What did that young woman expect, you ask?

She expected to explore new frontiers.  She expected to meet new people.  She expected to eat lots of pastries.  But she didn’t know that four months in Paris would be a life-changing experience: that she would make life-long friends and gain a brand new outlook.  No, that would all be a surprise.

When someone asks me “how it was to study abroad for an entire semester,” I always tell them that it was the best decision that I ever made.  That it changed my life and that I am chomping at the bit to go back.  But it’s funny: nobody asks me how my semester in France changed my life.  What I learned.  So for those that asked, for those that didn’t, and for myself: the lessons I learned in Paris.

Slow down. In Paris, there’s no such thing as “taking your coffee to go.”  Instead, true Parisians sit in a café and sip leisurely, savoring every drop of their tiny espresso.  Parisians prioritize their own happiness and well-being over all else; the American “hurry up and go” attitude is nowhere to be found.  I admit that I haven’t exactly perfected (ha!) the Parisian way of stopping to smell the roses, but well…  I’m working on it.

Un cafe au lait, enjoyed while people-watching at a café.

(Try to) speak French.  I would be the first person to tell you that French is not an easy language to master.  There are tons of verb tenses (some rather useless, in my opinion,) and EVERY noun has a gender.  Essentially, every sentence presents countless opportunities to say something completely and utterly wrong. Despite all of this, after a bit of coaching (and reassurance) from my fabulous host mom, I learned very quickly that speaking bad French is better than speaking no French at all.  After all, how else can you expect to learn?  Sounds like a lesson that might be applicable in lots of situations, doesn’t it…

Translation: Caution, Weird Dog.

French pastries taste every bit as good as they look. This may be self-explanatory, but just in case you need a little more convincing…

A crêpe. With Nutella and banana. Just as heavenly as it sounds.

Macarons. The little sandwich cookie that could.

Every girl needs a little support. Plain and simple, my experience in France would not have been the same without my amazing host family and friends.  I miss them every day and I consider myself one lucky little Texan to have spent four months in their company.

The best host family a girl could ask for.

My Parisian other half.

Basking in the Grecian sun: spring break in Athens

And perhaps most importantly, Beauty is everywhere. You just have to open your eyes every once in a while in order to see it.

Sunset over the Aegean Sea

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité:" the national motto of France.

The Jardin du Luxembourg

Salzburg, Austria

Today, I celebrate the one year anniversary of my arrival in France.  It seems only fitting to propose a toast: to Paris, to family, to friends, and to adventure.  Santé!

How was Paris?  AMAZING.

How does it feel to be back in Texas?  WEIRD.  DIFFERENT.  HOT.

I’m glad to be home in the land of cowboy hats, Mexican food, and Target superstores, but now that I’ve been back in Texas for two weeks, I can honestly say this: I miss Europe.  I miss Paris.

I expected to have life-changing experiences in Paris.  I expected to step out of my comfort zone.  I even expected to make amazing friends.  What I didn’t expect was to feel so completely at home in Paris with my host family, “my” métro system, and my amies (translation: friends).

I know you’re probably expecting a blog post to “sum it all up;” to make some final, overarching comments on my Parisian experience.  Well, sorry.  What I can tell you, however, is this: I made an amazing decision to study in Paris this semester.  I now feel like I have a second home on the other side of the world, and I absolutely loved everything about my experience (ok, ALMOST everything.)

I can’t wait to go back.

]]> http://sarahsaysbonjour.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/reverse-culture-shock/feed/ 0 Sarah http://sarahsaysbonjour.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/just-call-me-%e2%80%9cjetsetter%e2%80%9d/ http://sarahsaysbonjour.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/just-call-me-%e2%80%9cjetsetter%e2%80%9d/#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 03:01:46 +0000 Sarah S. http://sarahsaysbonjour.wordpress.com/?p=345 Continue reading →]]> I have officially added “traveling” to my list of favorite hobbies.  Or maybe my list of obsessions.

My mom arrived in Paris on May 1, ready to embark on a mother-daughter whirlwind tour of Europe.  (Actually, it was a tour of Austria and Italy with a little bit of Germany thrown in, but who’s counting?)  We were both SUPER excited and ready for an amazing experience, and that’s just what we had, even with a few minor speed bumps along the way.

Our first stop wasn’t really a stop at all; we stayed in Paris for three days so I could show Mom around and take her to my favorite places.

