Swiss chocolate, swiss knives, swiss cheese..

Hi all!

I just returned from Geneva, Switzerland a couple of hours ago. We didn't spend much time there. Our train got us in at 12:30pm on Monday and we left Geneva on the 5:00pm train tonight. When I think of Switzerland I think of ski lodges on snow-covered mountains, rich people storing their billions in banks, and neutrality. Unfortunately we had a tight schedule and we barely left our hotel neighborhood so I didn't get to see the pretty mountain towns that I'd imagined..or even walk past a ginormous and intimidating modern-looking bank.

When we arrived in Geneva it was very cold and pouring rain. Luckily our hotel was a one-minute walk from the train station. The hotel hadn't assigned rooms to people, so Bruno (our teacher and the head of our public health program at Sciences-Po told us to match up on our own and tell him what we decide. People started pairing off left and right and I felt like I was back at middle school worrying that no one was going to ask me to room with them. I was even more worried that I would have to room with one of the people on this program that have no notion of how to not be an annoying person. I took initiative and asked one of the girls I get along with who wasn't paired up yet to be my roommate.

At 2:45pm we headed for MSF. We were going to walk there but because of the train we took the cable-car bus two stops and walked into a very unassuming building. There is no way I would've ever guessed that inside this building was the headquarters to Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). I didn't even see a sign. We listened to a speaker talk about the history of MSF for an hour and a half, something we had all already learned while in Paris (not to mention that we're all global health minors and probably knew it before coming to France).

His lecture was very dry and I found myself struggling to keep my eyes open. I entertained myself by drawing the MSF logo on my notebook. After his lecture we were supposed to hear a doctor speak to us, but because of the Haiti cholera goings-on all of the staff were all over the place so we got a last minute lecture from a more lively woman (who had reporters waiting for her once she was done), she talked to us for a half an hour about a new nutrient supplement and the controversy surrounding it. Apparently there are intellectual property rights battles surrounding the liquid. It is made of peanuts, milk, water, and something else. I couldn't figure out what she was calling the stuff, it was either "plumpy nuts," "plant peanuts," or "plampinuts." There was nothing else scheduled for us at MSF so we were released at 5:00pm and told to meet in the hotel lobby a couple hours later to walk to dinner.

As we were leaving I noticed the front desk was displaying MSF apparel for sale. I asked the guy behind the desk if they were for sale and he said yes but they only accept Swiss Francs and they don't accept credit cards. Yomna and I decided we'd try to look for an ATM and then we'd return to buy something. We were told that the closest ATM was back at the train station near our hotel. We started walking that direction, searching earnestly in the pouring rain for any sign of an ATM. As we left a pharmacy that couldn't give us change in Swiss Francs we quickly realized that ATMs were not located every couple of blocks like they are in Paris. We tried to go into a bank but found the place completely empty.

Look closely at the picture below. The ceiling was made to look like the night sky!!

We left the bank feeling very confused about our preconceptions of Swiss banking. This was supposed to be Switzerland! Land of banks! Where was the top security? We walked in like we owned the place and only saw one person in an office behind a curtain.

As we left the bank we saw a bureau du change across the street! Yomna and I changed over 50 Euro and hurried back to MSF. The man didn't seem happy to see us, he informed us that the guy who was in charge of the apparel wasn't around, and that they didn't have all of the merchandise there. I was about to get nasty and tell him that we'd take the shirts they had behind the glass in the counter until he said he would make a quick phone call. As we waited Yomna pointed out a white board that listed all of the staff who were departing for service over the next several days, their debriefing meeting times, and their location of work. People were listed as going to Sudan, Swaziland, Niger, and one or two places in the Middle East that I can't remember. Eventually he got off the phone and was about to tell us that the merch guy wasn't there but then cut himself off and said "oh, he's right here." The man behind us asked us what we wanted and he went downstairs somewhere to bring up sizes. The sweatshirt was 80 Francs (about 70 Euro)! I didn't get a hoodie but I got a t-shirt, which was much more reasonably priced.

When we returned to the hotel I drank some tea and tried to ignore a sinus headache. I tried to get into my room but we were only given one key and my roommate had it and she wasn't there. I got one from the desk and took some sinus medicine and laid down for 20 minutes, channel surfing.

At dinner we were served traditional Swiss fondu.

There was a band singing, yodeling, and playing traditional Swiss instruments like the saw, the accordion, and this thing:

First they brought out orange le creuset pots with handles full of slightly boiling cheese and placed them on little...hot plate things with a little flame inside. We watched Bruno show us the proper procedure. First you take the long skewer/tiny fork onto which you secure a hunk of bread and you dip the bread into the hot cheese using the skewer/tiny fork. Bruno let his bread sit in the hot cheese for a long time before taking it out but the bread gets really soggy that way. I decided that what I liked the best was to dip half of the little hunk of bread into the cheese to improve the proportion of cheese to bread. We had two birthdays on Monday; Yomna and Amanda's 21st birthdays! The band brought them up a few times to play their Swiss instruments and it was really cute. When it was time to bring out the hot pot of chocolate fondue and the fruit trays the band played happy birthday as we all sang.

