half way there

I'm half way through my year in France. I can't believe it. I still can't believe I live here. I haven't been doing many things that I can't wait to blog about because I LIVE HERE! I walk around sometimes with a destination in mind and sometimes not, get lost, get distracted, find cool places, forget what time it is and walk around for usually about five hours at a time, realize i'm exhausted, find the metro, and go home. Recently, I was out as it was getting dark and saw a searchlight that I thought might be the Eiffel Tower. I followed it for a while, and sure enough, it was the Eiffel Tower! That made it the third night in a row that I ended up at the Trocadéro, the big flat thing in front of the Eiffel Tower where people always take pictures of each other leaning on it or holding it in the palm of their hand. It never gets old. I didn't know i could walk from my house to the Eiffel Tower, but now it's been done and it can be done again!...just maybe not in the daytime when i actually have to look at maps instead of sparkly lights to find it. I don't like maps. I like winging it.

Another day, I was trying to find the coiffure by my house where my friend had gotten a haircut. I still cannot believe how many coiffures (hair salons/places) there are in Paris and I don't understand how people pick which one to go to! On the way there, I took a wrong turn, didn't care, saw Tour Montparnasse (the tallest building in Paris after the Eiffel Tower and right by my school), and decided to walk to my school. I still haven't ever walked there when I actually need to go to class or figured out how long that would take if I stayed on track, but I'm working on it...maybe when it's warmer. I cannot wait for Paris in the spring! I mean, it snowed in Paris this year! Actually enough snow to count! It wouldn't have felt right without it, but now that it happened, it can be spring now please!

So now I'm perfectly happy to say I live here and I'm not a tourist...but i can still be persuaded to do touristy things when people who don't get to live here all year come here and want to do that! For example, my friend Chelsea came back after Christmas break and brought her friend Gary who stayed for two and a half weeks. We did touristy things like going to Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Montmartre, the Louvre, the ferris wheel at the end of the Champs--Elysées, the catacombs, and an absinthe bar. To summarize absinthe, it smells good like licorice but tastes disgusting!

In the last few weeks, I've tried many French foods that I would never try if I wasn't here. I had foie gras for the second time (still not that great), escargot (slimy and garlicky), fondue (If I ever learn to like rare meat, it will be this year!), and eating kiwi out of the skin with a spoon (maybe not particularly French, but new and different!). I also had rabbit (lapin) with my French family on February 3rd since it's the Chinese New Year and 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit (tastes like chicken--really!). On February 2nd, we made crepes for La Chandeleur, which is kind of like Groundhog Day. The tradition goes that you hold a coin in one hand and try to flip a crepe in a pan with the other hand. If it lands perfectly, you will have a lucky year. If not, better luck next time. Also, after some research, I learned this rhyme: "Quand la Chandeleur est claire, l'hiver est par derriere. Chandeleur couverte, quarante jours de perte!" (If February 2nd is clear, no more winter to fear. If the Chandeleur is overcast, forty days winter to last). I'm pretty sure it was cloudy.

Last but not least, Mom came to visit! We spent a lovely week in a lovely apartment right by school! I picked her up from the airport and taught her how to use the metro. She brought American things that I'd been missing and taught me how to sit outside cafes and drink coffee (er, still chocolat chaud for me!) and not be a poor college student, at least for a week. We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, and the Luxembourg Gardens. At my still-favorite museum. Musee d'Orsay, she found her favorite painting, a Van Gogh, even though she doesn't even like Van Gogh! See Paris is so educational!   Then real mom met French mom. We had galette des rois (cake that has a roi/king/angel/blue teddy bear in our case hidden in it and whoever finds it gets to wear the crown) at my French house. I translated, but my mom's high school french is better than I thought and my French mom's English is way better than I thought(!). But I actually kind of appreciate that she doesn't speak English with me so I can get better at French. Then Mom left very early in the morning, I said goodbye to her and the apartment, and I went to class to finish the semester. Now I have three weeks off between semesters, and I'm going to Spain, London, and Scotland...so international! Like the other day when I scratched off an iTunes gift card sent from Minnesota with a 10 dirham coin from Morocco in Paris, France!...woah.