Springing into Action

I know it's been too long since I've last written, so forgive me for making this blog ridiculously long (and I'll forgive you for not reading it all).

A few weeks ago I was at the Louvre, where we were introduced to some less well known, but still impressive, masterpieces. Our guide, a witty and charming Frenchman described the Louvre as "wider than Chicago!" Another hilarious reference to home.

Other than attending classes, I was disappointed to miss two of my favorite people celebrating their birthdays this past week- my awesome dad Frank and my great friend Manny. Lucky for me, Manny and I celebrated together shortly after his actual birthday- he spent spring break in Paris! After picking him up Saturday morning we spent the day roaming around Paris in glorious sunlight and after a delicious dinner we went to a concert of a band called The Blue Embers.

The next day Manny and I ventured to an indoor ultimate tournament in Poissy with Les Phoenix de Montrouge and it was honestly magic to play together again; the French style of ultimate is in no way inferior to that of the US, but it is certainly different than that to which we are used, so Manny and I made many beautiful connections and just had a blast. For those of you who play ultimate, you'll have to ask him what "Le Knife" is. Ha! Many of my teammates and fellow ultimate players admired his speed and quickness, and also dubbed him "Manu" for the weekend. I'm still not sure how Manny wasn't affected by jet lag- magic? The week was crazy- we threw a disc at Champs de Mars infront of the Eiffel Tour, spent hours at Gilbert Jeune (a multi-building bookstore that has books in every language about everything!), hung out with friends, enjoyed home-cooked french meals (believe it or not, I was cooking!), go to cafes, went to Montmartre/Sacre-Coeur, discovered a quaint and spectacular park similar and more private than Montmartre, and just had fun.

I had a program outing that Wednesday to the Galerie Ballet to see the spectacle "Le Parc", which is a modern and interesting ballet. I certainly can't dance with that much beauty and grace! I also ventured to the Musee de l'art et deco. There, our guide demonstrated the progression of furniture throughout the late 17th century up through modern day furniture. I personally enjoyed a beautifully sculpted chest full of string instruments (the cello was the most beautiful and ornate I have ever seen). Oh! After the ballet, I was treated to a home-made Italian cuisine by a friend. It was delizioso!

Alas, Manny's time here was far too short. He left Friday as I was leaving for a group excursion to Marseille. I was sad to see him go and felt the lack of his presence for Manny days after he left. In Marseille, we saw one of the biggest ports of France; it is a beautiful coastal city in the South of France (what is referred to as Midi) and it was very lovely. Unfortunately, all of the city was destroyed during the Second World War and as a result of the reconstruction, Marseille lacks the winding roads and allies which I love so much in Paris. Although the weather was not that pleasant, we still enjoyed the port- I saw fish markets (cool but SMELLY), spring flowers in bloom, and had an excellent tour of a church whose history spans over 2,000 years of different religions and demoninations. That was by far my favorite part of Marseille. Oh! And we enjoyed some delicious orange-infused chocolate in the oldest patisserie of Marseille. Yum!

The following week was dreary, not only because Manny was gone, but because the sun went with him! Unfortunately, it rained and it was overcast for the majority of last week. This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting up with the McDonalds- Jen and Mac- who are parents of a friend from Bradley, Maggie. We spent the day touring Paris, munching on yummies, and enjoying each other's company. The next day they departed to take their nephew to a study abroad program, so their visit was short. However, it made me very happy. Mac and Jen are wonderful people.

The Friday night beforehand, my friend and I stopped by a local bar and made friends with the barman who happens to be a very hospitable Frenchman. We now frequent Xavier's to enjoy a cafe or just to say hi since the first night we met him. The next night a bunch of friends had an evening of aperos (including home-made pizza) and then attended another Blue Embers concert at the Trabendo, a concert venue in the 20th. After a crazy night, I was beat!

Finally catching up to the somewhat present, I spent the afternoon with some Americans outside of the Centre Pompidou enjoying an assortment of live musicians. Among the performances, I was ecstatic to witness a violinist play one of my favorite Hungarian Dances numbers by Johann Brahms! The sun was out today and along with it Parisiens enjoying ice cream, eating lunch, outside drinking coffee and so on. It was a beautiful spring day in Paris.

Well, I'm exhausted, all this thinking wears me out. A bientot. Love, Lauren