Pour Certains

Hi, I'm Anna. I want to be a designer, photographer, novelist, blogger, chef, entrepreneur, college counselor, magazine editor, director, illustrator, artist, wife, mother, rock star, world traveler, wizard, and New York socialite. The end. "Celebrate we will, because life is short but sweet for certain." - Dave Matthews annatiner.net

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Eating My Way Through Paris

With almost only a week left in the city, I've been hustling to cross off everything on my Paris bucket list:

1.) Went back to Ten Belles (my favourite café) a couple of times for coffee. It's a cute café by the Canal St. Martin in one of the more hipster area of Paris.

2.) I finally tried out the celebrated hot chocolate of Angelina's. It was 9 euros (really) but worth it for the three hours we spent sitting there drinking it, along with a nice cheese plate.

3.) I tried a new pastry from Blé Sucre, which was just as amazing as their classic croissants, which are inarguably the best in Paris.

4.) Splurged on the full experience at Laudrée with lunch, coffee, and of course, macarons (café, raspberry, pistachio, and chocolate & coconut).

Eight days to go!

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America Comes to Paris

Wishing everyone a very happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Even though I'm forced to spend this year's holiday away from family, I'm feeling more blessed than ever--I was all the way out here in France and I still had a loving group of people to celebrate a bit of home with.

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Exploring Paris

This past weekend, Andrea's mom came to visit, as well as one of our friends from UCSB, Anthony. As a result, we spent our first weekend back in Paris (since before my birthday) playing tour guide for the two.

I brought Anthony around to all the classics (croissonts, crêpes, Latin Quarter, etc.) as well as explored several areas of the city that I've yet to see myself. We checked out the inside of Notre Dame, Pompidou, and had quite an amazing two days of brunch buffets that allowed us to sample several classic French dishes.

Highlights of the weekend: the Christmas market/ferris wheel at Champs-Élysées, feeding pigeons in the front of the Louvre, and braving the "Monica Lewinski" at Chupitos.

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A Different Side of Paris

With classes done for the week and no more obligations, Claire and I decided last minute to explore La Défense, which is the business district of Paris located at on the western border of the city. Paris isn't much of a high rise kind of place, but if you're looking for sky scrapers, this would be the area to find them.

La Défense has an incredibly modern appeal to it, much different than the traditional, old architecture of the rest of the city. It felt nice to be in a metropolis environment once again.

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Vale Vale

Barcelona, finally! Spain has been on the top of my list since arriving in Paris, and it marks the end of my out-of-France travels for the remainder of my time here. The city was a welcome break from Paris' grey autumn skies--75 degrees and sunny all weekend with not a cloud in sight.

I arrived on Thursday evening along with some other friends from my program. I had my first taste of churros y chocolate (more of a Madrid tradition than one of Barcelona, but worth a try nevertheless) and made it out to a tapas dinner where we all shared plates of chorizo, squid, peppers, fries, and artichoke dip alongside sangria. Afterwards, I went to check into my hostel and meet up with Anthony, one of my UCSB friends who's studying in Granada for the year.

We spent our first evening getting drinks at Pippermint, a dive bar known for its multi-liter drinks that make Oktoberfest mugs look like shot glasses. Afterwards, we checked out one of the local clubs, and then headed back to our respective places.

Friday morning, we wandered La Rambla, a long (touristy) street located in the center of the city that was littered with souvenir stands. Our next stop was Barceloneta, Barcelona's main beach, where we hung out for a bit before stopping for gelato along the boardwalk.

Later on in the afternoon we visited Park Güell, a beautiful area developed by the famous Antoni Gaudí (responsible for most of the modernisme architecture of Barcelona). Once it got dark we checked out the water show at the Magic Fountain, and then had a late night dinner consisting of some of the best assorted meats and paella I've ever tried. In the evening we found ourselves at Chupitos, a shot bar where we roasted marshmallows and had our hands lit on fire, and then Opium, one of the main clubs in Barcelona located along the beach.

