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I'm siiiiiick! But i don't want to be. Hopefully I can attack this thing by 10:00 tonight because there's this free concert I want to go to...

Les Ponchevilles

I just got back from a dinner chez Ponchevilles---home of the CUTEST older French couple who are the host parents of my friend Nicole. We feasted on raclette and a brilliant chocolate cake and talked and talked and talked. Monsieur Poncheville is the biggest joker ever and likes to pretend to speak English. Madame doesn't speak a lick and gets frustrated when her husband tries to...:) I felt so much at home. The French are quiet and cold and don't flaunt their feelings and emotions, but when they invite you into their home, you are like family.

So tourist season has officially begun. I am so lucky to have been here during winter: when French live their normal day in/day out life and there's like 5 total tourists. I got pretty used to it. And I feel like one of them, quite honestly. I have a daily routine. I grocery shop. I have my favorite bakeries and they recognize me. I study in neighborhood parks. I live the French life! So when all these loud Americans and Brits started showing up I was like, "get out of my town!" Territorial, I know, but I can't help it! I have exactly 2 weeks left here:( Then one week down south and I'm done! For shame!

AAAAHHH! So I went to a FRANCE VS. ENGLAND SOCCER GAME last night! It was freaking BOMB! Le Stade de France (the stadium) is absolutely gigantic and is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year. A group of us decorated white t-shirts and spelled out F-R-A-N-C-E. I was F. Myself, R (Rochelle), and A (Emma) were walking around the stadium and, no joke, 7 different guys came up to us to ask if they could take a picture with us! Some French, some English, one Palestinian...I realized that female attendance was a rarity. Football spectatorship is definitely male-dominated. So France won, 1-0. And Beckham was there! I was within yards of DAVID BECKHAM!! Oh yeah, and our seats were right perfect. On my way home at like midnight, I got stopped by the RATP (metro police), but only because one of the officers wanted to compliment me on my completely rad pro-France get-up! Allez les bleus! (what everyone cheers for France at the games).

Moi, Rochelle, and Emma.

FRANCE! Me, Rochelle, Emma, Jacqueline, Summer, and Diane

First random drunk fools to jump in one of our photos.

Stade de France, before the game.

Joyeuses Pâques!

Happy Easter, all! Though it wasn't the Easter I was used to [no basket:( no egg-dying:( no family:( no ham:(], I had a great Easter weekend with les Jeunes Adultes (known in the U.S. as Young Single Adultes, who are ages 18-30 and go to the LDS church) from all over France and French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland. This conference has been a loooong time coming. The J.A.s in the Paris Institute (which includes me) have been practicing 17 kajillion songs to sing for it basically since the day I stepped off the plane. So yeah, it went well! The opening song was in English and the rest were in French. Quite powerful they were. This crazy boy from Nice played all these elaborate renditions of hymns on the piano, which he made up on the spot. All you had to do was tell him what song to play and he'd play it, times 1000!

There were a ton of people there! From the south of France (Cannes, Nimes, Montpellier, etc.) to Geneva to Alsace to Bretagne. And MYLO WAS THERE!! Yeah, I've talked about him before. Since we last hung out in Paris, he'd traveled to Germany and the south of France with his work, and he was able to make it to Nogent (outside of Paris, where this conference was held) this weekend! This kid makes me so happy, not even kidding! He's insane! Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't take any pictures of the whole weekend. So there was a speech given by my director, Dr. Welch, and a dance Saturday night. So us Americans started dancing when the lights went off. Thought it was normal. But no one else was dancing. I just assumed French people were lame partiers. Then about 3 hours later all the French people started dancing. By the time I was ready to leave, they were just getting started. I must take note of this for the future...

Sunday I went back to Nogent for Church and lunch and then we had our whole big Easter presentation. Today we had a scavenger hunt around Paris (basicaly a way for those who had never been to Paris to see the city). I hung out with a kid named Nelson who comes from Montpellier (down south). He was actually baptized about a year and a half ago by none other than Mylo! I thought that was awesome. Nelson is now preparing to serve a mission himself.

