First Purchase in Paris!

Good news, friends.

July is the unofficial sale month for pretty much all of the stores in Paris.

Meaning every store you walk by

has SOLDES

written in big letters.

I plan to take full advantage.

These shoes only set me back 21 euro

which I am telling myself is less than $30.

Too hard to say no!

Happy Birthday, America!

I love the Fourth of July.

The colors,

the fireworks,

the red, white, and blue,

and most especially,

the history behind the day.

Those revolutionaries were badasses--

they saw what needed to change,

and did it.

So Happy Birthday America!

Though I am not around to celebrate your special day,

know that I think of you often

and will settle for wearing your colors on second-rate Bastille Day.

Happy Fourth of July!

And thank you to the service men and women who work to keep our country safe everyday.

how will i go back to real life after this?

paris, je t'aime.

Five Things Friday: Paris Edition!

Hello blogosphere!

Happy July!

I'm in Paris!

For the past two days I haven't had internet access, but I just got it set up in my dorm and am so excited to upload pic

tures and catch up on blogs!

This week's Five Things Friday

consists of all the things I had heard about Paris that have turned out to be true thus far.

1. The food is amazing. oh.em.gee. It will be an absolute miracle if I don't gain 500 million pounds during this month. We've had wine and dessert with every meal thus far. Yesterday we walked around St. Germain eating a baguette, and we bought three boxes of Petit Ecoliers (my favorite cookie, even in America!), which were only one euro! For lunch today I had a Croque Madame, mais pas de jambon. Parfait! I am literally dying over the fact that I still have a month left of this food!

The first dinner: quiche au saumon (salmon quiche) with a delish salad

2. Everything is beautiful. Like literally anywhere you look. The architecture is tres magnifique, and I cannot wait to start my class (which is History of Paris: An Architectural Perspective). I haven't even seen the big stuff yet (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe), so I know I have lots more gaping to do.

Kate and I in front of the Notre Dame

3. French people smoke...a lot. It hasn't bothered me so much, except when you are walking behind someone who is smoking and they get ash on you.

4. The metro is dirty. Seriously, it puts BART's level of gross to shame. It's dirty and smelly, and always tremendously crowded. But it's so convenient and fast that it makes it worth it. Today we lugged dishes and groceries all over Paris, but the metro made it much easier.

5. One thing I've found not to be accurate: the notion that Parisians are rude to Americans. We always speak French as a greeting, but I suppose our accents must not be very good because the French always respond to us in English. They have been nothing but absolutely lovely so far!

I am absolutely loving this city so far.

I am so grateful to have this opportunity!

Tonight we are going to Le Louvre (because people under age 25 get in for free on Friday nights! Gettin' my Mona Lisa fix) and then out to a bar near the Notre Dame with people from our program.

Tomorrow we are taking a bus tour of the city (I'll post pictures of all the amazing things I see!), and on Sunday, we're going to...Eurodisney!!! (The little girl in me is dying!)

Au revoir!

All's well that ends well.

Remember when Kendall had to go the emergency room the night before her graduation? When I said that in my family, whatever can go wrong will go wrong?

Well, friends, nothing was different in my preparations for my trip to France.

Yesterday afternoon I was with my sister Paige going to Target to get some last minute things.

I was in my mom's car,

and she had less than a quarter of a tank,

so I decided to fill up for her.

Just to be nice.

When I thought the pump was done pumping,

I pulled the pump out of my car.

What I didn't know was

the pump was not done.

So there was about 30 seconds where I got entirely doused with gasoline.

My left eye took it the hardest, unfortunately.

So I spent my evening in the ER,

getting my eye flushed out with the most uncomfortable little contact thing.

It was awful.

And I really smelled like gasoline.

It was bad.

But after two hours at the hospital,

I got discharged,

free and clear,

good to go on my trip!

So I came home to a bouquet of flowers (shown above) from my darlin' sister Kendall.

My best friends Morgan and Kevin came over, bearing patriotic going away gifts. (photos coming later!)

The perfect evening (post-hospital).

I'm leaving my house in an hour for the airport!

Next post coming at you from Paris, France.

Tomorrow!

Soon enough I will have a photo just like this--that I took myself!

The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older--intelligence and good manners.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

It seems only fitting that my favorite author would send me off on my journey abroad!

I am ecstatic about my trip, and cannot wait to share every detail with all of you.

I am so excited for the eating,

sightseeing,

conversing en Francais,

taking an obscene amount of photos,

making both American and French friends,

and most of all, living as if I were French for a month.

A bientot! (wish I knew how to type accents...)

Five Things Friday

This is a special edition of Five Things Friday

because it is the last one I'll write in America

(at least for a few weeks!).

On Tuesday I'm off to France,

so I couldn't resist this opportunity to share all of my favorite things

about our fair country.

1. I love red, white, and blue. I seriously can't think of a better color combination. Betsy Ross knew what was up. No look is more classic than a pair of red high-waisted shorts and a blue and white striped tank. Please believe I'll be rockin' this outfit on July 4 and of course on Bastille Day, because the founding fathers of France knew what was up too.

2. I geek out over American history. I am a sucker for self-directed action, and Paul Revere and friends saw a problem they wanted to address and acted upon it. My best friend Morgan and I went to Washington DC when we were 14 and the American History Museum was without question my favorite part of the trip.

3. America is a melting pot. In one of my sociology classes, the professor argued that America is less of a melting pot and more of a stew, in which you can visibly see each part and there is not a whole lot of mixing. In any case, the "America as melting pot" image is still popular, so we're going with it. I love that when I come home to Hollister, Hispanic culture is readily apparent wherever I go. And when I'm at school in Berkeley, I am exposed to pretty much any culture you could imagine (especially in sociology). My favorite manifestation of the melting pot its influence on food. Rarely do I eat American food. I joke with my friends that I'm the most Mexican person they know, because I literally eat Mexican food at least three times a week. But I also love boba, Italian, sushi, Thai, and most of all, Indian.

4. Great American cities. My intense love for urbanity must have come out of living in a small town my whole life. I yearn for the fast-paced attitude and ability to walk everywhere. San Francisco is my greatest love, and always will be. But I've spent time in LA (not my fave, but suffices), New York, and Nashville, and I love them all. I have yet to visit an international city, but will be sure to report on how they stack up against my beloved American urban centers.

5. I love the fact that I still get goosebumps when I think about 9/11. I was only 11, of course, but I remember that day so vividly. The image of the firemen hoisting the flag over ground zero still makes me tear up, and whenever I think about the men who forced the plane to crash in Pennsylvania instead of the White House I get goosebumps so intensely that I shiver. It was a tragic day, but also a day that proved so much about how strong this country is. Yes, we were susceptible to terrorism, but we were also united. I think it's the most blatant symbol of Americana and American pride.

Okay, so maybe I teared up a little (or maybe a lot) when I was writing out that last one.

As excited as I am for my time abroad,

I am really going to miss my home.

I'm proud to be an American!

Happy Friday!