Dimanche, Septembre 15

Sunday 15th~
Janelle and I went to the American Church in Paris. We went to the 11a.m. traditional service. When I checked it out on Google Maps it said it would be a 59 minute walk...well it was correct. We were walking pretty fast too! It was an enjoyable walk though most of the time we were walking along the Seine River. The church is in the 7th Arrondissement.

The service had some similarities to mine at home. After the service, we met some girls that gave us the suggestion of going to bars to meet guys so that we could improve our french... weird advice from someone at church?!?

After church, we decided to take our time on the walk home. We walked right along the Seine and stopped every so often to do a photoshoot. Fun!

We took about 2 hours to walk home. Just incase you are wondering why we walked so far, the navigo pass that we had to buy for public transportation is per week and also per month. We decided that for the part of September that we were going to be in Paris we would just like to walk around and get to know the city.

This was also my mom's birthday, and she told me before I left that I should go out and have a dessert for her. So after supper we went to Le Petit Pont Restaurant, the view from our table was Notre Dame! We ordered "Toi et Moi" which had chocolate, vanilla, & strawberry ice cream covered with brownie and cookie chunks, fruit, and whipped cream. The server brought the dessert to the table with a sparkler in it. At the end of the day, we calculated that we walked about 8 miles that day!

Samedi, Septembre 14

Sorry for not posting recently. Starting school and getting into the swing of things has been crazy! I'm going to try and catch you up on all that has been happening here in Paris.

Saturday 14th~

Janelle went to do some modeling for Mrs. Wang. I was able to go with and take pictures. We went to the Louvre and to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures. There were some many people that wanted to have their pictures taken with Janelle and Lindsey! It was pretty neat :)

There were two protests going on that day at the Eiffel Tower, and for some reason I felt kind of uncomfortable being there. 

After they were finished taking pictures, they treated us all to some Nutella crepes! It was delicious :) 

Here are some pics from the day.

Vendredi, Septembre 13

We slept in on Friday morning. We went to the nearby boulangerie/patisserie to buy a loaf of French bread. The guy in the shop recognized me from when I was here in January. He told me it had been a long time and I said yes it had. Janelle made scrambled eggs for a late breakfast around 11:30. We left the apartment at noon so I could show Janelle BHV (a department store), which is about a 25 minute walk. We browsed some of the 7 floors.

From 3-5 that afternoon the school was having a presentation on evening gown methods, so we wanted to get back to the apartment with enough time to make lunch. We toasted bread in a pan on the stove and then put some sautéed onions and swiss cheese on the bread to make a sandwich. It was delish!

The evening gown presentation was taught by Mrs. Wang from Malaysia. In the 2 hours we were there she made 1 bodice and 3 skirts, in techniques that would not have passed at MMU or PAA. I guess if I need to make a gown in record time I'll have to use her techniques. haha :D Mrs. Wang needed 2 models to do a photo shoot on Saturday so she chose Janelle and another girl named Lindsey. After the presentation we went to a reception that was held by Peter.

We decided that we should just relax since we had done a lot of walking that afternoon and our feet were sore. We made fried rice again for supper, but with some different vegetables.

Mercredi, Septembre 11 et Juedi, Septembre 12

I finished packing on Wednesday morning and then ran a couple of errands, including saying goodbye to my grandparents and neighbors Bob & Marilyn. Janelle's parents dropped her off around 11:40 that morning. They decided it would be best to say goodbye right then and just have my mom drive us down. After they left, I said goodbye to the rest of my family that wouldn't be coming with and then made sure we had the suitcases packed in the car and we were headed out a little bit after noon. Noah came with that way mom would have someone with her on the way home.

We made a stop at an oasis on the way to O'Hare to pick up something to eat, as neither Janelle or myself had eaten much all day. We even won a $5 gift card to Starbucks for answering a few questions on fake food products...business class in action ;) We left the oasis and had about a 20-30 minute drive to the airport. We arrived about 3 1/2 hours early just in case of extra security because it was Sept. 11. We checked our bags, said goodbye to mom and Noah, and headed to security. The security wasn't too bad and we were in our terminal with 2 1/4 hours to spare. We took a couple of pics in the airport and let our parents know we made it to the terminal. Also texted one of our professors to let her know we were on our way.

Once we were on the plane the time before take off was very short. The pilot came on the speaker and said the flight would be 7 hours and 20 minutes, which was shorter by a whole hour then what was printed on our boarding pass. I watched part of the new Star Trek movie, slept for about 2 hours, and then watched The Croods. We landed 45 minutes ahead of schedule at 8:45 a.m. on the 12th.