For our last day in Spain, Anthony and I took a free tour around the city before splitting off for more churros. We stole a quick look at Sagrada Familia, which was absolutely stunning, and then headed to a Japanese sushi bar for dinner. We met up with the rest of the group afterwards and checked out Shoko and Catwalk, two more beachside clubs, before ending our night sitting by the water and sipping one Euro beers.

I returned to the hostel for a short nap (I think I had around 8-9 hours of sleep total between Thursday and Sunday) before waking up for my flight back to Paris. It's been an incredible experience getting to travel to so many different countries in just a few months, but I'm ready to park it in Paris for my last few weeks abroad.

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Four Countries, Eleven Days

 Our program gave us a week off at the end of November, and like most of the other students in my program, I chose to spend this time traveling around other areas of Europe. First stop: Copenhagen, Denmark.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather for at least part of the time that we spent in each country. Copenhagen was a perfect choice for autumn.

We climbed Rundetårn on our first day, which was terrifying. It's a 20 minute climb to the top through a series of extremely narrow and steep staircases, until you finally reach the top.

The balcony outside offered quite a view of the city, but there was only about a two bodies width between the wall of the building and the railing. It wasn't a journey for the faint of heart.

We checked out the inside of the church once we were safe on the ground again.

Much of our time was spent checking out the various neighborhoods of the city, including Christiania and Stroget.

Later on we also stopped by Nyhavn, a part of Copenhagen with colourful buildings that stretch along the water.

For our last day in Denmark, we decided to take a trip to Malmo, Sweden, it being a mere 30 minute train ride away.

For the majority of the day we walked through a Swedish castle nearby, which was also home to several museums. There were some strange, strange exhibits inside. 

Yeah, Sweden is weird.

Our flight for Edinburgh didn't leave until the early evening, so we spent most of our afternoon in Pauldan, a cute café located right next to the university.

Once we arrived in Scotland, we went for a spin around the main city center, and couldn't pass up an opportunity for a photo op in front of the famed Elephant House.

We passed by several street performers and shops selling plaid variations of everything imaginable.

We got our first great view of the city from the bottom of the main castle.

Afterwards, we hiked up Arthur's Seat, which lent a wonderful look at Edinburgh.

My only regret was wearing a dress for the climb to the top. It was much more windy than I had expected, and there was one instant near the top where I was nearly rock climbing up the hill.

One of my favourite things about Edinburgh is the diversity of its scenery--views of gothic architecture, stunning greenery, and the North Sea are all accessible on foot.

We said our goodbyes to Scotland and prepared for more adventures in Ireland.

Unfortunately, I was forgetful and left my camera charger back in Paris, so I ended up with only a days' worth of photos in Dublin--but I managed to sneak in a picture of the authentic (and inexpensive) Irish breakfast I'd been craving before the battery died!

One of the highlights of Ireland was certainly the Guiness Storehouse tour. It takes you through the brewing process and ends with a complementary pint of Dublin's favourite beer, all the while overlooking the city from seven stories up.

This week was certainly one of the books, but to be honest, I'm happy to be back in Paris. I'm starting to appreciate the city much more than at the start. Can't wait to see where my last month abroad takes me!

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Ik Houd Van Amsterdam

Man, what a weekend. Amsterdam managed to not only meet my expectations, but surpass them.

Thursday was spent traveling (we decided to fly so it didn't end up taking too long), and arrived in the city in the evening. We checked into our hotel and then grabbed falafels for dinner. Later on we checked out AIR, one of the local clubs, where Pete Tong and Skream were playing for ADE.

Friday morning we went on a walking tour of the area (Amsterdam is actually quite small and walkable), where we learned some of the history behind the city's crooked buildings and liberal policies. We also had a break in between where I got the chance to try out one of the many fry stands that you'll find throughout downtown. I topped mine with curry sauce, mmmm.

