Tag Archives: France

France, Personal

What was Emily doing all November?

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Truth? I was in my lovely Parisian apartment… writing.

Writing like a madman... or a novelist.
Writing like a madman… or a novelist.

This past month I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) If you haven’t heard of it, check out the website. It’s basically a personal contest/challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. The organization has been running this “contest” for over a decade and I’ve been wanting to participate for the last several years but never found the time, until now.

My progress through the month
My progress through the month. I hit 50,000 on the 26th!

Of course you might say “Why the heck would she decide to write a novel when she’s living in Paris? That would be such a waste of time!”

Did it take a lot of time? Of course. I usually spent at least 2 hours a night writing, but to call it a waste of time would be wrong.

I wrote a novel in Paris.

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Writing a novel has always been something I’ve wanted to do and something I have even attempted several times. I have word documents full of story ideas and even a 35,000 word attempt from back in middle school. (For all you non-Americans when I was like 12) So when I say I’ve wanted to write a novel my entire life, I mean it.

And writing a novel in Paris was a bucket list item too tempting to be missed. Paris, the same city where Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Oscar Wilde, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, George Orwell  were all inspired and wrote their timeless masterpieces.

So November 3rd, I sat down, already three days late and started writing. 23 days later I’d broken the goal of 50,000 words and I took a little break.

Then I continued writing slowly and I had reached the last scene of my novel when I had to leave to catch a plane to Prague. I don’t think I’ve ever been more upset to travel.

So. Close.
So. Close. Just one more hour!

 

Prague was absolutely amazing (blog post to come) but as soon as I returned (and had a nice long nap) I sat down to finish the last few scene of my still unnamed work full of vampires, werewolves, witches, and one very strange tattoo.

Is it a masterpiece?

Not in the slightest. It’s a first draft full of mistakes and I spent the entire month ignoring my inner editor and writing down things I will need to go back and change, but only after I finished my first draft.

I spent most of the month in my room as I said earlier, but don’t worry because I still worked in a day trip to Versailles, a comedic play, and the Christmas markets of Paris. So I wasn’t a total shut in.

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Now I’m going to go write some papers, study for finals and enjoy my last few weeks TEN DAYS in Paris before I head home for Christmas. (And then come back a few weeks later of course)

Now here’s one last obnoxious victory gif:

I WROTE A NOVEL GUYS. AN ACTUAL NOVEL.
I WROTE A NOVEL GUYS. AN ACTUAL NOVEL.

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France, How to

How to: Paris Opera Edition

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Dear future boys seeking to win my affection,

Opera tickets. Buy me opera tickets.

As I’m typing these very words I’m listening to opera music on YouTube. I have the terrible feeling that one day someone is going to ask me what I’m listening to and I’m going to have to tell them that I have fallen in love with the opera and it now owns my soul.

Because the opera was all like:

and I was like "Fine with me!"

And I was like:

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Sweet Briar, the program I’m studying abroad with, takes us out on excursions every so often to plays, and guided tours within Paris. A few weeks ago they took us on a guided tour of Opéra Bastille, the modern opera house in Paris completed in 1989.

The Opera Bastille
The Opera Bastille

Contrary to popular belief, most operas in Paris are actually held at this new building and not the historical, Opera Garnier, which the Phantom of the Opera is tied to. Opera Bastille is newer and therefore has better acoustics and now holds the most operas while Opera Garnier shows more ballets.

The Opera Garnier: fancy huh?
The Opera Garnier: fancy huh?

Our tour was like a dream come true. Our tour guide took our small group of 5 people to not only the empty amphitheater, but to the “super-secret” side passageway that led straight onto the stage. I went backstage at the Paris Opera. 

Backstage. At the OPERA.
Backstage. At the OPERA.

The crew on stage was currently working on moving all of the Nutcracker’s props onto one large square area, so that the elevator underneath could raise the entire square up so that the decorations could quickly be moved into one of the massive storage rooms that were also behind the stage and could move in the props for that night’s show.

