New Friends

15 minutes of free internet, ending soon, so here's a post of new friends at the airport. 

Cassandra, I haven't met you yet, but here's a shout out to you! Hopefully you get to Madagascar soon :)

Paris

A week before heading off to Madagascar, my mom and I flew to Paris to practice some French (hah), see the touristy things and break up what would have been 23+ hours on a plane from PHL to TNR (Antananarivo). I'm glad I got to spend the week here because it reinforced my choice not to study abroad in Europe. Paris is beautiful and rich in culture, but, for me, it also felt too comfortable and normal. I wouldn't be taking many risks or expanding my comfort zone, which is something I thought was important for my study abroad experience. So, here I am, going to Madagascar for four months... ah! 

But since I haven't gotten there yet and am currently sitting in Charles de Gaulle airport for the next eight hours, I'll post a quick and dirty spiel about Paris... emphasis on the quick and dirty because I'm tired and currently fueled by McDonald's food.  

Mmmmmmhm.

We left Philly on Friday 1/21, so I conveniently missed the apocalyptic ice storm that was coming the following week :). But as of right now, several of the students who are flying to Madagascar from the East Coast are getting delayed a day because of the snow. Hopefully they'll get there on the 29th though for the 78 degree weather.

Bye Philly

Friday

We got to Paris around 10 AM Friday morning and took the metro from the GDG to our apartment in the 11th arrondissement (Paris is divided into 20 "arrondissements" which are like the different districts and are all known for different things.) After stopping by a  Supermarché, I assembled our first Parisian meal which consisted of: Nutella, a baguette, Leffe biere, olives, stinky cheese and olive oil. 

We slept for forever on Friday and on Saturday took the Metro to Notre Dame. Being the religious enthusiast that I am, I took about four pictures, one of them being of the "sexy serpent" depicted on the front of Notre Dame. Another being the phenomenal stained glass that decorates the inside of Notre Dame. All sarcasm aside, the inside of the church was truly breathtaking. 

Adam, Eve and the tempting sexy serpent

Monday 

On Monday we took the metro to L'arc de Triomphe. It's enormous and historic and surrounded by a six-lane traffic circle, traffic circles are all over the place in Paris. To avoid being mowed down by cars, you walk through a tunnel underneath the street and pop up under the arc. 

The day my mom told me I looked like a gypsy, oh well. 

On the walk back, I spotted this statue and thought it worthy of a picture. 

Being mature in Paris

 We had lunch in a little bustling cafe specializing in crepes later that afternoon. I snapped this picture which I think epitomizes the stereotypical French man. Viola!

And then of course we visited La Tour Eiffel at night. It was windy and cold, even more so on the second level, but definitely worth the trip. Also, fun fact, if you're looking to visit Paris and avoid lines and tourist congestion, January is a fantastically dead time to go. Everything we visited was relatively empty. The Eiffel Tower is also worth checking out after dark since they light it up and it even sparkles! 

And, in case you're missing the United States while in Paris, these posters are on literally every Metro car. I got a kick out of it.

Learn "Wall Street English!"

Tuesday 

On Tuesday we visited the Musee d'Orsay which I loved, loved, loved. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos inside, but I will post images of my two favorite paintings that I saw while I was there. 

Outside of Musee d'Orsay at night

Luxe, calme et volupte - Henri Matisse

Luxe, calme et volupte is an oil painting that needs to be seen in the original form. The painting has a 3D element to it because you can actually see each stroke of oil paint. It's phenomenal, I fell in love with it and  wish I could get a replica that accurately reflected the original. It kind of made me miss studying art. 

Après le bain - Degas

There was also a whole section for Edgar Degas who is one of my favorite artists. Après le bain is one of my

 favorites of his.. not really 

sure why though. 

 Van Gogh was there too, if you like him. I don't, so sorry. 

How to Pack for 3 1/2 Months in Madagascar

Over the past couple of days I have been putting off packing for this trip. After looking at the packing list provided by SIT (School for International Training), which you can find here if you're curious, I wasn't sure how I was going to pack for 103 days in a camping backpack... but after disregarding fashion and bulky possessions, I got it done. If you're wondering how I accomplished this feat, see the photos below. 

4 V-Neck Tee Shirts: White, Black and Grey... bleh 

1 Long Sleeved Shirt, 2 Blouses, 1 Sweater, 2 Knee-length Skirts, 1 "appropriate" dress

1 Pair of Jeans, 1 "one piece bathing suit" (mmm), Rain Jacket (it rains everyday from Jan-May), 2 pair of shorts

Protection from the bugs, elements, illness & theft
Yes, I do now own a personal mosquito net.

I'm just going to go ahead and say that my hygiene is going to be questionable....

3 Pair of Shoes: Vibrams, Waterproof Hiking Boots, Red Toms
Very fashion forward. 

And this is my life for the next 3+ months. Woot.
Considering their advice "Bring everything you need and expect to get rid of half of it" I don't expect to see a lot of these items again... and that's OK by me. 

The God of Ziploc has made it possible for everything to fit in this backpack, miraculous. Now I just hope it's under 25 kg. 

2 Days to Paris
8 Days to Madagascar

And it begins

I never imagined that my study abroad experience would start with a backpack suitcase with an attached suitcase. I guess the reality of my next fours months is kind of hitting me. I'm going "off the grid" a bit and that's scary? Exciting? Overwhelming? I'm not sure what to expect, but in the readings they have mentioned that our group will literally be unreachable for the first five days of the trip. I've never been that disconnected from everything I know. I'm absolutely looking forward to it, but I don't know how I'll adjust to the change either. I'll edit this later, just wanted to get the blog started. 

6 Days Till Paris

12 Days Till Madagascar