Blanche Nuit; The only night out of the year where Paris doesn't shutdown after 2am

Nuit Blanche, the only night where everything in Paris theoretically stays open all night. But, just as when Chicago tried to do the same with "Looptopia", things closed as 2am. The nifty thing about Nuit Blanche is that you can get a map/program of the night's event at almost every train station. Unfortunately, the few times I tried to get one at Gare De L'est they were out or no one knew where I could find it when I asked. So, we were left to search for things (without smartphones) via their poorly laid out website. Luckily I found some cool things on their site and printed some maps and saved some screenshots on my iphone. Today was also the day that I finally had a working phone! SFR has a pre-paid weekly plan for 5 euros you get unlimited texting and calling (within France) on nights and weekends and unlimited texts and 2 hours of talk during the day. This plan was perfect for our evening (minus the no 3G) but, since Paris is big and there was a lot of us, we needed a working phone to get in-touch incase one of us got lost. We saw some pretty cool things that night, but the highlight of the evening was the 3 hour fireworks display. While they were re-stocking the fireworks, they had a water and lights show (the fireworks were being set off from the Seine). It was amazing, and something I will probably never experience again.

 Me at the Myth of Olympia 

 At the Place De La Republique 

 The first thing we experienced 

 In front of the Centre Pompidou

 A garden in the Myth of Olympia

 The Louvre at night

 The three amigos at the Louvre 

 Fireworks on the Seine

 Video of the fireworks

We ate dinner at a creperie called "Camille", they had wonderful crepes and salads (for some reason I was craving a salad). After we ate, we kept going down the Rue De La Republique and ran into some unique things like an outdoor short film festival, a "mythical garden", and a mist spectacle. Around 2am, we hit up a cafe close to the Bastile and leisurely sat in the warm cafe people-watching. After our coffees, we headed back outside and tried to look for something to do, unfortunately 3am is about when the performers abandon their station so by the time we made our way to something that looked promising (from the piece of paper I had printed) no one was at their post and the station was desolate. Since we hadn't eaten since 9ish, we found one of the only things  to eat,  which was Kabab. Then, we strolled the streets of Paris until Gare De L'est opened, which was 5am. Co-incidentally, that is the same time a scrumptious boulongerie opened. Before heading the station, we grabbed a yummy pain au chocolat for breakfast and waited in the station (our train left the station at 7:44am).
Of course right as we entered the station, there was an entire row of pamphlets/programs for "Nuit Blanche". I don't know how I missed that when we arrived, but I took one nonetheless and wrote down the exact location where I found it. I will get one for next year!

All in all, it was a successful evening.

Paris Days 1-2-September 24th/25th

Hello! I finally have internet. In France, it takes 12 days from when you sign up for a router/wifi to actually get it activated. I will go into further detail in a later post. Therefore, I have been keeping a journal for the past 2 weeks and will backlog these posts.

I arrived in Paris on Tuesday at 9:25am, with only getting 3 hours of sleep on the airplane. They were showing “Beautiful Creatures” dubbed in French, it was NOT very good, so I decided to watch “Midnight in Paris” and “Modern Family”. Customs or more like boarder patrol, looked at the wrong visa (he looked at my study abroad one, from 2008) and said, have a good time studying, and stamped on the page after the visa. I was confused when he said “good luck with your studies” but I thought I misheard him. Then, when I was on the escalator to baggage claim, I debated about going back and saying you stamped in the wrong place but hopefully it won’t be that big of a deal, I’ll have to wait until orientation (October 1^st) to find out. My bags ended up being way heavier than I anticipated, so I took a taxi, which ate up about a fourth of my allotted budget for the trip to Paris(meaning no awesome gastronomy experiences, hopefully next time). I arrived at my B&B around 11:15am, unpacked a bit and headed off to the first destination, the Latin Quarter-I swear I missed it the first time. So, first stop was the Luxembourg Gardens for a relaxing lunch by the fountain overlooking the Eiffel Tower. With no cellphone and a weird map of Paris from my Frommers Paris Day By Day book (circa 2008-my study abroad trip), I went to explore. First, I went over to the Sorbonne and sneaked a peak of a group meeting in the corridor and talking with a professor, a very French scene. I tried taking a picture but it turned out very shadowy.  As I passed that entrance, I found their library. Apparently in order to get into the library you need your student id and class schedule. There were at least 10 people in line- I have never seen a line to enter a library at a university. Then I went to the church across the street, which was pretty, but it was definitely a typical Parisian church.