We walked around the sets for La Boheme and Don Giovanni and then he took us down to the 6th sublevel of the opera house where they store the oldest props and make the new ones for the coming seasons. Basically, the opera house is an iceberg.

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You only see that cute little top part and you have no idea of the monster that lies beneath.

One of the questions I made sure to ask our guide was how to get cheap opera tickets.

How to get cheap opera tickets:

1. Buy 6 months in advance: They start selling tickets for a piece about 6 months in advance, meaning if you want one of those 15 or 35 euro tickets, you need to act fast. After I visited the Opera Bastille I waited for the ticket office to open and bought one of the remaining 15 euro tickets to see Swan Lake… in April. (The tickets went on sale mid-november and I bought mine November 22, just a few days after they started selling them) They’re not good seats, but hey, I’m guaranteed to see Swan Lake and for only 15 euros.

2. Super lucky young adult deal way: Last Friday morning I woke up as usual and was eating breakfast when I got a text from the opera. The opera texted me.

Basically the text told me that there was a special deal for young adults (under 26) to see the opera La Boheme this Sunday at 2:30pm. They were selling tickets in the second best area of the entire theater that normally cost 180 euros for only 30 euros. 

Me reading that text
Me reading that text

Basically, I had a panic attack, woke up my friends with frantic phone calls and hurriedly purchased my ticket. Two hours later my friend decided to go as well and she scooped up the last ticket.

Why did the opera text me? Because in order to purchase tickets online, or to even look at the prices for that matter, I had to sign up for an account on their website which asked me for my french cell phone number.

So basically, I made that account about a week ago and I’ve already gotten one of these “Young Adult” deals. Who knows how often these deals pop up? My advice: get an account at operadeparis.fr as soon as you can in order to benefit from the 26 and under deals!

Oh and my seat at La Boheme: AMAZING. I was in row 7 of the orchestra, my friend: row 3. I could see the expressions on the actors faces!

3. Super-super risky/lucky way: Apparently if you show up an hour and a half before the show starts the opera will start to sell the remaining seats for 30 euros. (My tour guide told me this so it’s definitely a thing, but I haven’t tested it yet) In short: you might get lucky, you might not. Definitely have a backup plan in mind just in case your opera plans fail!

The actual opera: La Bohème

Bohemian Paris of the 1800s, a story of love and of course loss. Stupid tuberculosis.
Bohemian Paris of the 1800s, a story of love, and of course loss. Stupid tuberculosis. Also I walked through this exact set only the week before. All that snow? Tiny pieces of paper!

I was actually shocked at how much I liked it. The vibrato in their voices really adds to the emotion you feel during the piece and I felt myself tearing up in the final act, when the main character laments the loss of his love.tumblr_m32kilRJ1y1r9fj13

Thankfully, there were subtitles in both English and French, so I understood everything and I read the plot of the opera beforehand just to make sure.

But do you realize how hard it is to restrain myself from buying the expensive opera tickets now? Don Giovanni will be playing on my birthday in February, yet tickets are already 100 euros! I sincerely hope that these “young adult” offers come often and that I will be able to get to see all the ones I want to! (Aka ALL THE OPERAS)

If you guys have any questions about the opera or how to get tickets leave me a comment!

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France

Sorbonne Class Update: Presenting the Idea of American Hegemony

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“Emily, who is presenting on the article today, is very courageous,” my French professor started, introducing me to the class. (He’d never bothered to introduce anyone before)  “She is an American student and I’m very happy that she is presenting this orally because most foreign students do the written assignment instead, so she is very brave.”

Please continue Professor
Please continue Professor

It was true. I was the only foreign student in the entire class who was giving an oral presentation.

But, if he said anything else, I was too nervous to notice as I walked to the front of the classroom and set up my presentation. Did I mention my presentation was all in French and in front of a classroom mostly full of native French speakers?

