When in Paris, do as the Parisians do

These past couple of weeks have been nothing short of a long string of cultural experiences. If I'd ever at any point expressed concern regarding the lack of culture I'd be exposed to here, it has certainly been annulled, and here's why:

Markets:
Jordyn and I have begun to explore the infamous market scene in Paris. We've only just started, but last Friday marked the second time we went to the Oberkampf market to observe, participate, and of course buy our weekly dose of fresh fruits, produce, cheese, you name it. We're finally starting to get the hang of how this whole market thing works--who to avoid, who gives out samples, who will make fun of your accent, who is unjustifiably overpriced, whose produce is the tastiest, who will trick you into buying really smelly cheese...all that good stuff. I find that simply walking through and observing the market is an entirely different experience than actually participating in the madness. It's definitely one of the best things you can do to to experience life as a local here.

Macarons:
In case you haven't caught on by now, Jordyn and I love food. Like, probably a little too much. It's one of those things where we know we shouldn't be saying yes to every offer, but the word no doesn't seem to exist when food is involved. It's kind of like: "How many kilos of cheese do you want in your crepe?" Yes. "Do you want extra sugar in your Super Large American Mocha Latte?" Obviously. "Do you want some more butter on your butter?" Why not. So when we were offered the chance to attend a macaron making workshop, no doubt we answered yes before the question was even finished being asked...

Lucky for us (not), the workshop was taught in Super Speedy French. So instead of expending our energy trying to understand what on earth was being said, Jordyn and I were more concentrated on sneaking more spoonfuls of the pistachio, and/or Speculoos, and/or Nutella, and/or chocolate filling into our gluttonous American mouths. Well worth it, folks. We discovered that while making macarons is fun, it's also time consuming, complicated, loud, exhausting, and kind of insane, and that we'd much rather just be lazy and buy some from a Patisserie whenever we damn well please. In any case, it was an absolutely fantastic and culturally enriching experience, not to mention delicious :)

Me time:
I'm happy to say that I've really been taking advantage of my surroundings and taking every chance I get to discover the hidden treasures of Paris, just me, myself and iPod. And that could mean a multitude of things: Taking the metro to a random stop and exploring the area, finding a concentrated area of thrift shops and hopping from one to another, walking around aimlessly until I have no idea where I am or how I ended up there, people watching along the canal, spontaneously grabbing a cup of coffee at a cafe... It's really a peaceful experience, exploring Paris on my own. There's so much to see, so much to discover. I find that when I go out and do these things on my own, I'm able to experience Paris in its purest form. 

Parisian Parties:
So a while back, I made a post expressing my concern that I was clearly partying with the wrong people in Paris, because I'm usually fast asleep by the time my host parents come home from their soirees on the weekends... Well it just so happened that my host mom, Ariane, and her friend Fatma threw a joint birthday party here the other night, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna miss that. Obviously I had no idea what to expect going into this. All I knew was that there were going to be a bunch of middle aged Parisians in a room with music and wine. Little did I know, I was going to be attending a rager until 5:00 AM.......... Everyone was drinking, everyone was dancing. I met some really interesting people, too. Plus there was this one lady on I don't even know what, but she was hardcore interpretive dancing the entire night. Oh, and parsley. She was eating parsley... Anyway, at one point my host dad, Yves, walks in the front door with a suitcase he'd found on the side of the road (like what?) and we open it up to discover a bunch of random costumes. So naturally, everyone grabs something, puts on their respective piece of garment, and continues going about their night. Meanwhile, my friends and I are exhausted and the rest of the crowd is still partying hard like you wouldn't believe. Especially parsley lady. So 4:30 AM rolls around, Bob Marley is blasting, and coffee is starting to be served. Yes, coffee...at the end of the party...at 4:30 AM. I'm telling you, it was the most bizarre experience, and I loved every second of it!!! It was absolutely fantastic.

Ariane and Fatma blowing out their candles :)

(And on a more touching note, Fatma told me that she's going to be really sad when I leave because I'm like a sister to her. Tears. I had tears. <3)

Passover in Paris:
Lastly, I had the chance to attend Passover services and a seder here. Ariane is technically Jewish, but she doesn't practice, however she introduced me to Martine, a cousin of hers at the party who does practice. They extended the offer to have me join Martine and her family at services and their friends' seder. Without hesitation, I accepted. It was so nice of Ariane to think of me, and such a kind gesture of the two of them to arrange something for me.

