One Week, One Post (AKA: I Procrastinated This And Now It Is Insanely Long Yet Again)

Hello again! Here comes another one of those really long posts that I end up doing after panicking over how many days I've gone without writing on my blog! 

So I'm not gonna lie, for various reasons this past week hasn't been the easiest. But I don't really want to focus on the things that have made it hard, because there have been so many times that I've felt insanely blessed to be here as well. So, here's to a blog post full of positive thinking--not because bad things always need to be erased, but because for my sake, I could use some positivity right now.

Positive Event #1: on Monday, we spent our Art History class walking around the Louvre and discussing the various aspects and development of Renaissance art, and how we could see them in works by Da Vinci and others. (Totes saw the Mona Lisa too, btw.) Why is that so great, you ask? Well, first of all, the Louvre is GORGEOUS, but secondly because that means you get more Incorrect Caption Hour! 

I honestly don't think I'm capable of stopping at this point.

Anyway, another good thing that happened was visiting the crepe shop next to the Pompidou, the really good one, and going inside for dinner. Nutella, strawberries, and whipped cream on a crepe make me happy:

Also, while this wasn't quite as happy of a story at the time, on Monday night on the way home from Paris, I really had to go to the bathroom--couldn't wait to get home. So Anisa, Anna, Quincy and I all got off the train and they nicely waited for me while I scampered around trying to find a bathroom in the metro station.

 Fun fact: bathrooms are extremely scarce in Paris. I think that's the case in a lot of big cities, but seriously, in Paris it's a rule that if you see a bathroom, you go. Doesn't matter if you went twenty minutes ago, doesn't matter if you feel like you don't have to--you go, because it's quite possible that that could be the last restroom you'll see all day.

Anyway, that did not bode well for me. I was running around looking for a bathroom (because the metro had signs that just stated 'bathroom' but no directions for how to get there) and ended up running up all three levels of escalators only to still be unable to find one. In desperation, I walked into a Crossfit gym (it was about 9:30 at night at this point, btw) and asked the guy at the counter, "Est-ce que vous avez une toilette que je peux utiliser?"

He looked at me for a second--I'm sure I looked awful, sweaty, and white-faced--and then said expressionlessly, "Oui--pour cent euros."

Okay, pause for a second. For anyone who doesn't know, cent euros=100 euros. In my brain, though, my exhausted, stressed-out brain that was very urgently focusing on a bathroom, I somehow thought that 'cent' meant 'cents,' and he was asking for ten cents for the bathroom. I was like, okay, that's reasonable. So I went to reach into my wallet.

I heard him snort, and when I looked up he was grinning. "Je rigole," he said. "C'est la-bas." He pointed to a door that said 'toilettes.' 

My face went from white to red very quickly, and I just said "Merci" and hurried to the bathroom. 

I was so relieved to have found a bathroom that it took me a few minutes to realize the full implications of what had happened--I had just reached into my wallet when he'd said 'cent euros,' so to him, it must have looked like I was some extremely rich girl to whom a hundred euros was petty cash. He basically thought I was like the guy from this vine:

Oh well. At least the guy was nice about it.

Anyway, on to Tuesday! It was, again, not very eventful. I had to go grocery shopping, so I didn't spend much time in Paris. I thought you might like to have a look at the cool train station I go into every day to get home, though:

Ooooh, fancy, huh?

Wednesday was awesome. I'm just gonna put that out there, it was straight-up awesome. I went on a Paris walk with Caroline, Kate, and our professor, his wife, and two of their kids. It was walk number 6, Sights and Smells around the Madeleine. and everything about it was fabulous. 

First fabulous thing: the flower markets lining the street next to the Madeleine, which is a huge church in the Neo-Byzantine style. So many beautiful flowers!

Gorgeous arrangements! Adorable little cacti/succulents! Roses in colors that I didn't even know roses could grow in! Just . . . !!!!

I love flowers.

I also love big old buildings, so the Madeleine did not disappoint.

This place is quite the eclectic piece of work. It looks more like a Roman temple than a French church from the outside--but from the inside it's straight-up reminiscent of mosques in Turkey:

Seriously, apart from the lack of mihrab, this place's big arched domes look a ton like pictures I studied last semester for my Humanities of Islam class.