Later on, we grabbed Belgian waffles (soooo amazing) and hung out at a few coffeeshops. For dinner, we went to a French-Dutch fusion restaurant, where I ordered escargot for the first time since arriving in Europe--ironically, not in France. Heh.

We had tickets for David Guetta, Chuckie, and Showtek (and unkowningly, Nicky Romero, who played as a special guest). The show played from 10pm-6am, and since we got there relatively early (around 11:30pm) we managed to fight our way to the front railing. It was absolutely unreal. I couldn't have asked for a better way to ring in my 21st birthday.

On Saturday, we had plans to hang out with one of our Canadian friends that we had met back in Paris on Nuit Blanche weekend. He happened to be in Amsterdam with a couple other people, so we all met up at the Waterlooplein flea market and had a look around. Afterwards, we ventured into a few more coffeeshop/bar type places (I ordered my first ever poutine, which was delicious).

We toured Anne Frank's house after and then went back to change and get ready for the evening. Andrea and I returned to AIR again, where we met up with a few of her Hong Kong friends who were in the area for the weekend.

Amsterdam has definitely risen the ranks as one of my favourite cities--I'll be back for you one day, ik beloof.

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Tour Paris 13

I finally got a chance to check out Tour Paris 13, the world's largest street art exhibition--which is only open for public viewing during this month. The building was originally a low income housing project, and after the city deemed it too expensive to renovate, they planned on demolishing it and replacing it with new architecture. Over one hundred artists from around the world were invited to create public artworks in each of the building's apartments. Come November, the building will close to visitors as preparations for demolition begin.

Needless to say, with such a brief lifespan, many people are anxious to see it. I ended up waiting in line for nearly four hours just to get in, but made some new French friends in the process and ended up seeing some of the most incredible street art in the world.

For more information on the tower, as well as a digital tour of the works, click here.

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Art, Art, and More Art

It was quite the stellar weekend exploring Paris with Andrea and Steven. We spent Friday in the presence of Monet's water lilly paintings at the Musée de l'Orangerie and picnicking on the grass of Tuileries Garden.

Saturday, we took a tour with Underground Paris to see all of the street art around the Belleville area, which was incredible. We even watched one artist who was in the middle of painting a mural and saw a Falun Gong persecution protest in the streets. Afterwards, we grabbed some ramen for lunch with our tour guide, and then went home to prepare for Nuit Blanche.

Nuit Blanche ("sleepless night") is an annual event in Paris where museums stay open and artists exhibit their work for the public--Parisians then stay out all night viewing the works and enjoying live concerts on the Seine. We met up with one of our friends from Sciences Po and her friends who were all visiting from out of town. The lot of us left headed out to the event, and over the course of seven hours, managed to check out several exhibits, the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and Bastille.

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Une Promenade dans Paris

I don't have much class on Tuesday's, and so I decided to spend the afternoon exploring a café that I've yet to try on the other side of the Seine, known as Sugarplum Cake Shop. There wasn't an ideal métro route that to get me there, so I decided to take up the half hour trek on foot instead. And man, I'm so glad I did. I discovered Le Jardin des Plantes (Paris' botanical gardens), which now almost tops my list of favourite spots in the city.

I had the chance to order my very first filtre (American-style coffee, instead of espresso) since moving to France. After a little bit of people watching I left for the Sorbonne, and sat in front of the school for a while sketching the students that had just finished with their classes.

On the way home, I watched the beginning of the sunset over the river, and then finally headed back to Daumesnil. An afternoon well spent.

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Montmatre

I've visited the 18e arrondissement a couple of times now, and it's definitely one of my favourite places in Paris. There's quite a few quaint cafés perfect for studying or le déjeuner, as well as the incredible Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, a church situated high above the city.

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Prost! Oktoberfest 2013

I'm still having trouble accepting the fact that this past weekend happened. I got to visit a new country and cross a big item off of my Life List (13/128 completed!).