The best part of the day was that I didn’t get on the wrong metro, yay! It really does remind me of the EL but super fast and you’re never waiting for more than 5 minutes for a train. I ended the day by stopping by the Eiffel Tower and taking a few quick pictures. I totally forgot the purpose this day, to scout potential locations for my moving audience "La Boheme" that I want to do this summer. Bah! I must remember to do this tomorrow!

Day 2 

I went to SFR today to get my phone; unfortunately they said I couldn’t do it because I needed a bank account. Wtf, I just wasted 15 minutes getting here to be told I can’t have a phone yet. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the day. 

Next on my list was to explore Montmartre, the Gare de l’est, get my carte de jeune, book my train to Reims/Sedan, and explore the arrondisment I was staying in  (19^th ). I found a fromagerie that won a M.O.F.!! Definitely the highlight of the morning and much needed after SFR. A M.O.F. is a highly skilled prize given to the best workers in France (there isn't a limit on how many people can win, but the exam required to win the prestigious award is quite rigorous). 

Last night, I read that the TGV can have your luggage delivered to you if you give them 24 hours notice. At around 12:00pm, I arrived at the train station, had to ask a few times where to buy the SNCF tickets, and finally after about 10 minutes of wandering, found the booth. The woman behind the counter kindly explained that even though the website says 24 hours in advance, they require a minimum of two days in advance. URG! My bags weigh more than I do, so having to take yet another taxi to the train station was a daunting prospect. Oh, and due to theft, the train station NO LONGER HAS LUGGAGE CARTS. Meaning, unless someone takes pity on me, I have figure out a way to lug three suitcases (2 checked bags and my carry-on) onto the train plus my 15-inch laptop bag. You might be wondering, why do I need so much luggage- well Sedan is like Chicago, one day in Fall it might be 80 degrees and the next it’ll be 52.  Since I get the pleasure (not really) of experiencing 4 seasons during my time in France, I packed 7 of every type of top: t-shirts, tank tops, long-sleeved shirts, shirts for winter, and dresses; 2 dress pants, my winter jacket, fall jacket, a few cardigans, several scarves, boots, etc…. now, I can spend my money on traveling, NOT on clothes (as the season ends I’m going to ship the clothes back, mainly winter because that is really what weighed the most but also is the most important-it snows from November-March in Sedan).  After the gare de l’est it was off to Montmartre.

It didn’t go so well in Montmartre, I literally explored practically half of the town. When I got off the metro at the “Abesse” stop, you have to walk up a lot of flights of stairs, after flight three, I saw no end in sight and walked back down and waited for the elevator. I don’t know how people can walk up all those flights of stairs. I wandered for a bit, my google maps GPS wasn’t cooperating so I just went whichever direction I felt like going. I ended up getting lost and couldn’t find where Degas had his garden, L

I ended up going back to the B&B and made some pasta for dinner, then I went out for a nutella banana crepe and came back and went straight to sleep.

that the TGV can have your luggage delivered to you if you give them 24 hours notice. At around 12:00pm, I arrived at the train station, had to ask a few times where to buy the SNCF tickets (it's really not clearly marked anywhere, I swear) and finally after about 10 minutes of wandering, found the booth. The woman behind the counter kindly explained that even though the website says 24 hours in advance, they require a minimum of two days in advance. URG! My bags weigh more than I do, so having to take yet another taxi to the train station was a daunting prospect. Oh, and due to theft, the train station NO LONGER HAS LUGGAGE CARTS. Meaning, unless someone takes pity on me, I have figure out a way to lug three suitcases (2 checked bags and my carry-on) onto the train plus my 15-inch laptop bag. 

You might be wondering, why do I need so much luggage- well Sedan is like Chicago, one day in  it might be 80 degrees and the next it’ll be 48.  Since I get the pleasure (not really) of experiencing 4 seasons during my time in France, I packed 7 of every type of top: t-shirts, tank tops, shirts for winter, and dresses. Then, 2 dress pants, my winter jacket, fall jacket, a few cardigans, several scarves, boots, etc…. so that I can spend my money on traveling, NOT on clothes (as the season ends I’m going to ship the clothes back, mainly winter because that is really what weighed the most but also is the most important-it snows from November-March in Sedan).  