After we made it through customs and security (yay!) we called the number given to us for the Paris Shuttle. The number went to a TV rental service in the UK, so I called mom and let her know what happened. Now it was 2:30a.m. back home, but she answered. She gave me Peter's number, and we told her that if we couldn't get a hold of him we would ask the ladies at the info desk. Well the number didn't work so I went up to the info desk and asked the lady for help. She called the number, it worked, and said that the shuttle should be there in 10 minutes. We waited outside for about half an hour, asked another lady and she said just wait outside they'll find you. After some more waiting outside some army personnel told us we needed to move to the other gate. Janelle and I looked inside the airport and there was no one walking around, just a little weird. It took a while, but the guards finally let the Paris Shuttles through the gate. It was about 2 hours after landing that we were able to get on our shuttle.

Needless to say, after the adventure we had that morning we were both quite tired. So we unpacked and each took an hour nap. Our apartment is small but works perfectly for two people.

The living room/bedroom.

The doors to the bathroom and kitchen.

The kitchen.

The bathroom.

Left side view from the balcony.

Right side view from the balcony.

We went to the grocery store and picked up some food items to make supper. We decided to make some fried rice.

Making supper.

The finished product: fried rice. 

What I wore :) 

 

Macaron or Macaroon?

Here's just a little bit of clarification on the difference between a Macaron and a Macaroon :) Yes I do know the grammar is incorrect in the thought bubble.

(via Lovely Little Details)

(via  The Macaron Master) 

So thankful I'm back again!

I want to dedicate this first post to all of the people that I have to thank for helping me get as far as I have.

The biggest thanks goes to God. He is always here with me even through all of the bumps and detours that have preceded this trip. There were many things that came in the way of getting here. Some of you know, others don't.

I want to thank my parents and brothers for always being there for me even when I was in a bad mood because of paperwork problems or having a rough time getting through all of the little details. I want to thank my mom and dad for letting me take this once in a lifetime trip, and also encouraging me to work hard to make money for this trip.

I want to thank Marilyn for helping take care of all of the flight information. Also for buying me many of the things that I need for the trip, and letting me clean her house to make money.

I want to thank Uncle Ed and Aunt Joan for letting me work extra days and hours at work so I could make more money for my trip. Also that Aunt Joan let me take home alterations to make extra money.

I want to thank Uncle Steve and Aunt Lynn for suggesting me to her dad for house cleaning.

I want to thank Uncle Jon and Aunt Stephanie for letting me make some extra money by housesitting and babysitting.

I want to thank Grandma and Grandpa Swets for all of the little Paris related gifts that I have received. Also for getting me magazines to read on the plane ride.

I want to thank Janelle's mom, Mrs. Judy, for letting Janelle join me for the semester in Paris. Also for accompanying us to the consulate in Chicago, and for paying for the train ticket back home.

I want to thank all of my friends for taking me away from my busy schedule or having me over just to hang out and have fun.

I want to thank all of my professors at MMU for teaching me to work hard, pushing me out of my comfort zone so that I can accomplish many things.

I want to thank my family, friends and church for all of their prayers, they are greatly appreciated!

I know I haven't mentioned all of you but, please know that I am very thankful for your help and friendship!

Rock the Shot - Sun Flare Challenge

I came across the July Rock the Shot (www.rocktheshotforum.com) photo challenge "Sun Flare" on Facebook. I just recently took this picture of my mom's climbing rose. The lighting was perfect when I took the picture around 8:30p.m. The sun was peeking through two boards of the fence. I absolutely love the colors in this photo!

