Walkin around Paris..

Today i went on a walk with one of my favorite people, Megan(she is the marathon girl). We decided to go to the to the Musee de Marmatton, which has tons of famous impressionism art by monet, renoir.... etc Once we got there, we flashed our art cards and usually it is free, but I forgot that you have to pay 5 euros to get in. SO being the cheap person I am, i decided to sit outside while she went in and look at the art(don't worry i didn't skip out- I have seen the museum before). While she was in the museum I had a dandy ol time just sitting on the bench. No really i did-- I did all my favorite things. I sat and played solitare on my ipod, while listening to music, while people watching. I really really do love people watching. People are so weird and interesting, especially in big cities. Anyways, I was sitting on the bench and some man comes over to me and starts talking about the bus time and tells me that i am just in time and it is coming. I think he was only talking to me because i was young and he was board. It made me laugh though because I had know idea i was sitting at a bus stop and the funny part is that there was a park across the street that had about a thousand benches. But NO, that would have been too smart of me to walk across the street. Instead, I put myself on a bench that had the potential of making me look like a stupid tourist. I can just imagine the bus coming at watching me just sit there cluelessly. Its not that big of a deal but i was glad that guy came by. Anyways i moved myself to the garden to another bench. Then when megan came back we decided to go on a little walk and get a pastry to hold us over for dinner. So the best part of the walk came when we got a gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower as we crossed the Seine to get to the metro station. We decided it was the perfect picture opportunity. So we as this guy to take a picture of us. He asked us, "do you want the eiffel tower in the background?". Right when he said that i was thinking "of course, what else?". So he takes the pic and then shows it to us. I looked at it and he has completely cut off the whole top of the Eiffel Tower. So, I was thinking. He probably just messed up so then I ask him to take one more, holding the camera longways. I was thinking "that way he can't mess up and he has to get the whole thing in the backround." So he is infront of us.. bending down on his knees, practically, looking like he is trying to get the perfect picture. Then he shows it too us. This time it is only our heads and one of the legs of the Eiffel Tower. I just kindly thanked him and he left. Immediatly after Megan and I just start busting up laughing. How could this guy be, so stupid. Why would we only want one leg of the eiffel tower in our picture?? INCONCEIVABLE! After we took pictures by ourselves and then we took a picture of the both of us that fit almost the whole Eiffel tower. I still to this moment can't figure out what that guy was doing bending down and taking our picture... 

One more funny story i forgot about...

Really quick... On the train ride back from Strasbourg a bunch of us were doing homework for our conversation class. Allison and I were talking to our director's wife's brother who was a former French missionary. As he was giving us help with vocab words, we were talking about the word for fart and burp. (Normally I wouldn't have thought to put that as my vocab word but Karin gave me this nifty dictionary with different subjects and topics and it was a vocab word under one of the topics.. we also read the love/relationship section-it was pretty hilarious) So going on with our story...The word for fart is peter- we started to talk about all the mistake americans make when they try to make up french words. One of them was.. can i pet your dog.... "Puis-je peter votre chien."  but that really translates can i fart on your dog... Allison and I just started busted out laughing. Then, that made me think back... I really hope i never said to my host lady.. can i fart on your cat!! J'espere que non!

I'm a dork

So yesterday I had a little alone time and I went to Parc Monceau to read my book. The Parc is so pretty and it was such a peaceful place to read. In one spot of the park there is this ancient looking curve of columns that surrounds a pond. I love it. Anyways, I left Parc Monceau to go on a walk and on the walk I saw Fnac(like best buy in US) and i decided to go into the store. On my way back out a young girl was trying to stop people to talk to them. People are always on the street trying to do this and it is usually just to talk to them about current events and such. So, I was walking along and this girl looks straight at me and sticks up her hand and says, "Bonjour". Right then my natural reaction occured.... I gave her a big high five!! Just to let you know, high fives are considered really dorky here. I talked to my french friend about high fives and she said that they are just not the cool thing to do. Right as I high fived that girl, my immediate thought was "oh my goodness- she is going to thing I am so weird" and sure enough she just bust out laughing at me AND I was all alone so it just made me feel even dumber. So that was my embarressing act of the day.  Voila!