The experience was great but the food wasn't good enough to make up for it being so absurdly unhealthy. I don't know why, but food in France has a tendency to be made with alcohol. Almost all of the desserts (except for the ones at patisseries) taste like someone poured two shots of rum on them after cooking them. Well, Geneva is in the French speaking-side of Switzerland and, true to form, the cheese tasted faintly of alcohol. We had really good white wine with our meal, but I hate when my food tastes like alcohol. Also, the cheese they used didn't even taste that good. Several people said they didn't like the cheese that was used. The chocolate was delicious but they served it with apples, oranges, cantaloupe, and pineapple. I was really surprised that they didn't give us strawberries or bananas. Nothing went well with the chocolate, and the cantaloupe with chocolate tasted like vomit. All criticisms aside, it was a very fun dinner!

It was still raining by the time we left the restaurant around 10:00pm. I was dead on my feet when I got back to the hotel. Sunday night the new people in the room next to me had friends over and they were up past 2 am. They kept doing that random loud bursts of laughter thing. Remember the girl I spoke about before from New York who spoke like my Ben & Jerry's co-workers? I could hear her voice clearly. I could hear every word she said. I had waited since I went to bed at 11:30pm for them to quiet down, but I finally knocked on their door at 1:30am and asked them politely to keep it down because I had to get up at 7:00 to go to Geneva. My roommate came back from her weekend in Brussels and Amsterdam at 6:00 am and didn't see the point in sleeping for just one hour, so she stayed up. So I only slept from 2:00am to 6:00am the night before. At the hotel my roommate wasn't back yet so I changed into my PJs, vowed to ignore any knocks on my door, watched BBC news for half an hour in bed, and then went to sleep at 10:45pm.

I will post day 2 in Geneva soon!

Love,

H.

Eating in Paris

After living in one place for 5 weeks, a girl is bound to have formed her favorite places to eat.

To satisfy your hunger in Paris, I recommend the following places:

Lili's Brownies Café

Where: On Rue du Dragon off of Rue du Four

What: A tiny café that has a soup du jour, sandwiches, an assortment of tea, and an extremely wide variety of cakes and desserts similar to American pastries. I've had a really delicious tomato bean soup, and an equally delicious spinach soup. I've also had a slice of banana nut bread and a slice of carrot cake bread. For each bread choice you have the option of frosting or not.

Be aware: They have no patience for a beginner in french. I've gone in their trying to speak french and they just stare at you and say "qoi?" Where most stores would either speak english or help you out by guessing what you want or relying on pointing, they just huff at you and wait. So in this rare case it's better to just speak english and apologize.

Photo Courtesy of: New York Times

L'As du Falafel

Where: Le Marais. 34 Rue des Rosiers. Metro St Paul.

What: BEST falafel I've ever had. And it's vegetarian! There is a process that you must know before you go. 1) Go inside and ask for "une falafel" at the register and pay the 5 euro. 2) Take the ticket she gives you and go wait in line outside. (When it's really crowded they'll have a guy out there and you can buy your ticket while waiting in line). 3) When you get to the window, hand over your ticket. 4) Watch the art form of packing a pita with hot falafel, diced veggies, eggplant, and sauce. 5) Feast.

Be aware: This place tends to have really long lines. Once I was there at the same time that a camera crew was interviewing half the staff.

Photo Courtesy of: Amorino.com

Amorino

Where: All over Paris.

What: Gelato. They have a ton of flavors and there is always a line because eating gelato from here is heaven. Recently some friends went to Italy and I couldn't get them to admit that gelato in italy was any better than gelato from Amorino. You can get a small but pick however many flavors you want to be included in that small. They'll just put a smaller amount of each flavor but fill your cup. If you order a cone, they'll shape the ice cream like a flower. (See above)

Be Aware: Of returning for gelato every day.

La Grande Epicerie

Where: Corner of Rue du Sèvres and Rue St-Placide

What: Gourmet grocery store. This store is below half of Le Bon Marché, a designer and très expensive mall. The store itself is beautiful. I always buy lunch from here because they have great pre-made food like at Marks & Spencers in the U.K. They have a counter for nuts, a counter for coffee, a counter for fish, a counter for meat, a counter for cheese, a counter for desserts, a counter for fresh bread products, and a counter for pre-made dinner food.

Be Aware: It can get very crowded before and after work hours. You may want to buy everything in the store and start cooking immediately. It can also get very pricey.

There are still a few food places on my list to visit, and I'll let you know how they are once I've tried them. I'm anxious to get a hot chocolate from Angelina's, which was featured on Oprah, but since it's 7 Euro for a cup of their world famous hot chocolate, I think I'll wait until Mom gets here and see if she'll take me and Morgan.

Health & Safety, Midterms, and Macarons

Hey lovely people!

It's almost Halloween! I watched Hocus Pocus on youtube in celebration the other day. No, this post isn't about Rennes. This is a super quick post because I have a midterm tomorrow I need to prepare for and it's already 4:15!

We just had a Health and Safety Inspection of all the rooms in my dorm today. This is the second one we've had so far this year! It must be a catholic school thing, good lord. Northwestern never has Health and Safety Inspections. If you want to be a slob that's your business! The first time they did the check they came right as we were waking up, then all they did was peer behind the desk and declared us fine. Anyway I came back from my very stressful midterm (one hour to write a minimum of 5 pages on the differences between health care systems) with a small bag of sweets from Bon Marché.

