The Smile: Who Wore It Best?

Monday, May 14th, 2013

Ok, so I'm incredibly behind on this blog - which means that you might not have to sit through as many of my sidebars and commentaries and get straight to the facts. Hopefully you won't find this boring. I will try and preserve some of my wit even amongst the dull facts - you're welcome. So today was all a day of art - art mania. Class as usual and then we went to the Hôtel de Soubise to examine the Rococo style, it's one of my favorites because everything is kinda frilly like baroque but also soft and dreamy like impressionism. Clearly you can tell by my description that I am not an art major, but that's the way I think of Rococo. So the interior design was beautiful. The details were simply so ornate and detailed.

So after the Hôtel de Soubise we went somewhere that I have been dying to go since I got in Paris - before I got in Paris! Le Louvre! So since I've never been to Paris or even Europe obviously I've never been to Le Louvre but I love art and am just so excited by the idea of all these amazing works of art - legendary works being in one place where you can see them and get close to them. And they are the ORIGINAL pieces. Like these statues truly have been around for HUNDREDS (plural, more than just one hundred but hundredS) of years. That's insane. If you truly think about it - it's insane. Some of these pieces date back before our country was ever formed. Before they ever even new America existed! And you can see them! I think that will always blow my mind. So obviously I was really excited. Although I will admit that my throat was full on hurting today - it hadn't got better since Sunday so I was tired and feeling all that gross sick feeling. Let me just say that it was as cool as I always thought. ART EVERYWHERE!! But let me just say that when they say that the Louvre is big - they mean huge. Like if the Empire State building floors were laid out and consolidated into just a few. It is so long and there are so many rooms. Our teachers had given us a couple of items to find and of course one of them was La Jaconde (Mona Lisa). My friend and I looked for it and tried to locate ourselves for 2 hours! But eventually we did find it!! We were probably in the Louvre for about 4 hours. Obviously it's impossible to choose one favorite thing, but in general I just loved the statues. The amount of life they have is amazing, especially considering that they didn't even have the type of modern tools that we have today. As much as I felt like I could have stared at art forever and ever...four hours of walking and standing (while sick) was a lot and overwhelming. And frustrating. It is frustrating to be lost and wandering. Please excuse the picture overload - you know I just couldn't help myself. So this first one: Besides it being extremely flattering, I had to include it to show our triumph after trying to track down this mysterious lady for nearly 2 hours - seriously, you would think she was Carmen San Diego with the wild goosechase we went on to find her! And yeah, my eyes disappear when I get really excited - I guess that's what happens when you are 0% Asian...

Ok so who wore the smile best??

So after the interesting but exhausting trip in the Louvre, a friend and I went to the Tuilerie Gardens and then due to the poor weather a sidewalk café. We each had a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate)and sat in the café - just like real Parisiens. Since it was Monday night, there was an FHE with the jeunes adultes (young adults) at the church building. Pretty much all the kids from the program showed up. It was fun to meet everyone. We just had a lesson which was taught by one of the kid and was so long. It was like an hour lesson, and he was the only one who was teaching - he got us involved but it was still long. Oh and unfortunately, due to the fact that the day had taken its toll on my poor awearied body - I do not know what his lesson was about. Yeah. I know. It was that long and I didn't know what it was about. My bad. To be fair though it was all in French. So I caught some of it but not all of it. Plus they gave us dinner! Which was delicious. To be honest, a lesson I learned in college is that all free food tastes better. It's just true. So we chatted with them after FHE which was cool and then I just went home. A lot of the other girls stayed out and got ice cream but I was done for the day and it was technically late - nearly nothing is late for the French, they stay out till like 2 am every day I swear, it was like 9:30pm and it took an hour to get home so I took my leave. All in all a really good day. I wish I could give more specific details about the Louvre and day but my memories aren't so great (sick that day remember?) and I feel like they'd just be boring anyway! I swear I'm going to get this blogging thing up to date and down to a science. A toute à l'heure! (See ya later)