So, come Monday, I met Martine's 19 year old daughter, Charlotte, near my school and we took the metro to get to their synagogue. It was nothing like the services I'm used to attending at home, but at the same time it was comforting just to be in the presence of other Jews. I recognized some of the melodies, and then there were others that I'd never heard of before. And it was funny to hear Hebrew being spoken with a French accent. The main difference I noticed, however, was the uniformity in the songs and in the readings. Back home, when the congregation reads texts aloud, everyone reads at the same pace, pauses at the same time, and speaks with the same intonations. Here, however, it was almost like a free-for-all. It threw me off at first, but then I began to appreciate it in the sense that it allowed everyone to have their own moment with the prayers and not worry about the pace at which they should speak it. I think both ways are meaningful, it just made it slightly more difficult to follow... Especially considering that it wasn't even in English to begin with. Having a prayer book written in only French and Hebrew was certainly a challenge. I did, however, understand the Rabbi's sermon, surprisingly. He was speaking of the 4 questions we ask during Passover, and why we ask them. But he explained that the importance is not that we answer the questions, but that we continue to ask them year after year. I liked everything he had to say, and overall I really enjoyed the service.

After the service was over, Martine drove Charlotte and myself to their friends' place just outside of Paris where the seder took place. Everyone was very nice and welcomed me with open arms. And as it turns out there were at least 7 other people my age there, so I had plenty of people to talk to. It was very interesting to participate in a seder that is not my family's, and not to mention one that is Parisian. Like my family's seder, it was very playful, and there were a million different things going on at once, but at the same time the readings were still getting read, rituals were still being done, and fun was certainly being had.

I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity--it was a really neat experience :)

Et voila. There you have some culturally enriching events I've been partaking in lately. You know what they say, "When in Rome Paris, do as the Parisians do". And so it was decreed...

And tomorrow my parents will be here!!! :')

À bientôt, mes amis
Bis xo

Sud de France (I hope you like pictures)

Marseille:

As you might already know, I went on a trip to the South of France last week. It was a free trip organized by the school, so obviously I was all up on that. Our first destination was Marseille, on the southeast coast of France. It was absolutely stunning there. The weather was beautiful; it was sunny, it was warm...aka nothing like Paris. I love Paris and all, but this weather was very much needed. We walked around, basked in the sun, grabbed a nice lunch, then took a leisurely stroll up to the very tippy top of Marseille. And by leisurely stroll I mean extremely exhausting hike. (Lead by our program directer, Audrey, who has more energy than all of us put together). Right, so we hiked up to that super high up cathedral looking thing you see in the following pictures, called Notre Dame de la Garde.

It was actually a beautiful hike, and extremely rewarding. At first, we were like not having it, given that we were walking up all those roads people pass by and think "I feel bad for those unfortunate souls that have to walk up that"....only we were those unfortunate souls. Numerous times. But we began to really appreciate the walk when we started seeing sights like this:

And finally, when we reached the very top, we were seeing this:

Pretty cool, right? After we walked around the cathedral and took lots of pictures, we took a bus all the way back down to the main part of town so we could make the boat tour we were supposed to have. Well, it turns out the river was too high or something, so the boats weren't running that day. It was a shame, but we took advantage of our surroundings and enjoyed some free time out on the town. We grabbed some ice cream, and set out to find the beach. I'm not entirely sure why it took us so long to find a beach, but it did... You would think the
beaches would be clearly marked, but apparently you just have to know where the beaches are. Damn hipsters. In any case, we found one eventually, and took much pleasure in dipping our feet in the Mediterranean ocean. (Freezing or not, that was some nice ass water). And to make the experience all the more rewarding, we had the chance to watch the sun set over the ocean. 

 

We went out for dinner, and given that A. we were all exhausted, and B. it was a Monday night, not much was going on around town. So we bought some bottles of wine and enjoyed the evening from the inside of our hotel room :)

The next day we woke up early, had a wonderfully calorific breakfast complete with pain au chocolat, then headed out to tour Hotel le Corbusier, which is a hotel built by famous architect, Le Corbusier in 1952 (as shown to the right). I don't happen to be a huge fan of Le Corbu, but it was still neat to see one of his buildings, seeing that I'd learned about him before. The whole thing would have probably been a bit more enjoyable had the wind not been blowing us all over the place. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that walking in a straight line was nearly impossible. At one point we were up on the roof terrace and doing everything in our power to not be blown right off. Alas, in the end, we all came out alive and well. Minus our hair, which was nothing short of a lost cause.