I like to treat myself to something nice after stressful exams. After the GRE I bought myself a tee shirt from GAP, for example. Last week Le Bon Marché got its Halloween candy in! They have a special stand for the candy. On that stand they sell cool looking candy, but the coolest thing is what looks like a dried corn cob. What you are supposed to do is put the corn cob in the microwave in a bag they provide for you, and microwave it. The popcorn pops off the cob into the bag!! How sweet is that?! Anyway back to what I was saying. I originally wanted to buy the super cool looking specialty Halloween chocolates, but they were too pricey. Instead, I bought two small macarons (one praline, the other chocolate and coffee), and two chocolate balls that look like Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I was all ready to sit down and enjoy, until I walked up to my room to find the dorm manager guy and the RA standing outside my open door taking notes. I walked in and sat down at my desk, waiting them to either close my door, or say something.

They came in and handed me an inspection form. They wrote us up for having a dirty sink (due to dried toothpaste), having a full trash can (isn't that what the can is for? To fill it?!), and they said that we needed to sweep. Sweep! For goodness sakes. This is absurd. This place doesn't even have a broom! All they have is a small hand broom that is as old as dirt and one vacuum, both of which you can only rent out at certain times of the day, on certain days of the week. They said they'd come back Friday to check on us, and if our sink situation isn't fixed, they may fine us at the end of the year. We have a midterm tomorrow, my roommate leaves for Spain tomorrow evening, and I leave for Portugal Friday at the crack of dawn. The room isn't even as messy as my room at home used to get. They left, and I didn't even want my sweets anymore. I ate them anyway, and they were satisfying.

Who has seen the bedroom intruder remix video of Antoine Dodson? I really feel like telling them; "you are so dumb, you are really dumb, fo' real."

And you can run and tell that! Homeboy.

Hillary

If you don't understand that reference you need ask me or mom immediately so we can direct you to the appropriate links. You are missing out on some good laughs.

Tidbits

Hey folks!

This post is made up of little tidbits from the past week of my life in Paris.

Refund:

We're off the meal plan! So many people complained about the food at St. John's that our program director had to step in. She ended the food contract with St. John's and is providing all of us with reimbursements in cash (to cover rest of our time here) to be delivered via Sciences-Po. The St. John's kids still have to eat the food. It's such a relief to be able to plan when, where, and what I'll be eating.

Fashion Week:

Paris Fashion Week began on Tuesday! Yesterday (Wednesday) I walked around trying to find the supposed TopShop pop-up store in a store called "Colette." (TopShop is a British clothing store that is affordable and very cute). The article I'd read about it online said that there was a special pop-up TopShop being hosted at Colette. I found Colette.. which appeared to be a hip hop music/ guys clothing/ guys shoe store with an Urban Outfitters book section on the first floor, with Hermès scarves and jewelry upstairs, and a restaurant downstairs. I found nothing TopShop related. There were however, a ton of American and Italian tourists with lots of fancy shopping bags. As I walked back across the Louvre Gardens back to my side of the Seine, I passed an incredibly long tent being constructed that read; "Accessory Designers Trade Show." Other than that I haven't seen much Fashion Week activity. The online show schedule has different events happening all over the place, spread throughout the entire city. It doesn't seem to be centralized. I have heard that it's nearly impossible to get in to see a show during the Paris Fashion Week because it is so popular. You have to either know someone, be famous, or be in the industry. Even just being rich isn't always enough to cut it. Seats are in high demand. All I wanted to do was to sit outside and watch all the cool people walking around, but I haven't seen much so far.

Bon Marché:

Yesterday morning before class I ran into Bon Marché (fancy department store with a large fancy grocery store on the bottom á la Harrods) to buy a couple of apples before class. As I was checking out, the cashier-lady laughed and mumbled something in French to me. Instead of saying I didn't understand her, I just smiled and nodded saying "mhmm.." She must've understood that I was foreign because when I left she said "Bonjourno!" So far in my travels I've been mistaken for being Brazilian, Dutch, and Italian. I take it all in pride.

Library Tour:

Yesterday morning we had a "mandatory" library tour from 8am to 9am. I put "mandatory" in quotes because a lot of people stayed in bed and no one took roll. The "tour" took place in a room 4 blocks from the library and was a Power Point presentation on how to check out books and reserve books online. Afterwards I was planning to go back to bed but she said we could follow her to the library and get some free croissants and coffee..so of course most of us followed her. There was a guy there with a camera filming because it turns out this was a grand opening of the new addition to the older library which is across the street. We were the first ones in there, and that place was SO COOL. I literally felt like I was in an Apple store on every floor. There were floating conference rooms and tons of brand new Mac desktops. The floors, walls, and ceilings were all white and the floating conference rooms were stone. There were futuristic looking swivel chairs with little table tops attached, and on one level these chairs were sitting on top of a see-through floor that looked down on the first level. Thank goodness for free food, or I wouldn't have seen it!

Wall Street:

I saw the "Wall Street" Paris premier Tuesday night! Instead of a midnight release (which I'm not sure they do in France) it was an 8:15pm showtime the day before the national release date. We saw it in a gigantic theater with an enormous white screen that felt like something you would see at Universal Studios. There weren't any previews, it felt like we were seeing a sneak peek showing. I loved the movie! It was fresh, by that I mean the director incorporated some new filmmaking styles that I haven't really seen before. It doesn't hurt that I have a huge crush on all of Shia LaBeouf's characters (except in Eagle Eye...ok and not in Even Stevens either).