So now I'm sitting in my room, NOT doing homework, which I should. The apartment is a chaos of Michel grandchildren so it's kind of hard to get anything done. Speaking of Michel, everything's fine in that department now! Madame and I have come a long way since that post I wrote what seems like a century ago. My mom was right: some things have to get worse before they get better. Now we stay up late together watching chick flicks and playing MASH and eating cookie dough!! Kidding.

Continued...

So after spending the night in St-Malo, we drove to Angers, stopping on the way in Dinan to browse their open-air market. In Angers we visited the château that holds the incredibly long (I want to say 300 yards...) tapistry of the apocolypse. VERY cool. I definitely have to go back and read Revelations in the New Testament now. There used to be scriptures to go with the corresponding pictures in the tapistry, but some secular cynic went and painted over them, since the castle is a government building, therefore breaching the separation of Church and State. Uugggghh. The French are ridiculously laϊque (secular). They claim to be Catholic, but they're the Christmas/Easter Catholics. And I swear there's more cathedrals here than anywhere else in the world! Huh...what a waste. So anyway, in Angers we stayed at Le Bon Pasteur convent, where I miraculously found a nun who is a cousin of my Aunt Ru from Sri Lanka! Small world? Yes, I think so.

We then made our way to the Loire Valley, stopping at many a château: first Ussé, then Villandry, then Chenonceau, then Blois, then Chambord. Villandry was my favorite. A charming castle, yet not overbearing. The interior actually seemed lived in; and it was, not too long ago. The best part was that our group basically owned the place. I think I saw exactly one other tourist. The gardens were soooo beautiful and for at least 30 minutes I just sat in the grass and picked the flowers/weeds. Chenonceau was also quite incredible. Chambord was just large and in charge. Gorgeous, but vacant in the inside since it was too big to ever be lived in for more than a few months. Blois was dull, compared to the others, but they were filming a movie there! Doesn't look too promising though. Kind of like one of those corny Lifetime films that you get sucked into when you're bored and there's nothing else to watch on T.V. Chaîne 2 in France, if you get French T.V. Should be a real thriller.

The coolest part of the Loire Valley was Amboise, where we went to Leonardo da Vinci's house. When in France, GO HERE. It rocks. There are to-scale copies of a bunch of his inventions strewn about his "yard" (a forest, really), and huge blown up images of his paintings and sketches hanging from the trees.

Diane and I in front of Château Ussé

Château de Villandry

Janae, Cassandra, and I at Villandry

Jacqueline and Emma at Chenonceau
Elizabeth and I in front of Chambord


Blown-up painting hanging in Leonardo da Vinci's yard

The Other Side Of France

I got back late Saturday night from a voyage to Normandy (NORMANDIE), Brittany (BRETAGNE) and the Loire Valley (VALÉE DE LA LOIRE). Here's how it went...

Tuesday morning we boarded our super rad pink and purple road-tripping bus and headed to the D-Day beaches. We hit Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. Quite a moving experience. The weather was gray and rainy, just as it was when the soldiers landed there on D-Day, so it really set the mood. Despite our differences and petty back-and-forth bickering, the French really do revere what the American soldiers did for their country on that day. It's not something they'll soon forget. There have been several occassions here in France when I've been especially proud to be American, but this usurped them all.

We then went to Bayeux, Normandie to see the famous Bayeux Tapistry. It was long. 100 yards. And too old to really hold much interest with me, not gonna lie. The next morning we drove out to Mont St. Michel, the famous abbey that is completely surrounded by water during high tide. We were lucky and had stunning weather. Our guide, Catherine, gave us an awesome tour. While we were in one of the chapels, someone in our group suggested we sing. You see, we've been practicing several songs---French and English---that we're going to be performing for Easter this weekend. First I was like, "oh geez, sooo cheesy." But OH MAN was it awesome. The acoustics were incredible and just to be singing a hymn in a place where worship has been taking place since the 8th Century was cool in itself. We sang in harmony "Lord, I Would Follow Thee", which is in the LDS hymnbook. In French it's called "Seigneur, je te suivrais." Aaaahh it sounded amazing! And then all the Asians started taking pictures of us. Catherine called it a "moment délicieux," something she'd never experienced in all her 15 years of guiding tours at Mont St. Michel.

