to make up for last week!

Since last week I didn't put that much effort into my post, I'll give you a nice and long post this week :-)

La Nuit Blanche

Going back chronologically, the weekend before last, there was this night in Paris called Nuit Blanche. It's basically a citywide night where things like museums, bars, music venues, etc are open really late. Also there are a lot of free events and passes to museums. For you French learners, apparently une nuit blanche est une nuit où vous êtes out all night. Like you'd say " j'ai passé une nuit blanche " because you were up until the sun comes out.

Anyways, I went out with Smith people! First we tried to go to the Philharmonie where they have a bunch of different free concerts going on. But alas, the line was way to long, so we dipped. The architecture is really beautiful though, so it wasn't a waste or anything. Next we went to L'Opéra comique which was a really fancy place (basically your typical old theatre) where I guess they put on operas. This ended up being a grand success!! The deal there was they had group karaoke. I was confused on what this meant, but it was like there was a guy leading at the front and the audience sang along all together with lyrics projected. It was kinda like when you sing at church. The songs were really fun. There was the really well known one from Carmen, another opera one that I can't remember, and then this song called Que je t'aime. This one was really fun and I think it has some place culturally in France because the audience thought it was funny. Like maybe an equivalent would be if they said we'd be singing Sweet Caroline or something. Or maybe not ? Nevertheless I understand why it's a classic in a cheesy way. After this, we went to a place which was kinda a bust, but I thought it was still nice. We tried going to Musée l'Orangerie, but the metros started closing so we called it there.

That week

The following week I was pretty sick so I didn't do that much of note.

Thursday there was a Smith alum welcome party. This was fun because I always wanted to go to one of these. The house it was held in was incredible. Apparently it was in a French cult classic? I'll have to watch that movie. There was one point where someone performed some songs which was cool. I didn't do that much networking or anything, but I had a good time! I'm surprised in myself because sometimes those kinds of events make me anxious, but I wasn't feeling that at all.

in ze bathroom of the smith alum's home

Friday though, I did go to a cool exposition at this place called Cinémathèque which has movie related stuff. This exhibit was about vampires which I thought was a fun concept. The layout of the material was well done! I like when things are all about one thing if that makes sense. Like I liked seeing all the vampire related stuff all in one place.

Giverny

Saturday I went to Giverny, the hometown of Monet, somewhat on a whim with Smith friends. This was a really nice day trip and I think we spent out time well. The THING is though that I had to ride a bike. If you didn't know, I don't truly know to do this 🙃 Like I learned on my at the time 8 yr-old brother's bike and I was like, oh I got this. But then when I tried on a normal adult sized bike, I had to face the harsh reality that I in fact did not get it. So suffice to say I was nervous. The train we took got off at a town about 30 min away from Giverny by bike. In the end it was as ok as I could hope for. My friends were super patient and one of them, Lillian was so helpful because she helped me get started (the problem point for me) every time :'). Once I got going it was kinda ok but I crashed.... many times. I also almost got hit by a car! Great stuff!

pâtisseries!! in givery

Besides the whole bike fiasco, everything was a dream. We had a picnic by the water, and Monet's garden/waterlilies were seriously just like the paintings. It makes sense where he got his inspiration. His house was also very cute and colorful which I appreciated. There were these two rooms for the kitchen which were especially cool because one was all yellow and the other was completely blue.

When we got back, Cowiya had a dinner party because her host family was gone. That was also really nice... although there was a broken chair involved.

Sunday

Sunday, as you all know, I had my haircut! I tried to see an Agnès Varda documentary with Abbey and Katie but unfortunately all of us failed to account for time correctly and they wouldn't let us in because we were late. But the haircut bit later on was fun. I'm still getting used to it and sometimes I wish didn't make it soooo short. But it's ok! Hair always grows back :-) And I think it's a good look! (also sorry emma! I tried to save the live video, but I am incompetent and that didn't end up happening :/ I'm actually annoyed though because it said it would be archived, but now it's not?? oh well)

Today

Tonight was fun because I had dinner at Malika's house because her host mom was gone. Afterward, we went to this roller skate event. The venue was super interesting but fun. Like it wasn't actually a skating rink. Some people had crazy cool moves and I really want to learn to do stuff like that with roller skates. Like I can skate pretty well but I need to move and and learn some tricks. Malika was a good sport about it because she doesn't have that much skating experience. Some other people though were so chaotic. I understand though because the space was.. interesting.

Now, I'm just back home chilling and I should go to sleep soon. This weekend I'm going to Belgium on an Erasmus organized trip. That should be really fun, so look for that next week! Hopefully this makes up for last week!