I plan on relaxing for the rest of the day and then hopefully going to get dinner later with some friends. This Saturday is La Nuit Blanche. I don't entirely get what it's for, but it's free, is geared towards younger people, and is centered around dining, museums, and music. It lasts from 7pm to 7am Sunday morning. I guess lots of places stay open and a few of the metro lines stay open all night as well. We shall see!

Talk to you soon!

Love,

Hillary

I Am Gordon Ramsey..In My Dreams

Last night I went to a jazz club on a street famous for it's jazz scene called Rue des Lombards. The bar was called "Le Baiser Salé." Here's a picture of the inside:

Just kidding, that's Gordon Ramsey's restaurant in Tokyo (the guy from Hell's Kitchen). I really want to go to one of his restaurants one day. Anyway, here's what it actually looked like:

I didn't take this picture I found it on google..but this is basically what it looked like outside except darker and way more crowded. Pretty cool, huh?

I tried google translating it in French and all I got was the word kiss, but translating it from Portuguese gives me "The Salty Kiss." I tried portuguese because I think the singer was Brazilian and I think he was singing partly in portuguese last night. The show was at 10 and we decided around 9 that we wanted to go there (we'd walked down the road to find the best bang for our buck). So, we sat down and ordered a drink and tried to ignore the cold. It was so crowded that we were as close to the street as possible and thus weren't under the heat lamps. Around 9:45 we waited in line to pay our 20 Euro cover and go sit upstairs where the show would be.

We got seated as close to the stage as you could get (which I don't think was a good thing). The show wasn't starting until 10:30 so the waitress said if we wanted food we could go to the corner for a crêpe and come back. A few of us left and when I got back, there was a chick in my seat. The friends of mine who'd stayed behind said they'd tried to tell her that I was sitting there but she ignored them. I stood there awkwardly in this teeny tiny super crowded room with nowhere to go because the other 2 friends who had left with me were behind me, and in front of me was the table my friends were sitting at and the bench next to it that I had been sitting on, that was now occupied. I was holding up my friends behind me, who had nowhere to go until I found somewhere to sit. I told her she was in my seat, and she argued with me, telling me that she had been there before. I know she was lying because when I sat down earlier her friend scooted over to make a spot for me, and didn't say a word about me sitting in an occupied seat. Then, when my friends sat down and I was the only person standing up with nowhere to move, literally, and the waitress was looking at this woman trying to figure out what had happened to my seat, the chick pointed to a little white bag sitting on an empty chair and said she could take that and I could sit there. So I KNOW she was lying- that was where she'd been sitting! Ugh. I took my spot, which was situated perfectly so that when I looked straight ahead all I saw was a music stand in front of me holding a big red music folder. But I told myself, all I really need is to be able to hear, not necessarily to see.

The music was good! The best way I can describe it was that it sounded similar to "The Girl From Ipanema" song.. with a little more drums. At one point this guy randomly walked onstage from the crowd (who obviously knew the band) and joined in for one song. He was singing in fast spanish and I was so relieved. Being here and not knowing french has made me realize that I am more fluent in spanish than I thought. (Not to say I'm fluent in spanish by any means, far from it). He left after his song and soon after they had an intermission. It's funny how you can understand so much faster than you can speak. For example, I speak a ridiculously small amount of french, but I understood the vocalist of the band when he said-in french- "We're going to take an intermission for 5 minutes and we'll start again in 20 minutes." (Insert crowd laughter).

Ok but back to the point of this post. So, the seat stealing liar bothered me more than I realized, because I'm pretty sure my dream last night was a manifestation of my rage towards this woman. See what you think:

In my dream I was eating dinner at a restaurant with some people. The waitress came by and someone asked her for her recommendations. At the same time I somehow had the internet open to a page of reviews about the restaurant. All of the reviews said that the restaurant was really good but to never order these two specific items mentioned, because they sucked. Literally every review said that. And lo and behold, those were the two items she recommended. I could tell (as you sometimes can in dreams) that she was doing this to be cruel. All of my friends were nodding and smiling, ignorant of the warning from the reviews. I was not going to let this happen.

"I'm not buying this bullsh*t! Who do you think you are?! Did you think we wouldn't know?! How is it that you are recommending the very two things that are supposed to be horrible at this place?"

She sneered and stayed silent, knowing the jig was up! Without a moment's pause, I turned to the head waitress standing nearby listening and said; "We'd like a new waitress, please." She smiled, nodded, and said; "right away."

This evening I realized that my rant at the waitress is exactly what I could have said to the lady sitting in my chair- minus the part about the menu. I never would have said that, but I think dream me was able to vent her frustrations the Gordon Ramsey way.

Until next time!

Hillary

"Please sir, may I have some more?"

Hello and good day boys and girls, the topic of today's post is the dining hall- sponsored by Oliver; the play that keeps on giving.

Let's start off by providing a little background. We pay 11 Euro (around $13.5) for each dinner here, and a few more for breakfast. Our meal plans, which are compulsory, are for breakfast and dinner Monday through Friday. Lunch we do on our own because we're usually at school then. Since we arrived here two weeks ago, the food quality has been poor at best. It has made the Northwestern dining halls look like paradise. There are rules here.