I traveled to Germany with Andrea in order to attend Oktoberfest (just a casual weekend trip right?). We flew out Friday morning and landed in Munich around lunch time. Our lodgings were being arranged by Stoke Travel, which I highly recommend for anyone looking for a very relaxed and social experience while traveling. It was essentially a campsite with around 2,000 twentysomething-year-olds and unlimited beer/sangria. Needless to say, Friday was an evening of shenanigans, but we met a lot of genuine people and even found a group of UCSB students who were staying there as well. I guess it's a small world after all (no pun intended).

On Saturday, we woke up (well, were woken up) around 6am and got to the festival decently early. We waited in line for Schottenhamel and stampeded (not exaggerating) inside when it finally opened. We managed to get a table outside. The weather was beautiful, though, so we didn't mind. We had to wait a couple hours for the beer to start flowing, since the mayor didn't tap the first keg of Oktoberfest until noon, but by the time it reached 1pm everyone was pretty rowdy. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating fair food and testing out the carnival rides.

Come Sunday we were actually able to get a seat inside Schottenhamel. We could only stay until the early afternoon (our flight was at 5pm), but it was certainly worth the trip back out there.

Highlights:

1.) Only $10 for a liter of Munich beer (that's about three cans).

2.) The roasted chicken. Until next time, my love.

3.) Male friends in drindls.

4.) The awesome Stoke Travel staff.

5.) The four empty steins I managed to smuggle out of our tent without getting arrested.

Danke schön und tschüß, Germany. You've been good to me.

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The Good, the Bad, and the French

(Sadly I don't have any pictures from the weekend, so this one was taken from my friend's Facebook.)

A recap of the weekend and how it went from amazing to terrible to better:

Thursday night, I went out with a group of people from my program to Le Mix, a club in Paris that we've been meaning to check out since we first arrived, but because of our Friday classes during the practicum. Every Thursday is international student night, which means free entry for all students. The club itself was an incredible experience--we met people our age from all over the world, and danced to everything from Avicii to Shakira to Spice Girls. Certainly tops my list of nights out, in and out of Paris.

Friday involved a trip to the République/Oberkampf area, which is similar to Bastille, where we made friends with a couple of French friends who brought us to a club/bar type thing. It was pretty enjoyable, but the highlight of the evening was on the walk home, when I got a taste of my first real crêpe au fromage. It was so délicieux that I daresay it would even give Freebirds a run for its money as far as late night snacks are concerned.

Come Saturday, the annual Techno Parade had finally arrived in Paris. I had been looking forward to the event, and judging by pictures, I expected it to be pretty much unreal. And it was--for the first hour or two, at least. The streets of Paris were flooded with thousands of people, all dancing and pursuing the line of DJ's playing on each float. At one point I asked a stranger if I could sit on his shoulders in order to get a picture of the madness, but when I reached into my purse, I my iPhone was missing. I searched the streets but gave up after a while in order to avoid being trampled. Then, twenty minutes later, my French phone went missing as well.

The worst part was that I've actually been quite careful during my time in Paris so far--on the métro, nights out, etc. It was the first time that I let go of my paranoia, and now I'm paying for it.

On the bright side, however, my weekend didn't end in a total disaster. I finally got a chance to attend a Franglish event on Sunday evening! It's essentially a speed-dating set up where native French speakers are paired with native English speakers, and you rotate partners every fifteen minutes. It's a way for both sides to get a chance to practice their respective language and to meet new people. I thought it was pretty successful and I actually grew a lot more confident with my speaking abilities in that two-hour time period alone.

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Paris en Noir et Blanc

I've started all of my classes for the semester, all of which revolve around either French culture or the language. For my art history class, we spent our first lecture discussing 17th century French paintings, and then went on an excursion to the Louvre, where our professor talked about them in person. Quite a way to spend a class.

