A Walloon Welcome

Reunited with the Belgian family
I hopped on a train to Wallonie (Southern Belgium) last Friday to visit some amazing Belgians. The speedy T.G.V. (train de grande vitesse) transported me from Paris to Luxembourg in two hours. Boom. I was welcomed at the gare by my host momma, Carole. 

I lived with the Denis family, in the Luxembourg province of Belgium, for about a year when I was seventeen. Even though three years have passed, I felt right back at home in the town of Athus. Most everything and everyone remained the same, BUT it was strange seeing a taller and older version of my host bro Hugues (Zouzou). When he was fourteen years old, he was my height, but now at 17 years old, he's almost two feet taller than me.

Reunited with some Geneseo friends

I got back to Paris around 10pm on Sunday, and the next morning Lauren and I fetched Maddie Z. at the Gare du Lyon in Paris. Katy Boland joined in on the American fun the next morning when she arrived at CDG from her family visit in NY. Katy and Maddie are both studying in Southern France in Montpellier and had a nice two week vaca. Having them here was another slice of comfort and of home. They visited at a perfect time because my internship hasn't started yet and I only have two courses. So, Monday-Thursday I gave them a little sampling of Pariii...

I am enjoying some chai tea, icing my foot(f'd it up this week) and clearly...bloggin'. I didn't take that many pictures this week but I have been allowed access to some of Maddie Z's snap shots.

Back to Belgium

Host parents: Caroline 'Carole' and Jean-Francois 'Jiff'. 














                                                                       Philippe 'Feltie'(family friend) and Zouzou('little' host bro).

La Bouffe et la Biere:

Welcomed back with Carole and Jiff's food.

 Carole made one of my favorite dishes, her spagetti with bolognaise sauce, my first night! I was re-united with a few cold Leffe beers. I used to love drinking Kriek beer when I was there (cherry beer) but now, I find it too sweet! 

Saturday afternoon I went out to lunch with my good friend Violette 'Vio' and her bf Gilles. I was re-united with my favorite friterie "Chez Dewitt" and I ordered the classic mitraillette (english word: machine gun)

Mitraillette consits of: a baguette stuffed with hamburger, covered in crispy french fries and topped with your favorite sauce. My favorite sauce was ironically, and still is, 'la sauce americaine' because it is a spiciest mayo sauce. When I was in Belgium, I used to be able to finish a mitrailette sans problem, but after a few delectable bites I felt sick this time around...

My 'machine gun' (trust me, looks larger in person).

Vio's frites.




Jiff made a delicious boeuf and carotte stew Sunday for lunch...no picture shown but it was delish.

I also enjoyed my fair share of Belgian chocolate. I was saving some Galler chocolate for Lauren...until I ate it on the train. I owe her some. Luckily, I found out that I can locate Galler in Paris.  

Favorite chocolate...which aided me in gaining several kilos back in the day=Langues de Chats Galler Chocolat (Cat's Tongue).

Fresh faces
I met baby Fleur (Vio's' nièce) and Baby Victor (family friends' Marc and Julie's kid)











Justine, Fleur et Vio.

Oldest Host Bro Matthieu, with Victor (his best friend's kiddo).

Avi-chou's 21st

My friend Aveline turned 21 this weekend and I joined her b-day festivities in Luxembourg ville. Lots of fancy cafés,  it was a good time. I got to see some old friendies.

Aveline et Max.

Melanie, Estelle, Max et Logan.

Substituted water for beer for the most part...Belgians were taken aback, I used to drink like a fish three years ago.




My trip to Belgium last weekend was a little impromtu and I am planning on visiting again before I leave! It was so nice to relax with the host fam and see some ol friends. I also got hooked on the series 'Shameless' there, pretty good!

Back to Paris

Anne Sophie: Ou-es tu?

Roomie has not returned from home (Nantes, France) for over two weeks. Our last conversation was about how she was overwhelmed with coursework and didn't know if she was passionate enough about art history. I told her that most people don't know exactly what they want to do...I being one of them. She was leaning towards dropping out of school, but she told me she'd see me next week...
She has my phone number but I don't have her's. 

My hypothesis is that she's dropped out of school. But her books, clothes and perfum still remain... Will Anne-Sophie return? I know not.
It's been a long time...since I've seen Anne-Sophie.