here are the GC pics i was laughing at

BAHAHAHA .. i added a normal one just for the comparison

I couldn't help but to add one more thing

So this week was pretty much the best! I forgot to say that we went to the FRance- Lithuania soccer game at the Stade to France. I ended up getting there late because my host lady had made dinner for me a lot later then when I had told her I needed to eat it by in order to make it to the game in time. Also what was even worse is that I got of at the farthest exit possible and had to walk about a mile to the stadium, followed by about 1000 stairs to go to the nose bleed seats we got... So what does that mean--- yes, I was sweatin up a storm. But after all the hustle it was worth it because when I got there I got yell and scream- ALLEZ Le BLEU and I got to observe Marissa being a Freak as she waved her France flag and yelled sauce fable- her translated version of "weak-sauce". I also experienced more french creepers. I ended up sitting by a guy that was talking to his friend on his video phone and then he started facing the phone towards me so the friend could see my face. CREEP.  So that is the end

PS

Also props to my Friend megan because she ran the whole Paris marathon with out even training. I am so so dang proud of that girl!

France: Where did all the good people go?

Today i was infuriated and still am about the costumer service in France. There is only one word that can describe it: RUDE. Here is the story behind it. So today I was going to get a crepe for dinner and I was in an area were there is only one crepe stand. So, being my lazy self, i resorted to that crepe stand since i was to lazy to walk anywhere else. The thing is, I have been to this crepe stand before and the man who runs it is very rude to tourist. Also my friends went there before as well and experienced the same thing. But still, we decided to go back- just because our hunger and satiation rules over our desire to be treated with respect like all normal human beings should be. So we returned. Except this time he was extremely impolite. First off, i ordered in French and he spoke back in broken english asking us what we wanted and then i repeated in french because i was speaking simple phrases that I KNEW i was saying right. and then he continued to speak in English. And everything we say he is responding in a very annoyed way like we are just a hassle to him. Then he puts 3 premaid crepes onto the burner and my friend ask if those were fresh- because, heh, were were paying  5 euros which was very over priced for a crepe. The man starts shouting at us like we are so stupid. He saying" yes well of course there fresh, feel the pile its warm i made them 2 minutes ago-- it is always the same things with these stupid tourist." At this point I wanted to punch his face in. First off, Don't talk to someone that way, and second off, don't talk to someone who is giving you buisness that way. I was pretty much on the verge of walking away. Anyways moral of the story: don't let your hunger take over your desire to be treated like a human bean. 

That was not the first time that has happened before. I have just decided the French are awful with customer service. They don't have patience and many of them are not respectful. 

But on the brighter side there are nice french people out there. In fact, I am friends with my French host-lady's neice, Elenore- and she is the sweetest girl ever! 2 nights ago we went over to her house and had a little party-she had prepared a bunch of typical french foods for us and it was sooo sweet. After we looked at her clothes company stuff- Ni chemise Ni Pull- and Marissa, Jessica and I all bought stuff. Elenore and her friend were so fun and sweet. After they were going to take us salsa dancing but when we got to the club it turned out it cost 20 euros so we decided against it. But that was not the end of surprises for the evening. As we were walking back to get on the metro we started talking about being scared of pick pocketers and people who but you on the streets and how you should react. Right at that very moment. This guy walks up from behind and puts his arm around me and Jessica. Somehow jessica escapes and he starts to pull my face towards him. Of course I am oblivious and I thought it was just Marissa being funny, then all of the sudden I see it is not her, but this guy coming at my face!! Right as he is inches from my face I let out this piercing scream and scare the shizer out of this boy and he backs off. Unfortunately, he kept following us for a while but finally we sneak away to a different metro stop. Anyways, thought it was a funny story.

Also, I am loving conference! Except I was in such a giggly mood today! and then Marissa started doing the photobooth with her mac computer and I could not stop laughing... I probably offended everyone in the room. K... well that is all I have to say. Hope it wasn't too boring-- I'll try to get the photo booth pic that made me laugh so hard and then you guys will understand why.....

Catch up..

so my computer is being gay so just read the text below and you should be able to figure out which pictures go with which text... sorry for the inconvienence

So i haven't written in a long time... 

First off--- i went to the Loire valley and visited  a bunch of castles...

Recently we have gone on a trip to Strasbourg(which is like a small german town in France). We were able to have the typical Alsacian meal- sour crout and pig- literally there was every part of a pig on my plate- heart and all: A typical man's kind of meal(i was thinking of Mike McGlaughlin when i was eating it). As for me, I was unable to scarf down everything because the thought of eating pig heart didn't really role with me. But i did try everything so i can say i have eaten pig heart.

