Petit Chalet!!

My friends and i went to this amazing party on an island. I was really an amazing night out. Actually it was yesterday night. There was this really HUGE line because we had to get there by boat. Before i got there though, i took a taxi with my friend and left my phone in the taxi. Epic fail. Then i called my phone to see if the taxi driver can come back and he was all like "No, i cannot now because i have a customer but i will put it in the lost and found" Thankfully its a really crappy phone so i don't think he'd want to steal it anyway. But back to the party, it was actually kind of pricey. For females its 35 Euros and for guys its 50 Euros so i was counting on it being great. They also give you ten ticket stubs which you can use for food and drinks all night. They actually had a hot dog stand. I used all my ten stubs for Twix bars. I just went up to the guy and said "Dix twix sil vous plait" and he thought i was crazy but yea, i will be on a sugar high for a couple of days. Enjoy the photos! 

Home Sweet Home

I finally found the perfect place in Paris. As some of you know, i had a bit of a hard time getting accommodation when i arrived. I initially stayed at a hostel and then at a friends place, so I decided to just shell out a couple more hundreds to an agency that guaranteed me a place in a short time and they definitely delivered on that promise and I moved in last Monday! It is nice and cozy apartment located in the 19eme Arrondissement right next to a really beautiful park called Parc de Buttes Chaumant and It is very close to my school. It had everything i needed when i moved in, a Full-length mirror, a French-English dictionary and a big enough closet. I can't really take photos of the house being that its a family home but i can take a picture of my room. I also took a picture of a view outside one of the windows that i really love at night. Its a lit up street that to me looks so nice and calm when i look out the window at night, especially when it rains. Oh and don't ask me why i keep my Uncle Ben's rice on the desk in my room, it just felt....right.  I live with a really nice couple that own one dog and one cat. The cat is extremely scared of me so it took a couple of hours to get this shot of the cat, it actually tried to hide behind a chair leg......Cats.....but the dog is a sweetheart. Well, here are the photos of my space. 

Gallarie Lafayette and Live sit-ins

Yesterday i had a great time at Gallarie Lafayette which is a shopping center. Its quite huge and very beautifully constructed. I actually got to go to the roof where there is a beautiful view of Paris and the Eiffel tower. There is also a restaurant on the roof. Its mostly a tourist shopping center though so everything is expensive. I was with a friend of mine looking for shoes when a guy came up to us and invited us to sit in as part of a studio audience for a show on Canal + called "Salut Les Terriens". We thought it would be an interesting experience so we agreed to go. Also he said there would be food so that motivated me a bit more. well food turned out to be a small piece of cake and a bottle of water. The old "there will be food" trick, i should have known better. The show is a talk show hosted by a man called Thierry Ardisson with a lot of political mumbo jumbo and it was 4 hours of taping! so when we got there and were told that they had over booked people, i was so happy and ready to go because i was tired from shopping anyway but they said we should go over to another studio to sit in  on another show called "Les guignols de l'info". This show is actually way more popular and actually funnier than the other show. The best part was that it was live and we also only had to be there for about 15 minutes. It is a puppet show with a lot of political characters. It was funny even though i only understood every other word. I actually got a little video clip which can be found all the way at the bottom of the page. So, yea I had fun, and made new friends. Also the show gave us free tickets to see a play next Thursday. It was definitely a worthwhile experience.

Fun Post: Rémi Gaillard

I was hanging out with a friend of mine and he told me about a french comedian called Rémi Gaillard. I know he's super famous and stuff out here but I've never heard of him till yesterday and i find him EXTREMELY funny but thats just my opinion. I thought i should share the laughter with those who don't know him. So brighten your day and enjoy the following three videos.

LENNY LENNY!