Samedi, Janvier, 19

I had to get up a little earlier than usual because we had to be at school at 8:30. We (the girls in my apartment) had been told that we needed to be at school at 8:30, but the email we had received said 9. I figured it was better to be early than late. We ended up being early but I was able to get a hot chocolate. We left at 9 to go dress for the Sonszio menswear show. When you are a dresser in a show you get to the venue about 2-3 hours before the show is scheduled to start. Most of the time is spent standing around waiting until they actually need you which is about 45 minutes before the show starts. So we wait, wait, wait, and then when the shows starts we rush because we may only have 5 minutes to undress and dress the model. While we were waiting to be called backstage there were some appetizers that were in one of the rooms so we each had a small snack. There were three girls that left to go dress for another show. We were finally called back stage and waited there for another 20 minutes. The models were all very tall and thin. Their hair had been slicked back and had been sprayed orange for the show. My model’s name was Rafa and he was really relaxed about the whole thing. When one of the stylists and I had been trying to pull on his one shoe for a while he stopped both of us and said “Stop, take a deep breath” then we started pulling again. We were finally able to get the shoe on, but it took a lot of pulling. The shoes were all super tight and took about 3-5 minutes to put on. There was one model that didn’t make it on for the finale because they weren’t able to get one of his shoes on, there about 4 stylists trying to get his shoe on. After about 25 minutes it was all over. My model shook my hand, said thank you, and then left. We all headed home and got back to the apartment at 1:30. Several of the girls were planning on going ice skating that evening at 6:30, I decided that I would join them. Christy and I took the metro over to the ice rink and met Emily, Katrina, and Vanessa there. We made it through the line and got our skates. The rink was a popular place to be since it was fairly crowded. We had skated for about 15 minutes and then the zamboni came out to clean the skating surface. It took about 20 minutes to clean and then we were able to go out and skate again. We only skated for another 20 minutes because we were all getting cold. By the time Christy and I got home it was 8:45 and Kate wanted to get one last pizza from the place right next door. I went downstairs and ordered the Regina pizza which had ham, mushrooms, and oregano. La pizza is a very small restaurant and it was crowded that evening which makes for great business for the owner. The owner is a very nice man, he’s always happy to see us and wants to know if we’ll be back the next day. After eating the pizza we all headed to bed.

Vendredi, Janvier, 18

I got up at 8 and started getting ready for the photo shoot. Our group was the first one in line for the photo shoot which started at 9. It was held in this really beautiful room, but it was set up with a gray screen for the background. Each person got about 10 minutes to model as many pieces that they could fit in the time. It was really cold and I’m hoping that they can photoshop my goosebumps out of the pictures. haha We had about an hour before our smocking class started. This was our last day of class at PAA. I was both excited and sad at the same time. From 11-1 I just worked on finishing more of the smocking swatches that I had started in a previous class. After our hour long lunch break, I did more smocking and also learned more beading techniques. This was our last class with Martine. I really liked having class with her. Halfway through class we heard a crash outside, Martine went to the window and then started saying something. Most of the students gathered at the windows to see what happened. A motorcycle had crashed. There is a one way street in front of the school and motorcycles either have their own lane or they weave in and out of traffic. As far as we could figure out the motorcycle had slid on some of the ice and slush(it had snowed a little the evening before) that was at the side of the road. By the time I made it to the window the guy that was riding the motorcycle was already up and limping around. Several cars stopped to see if he was okay. One of the people that had stopped, helped him get his motorcycle back up. He was back onto his motorcycle and off again within 5 minutes of the crash. Near the end of class, I was talking to Madeleine and Martine about a Poire Belle Helene which is a dessert that my mom had told me about before my trip. Martine’s eyes lit up when I asked her about it and she started telling me about it and also saying that I could make it at home. I also talked to Madeleine about coming back to PAA. We finished class at 4 which was 2 hours early. Later that evening we made couscous for supper and then headed to bed.