A Slow Weekend

Saturday, May 12th 2013

So this was one of those really lazy Saturdays. We slept in. We did homework. I checked my e-mail. It was so nice. Nothing too exciting though. Then that evening we went out to celebrate one of the girl's birthdays - Savannah! Unfortunately finding a restaurant was a little difficult - we walked and walked and walked. That's the tough thing about Paris - we're not familiar enough with the city right now to know where we want to go or where everything is. So we started out on the Champs-Elysee and started walking looking for a good place to eat. Then one girl thought she knew where a good restaurant was and we tried to track that down for another half an hour. Then we got to the area and decided we didn't want to keep looking for it. So we hopped on the metro and just popped out at a random station and tried to find a restaurant from there. Yeah, it was a little frustrating. I like to have a plan and know exactly where we're going and get there efficiently at a certain time...but when you don't know where to go that's hard to do. Anyway after a bit of grumbling and frustration, we found a good place. The food was great. I thought I'd try something new so I got lamb! (for the first time) One of the other girls ordered steak and when it came out it was still just in its raw completely rare patty form! The guys sitting next to us said that it was really popular in Australia and that the meat had been treated with something so that it was safe to eat and wouldn't make one sick. Supposedly that's the best way to really savor the natural flavor of the meat. Still...ewwww. And she ate some of it! Although after a few bites, just the idea of the meat like made her stomach upset so she didn't finish it. But the guys at the table next to us who had told us about it did! Haha, so I guess some people really do eat their meat like that! After dinner, it was pretty late and since it takes us nearly an hour to get back to our house we just went home. On our way home riding the metro, we passed right by the Eiffel Tower as it was sparkling and glittering - like it does on the hour at night - and it was beautiful. I was just in such awe that this had become a normal site for me, and that it was one to the thousand of Parisiens everyday. What an amazing blessing. I always feel so humbled when I see one of these monuments because it reminds me of the great opportunity and gift this trip is. I can be so easy to take each day at face value and go through the motions, to the events and monuments, ride the metro, eat a baguette. But. I try (often) to stop myself and have a moment of awe and gratitude. This is a trip that I have dreamed about for a good portion of my life. These stone buildings are not just an average occurrence, rather they hold history of centuries. I have a chance to visit a city and country that is beautiful, historical, fun and that opportunity is one I should never take for granted because it is not offered or possible for everyone.

Sunday, May 13th 2013

Sunday was also a very slow day. We had church early in the morning and that was it. It was at 9:30am which meant we had to leave the house by 8:20am. Luckily since we have school at the institute - that is in the church - we already knew the way. Let me just say, you think that high heels wouldn't be that bad for a ten minute walk or so but they were killer! Especially once we got into all that nasty cobblestone business. Church went well. It was all in French but surprisingly I understood pretty much all of it. It helped a lot that at least 50% of the members were actually Americans just living in Paris...which kinda disappointed me a little. It's hard to feel like you're getting a real French experience when some of the members have a stronger American accent than you do...But! The gospel is true in any and every language and I was grateful that I could receive that confirmation while listening. I couldn't always understand every word, or phrase, or sometimes even comment, but you don't need a language to feel the spirit, and it testifies of the truthfulness of the gospel. I even brought my French book of Mormon! But, in Sunday School we are still studying in Doctrine and Covenants (or Doctrines et Alliances) and so I didn't get to use it - not even once! Unfortunately, I started having a sore throat ( more on this later) in church and once we got home promptly took a nap. I felt a little better once I woke up and a few ibuprofen later. And then one of the best events of the trip! I was able to skype with my family back home on Mother's Day! I had really missed the gang so it was great to see them and talk with them. And it was really nice to share with them in person what was happening too. I gotta admit, the sites of Paris are amazing, the beauty is simply breathtaking but there is nothing in comparison to seeing the faces light up of those you love - and I got that treat Sunday evening. :) So all in all, the weekend was pretty slow and average - just like the ones in America. I feel bad that this post was so dull - so enjoy the pretty pictures of my neighborhood! Keep in mind, these are all just pictures of houses around my neighborhood, an average banlieu outside of Paris, nothing spectacular. And these pictures were all just taken with my iPhone BUT they are still some of the most beautiful ever! How can everything be so beautiful!?!

The Palace of Gold

Friday, May 10th 2013

Ok, Take 2 with class. On day 2 I did not get lost, conned out of money or otherwise taken advantage of. This day we got to class early (a little too early actually) and never got lost. After our lesson, our professors took us to go see the Jewish quarter of Paris and we all ate falafel. It was my first falafel and it was pretty good. Then we walked over to the Vaux de Viscontes, which is essentially the "house" (insert mansion/palace here) that inspired Versailles. And by inspired, I mean Louis XIV got jealous his house wasn't as big and so built Versailles. So then of course we went and saw Versailles!