First slide of my presentation. Go America!
First slide of my presentation. Go America!

“So today I will be talking about the text we just read,” my voice sounded shaky even to my ears and I tried to enunciate my words clearly, in an effort to calm my voice. “The New World Order, written by George H. W. Bush.”

This isn’t the exact speech I read, but some of the same ideas are found here in one of Bush’s later speeches.

As I went on, my hands shook less and my voice evened out. Throughout the semester I’d noticed that most French students, when they presented in front of the class, used nothing but a sheet of notes and they occasionally wrote down important dates and names on the blackboard. As a foreign student, this was both extremely annoying and boring. Without something to follow along with on the screen I often ended up missing the most important information. For example, I’d write down the name of the event, but by the time I wrote it down they had already passed over its significance -rendering the name or date I wrote down almost useless! So I resolved to create a full out American powerpoint for my presentation, minus the English bien sûr!

Every important definition, point, date, and name was clearly typed out in my fancy presentation. I even included pictures.

Did the class like it? I don’t know.

But I did notice that it seemed that a much greater majority of the class was paying attention to my presentation that any other student’s. The real reason might have been that my American accent was interesting or maybe the fact that I was talking about American hegemony…

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Basically American Hegemony is the idea that America is the most powerful nation in the world and needs to act as a world policeman

 

Regardless, my presentation went splendidly. The professor added a couple other points at the end and then opened the floor for questions. By this point I wasn’t even nervous and eagerly listened to the question from a talkative guy a couple rows back.

“Why did the United States think that it was the only one who could spread democracy? There were plenty of other democracies at the time, like France and other European countries.”

I smiled. I had this answer down.

“Well even today in the United States some people have the idea -the ignorant idea that the United States is actually the only real democracy in the world. I come from Texas and there are some ignorant people who live there who don’t travel and don’t understand the world. When I talk about France with them they say ‘But France is socialist!'”

The entire class started laughing and I paused for a moment before continuing. “For some Americans socialism is the same thing as communism. So for them, the United States really is the only democracy in the world.”

Basically, I’m pretty sure I aced my presentation and got to make French kids laugh about a silly insight into American thoughts.

When I was doing research for my presentation I stumbled across this video… It should make you laugh and cringe at the same time. I definitely DID NOT share this with my French class!

Don’t miss a single blog post of my entire adventure! Please subscribe (click Follow blog via email in the column on the right!) to receive this blog’s updates via email! Also, I love getting feedback so please comment!

 

France

Halloween in Paris: Ghost Tour

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While I’m not actually in Paris at the moment to celebrate the wonderful Pagan, commercialized holiday of Halloween, I did go on a ghost tour a few weeks ago in order to get into the spirit of the month.

That Halloween spirit
That Halloween spirit

I took the walking tour with Mysteries of Paris. We started in front of Notre Dame where we heard stories about the alchemist Nicholas Flamel (Harry Potter anyone?) a saint who carried his head for 6 miles after being decapitated, and the devil doors of the cathedral.

Alchemical symbols on Notre Dame
Alchemical symbols on Notre Dame. According to our guide these are the instructions for eternal life, but of course they’re not in the right order!

Our guide was lovely, at the beginning of the tour while we were waiting for other people to join, he asked us where we were from and how long we had been in Paris. It was quite amusing when he got to me and I told him I had already been here for 2 months because I was studying abroad and thus lived here. I ended up talking to the guide quite a bit about school at the Sorbonne as we walked in between the horror story locations and learned that he was studying translation in order to subtitle movies.

The tour guides
The tour guides. Mine is the one that looks like a vampire.

The stories included the following:

A young French woman and English speaking boy who were in love and because of a language barrier the idiot man proposed to her in the most cliche place in existence and the woman backed away from shock and fell off the Eiffel tower. Moral: Don’t propose to your girlfriend on the Eiffel tower.