Another cool thing about the Madeleine--it apparently houses one of the city's best pipe organs:

Oh, c'mon, you knew I was gonna make that reference.

The Madeleine is perched pretty high up on top of a bunch of stairs, which means excellent views across the way:

FYI: Cars along this particular roundabout honk louder than pretty much anything I've ever heard in my life. Hooo-whee.

Next up on our walk was a stop at Laduree, which is an extremely famous French pastry shop that opened in the late 1800s. 

Not only does it win the most-adorable-window-display-ever contest, it's also the place that invented the macaroon, so of course we had to stop in and try a few of their signature flavors. 

(Sorry for my face . . . I look extremely tired for some reason? Anyway.)

In this bag are three cookies, all different flavors: chocolate, blackcurrant-violet, and rose petal. Laduree is particularly famous for their rose petal macaroons, which are supposed to taste the way roses smell. I know, that sounds kind of impossible, but I'm here to attest that it's true. It was like my mouth had a Eureka! moment to eat that thing, let me tell you. Definitely a unique experience--although to be honest, my favorite was blackcurrant-violet. Fruity and delicious!

Along our walk, I was reminded again of the almost obscene amount of beauty that's just casually everywhere in Paris. Like, I almost can't believe how cute everything is. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Our final stop for this walk was the Fragonard perfume museum, which was absolutely adorable, as well as really informative.

I never really knew how much work goes into making perfume, and this tour did a really good job of explaining it. 

For instance, when all the essences from flowers/trees/whatever are gathered and distilled, they're arranged like tiny people in a stadium so that the perfumist (I don't know if that's the right word or not) can pick and choose each one to create the desired scent. Coincidentally, it's also called the organ:

I'm sorry, I just love that picture.

We also got to see a lot of antique perfume bottles, some of them from the 1700s or even earlier, that were representative of the priorities that people placed on their perfume. Sometimes, the perfume bottles were even more expensive than the perfume itself!

We also took a look at the various decorations/designs that would go on the outsides of perfume boxes. One of my favorites was this little tiny ballerina: 

After the tour ended, we had the opportunity to buy perfume at a discounted price. However, since 'discounted' in France means 'still hecka expensive,' I opted out for the time being. I'll definitely want to come back, though, as I found a scent that I thought was really unique and I'd love to have for myself. And here's me with a bunch of different eau de toilettes/beauty products! Everything here was so cute and neatly laid out.

Shout out to the random Pegasus statue outside the museum:

At this point our walk was done, so we started walking in the direction of the nearest metro station. And on our way, as if the day could get any better:

Hello, Opera House!

I really really love that building.

That's basically the end of Wednesday--although I think it's important to mention that Wednesday was the first day that I started seeing these everywhere:

In case I forgot to mention it, this fall marks the 30th anniversary of the musical Phantom, and as part of the celebration they're staging it--for the first time ever--in French, in Paris. Which, of course, I'm going to go see in October, so major squealing about that. 

If you want a reaction image for how I feel about the whole Phantom-in-Paris thing, look no further than this picture that I took of an oddly anthropomorphic squiggle on the RER on Thursday morning:

It's-a me!

Thursday was again a more relaxed day. We went to class, and I munched on this yummy sandwich with Indian spices and flavoring:

Thanks, Maddie and Larissa, for taking me there!

Also, I would just like to submit that every time I see colorful doors here in Paris, I think of my mom. So, Mom, this one is for you!

After school on Friday, I went with Kate to the Louvre, because I had some homework to do for my art history class. We're assigned to do object studies, which means choosing a couple of art pieces from an assigned list and staring at them for an hour to try to analyze the different choices that went into making the art, how they are reflective of the artistic styles of their respective time period, etc.

My first study was of this thing, a vase known as Suger's Eagle:

  One of the suggestions on the syllabus is to try sketching the artwork, to get a feel for how the artist might have gone about making it. I decided to give it a go:

Idk, am I doing this right?

Anyway, the Louvre was gorgeous, as always. I took this shot from inside a window, so sorry for the hand-reflection in the corner, but it's still beautiful, isn't it?

After the Louvre, Kate and I were going to go to another museum, but I ended up splitting up from her to head back home. Thanks for accompanying me that far, Kate! You're cool.

Anyway, I was gonna go home, but then I had the idea to go to the Place de l'Opera again and see if I could find the Theatre Mogador, which was supposedly just a little ways away from the Opera House.