Juedi, Janvier, 17

Our whole day could have been free, but we had the option of having another class with Mr. Pinabel so that we could put feathers on our hat base. I chose to go to the class because I really wanted to dress up my hat base. The class didn’t start until 3 that afternoon. In the morning Kate, Natalie, and I went back to General Diff to buy our fabrics. I bought a half a meter of the black mohair fabric. It was 20 Euros more per yard than I thought it was at first. I have several ideas about what I would like use it for. Natalie bought a knit fabric that had rhinestones printed on it. After we had finished at General Diff, Natalie wanted to get 2 other fabrics from Tissue Reine which was about 10 minutes away by bus. She found the fabrics that she wanted right away and at about 12:15 we headed back to our apartments. We got on the #85 bus that would take us straight home. After we were about halfway back, the bus kicked everybody off because it was finished for the day. We checked the sign to see when the next bus would be coming and it said it would be an hour. This is really unusual for the Paris bus system while I’ve been here I think the longest I’ve waited for a bus is about 8 minutes. So we waited at the bus stop for about 5 minutes waiting to see if the sign would change, but it never did. Several #85 buses went past but they were all ending at the stop we were at. Since there wasn’t an easy way to get home without transferring many times we decided that we’d go out for lunch while waiting for the next bus. We found this small restaurant right down the block from the bus stop. We chose to get 2 pizzas for lunch (cheese and pepperoni) along with some hot chocolate to hopefully warm us up. We asked the waiter about how big a pizza was and he stretched his arms out wide and said “well...just kidding”. They were a medium size pizza and we wanted to make sure we would have enough to be full afterwards. Both of the pizzas had a thin crust and were amazing! We finished with about 20 minutes to spare before the next bus was scheduled to arrive. We walked outside into the brisk wind and started looking for a metro station just incase there was one nearby. After failing to find one, we headed back to the bus stop and got there about 5 minutes before the bus arrived. We checked to make sure that the bus would be going to the stop that we needed and it was so we got onboard. About 10 minutes later the bus stopped and kicked everybody off again right in front of Bourse. There was a demonstration going on in front of Bourse. I wasn’t able to read the signs that everybody was holding so I’m not sure what this one was about. This time we looked at a map and decided to walk to the next bus stop and hope that that bus would be able to bring us back to our final destination. I was getting a little nervous that we weren’t going to make it to class on time since it was 2:20. We waited about 5 minutes and got on the next bus headed for our stop. Amazingly this bus made it all the way back to the stop that we needed. We even had about 10-15 minutes to spare before having to go to class. We only had about 8 girls that came to the class, but Mr. Pinabel was happy to see us again. He had really enjoyed working with us last time and made time in his schedule to come back just so we could add feathers to our hat bases. He even brought some more expensive feathers from his own collection for us to use. We learned a new word that afternoon. Mr. Pinabel was talking how much time we had left in class and he said “we have an hour of class left, but don’t flapper”. I’m sure we all had confused looks on our faces and we asked him what he meant. He explained to us that it basically means don’t worry. I was able to finish up my hair piece, it has some bright colors in it compared to my last feather piece. We said thank you and goodbye since this was that last class we had with Mr. Pinabel. I went back to the apartment and relaxed for about 2 hours. Since we were going to have a photo shoot the next day Kate and Christy needed some clothes to go with the pieces that they had made they wanted to go shopping. We head out at about 7:40, by the time we got to H&M and Zara they were already closing for the evening (most of the the stores in Paris close at 8). Kate said the H&M and Zara on the Champs Elysees were open until 10, so we headed over to go shopping. Kate and Christy both bought some clothes from H&M for their photo shoot, they also got some makeup from Sephora. There were some really good sales going on at a lot of the stores. I planned on wearing all black for my photo shoot which would match with all of my pieces. By the time we got back to the apartment and cooked our really French dinner of chicken nuggets and fries it was 11.

Mercredi, Janvier, 16

I was so thankful that I could sleep in until 8 before having to meet at school at 9. We had an hour long presentation on the Louvre and some of the artwork that is on display there. We all took the bus over to the Louvre Museum and had short lectures about many of the pieces of artwork. We walked underneath the pyramid and through the medieval ruins of the castle that used to stand where the Louvre Museum is now. Our guide Agnes knows a lot of history about many of the places that we tour, so she will tell us interesting facts about specific rooms or works of art. I was able to see many pieces by Rembrandt, Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, and many others. I was able to see the Mona Lisa even though there was a very large crowd to get though. After the tour we headed to all of the restaurants that are near the Louvre to eat lunch. I had a chicken sandwich for lunch along with some macaroons. We headed over to the George Pompidou Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art after lunch. Instead of taking the bus over, we walked the 10 minutes. This museum was very interesting, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had the Louvre Museum. After the tour several of the girls and I just wanted to head back instead of staying for the Dali exhibit. I had worn heels which wasn’t the best choice for walking around museums all day. So we headed back and stopped in some shops along the way back to the bus stop. Natalie wanted to buy a nutella crepe if we found one on the way home, but since we didn’t find one I invited her over for dinner and told her I’d make some nutella crepes for dessert. So Natalie came over at about 6 and we had ham and cheese crepes with nutella crepes for dessert. We conversed for several hours after dinner.