We also visited Mont St Michel. This is a huge abbey in the middle of the english channel. Probably one of the funniest days of my life... My friend marissa decided to buy the fugliest hat ever that was like a hikers hat, bright orange, with "Mont St. Michel" written across the top and to top it off she paid my friend Megan to wear it all day. Here are a few pics just to give you an idea. I laugh at everything and i could not resist cracking up everytime i saw Megan wearing it. But wait... IT GETS BETTER.. As we were doing the guided tour in mont st michel, the orange hat flies off over the edge of the abbey(as you can see in the pictures it is very windy). When this happens me and megan just look at each other wide-eyed and start busting up laughing.. then we look over and marissa is jumping over the edge with about 4 ft on the ledge -- she is not going to loose the hat! Anyways, after I thought Marissa was going to die getting the orange hat we decided that everyone needed to sign it in memory of the trip and the suicide saving by Marissa. 

I also have gone to the beaches of Normandie- almost got left here in paris for that trip because the metro wasn't working but luckily my director decided by persuasion of some of my sweet friends to have the bus come pick me up on way out of the city- lucky day for me! it was my favorite place by far. Walking on the beaches and through the american cemetery made WWII so much more real to me. It was very impressionalble. here are some pics..

 

Lastly I want to tell you about a crazy experience that just happened- this is the story told by my friend- long story short- she got a 50 euro fine on the metro but the way the story plays out is hilarious: here it is... click here  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=72623436804

Funniest day of my life

Yesterday, my friends and I decided to do one of our paris walks for class. Who knew it was going to turn out to be the funniest day ever. And I really hope that these stories aren't all" you had to be there stories", so i will try to tell them as funny as possible. First of I have to describe two of my friends to put this into perspective:

Jessica- crazy, spastic, tall, and dumb blonde(except she has brown hair), some of the things she does and says would be considered socially akward-but they are so funny and ridiculous we just laugh, she is also so dang beautiful, tall and model-like. She is the best!

Marissa-crazy, ridiculous, loud, likable, and hilarious. She talks a lot-in a good way, not one of those people that you want to shut up every time they open there mouth. We both also share the love for the show the bachelor... hence some of the funny stories are going to be about that. side note-And she is obsessed with singing one of the songs from twilight- I pretty much love her!

So my first funny story involves jessica. We were walking on our paris walks and there was a woman in full out prayer position, with her body completely bowed to the ground begging for money. Usually people are not in this position when they beg in paris, so it was a little odd, but very obvious what she was doing. She was using a pringles short stack can for her coin cup. Anyways, my friend jessica says as we walked by her, "Oh my gosh is she ok?" and then she proceeded to say, " Oh ya she has pringles." We all busted up laughing and were like, "Jessica she was begging with that pringles cup not eating them. "

My Next story occured shortly after. We were walking through the Jardin du Luxumburg and there is one B-ball court there. So, feeling spontaneous, my friends and i decided to join in with the guys shooting the ball. Not knowing how to be smooth about it, we all were a little unsure how to ask to see if we could play in french. We all were nervous and were telling each other, "you ask-no you ask". Finally my, very loud, forward, crazy friend Marissa, just runs onto the court and tries to still the ball from these two guys that are playing one on one, but instead of even touching the ball, she just runs straight into him and then walks away. IT WAS so funny. Then it gets even better... after one of us finally got the courage up to play with them- I think it was jessica, we decide to get serious and take our jackets off, etc. Anyways, my friend marissa happen to be wearing a "Je t'aime Paris shirt" that day. So she takes of her jacket and walks onto the court and two of the guys just start busting up laughing at her... It was so funny because i think they though she was a joke/freak before we even started playing. Then when we did start playing Marissa has this phrase she made up to say in place of crap or shot... its "freaknasty". Don't ask me were she got it friend, she lived in Singapore- so maybe that can explain some of her weirdness. (PS MOM-she knows the Waldrons) Anyways, the french boys started copying what we were saying and one of them started saying "pricknasty" and we kept telling him. Stop! thats bad. But he kept saying it everytime we passed the ball to Marissa. 

Next story: Later that day we went to the apt of some of our other friends to eat crepes together and my friend Megan was telling Marissa, as she was grabbing all the condiments for the crepes out of the kitchen, to be really careful. About 2 seconds after she said "Don't break anything Marissa." We all hear a crash on the tile floor in the kitchen. Everyone just busted up laughing. Turns out she was trying to grab the honey of a plate, but the jar was so sticky that the plate came with it and she didn't know. But the honey was obviously not sticky enough to hold the plate onto it because approximently 3 secs after she picked it up it fell to the ground and broke. 