The French Sweeney Todd, where the killers engraved the names of the young men they killed in their courtyard before chopping them up into meat pies. Moral: Don’t engrave the names of the people you’ve killed in the ground.

French vampires who literally bathed in the blood of young men, but not before chopping of their heads and preserving them as trophies. Moral: Don’t keep trophies.

The shop that inspired ratatouille:

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And an insane writer with a taste for dancers, who carried a lobster around on a robe and was found hanging in an alleyway one day, still clutching his pet. Moral: Don’t carry lobsters around or lie to your dancer girlfriend.

All in all the tour was fantastic. Was it particularly scary? No, but it perfectly met my craving for the strange and the supernatural this month 🙂

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France

Wake Me Up: Daily Parisian Commute

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My alarm goes off. I groan. Check my phone. My room is dark. The light hurts my eyes.

Sleep more? my mind says. No. Class. Have to go to class. 

I get up. The floor creaks beneath me.

Bathroom. Contacts. Clothes. Hair and Makeup.

I resemble a human again.

To the kitchen. Creak, groan, creak go the floors.

I press the button on the electric kettle. Grab a mug. Spoon some brown flakes into a mug. Drop in 4 sugar rounds.

I look at the kettle. I look at my cup.

Drop in another sugar round. Pour the boiling water into the mug.

Milk. Stir. Sip.

It’s still bitter.

First coherent thought of the day: I hate instant coffee. 

But it does its job.

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Left to Right: Milk, Instant Coffee, Mug, Yogurt, Pear, Sugar, Honey, Special K. Sugar and Honey go in the yogurt.

I eat my breakfast in silence, preferring yogurt and cereal to a French baguette and jam. I check the news on my phone and finish my bastard coffee. I put the dishes away and replace everything in the cupboard. The floor creaks again as I return to my room to grab my bag, then I hesitate and grab a scarf, wrapping it around my neck and tucking it into my coat. I plug in my headphones as I walk out the door and hit shuffle on my phone…

Feeling my way through the darkness; Guided by a beating heart

I smile at the irony as the chilly air from outside blasts me as I exit into the courtyard.

I can’t tell where the journey will end; But I know where to start

I make my way to the street and then head towards the metro.

They tell me I’m too young to understand; They say I’m caught up in a dream

I stuff my hands into my coat as I walk quickly, nodding to the mother who passes by me.

Well life will pass me by if I don’t open up my eyes

I glance up: the Arc de Triomphe towers over me and grows closer with each step I take.

Arc-De-Triomphe-101

Well that’s fine by me. 

I smile slightly, forgetting the requisite resting bitch face for Parisian commuters.

A couple blocks later I walk down the stairs leading to the metro, swipe my pass over the turnstile and then board the train.

Then I ride the line to the end… So wake me up when it’s all over 

 

 

What did you guys think about this post? Definitely different from my normal style, but I wanted to try something a little different.

Here are the *cultural* facts from this post:

1. French breakfasts are pretty small. Apparently, my yogurt breakfast is unusual as my host mom typically eats bread, butter, and jam. Nothing, nothing is better than a warm, buttery croissant for breakfast, but we can’t all live at boulangeries!

2. The Parisian Commuter resting bitch face is a thing. You don’t smile on the Metro. What is a resting bitch face you ask? According to Urban Dictionary, a person with a resting bitch face is “usually a girl, who naturally looks mean when her face is expressionless, without meaning to”

3. When it’s cold, everyone is wearing a scarf. The French would reach for a scarf first over a jacket.

Benedict Cumberbatch likes taking them off
So it makes sense the English like to take them off. I ❤ Benedict Cumberbatch.

Also, this next week I’m going to be travelling! So make sure to stay tuned if you want updates on my trip to Athens, Rome, Florence, and Venice 🙂

Don’t miss a single blog post of my entire adventure! Please subscribe (click Follow blog via email in the column on the right!) to receive this blog’s updates via email! Also, I love getting feedback so please comment!