I'm not gonna lie, I got a little lost along my walk and went too far down the wrong road. But it was okay! It meant that I ended up at this really beautiful old church:

And after sitting down on a park bench and consulting a map, I was able to find my way back on track, and a short while later . . . 

TA-DAAA! I was so proud of myself for finding it. I'll be going there soon!

(Side note that I found out after I'd written this: there was a fire this morning (Sunday) in the basement of the Mogador, this theatre, which damaged/destroyed some of the sets and costumes for the show. This means that the opening will most likely have to be postponed--not sure how long yet, or what this is going to mean for my ability to go. But anyway, I thought it was important to mention. I really hope that nobody got hurt!)

Friday night was also an adventure, although not in the way I originally planned it to be. I was going to meet up with Rachel to go to a YSA dance in Versailles, only the two of us couldn't figure out how to get there, because it involved riding a RER line that neither of us had been on before, and so after two and a half hours of riding trains and becoming sequentially more lost, we decided to just give up and go home. But it wasn't a total waste! We talked a lot, got to see the Eiffel Tower at night from the window of the metro:

And had our own little party in spite of getting super lost. Thanks for making Friday night so fun, Rachel! You rock.

(Also: at least three different people came up to us and asked us for directions, and we were just like, 'lol dude we have no clue, we're hecka lost too,' so that was fun.)

And then there was Saturday.

Oh, Saturday; the day of sleeping in late and not having to go to class. I like Saturday. This Saturday was extra fun, too, because I spent my afternoon making THIS:

Ladies and gentlemen, my first-ever vlog!

Well, of a sort. My parents said they wanted a tour of the town I live in, so I happily obliged. My camera work is shaky, and I literally threw all the clips together into a relatively incoherent mess, but I had fun making it, so that's what counts!

Last little bit of Saturday: I went into town with Anna, Grace, and Anisa to get dinner, because a bunch of other people were going to a concert and we didn't want to feel left out. I got this really yummy salad with chicken:

And to close, I would like to submit a conundrum: I have no idea whether I like Paris better during the day, or at night. Because I passed over the same bridge to go eat and then, later, to get back on the metro and go home. I got two different shots of Pont Neuf at different times of day. First, late afternoon:

Then, evening:

Some people would say that nighttime wins, no contest. But for me, there are things that I love about both images, and I don't think I can really pick a favorite. The only thing I can say is this: I love Paris. I really, really love it. And even on days when things are hard, days when gym workers tell me I gotta pay 100 euros to use the bathroom and nothing seems to go right, I can still keep going, because I know I'm in the right place. 

Our song for today is not really about Paris, but it is composed by a French man, Alexandre Desplat: "River Waltz," from the movie The Painted Veil.

This song came on on my Spotify the other day, and I totally fell in love with it. This song sounds the way walking along the side of the Seine on Saturday felt: calm, and peaceful, and absolutely right.

I'm so grateful that I get to be here in France. You, there reading my blog: Wherever you are in the world and in life right now, I'm sending you my good energy. Sometimes things in life get really, really hard, and pushing through it feels like the last thing we want to do, but I believe in you--you can do it! I hope my good energy helps you. I know I've needed good energy this week.

Well, that's all from me for now. Thanks for reading! See ya next time.

A Day In Disneyland

. . . Yeah, I know. It's been like a week since I wrote on here. But, I'm back to say that:

And that gif is especially appropriate for this blog, since last Saturday was the day of THIS:

Whaaaat?

Yeah, I, uh, realized that I didn't actually say I was going to Disneyland Paris at any point on this blog. Oh well. Surprise, I guess?

But before we get to that, let's talk a little bit about Friday. It wasn't a perfect day, but there were a lot of highlights! For instance, this beautiful combination of clouds/sun-shining-through-the-clouds on the RER:

Then the prettiness of la Tour Saint-Jacques, which I passed while walking with Quincy, Anna, Anisa, and Kate:

And the prettiness of ice cream that is in a bowl, so it won't fall on a yucky metro floor:

And lastly, the prettiness of ME:

I don't even care if that sounds self-centered. I genuinely felt really pretty on Friday, which doesn't happen often, so there you go--gratuitous selfie! (Yes, my scarf is tied in a Windsor knot. Why? Because wearing a tie makes me feel like a powerful business executive, and I wanted to, so there.)