We choose two items from the following: a bowl of applesauce, a bowl of fruit cocktail from a can, an apple, an orange, a banana, and a square of cheese the size of a credit card. Then we get a main dish and we can opt for the vegetarian option, which last night was fried cheese. Sometimes there is a dessert to pick from as well. At the end of the line, if you already picked two things from the beginning, you can only pick one more thing, which is either a bowl of lettuce, a bowl of shredded cabbage, a bowl of diced tomatoes, a bowl of sliced cucumber, or a bowl of what looks like cous cous and chopped sausage. Or, if you only picked one item from the beginning of the line, you may pick two from the end.

Except that, for the past two weeks the rule was that you can have two from the start of the line, and two from the end, plus a dessert. Dinner is between 7:00 and 7:30 pm, and at 7:30 you must turn in your tray or the dining hall workers get angry. This is what happened yesterday:

I arrived downstairs in the dining hall at 6:50, and there were already 23 people in front of me, per usual. People wait downstairs way before 7:00 because they usually run out of food. (Tuesday night they served chicken and the vegetarian option was fish- a whole fish with the head and tail still on- so lots of people chose chicken instead. They ran out of chicken pretty quickly, so they served french fries, of course. Clearly, potatoes are the perfect alternative to chicken.) They opened the doors early- at 6:54- which is very, very unusual. I was excited! Maybe the phone calls from all the angry mothers really were paying off!

As I waited for my turn to get food, I looked at the night's meal. It looked alright. The desserts looked delicious, the salad/diced food at the end looked alright. I devised my plan, I would get one dessert, two fruits, the vegetarian main dish of rice, sauce, and fried cheese (the alternative was rice with chili con carne), then get the bowl of lettuce and the bowl of chopped tomatoes and make a legit salad.

First, I grabbed the desert option that looked the best; an apple tart thing the size of two credit cards. Then, I grabbed an orange and an apple. The North African woman behind the counter said something angrily in French and then said "DEUX!!" But, I had picked two! I wasn't understanding the problem, and before I knew it she had snatched the orange off of my tray and put it back in the fruit basket.

Alarmed, I continued on down the line. Another angry North African woman went to serve me the beef without even asking which one I preferred, so I quickly pointed to the beef and said "no!" She put the vegetarian option on my plate and handed it to me while arguing with the grad student who works here. Next, I picked up the bowl of lettuce and the bowl of chopped tomatoes. This time it was the North African man who was yelling at me..in french.

Again, I had picked too many things. The grad student, Luc, was standing right there. I asked him what the deal was, and he said he didn't know but it was best not to argue because they get really angry. "I know.." I replied. I sadly put the tomatoes back and unhappily took my seat (and I don't even like tomatoes, I just wanted to salvage this bowl of lettuce!).

Please sir, may I have some more?

Normandy- Day 2

Hello!

Thanks for tuning in folks, let's start the show!

2nd day in Normandy (last Saturday):

We had breakfast at the hotel in two shifts, half the group ate at 8:00 am and my group ate at 8:30. At breakfast I had a 25 minute argument with myself over whether or not I could wear my comfy white shirt with the french writing on it and not look like an idiot. I decided to wear it and hope the French people in the two towns we were visiting that day wouldn't judge me. I spent most of the day with my sweatshirt zipped up over my shirt out of fear. But I was comfy!

On the agenda for Saturday was to visit two towns, the first was Honfleur and the second Deauville. After visiting these two towns we'd hop on the bus and head back to Paris.

Honfleur:

This was the cutest seafaring town I've ever seen. Monaco's harbor is magnificent but this was a tiny town built forever ago and it was very quaint. We had 4 whole hours to spend here. I started the day walking around the outdoor market with a few friends. The market sold everything from cheese, striped clothing, cool looking liquids of some kind of all colors in cool looking bottles (they were different kind of exotic juices), to CDs from a decade ago.

We passed by the Marine Museum and I stopped in to see how much a ticket would be. For 3.5 euro we could get a double ticket that would allow us inside the Marine Museum and also inside the Anthropological Museum. I was so excited! I ran out to tell my friends and two of them decided it was too much money (...?) and they left to go walk around more. One of them stayed behind with me and as another group of people walked past I was able to convince two of them to buy a ticket as well. The Marine Museum was cute, it was really tiny but they had some cool models of ships and some old clothing. We were told the Anthropological Museum was around the corner so we started walking that direction.

We got distracted by this sweet alleyway that reminded us all of Harry Potter. It was in this alley that I remembered it was my birthday! I checked my phone and I had a text from my mom wishing me a happy birthday. I felt so happy to be in Diagon Alley (or so I imagined) that I decided that it must be my gift. I had mentioned the previous night at dinner to two people that Saturday was my birthday, but I told them I didn't want it to be a big deal and that I wasn't going to tell anyone. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything because I'd already celebrated with friends and family back home. I'd already had cake from Portillos and that meant I'd already had my birthday.

It turned out that at the end of that alleyway was the Anthropological Museum! We went inside, grabbed our pamphlet in english that described everything for us, and started exploring. Outside there was some cool old stuff and lots of birds. I looked up and saw this bird in the rafters that looked like an owl. I was so excited!! Hedwig! I showed everyone I was with, then the owl moved and it was a bird, like a big bird, but not an owl. Oh well..being in the French Diagon Alley AND seeing an owl would've been unlikely. The museum was really big inside, it was a narrow old house with 4 floors. Everything was set up inside like it would have been 300 years ago. 3.50 euros well spent!