After that, we took a brief tour of the oldest part of the city of Marseille, which dates back to as far as 600 BCE. It's the oldest city in France, no big deal. But the best part about this tour was the food. We had bread, goat cheese, tapenades, wine, fougasse (which is olive bread typical of southeastern France), and lastly gelato. Oh, and can we just talk about the size of this fougasse? Yeah... I ate the whole thing.

Right, so then we gathered our stuff and hiked up a mountain and a half to get to the train station where we headed off to Nice.



Nice:

When we got to Nice, we took our time settling in at the hotel, took a group nap (we're adorable, I know), then hit the town to find ourselves a nice spot for dinner. It was unfortunately raining the entire time we were in Nice, so we didn't really feel like leaving the main stretch of road to find a restaurant, but as it turned out we found a nice little Spanish restaurant with a friendly staff, great food, and naturally, karaoke. We'd considered going out after, but then we all remembered that sleep was a thing and so it was decided.

Wednesday was my favorite day of the trip. We began by taking a tour of the old village of Nice, which was absolutely beautiful, despite the rainy weather. There was everything from small shops and restaurants to Baroque churches to markets...you name it. All of the roads were narrow cobble stone streets lined on either side with tall pastel-colored buildings. I couldn't help but fall in love with the town. It was just so charming.

Our next stop was the Musee d'Art Modern et d'Art Contemperain. I'm not even a fan of modern art, but I loved almost everything I saw in this museum. Plus they had a Keith Haring painting and I'm alllll about my boy Keith <3

Keith Haring <3

After that, we stopped at a corner food vendor where we had the choice of many typical Nicoise foods. I shared amongst friends the following: Socca, which is a crepe-type dish made with chickpeas, fried scalion puff thingies, and lastly, a dessert called Tourte de Blettes, which is a delicious pastry filled with...wait for it....Swiss chard. I kid you not. Swiss chard, pine nuts, raisins, apples, all baked into a pastry topped with powdered sugar. It was SUPER tasty. All of it. :)

Then we caught a bus to Cap Ferrat which is about a 30 minute drive from Nice. Also, as stated in the Wiki page, it is the second most expensive residential location in the world. Aaaaaand here's why:

So if anyone wants to find Dana a rich husband who will buy her a house in Cap Ferrat, I'm all ears :) Anyway, we visited the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, built for Beatrice Rothschild, a member of the extremely wealthy Rothschild family. I don't think I could have added more "Rothschild"s in that sentence if I tried. This is the estate from the back with a beautiful view of the main garden.

But wait, there's more! Seriously, there are 9 more gardens. Who needs 9 gardens? Dana needs 9 gardens. Dana needs a Florentine garden, a Spanish garden, a French garden, an exotic garden, a stone garden, a Japanese garden, a rose garden, and a garden de Sevres. 

Once we were back in Nice, we shopped, we chilled, and later that night, we walked around in the pouring rain in search of a restaurant. And boy did we find one. It was a cute little restaurant on the same street as our hotel. The place wasn't too big and there were only two tables at which people were sitting. One, a group of stylish young adults (I'm assuming Parisian), the other, a group of 4 happy middle aged artists. There was one woman that seemed to be running the whole place and when we were told that we'd have to wait about 20 minutes to be served we considered just finding another spot. While we were discussing amongst ourselves, one of the ladies at the happy middle aged artists table strongly encouraged us to stay, telling us the food is fantastic and that the place in general was two thumbs up. We took her word for it thinking that waiting for a little was better than walking around in the rain to find us a place that would serve us right away (we're such Americans). Let me just tell you, it was the best decision we've ever made. 

