made it this far you must have. Tomorrow I will be back in Texas :(

If I met you on the trip, I am so glad I did! It was so fun getting to experience what life is like in another country.

Marion, I'm going to miss youuuuu!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing you friends and Summer with me. :) <3 (and I guess I'll miss you too, Maxime.)

France Day 19

Today Marion got her results for her national exams. She did very well! :) Go Marion!

A few of Marion's friends came over for lunch. We ate and talked and had a nice time before we went to the bus stop to go to the mall. When we got there a few of the girls had to leave so we said good bye and walked in. I bought SOOOO much stuff! Yesterday was the day that I bought almost all of the presents and a ton of clothes for myself. I ended up with way more that I thought I was going to get. I even found the shoes I've been trying to buy since I got here. I love French stores. The clothes are so classic and aren't cheaply made in China. We shopped all afternoon and got back around 6:30.

I started packing. It's not going to be fun. My suit case is filled to the brim and I am sure I am going to have to get a second carry on. Tomorrow we are going into Paris one last time to walk around Sacre Coeur and to get some little gifts from the street vendors. I am going to miss France so much. I don't want to go home!

I'll update later. I'm sorry this is going up late again. My computer died and my power converter wasn't working properly.

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 18

Today was my 18th day in France and my 18th birthday! I woke up around ten and got ready to catch the bus to the train station. We rode the train into Paris with Marion's sister Justine and friend Marine and found a park to eat our lunch. I had a prosciutto, goat cheese and tomato sandwich that was amazing.

After we ate we walked all the way down the the Champs-Elysees to L'Arc de Triomphe. Along the way I bought a dress from H&M and a skirt at Zara, which is now my favorite store ever. We then walked down to the Abercrombie and Fitch where we got our picture made in front with the Abercrombie models. After we stopped by the Sephora where we all got our makeup done. We walked and shopped all the way to the end and went into the Louis Vuitton store. At the end of the Champs-Elysees, we visited the L'Arc de Triomphe, which is absolutely beautiful and one of my all time favorite things I've seen here.

We finished shopping around five and got back on the train to go home. Marion and I ended up going to Marion's good friend Marine's house for dinner. Her dad planned a special dinner for my birthday. It was amazing. We had all different types of ham and since I am in love with cheeses and breads we had a bunch of different types to eat. For dessert we ate a wonderful fruit salad. The fruit here is the best. It's so fresh and it just tastes so much better than what we have in America. After dinner, I came back to Marion's house to go to bed because I was beginning to get a horrible migraine.

I had an amazing birthday and am so blessed that I got to spend it in Paris! Only 2 more days left :(

Sara

France Day 17

Today was an amazing day and probably one of my favorites so far. We woke up at about 9 and ate breakfast before we headed to Versailles to go to the open market! The open market is really really cool. They have everything. While I was there I took about 50 or so photos of all the fresh produce, meats, spices, cheeses and pastas. While I was there I picked up a few things for my mom and then Marion and I went down the the best bakery ever. This is where we went a few days ago when we went the the gardens at the palace. Their pain au chocolat is to die for.

After the market we went home and had lunch outside again because the weather was amazing. It was cloudless and the high today was about 73. This is the most amazing summer weather I have ever had. Today in Texas it was over 100. When we finished lunch we got everything together and went to the train station and went to Paris!

The train ride is about 30 minutes long. We got off the train at the station closest to Musee D'Orsay. I looooveed this museum. It is a lot smaller than the Louvre. The building is actually a converted train station. Musee D'Orsay, if you don't know, is the modern art museum that houses paintings from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. So impressionism and post-impressionism. With Monet being my favorite artist of all time, this is the perfect museum for me. Marion and I got there around 3 and had to wait in a very, very long line because we totally forgot that all the museums are free to the public the first sunday or every month. Inside the museum you aren't allowed to take pictures so I didn't get one of me with any of my favorite paintings, which is very sad. I did get to see it a huge collection of Monet's most famous paintings and that made me feel better.

After we finished looking around the museum, Marion and I walked around Paris for a few hours. We stopped at these little booths next to the Siene that sell paintings, old books, and random souvenirs. It was soooo much fun! I love Paris so much and was happy just to walk around and soak it all in. We walked all around and took so many pictures, ones that I am actually in this time! We also went to an a sidewalk cafe that had the best ice cream I have ever had in my life. I had pistachio and dark chocolate and Marion had caramel and pear. Seriously, best ice cream everrrr.