Remember how I mentioned the striped clothing for sale in the market? They were ALL OVER the place. This was like the town of stripes. I know stripes are french, and they're also nautical, so the combination of this french town with boats must've made all the tourists (and French people!) decide what they needed to do was to wear stripes to the town, and also buy some more stripes at the market.
We ate lunch there (mine was a 4 cheese penne which I didn't think you could mess up but alas, it was not good) and I also got a scoop of Ben & Jerry's. I've been craving Ben & Jerry's since Bolivia but I couldn't get any at home because A) the Vernon Hills one is closed, and B) I tried to buy a little container of it from Jewel but the label was misleading and I chose a gross flavor and couldn't enjoy it.

Our next stop was Deauville.

There was an American film festival and I think we were there for opening night. As a result, the town was very crowded. There were a lot of really well dressed people and very fancy cars, but I think that might be normal for this town because it is very posh and expensive..kind of like a Monaco of the north without the castle.
We snuck onto the red carpet and spent a few minutes waiting for something, but nothing happened so we assumed the official kick off wasn't starting until the evening. Coco Chanel opened her first shop in this town, so we went off looking for it.

We didn't find her shop because apparently it isn't there anymore, but we did find Hérmes, Ralph Lauren, Longchamp, and a great number of other designer stores. This hotel below was gigantic, and buzzing with people. I think it might be where the guests of the film festival were staying. Someone said that last year on this trip, people saw someone like Julia Roberts or Meryl Streep, so we had our eyes peeled and our cameras ready.
As we walked past the side of the huge hotel, we saw french people up against the gate periodically shouting a name like "John!" at this guy in the suit below. We assume he's famous because he waved once. That red flag is a picture of John Wayne on a confederate flag.

After walking around the town, we headed to the beach by the harbor and relaxed before getting back on the bus.

We were told we'd have a rest stop halfway to Paris, as we'd had one on the way up there Friday morning. After over 2 hours (it's about a 3 hour trip total) someone asked the leaders of the trip whether or not we were going to stop, as most of us were starving and had to use the bathroom badly (there weren't any accessible public bathrooms in Deauville). The driver pulled into the next rest stop and we all ran to the bathroom. After I'd used the bathroom I was waiting outside for my friends to be finished. I was standing amongst everyone else who was waiting for the bathroom (of which there was but one). Out of nowhere this girl I'd known before France comes up and says "HILLARY IS IT YOUR BIRTHDAY TODAY?? I JUST SAW IT ON FACEBOOK!" I was standing next to everyone on my program, and I was forced to admit it. So I said "haha..uh..yeah." They all took my not telling them as modesty, but really I just didn't want all the attention. It was cute though, everyone sang me happy birthday, then the French kids sang to me in French, and then the Polish French guy in our program gave me 2 kisses on the cheek. Then everyone kept saying "21? You gonna go out? We've got to stay out until the morning!" That was the last thing I felt like doing so I just smiled and laughed.

Anne-Cécil, the French teacher who was in charge of us for the weekend had told us we weren't allowed to eat on the bus, and we only had 15 min to stretch our legs and go to the bathroom but not to buy food. So what did we do? We all congregated in the mini-market and bought cookies and sandwiches while the male leader of our trip stood and watched. Once on the bus you could smell the overwhelming scent of tuna and potato chips, so Anne-Cécil said we could eat if we were very careful not to be messy.

That was my trip to Normandy! I hope everyone is having a wonderful September!

Love,

Hill

Huelga, part deux!

Hey guys!

Alright, think back to a time, long long ago, when I was in Bolivia. Do you remember me telling you that the way things get done there was to have a strike? While I was in Bolivia there were several strikes. I have recently learned that this is how people express their opinions in Paris as well! Tomorrow there will be a strike..I forgot why.. someone told us last week..but regardless the outcome is that public transit is going to take like 10 times as long. I don't have to worry about this because I'm a 15-20 min walk to class and I don't take the metro to get there. My french teacher warned us today that she might be late tomorrow because of it. After class today I was walking home and saw the roads blocked off and tons of people walking around with stickers that I couldn't read. Maybe it's already starting? It's only a one day strike though so who knows.

Ok let's get down to business. I have a lot of reading to do today and tomorrow so instead of telling you all about Normandy on Friday and Saturday, I'm going to talk about my Thursday and show you some pictures from that day!

Thursday:

Last Thursday we had french placement testing in the morning. After testing we walked over to Ladurée, a famous macaroon place, and picked out a few macaroons to eat! My favorite one was vanilla because it tasted like ice cream in a cookie sandwich. I'd never had macaroons before but they're delicious and they are in all these bright colors! They even have mimosa flavored.

Later, one of the French students in our program, Camille, told us she wanted to show us where the Jardin du Luxembourg was. It's a garden we all kept hearing about but no one had seen yet. What I thought was going to be a 15 min walk to the gardens ended up being a 2.5 hour tour around part of the city.

First we walked back towards school and Ladurée, and up to the Seine.

This is the beginning of Pont Neuf, the island in the middle of the Seine on which Notre Dame sits.

Our first stop was to be Notre Dame. (Again). This marks my fourth time inside Notre Dame. But this time was a bit different, outside one of my friends pointed out something really cool! There was this really old man feeding the birds (enter the Feed the Birds song from Mary Poppins) and the birds were actually on his hand! Then the birds were landing on the shoulders of this old lady chatting to another old lady, and she didn't mind at all!