Paris highlights

• Lunch at Crêperie des Canettes, my favorite restaurant in Paris, with my mom and Kelsy, one of my fabulous IES friends
• Yet another visit to the Musée d’Orsay (good thing it never gets old!)
• Seeing a ballet at the Opéra Garnier, the building that provided the inspiration for “Phantom of the Opera”
• Eating macarons
• A wonderful dinner with my host family and my “real mom”

On Tuesday, May 3, we flew from Paris to Dusseldorf to Munich before taking a two-hour train to Salzburg (the ultimate “travel day.”)  Unfortunately, our luggage decided to stay in Dusseldorf a little longer than we did, so we got the full “European experience” of being without our luggage for about 24 hours.  But surprisingly, not having our luggage turned out to be a blessing: Mom and I were free to explore Munich for a few hours without having to carry our (excessively heavy) suitcases from place to place!

Munich highlights

• A sad realization that even though we had crossed the border between France and Germany, we couldn’t get our passports stamped because we had stayed in the European Union.
• Lunch at the first restaurant we saw that had English translations on the menu
• Seeing the Glockenspiel
• Astonishment at the amazing complexity of the German language; very different from French and English, and absolutely impossible for us to understand

From Munich (and still without our luggage) we headed to Salzburg on a train.  We didn’t know what to expect from Salzburg (except that it was where “Sound of Music” was filmed—which, don’t get me wrong, is VERY important).  We certainly didn’t expect to fall deeply in love with the city, but we did.

Salzburg highlights

• An over-enthusiastic tour guide on the “Sound of Music” tour, coupled with breathtaking views from the mountains and lots of Kodak (or in my case, Canon) moments
• Some of the best food we tasted on the entire trip, including weinerschnitzel with cranberry sauce and Nockerl, an amazing Austrian dessert
• Mozart balls, bonbons that are in EVERY SINGLE store in the city (Mozart was born there; it’s one of Salzburg’s “claims to fame.”)
• Everything.  Salzburg stole both my heart and my mom’s; we’re already thinking about a return trip.

From Salzburg, we took a two-hour train and a four-hour bus to Venice.  Yes, you read correctly: a four-hour bus.  And it was just as wonderful (or in this case, not-so-wonderful) as it sounds.

Venice highlights

• Realizing that Venice doesn’t have real streets with real street names.  (Disclaimer: this is NOT a highlight; this made finding our hotel a little more of an adventure than we would have liked.  And it was raining.)
• There’s a bus system…  But the buses are boats!
• Our first tastes of Italian gelato.  Oh heaven.
• Beautiful architecture.  I couldn’t stop taking pictures of windows and buildings, even though I knew I wouldn’t remember what their significance was later.

After only one night in Venice, we headed to my favorite of the Italian cities we visited: Florence.

Florence highlights

• More gelato (are you surprised?)
• Danilo, the owner of our bed and breakfast, made amazing cappuccinos and gave amazing restaurant recommendations.  New best friend.
• Tuscany.  TUSCANYYY.  We went on a day trip through Tuscany, where we stopped in three cities and went to a wonderful wine and balsamic vinegar tasting.  One of the highlights of the entire trip.
• Seeing the “Birth of Venus” in the Uffizi Gallery.  I had studied the painting in high school, but it was incredible to see it in real life (even though most of the other paintings in the Uffizi were less exciting, in my opinion)

The last stop on our whirlwind trip was Rome, a very quick train ride away from Florence.

Rome highlights

• Yet MORE gelato (again, this should not surprise you.)
• We bought tickets on the city sightseeing bus, which took us by all the sights.  It was a great way to spend the first afternoon and to see the sights of Rome, which are very spread out around the city.
• The Coliseum.  Wow.  It held 70,000 spectators, almost as many as Darrell K. Royal Stadium at UT, even though it was built nearly 2000 years ago!
• The Vatican scavi (excavation site); we got to see the layers of earth and buildings buried beneath St. Peter’s Basilica.  We even got to see the bones of St. Peter!

It was an absolutely amazing two weeks, and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do some more traveling before returning to Texas!  I’m already looking forward to having the chance to return to Europe and do some more exploring, but until then, it’s back to Texas for me!

1. I just love it.  And I have enormous respect for performers who can play the piano and sing at the same time.
2. It seems very fitting for my last three days in Paris (before my mom makes the voyage over the pond and we embark on our European vacation!)  I can’t believe the semester has gone by so fast, and I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful experience in Paris.  I am definitely going to do my best to “profiter” (make the best) of the rest of my time here!

(Time, as performed by Chantal Kreviazuk)

So here it is (just for you, Dad): Reasons why I love London.