Around 7 Marion and I got on the subway and headed to Champs- Elysees to meet everyone else for my birthday dinner! We went to an amazing Italian restaurant. I had Spaghetti Bolognese that was sooooo good. Marion and I shared a Mousse du Chocolat for dessert because we were so full. IT WAS FABULOUS! After dinner we drove around Paris at night. <3 We went to Sacre Coeur, which is on a huge hill on the outskirts of Paris. If you go to the top of the hill and look down, you have the most amazing view of all of Paris. It is breathtaking. After we looked around there and took pictures, I got my picture taken in front of Moulin Rouge. We drove around Paris for a while longer and then stopped at the Eiffel Tower to get so photos of it all lit up. Paris at night is the most enchanting place in the world. If you have never been, you MUST go at least once in your life. I promise, you won't regret it.

Well, I've officially been 18 for almost 2 hours now French time!! Tomorrow we are going to spend the day in Paris again and go shopping on the Champs- Elysees and then go see L'Arc de Triomphe! :) I am so excited. This is going to be my best birthday ever.

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 16

Today I realized something that made this trip so important and life changing for me as a person. Before I say what it is, I need to tell everyone right now, especially if you are my age or younger, that if you have never had a chance to study abroad or have an exchange student or pen pal, get one right now! It is the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. It has opened so many doors and I have learned so much from it.

So my great realization of the day is that the French have one thing that is more important than anything else and it completely makes their culture what it is. Everything revolves around food. Food here is not like anything in America. The appreciation of food is just so different. The food is everything.

In France, meals aren't rushed. Everyone sits down and eats slowly and sometimes dinner can last for over an hour and maybe even longer. I absolutely love this. Usually, at my house, we eat dinner in separate rooms or in the car on the way to something. Sadly, we rarely take an hour to just sit down and eat together. In France, we eat together at least for lunch and dinner.

Food is also a very import part of everyone's social lives. While I've been here, there have been may occasions where either we have gone to someone's house, people have come here or we've gone out to a restaurant and just sat around and talked and ate and enjoyed each other's company. I feel like we don't do that anywhere near enough in America. Everything is rushed because we are trying to get to baseball practice or swimming lessons or study group. If we would just sit down and have meals together, we would be so much closer as families and our relationships would be so much stronger.

I have also learned that by completely immersing myself in another culture, people do things differently and that's ok! Not everyone does things the way it's done inside my little Woodland's, Texas bubble. I love this. I feel like I am a much more well rounded person because I have done this. I am very blessed to have gotten this opportunity. I would not be here right now if I hadn't have stepped outside my comfort zone and hosted Maxime 3 summers ago.

Again, I cannot stress enough how amazing it is to do a cultural exchange. In Europe everyone always sends their kids to other countries to do exchange programs. I think that if we did this more in America, we would have people who were much more open to different cultures and foods and people. I hate to say this, but I think American's are just too closed minded.

So, I hope you enjoyed this because I didn't really do much today. I slept until almost 2 and then we ate lunch outside on the patio. After that I updated my blog post that I didn't have time to do yesterday and then I watched a movie on my laptop. After that Marion and I planned the rest of my trip out and discussed what we will be doing for my birthday on monday. For dinner some of the Louage's old neighbors came and at with us. It was absolutely lovely. We ate and talked and dinner lasted for almost two hours. This is the way it should always be, wonderful food, nice company and just relaxing and living in the moment. This is a huge lesson for me as well.

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 15

I'm sorry this is up a little late, but I didn't get to sleep until after 5:30 and I just woke up for lunch. Last night there was a huge party here for Helene, Marion's friend. Her 18th birthday is today and she decided to have it at the Louage's house.

We woke up and left for the market around ten. We met Helene there. We bought all the food and stuff to make the cupcakes, quiches, and brownies. I bought some chocolate to try so I know what I want to bring back with me. After we left the market, we came home and started baking the sweets and made the quiche and then we had lunch with a few other friends that came to help get ready for the party. At about 2:45 I decided it was time to go get a pain au chocolat. When I got the the bakery it was CLOSED! They decided to close up 15 minutes early. I guess because it was friday, but still! Not cool. At all. I really wanted to get a pain au chocolat!

When I got back from the bakery fail, Maxime, Marion, Marine and Helene went back to the grocery store to get the rest of the stuff for the party. I decided to stay home and read a book and watch a movie on my laptop.

Around 6:30 we got dressed and ready for the guests to start arriving. By 7 most of the people were here. It was really nice to meet some new people and talk to them about how my trip is going or about Texas. I find it very hilarious that the first thing people ask me after I tell them that I am from Texas besides if I own a horse is whether or not we have guns. I, as well as the rest of my family, are members of the NRA... They also think it's very interesting that I attended Christian school because when people thing of Texas they automatically assume we are all cowboys that carry guns and regularly attend the local Baptist church. In some parts of Texas this is not just a steriotype, but in The Woodlands, it isn't the case at all. They also find it very interesting that I don't drink at all. When I tell them that the drinking age is 21 most people are shocked. This is another very huge cultural difference.