After Notre Dame we walked past part of the Sorbonne (famous public university), and entered the Pantheon. the Pantheon is where lots of famous dead people are buried, and it is located in this odd but beautiful area next to a law school and what amounts to like a regional government building. Here are a few pictures from outside the Pantheon and inside it.

This is the bad guy from Ocean's 12! I've found the Night Fox! He's in an ad for cologne that's on bus stops all over the city.

Inside the Pantheon:
In the basement of the Pantheon where most of the graves are:
Voltaire's body is in the casket behind his statue:

Outside of the Pantheon were two groups of college-aged kids. One group was in all red, and the other in all blue. Most of them had odd random squiggly lines in face paint on their faces and they seemed to be standing around. Camille said it was their form of hazing for "associations" or college clubs. Their hazing is tame and all in good fun, it's not harmful according to Camille. After a stop for gelato we walked into the Jardin du Luxembourg.

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. First of all, we had a beautiful day to be walking around outside. It was in the 70's and sunny. I don't know how I've been to France twice and missed this. I've always come in March when it probably isn't as magical, but in September at least it was heaven. I can't really describe it in words, but I'll start by saying this place is huge. I didn't see all of it because our feet were hurting and I didn't know exactly how far it went. We walked to the center by the fountain and rested for about half an hour. There were people all over the place going for walks, reading, chatting, or eating. Here are some of the pictures I took:

This is the senate building:

Alright folks! That's it for now!

I'll update again soon!

Love, Hillary

La Última Fin de Semana en Bolivia

Hi everyone!

I've been having a fun extended weekend and I finally found time to sit down and tell you all about it!

Wednesday:

Thursday was my last day of work. The head doctor and director of the clinic, Dr. Romero, came back from his 6 week vacation on Wednesday, just in time to take me and the head nurse to La Cancha to spend my mini-grant on necessities for the clinic. Wednesday we hopped in a cab and spent a couple hours at La Cancha buying office supplies, kitchen supplies, a space heater, thermometer batteries, and a modem. After buying the office supplies we had a huge bag full of heavy things like hole-punchers and staplers. The head nurse is almost 6 months pregnant and she'd been carrying this bag so I tried to take it from her but she switched hands to her other side so I couldn't take it. Every time we bought something the doctor would take the bag from the saleslady and hand it to the head nurse. All he was carrying was a bag with 3 hand towels inside. The head nurse was carrying all the office supplies, all the mugs for the kitchen, a space heater, and more. And she is 6 months pregnant! I couldn't believe how chauvinistic the doctor was being. I'd already known that I didn't like him because he's sort of creepy but this was too much. Bolivia, and lots of South American countries, tend to operate in a chauvinistic manner. There are campaigns to foster equality of gender that I've heard on the radio and seen on billboards, but they still have a long way to go.

Thursday:

Thursday was the day before Bolivian Independence Day. Most people got work off on Friday and some also took off Thursday. Thursday afternoon I walked around the Prado (main road/ city center) with a friend to watch the festivities. There were chairs lining the streets, lots of sunglasses and food venders, rides for kids, and a parade that lasted from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. The parade was made up of marching bands from almost every school in Cochabamba, military bands, and children dressed up as famous Bolivian historical figures. All the girls older than about 10 and all of the women in the parade were wearing ridiculously tall heels. Most of them were also wearing heavy looking marching band costumes or pants suits. When I watched the parade around 1:00 pm it was scorching hot. The parade line was directly in the sun and most of the kids looked flushed, unhappy, and uncomfortable. I wanted to give all of them water so badly. As I walked around my neighborhood Thursday there was no one around- it was as if the entire city was either in the parade or watching it.

Thursday night I went to a goodbye dinner with a bunch of friends and then stopped by a cafe with a few people for a drink. I was really thirsty and tired so I just got water but the owner of the cafe sent over a shot of maple whisky or something that was ridiculously sweet that we all passed around and sipped to be polite. I mentioned this in an earlier post but at midnight the music was turned off and the national anthem was sung by everyone present. Firecrackers were set off and a few Bolivian women started dancing traditional scarf dances with napkins in the center of the room. It was a great feeling of national pride and community that we all commented on as lacking in the states.

Friday:

I assumed Friday would be even more chaotic in the Prado, but to my surprise there was barely anyone outside no matter where I was on Friday. Apparently, Friday is when all Bolivian families have huge barbeque lunches and everyone spends time at home. I had heard something about a parade happening Friday but I never saw anything all afternoon. No stores were open Friday and the few restaurants we tried were sold out of everything on the menu.

Saturday:

My airport friends and I had been planning for awhile to hit up this "hot springs spa" we'd heard about that was supposed to be very close to Cochabamba. Saturday we finally did it. Clara had to purchase tickets ahead of time at the place's sister hotel located in the Cochabamba. Tickets for one day including lunch and afternoon tea cost 70 Bs a person. Saturday morning we met up north near Sarah's apartment to grab breakfast and then catch a micro for 2 Bs to Quillacollo, a city half an hour outside of Cochabamba. I was starved and so for breakfast I ordered donut holes from a donut shop and then a pastel and jugo de durazno (pastry and peach juice) from our breakfast place. I also hadn't had a salteña yet (it's like a strictly Bolivian item that Bolivians eat as breakfast and is an empanada with soupy goodness inside). I had avoided eating it because I've seen people eating them and everyone makes a huge mess due to the soupiness of the inside. Being a messy eater, I decided it would be wise to avoid it for as long as possible. My airport friends couldn't let me go any longer without having one so we ate salteñas for breakfast as well. I only spilled once and it was only a little on my sleeve!