• Snacking isn’t “pour les enfants” (just for children); in London, it’s called “Afternoon Tea” and it’s very, very normal.
• It’s clean!  I don’t think I smelled anything “questionable” even ONCE in the metro halls!  (This is a big difference from Paris, where unpleasant smells in the metro are an everyday occurance.)
• The accent.  (Anyone who knows me should not be surprised by this one.  I love the British accent.)
• There are real queens and princesses here, therefore, there’s still hope that I could be one and not know it.
• They really do say “cheers!”
• The musicals in the West End.
• They eat eggs for breakfast!  And bacon!  Not just croissants and baguettes and juice!
• Wearing sneakers and sweatpants doesn’t make people stare.
• People smile.  All the time.
• Lots and lots of Indian food restaurants.  And a WHOLE FOODS.  So essentially, London is heaven from a “Sarah food” perspective.
• People rollerblade through the parks and the streets.
• You can buy food and medication at the same store.  In France, you buy food at the grocery store and medication at the pharmacy.  I won’t lie, I miss the convenience of the “one stop shop.”
• It’s illegal to leave dog poo on the street.  Enough said.

So what did I do?  I took my Eurostar train ticket, my hostel reservation, and my guidebook and headed to London anyway, of course!

I’ll spare you a play-by-play of my incredibly jam-packed and amazing weekend, and instead I’ll just share some of my favorite moments and places with you:

St. Paul’s Cathedral

My first thought when I walked in?  “The Londoners could really teach the French a thing or two about building cathedrals.”  St. Paul’s is absolutely breathtaking.  There’s light flooding in to the church from all directions (it’s not dark and somber like Notre Dame) and the golden mosaics on the ceiling are incredible.  I think I was probably looking up at the ceiling for about 80% of the time I was in the building.

St. Paul’s has one of the biggest domes in the world, and your ticket in to the church (yes, you have to pay to get in) grants you access to the tiny, winding staircase that takes you to the very top, where you can see an amazing view of the entire city.

Billy Elliot: the musical

After seeing it win the Tony for “Best Musical” and hearing rave reviews, I was so excited to finally see “Billy Elliot: the musical.”  I was NOT disappointed.  The combination of Elton John’s score, incredible dance numbers and an infinitely talented cast made for what is hands down one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen (and that’s really saying something…  I’ve seen a LOT of musicals.)

In case you’re not familiar with the show, here’s a video clip of Billy, the main character, singing “Electricity,” the show’s signature song (he starts singing/dancing after about 30 seconds of video):

(Tourist note: I also saw “Sister Act: the musical” while I was in London.  I was underwhelmed by the disco-y vibe of the show and the redundant song-and-dance numbers.  I wouldn’t recommend it.)

Fat Tire Royal London Bike Tour

I’m convinced there is no better way to see a city than from behind a pair of handlebars, and that is especially true of London.  Saturday morning, I met up with a big group of tourists outside the Queensway underground stop and embarked on a four-hour adventure through the royal parks of London.

Our faithful tour guide, David, took us through the city, telling stories about famous Londoners and explaining the significance behind the sights as we passed them.  The weather was absolutely stunning, so as you can probably imagine, the tour was four hours of complete bliss.

My favorite sights included Buckingham palace (of course), the Princess Diana memorial, Trafalgar Square, and Hyde Park.

Changing of the guard

Cliché?  Yep.  Crowded?  Yeah.  Worth it?  Definitely.  I’m pretty sure the entire city of London showed up on Sunday morning to watch the changing of the guard.   I was super early (old habits die hard), but there were already hundreds of people lining the street outside of Buckingham Palace, even an hour before the guard changed.

What a cool experience!  I loved being in a city where there are real live queens and guards.  It was absolutely whimsical.  And to make matters even more wonderful, the royal band set up in front of the palace and played a set of songs from the musical “Chicago!”  Don’t believe me?  See for yourself:

The Tower of London

For a history buff like myself, visiting the Tower of London was totally worth the slightly absurd 14 pound entry fee.  The Tower is most famous for its role as a prison; three of Henry VIII’s wives were held prisoner and beheaded there.  I followed a free tour around the grounds led by a “beefeater,” a Royal Army veteran.  The beefeaters are paid to live on the Tower grounds, lead tours, and serve as the queen’s bodyguard (they’re the guys in uniform who stand closest to the queen and who yield swords.  Very macho.)

I loved learning about the not-so-glamorous side of the English monarchy.  (Especially since I just finished reading “The Other Boelyn Girl.”)