 The funniest and also most amazing thing happened the other day. I was walking with my friends Cam and Sam to look for a Zara store when we spotted a car. i hadn't seen many like it in France and we sort of took a moment to appreciate it and eventually started walking on. I looked back for a moment because i heard the door open and out flies LENNY KRAVITZ. It was one of those moment in my life where i had to decide the appropriate reaction. It seemed surreal so i said to my friend "that's Lenny Kravitz" and i decided not to be another crazy fan and let the man live in peace. Cameron obviously did not think i should have been so calm because just then he screamed " LENNY LENNY" and Lenny stopped and walked back over to us. I kinda just froze. so excuse the crazy facial expression that looks like some sort of cross between a smile and me chewing on something. He had a quick chat with us and took a photo and headed off on his way. He was pretty nice. Well that's the best thing that happened all week.

Père Lachaise and the Catacombs

I was talking to my french professor at Baylor one day when he said " i love going to Pere lachaise cemetery to just relax and eat a sandwich". I stared at him wide eyed like what? who takes a leisurely trip to the cemetery? C'est bizarre, non? I decided to give it a go and i've got to say, that sandwich was delicious!

Père Lachaise Cemetery  is the world's most visited cemetery with over 1 million bodies buried there. These include famous poets, singers, writers, politicians and more. I took it upon myself to visit the graves of Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. American singer Jim Morrison is also buried there. It is tradition to put on red lipstick and kiss Oscar Wilde's tombstone (more like a tomb boulder), but i decided against it..for sanitary reasons. 

We also visited the catacombs which is a site where millions of bones of the dead are pretty much stacked on top of each other (To read its history click here) . A wall of human skulls and bones. it was quite creepy. Apparently people actually try to steal the bones too. everyday they catch at least 5 people with a skull in their bag. People never cease to amaze me. Photos of Père Lachaise are first and then the catacombs come after. It was quite dark in the catacombs so forgive the picture quality.

Moulin Rouge!

While having breakfast the other day, i heard someone sneeze next to me and i instinctively said "bless you" and that's how i met Cam and Sam. The coolest Aussies ever. Within an hour of meeting, we had already booked tickets to see Moulin Rouge.
Before seeing the show, i never knew what it actually was. I only knew it was a cabaret sort of show and i had the Moulin Rouge song to refer to but that was it. When the show started i didn't have much of an expectation but when a couple of mostly naked women started dancing, i understood the men to women ratio in the audience. The costumes were very extravagant. People weren't allowed into the room with cameras so i wasn't able to take pictures of the actual show but i got some pictures of it online. There was this really awesome part of the show when one of the dancers got into a big tank with snakes in it and swam with the snakes.. it was pretty amazing. so here are some pictures from the night.

Little hotel, big charm

Right now i'm staying at a hotel on Rue de Fourcy while i wait for my home stay accommodation info and its not an expensive hotel compared to some others and the rooms are not the greatest either but i find that i can over look all that stuff when there is so much more to the hotel. It has the coolest features ever. On my way to breakfast one morning, i stumbled upon a passage way that made me think i lost my way, that's because it looked like something out of Spartacus. I thought i was walking to a torture room or something but it was just an alternate way to the breakfast room. Here are some photos from the hotel. If you notice, in the last few pictures, i didn't really go in the room..was a bit scared honestly, it was pitch black.

Luxembourg, subways and stare wars

Its been a busy couple of days, so much to do and so little time. I won't lie and say its all fun and games. I've had to look for an apartment the whole time and have finally given up and hopped on the home stay express. I should have a place within the week. For the first two days tho i hung out with an amazing family of my friend and had an awesome time. actually on the first day, jet-lagged and all, i was taken out dancing at this club, and the next day we visited the Luxembourg garden. It was beyond what i could imagine. sooo beautiful. took so many photos. Definitely going back. A good place for an afternoon nap.
Also i rode the metro for the first time in Paris and I gotta say, the french do love their stare wars. Its so funny how normal it is to stare here. You would have people looking straight into your eyes yet want nothing in particular from you. Found it a bit weird at first but i'm getting used to it. I was told it gets worse too, eventually they start trying to sit closer to you but i don't know.  All the stuff i heard about pick pocketing and stuff didn't really happen to me. Maybe cause I've been watching my stuff like a hawk.but i did see an american tourist walking around with his bag WIDE open and they complain that people steal from them. oh and i almost got hit by a bus and then a car.....good times. Well here are a couple of photos from the first few days.