Later on in the evening, things got very interesting... There was a quiche fight in the kitchen that I just happened to walk in on right at Guillaume threw quiche and hit me in the head. That was just splendid. I also met some very nice guys that were very curious about American culture and shocked by my fear of horses. I ended up staying up until almost 6 a.m. because I couldn't go to sleep with all the super loudness going on in the entire house. I don't feel like telling all the stories of what happened so I will just give a few bullet points:

- They don't have rainbow fluffy socks here because I got like 10 compliments on them and someone even wanted a picture, which I thought was really creepy...

- Mama, one of Maxime's good friends apparently loves Bohemian Rhapsody and thinks it's the best song ever.

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow's part two comes out here three days before it releases in the U.S. This is just wrong.

- Maxime has a friend that I think looks exactly like a blond version of Rupert Grint.

-Guillaume kept telling me that he was going to pour water on me while I was asleep and that it was going to be "so fun"... This afternoon, I learned that he actually attempted it, but Jessica and Mathilde, who were staying in my room, stopped him and now he gets to live another day.

- I met Marion and Maxime's cousin, Julie and she is very nice and I enjoyed talking to her.

- The kids that come to these parties are pretty much all going to be either engineers or doctors...

Ok that's enough for now. I am going to go read Harry Potter.

Love,

Sara

France Day 14

Today Marion and I went to the Palace of Versailles to walk around the gardens. It was a beautiful day, sunny and not too hot or cold. Before we left, we went to the bakery and bought some bread to make sandwiches to bring with us for lunch.

After we made our sandwiches we took the ten minute bus ride into Versailles. Versailles is such a beautiful town. I love all the old buildings and the little shops.

We walked into the garden a looked all around. There is this big area right behind the castle that has all these pruned shrubs and beautiful flowers in every color. After that you see the grand canal which is a HUGE lake that they use for shows and people can canoe and sit around it. It is one of my favorite places there. On either side there are maze type ares where you can walk around and see marble statues and various ponds and fountains. Marion and I walked around for about an hour before we found a quiet place with a lot of shade and a marble bench. This is where we ate lunch! :) Having a picnic at Versailles should be added to everyone's bucket list! It is so peaceful and just I can't even explain. We finished up lunch and walked around for another 2 hours or so until we left the palace gates and walked around Versailles for a while. We went into some of the shops and then went to the bakery where I purchased another pain au chocolat. I am pretty sure I could live the rest of my life and only eat pain au chocolat. <3 I told my mom the other day that it is negative calorie food because you have to walk to get it and then walk home.

Tomorrow there is going to be another party here! I am very excited. Tomorrow morning Marion and I are going shopping for all the food and stuff to make brownies, muffins and cake!

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 13

Today I woke up on the couch in the sitting room that I don't remember moving to. I guess I am now a sleep walker...

Anyways today 2 of Maxime's friends came over for lunch. Guillaume was an hour late. He came at 3 when he was supposed to be there at 2 sharp. We ate lunch and then I went to go read a book. About an hour later Maxime, Thibaut and Guilaume decided to watch Harry Potter and asked if I wanted to watch. Of course I wanted to watch, I love Harry Potter.

Later, the boys decided to run to the bank because Maxime has a check he needs to deposit. They left after six but by the time they got there, the bank was closed. Instead of coming home, they decided to go and buy you guessed it, more alcohol. When they came home they played some card games on the upstairs deck. I decided to come up and play. It was a lot of fun and I learned how to play a new card game.

For dinner we made pizzas. They were very delicious and made me realize how amazing French cheese is. :) I am going to miss this when I go back to Texas.

After dinner, we went downstairs to the basement to play poker and listen to music. Maxime and his friends keep trying to get me to teach them bad words, but I won't crack! We got bored of poker so we came back upstairs again and played wii until Thibaut and Guillaume had to head home.

Today was very interseting and I am very excited for the next party that is coming up on friday.

Love,

Sara

France Day 12

Today Marion and I went to Marion's friend Helene's house after we woke up and ate lunch. We took two busses to get there and then we played wii and watched a movie. Around 4 we went to the pool down the street where we hung out for the rest of the afternoon. It was a lot of fun! The pool was nice but a little chilly because it was 58 degrees out last week. When we got tired of being there we walked back and got changed. Around 7 we went to the bus stop and rode 2 different busses back to Marion's house.

When we got home I uploaded some new pictures and watched some t.v. on my laptop. We ate dinner and then watched X-Factor, which is apparently the French version of American Idol.

Today was a very laid back day. I'm sorry there wasn't much to blog about. Hopefully I'll have more tomorrow.