____________________________________________________________________________

I think you can probably gather from all the gushing going on in this post that I absolutely LOVED London, but just in case you’re unsure, my next post (once I get it typed up) will be the list that I made during my three days in the city describing why exactly I adored London.  Stay tuned!

In America, when we think of macaroons, we think of meringue-y coconut cookies.  The French macaron is completely different; I like to think of them as like Oreos (because they’re sandwich cookies with cream in the middle) only about 1,000,000 times better.

So what are macarons, really?  The cookie part of the sandwich is made of almond flour, egg whites, and sugar.  The filling can range from chocolate ganache to buttercream to jam to…  well you get the idea.

In Paris, the macaron is a delicacy.  They’re kind of like France’s version of the American cupcake: bakeries are always competing to come up with new flavors and beat each other out for the title of “the BEST macaron.”  The top three competing patisseries?  Ladurée, Pierre Hermé, and Gérard Mulot.

Macaron counter at Ladurée on the Champs Élysées. Yes, please!

Last week, I ventured between classes to Pierre Hermé.  (I had already tasted macarons from the other two patisseries, and I felt like I had to give them all a fair shot before picking a favorite.)  I stood in line for about ten minutes, then left the store with three little cookies, all wrapped up in plastic and calling out to me:

Flavors, clockwise from top: Milk chocolate and passion fruit, pistachio and sour cherry, and caramel.

To be honest, I was a little taken aback by the available flavors at Pierre Hermé.  I’m all about creativity, but strawberry and wasabi?  No thanks!  I went for the most normal flavors I could find.

The verdict?  The pistachio/sour cherry and chocolate passion fruit were just way too out of the park for me.  Call me a macaron flavor purist, but I would rather have just plain old normal chocolate than weird, fruity, sour chocolate ANY day of the week!  The caramel macaron was absolutely delicious, but not quite delicious enough to make me want to give Pierre Hermé another try.

My favorite macarons can be found chez Gérard Mulot.  The flavors change almost every day, but are much more “normal” than the ones that overwhelmed me at Pierre Hermé.  Some of my favorite flavors: noisette (chocolate hazlenut–think Nutella), green tea, nougat, and almond.

Almond macaron from Gérard Mulot.

Moral of the story: don’t leave Paris without trying a macaron (or many macarons.)  They’re amazingly delicious and unlike any other cookie you’ve ever had (or will ever have.)  This summer’s project?  Trying to figure out how to recreate them.  Dallas area guinea pigs–uhh, I mean taste testers–needed!

Last weekend, five friends and I took an overnight train to Nice, a city on the French Riviera.  We boarded the Lunea night train at 10:30 pm, found our reclinable chairs, and tried our best to sleep as much as possible during the 10-hour journey.

(Tourist note: I’m not so sure I recommend taking overnight trains.  The actual train ride wasn’t as bad as I expected, but we were all completely exhausted for most of the weekend.)

We arrived in Nice at 8:30 am and followed the hostel’s directions to reach a Casino supermarket, where the hostel shuttle picked us up and took us to Villa St. Exupéry.  We checked in, ate breakfast at their cereal bar, and headed out to explore the city.

Nice is amazing.  The buildings are all painted in shades of red and yellow, and the tiny side streets are filled with adorable shops and cafés.   Naturally, we all took some pictures and marveled for a while…  and then made a beeline for the beach.  After laying in the sun for an hour (don’t worry, I brought sunscreen!) we headed up to the chateau, where you can see a panoramic view of the city.

SO beautiful!

Saturday, we went to Monaco, about a 40-minute bus ride from Nice (another country to add to the list of ones I’ve visited!  Woohoo!).  If I had to use one word to describe this tiny country, it would most definitely be EXPENSIVE.  There were Ferraris and Lamborghinis everywhere, and TONS of high-end shops.  We learned later that Monaco has the highest per-capita income of any country in the world.  I believe it.

Sunday morning, I Googled “churches in Nice” to find an Easter church service, and we set off toward downtown and the Holy Trinity Anglican Church.  We walked in to find beautiful stained glass windows, an organ, and, to our complete surprise, tons of ENGLISH SPEAKERS!  (Thank you, Google!)  Somehow, we had stumbled on a church that conducted their services in English.  We were all incredibly excited to get a little taste of home on Easter.  (We even sang my favorite hymn!)

After church, we headed to downtown and the huge flower market that takes place every morning.  The market covers an entire city square, and you can find absolutely everything from tulips to goat cheese to candied fruits.  It shouldn’t surprise you that this was one of my favorite parts of our vacation.