Anyway, I know most of you are just dying for the deets on Disneyland Paris, so I won't waste any more of your time. Our day started at about 8 am, as we had to get on the RER and ride it allllll the way to the very end of the line, and we wanted to get to the park before it opened at 10 am. We stumbled across this gentleman while waiting for Quincy and Anisa to arrive so we could walk to the RER: 

He was just chillin' in the middle of the road, and I was like, hey, my dude, you do your thing but I don't think you wanna be crushed, you feel me? So I moved him to a nice grassy patch where he could be happy and safe. 

Let me just say, for the record: Snails>Spiders. All the time.

We had to change lines partway through our ride on the RER, which meant I had a chance to photograph these awesome warning signs that are posted all over the metro: 

They're being used to promote good safe behavior on the metro. You can't really see the first one super well, but it's this girl who leans her head out of the window and then, when another train comes by, gets her ponytail sliced off. The second one is hopefully more clear.

I seriously love these posters. There are so many more that I'll share with you. For now, on to Disneyland! 

It was a little bit rainy out, but nothing we couldn't handle. 

Also. Um. Is it awful of me to say that I kind of prefer the castle in Disneyland Paris to the one at Disneyland in California?

I mean, just look at it. It's all asymmetrical, with towers popping up all over the place. Very quaint and European. I like.

Our first ride of the day was the Peter Pan ride, which is absolutely gorgeous. No pictures of that one, but it's pretty much the same as in the states--which is to say amazingly beautiful and artistic. Then we went through an Alice in Wonderland maze:

Sneaky Cheshire Cat peeking his head out! It was adorable. Also, in the middle of one of the bushes there were those little bike-horn thingies from the movie, and right as we walked by they honked REALLY LOUD at us, which we were not expecting. We kinda yelped, but then laughed. Afterwards we did the teacups, Pirates of the Caribbean, and headed over to The Haunted Mansion (or as it's known here, 'Phantom Manor."

The Phantom Awaits??? Well, sign me the HECK UP!!

It was pretty cool, although the story was a bit jumbled I thought. The whole ghosts-waltzing-at-a-party thing is always A+ though. 10/10 extra spoopy.

After Phantom Manor, we decided we couldn't wait any longer and we got in line for Space Mountain. 

Guys.

Did you know that in Disneyland Paris . . . Space Mountain goes upside down????

It was insane.

Probably the best ride there. All told, we rode four different times throughout the day. 

Also, see that cannon-shooter thing? Instead of just getting gently pulled to the top like at Disneyland California, you get JETTED INTO OUTER SPACE at high speed. Awesome.

Sorry it's blurry, but you can tell we were having fun! (Except maybe Anisa, who looks like she's going to cry . . . but that was just bad timing for the picture. Sorry, Anisa.)

At this point we went to meet up with Grace, Lauren, and Hannah, and we basically hung out with them for the rest of the day. We headed over to the other park (Walt Disney Studios) after riding Space Mountain twice. Here's what it looks like:

Cute, huh?

We were gonna get on the Tower of Terror right away, but the line was so long that wasn't a viable option. We got Fastpasses instead and headed over to a different area of the park. 

Oh, I forgot to mention: at Walt Disney Studios in Paris, there's a Ratatouille ride. So this whole area was Ratatouille-themed! See the "Gusteau's" sign in the distance?

Everything was so pretty here! Man, it was almost like being in France!

;)

The Ratatouille ride was fun--even though it made me super dizzy. It was one of those 3-D movie rides, and basically we'd been shrunk down to the size of rats and stuck inside Gusteau's restaurant, which, as you can imagine, involved lots of chasing and running and screaming . . . it was intense.

There was also a restaurant connected to the ride (Chez Remy, as you could probably guess from my picture), and we thought about going there, but then we looked at the menu and had to try not to hurl--their cheapest deals were around 35 euros, almost as much as the park admission itself. Noooooo thank you.

I found this funny little toque in the gift shop, though, and thought it deserved a spot on the blog.

Cuuute.

After a quick snack/dinner-type interlude, we walked over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to use our Fastpasses.

Um. 

I guess I forgot to mention this, but . . . I've never ridden on the Tower of Terror before. I had only seen people dropping in it, and I remembered having nightmares about it after watching this creepy advertisement about it when I was like seven. In other words, the only face I could make as we got in line to board the elevator was this: 

I'm not even attempting to do a pufferfish face there. That is just true and unadulterated panic.