After breakfast we caught our micro and got off 30 minutes later in bustling Quillacollo. After a 20 minute ride in a separate micro we were let off on the side of the highway across from La Cabaña. It turns out La Cabaña is less of a hot springs spa and more of a crowded country club with a pool and a couple of jacuzzi tubs. We were as happy as could be because all we wanted to do was lay out in the sun, chat, relax, and maybe read. We found a spot on the grass and settled in. I lathered on the sun screen because I've seen too many episodes of Oprah where they show sun spots under people's skin and how much older people look when they didn't protect their skin against the sun when they were young. I was also thinking about skin cancer but as a secondary concern. Anyway we sat and chatted for a little while and several times an older man in his 70's or 80's with socks and sandles and a polo shirt kept coming over to us to tell the other two to put on sunscreen. As I french-braided Sarah's hair he came over and began to braid a tiny braid in her hair too. He was harmless but a bit too friendly. He said he'd traveled a lot in the U.S. and knew a bit of english but spoke to us in spanish. He also told us that the tiny braid he'd made was called Ernesto (his name I assume..). Sitting in the sun bores me pretty quickly so I got up and did a little bit of exploring before lunch was served.

Lunch was really cute, they had all reservations marked on little name cards to indicate who was sitting where. We were served a little salad, an egg-drop soup, and then a plate of chicken, potatoes, and rice. Sometimes being out in the sun for awhile zaps my appetite, so I was full before the soup came out. I barely touched my main course and the manager was worried that I didn't like it. If I thought I could force myself to eat a few bites without throwing up I would have, but for some reason I was really full. Maybe it was our big breakfast only 2 or 3 hours earlier.

After we ate we did some more exploring together. We found a really cool suspension bridge and crossed it to find railroad tracks that ended abruptly on both sides after about 100 feet.

As the sun moved in the sky we came back to find out little area halfway in the shade. We moved our things over to the empty soccer field and spent some time there reading. After half an hour a gringo girl that I'd been seeing all day came over and asked if I knew Becky. It took me a second but I realized that this was an SB volunteer who I'd met very briefly through her friend Becky who was in the "Yale" group from the Salar that we kept running into during our tour. We talked and she said her name was Dina (good omen!). She spelled it just like my mom. We chatted and it turns out she's going for her masters at Michigan and just ended an internship with Direct Relief, which is an organization based in California that I'd considered applying for this summer! I got her e-mail address and plan to contact her if I decide to apply to Direct Relief in the future.

Earlier, as I'd been doing some exploring of the grounds on my own, I'd spotted a zip line across the small man-made lake. Before we left Clara and I decided that we had to do it and so we wandered over there. After seeing a fully-grown man cross the lake on the zip line, we were confident that the line was sturdy and that it would hold us.

Can you spot me on the left in the air?

On our way back to Cochabamba we had to stop in Quillacollo again. We picked up some ingredients for dinner and got back to Sarah's apartment around 5:00 pm to prep the pizza dough we were going to bake later. I'd never made pizza dough by scratch before but it was amazing to see yeast working on sugar and water. I also didn't realize it had to sit for a couple of hours to rise. After we prepped the dough we all split up to relax before returning to Sarah's to bake the pizza at 8:00 pm. I made a huge fruit salad and Sarah had made a really good pizza sauce. By 9:00 pm we were tucking in to our meal and it was superb. Around 10:00 pm Dave (Sarah's boyfriend) took us to a swanky club for a drink to celebrate Clara's last night in Bolivia. Walking up to this club felt like being in Vegas. There were brand new BMWs parked outside and inside were the most beautiful Bolivians I've seen yet. I don't know where the BMWs are during the day, or the well dressed Bolivians, but I know where to find them at night!

Everyone was very dressed up and we were a tad underdressed but we had a nice time chatting over our drinks.

Sunday:

After sleeping in and relaxing all morning, I met Sarah, Dave, and Clara at the soccer stadium for a game between Cochabamba (the reigning champs) and Oruro. The game was a lot of fun and went quickly.

We left after one half (45 min) because we wanted to get something sweet to eat and say goodbye to Clara before she left to catch her cab to the airport. We split a chocolate sundae dessert and hugged her goodbye as she got into her trufi to go to her house, grab her suitcases, and leave Bolivia. It was sad to say goodbye because we 3 have gotten close over the summer, but we made plans to meet up sometime early next year.

Today:

I took all my clothes to the laundromat this morning for the last time. I had to bring a backpack and an empty cardboard postal box in order to get everything there. When I got there he raised his eyebrows and asked if this was all for one person. At first he said I could come back tomorrow in the evening, but as I left he said "Wednesday in the evening!" So, I'm going to try tomorrow anyway to see if they're ready so I can start to pack because the last thing I want to do is pack at the last minute. Not to mention that the only things I have to wear until then are a few dresses that never got worn due to the cold at night, and a soccer jersey. Oh, and laundry guy called me niña (little girl) which I'm not sure how to take..

Anyway that's it for now! More on my final few days soon,

Love,

Hillary Quinn