Catch-Up: Day Trip to Reims

Notre-Dame de Reims, not Paris

I know I said I'd try to update the blog more frequently, but once again, time got away from me and the school work just kept piling on. Then I had a 2-week spring break, which I used to travel, relax, and not blog. Before school starts back up on Monday, though, I figured I'd do some catch up on some overdue posts.

Sorry, It's Been A While

Yikes, it's been two weeks since I've posted anything here, and it had been nearly a week between that post and the previous one. In case you were worried, everything has been fine; I've just been pretty busy with school work, which has left me little time to (a) do anything blog-worthy, or (b) blog about the little I have done. But here's a quick update of what I've been up to, with more to come soon, I hope.

Vive le Resto U!

I have now been in Paris for about two months, but from this point forward, I am making a vow to eat at the student cafeterias (or "Resto U," for restaurant universitaire) that are scattered around the city as often as possible. It is at these dining facilities, very similar to a traditional school cafeteria, that one can get a complete meal for only €2.90, so not only is it filling and (usually) nutritious, but it is also cheaper than pretty much anything else available.

The Normal-Postured Guy of Notre Dame

The nice weather continued today, and that meant another day of walking around and exploring Paris. On this fine Thursday, that plan included meeting Meredith in the Latin Quarter to get a cheap panini (3€ for a sandwich and drink!) and then walking over to Notre Dame Cathedral. We first went inside the church, admiring the stained glass windows and sheer size of the interior, then ascended the left tower all the way to the top, and from there descended on the right. I took a lot of the gratuitous tourist pictures, but it's so big and pretty inside, and the view is so spectacular from the top, that it's hard not to.

À quels points les français sont-ils fous?

Can you spot the cultural difference in the photo above?

A Stroll Down the Seine

Yesterday afternoon, since we are currently on a one-week winter vacation, a few friends and I decided to go to the movies. When we all got there, though, we realized it was way too nice out to go sit inside for 2 hours, and we instead decided to walk along the Seine and take in some of the first sunshine and warm(er) weather we had had since the semester started. I didn't take that picture above, since I figured I didn't need a camera to go to the movies, but that's pretty much what it looked like, except with fewer clouds. We started at Notre-Dame and walked all the way down the river to the Eiffel Tower; by the time we got there it was almost dark, so we were able to watch it light up from the Trocadéro, about as perfect a vantage point as you can have. Great day.

Madrid, Here I Am... and Now I'm Gone

After some uncertainty last week about whether my flight to Madrid would actually be able to take off, everything went smoothly and I made it there Friday evening. We were delayed half an hour at Charles de Gaulle, but since everyone was in Alcalá (the suburb of Madrid where Bobby, Royi, and Austin are actually studying) having dinner when I arrived in Madrid, the wait was negligible. Once everyone got back, though, we started a fun-filled weekend complete with -- as expected -- bars, clubs, the Royal Palace, and some other museums thrown in there.