Tag Archives: study abroad paris

MOROCCO

Posted on by

While living in Paris last year, I went to Morocco with my family when they came to visit me between semesters.  I’m definitely going back to Morocco as soon as I can.  It’s a beautiful city with beautiful people.  They’re so welcoming – and it’s not fake.  They are genuinely interested in you and where you come from.  They love to show you what their daily life is like.  They love to take you away from the touristy stuff and invite you into their homes for mint tea and biscuits.  They treat you as a good friend, and those are the kind of people you want to meet while traveling.

Everywhere you turn there’s an amazing opportunity for another beautiful photo.

DSC04377

DSC04492

DSC04488

It’s so incredibly easy to get lost in the maze of narrow winding streets that are the back alleys of Marrakech, but it’s cool because it kind of makes you feel like an explorer.  I suggest dedicating an entire day to exploring the back streets (although you won’t have even scratched the surface after one day).  Don’t forget the essentials – comfortable shoes, a bottle of water, and most importantly, your camera.

DSC04397

DSC04402

DSC04468

DSC04479

IMG_9722

The building in which we stayed was absolutely gorgeous and we were treated like royalty.  This was clearly a place where tourists stayed, but it was amazing nonetheless.

DSC04561

DSC04552

DSC04637

I really enjoyed photographing this city because it’s  full of color.  Quite different from the Parisian winter I had left behind.

DSC04496

IMG_9723

DSC04520

Rooftop café with my beautiful mother.

DSC04572

DSC04574

A visit to the Ben Youssef Medersa Islamic College.

DSC04638

This mosque is exclusively reserved for the muslim religious practice. (Private) Thank you.

DSC04650

IMG_9765

IMG_9834

IMG_9793

Making friends.

DSC04667

DSC04685

DSC04758

The orange pressée is beyond delicious.  Regular (American) orange juice didn’t cut it before, and now it definitely doesn’t.

DSC04682

Yes, those are mountains in the background!

DSC04690

DSC04774

IMG_9797

This shot of the two boys on the rooftop is one of my favorite shots from this trip.

DSC04745

DSC04781

DSC04708

DSC04771

DSC04775

DSC04778

DSC04783

IMG_9777

DSC04786

We were on a mission to buy one of these gorgeous handmade rugs, but got side-tracked.  The lovely woman gave us a free lesson on how she makes them.  Very complicated.  Props to her for doing that all day every day.

IMG_9835

IMG_9838

Leaving early in the morning to catch our flight back to Paris.

Morocco was very good to us.

Bisous.

PUISQUE TOUT EST NORMAL

Posted on by

I’ve been thinking about starting up a fashion blog because, sometimes, I really like my outfits.  As I’ve already got this blog running, I’ve decided to pepper in some fashion posts here and there – starting with this one.  Yesterday, Doug and I ran around this festive outdoor mall on the east side of Michigan and messed around with my camera.  Below are the results.

DSC09422

DSC09437

DSC09427

DSC09442

The countdown to Paris is currently at a month and a half.  Can’t wait to have the city of lights as my background for these posts and also can’t wait to write posts on my daily life while interning there!  Hope everyone’s keeping warm – have a lovely end of the year and an even better start to the new year.

Coat – Maison Scotch

Shirt – JC Penny

Jeans – Allsaints Spitalfields

Shoes – Timberland

Bag – Longchamp

Thanks to Doug for taking all of these!  If you’re a user of Tumblr or Instagram, go give him a follow!

Instagram – http://instagram.com/project_earth

Tumblr – http://unknown-immortal.tumblr.com

Bisous.

Garde le pour toi.

Posted on by

Ça fait longtemps, hein ?  It was midterm time and so the past month I’ve been busier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.  I’ve missed blogging!  Anyway here’s a (somewhat funny) story for you:

One day after class, Elena and I were wandering around near Etienne Marcel looking for a place to eat dinner.  We turned down an alley and came across this café – everyone was seated outside à la terrasse.  We weren’t really feeling the outside seating that evening so we hesitantly walked inside, not sure whether there was some unspoken rule known by all Parisians that stated that inside seating was only available between certain hours.  We grabbed a spot next to the window.  While browsing the menu, I happened to notice we had company.  This little guy…

IMG_0587

Five minutes of picture taking with our new friend and still no one had come to take our order.  It was a small café so it wasn’t like the waiters couldn’t see us – there were literally 10 feet separating us from the bar where they were all gathered.  We had even made eye contact with a few of them, but still none of them came over to our table.  Feeling intimidated and quite aware that we were the only customers seated inside the café, we decided that instead of getting up and calling a waiter over, we would just get up quietly and leave as quickly as possible.  We gave the cat one last cuddle and peaced out.  We were so humiliated – how un-parisian.

I guess you could say we gained back some cool points since we were on our way to Art Corpus (tattoo & piercing parlor) to get Elena’s nose pierced.  I followed her to the back of the shop and watched the guy clean out her nose, and finally put in the piercing.  It suits her.  Nose piercings only suit some people – she’s one of them.