I also had one of the meals I've been most excited for since arriving in Paris yesterday--fondue! The Accent Center set up an outing for their students, and we went to a pretty nice restaurant that served us four courses over a three hour period: salad, oil fondue, cheese fondue, and chocolate fondue. It was delicious, but I ended up eating about three days worth of calories.

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Recently

Been adventuring around quite a bit as of late. Some highlights from the past week:

1.) Macarons from Pierre Hermé! I went through a bit of a macaron phase (craze?) a few years back and was dying to try the real thing from one of the famous bakeries in Paris. Now all I need is a taste test of Laudrée to compare.

2.) Champs-Élysées & Arc du Triomphe. I popped into La Queen my first week, but this was my first time on the street during the day. I also got a chance to hang out under the iconic arc at the end of it, which I'll have to revisit soon in order to check out the view from the top.

3.) Latin Quarter (again). This time, however, we wandered through some of the narrow alleys lined with restaurants and bars. We stopped at a small falafel place and voilà!--I got to try my first falafel (I didn't even know what one was until I bit into mine). Afterwards we stopped by Shakespeare and Company, a well-known bookstore that's stood in the backdrops of several movies and been visited by many famous writers.

4.) L'Opera de Paris (Palais Garnier). Well hellooooo beautiful...and you are beautiful (anyone?). Seriously though, the opera house in Paris is hands down one of the most spectacular feats of architecture I've ever had the pleasure of setting foot in. Props to Garnier for imagining such a gorgeously detailed structure. We toured around the inside for an hour or two and learned about all of the history involving the bourgeoisie of Paris and their habits concerning social outings. Tickets to the ballet anyone?

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Adventures in London

I took my first out-of-country trip today during my time abroad, and to none other than England! I had never been to the UK before (or to anywhere in Europe outside of Paris, for that matter), so I was super stoked.

The city of London was even more incredible than I had imagined. Of course, it helped that everyone spoke English (I was swooning over the accents), and by the end, we had managed to squeeze quite a bit into a short weekend trip.

Borough Market: One of the largest outdoor markets in the city with an incredible variety of fresh foods, including delicious pastries, raclette cheese sandwiches, chocolates and fudge, and of course, a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables. We ended up buying some fudge and figs. Lots of figs.

River Thames: A beautiful river that stretches through central London. It's crossed by several famous bridges, including the Millennium Bridge, which was "destroyed" by Death Eaters in the 6th Harry Potter movie. We stopped by Tate Modern, the most visited modern art gallery in the world. Afterwards, we went to Founder's Arms for lunch (I split a platter of meats, cheeses, veggies, and olives).

Camden Market: An edgy-meets-touristy market that reminds me a bit of San Francisco's souvenir shops. Most vendors sell London-themed items and shirts, as well as custom jewelry and, from what I've heard, some pretty delicious street food.

Queen of Hoxton: A rooftop bar/club with a nice view and decent music. They also had two guys dressed in duck and penguin suits dancing onstage (uh wut). Not sure what was going on there.

On Sunday, we made it out to a shopping district near Andrea's friends' flat (where we were staying), but the name is escaping me at the moment. We had our last meal at a Thai restaurant and then headed out to King's Cross Station for our train back to Paris.

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The Latin Quarter

Monday was another long day of class and excursions, but it ended up being worth the sweat. It was my first time in the Latin Quarter, a part of the city overrun by students (it's also the home of Sorbonne), and I had an amazing time marveling over the architecture. We even managed a visit inside the Panthéon, where famous French names like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Hugo were laid to rest.

None of it, however, compared to the Luxembourg Gardens outside of the French senate. The grounds were absolutely stunning and even put Versailles to shame (I'm sure others would argue otherwise, it's just my personal opinion). Flowers, fountains, and classical architecture stretch from one end of the gardens to the other, and a decent number of locals fill the public seating areas while enjoying a book or conversation under the sun.