Observations and More Paris Photos (a bit late...)

So, here are some of my deep thoughts on Paris, along with more photos (although I have about 300 in total, to the viewing of which some of you no doubt will be subjected). Sorry it's taken me so long, but now that I'm done with my coursework, I'm catching up the blog. :)

Deep thoughts:
I know French people often get a bad reputation for being rude, but this is simply not true. The Parisians I met and talked with were all very polite and helpful. As long as you treat them with respect, they will treat you with respect back. Too bad so few American tourists can manage this simple task. :(

The only thing I noticed that I didn't like too much is that sometimes (although this only happened to me once or twice, it happened to Amanda more) if you start speaking to a French person in French, they will switch the conversation to English. I think this is because they are trying to either be helpful since you quite obviously don't speak French that professionally or because they want to practice their English. Unfortunately, it can come off as quite condescending. Oh well. I still thought the French were really nice.

Actual French crepes are way more amazing a) than pancakes and b) than any attempt to replicate them in the U.S. De-licious!

The metro is really easy and amazing. Again, why can't the U.S. take a leaf out of Europe's book and get working on making public transit widely available? Sigh.

I guess that's all... Except to say: J'adore Paris!

Cathedrale de Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre.

The ACTUAL Moulin Rouge - how cool is that?

The Two Towers: La Tour Eiffel and L'Obelisk de Luxor (Egyptian obelisk "given" to the French in the 1830s)

A side view of one of Notre Dame's towers...

And a view from inside the Musee D'Orsay. It used to be a train station.

Spring Break Week 1 - Perusing Paris

Bonjour mes amis! So, we just finished up week one of our two-week spring break, and what a time! Last Monday through Wednesday I was in Paris with another of the JSAs here at St. Andrews: Amanda. We left early on Monday morning so that we could tour around Edinburgh a bit before our flight left that evening, so we had an excellent time at Edinburgh Castle (pics of that will be in a separate post). We arrived in Paris about 9:30 that evening and had quite an adventure riding the RER train to Gare du Nord and trying to find our hostel (it's the building with blue lights in the photo). Eventually, we ended up calling the reception desk at the hostel and they gave us excellent directions so that we made it safely to our beds that night. Tuesday morning we got up early, had a delicious breakfast of croissants, jam, tea, and cheese, and then commenced our tour of Paris with a wander around Montmartre. Our tour guide later that day said that, "the Axis of Paris is what Paris looks like, but Montmartre is what Paris is like." I think she's right. Montmartre was fantastic! We toured Sacre Coeur, which is set on the highest point of Paris, and we decided it was worth the 5 euro to go up to the tower, so that we would be at the highest point of the highest point. Despite a terrifying encounter with some vicious Parisian pigeons, the view was spectacular and merited climbing the 400-some narrow, winding steps (It's a Where's Waldo-style photo: can you pick out the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe in this photo?). Later we made our way to the Moulin Rouge and the Cafe des 2 Moulins (from the movie Amelie) and ate lunch at a real French creperie (best crepe I have ever eaten in my entire life). After this self-guided tour of Montmartre, it was off to Place St-Michel for our 4-hour guided tour of the Axis of Paris. This took us along the Seine from Notre Dame down to the Louvre, the Jardins des Tuileries, into Place de la Concorde, and finished on the Champs-Elysees. We saw, of course, tons of stuff in between and our tour guide Amelia filled our noggins with many interesting and fun facts about Paris along the way. She also took us to Laduree at the end, the best macaroon shop in Paris (the macaroons were incredibly tasty and I successfully completed my entire order en francais!). Amanda and I finished out the day at Arc de Triomphe, although we came back into central Paris later that night to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower lit up. Wednesday was devoted to the inside of Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Musee D'Orsay. All were amazing and a bit overwhelming, to be honest. By the time we finished all that, it was time for us to part ways as she was off to Barcelona the next day and I had to get back to the airport for my return journey to St. Andrews. All in all, it was a FABULOUS trip! I loved Paris; the weather was so beautiful and sunny that I even got a little bit sunburned from being outside so much! I would definitely go back in a heartbeat! The next post will have more pictures and also some thoughts on Paris...

March Week 4 - Superheroes in St. Andrews

Hiya! (typical Scottish greeting) Hope all is well wherever you find yourselves. This week was the last one before our two week spring break. I was, once again, frantically trying to finish all my work. (I feel like this is becoming a theme... hmmm. Not good.) I had a presentation for class (although it was not graded, which I still find weird). (This is the building I have all my classes in.) Anyway, I managed to get done with everything and then headed out on Thursday night to an Albany-sponsored Superheroes and Villains theme party at a bar called the Vic. It was fabulous! Charmaine and I spent most of the evening perfecting our costumes and particularly our utility belts. I went as Wynott Waitawhile, the Procrastination Villain (how fitting), and Charmaine went as the Safe Sex Hero. Alas, we did not win the costume competition even though our costumes were definitely the most original and the coolest. Sigh. Anyway, pretty much everyone has been leaving over the rest of the weekend, so now I am hanging out all by my lonesome in the house. So I went for a walk this morning and photographed more of St. Andrews. A photo of part of the West Sands (this is where they filmed Chariots of Fire, so you can often see tourists running epically in slow motion toward each other on the beach). Here is a view of the East Sands from the pier. Albany is right between the big shiny roof and the row of cars, if you are zooming in. It is a gorgeous day, and not even too windy for kite-flying. Luckily, I leave the empty house tomorrow for Paris. Woohoo! Amanda (one of the other JSAs) and I are going to meet my flatmate Becky to wander around Edinburgh during the day and then we fly out tomorrow night. I promise to take lots of pictures and learn many nerdy historical details to report. For now, I'll say "Au Revoir!"