I got my carte de jeune with no problems, booked my ticket to Sedan, and dropped off my ticket, carte de jeune, and passport at the B&B.

After the gare de l’est it was off to Montmartre. 

It didn’t go so well in Montmartre, I literally explored practically half of the town. When I got off the metro at the “Abesse” stop, you have to walk up a lot of flights of stairs, after flight three, I saw no end in sight and walked back down and waited for the elevator. I don’t know how people can walk up all those flights of stairs. 

I wandered for a bit, my google maps GPS wasn’t cooperating so I just went whichever direction I felt like going. I ended up getting lost and couldn’t find where Degas had his garden, the Moulin Rouge, or even the same Metro stop. 

I ended up going back to the B&B. But on the way, I stopped for a nutella banana crepe (I have to get them while I can, Sedan certainly won't have any creperies) and came back and went straight to sleep.

Sweet Home Chicago-French Consulate time

I landed into O'Hare airport a couple of days ago, the flight even arrived a whole 15 minutes early! Nothing too exciting about the flight or O'Hare.

Yesterday was my French Visa appointment day, wow, it was not what I was expecting. It did go a lot better than last time, where they forgot to call my name and I waited for two hours. This time, it was 45 anxiety filled minutes. I kept doubling checking all my documents and kept reminding myself to remember to tell the woman behind the counter that I didn't fill out my address in France (why has the school not told me where this apartment building is?!?! They just keep saying, oh don't worry you'll be housed in an apartment complex on-campus with other teaching assistants), occupation (for the past 6 months my pay checks have been coming from theater gigs, so do I put Artist or Teacher-what I'm actually going to be called during my time in France, the French don't really want to invite any type of artists into their country, will my visa get denied because they'll figure out my ulterior motives), and employer's name, address, and phone number (I have not even emailed the Principal of the high school so I had no idea what to write). Then, after the first person had been called up to the desk, that's when I heard ONLY FRENCH. UM, WAIT, WHAT?!?! I have no idea how to ask my questions in French. I didn't even take my dictionary. I guess in their mind it's like, you better get used to answering in French because NO ONE in your department speaks English. But, I HAVE ONE MONTH! Of course I'm going to finally attend all the meet-ups I've been too lazy to attend. I even have two French friends (and believe me, when they are not in rehearsal, we will be going out for coffee). I'll be fine by October 1st.
Then, after this one mec whose appointment was 11:15 was called up to the counter before myself whose appointment was 11, I began to worry a little. Then, the girl across from me turned to me and asked what my appointment time was, turns out we both had 11am appointments. How did this guy get to go ahead of us?!?! No idea, but we started talking. Turns out she'll be teaching in the 7th arrondissement (of Paris), know what's in the 7th arrondissement-THE EIFFEL TOWER! I was in shock that someone actually got what most likely was their first choice in the best district EVER.  She then asked me where I was going, I told her in the Champagne region, in a small town 6 miles from Belgium. She said that Reims was gorgeous and I'd have a great time. Um, neeedless to say I didn't tell her the same as we both knew a year in Paris would be AMAZING. Instead, I added this lovely blague "Epernay grows the grapes for the champagne, Reims bottles it, and Sedan drink it." That's how I've been describing Sedan to everyone, then to get the point further across I said "75% of the population is on welfare". -That's when my name was finally called.
The appointment went rather well. We started in French but ended in English. She told me to put Artist on the form (as this was my current occupation) and to leave my address and info about my employer blank, woot! I was also told that I could apply for jobs with the Cannes film festival, since my work visa will be valid until June and it's only two weeks, yes! Now, I just have to remember to check the Cannes employment website daily in April. I thanked her in French and wished her a good day.
The trip ended with an afternoon spent at Barnes and Noble where I found 5 books on France and settled in to begin my research. Now is apparently the time where I *should* draft some itineraries, according to three out of the five books. Unfortunately I still haven't decided how long I should stay in Paris before making the 3 hour trek to Sedan, which includes transferring trains at Reims (I don't know how I'm going to do this with two suitcases and a very heavy carry-on). 

Stay tuned as updates will become more frequent now that I'm back home and getting ready to leave for France!