 This song is so fitting for the situation:

Nonetheless, I'm enjoying the single room situtation.

Mysterious roomie situation led me to sneaking Maddie Z. into my room Monday. I'm not allowed to have guests but...

Day with Maddie Z.
Maddie came in Monday morn.
Cold/Slushy/Snowy weather BUT we still had a good time exploring Paris.
We walked around and  saw Notre Dame, Centre Pompidou and Hotel de Ville.

Notre Dame.




We dropped Maddie off at the Louvre so she could have some one-on-one time with La Jaconde (the Mona Lisa), while Lauren and I went to our night class from 5-7pm.

Eiffy was Sparkling

Met Maddie at the Louvre after class and we went to see the Eiffel tower together. Believe it or not, it was my first time seeing the Eiffel tower up close, so far! In the evening the Eiffel tower 'sparkles' for the first five minutes of every hour (we were unaware of this beforehand) and we got to see it all lit up. It was cool, I have to admit. Eiffy is a tourist attraction for a reason!





Arrival of Katy Boland... 
Jetsetting from NY, Katy joined us on Tuesday. 

To the Young and Happy Hostel
Maddie and Katy's crash-pad Tuesday and Wednesday night. 
http://www.youngandhappy.fr/
Set Maddie and Katy up in a Hostel right down the street...it was nice but they had to deal with some heavy snorers...Maddie and Katy have a few hostel stories.

Headed to Montmartre and Sacré Coeur
Kbols was fresh off the plane, but she was willing to get going so we went Montmartre and Sacre Coeur Tuesday afternoon.

After Sacré Coeur...we hit up the Champs aux Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe
Il y a tous que vous voulez aux Champs aux Elysees...

L'Arc avec Katy et Lauren.

Good eats.

La Durée
75, avenue des Champs Elysées

I have heard good things about this famous pâtisserie so I wanted to take Maddie and Katy there! We all got macarons. I got a coconut macaron for 1euro70centimes. Delicieux!

Didn't spend any $ on frivolous commercial things with Maddie and Katy but I wanted to show them some yummy and cheap French food!
Le Vieux Bistro
54 Rue Mouffetard

entrée/plat/dessert: 12euro
-Classic French food.
-I ordered the goat cheese and spinach quiche, the steak and the fruit salad.
-Maddie and Katy ordered the quiche, the curried chicken and the chocolate mousse.
-Lauren ordered the quiche, the boeuf bourginon and the chocolate mousse.

ST. Germain/ST. Michel Resto 
apéritif/entrée/plat/dessert: 10euro!
-so great! I know where the resto is, I just forget the name of it.
-I ordered the mozzeralla and tomato salad, the boeuf bourginon and again...the fruit salad. 

Maddie went for the french onion soup, the boeuf bourginon and the nutella crepe. Katy also went for the french onion soup, then the lamb and finished with the chocolate mousse.

MacDo injury

-Tuesday night…I had a foot set-back. Walking from the Young&Happy hostel to my place I was startled by a shooting pain on the side of  my left foot. Luckily I was near Macdo so I sat there for awhile and rubbed my foot… I didn't have any money on me so I just sat down and starting rubbing my foot. Pain hasn’t gone away so I have been wearing my running sneaks everywhere and taking time off running (blah). I hope it heals soon…I am going through Luxembourg garden withdrawal.

Pain Killers, Pee and Père Lachaise

Wednesday…shot up pain killers  and went to Pere Lachaise cemetary (7km of cemetary mazes). I was really obnoxious hobbling around Lachaise then complaining about my need to urinate, yet despite that, we all had a good time.

Lots of famous people to see but we decided to choose one famous deceased person, our beloved MOLIERE!

-adventure finding him…passed him about four times before realizing he was right in-front of us!







-stumbled across others along the way.

-heard some crows CAWING...tried to get it on vid. and failed. 

Moliere's tomb.

Caffeine Recharge after La Chaise at Merci Café (blogged about before...went here with Lena)

\

Adieus to Maddie and Katy were grim but I am planning on spending my two week vacation at the end of April in the South of France! 

This weekend…I want to watch movies, read and rest my damn foot. Lauren and I want to walk around Versailles on Sunday if the foot is a'ight! Internship on Monday!

I'm excited to be busy...vacation time has been great, but I'm ready to have a schedule.

à la prochaine, FSC