Love,

Sara

France Day 11

Today we woke up super early to get on the train to Paris. We got off the train around 8:30 and walked down the street to the Eiffel Tower!!! We walked underneath it and got in line to take the elevator. The line was way too long and in the hot sun, so we decided to take the stairs. I am semi-regretting that choice right now because my legs still hurt. There are 674 steps to get to level 2 and after that you have to take the elevator to the top.

I think I will never be able to look at stairs the same way every again. The view from each level is sooo amazing! If you have never been to Paris or climbed the Eiffel Tower I suggest you do that at least once in your lifetime.

I was very scared between the second and third levels. I am not a fan of heights and this was very, very high. I didn't want to go, but am so glad I did. ( Maxime, as much as I don't want to admit it, you were right. Going to the Eiffel Tower and not going to the top is like going to France and not going to Paris. It just isn't right.) When we made it to the very tippy top, the view was spectacular. You can see EVERYTHING!

After we got back on solid ground, we walked across the street to Tracadero, the train station where you can get the best pictures of the tower. We took a few pictures here before we split up and Marion and I got back on the train to go home and Max went somewhere else. Marion and I came home and ate lunch and rested inside before we left to go to the dentist and then to Marion's last horseback riding lesson. Tonight they had a little party celebrating the summer and to end the lesson session. It was fun and nice outside as opposed to the heat this afternoon. Today was very hot by French standards. It was around 95 degrees outside. It may not seem that bad, but when there are no air conditioners, it's horrible. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter :/ At least it will be cool again at the end of the week.

Good night everyone,

Sara

France Day 10

Today began when I woke up around 1. I didn't go to sleep until after 3 this morning because of the loudness going on in the hall. After I woke up, I went down stairs to eat lunch. We at lunch outside today because it was actually warm. Today, in France, was considered very hot. It was about 85, which isn't hot by Texas standards, but when people don't have air conditioners, it is very hot.

After lunch we went shopping for shoes. Marion and I both are in the market for some oxford shoes. We went to this one shop that was very similar to a French DSW. I found some shoes there that I liked, but they weren't my favorite. After not finding anything that we absolutely couldn't like without, we went to this place that was like a mall, but with outlet stores. I found some amazing shoes that I loved, but they didn't have my size. :(

Tomorrow, Marion and I are going to ride the train into Paris to go to the to of the Eiffel tower and to go see Sacre Coeur. We might go shopping too! :)

I'm sorry this is a short post, nothing really happened today. I hope to have a lot to share tomorrow.

Sara

Maxime,

It makes me sad that you only talk to me on Facebook and that you now read my blog. You should come to with us tomorrow.

Sara

France Day 9

Hey, Maxime!

I know you wanted to approve this before I posted it, but HERE IT IS!!! :P Read it and weep because I am not changing it!

xoxo,

Sara <3

Today I slept until after 1. Right after I woke up, we ate lunch outside because the weather was beautiful! It was about 70 degrees and the sun was shining! Finally!! After lunch I finished reading my book and then went for a walk around the neighborhood. I went to the old church and took a few pictures of the outside because they are doing renovations on the inside and it was closed. I walked around for a while looking at the old buildings before I went across the square to the bakery. I love that bakery! I ordered a pain au chocolat, which is a croissant with pieces of chocolate baked in the middle. I am proud to say that I ordered it completely in French without using my phrase book or anyone's help! I was going to take a picture of it, but I ate it before I had the chance. I will take a picture of another one because I will be eating these all the time now.

When I came back to the house, I watched Maxime make the crepes for his party that he was throwing later this evening. It was really hilarious. He was trying to show me one and he dropped it on the stove top and it almost caught fire. A little while later, while he was supposed to be watching the guinea pig, she escaped and he ran outside and then had to run back in because he had crepes on the stove. After the crepes were done, he and one of his friends went to the super market to buy ingredients to fill the crepes and more alcohol. I stayed home and went to my room to skype and email Chelsea. Marion had a party tonight also, but I decided to stay home so that I had a place to sleep when I got tired.

Maxime's party tonight was very similar to the one he had on wednesday, but this one was smaller. There were only about 5 guests. We ate snacks and they drank before we filled and ate the crepes. If you see me tagged in pictures on Facebook, I am drinking Orangina, not a cocktail!!! Just FYI. They drank and ate and drank some more before they played poker and now wii. Some other very funny things happened, but I am not going to include them because some of the people involved now read this blog apparently. I will have to post that on the secret new blog I will create later. ;)

Good night everyone,

Sara

France Day 8

Today Marion and I got up and left the house around 11:30 to stop by her school and have lunch with her friends. We rode the bus to her school to return her books first. We finished that and waited in front of the school for about 15 minutes until some of her friends arrived and then we walked across the street to eat at this lovely little Creperie. :)

