Shit My Host Mom Says: Volume 3 (NSFW kind of)

So today, my host mom bought a surprise. To preface this, my new housemate comes upstairs and says that Louise brought home a little statue she had bought that was a mans head attached to a penis. I thought that the body just looked like penis, but wasn't.

No, it is actually supposed to be a penis. Now cue the really awkward part when she keeps caressing both the man's head and significantly disproportionate penis...that was attached to his head...

Seeing how vastly uncomfortable we were, did she put it away and move on. Non, bien sûr. She brought out two other little figurines from China that were of little porcelain people having sex. "Look, see"as she made sure we saw the clear sexual contact. "They're so cute"

So that was my night. Luckily we didn't eat cold raw beef or endives. 

It's the little things, really.

Bonne nuit, mes amis,
Gabs

Halfway Point

Today is exactly halfway into my program. Four and a half months behind me, and four and a half months ahead.

I feel like the time has passed so quickly, but looking forward I feel like I still have so much time to do all the things I want to. Even today, I got to cross a few things off my bucket list.

Places I have been in Paris:
- Notre-Dame (climbed to the top!)
- Arc du Triomphe
- Sacre-Coeur
- Musee du Louvre
- Musee d'Orangerie
- Musee d'Orsay
- L'Institute du Monde Arabe
- Champs-Elysees
- Jardins de Luxembourg & Tuileries
- Opera Garnier
- Place de la Bastille

Places I have left to go:
- Catacombs
- Musee de Rodin
- Pantheon
- Picasso Museum (if it's open by June!)
- Grand Palais/Petit Palais
- Climb the Eiffel Tower!

I've also done some traveling, but not as much as I would have like. I've been to Dublin, London, Glasgow, Geneva, Frankfurt, the Loire Valley, and Normandy. I'm hoping I can step up the traveling in the next four months:

- Madrid (next week)
- Brussels
- Amsterdam
- Barcelona
- Rome
 - Venice

I'd also like to hit up some of the beaches in the south of France in the spring. I need a break from all this gray!

Some days I still can't believe I'm here, and other days I take it all for granted. So much is available for me here and I should be soaking it all in though. But sometimes sitting inside watching TV sounds like a really good plan, especially when it's cold and raining. How many more months until the rainy season is over?

LOLJK, it's probably never over.

A toute à l'heure!
Gabs

Très Malade

So I've been sick several times here in France, but I haven't gone to see a doctor because I hate spending money like that. But last night I felt myself getting pink eye, and voila this morning I was so ridiculously sick.

I got in touch with my program and picked up a claims form for a walk-in office. The office is actually right across my school, on Rue d'Assas. It was super simple and very quick. I was in and out within 45 minutes.  Also, the doctor who saw me was really nice. She took one look at me and was like yup, you've got pink eye (but in French). She asked me all about my symptoms and did a short family history, which I have to admit makes me feel pretty good about my fluency in French. All in all, the visit cost me only 23 euros.

The doctor gave me a prescription for 4 different medicines - two for my eyes, one for my nose, and an anti-fever medicine just in case. I was so nervous that I was going to have to pay over 50 euros for this stuff, but it actually came out to 11.50. I'm also pretty positive that French medicine is made with witchcraft, because I took my first dose at 1pm and I already feel way better, but, ya know, that nap helped too. 

Auf wiedersehen!

Gabs

Shit My Host Mom Says: Volume 2

"In Turkey, all I bought was TEQUILA!"

This is a woman after my own heart.

A bientôt,
Gabs

Shit My Host Mom Says: Volume 1

"Pour quoi la vie invente que les femmes doivent travailler"

General translation: "Why is it that women have to work [insert a long sigh]"

BRB while my feminism kicks in.

A bientôt,
Gabs

Real Paris: Showers

One of the biggest stereotypes of the French is that they don't shower. Now, I don't really know if that's true, but I would not blame them in the slightest. Here's my shower: 

Here is my host mom's shower:

French showers do not hook up to the wall, it is basically just a hose with a shower head on the end. There are no curtains either. To shower you need to basically squat/sit in the shower so you don't get water everywhere. Water pressure is pretty bad too.

The only reason that my shower has a semblance of a barrier and hooks up to the wall is because my host mom hosts enough American students. It's probably not even for our benefit, but because I'm sure enough students have made an enormous mess of the bathroom without the glass wall. 

Just don't ask me how often I shower...

Fall Break: Derby, London, Glasgow

So this is a little late in coming, but it has been a crazy week for me. So I'm going to recap a little bit of my journey around the UK with my housemate.

Derby: My housemate's sister was nice enough to invite us to stay with her for a couple of days, so we went there first and got to hang around this beautiful little town in the countryside. We went into town to explore and we saw the Derby Museum, the cathedral and a lot of really cute streets. We ate lunch at the oldest pub in Derby as well! Finally, we stopped by a little tea room!

London Day 1: We spent a quick 36 hours in London, but that was definitely enough to see everything we wanted to very quickly. The first day, we walked all the way up the Thames and back to our hostel (over the course of like 6 hours). Our hostel was on the North bank, close to Buckingham palace. We went there first and stumbled upon the changing of the guard, which was definitely really cool. Then we walked towards the Thames and saw Big Ben, the houses of parliament, The London Eye. We crossed the river and walked along the south bank. Eventually, we walked on the Millenium Bridge, past Shakespeare's Globe, to London Tower Bridge. Then we crossed back over the Thames, walked all the way back to our hostel where we both enjoyed the pub downstairs.

Day 2: After sleeping in for a bit, we went out back to Buckingham Palace and through the park towards Piccadilly Circus, through Trafalgar Square on our way to Leicester Square. There we met up with our Harry Potter Walking Tour of London! We got to see some of the film locations used throughout the movies, and yes I was probably one of the nerdier people there. We were also 1 of 2 groups on the tour that did not have any small children. It completely worth it though! We saw the entrances to the Leaky Cauldron (from movies 1 and 3), the entrance to the Ministry (movies 5 and 7.1), and we even went to King's Cross to see Platform 9 3/4! After the tour we headed down Charing Cross Road and back to Trafalgar Square on our way back to the hostel (where we grabbed a drink before getting on the bus back to Derby).

Back to Derby: Another day in Derby, and we headed out to Chatsworth, which is the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. It was absolutely beautiful, both in the inside and the gardens. Coolest part? That this house is where they filmed Mr. Darcy's home at Pemberley in the new Pride and Prejudice movie (with Keira Knightley). Which we then watched after we got home.

Glasgow: On Wednesday we took the bus to up to Scotland where we were to stay with my housemate's half-sister! She has an adorable little flat in just outside of the city centre. We grabbed some dinner, some drinks (obviously), and went to bed that first night. The next day we did some exploring around the city centre and did some (window) shopping. On Friday we took a hop on-hop off bus tour of the city which was really really cool; we saw the People's Palace museum as well as a lot of the older parts of the city - like where public hangings used to take place.

     Overall, it was really great trip. I can't believe that we hit up so much in just week. I also can't believe how much tea I drank in a week. Some pictures are up on flickr - I couldn't take my really nice camera with me because it would have put my bag over the weight limit, but I did my best with a little Canon Powershot.

A tout a l'heure!