That afternoon was spent in St-Malo, Bretagne, where we hung out at the BEACH. Ahhh, so nice. It was sunny and beautiful and although slightly chilly, I couldn't resist whipping out my Chocos (the most amazing sandals---everyone needs to go buy a pair right now) and running through the ocean. The people here are WAAAAAY cooler than snooty Parisians. They are lively and welcoming and red headed and like good music.....kind of like....the....IRISH! Bretagne is a Celtic region that wasn't always a part of France. It was only in 1980 that the law revoking one's French citizenship if they were Christened with a Celtic name was repealed. Whoa. So yeah, for dinner that night I had awesome sea food---escargots and huitres (oysters). Mmmmm.

I'll stick up some photos before I go on about the rest of the trip... Pointe du Hoc

Mont St. Michel Diane and I at the beach in St-Malo.
It says, I love you.

You May Say That I'm A Dreamer

So when I was hippie-ing at Sacre-Coeur yesterday, there were a lot of people there. Germans, South Africans, Mexicans, Spaniards, French, Italian, English, etc. So when that guitarist I was telling you about had the WHOLE crowd (200, I'd say) singing in unison to John Lennon's "Imagine," I had to step back and evaluate the situation. It's not often that complete strangers from all over the world sing together spontaneously in a public place, no reservations. Each of the present nations have fought eachother and/or colonized eachother and/or helped eachother. History didn't matter for at least 5 minutes. It was a pretty cool moment.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Diane Sat in Pee Today...

So today was just SO FRENCH! I woke up to the sun (it's been cloudy for the past week or so) and immediately went back to the Iena market and stocked up on produce for my road trip to Normandie and Bretagne (I leave Tuesday!). Diane and I then took the bus all the way to Montmartre so I could be a hippie and sit on the steps of the Sacre-Coeur and write things down and listen to live music. We met Monique there and we sat and chilled and listened to this AWESOME guitarist from Italy who had the ENTIRE crowd singing and clapping along. In between singing "Volare" and writing letters, I gazed out at the panorama of the city. And somewhere in there, Diane discovered she sat in a puddle of something. I was like, "Oh, it's probably just pee," as a joke. Turns out it was. Welcome to France? Sick. After leaving Sacre-Coeur, we went home to get ready for the opera! Sierra had to go to this exact place at this exact time to get the cheap seats. So for 7 euros, we saw "The Rake's Progress" at the OPERA GARNIER! It was stunning! This is the opera house that Phantom of the Opera is based on (and I think the movie was filmed there, too). The show itself was terrible. I mean, obviously it was good enough to be at the Garnier, but the first 2 out of 3 acts I had my eyes closed because PRACTICALLY EVERYONE WAS NAKED! I was scarred and wounded. The music was nice........hahaha I guess that's European entertainment for you. They really don't have any morals. Though the opera was in English, I really couldn't understand a thing they were singing, so I had to read the French subtitles. Well, it was worth the money to just sit in the Garnier.

Yesterday was pretty French too. For my friend Susie's birthday, a group of us went to Angelina's, this famous and super nice cafe, for the best hot chocolate ever. I had white hot chocolate. Holy Cow. It was like drinking a melted chocolate bar. We enjoyed our drinks on couches and overstuffed chairs around a pretty tea table. We had what was probably the deepest conversation I've ever had in my life and left 3 hours later to go to Susie's house for crepes. Oh crepes.......Tomorrow is another crepe party at someone else's house. That makes 4 in 9 days. Yes......