Let me start this by saying that crepes in France are the best thing in the entire world. I think Tex-mex might now be my second favorite type of food. At the crepe place, they had this thing where you could choose a gallette ( a dinner or savory crepe) and a regular crepe and you get a juice. I had apple juice, which was really, really amazing. For my gallette, I had one that was filled with sautéed potatoes, some kind of French cheese and ham. It was amazing! I loved it. I could only eat like 3/4 of it, but wasn't able to take it with me because they don't do that here. :( Someone said that only hobos do that. For my dessert crepe, I ordered the "crepe du jour" or crepe of the day. IT WAS AMAZING! It was a sweet crepe with "chocolat chaud" which is chocolate sauce that puts Hershey's to absolute shame. It is served warm and so good I could cry thinking about not having it in Texas. The crepe also had whipped cream and the best part was the cherry ice cream. I love that stuff so much I wish I could bring home an entire gallon of it. :) I think I will have to return before I leave.

After lunch we walked around the corner to the mall. It is actually the same place I went with Max and some of his friends when we went to go get the party supplies. (By that I mean the booze.) There are a TON of shops in there that sell anything and everything. We stayed there with a few of Marion's friends, including Jessica from the other night and started shopping. It was a lot of fun. I ended up buying some shorts and a gift for my cousin.

Now I'm going to talk about the differences in the style in France and in America. First, the shorts are actually a good length! They don't sell ANY short shorts. It was sooo easy for me to find some nice shorts that fit well and actually were a length that I could go out in public in. This is the same with the dresses and skirts. It is so nice to finally find something that isn't "hooker" short. After we shopped for a few hours, Marion decided that she was exhausted and asked me if I wanted to stay and shop with Jessica. Of course I was up for more shopping. Marion said that Jessica rides the same bus and is only one stop away from Marion's house and that she would ride the bus back with me. I did this and I am so glad I did. It was so much fun. We shopped for 3 more hours and talked and tried on fun things.

When we were too exhausted to walk anymore we headed for the bus stop and I came home. For dinner we had shrimp and pasta with pesto. It was lovely. I love the food here. I don't know why we can't have this in Texas. It's sad. I wish our bread was a fluffy and crispy, our chocolate was just better, and our vegetables were fresher tastier.

I will update soon. Tomorrow night I will be going to a party and I don't know if I will be able to update. I will try if I can.

Bisou Bisou,

Sara

France Day 7

Today ended up just being a continuation of last night. Whoever didn't pass out, went to bed around 4:30. One of Marion's friends named Jessica and I really had a nice time talking about what school was like in France and we were comparing notes on our high school experiences. It was really cool and I like learning about how things can be done in different places. When it was time for everyone who was either completely there or semi there we all went to one of the MANY couches, chairs, day beds, or chairs that fold to beds and crashed.

Some of the events of the evening included this one kid crying because his true love doesn't love him anymore and then crawling into Marion's bed where she had some guys remove him. Once he was removed he went and got into my bed... poor kid was removed twice and started crying even more. Some people decided it would be fun to run around the gated community and sing old French folk songs at 3 a.m. The rest of the upright ones played wii until it was time to either find a spot to sleep or go down the street to their house. They really didn't need to worry about drunk driving because a lot the the people don't drive or they live really, really close and walked there.

After all the crazy partying a lot of people left. I didn't know this but, when French people greet you and say good bye, they always do the kiss on each cheek thing! When they do this, it means that they really like you! I think it's pretty cool and very sweet. A lot of the people did this to me as they were leaving. I felt very accepted and even a little bit French.

When things finally got quiet, I went to my room and watched some more Big Bang Theory before saying good night to Marion and the few of her friends that were staying over because they thought all the passed out people were hilarious to mess with. One of Marion's friends didn't have any place to sleep so I asked her if she wanted to sleep on the pull out couch chair thing that is in my room and she was soo happy she didn't have to go where all the crazy drunk people were. Jessica was here name and we talked for a long time and it was very fun. Marion and I will be hanging out with her again before I head home.

So the actual events of today began when Marion came and woke me up at noon to get read to go to Paris to go shopping. I can now say completely that Paris is my favorite place on this planet. Every single place in Paris I have been I have loved. ( Ok, I didn't love the subway, but I don't think that counts...) Before we went shopping we drove to the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter is where all the students that go to Paris live. Marion's new school is located in the Latin Quarter so we went there to look at a room in an apartment for her to live in next year. The one we visited was absolutely amazing! The lady that lives there is an older lady that is living there alone with another girl in college also named Marion. Marion the first, as we called her, was graduating and didn't need the room anymore. Marion and the lady really hit it off and Mar ended up loving the room and the lady that lived in the rest of the apartment. The room was very cool and the entire building was very Parisian. The apartment was on the sixth floor of a very, very old building with shops below. The view out the window was magnificent! I am sooo jealous that she is going to be living there next year! WHY AM I NOT PARISIAN?!