Overall, Nice was a fabulous place to escape the hustle and bustle of Paris and enjoy a great vacation.  I would love to visit more places in the south of France, especially during the summer months when it’s warm enough to lay out on the beach!  Sounds like a return trip to France will definitely be in order.

What began as a delicious lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in the city turned in to an ambulance ride and six hours in a hospital waiting room.  I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

Amy, one of my great friends from UT, was in town this weekend and wanted to see some of my favorite places in Paris.  So I did what any great tour guide would do and took her and her friends to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Crêperie des Canettes. (Tourist note: Crêperie des Canettes is located on Rue des Canettes, near the Mabillon métro stop.  They serve delicious buckwheat crêpes, a Breton specialty.)  Kathryn, one of Amy’s friends, said she might be allergic to buckwheat.  I showed her the salad menu, but she decided to go ahead and order a crêpe to get as much of the “French experience” as possible.  (“I’ll just probably get a little itchy,” she said.)

Wrong.

About thirty minutes later, as we walked toward Notre Dame on Boulevard St. Michel, Kathryn started to feel very badly.  Her chest was tight and she was having trouble walking, so we took her in to a Starbucks and I went to find some Benadryl.  As I walked back from the pharmacy, Amy called me to ask what number to call for an ambulance (18, in case you’re wondering.)  The pompiers (the French version of the EMT) arrived about two minutes after the Starbucks barista called them, and we immediately discovered that they didn’t speak any English.  At all.  Not even a little bit.  So I got to work, explaining to them that Kathryn had an allergy to buckwheat and describing her symptoms as best I could (with the help of hand motions).  They decided that she needed to be taken to the hospital and told us that one person could ride with her in the ambulance.  Just as Amy grabbed her purse and started to step in to the van, they pointed at me and said “Vous parlez francais, vous venez.”  (“You speak French, you’re coming.”)  Uhhhh, ok?

First-ever ambulance ride?  Check.

When we arrived at the hospital, Kathryn was seen by a triage nurse (again, I translated as best I could) and by doctors.  I was asked to describe her symptoms and serve as a translator for the doctor before being sent out to the waiting room with Amy and her other three friends.  We waited for about three hours before a doctor came to tell us that Kathryn would need to spend the night in the hospital.  He explained the situation to me in French (that Kathryn had gone in to shock and that they would keep her overnight to make sure she was stable) and then I explained it to Amy in English.  We waited in another waiting room for another two hours or so before we finally got to go back and see Kathryn.

The hospital room looked just like a US hospital room, with machines everywhere and no color.  I asked the nurse some questions, made sure Kathryn knew where the call button and the TV remote were, and told her to be persistent about asking for an English-speaking nurse if she needed anything.  (One of the interns told me that there was always someone on the floor who spoke English.)

After getting Kathryn situated as best as possible, I said goodnight to Amy and her friends and headed for home, telling them to call me if they needed anything.  Kathryn was released from the hospital the next day, feeling fine.  (Amy told me that they went immediately after they left the hospital to fill a prescription for an Epi-Pen.  Probably a good idea.)

I certainly never thought I’d be riding in ambulances or waiting in hospital waiting rooms during my semester abroad…  But I definitely learned a few things from this experience:

• Program emergency numbers in to your cell phone before traveling.
• Don’t eat things you know you’re allergic to.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help—especially if you don’t speak the language.  The Starbucks barista was a lifesaver.
• French pompiers are very cute.
• Hospitals in France are just as skeevy as hospitals in the U.S.  I’m not a big fan of either.
• Speaking two languages is incredibly useful, and not just in ballet class.
• My French is better than I thought it was!  I was able to communicate pretty well (despite an obvious lack of medical vocabulary.)

They don’t eat peanut butter.

You’re probably thinking, “that’s just crazy.  How do they live?”  Answer: I don’t have any idea.

I tried to cut peanut butter out of my diet like a “vrai” (translation: true) Parisian.  I really did.  But last night, after going more than two months without peanut butter in my oatmeal, on my toast, or on my bananas, I gave in.  I spent 4 Euros on a tiny little jar of Skippy peanut butter.  (After which I immediately rushed home and made a bowl of peanut butter oatmeal.  Delish.)

peanut butter: the newest addition to my little closet pantry!

I won’t lie to you…  That tiny jar of peanut butter was worth every last centime.  So maybe I’ll never be a “vrai” Parisian, but at least now I have something to put on my toast.