Dinner Parties, Musee d'Orangerie, Versailles, and Superbowl at midnight

Hey everybody!

My weekend was quite successful to say the least, and I did some touristy esque things as well which was good. Even with the cold temperatures and the fact that I haven't seen the sun in forever, I am falling more and more in love with this city every day. I have moments where it hits me that I am actually here, and that this is actually real and I love those moments.

On friday, my friend Sam and myself went to see a movie called Oceans. Set to come out on earth day in the US, but as its a french film its being shown here earlier. Its a planet earth esque thing all about marine life, and the cinematography was breathtaking. It made me want to drop out of school and become a documentary filmmaker about the ocean. It also made me miss the ocean and being close to it. That evening, a friend of mine had a bunch of us over for dinner, and made delicious french onion soup. It was a lot of fun, and her apartment has an awesome view of the city which we all got to see. Afterwards, me and Sam walked around with a bottle of wine to avoid the ridiculous drink costs in bars.

Saturday, Sam Laura and I decided to go to the Musee d'Orangerie on recommendation from my mother, and to see Monet's water lily paintings. They were so wonderful I can't put it into words. We all spent about a half an hour in each room looking at the paintings. The way he captured the light, and how the light changed the scenery was beautiful, and the reflections of the sky in the water. I also loved them because I love water, and I really liked how he portrayed it with the water lillies. I really want to go out to his house outside the city, and to his gardens and see what the actual scenery looks like. Probably nothing in comparison to his portrayal, but it would be really interesting to see the nature that gave him inspiration for so many of his pieces.

Saturday evening we bought 5 euro tickets to a Shakespeare performance...in French. Needless to say, we understood almost none of it, and there were a reason the tickets were 5 euros; we were essentially sitting on the ceiling in the place. The play seemed like it would have been really good had I been able to see it and had I understood better what was going on, but because of the seating and lack of comprehension we opted to leave at intermission.

Sunday we went out to Versailles, which was beautiful. The palace and the gates were gorgeous at the entrance, but it was sad to see that a lot of modern buildings have been built up around the palace. Definitely a must see if your in Paris. You get in free on the first sunday of every month, and if your a French student(even though I am not actually french I just flash my Sciences Po ID and they think I am) its free every sunday. However, once you get through the palace and out into the grounds you felt like it was its own little city. The grounds were so pretty, even in the dead of winter so I can't wait to see what they'll be like in spring. I can't imagine what it would have been like to legitimately spend summers there and be able to wander around the grounds at your leisure. There was a Tex Mex place right by Versailles, and we wanted to go so badly, it was definitely a buzzkill when we walked in and they said they weren't serving food anymore. But, on the grounds of Versailles and near Marie Antionette's cottage there was a cafe that sold macaroons which were definitely the most delicious ones I have had since I have been here. We're talking about going back this weekend sometime, since apparently we don't have any classes on Friday.

I also watched the superbowl!! At a canadian bar. I have an 8am on mondays, so it was definitely a dilemma but it was too good a game for me to pass up. And it definitely lived up to my expectations, it was such a good game. So glad the saints won too! By the time I got home, it was 4:30, and I had my 8am to wake up for. But, my alarm decided to break and so I actually woke up at 9:30 and was extremely confused, so I missed class and spent forever fixing my alarm. Fixed now thank god so I won't be missing my 8am tomorrow.

I am enjoying myself so much here, I am falling more and more in love with this city every day. I feel completely at home here, and I feel like everything I do is interesting, even the things I must do out of necessity, like class, I still enjoy doing. I was talking to my mother today, and I realized how much I love all of my classes here. I actually enjoy going to class, it doesn't feel like a chore. I love studying at Sciences Po, and I really lucked out with my teachers. They are all extremely interesting, and extremely nice people. I feel very intellectually stimulated by all my classes, and even doing readings for them is interesting. It is also nice to have a lot of writing based assessment, and less exam based.

That's all for now. Since I have gotten very little sleep in the past 24 hours, I want to try and get some in tonight before I have to wake up for my next 8am.

A bientot!

Megan