When we finished looking around and talking with the lady we headed over to the shops. We ended up walking through Jardin du Luxembourg. It is the most amazing park in the entire world It is so beautiful. There are beautiful flower everywhere and people playing games and just sitting by the fountain. You can also see what they call Palace du Luxembourg, which is where they court houses are. We finally got to the shops and ended up shopping for 3 hours. I bought 2 shirts and a few gifts to bring back home. It was a beautiful day today. It was about 65 degrees out and it was finally sunny for a chance. It the perfect day for shopping.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. It means so much to me that people are actually interested in what I have to say. :) I love you all and will write tomorrow.

bisou bisou,

Sara

France Day 6

Today was my sixth day in France. I finally got to go to go to the super market! Tonight was/is the summer kick off party.

Maxime and I first went to Marion's school to get money from her before going to the market to pick up the party supplies. After we got the money we came back to the house and made 2 batches of brownies!! The chocolate that we used to make them was the best chocolate I have ever tasted in my entire life. I have since decided to throw my clothes out and fill my suitcase with it instead. <3 Why don't we have chocolate like this in the U.S. I feel ashamed that we call Hershey's bars chocolate. We actually made the brownies in a jack-0-lantern pan and when I asked Max why we were doing that in June, he said because it was "fun".

Around 3 we left to go to the supermarket. It is actually attached to a mini "mall" type place where they have a lot of stores. The only ones I recognized were Claire's and Footlocker. When we got there, we met up with two of Max's friends that I met yesterday. I really enjoyed the supermarket. There were so many things in brands that I have never seen before. It was really interesting and cool. We bought pizzas and these things called "potato eggs" and peanut butter flavored cheetos. Then we headed for the alcohol... I didn't know this but apparently at 16 you aren't allowed to drive a car but boy are you allowed to stock up on Vodka. They loaded the cart with all of these glass bottles of alcohol that I had never see/ tasted/ heard of. I was shocked and then they explained that it was completely legal and they could drink and purchase whatever they wanted. When they finished making their booze selections we went over to the soda and juice isle and they told me to get whatever I wanted. I grabbed some Coke and Orangina (this fabulous carbonated orange and lemon juice) because they don't sell Dr.Pepper :(

After making a few more stops to get lights and a fog machine we came back to the house with 3 of Maxime's friends. They headed to the basement and started setting up their cocktail bar while I walked the 1/4 mile to the little town square. I love it there. There is an old church that was built about 200 years ago that has ivy growing up the sides and they have an amazing bakery. I wanted to go and get some of their chocolate tarts and a baguette, but sadly its closed on Wednesday!!

While I was in the town square I walked across to the pharmacy to see if I could get some medicine for my mouth ulcers. The pharmacist was very very nice but barely spoke English. I know some French, but I don't know any medical terms other than some body parts and "I have pain." I explained the best way I could and she gave me some medicine that said it was for "bad mouths". It was only 4 Euros so I gave it a whirl because it's better than having to go home early.

When I came back to the house some friends had already started to arrive. I started talking to a few of Marion's friends and they were very nice and spoke great English. :) It is now midnight and the party has turned crazy so I am upstairs watching "Big Bang Theory" by myself and skyping some of my friends.

I can now fully understand and respect the drinking age set in the U.S. Giving teenager access to hard liquor is the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

Until tomorrow,

Sara

P.S.

Some wisdom for anyone who doesn't get this- If it smells and looks like rubbing alcohol, don't drink it! It can't be good for your insides especially you Liver.

P.P.S

I think I am going to specialize in Livers... When my generation gets older there is going to be a need for them.

France Day 5

Today was a very laid back day. I didn't do anything touristy at all! I woke up around 11 and got dressed to go have lunch in the town over. Maxime was meeting some of his friends and wanted me to come along. (either that or he was forced ;)) We ended up going to the Pizza Hut (yes like the one that is in front of my neighborhood that we order from at least once a week) one town over. I thought it was kind of funny that we were in France, the culinary capital of the world, and teenagers here enjoy Pizza Hut.

When we got to the Pizza Hut, we met up with 6 or 7 of Maxime's friends. All of which were boys... We went in and were greeted by a hostess that walked us past the very nice full bar and to our seats where the table was actually set with nice silverware, white plates and glasses. FRENCH PIZZA HUTS ARE NOTHING LIKE AMERICAN ONES! I now understand why they wanted to go there. It is like a nice restaurant.