Next story: Later we were talking to this guy and I pointed out this bald spot on his head. I asked him "Did you slip when you were shaving or what?" He told me that he was just born with it- THEN jessica says, "oh is that why you always wear hats?" That girl is a hoot- that is just another example of her.

Next story:

So i just saw the movie taken- which is about a bunch of american girls who get stolen and sold off into prostitution in Paris by these albanian guys. On the walk back home from crepes it was really dark and we all were freaking each other out. One of us would hear a noise and then look back and it would freak out the rest of us so we would all just start running. Lets just say i think we worked of some of those crepes. 

Lastly:

I came back to my friend's house and we all watched the Bachelor together. Can I just say i do not like Jason! I cannot believe him! He deserves to not get the girl of his dreams.-especially if he is just going to pick and chose like they are candy! First off, go MELISSA for telling him off-he doesn't deserve her. And second of all Molly, grow a backbone-he refused you the first time, why wouldn't he do it again-especially since he did it to Melissa. RIDICULOUS! 

Also, what was up with molly's hair. it looked like a box. THis is something that probably will only be funny to me and my friends but right as she walk out my friend Marissa yells, " What is up with her hair, it is a box. Why doesn't she and Jason go live in a box under a freeway pass together and give ty to a mormon family." It was really funny at the time, but probably one of those thing were you had to be there at the time. Anyways, there's some funny stories for ya.. hope at least one of them made you laugh!

So.. I can honestly say i don't have any hilarious stories. Darn it. But I have done some pretty dang cool trips lately. First off, I went to Rouen for my art class and I saw the place where joan of arc was held in prison before she was executed. Also, we went to a museum there and looked at tons of art from the medieval ages. Personally, my favorite paintings I saw there were not the ones we looked at for art class but the impressionist paintings.... My favorite was Monet--- His paintings were so amazing and I cant believe that all the individual strokes makes up such a gorgeous painting. SO pretty!

I also had my first religion test which wasn't too bad, but it was all essays-- and lets just say i am not a writer. At least I have trouble with essay questions that ask you to tie in the big picture. So I'm just crossing my fingers that I did well on it. I'm hoping to boost up my GPA while i am here so I am kind of depending on good grades. It is looking pretty optimistic so far, but it is very hard to concentrate on school when I am in Paris. All I want to do is play!

We also went  on a trip to La vallee de la loire, which is known specifically for its numerous castles along the loire river. We went to Chinon, Blois, Chaumbourd and a few others. Chambourd was huge and the surroundings were gorgeous! Although we didn't go inside to see the castle because it is just a bunch of empty rooms, I had a blast just walking around it. THere was this long walk(probably about 2 miles)around it and half way through the walk you end up on a bridge with a breathtaking view of the river leading up to the castle. I just can't get over how beautiful everything is.... I am just feeling so much gratitude to be here and not just to be in France but to be alive and to be able to see everything around me. The world is so different everywhere, but i am finding that each place i travel is different and beautiful in its own way.

Besides traveling around France, I am also making a lot of good friends within the program. THere are some really awesome girls on the trip and i don't think that the trip would be as fun without them. In fact, I decided that nothing is really that great unless you have good company with ya.. anyways, sorry for not having any amazing stories to tell but i will post them as soon as they come!

having tr0ouble cut and pasting my blog that goes with these pictures

Trips, museums.. France

I'm Scurred...

So my roommate tested positive....to her blood test for Mono. Unfortunately, she might have to go home from paris and i am really sad for her:( The other bad thing is the fact that I drank out of her water bottle on the way back from Nice. So i'm pretty much in big trouble.