Mardi, Janvier, 15

We got up at 5a.m. to get ready to leave for Antwerp at 6:30. After eating our doughnuts we left from school and took the RER over to the train station. We had a mix up while handing out the tickets, Xavier had handed us the tickets for the return trip, but we got that taken care of right away. Our train left at 7:30 and it would be a 2 hour trip. Part way into our trip Xavier looked over our knitting, he gave me some suggestions for my hat. After some time the conductor announced over the speakers that because of the weather (mild flurries) we were running a 1/2 hour late. About an hour and a half into the trip there was another announcement made, this time because of technical difficulties we had to transfer trains in Brussels. After all of the delays, we made it to Antwerp, Belgium at 10a.m. Karin, our guide for the Mme. Gres Exhibit, met us at the train station and then we had a small breakfast. For breakfast I had coffee and a chocolate croissant. The whole group then walked about 20 minutes through the snow and slush to get to the museum. On the way to the museum Karin showed us the best places to get Belgian waffles, fries, and chocolate. She also told us that there are 2 different types of Belgian waffles, one is puffy and the other one has sugar in the middle. We finally got to the museum and the Mme. Gres exhibit was amazing!!! We were allowed to take pictures of the garments. After seeing all of the exhibit, we walked another 10 minutes to a restaurant that was basically a hole in the wall. The restaurant only had one room into which all 29 of us squeezed. Even as we walked in I could smell our lunch cooking. The first course was a broccoli soup, it reminded me of a similar soup that my mom makes. Our second course was a bowl of noodles with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. Both courses were delicious! After lunch we had free time until 5, which gave us about 3 hours. We stopped by the chocolate shop (I bought some to bring home), several boutiques and stopped by one of the waffle restaurants. Kate and I shared a dessert, Kate also bought a Belgian waffle. We went into Comma, Princess, I Am and Desigual on the way back to the train station. We got back to the train station in time for me to buy one of the waffles with sugar in the middle. I got one one that was covered in chocolate and peanuts. It was the best waffle I’ve ever had in my life!!! We left Antwerp at 6:30 and there was another weather delay, so we got back to the train station in Paris at 9. We still had to take the RER back to school so we got back to the apartment at about 9:30. It had been a long day so we all were glad to jump into bed that night.

Look...snow, something we don't see much of in Paris. 

The Antwerp Train Station.

My coffee and chocolate croissant.

 

One of the Mme. Gres draped dresses.

A beautiful passageway.

Broccoli Soup.

Pasta with pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.

The best chocolate shop in Antwerp.

Mmmm dessert.

My favorite waffle!!!

Lundi, Janvier, 14

Our last free day came way too soon. We decided that we wanted to have a whole day dedicated to fabric shopping. We took the bus over to the fabric district at about 11a.m. We were able to look around some shops that we hadn’t made it into the last time we had visited. I had a lot of fun being surrounded by yards and yards of fabrics. Several of the girls ate lunch at McDonalds but I ate later that day after we got back to the apartments. We also went into the store with all of the buttons and ribbons. I found 2 types of buttons that I really liked. I bought 3 of the one and 5 of the other, I’m not sure where I’ll use them. Maybe I’ll just keep them at home and take them out every so often to look at them ;) Since it was a fairly clear day we decided to take the elevator up the hill to get another view and more pictures of the city of Paris. After returning to the bottom of the hill we went into a souvenir shop because Christy still had to pick up a few gifts for some friends. We headed back towards our apartment and took a detour to stop by the General Diff fabric store that had the beautiful black mohair fabric that I would love to have. We got there at about 15 minutes before closing time only to find out that they had closed early that evening. We got back to the apartment at about 6:30, made supper and headed to bed early so that we would be able to get up at 5 the next morning to catch the train to Antwerp. 

My breakfast.

A fabric lined street.

The city of Paris.

Dimanche, Janvier, 13

We slept in again until about 10. Kate wanted to go to the international mass at Notre Dame which started at 11:30. We took the metro over because we would have had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to arrive. We got there at about 11:20. Notre Dame is beautiful and the architecture is amazing! We sat down and waited for the service to start. After sitting there for about 5 minutes everybody started leaving so we followed, all the time wondering what was going on. We headed over to the information desk to ask why everyone was leaving and then I looked at the time and it was 11:30. We had caught the end of another service. So we sat down again and the service started. Now even though this was an international service the only thing that was in English was part of the bulletin, the whole service was still in French. The service lasted for a little over an hour. There was one thing that I didn’t like about the service, while the service was going on people were taking pictures and walking around. I felt like I was on display. After that service was over we took some pictures of the inside of the Cathedral. We headed to a souvenir shop on the way back to the apartment so that I could pick up some gifts for people. As we got closer to the apartment there was a mass of people walking down the middle of the street. They had signs and flags and they were playing music and chanting. We tried to figure out what some of the signs said but we checked on Google Translate to see if we were right, which we were. There were people marching towards the Eiffel Tower from all parts of the city protesting the president’s decision to legalize gay marriage. So all of the signs were pro-marriage. An online source said that this could be the largest demonstration in a decade. After relaxing back at the apartment for a couple of hours several girls wanted to go shopping in the Marais district of town. We looked in a few boutiques and ate supper at a small panini shop. We headed back to the apartments to get ready for our last free day.

One of the gorgeous stained glass windows.

Inside Notre Dame.

Outside Notre Dame.

The Pro-marriage rally.