More Ireland Photos!

Here are some of the other photos from the Ireland trip...

Torc Waterfall. Apparently "torc" means wild boar in Gaelic. Who knew?

Along the bike path... I just thought it was pretty.


Bridge somewhere near Lough Lein.

Muckross House. This belonged to the English family that owned the land that now makes up the national park. It is quite common that the only land that was preserved in Ireland once belonged to wealthy English landowners. I think if you click on this photo, you will be able to see that the sign in front of the house is written in both Gaelic and English. This was one of the things that most surprised me about Ireland. Nearly all signs were written in both languages and on my flight the announcements were made in both as well.

On the way back to the airport. Notice the daffodils all along the sides of the road. There were gazillions of them!

March Week 3 - Interstudy in Ireland

Hey all! It has been yet another eventful couple of weeks in St. Andrews. Last week I frantically tried to finish much homework, as usual, so that I could go to Ireland over the weekend for my other interstudy program excursion. So, I met up with 20 other students studying around the UK and Ireland for some exciting activities and hang-out time. The first night we got Chinese take-away and settled into the Neptunes Hostel, which was very nice and homey, with sunflower duvets and yellow paint. Then on Saturday we left the hostel early for a nerve-wracking but fun day of kayaking and mountain-biking around the National Park just outside of Killarney. (We also did a bit of spelunking!) Those of you who know of my poor record with such activities will be happy to know that I made it through the entire day without serious injury - it was a miracle! :) When we got back (absolutely knackered!), we went to a pub to watch the final match of the Six Nations Rugby Tournament. It was Ireland vs. Wales and Ireland had not won the Grand Slam in 61 years. The second half was incredibly exciting and Ireland managed to hang on for the win. It was a great time - the pub practically erupted in cheering! That evening we went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and I had my first steak of my overseas experience. It was delicious! We then went to another pub after dinner and drank our requisite pint of Guinness. It took me all of Sunday to get home, but the trip was well worth the time and exhaustion - what a blast!

More ball/party photos - I couldn't help myself!

I am obviously wowing everyone with my groovy dance moves... :)

This is my academic family: Mom Becky and Dad Gerard. I got adopted at the rave, since I missed Raisin Weekend, which was in November. If anyone wants an explanation of the academic family phenomenon at St. Andrews, you will have to ask me separately, because it is too long and confusing to write here...Ceilidh dancing at the ball - it looks like a party, huh!?!
This is one of the bands from the music night - they were excellent!

Here is us at the Oak Rooms, where we went for dinner for Connie's birthday. L-R: Connie, Jen, Me, and Charmaine. That's all folks!

March Week 2 - Balls and Birthdays

Hello again, wonderful people! This post is going to be devoted almost exclusively to the Albany Park Ball, which was held in Dundee on Friday night, and to Connie's birthday celebration, which was yesterday. Other things happened this week as well, but since all pretty much anyone was thinking or talking about was the ball, it seems to have rendered everything else pretty much irrelevant. I was worried about feeling okay for the ball earlier this week, since, as mentioned in a previous post, I came down with a nasty cold that kept changing and developing new symptoms in an effort to make me feel as miserable as possible. Luckily, by this weekend the only symptom left was a cough (which I still have, btw... sigh). To make matters worse, though, I came down with pink eye. You'll probably notice the redness of my eyes in the ball pictures, but I didn't spend the evening crying in the bathroom (although there were a few people that did - sad times). It was a pain, though, since the whole evening I had to go put drops in my eyes every two hours - there are photos of that, too (thanks, Jessa - not), but they aren't on facebook yet. But I digress... Anyway, the ball was held at the Apex Hotel in Dundee, which is about 20-30 minutes away from St. Andrews. We had a reception in Albany, complete with bagpiper, before boarding coaches to travel to Dundee. Once at the hotel, we had another champagne reception and then enjoyed a delicious 3-course meal. (Table 15 photo - the coolest table of all.) After dinner, there was a ceilidh and a disco, so we danced to our hearts' desire. At 12:30, the people with normal tickets went back to Albany and the rest of us took the coaches to a club in Dundee called Fat Sam's. We hung out in the VIP Lounge and then danced some more until coming back to Albany about 3am. (Above photo L-R: Xander, Adam, and Stefan, whose birthday was also on Saturday.) All in all, it was a fabulous evening! Everyone looked great in their dresses, suits, and kilts! Yesterday, after having a lie-in, as it's called here, Charmaine, Jen, and I went out with Connie and her mom and brother to dinner for Connie's birthday. Later that evening, we went to a music night that the transition town that Jen is working with for her dissertation was putting on. The music was great - there were two live blues bands - and we danced a whole bunch more. (My knees and toes are very sore today!). Anyway, that was my crazy weekend. I have done absolutely no work, though, so I will really have to buckle down tomorrow, especially since I am supposed to be heading to Killarney this weekend. For now, though, I best go into town and get myself some groceries... I promise to write again soon - no more 3 week breaks!