We ended up getting the pizza buffet where you could choose what you wanted and you could get unlimited drinks. This is a big thing here. Almost all places only have bottled drinks. As I got to the pizza buffet, I noticed that all of the pizzas were different than your typical Hawaiian, Meat Lovers, cheese and pepperoni. They had flavors like mushroom, chicken and goat cheese or olives and tuna and Margarita pizza with fresh tomatoes and basil. They also had fresh bread, which is also a thing here. French people always have bread and after dinner they have a cheese course.

I ended up getting cheese and Margarita pizza. They were very, very good! The sauce was 100000000 times better than the sauce they use at my Pizza Hut back home. It just tastes fresh. Everything here tastes fresh. I love it. The cheese was really cheese instead of that part soy weird stuff and it tasted just as fresh as everything else. Pizza Hut, PLEASE make all you franchises like this one!

After we spent two hours at the restaurant, we went to one of Maxime's friend's houses. There they played soccer on the Xbox... I guess this proves that teenage boys everywhere are all the same- They all love pizza and Xbox... I read my Nook the entire time while they played. I didn't really talk to them that much because some of them aren't good with their English and my French is limited. While I was waiting for them to end the agony and turn off the Xbox, I was reminded of the boys in my class that have parties very similar to this where they order pizza and play COD.

Around 5 we went back to the house where I got on my computer and attempted 3 times to upload all of my Louvre pictures to Facebook. Marion got home shortly after from her testing and went to her room to study. My mom skyped me for a little while and then it was time for dinner. We had rabbit, vegetables and couscous. It was really good, but I didn't eat any of the rabbit because my mouth is still a mess.

Tomorrow there is going to be a party celebrating the beginning of summer vacation. A lot of Marion and Maxime's friends are coming and it will be very fun! I will write all about it tomorrow.

Bisou Bisou,

Sara

P.S. Bisou Bisou means "kiss, kiss". Everyone here greets you and says goodbye by kissing you on both cheeks, so I think it's pretty appropriate to end my post with it! :)

Photo Blog!

I created a Tumblr today for all of my pictures. If you are unfamiliar with Tumblr, it is a website where you can post all of you pictures in more of a blog type format as opposed to something like Facebook or Picassa where it is just an album. My tumblr address is sarainparis.tumblr.com and I have it password protected because it is linked to my regular photo blog were random strangers are following me. My password is "paris2011". One word, no spaces. I'm pretty sure you don't have to have an account to see it but if you do, I will turn off the password protection.

I'll have my daily post up later tonight!

Love,

Sara

France Day 4

Today was a very fun and good day! I experienced a lot of new things and tasted some new foods. So far, I have realized that there is so much more out there than The Woodland's, Texas.

Maxime and I left the house at 11:30 and headed over to his grandparent's apartment in Versailles for lunch. Maxime's grandmere made roasted chicken, crispy fingerling potatoes and my favorite vegetable, green peas. It was lovely because she knew that my mouth has been hurting and made sure everything was easy for me to eat. It was a lovely time. After lunch we went to the Versailles train station. Maxime's grandpere went with us and when I asked how he would get home, he said he would walk one mile uphill back to his house. I was worried because he is over 80 but I'm pretty sure he could beat me in a foot race.

After we took a 20 minute train ride, we arrived in Paris!! Maxime navigated us through the train station and got us to the connected subway station they call the "Metro". I am not a big fan of subways... They are pretty terrifying. There are some interesting passengers, to say the least. Finally after all the train and subway rides, we arrived at this random subway station with tons of street vendors lining the cars.

When we walked above ground to street level I realized that we were not at some random Metro station, we were at the Metro station on Champs- Elysee and to the left was L'Arc de Triomph. It was the absolute perfect spot and I managed to take at least 50 pictures. We walked across and went along the Siene until we got to Place de la Concord. This is where they be-headed Marie Antoinette. From this location you can see the Eiffel Tower, L'Arc de Triomph and Sacre Coeur. It is so perfect and breath taking to see everything at once.

After we continued our walk we walked through a beautiful park. There were so many people there. Locals and tourist both were having picnics on the lawn or feeding the ducks in the ponds. This park is connected to the court yard of the Louvre. We then arrived in front of the Louvre. I can finally say that I have seen the Mona Lisa!! The Louvre is a beautiful building! I love it so much. Maxime told me that it was actually the Palace for the French royal family until Louis XV moved it to Versailles. The building it self is just fabulous and I could have just stood there looking at it for hours.

The line to enter was soooo long! We waited for about 45 minutes to go through the scanners and bag checks. Once inside we went to the ticket booth and showed them our i.d.'s. The best part about French museums is that they are all completely free for people under 18 so I am getting to see everything and not have to pay ANYTHING!!! This means that I can go multiple times and see everything. The Louvre is SO HUGE! I was also told that it will take you six days from open until closing time to see every single work of art. Today we saw the main 2 things I wanted to see and the Egyptian section. I only knew of two things I wanted to see for sure and those were the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.