Whilst sipping our wine, we were brought free aperitifs (as pictured to the right) which was carrot, tomato, avocado, and tuna on a spear of endive. The free bread was pretty damn tasty, too. When the waitress came around to take our orders, I had no idea what I was doing, but I thought I was ordering something vegetarian. Turns out I need to brush up on my French, because "daurade" is not a manner of cooking nor is it a type of pastry...it is a fish. Had I been smart enough to check what that word meant, I wouldn't have been so surprised when they brought me fish. In any case, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. I also want to clarify that yes, I am a vegetarian, and no I do not eat fish. But, I'm living by Drake's philosophy, "you only live once". #yolo. (I'm actually extremely embarrassed that I just wrote that, but I'm keeping it in as punishment for typing it in the first place). In all seriousness though, I'm in Paris, and I want to enjoy every second of it. I think it's important to experience every aspect of the culture, and I don't want to deprive myself of trying things. That being said, I enjoyed every bite. I'd never experienced such flavors before--it was absolutely incredible. The crazy part was that in total, our meal lasted three and a half hours. And by the time we left, both tables that were there when we sat down were still there, because dining in France is not about settling for convenience or simply grabbing a bite to eat. It's about the atmosphere, the company, the tastes, the smells, the culture, the conversation, the wine... I've learned to truly appreciate the value of sharing a meal, and I hope I'll be able to bring that mindset back to the states.

After our meal, we decided to find a beach to walk on despite the rainy weather. We figured if we were in the south of France, we were finding a beach and that was that. We finally gave up on trying to stay dry, and ditched our umbrellas. It was so nice just letting loose and not caring. We danced in the rain, we sang in the rain, we ate chocolate and speculoos cookies in the rain... It's the simple things in life :)

The next day was unfortunately our last day of the trip. We took a bus into Antibes where we visited the Musee Picasso, the former workshop of Pablo Picasso. It was really neat getting to see a so much of his work in his very own workshop.                                                                   Also I have no idea how this picture got onto my camera because pictures were forbidden and I would never in a million years think to take pictures when no one was looking that's just bizarre...

So after we left Picasso's crib, we took a bus up to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, which is one of the oldest medieval towns on the coast of southeast France. The village itself is picture perfect. Stone everything, very narrow streets, small shops and galleries hidden within the numerous arched doorways... In a way, it was very surreal. It was one of those places you'd never expect to actually exist. I'd even venture to say it was magical :)

Finally, we ventured far and wide, up the hills, through the woods, until we ended up at yet another hidden treasure, the Fondation Maeght. It's a museum of modern art located in the middle of nowhere with a pretty neat collection of art, and the most amazing sculpture gardens. None of it made much sense as it was all very abstract, but given that these sculptures were so large and abstract on top of being placed randomly amongst trees and stone walls, it was very easy to get lost in one's own thoughts and imagination. We spent lots of time wandering, climbing, exploring, discovering... I felt that the gardens brought me back to a state of innocence--a state of childhood naivety. It both a playful and moving experience for us all.

And then, unfortunately, it was time to make our way to the airport to catch our plane. It was very difficult saying goodbye to the south of France, but alas, it's good to be back in Paris. 

A toute a l'heure, sud de la France <3

À l'inverse

This past weekend was one of the best and most memorable weekends ever. And for some reason I’ve decided to tell it to you in reverse. I feel like it will be more effective that way, so just go with it. Let’s start with Sunday. Sunday I had the chance to go with my host parents to visit my favorite 98 year old, Jacques Prince. Even though the sun wasn’t out this time and everyone seemed to be quite fatigued, it still brought me such great pleasure getting to spend time with him. We shared drinks, ate a delicious meal, talked for hours...it was the perfect way to spend a Sunday. And I was introduced to yet another Jacques-ism (jak-izm) that day. He had a friend over who was very critical and took much pleasure in speaking her mind. After Jacques read us the poem he’d written that morning, his friend openly shared her lack of interest or understanding. Later in the evening after she’d left, Jacques told us he was glad she said what she did because that way, if she compliments his work, he’ll know she really means it. I’m pretty sure I was more insulted at her comments than Jacques was, because he chooses to find the positive in any given situation. This man will never cease to amaze me. Anyway, after lunch, Ariane and Yves showed me this antique market that’s held once a month in the parking lot of the neighborhood supermarket. It was really neat and there were a lot of cool things for really cheap. I then decided it was a good idea to stay up until 3 in the morning when I had to wake up at 6 to catch a bus to the South of France…..so that’s where I’ll start my next blog post (if I ever get there).

