Everything Since Last Wednesday

I apologize for how long it's been since I last posted. I picked up another class (which meets in four hour chunks, twice a week) after break, so I've been pretty busy with schoolwork. Not much is new in Paris, but here are a couple of things I've been up to:

La Foire de Paris:

When at our cooking class the week before, we asked our hosts where they bought the fresh vanilla beans we were cooking with. They replied "La Foire de Paris",  so I decided to go this past weekend and see what it was all about. It was very similar to the Salon d'Agriculture I attended in March, just without the animals. It was the largest expo event I'd ever seen. They had a home expo, garden expo, beauty expo, random junk from all over the world expo, and of course, tons of food. I decided to get a ham and cheese sandwich that looked incredibly appealing. The sandwiches were pre-made, but the cheese was under a heat lamp, and they would put your sandwich at the bottom of the 1/2 wheel of cheese and scrape off all of the gooey wonderfulness directly on to your sandwich. I'd say it was one of the better purchases I've made since being here. I didn't buy much (other than some vanilla beans, Aunt Jackie!), but I had a good time walking around and looking at all of the different beds, plants, face creams, African sculptures, and foods.

Lunch at Osman's House:

My photography professor has another class called "Places", and their assignment was to create a "food experience" for everyone else in the program. Our classmates decided to have it be a lunch with wine, cheese, meats, etc. and they told us it was BYOB (bring your own baguette). Tuesday was a national holiday, so what better day to do it than when nobody has class? Digression: the French never work. ever. They usually start any given job with 5-6 weeks of vacation, then there are tons of national holidays. Especially in the month of May. Tuesday's holiday was Victory Day. Yep. They get work and school off just because America saved their butts and won World War II for them. Whatever, I'm not complaining because it means less school for me! Anywho, our professor, Osman, held the lunch at his house. We all showed up around 1:30, baguettes in hand, ready to party. It was totally hilarious to cross the threshold of professor/student boundaries and take a look at where our professor lives. I know I've said it before, but one of the best parts about this whole study abroad experience is the personal relationships formed between us and our professors. In what other context would a professor invite students over to their house to have a picnic on their living room floor? All in all, it was a great afternoon and everyone had a good time.

Opera Garnier Presentation:

I can now cross off "rap on the balcony of the Paris opera house" off of my bucket list. For our Paris by Site class, each student presents at a different monument each week. I signed up for Opera Garnier at the beginning of the semester. Why, you ask? Because it's the opera house that Phantom of the Opera is based off of. Oh yeah, I was excited. The opera house is absolutely beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed doing research on it. I decided to spice things up a bit with my presentation, and instead of reading facts as most of my classmates have done, I wrote a rap. I found an awesome backbeat online that complemented my mad lyrics (sick flow: check). My presentation ended on the balcony, so I chose to perform there (awesome venue: check). All I needed to become the next Lil Kim were some cronies. To my surprise, when I got ready to deliver my rap, two of my classmates asked if they could be my backup dancers, so I had a full entourage (posse: check). Move out of the way Nicki Minaj, there's a new rap diva in town. My professor loved my beats and told me that if my life plan doesn't work out, I should start a business where I write historical raps and sell them. She said "I've never had a student rap their presentation before, and I surely hope this isn't the last of it." If that doesn't get me an A, I don't know what will.

In other news, my birthday is on Saturday and I think I'm going to go to Disneyland for it. Disney Paris is celebrating it's 20th birthday by giving everyone free entrance on their birthday. I wonder if I would get anything extra special since it's my 20th birthday, too... I'll be sure to report back about my adventures with Mickey and Minny :)

Affectueusement,

Katie