IMG_0583

IMG_0582

IMG_0585

It’s a shame we were too lame to stick it out at that café.  The menu looked amazing.  Instead we ended up getting some shitty Asian food from a sketchy buffet style restaurant round the corner.  Totally would’ve rather eaten with le petit chat.

IMG_0586

Bisous.

Paris.

Posted on by

Les larmes de la Seine

Qui sautent à mes pieds

Y arrivent à peine

Mais toujours elles essayent.

~

Une heure passe,

Deux heures, trois heures.

Finalement je me lève

Et je joue le flâneur.

~

Sans le savoir

La nuit est arrivée.

On se rejoint à Hôtel de Ville,

J’arrive te chercher.

~

Une tasse de chocolat chaud

Trop épaisse, trop forte.

On ajoute la chantilly,

On devient chimiste en quelque sorte.

~

Ok j’en peux plus.

Comme c’est dégueulasse.

J’ai juste envie d’une cigarette

Après tout, on s’est assise sur la terrasse.

~

Un café et une clope

Ça c’est la France.

Avec une vue sur la tour

Merde, on a vraiment de la chance.

~

Puis c’est du vin,

J’enlève une deuxième cigarette.

Je fume et je bois,

Un rideau de fumée devant la tête.

~

Une taffe finale,

Sors les tickets restaurants.

Allez, on y va

Direction les Champs.

~

Ils nous disent que “fumer tue”

Qu’on n’est pas immortel.

Franchement, on s’en fout,

C’est les petits vices qui rendent la vie belle.

Je crois que je t’aime, etc. etc.

Posted on by

Ah merde.  Il va me voir comme ça.  Je me suis même pas brossé les dents.  Le mascara est partout sur mon visage.  Je suis sûre que je sens horrible.  Est-ce que j’ai pris une douche hier?  Je me souviens plus.  J’ai vraiment besoin d’une douche quand même.  Merde, putain, putain de merde, il se réveille, il se tourne vers moi – je fais sembler que je me réveille en même temps – il s’ouvre les yeux-

Il me sourit et il m’embrasse.  Il me serre dans ses bras.

Tout va bien.

On reste au lit pendant une heure.  Puis on s’habille et sort de l’appartement.  On marche main dans la main jusqu’au Champs-Élysées où on descend l’escalier du métro George V.  On passe le Navigo sur le truc, on arrive à peine au quai pour prendre le prochain train.  On change de la ligne 1 à Concorde à la ligne 12.  C’est à Pasteur où je le laisse.  On s’embrasse encore une fois et je sors du métro.

Je marche chez moi comme je m’étais habillée la dernière nuit, et j’ai envie de recommencer.

IMG_8624

IMG_8636

IMG_8563

DSC03562

DSC04213

Bisous.

Ils sont tous des cons de toute façon.

Posted on by

This week and next week are midterms et du coup, I don’t have much time to write one of my usual posts. I’ll post a few pictures though, they’re worth a thousand words, right?

DSC07425

DSC07260

DSC07429

DSC05810 DSC05617 DSC07246 DSC06108 IMG_1040 DSC07227 DSC07215 DSC05813

DSC07191 IMG_2369 DSC05619 IMG_2167 DSC05797DSC07207 DSC05814

Bisous.

Oh, petit cœur

Posted on by

Souviens-toi de la ville,

De la tour, du vin

Oh petit cœur, c’est pas la fin.

~

Il n’est plus là pour prendre ta main

Tant mieux pour toi

Ça va aller, tu verras.

~

Il y aura un jour

Je te promets, il va arriver.

Un jour plein de joie, plein d’amour, et ça va rester.

~

Embrasse la tristesse

Et ton immense chagrin

Mais oh petit cœur, c’est pas la fin.

Insatisfaite.

Posted on by

Maintenant que je ne suis plus à Paris (j’y reviens en février, t’inquiètes pas), je me rends compte qu’il y a beaucoup de choses dont lesquelles je n’ai pas pris des bonnes photos.  Particulièrement, l’Hôtel de Ville.  Je n’ai quasiment aucune photo de ce bâtiment magnifique.   Donc, ce poste va servir comme un petit rappel de prendre plus de photos de ces endroits quand je suis encore à Paris l’année prochaine.

Alors voici les endroits où il faut que je prenne beaucoup plus de photos.

DSC02955

DSC03047

DSC03351

DSC03378

DSC03618

DSC03875

DSC03958

IMG_9344

IMG_9420

DSC04187

IMG_9372

IMG_9949

IMG_0053

IMG_0106

IMG_0337

IMG_9580

DSC06113

IMG_0714

IMG_0483

IMG_1693

IMG_1041

IMG_1728

IMG_1674

DSC07413

IMG_1055

Bisous.

Moitié fille, moitié femme.

Posted on by

First birthday abroad, and mon Dieu, was it good.  I picked up my birthday package my mom had sent me, but waited to open it until I had more time.

DSC02870

Madeline stickers ❤

Wearing the newly purchased sweater that I found in a store behind Place des Vosges, I took ligne 6 to school from Pasteur to Raspail, a half hour earlier than usual so I could squeeze in a petit déj with Ruthie and German before class.  We went to Le Petit Broc, just down the street from school.

