Proposal ---> Barcie

Le 3 Juin 2009
Angelina’s is the restaurant known for the best cup of hot chocolate in Paris. It wasn’t exactly a cold day, but the professor was paying for Becky Poulsen and me because we had completed 14 walks out of the 20 (only 12 were required and most people didn’t even have that yet). Angelina’s is found between the stops of concord and the tuileries. It’s in the strip of stores by the Palais Royale. The chocolate was amazing! Its African chocolate so it’s a little rich and darker than I’d regularly preferred but I appreciated and loved it regardless. The tiny pitcher of chocolate comes with a tasse of unsweetened cream that most people use to calm their thick chocolate, not what you’d pour into your mouth like my family does at home.

I met up with Rachel H, Rachel L, and Hannah on the Champs Elysees because Rachel L wanted to look for a certain perfume at Marionaud. There on the Champs Elysees as I waited for them I ran into an old man with a beer belly who wore a “Papy Dance” shirt and danced. He didn’t do much but I was impressed cause he really put himself out there. Ever since I visited Fragonard I have appreciated all different kinds of perfumes and normally sample a scent when I pass the stores during the day. I like smelling good (my sleeve has come in handing when passing cigarette smoke or urine infested metros) while in Paris and I must admit that its harder to sport perfumes around the family. Perfume is a big deal with my family, n’est pas? Even the guys would comment on a scent that someone wears.
The Musee D'Orsay
I had yet to visit Musee D’Orsay I ran over there with Rachel H (the others were cooking dinner for their host family) and saw the things I really had been wanting to see (Picasoo, Monet, Matisse, and the porch with the view to the rest of the city).
Through the clock in the D'Orsay
We quickly got “Louvre legs” and found a nice rounded stone bench to sit on. One of the guards from the expedition that was just closing came over to talk to us. I figured that someone who worked at the museum would be a safe native to make small chitchat with? He asked us about what we were studying (cause I was taking pictures and notes) and we explained. We also explained that we were from the United States and he looked absolutely shocked! He asked us why we would ever go back to the silly United States when there is France and we can obviously get by just fine. I told him that I loved the United States and France but that my family and heritage was in the United States. I told him that I would love some excuse to live in France for at least a couple of years and that my French was definitely not satisfactory in my mind. I know that I have a lot of French to work on. Anyways- this is the point at which he proposed to me and shortly after we left.
While riding RER C on the way home we encountered 9 skimpy dressed, loud American girls. They were teasing each other about how they looked gross and how they would have to take showers before meeting up with the boys in their group later. Then they bantered about how long each of them took to take showers and who would go first. All of this was Very loud. Then when their stop came they freaked out because the doors didn’t open. If only they had seen “appuyez, push” written right above the button before I went to help them open the door.
Picture from the Musee D'orsay Terrace
Le 4 Juin 2009
Almost directly after class Ryan Bakow, Kristen DePalma, Mandy Robinson, Rachel Laulusa, and I took the RER to Charles de Gaulle to catch my fight to Barcelona! The flight was stalled for an hour and the section of Charles de Gaulle that we were in was not air conditioned so in the miserable heat, everyone but me fell asleep.
We arrived in Barcelona at 8:00 or so and headed to our hostel in Gothic Point Barcelona which is approximately a 12 minute walk from the beach. The hostel already was crazy fun! The colors were insanely fun, we had nothing but sheets and a pillow and I felt so free. There were 8 bunks (4 bunk beds) in our room so we got to meet a bunch of new people, within the safety of our group of 5, during the 2 nights that we were there. One of the guys who stayed with us is named Jeremy and he goes to Baylor. There were actually a bunch of people in the hostel from Texas, everyone spoke English, and there was a buffet each morning which totally made everything else worth it. We spent our first night wandering the streets of Barcelona together. We found the beach and played in the water a bit and started to walk home. At the end of our walk to the hostel we saw tons of people, way more than when we started walking earlier that night, and that’s when I remembered all that my madame had said about Barcelona. It’s a young peoples’ city so no one really comes out till 12:30 and then the party starts! No worries we didn’t ever really join the party but it was fascinating to see how different things worked. More on Barcie later!