Been a while...

It really has been a while since I last posted anything and my excuse is school. And you may notice that I haven't even started school yet and my response would be that I have summer work for my AP classes. I will promise something good for tomorrow - lots of pictures and stories. I just need to finish Crime and Punishment first.

The things I ate in France

I realized that I haven't posted much about food, which is like the thing I get asked about most. So, here are pics of all the things I ate in France that I managed to get a pic of.

I ate a vegetarian gyro 

from a vegetarian Greek place near Notre Dame. It's funny. Our Chinese food is like their Greek food. It's everywhere in the city. Oh and say hello to Meghan's foot.

I ate Flam 

which normally has bacon on it, but for us veggies they put a bunch of veggies. Underneath the veggies was a thin flat and crisp flatbread with cream.

I ate pizza

which was a typical lunch for most of the students in Paris. Me and Meghan would share our lunch each day and take turns paying for it. This cost us about 7-8 euros which is about $8-9.

I ate Italian

from the food court in the Louvre. You choose what size of plate and then you get a certain number of items. It was okay and not as good as it looks. Notice the tiny bottle of vinaigrette on the top left. It was so cute!

I ate Nutella and coconut crepes

from many street vendors. It was a cheap and fast snack for anytime.

I ate veggies and rice

from a restaurant near Notre Dame and Eglise St. Severin called Lodies. Very decorative and tasty.

I ate chocolate mousse

at Lodies. Very tasty again.

I ate a cheese sandwich

that we got from a corner store vendor after climbing the Eiffel tower. It also had tomato and lettuce. And Meghan and I split it in half again, but it was so good and simple. We came to realize that simple lunches with a light soda (like Sprite) suited us because it didn't give us a tummy-ache when we started walking again.

I ate goat cheese

from a fromagerie near the Moulin Rouge. It was the first time I sort of had a conversation with someone in French at a store. I shared with everyone at dinner that night. (Not a very good pic though.)

I ate some weird pastry cheese filled type thing

at dinner. Strange but very good and flaky.

I ate veggies, rice and scalloped potatoes

(again), and no, the potatoes do not come in a box. :D

I ate a lollipop

that I got in a chocolate store. Very pretty!

I ate French fast food

which included a Comte cheese sandwich and french fries. So good and so satisfying.

I ate veggies and potatoes

(again). These potatoes were special because they were like the best potatoes ever!

I wish I ate here.

I ate a tomato and mozzarella panini

before walking down the Champs Elysees.

I ate a popsicle

from a store that is strictly for frozen foods.

I ate veggies and potatoes within a crepe 

which was very strange. There were too many mushrooms and the fried egg broke so I didn't really like it.

I ate apple and currant pie

homemade by Madeleine, the sweetest woman in France. This pie was amazing, btw! Best pie ever.

I ate strawberries

picked straight from the garden. I've never had anything so juicy and sweet before. Strawberries here in America will never be the name.

I drank wine.

Actually, I just sipped some at the First Communion party. It tasted like wine here, but then a gain, I'm not a huge fan of alcohol.

I ate potatoes, salad and a box of cheese

called a Boite Chaude. It was pretty good but I just couldn't bring myself to eat the rind of the cheese.

I ate meringue

which I don't really like. It's too sweet and the egg whites just kinda throw me off. The sad part is, it's everywhere in France. This lucky duck belonged to Adelaide.

I ate straight from the garden

which is something i haven't really done before. My grandpa has a garden but I used to be so picky that I didn't like vegetables. But now, I can't get enough of 'em.

I ate little chocolate bullets

on the plane. It was a gift from JJ's sister-in-law I think. Very tasty.

I also ate (but didn't get a picture of) ratatouille, veggie pizza, potato soup, fast food pasta, ice cream, bread*, cheese, salad and mand more things that I can't even remember.

I didn't eat escargot, eclairs^, meat and not a lot more. I really did try to taste almost everything.

* Funny story. Just before writing this, I went to the farmer's market to get some baguettes from La Baguette which is a bakery and cafe that really does have some good french bread. There were some people from France behind me and I got to speak French to them. I told them I spent one week in Paris and two in Besancon with a penpal. They asked about the French bread here and I told them that French bread from the supermarket is not French bread. I was so proud of myself.