Unfortunately, the weather was not that nice. Overcast and windy. And the line was like a 40 minute wait. However, it went quick with all the girls chatting and admiring the outside of the palace. If I could choose one word to describe Versailles I'd probably say.... over the top. It is simply astounding and overwhelming the amount of decor and pomp and grandeur that Versailles has. It outdoes elegance. It overdoes luxury. It is insane and simply mindblowing how much money went into this palace - and imagining actually living here. My favorite place was the hall of mirrors. It is soo cool. It has this black and white marble flooring and these beautiful large crystal chandeliers every six feet - and of course - all these gold framed mirrors. I could see myself walking down that hallway in a large dress and even larger wig with my ladies in waiting. Now that I could see. That would certainly be the life. I've always been intrigued by the stories of Versailles and the French Kings who lived there - which just a side note Marie Antoinette never said her infamous phrase "Let Them Eat Cake". Never.

Unfortunately after the large crowds and long hours of standing on my feet, I was too tired to explore the gardens - plus the weather sucked. Fortunately, I can go back on any free day/afternoon and give it a second go :) Too be honest, sometimes it's so exhausting to do all of these museums and see all of these places in one go and so you really can't appreciate it or take it all in. At least that's how I've felt for most of the trip! Versailles was a pretty long trip, so afterward we caught the train back to Paris and then to home. Another one of the girls and I stopped at the store to buy some things for dinner and settled on pasta and spaghetti sauce. Don't underestimate the difficulty of shopping in another country, not only is it difficult because you don't understand all the labels but all the brands are different! I wanted to get Bertolli but alas, all sorts of different French brands. I also had to pick up some conditioner - you see that morning I was excited to use the new shampoo and conditioner I had gotten from the store the day before. The first step went well, I got my hair all lathered up and clean then I rinsed it out. Clean hair, yay! Then, I was ready to moisturize with my conditioner - gave myself a good sized amount on my palm and began to distribute...until I realized that it was also lathering up...and therefore was also shampoo. Shoot! What's even more frustrating is that the word for shampoo is "shampoo"! It's not even hard and the word for conditioner is "après-shampoo" which means "after shampoo" so I really just didn't pay enough attention to the labels, ha! So I made sure to get the right product this time. The store we went to is called a "Monoprix" which in French literally means "one price" - though that's not the case. But it's the closest thing they have to a Walmart because it has food, some jewelry, some make-up, some hair stuff and probably even some clothes - but it's very small. It's like the size of the food section in a super Walmart - yeah the whole store = food section only. So we came back to my place and made our pasta and that night some of the girls went and explored the nightlife of Paris. All in all a pretty good day. And a much better start to school :)

Also I realize my pictures are not the best quality - for that I both apologize and note that most likely you can find pretty great photos online if you really want to see the splendor that my point and shoot camera and shaky hand can't capture!

Our Lady and My Mistakes

Thursday, May 9th 2013

So this day was the first day of class and let me just say I learned a lot of lessons today.

1. Don't give money to Gypsy ladies
2. Plan on getting lost - really really lost
3. It's ok to make mistakes

So because Hayley and I live out in the banlieu we have to commute into Paris which means a 10 minute walk to the station, a 20 minute ride on the suburb train to Paris and then another 30 minutes on the metro. And we had never made this trip before. Using the map our host frère had made us we managed to get our way to the station and on the right train. Then we transitioned to the right metro line. Then when we got off at the stop was when we started getting lost. That's because most metro stations have several entrances/exits from several streets next to them and we didn't know which street was closest to our school. We tried to look at a map for a second and a woman even came up and tried to help us (proof that the French aren't rude at all and actually very nice!) but we only knew the name that our school was on and nothing else. Thus, we began to walk around hoping to stumble into the street...which didn't happen, but we did find a map. Following the map's instructions we got to the street our school was supposed to be on - but the numbers only went up to 5-6 and our school was number 8. This is when the wandering began to happen - which is when the trouble with Gypsies began. Here's the thing. Paris is notorious for pickpockets - in fact it's often called the pickpocket capital of the world (though I don't know if that's true or not). Regardless, we had been warned to watch our bags at all times and not let anyone get too close. What I didn't realize is how many beggars Paris would have. Tons. Lots. This is when our French training should have kicked in. Real Parisiens don't look at anything when they walk down the street and don't smile at anyone, they're focused on their destination, confidant, kinda like New Yorkers. However, when you're a lost American girl whose been wandering the same street for the past 20 minutes you're easy pickins and my French training did not kick in.