Antiques Market

But before any of that happened, I had a Saturday. Saturday, I woke up late and enjoyed a delicious brunch with my host parents, which consisted of coffee, apples, orange juice, salad, omelet, bread, and cheese. Our topic of discussion for this meal was precisely this: dirty words in English versus French. I’m certainly learning a lot here in France :) After brunch, Ariane showed me around a really cute part of the city, which is conveniently only about a 15 minute walk from where we live. There were lots of cute shops, thrift stores, boulangeries, cafes, bars, etc. But my favorite part was what I've decided is Paris' best kept secret: Le Comptoir General. The best way to describe this place is that it's a very well hidden venue which houses a bar, art exhibits, a performance space, a thrift store...it's super trendy and super awesome. I'd never experienced anything like it. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and call it hipster central, because it's extremely hidden and impossible to know it's there unless someone you'd been told to do so. And also because everyone in there was a hipster. Take a look, this place is amazing:

I most certainly plan on frequenting this lil gem :)

Aaaaand finally, (or rather firstly) we had Friday. A good friend I know from Arcadia, Greg, is studying abroad in London and was in Paris for the weekend. So we met up at the Louvre, looked at some masterpieces, and caught up on each other's lives. And after, since it was Paris Fashion Week, which was the reason he was in Paris in the first place, we popped in some really expensive designer stores and drooled at all the things we couldn't afford.

Then I had to get ready to go to a concert--a band by the name of Walk The Moon. And for those of you who know me, you'll be able to vouch for me when I say that I am absolutely in love with Walk The Moon. So getting to see them in a small venue in Paris was simply incredible. I went with my friend Hannah, who I met here in Paris. She's from Germany, but we speak mostly in French, which is great practice for me. Also, I should clarify that by French, I mean Franglais. We speak really awesome Franglais. So anyway, it was an absolutely amazing concert. I definitely don't remember the last time I danced like that, and I'm pretty sure I looked like a moron. But frankly, I don't give a damn. 

Alright, now here's where things get crazy awesome.After they finished performing, the lead singer, Nick, announced that people were welcome to meet them in the next room if we wanted. So after I glued my jaw back onto my face, Hannah and I waited in line to meet the band. Turns out it was just Nick and the guitarist, Eli, and as I would have liked to talk to the whole band, I guess I shouldn't be too picky, especially because I'm not finished with my story... :) Anyway, once it was our turn, the first thing I told him was that I was from the US, and Nick said he was so relieved I because everyone else was Parisian and he doesn't speak a word of French. He also said he totally saw me dancing out there in my tiger shirt. (SCORE!) Then introductions were made, and of course hugs were had. So we just began talking about like everything: Philly, previous shows, Paris, studies, all that jazz. So eventually the guy monitoring the whole thing told us we were talking too much and holding up the line, (that bastard), but that if we wait upstairs at the bar, we might be able to catch them again. Nick confirmed and I told him I was holding him to it, so we took our picture, said our "see ya in a minute"s and Hannah and I headed upstairs to grab a drink and wait for the band.

While we were waiting, we ran into some other Americans, one of whom told us she got selfies with Nick. (See provided link for those of you who don't know what selfies are). So due to the fact that A. I'm a girl, B. I'm a Scorpio, and C. I'm in love with Nick, I was like "oh helllll no". (But in all seriousness they were very nice girls and we even exchanged info so we could hang, I was just being dramatic.) Anyway, after the other girls left, Hannah and I were still sipping our beers and the only other people waiting to talk to the band was this group of tween fangirls with autograph books. After the fangirls attacked, Hannah and I got to spend some time talking with Nick and the bassist, Kevin. Hannah was talking in German with Kevin, and Nick and I were talking about I don't even know what. Curry fries, I think. And he complimented me on my necklace! I wear a Hamsa around my neck, which, in Judaism, symbolizes protection, peace, guidance, health, etc. I'm always curious as to others' views on the Hamsa, so I asked him if he recognized it as a symbol of religion or how it was that he related to it, and he told me that to him it means faith and guidance and that he just really loves what it stands for. So like as if I wasn't already in love with him... Then the selfies happened. It was actually really adorable-- he made me take a bunch because he didn't like the way he looked in the photos. He said he's bashful, AW. Oh, and I told him I'd be putting the pictures on Twitter, Instagram, etc. and it would be under the name "swagwaldman" (don't judge), so he'd know where to find them, and he was like "Swagwaldman? So, Dana Waldman?" Dead. After my resurrection, we had to say our goodbyes because they had to check in at their hotel and such, but our wedding is next Saturday, so you're all welcome to come.

Well, this marks the end of this blog post. Stay tuned for my next post where I'll tell you all about my trip to the south of France :)

À bientôt