^ I didn't even get a picture of the eclairs that we had once for dessert. I had a bad experience after eating a bunch of then once so now I can't even look at them, let alone take a picture of them.

Everyday Beauty

I think I already mentioned how beautiful it was in the countryside. And I love that they see this all everyday. Kind like how we see Pikes Peak everyday and sometimes forget to notice its beauty.

A lot of houses have roses like this just growing like crazy. 

They don't have a scent but are so pretty to look at.

And, a lot of the houses are like super old, or look super old and cool. The rocks seem to be so brittle but they have held up a house for some time. Pretty cool and amazing.

I'm sure I already put these pics in but here they are again. We would pass this castle each time we went to Besancon. I would totally love to have a castle in my backyard, or just down the road. It's so picturesque, these pictures could be wall papers.

I absolutely loved the stunning views of the city. The pink rooftops reminded me of a renaissance town in Italy, not that I've ever been to Italy, but I know it looks like that in like, Florence or something. 

And it's really cool to think that some of these buildings were actually built back then, before the United States was even conceived.

The Citadell was really cool to see each time. I just wish I had gotten the chance to go to the top like the others. There's like a zoo up there and a Holocaust memorial and museum.

Oh, the lush, verdant, sylvan lands. (Go vocabulary!)

Oh how I wish I was here today!

How to sound like you have been speaking French all your life

Here are some phrases I learned that became very helpful on my travels.

Tiens (pronounced TEE-an) - here it is
I kept hearing this over and over and came up with what I thought it meant. I was right. I asked Adelaide and she said it's like "here it is." So there ya go.

On y va! (pronounced own-EE-vah) - let's go!
J'arrive! (pronounced zyha-REEVE) - I'm coming!
Don't keep them waiting.

Je n'ai plus faim (pronounced zhuh-nay-ploo-FAm) - I am not hungry anymore
Okay, so the food in France is excellent but keep this one in mind or else they will keep on feeding you and you will get fat like Matt did. :)

Pardon (pronounced par-DOHn) - pardon me
In Paris, they used this a lot more than excusez-moi. So, you should too so that you don't sound like a foreigner, always a plus.

Ca ne marche pas (pronounced sah-nhuh-marsh-pah) - It does not work
Helpful when you are at a hotel and your keys don't work. Make sure to actually say your entire room number. Don't say four-four-one, they don't get it. Say four-hundred-forty-one and they will understand.

Quel etage (pronounced kell-AY-tahge) - which floor
Helpful if you want to impress some French people in the elevator. It's very polite, but you kinda have to understand the responses for it to actually help you.

Bonne journee (pronounced bun-zhoor-NAY) - have a nice day
Bonne soiree (pronounced bun-swarrr-AY) - have a nice night
These two are used when you say goodbye. I used them when exiting the elevator at the hotel.

Je sais pas (pronounced zhuh-say-pah) - I don't know
The proper way to say it would be je ne sais pas but no one really says that. Use this if someone asks you something and you really just don't know.

J'aime pas (pronounced zhem-pah) - I don't like
Use this when they are trying to feed you something that you don't like. Just sound polite and they will understand.

Comment on dit (pronounced como-tohn-dee) - how do you say
Useful when you don't know how to say something in either language.

Tu n'as pas les cours? (pronounced two-nah-pah-lay-coor) - you don't have school?
Don't pronounce the last part with an "S" or you will get a confused ten-year-old staring at you funny. That means "you don't have shopping?"

Qu'est que c'est? (pronounced kess-kuh-say) -  what is this?
Use this when you aren't sure about what you are about to eat.

C'est pas grave (pronounced say-pah-grahv) -  it doesn't matter/it isn't serious
Use this when you just wanna drop the subject because it doesn't matter.

A village from a painting

The first Sunday I was in Malans, Pauline's family took me to see Ornans, which is literally a town out of a painting. This famous artist guy, Gustave Courbet, lived there and painted all the scenery, as well as the ordinary people.

This is Eglise St Laurent, very beautiful.

The town

The view from the Chateau that isn't really a chateau.

Me at the "Chateau"

Often called Little Venice, the river Loue runs throughout the entire town.

Here are some pics of my favorite paintings inside the Courbet museum.

I'd have to say that this one is my favorite.

Oh and sorry about the picture quality. it's hard to take pictures of pictures in a museum with bad lighting and no flash.