So we're walking this same stretch of street again for about the fifth time when these two girls approach me with a clipboard. The paper says something about an institute for deaf women. I think they want me to sign a petition. They don't. Only after I had written down my name did I realize...it's a donation sheet. I tried to hand it back to the woman and she pointed out the donation box (with mime-like expressions, remember she's deaf) Shoot! Now what am I supposed to do? Just deny the deaf money and barge past them? So I start looking in my wallet and realize I only have larger bills because of the ATM. The smallest bill I do have? 10 euros. (For those of you who don't speak euros, just know its more than 10 dollars) I hand it to the woman - she points out a note that says minimum donation is 20. I think no way in the world am I giving twenty euros. I say it's all I got and with many air blown kisses and nods of gratitude she leaves. Meanwhile a man walks up behind me and says in broken and heavily accented French "No, no, pick-pocket, pick-pocket". Which is when I realize that instead of donating to the deaf women's foundation, I donated to the stupid American tourist foundation. So yes, I just gave over $10 away to a con. On day one. Not the greatest start. Needless to say I was frustrated most of the morning But Kiana, you ask, were you all alone, was there no one to help you out? To which I respond, oh no - my roommate continued walking once I was stopped by gypsies and never turned back to help me - so much for no man left behind. So eventually after we asked directions we found that the street continued on the other side of the road and we found our class.

After a couple of hours in class one of the professors told us they would be taking us to Notre Dame! This is when I learned another cool French tip. The French will sometimes just barge their way to the front of a line and act as though they didn't see it. They don't like to wait in line (like everyone else) so they'll just go all the way to the front and if no one calls them out on it...they skip the line. So before we went Madame told us that we were going to do the same and if anyone said anything to us we were to tell them "Je vais prier" (I'm going to pray).

And here's the crazy thing - it worked! The tourist line to get into Notre Dame was at least 30 yards long and we simply walked the the entrance and try to insert ourselves in the line blob and no one said anything. Boom. We probably skipped over an hour of line standing! Amazing. I wished that worked all the time. The inside was so overwhelming. The huge vaulted ceiling and big stained glass windows. It was so amazing to realize that I was in THE Notre Dame. There was so much history.

Afterward we went to a museum on medieval art/history called the Musée de Cluny. And honestly, once you've looked at a few Middle Aged art pieces, you've looked at them all. It was amazing to see things that old but I think without specific knowledge, the meaning was lost. Plus, most of medieval art consists of either halo-d saints or gruesome depictions of the crucifixion. I'd prefer not to see Christ's death over and over again. But perhaps that's just me. Here are some of the cooler artifacts I saw:

Anyway after all that I was so tired that I was ready to go back home and rest for a short bit before having diner with our host family but the rest of the girls wanted to stay in Paris and shop around. So I caught the metro all by myself and the RER. Then for the second time that day: got lost. I simply could not remember the right way to get home. It wasn't a simply question of right or left turns. The tricky part is that on our route there are TWO (2!) round abouts, each with about 6 streets and I couldn't remember the right ones! So I ended up walking down most of them for a while and then turning around and walking down another street. In total I walked around the neighborhood for an hour. What should have been a ten minute walk became much longer. It was certainly frustrating, especially considering how the day started, but also along the way it gave me time to think. 

Thinking about that day and on everything that had happened I realized that life is all about making mistakes. I think I forget that sometimes because I focus so hard on avoiding them. I plan out days, weeks, years in advance so that I can do things according to a plan and not mess up. In fact, I think I hate making mistakes. I mean no one likes it, but often artists will simply say that they didn't make a mistake in a painting they just started going a different direction than originally planned. But for me, I'm all about minimizing the risk of mistake. But that day? I had made plenty of errors. And that's ok. Life is all about learning. We learn from our mistakes. We grow. We change. We adapt. I'll promise you this - I have never since been lost on the route home! A couple of blog posts ago I talked about the Atonement and I think this is a similar topic. I'm not necessarily talking about mistakes as in sins but just mistakes in life. Try some food that you don't like, take a couple of wrong turns trying to find a new place, color outside the lines! And make a couple of mistakes. Remember it's not just ok to make mistakes, but it's natural, it's life! If you're not making mistakes, you're not really making mistakes. I'm only human and that means that sometimes I'm going to goof up on a couple of things and take the long way to my new home - but it sure did take me down some beautiful streets along the way :)