I'm serious, I haven't been so scared to get on a ride since my first rollercoaster, and that was ages ago. But when it came time to get all strapped in and prepare to freefall from thirteen stories up, my hands were actually shaking.

In the middle of it, I think my brain was convinced I was actually about to die. But afterwards, I realized that . . . it wasn't really that bad? In comparison to the freefall ride at Silverwood, it was pretty tame. I didn't totally lose the ability to breathe like I normally do on rides like that, so that was a plus. Overall, I liked it.

Funny story: we also rode the Rock-and-Rollercoaster (like the one in Florida,) which has lots of loud rock music playing as you go through this indoor rollercoaster like Space Mountain. When I got on that one, there was an odd number of people and I ended up being the one to take the seat without a buddy next to me. Some dude in his 20s with scruffy facial hair and a big black coat on sat next to me, and said, "Vous etes Francais?"

"Non, je suis americaine."

He switched over to English then. "You have ridden this before?"

"Uh, no. Never ridden this ride before."

"Never?" He seemed amazed. Then he smiled. "Good luck!"

I was kind of like, okay, that was weird, but whatever. The ride was great, and that guy next to me was reaalllly enthusiastic about it--he was yelling so loud that I couldn't even hear myself scream. At the end of the ride, just before the bars came up so we could get off, he just turned and looked at me. Didn't say anything, just gave me this exact face: 

I was just like . . . . "Yeah! That was fun!"

And he nodded, still smiling, and we both got off the ride. 

I waited until he was out of sight to crack up, but believe me, it was a struggle. 

After riding that rollercoaster again, we decided it was time to head back over to Disneyland.

Yes, this is a cute picture, but I chose this one to showcase something very specific--or should I say someone:

Just look at that guy. He's totally smiling directly at my camera. He knows he's photobombing and he's happy about it. 

Well played, sir.

We headed over to It's a Small World, because that is a necessity at any Disneyland trip.

Fun fact: everything here is more brightly colored than at the original Disneyland, which is because of the weather. It's cloudy so much of the year that they decided to use brighter colors to make everything pop against the gray sky. I love it.

Why, hello there, blurry Eiffel Tower! (Can I just say that the Small World song sounds a lot cooler in French? Because it does. But basically everything sounds cooler in French.)

After that was the Fairytale Boats ride, where you ride in a boat past all these miniature fairytale castles. It was sooo cute! Picture montage! 

First up, the Beast's castle:

Rapunzel's tower:

 An extra-spoopy graveyard:

Prince Eric's castle from The Little Mermaid:

And the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin!:

It was all super cool, and had lots of really interesting details! 

This park is nowhere near as big as Disneyland back home, so that's about it for new rides. It started to get dark real quick, and while most people were going to Phantom Manor again I got myself some dinner:

It was some sort of kebab sandwich, with fresh slightly spicy meat, lettuce, and onions. Yumm.

After I ate I met back up with the other girls and we hopped on Space Mountain two more times, because the lines were really short. At this point it was really starting to get dark out, which I didn't mind, because Disneyland always looks so much cooler at night:

To finish the night, we sat down to watch the lights display that happens at 10, right before the park closes. We agreed that we were going to leave halfway through, so we could get to the metro before giant hordes of people started stampeding that direction.

But man, oh man, do I wish we could have stayed for the whole thing.

It was absolutely incredible. They projected all sorts of different effects onto the castle that coordinated with the fireworks and made it change colors and textures--at one point, they had a Hunchback of Notre Dame moment, which meant that Quasimodo popped out of a window and climbed all over the castle--it looked super real, even though it was just a projection! So cool.

Another thing that I loved was that all the stories that take place in France had their respective songs sung in French (others, like Frozen and Aladdin, were left alone)--there was a bit with Remy from Ratatouille, and Hunchback of course, and, best of all, the French translation of Be Our Guest--C'est la Fete. 

And that's what I want to leave you with today, to close out this blog. I was so happy to be in Disneyland Paris because I love Disney, but the thing that made me happiest was knowing that I was not only in Disneyland--I was in France! So the way I felt can only be understood by listening to this:

You are all awesome! Hope you have a great day!