DSC02866

DSC02856

DSC02859

DSC02861

Smiles all around.

The day passed comme d’hab, and then around 19h Ruthie, Molly, and I went to our favorite restaurant, Krishna Bhavan.  It’s a vegetarian Indian restaurant just off of Rue Saint Jacques near Saint Michel.  I can’t remember the number, but the street is Rue Galande.  If you’re ever in the area, GO HERE.  The food is absolutely amazing and the waiters/waitresses are très gentils.  Now, I’m the kind of person who, once they find something they love, will eat/play/listen/watch/do that thing until they don’t love it anymore.  As Amir Blumenfeld says, “You know, it’s my nature to take things too far.  Some people love me for that.”  Anyway, after ordering the Aloo Channa Masala one night with a side of riz nature and a mango lassi, there was never any need to look at the menu from then on.

DSC02871

DSC02880

DSC02884

DSC02886

DSC02891

Once we were stuffed and feeling extremely obese, it was time to head back home and put on our best dresses for the surprise birthday night out that the girls had planned for me.  We parted ways, freshened up, and regrouped at Saint Michel.  They lead me to this Latin club/bar/j’sais pas quoi in the Latin Quarter (surprise).  First thing I see when I walk in is naked (minus very small pairs of underwear) male waiters serving fruity alcoholic drinks to thirsty women.

After a few drinks, I look over to the bar to see Ruthie giving one of the waiters 20 euros.  My stomach fell out of my ass at that point. Despite being under the influence, I knew exactly what was going on.  Now normally at this point, I’d feel the anxiety kicking in and I’d be begging Ruthie to ask for her money back – BUT, as I’ve said before, Paris was a big year for me in terms of overcoming my social anxiety.  I say “overcoming”, but that by no means is to say that I no longer have social anxiety.  It’s still there, I carry it around with me every day.  Some days are worse than others, some days are better, but being abroad really helped me learn how to deal with it and to stop it from controlling my life.  So, with my newfound confidence, I just went with it, and twenty minutes later I was being lifted into the air by a very muscular half-naked waiter wearing a pair of orange zebra-print glasses.  (These glasses somehow ended up on my bedside table the next morning when I woke up.  Don’t worry – I pretty much just stole the waiter’s glasses.  #noragrets).

End of Oct. 2013 Paris 172

Hair completely frizzed from the heat in the club, the remains of carefully applied lipstick, but clearly still très contente.

End of Oct. 2013 Paris 170

Yea.

I feel like every woman’s got to do it once in her life.  I guess after 19 years it was my time.  Happy 19th to me!

Bisous.

Chilled dimanche à Paris.

Posted on by

Saturday night was spent mostly outside in the cold wandering the streets, although the two bottles of wine German and I chugged outside Hôtel de Ville earlier  kept us warm, or at least kept us unaware of how cold it truly was.  So Sunday we took it down a notch, slept in, rendez-vous at Sugarplum Cake Shop – a really cute café near Cardinal Lemoine whose playlist I really regret not inquiring about.  I was, however, able to recognize bands like The Kooks and Washed Out – the makings of a great coffeehouse playlist, obviously.  I was totally un-European and ordered a hot chocolate.  I will admit, I don’t like coffee.  I can drink it if it’s got buckets of milk and sugar mixed in, otherwise, I can’t get it down me.  The taste is just not for me I suppose.  I have, in fact, admitted this to French people (one of whom was my boyfriend) and they didn’t shun me, but I do try to keep it on the DL when I’m in Paris.  Who the hell goes to a Parisian café and orders a hot chocolate??  Me, apparently.

IMG_9388

Pascal, her roommate (whose name I have forgotten – sorry if you’re reading this, which you’re most likely not), and Juan joined us.  The plan was to do homework.  We told stories of drunken nights along the Seine and failed attempts of getting into fancy clubs.  Then three hours had passed, no homework had been done, and we were all getting a bit peckish.  We packed up our stuff and headed to the Marché Franprix down the street to pick up a few ingredients for our Sunday night dinner, which German had kindly offered to cook.  German is quite the cook – if you’re reading this, I want you to make me your potato curry again when you come to Paris next summer.  We headed back to Pascal’s apartment carrying bags of pasta, a block of cheese, a small box of ham bits, a bottle of milk, and three baguettes.  For good measure.

IMG_9389

Just casually passing by the Pantheon on our way home.

German effortlessly whipped up an absolutely delicious meal for the five of us.  In true Rosie fashion, I went back for seconds before I had even finished what was already on my plate.  I was completely stuffed halfway through my second helping, but feeling guilty, I slowly shoveled in the rest and washed it down with a mouthful of Orangina, the good stuff!

IMG_9408

IMG_9411

IMG_9412

Three pieces of bread for Rosie!

We spent the next couple of hours passing around Pascal’s laptop and showing each other good music.  Good music, pasta, bread, friends, Paris – what else do you need?

IMG_9413

Juan about to try some type of Swedish food that comes out of a tube (Pascal and her roommate are Swedish).

IMG_9414

At least we can walk off that meal!  Wait, that only works if you’re climbing the stairs.

Bisous.