Plutot La Vie!

So this guy Mylo I met at church on Sunday is a funny boy. He's crazy and happy all the time and just psyched to be alive. Refreshing to be around that sort, don't you think? He was only here for like 2 days because he's traveling with his work, but he'll be back again for another few days mid-March. And he's transferring to BYU in the fall so we can be friends there. He, Emma, Rochelle, Diane, and I went and got some kebabs in the Latin Quarter and ate them by the Seine and ran around and took pictures. Then we went to class and sat through 2 hours of boringness, BUT THEN Sierra, Rochelle and I went ICE SKATING! There's this great out door rink right in front of Hotel de Ville, which is right where my metro stop for school/church is. SO COOOOOL! And pretty:) 5 euros well spent. We're eating lunch at the Seine. And Mylo is being an obnoxious tourist waving to the passing boats.

Mylo, me, Monique, Diane, and Marco on top of the Pompidou.

Me, Sierra, and Rochelle ice skating. That's Hotel de Ville (a government building) behind us and Notre Dame is just barely cut off in this picture.

...Continued

Ok so I'm back from my crepe party. Believe it or not that's my second crepe party in 4 days. Paris is awesome.

So continuing with my super cool weekend...Saturday morning Diane and I took the bus to Iena, which is 2 stops away on the metro. We wanted to take the bus so we'd have an above-the-ground perspective of our neighborhood. It was great! And I realized everything is a lot closer than I thought it was. I probably could walk there in 10 minutes. At Iena (just the name of the street) was this open-air market that had all the stands of fresh, home-grown, home-made, home-caught things you could ask for: breads, cheeses, meats, seafood, herbs, clothes, jewelry, flowers, etc. The guy at the pita booth flirted with me while I ordered some lunch and then proceded to ask me out. This is now the 3rd Frenchie who has asked me out, so unlike the the first time, I know exactly what to say and still come off nice. You learn just the right expressions that reject them, but make you seem mysterious, so they really don't care. It's great.

Afterwards we met up with some girls and went to the Bois de Boulogne, which is just past my apartment. We walked along the Seine with an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower. Have I already talked about the Bois? I don't remember. Well it's this fantastic wood that used to be a royal hunting grounds but is now a recreational area with woods of course, 2 lakes where people of all ages are racing their toy sail boats or canoeing, jogging trails, a horse race track, a pretty view of the Eiffel Tower, soccer fields, etc.

The day ended with me babysitting for a lady from church who has 2 cute little boys, one of whom looks exactly like Matthew, my brother, used to look. And his name is Matthew.

I'll put up some more pictures...

C'est genial, ca!

I went to the Pompidou today after church because it's free the first Sunday of each month (my Art Card fails me here). It's literally right across the street from my church. DID YOU KNOW that the Pompidou is more visited than the Louvre? Well it is. Anyway, Marco, Monique, and this guy named Milo (who I met today at church) and I checked out all the crazy modern art, including Duchamp's "Fontaine"---the upside down urinal. I like it. Don't judge me.

So let me just tell you, I had a SUPER weekend. No really, it was super. Friday I went to Pere Lachaise Cemetery where the greats like Chopin, Moliere, Seurat, Jim Morrison (don't exactly know why), and Oscar Wilde are burried. For some reason everyone kisses Oscar Wilde's tombe, leaving a hot pink lip print. So Emma and I, who just so happen to carry around outrageously pink and red lip color, spread the love. Afterwards, we were PLANNING on going to a movie but we got kinda separated somewhere between the cemetery and getting lunch. My friend Summer and I wandered around Chatelet (crazy area close to my school) looking at cheap shoes and eating cheap crepes. Neither of us had the address of the cinema, but with combined wit and street saavy, we actually got there in time for the movie. I was proud. Unfortunately the others weren't as saavy. So no movie. Oh well.

Ok Monique just called me and they're making crepes. I must go. I'll finish this discours later. Here's a couple pictures...