I really am terrible at this blogging thing. I always think I have
time right before I go to bed, but no-- I'm usually just passing out
immediately as soon as I hit the sack. So, here I am, sitting in the
garden of my host family's house in the suburbs of Toulouse (Ramonville,
it's called). Trying to take the time out to journal, or else I will
forget all the wonderful things that I did and experienced here.
Hopefully it can be done in a few posts thematically, before I head off
to the land of pit latrines and bucket showers (Africa, I didn't know I
would be back so soon, haha).
What happened in between
my last "real" post and right now? Well, for one, I finished my first
year of medical school at UIC. Perhaps I will save the gruesome details
of that for another day, but dang, it feels good to be a quarter of the
way done. My first year of living in Chicago was fantastic, aside from
the whole school business. The winter was quite mild (yay for beginner
midwesterners!) and spring was great. Too bad I am not there for the
majority of the summer, since I am traveling right now. But I think 3
weeks of summer in Chicago will suffice, seeing as I will be there for
the next 3 years. Ok, more on that later...
Francy
fancy pants. I don't have enough money to do fancy pants stuff all the
time, but France is definitely a place where splurging is almost
necessary. Since I was going to be here for a month long medical
student exchange, I decided to leave a few days early and start my trip
off in Paris before heading down to Toulouse (which is in the south
western region, Languedoc to be precise!) for my research project. Met
up with my dear Hopkins friend, Saba, for our jaunt across Paris and
down to the small towns around the Mediterranean coast of France. I
thought I had it all planned out, haha, but it was so nerve wracking
just trying to meet up with Saba at the airport in Paris. Charles De
Gaulle I HATE YOU. Worst freaking airport in the Europe-- I can't say
in the world, since I've been to worse ones (namely, Africa heh). It
was partly my fault that we couldn't meet up at the designated spot
since well, it didn't exist. I don't know how people picked other
people up from the airport in the days before cell phones. I mean, I
had one, it just wasn't activated yet. And Saba, coming from Egypt,
didn't have a working cell phone either. It was a game of waiting, and
missed encounters and arguing with the info desk lady to try and get her
to do a PA announcement thingy so we could find each other in the
airport. I swear, if this is what losing a child in the supermarket is
like, no... it can't be. It's gotta be WAY worse. But we finally find
each other and make it into Paris in one frazzled piece.
We
stayed in the Marais arrondissement again, at the same place that me
and Jessica stayed at the last time I was in Paris. I love that little
apartment, it's just so convenient. And it was nice to see the things
that I missed last time I was there... I made sure to bring my running
shoes this time so that I would not have any knee problems... so what if
I looked like a tourist haha. Saba had been to Paris a number of years
back, so we did some obligatory sight seeing, just to brush up, but
mainly it was a time to catch up on what we were doing with our lives
and enjoy being a Parisienne without doing all the requisite tourist
trap attractions. I made a point to schedule in the Sacre Coeur
Basilica though, since I wasn't able to go last time because of my bum
knee. Although it was raining, we had a great view of Paris by starting
from the top of the Montmartre instead of doing the normal walk up to
the cathedral and back down. Popped by the Moulin Rouge too... but it
wasn't as spectacular as I thought it would be... since the original one
burned down this one just seems so much less... authentic.
We
wandered around the Seine and walked through the Luxembourg and
Tuileres gardens, before stopping by the Louvre for a quick photo op.
Definitely made sure we did all the food stops too-- Pierre Hermes
macarons, Angelina hot chocolate, which we ate (not drank, it was so
dang thick) sitting in the Tuileries garden, admiring the view of the
Louvre and the Eiffel Tower across the river... I introduced Saba to
confit de canard and steak frites, as well as traditional viennoiserie
pastries for breakfast. And we did crepes! YUM. Obligatory hehehe. I
also went back to Marais to get the falafel sandwich that is so
mouthwateringly delicious. Paris was a bit of a blur, perhaps it was
the second time around... but here are some highlights of what we saw.
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| Random Liberte Statue on busy street |
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| Le Chat Noir! This is the vineyard of Sacre Coeur. |
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| Saba! |
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| I perpetually confused... |
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| View of Paris from Sacre Coeur |
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| Hopkins SPH Unite! |
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| View of SC from the bottom of the hill |
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| Notre Dame Cathedral |
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| Famous Shakes and Co Bookstore |
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| Token Asian child making bread at a random Pain Festival right next to Notre Dame |
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| Jardin de Luxembourg! Avec le parapluie! |
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| Caption... unnecessary. haha. |
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| Tres jolie, La Seine |
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| Awesome locks along the Seine |
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| La Marche du Raspail, so fresh you can smell it |
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| And you can definitely smell this... FROMAGE GALORE! |
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| Yum? |
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| Du poisson du poisson heeeheeeheee hohoho.... |
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| CHARCUTERIE! |
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| Ronald Weasley anyone? |
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| Is it really pure captivation with Bradley Cooper? |
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| Ready... |
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| Set... |
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| GO! A la Jardin de Tuileries... |
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| I dunno what that double infinity symbol is... but yea. LoUVRE |
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| Don't remember what this is... but you see it walking out of the Louvre on the other side... |
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| Cutest Paris rooftop Ever |
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| Confused... |
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| Bemused? |
Next post will on our overnight train ride down to Toulouse and the amazing medieval villages we toured in the Southwest of France.