When we made our way over the the hall that the Mona Lisa is located, we were shoved into this cone shaped area blocked off by those stretchy rope things. People were shoving and pushing their way through to get to the front. Sadly, Max and I got stuck right in the middle of this chaos for at least 20 minutes until we got to the front where an old man and his wife were plowing through the crowd to get to the front while shouting in Chinese. The man was pushing people so hard and then everyone started to shout at him in what ever language they spoke to get him to stop. He didn't so some of the guards made them move out of the cone and along to the next thing. Even through all this chaos I ended up taking a few nice pictures of the painting. Sadly I didn't get one with me in it to show the sized of it. My honest opinion of the painting was that it wasn't that fantastic or amazing... It was actually really small. I actually gasped when I saw the Eiffel Tower and I just didn't get the same effect from the Mona Lisa. I almost don't think it was worth being shoved and shouted at in Chinese to see it. But hey, at least I have an interesting story to tell!

After we left the Louvre, we walked back along the Siene to get to the subway station. I am in love with this river! It is so beautiful and perfect. (I feel like I am over using those words but they are just so true!) We got on the subway and then the train with no problem. I was glad to get to sit down after a long day of museum-ing.

After we got back to the house, I went with Marion to her horseback riding lessons. It was actually very fun! I was really happy to see Marion do what she loves doing most! I went with Marion in the stable and helped her brush her favorite horse. It was a lovely evening! We came back to the house after and for ravioli for dinner.

I took so many pictures and will be making a Tumblr to post them for everyone to see. Thank you so much if you actually read all of that!! I have decided to keep this blog conversational so it sounds more like I'm talking to you than at you. :)

Je t'aime,

Sara

France Day 3

Today was Father's day or Fete de Pere, in France. With this, the grand parents came for a visit and had lunch. I tried rabbit for the first time, it was actually better than I expected. After a lovely lunch, I rested and relaxed around the house.

Around 4 Maxime and I went to see the Palace at Versailles. It was AMAZING. I feel that words like amazing or beautiful don't even do it justice. It was just perfect. We walked around and went through a lot of the rooms including the "King's Quarters" and "Marie Antoinette's Bed Chamber". I took over a hundred pictures just in the Palace. The weather was cold and cloudy, so we will return later in the week to visit the gardens and the farm. I really wish I was French royalty.

After we walked through the palace and fought with the crowd, we decided to walk around the city of Versailles. It is an gorgeous city and it amazes me that people get to walk through it every day on their way to school or work or even just to buy bread. I loved the 2 hundred old buildings and the cobble stone streets.

After returning home we visited and had dinner with an American family that was visiting for business and worked with Sophie. It was nice to talk to someone else that spoke English as their first language. For dinner I tried duck for the first time. It was actually really good! I was very surprised.

Around 10:15 we left to take them back to their hotel apartment that is located in Paris just a little ways away from the river. On the way to there we drove past the Eiffel Tower while it was lit up. It was absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. It was just so amazing. I could look at it for hours. I can't even imagine what it is like for the people that live in the apartments across the street.

Tomorrow Maxime and I are going back to Paris for the day. I can't wait.

Until tomorrow,

Sara

France Day 2

Today was technically my first day in France because I arrived yesterday, but today is the first day I wasn't so jetlagged that I couldn't move.

I started today waking up at 11. I hung around the house until 4:30 and then went into Paris. The Eiffel Tower truly is breathtaking. When you enter Paris, you go down a hill and as soon as you do, you see the Eiffel Tower in all its beauty. I love it and can almost understand why someone would want to marry it.

We drove through Paris along the Siene. I am in love with this city and will have to visit it many more times. With only an hour and a half until my dentist appointment, I was only able to walk around Notre Dame. It is the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. It is exactly how I thought it would be. It was breathtaking, just like the Eiffel Tower.

After the little bit of sight seeing, I went to a dental emergency room for my appointment. It was crazy, they dentist's office was just miles from the Eiffel Tower. It was also in a very old building. The dentist here was very nice, but spoke very little English. Sophie, Marion's mom, translated for me.

This evening we went to the Guyancourt Music Festival. It was held at a music school that was used as cannon storage and a fort 300 years ago. It was a beautiful stone building that was refurbished and modernized inside. Most of the songs were in English and they had French Folk songs. They literally had everything from Ice, Ice Baby to Oops I Did it Again to some really old French songs. I thought it was very funny that the people liked Ice, Ice Baby, but it is probably because they don't understand the cheesy lyrics.

Today was a nice day. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel and deal with this tooth stuff. I love you all and thanks for reading. :)

Bisou Bisou,

Sara