My director of our program wants me to get blood test as well due to the circumstances and for those who know me well. Well, I'm scurred. I have memories from my childhood of my mother and father holding down my body on the medical table while they poke me with needles. it was pretty much a wrestling match when it came to shots. I am going to admit I cry almost everytime I get shots and I am going to say proudly/ embrassingly that this last may 2008 was the first time I was poked and did not cry. You wanna know why? There were two event that led to my bravery. The first event was in the summer of 2007 and I had to get a shot in my shoulder in order to work in the food buisness(zaba's-the job from heck). I think it was hepatitis A shot. Anyways, I got the shot and although it didn't hurt that bad I cried as always. It's a mental thing: I work myself up before the shot, then i go into the room to get the shot, I see the needle, I watch the needle go into my skin, then eyes start to water, tears flow, I get faint...etc etc. Back to the story. I walked outside to where my sister was picking me up and hopped into the car. I looked back and my nephew saw my tears and so did everyone else. I decided I really needed to pull myself together when I saw my 9 year old nephew laughing at me because he didn't even cry when he got shots. The second event happen right before my knee surgery when I had to give a blood sample for some pre surgury thing. Having been one of the first times I had been poke since the hep A shot I once again I worked my self up. But my mother came and knocked some sense into me and gave me a smack down on how I need to BUCK up. So from then on I learned to not look and take a deep breath. Although I still do feel faint, I still can manage with out crying. And let me just add that I was poked for an IV like 5 times this last semester when I had ovarian cyst and still didn't cry.

Anyways I will reveal the results of my test to you in a later blog. I really hope I don't have mono. and I guess if I do, it will show up in 4 to 6 weeks or it will lay dorment in my body and i will probably give it to the next boy I kiss.... haha

Some more french stories and stuff

This one is copy/posted from Allison/Karin's blog, because i am to lazy to type it up and i think it is funny.
"Jill, Karin, and I did one of our walks at the flea markets in the ghettos of Paris. On the way there, our metro decided to screech to a stop throwing us all basically onto each other, and then all the lights went out. We heard some unidentifiable screams which we then identified as our own, then fumbled around in the dark for a minute to find each other. This then prompted the following conversation:

Allison: Who would've guessed that we would've died in a metro in the middle of Paris...
Karin: What if when you died, people saw you in your casket in the same position that you died in?
Jill: We should've colored my hair before we left...my roots are so long. I don't want to look like this in my casket.

Needless to say, less then a minute later the lights turned back on and we were on our way."

One other funny note from me: when the train stopped, a message came on the intercom that I didn't understand one bit. A man who knew a little bit of English caught my eye, knew I was American, and could tell I was freaking out. He just looked me in the eye and translated the intercom message for me "One hour. They are going to sleep and we're staying here." Don't you love people like that? Hahaha, he made me laugh.


We went to the Patterson's for dinner. Here's a picture of Jill, Allison, and I with the baguettes we brought.

Hey Folks, I'm Back

Once again I have been inspired by friends to start up my blog. I didn't get very far last time: just one post and i was done. Sad I know. But I figure since i am in France I need to start it up again. Anyways, This last weekend I went to Nice, France. Which is in the Cote D'AZUR aka the Mediteranean Sea and it was gorgeous. We went to the beach a bit to sun bath, but it was too cold to swim. Althought I did decide to pull my pants up and stick my legs in which was a horrible idea since i had just saved my legs. Lets just say that the salt water gave me excrutiating razor burn. Needless to say the water was clear and beautiful, so i can't complain. We also visited some ancient ruins, went to the famous carnival and walked around the flea market on Saturday. BUT, I would have to say my favorite moment was when we rented bikes and I got in a bike crash with a native Niician. Lets just say that the rules in France are the same as in the US: Stay to your right. Which i understood completely, but as i was going into the right lane of the bike lane, this french guy on a bicycle who was tugging a box of huggings on the back of his bike(who knows why because he had to be about 60 years old) came at me at a million miles an hour. And the only thing he did was scream AHHHH and then crash. Ya thats right. He didn't even try to move out of the way or swerve or anything. So his low pitch AHHHH was followed by my hi pitch AHHHH and then CRASH. Luckily I walked away with only a sore thumb, but he had a few holes in the clothing on his elbows and knees.
After the crash, he was pretty much in shock or he was trying to act like a drama queen because he just stayed on the ground for 5 mins and moaned. Also, as soon as he came to he asked me if I had bike insurance..which made me laugh. Who has bike insurance? At least i never have heard of it. PLUS, I didn't even ruin his bike. The chain had just fallen off and we popped it right back on for him. But he insisted that we take it to a bike shop to make sure that we didn't ruin his bike. So we did and NOTHING was wrong. But that is the French for ya. That day continued to get funnier because when we dropped our bikes of Allison, my friend, said, "Bon journee" to the guy at the shop and he thought she had said, "Bon Annee" so he laughed and said it back.
Well Nice could not have been better and I want to go back so bad! ... except when it is warmer.
Tomorrow we head of to Rouen, Fr for art class... I am half excited and half ugggh...