Since returning from Vienna, life here in Paris has continued like usual. I spend between 2-6 hours in classes and then I go babysitting for 3 hours. I haven't been doing any sight seeing really because I've been enjoying the nice weather and doing what the Parisians do when its nice. Parisians, when its nice, never stay inside so I've been bike riding and roller blading and eating my lunch in the parks with friends on the weekends. Its been really nice here (like in the upper 60/70s most of the time) so I've been enjoying it. However I do spend a lot of time studying still, more than last semester. This semester I'm taking a French business class and at the end we have the option of taking a test with the French Commerce to have a certificate that says I am proficient in business French at a certain level. My teacher thinks I can pass the B2 level which is upper level intermediate right under C1 which is pretty much fluent so under her advice I am going to try. I have an extra book and extra work to do so I spend a lot of my free time studying or figuring how to write a French resume, structure a cover letter, or write inter office emails. There are only two of us in class who are trying for B2 so thankfully I have someone who is under the same pressure as me. I have been getting great grades on every extra assignment I have been turning in so I feel confident I can pass this level. I just learned this last week that I will have the opportunity to take another test with the French government but this one has to do with my proficiency level in French in general. My teacher has a contact in that sector and she gets her students in for free. So come May I will have the proficiency test on the 6th and 12th, the business one on the 23rd and 26th, the Sorbonne test on the 24th, the Sorbonne lecture exams on the 20th and 21st and then my oral exam sometime the week of the 26th. It will be a fun month lol. However from the 14th to the 18th of April I am going to Warsaw and Krakow, Poland and the 21-25th I am going to Cambridge, Wales!!! Then when June comes I am going to Greece with a girlfriend, Berlin and Brussels by myself and then Mom and Phil come in and were doing some traveling and then July comes and I will be coming home! So I pretty much just have to study my way through May and things will be all fun in the sun!!! I am so lucky. I thank God every night of how lucky I am and then I pray that my entire family and friends stay safe and pray that they are lucky too in their own way.
Okay back to what I have done this past month. For Fat Tuesday I found a Polish bakery that sold paczki. I had a raspberry one. It was very very good. Almost just like the ones in the states if you go to a Polish bakery.
Then it was Ash Wednesday. I went in between my grammar class and my Wednesday Versailles lecture (yes I get to spend 2 glorious hours every week talking and hearing all about Versailles!!! It is the best 2 hours of the week!!!). I went to Notre Dame for the service and they did a very nice job. The church had a different feel to it though, you could really tell it was the beginning of lent because it felt very sombre and more respectful than usual.
I went with Christina to this bakery for lunch one day and I have pictures of the cake below but it is they make literally the best cake here in Paris!
Spring has come!! I need to find out what kind of tree this is but it is all over my area.
Laker gear, popular even in Paris.
So I found a Kawasaki store! I showed the picture to Phil and he knew right away what it was. So now if we need to flee the states cause aliens are attacking Phil and I can go to France with our families and set up a shop and I can speak the French while he fixes the bikes!
On the day I got my hair cut (March 19th) I found this small salon with only two chairs on the north west side of the city. It was right off one of the branches of the Seine river that I had never seen before.
Last day with long hair!!! Yay!
March 20th: first day with short hair!! Yay! In the Luxembourg gardens
Second Day with short hair! I felt very French in my outfit going out to have a glass of wine with a girlfriend on a Saturday night.
The next day (March 22nd) was election day in Paris for a new mayor. Nation wide really, every city elected a new mayor that day. It was a Sunday which was different for me since we vote during the week. The idea is that since everyone has Sunday off no one has any reason to not go and vote. For the most part it works but no one votes for the mayors. Apparently the Parisian mayor is a figure head who just works on transportation and how to reduce the smog. Since Paris is the center off all trade, economics, politics, everything literally in France the President and the National Assembly do everything. Martin, Katie's boyfriend, took me with him when he voted to see how they did it compared to how we do it in the states. Its not electronic nor is it a multiple choice but its an envelope system. So on the table in the picture is a flyer for every candidate running (there was about 8) and you take a flyer for each and a blue envelope. Then you go into the stalls and you pick which flyer to put in your envelope and you put the envelope in a box. At the end of the day officials come in and take the box and every envelope is opened and read twice or three times. Although it seems like a long process, they had the results out that evening of final two in Paris. You need the majority of voters to win the election so it was narrowed down to two women and they had another vote the next Sunday.
Out on a Saturday!
Egg, ham, mushroom crepe with a cafe.
Here's a picture of the best cake. They make like five different kinds and I got the marble. When Mom and Phil come in we are so going back to get another slice!
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