Paris je t'aime

Ahhh where does one begin with Paris? There is so much to see, so much to experience, so many baguettes to eat. And I did eat a lot of bread and cheese. I have, of course, seen Paris before with the fam, but for me it was a whole new experience to be able to just wander the city solo, no one to answer to, no one to keep track of. It was really lovely to be able to follow my own whims. My wanderings took me first to Père Lachaise Cemetery, the final resting place of some famous souls such as Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison For those of you who have seen the movie that is the namesake of this blog post, you have seen the grave of Oscar Wilde in a scene of one of the short love stories that the movie is comprised of. Unfortunately, one is no longer able to kiss his grave and show their affection to the notorious ladies man. The stone was being worn away by all of the love, so the kiss marks were washed away and it was encased by a glass box. How sad.
Jim Morrison's grave also leaves a lot to be desired. It is very underwhelming, hidden behind a larger and much more impressive monument, and also enclosed by a fence so as to be rendered unreachable by the passerby, or Doors fanatic. Apparently there have been many thefts of his various grave markers. Way to respect the dead people. Good Job.
But beyond the big names, Père Lachaise is worth seeing for many other things; the beauty, the sense of reverence, and the chance to really loose yourself in the history of Paris.

After the cemetery it was off to the Louvre, which of course needs no introduction. It is amazing and overwhelming. I of course visited the famous Mona Lisa and snapped a few photos, but I have to say it is, in comparison to some of the less talked about pieces of art in the Louvre, somewhat unimpressive. I mean of course it's amazing, but so are the sculptures and the antiques and the paintings of entire coronations. I won't burden my followers with all 200 of the pictures that I took while in Paris, so I will share only one of my personal favorites from the Louvre, which I think deserves some more recognition; but of course it is just one of many breathtaking works of art, which can really only be truly appreciated in person (so I recommend a trip for anyone who has the means) 

 From there it was off to the Arc De Triomphe, just a metro ride away. To me, one of the most amazing things about Paris was that you would come out of the metro stops and all of a sudden something beautiful or famous or just generally impressive is right in front of you, and the Parisians just pass it by like they do everyday. From there the Eifel Tower was just another metro ride away, and then it was off to meet Ilaria for tea and sweets at the Parisian mosque. 

For your viewing pleasure; a small sample of the sights in Paris. 

On Saturday I got to spend some quality time with Ila, and also got to see the amazing view of Paris from the Sacre Coeur. We were also on a mission, to find a Parisian Coiffure who could take four people on a Saturday afternoon. Needless to say it was a difficult endeavor, and just as we were about to give up hope, we happened upon a man cutting hair in the street. After some consideration, and a little chit chat, I decided that I would partake in a "hair sculpt". So I did because YOLO. It was definitely an experience that I will never forget, and my hair does look pretty good at the end of the day. Nothing too drastic, but worth it all in all. For those of you who have the patience (or nothing better to do) I did take a video of my transformation, but unfortunately it is a little to big for blogger to handle. Anyone interested in seeing my new Parisian coif is welcome to follow me on instagram. 

Overall it was an amazing weekend, and I was so happy to reconnect with Ilaria again. I can't wait to go to Italy this summer :). In the meantime I discovered today that I have two more free days this semester that I wasn't aware of, so it looks like it's time to plan some more trips. I live a pretty rough life I must say. More updates soon. Bis Später!

From childhood memories to young adult lack there of

In stark contrast to my last post.. drinking. That is all. I'm gonna go ahead and apologize to my mother (and other family members) for the events you are about to experience vicariously.
It all started with a seemingly harmless strawberry margarita on a beautiful spring day.. just happened to be at noon, right before my German in Film class. Needless to say that class was a bit more interesting that day. Once you discover that the only place in town with real mexican food has half price drinks on Thursdays it is quite hard to resist the temptation of a few margs, or zombies, or just tequila shots. And tequila shots generally just lead to more of the same. I have (in the last three days) become a regular at the shots bar in town (they do have a shot named after me so I feel somewhat obligated to patronize). Anyway long story short, the night ended with a midnight (actually 4 am) serenade from the most adorable band in the world, finding our friend (who shall remain nameless for legal purposes) making out on the cement ground in the courtyard of the mensa, getting a phone number and a fork (literal silverware don't worry dad) from the bass player, having a waitress threaten to call the cops on the band serenading us, and finding a new soul mate in Meg (she's English, enough said).
Friday was a day of hangovers, and massive amounts of fried rice and crispy duck. Then back to shooter's for another few 'Olivias' and an interesting encounter with some boys from Bavaria. They were in town playing some kind of sport and the cute chubby one had come into some money, and thusly insisted on buying us far too many rounds of something called a "schüttler" (basically means swish in German) consisting of a shot of lemon juice, another of blue curacao meant to be shaken around together in ones mouth and then swallowed. He bought so many rounds that we just started giving them away to random people at the bar. By the end of the night porta-potties were being tipped (and we were running away like children). Enough said. Topped it off with a fresh brezel from the bakery (which was opening by the time we ventured homeward).
Then again Saturday, because you just don't miss a Saturday on the Unterestraße in good ol' HD. Meg and I ventured out, met a canadian and said goodbye to the Bavarian boys before they headed home. Then we were flying stag(ette) waiting outside of a bar when we met a lovely group of upstanding young German men who took us on a lovely adventure to a dance club, and then home relatively early with nothing interesting to speak of. We met a fair amount of people, all German. I think at the end of the day we were really just learning day to day German conversation skills (at least that's what I'm choosing to believe). Despite the three days worth of hangover I experienced on Sunday, it was well worth it. And besides YOLO, carpe diem, fuck it (sorry mama).

Scandalous! ;)

Next weekend off to Paris to see an old friend (Ilaria) and experience the city of love by myself. But that's okay, I think I need a little TLC from me to me anyway. I will eat macaroons at Sacre Couer and a Mont Blanc at the famous Angelina Cafe. 

Au revoir!