SamasthiWHAT?

Yoga in Paris. Quite the experience to say the least! My roommate Ellie and I found a yoga studio online that's close our apartment and offered a 10 day open pass for 35 euros, so we decided to try it out on Monday night...whether that was a good choice or the opposite is still up in the air!

The yoga studio was adorable, and quite possibly one of the most international places we've been in Paris (it makes sense because I'm fairly certain yoga is a much more American trend than it is French). The manager was a beautiful French man who spoke absolutely perfect English, so we were excited to see what the class would be like. We went into the locker room to find one PACKED room with both men and women changing in the same tiny little space. Surprise number 1 (although it doesn't seem that strange when you think about the fact that bathrooms almost everywhere in France are unisex and nude beaches are the norm...).

Class started while people were still walking in, out and through the room so the "peaceful" vibe that I've always experienced at yoga class at home was definitely lacking. The course was instructed entirely in French, and Ellie and I realized after we had put our mats down in what we thought was the back of the room that we were actually front and center. I was lucky enough to have taken lots of yoga classes in the States, so I could just casually (or not so casually at many points during the class) glance around and figure out what people were doing. Ellie has never taken a yoga class before, so the instructor kept approaching her and trying to get her to fix her positions, to no avail unfortunately.

At the end of the 90 minutes we were sore and more stressed out than we had been before the class even began (seems like taking one step forward and two steps back if you ask us), but we're giving it another shot tonight (although the class tonight is taught in English!)

BeYoga, Paris

Morning is my favorite time of day...

I think that morning is my favorite time of the day. It's just past 10:00 AM in Paris and I'm sitting out on my balcony wrapped up in a blanket on a beautiful February morning. The sun is shining for the first time in at least a week and it's making the beginning of today so much better.

I'm finally starting to get into the swing of things here. Life seems so much more normal now that I've been here for just over three weeks. I finished my intensive language course last week and start my real class schedule today, so I have a lot more free time during the week to explore Paris. I love to wander and get myself lost only to discover that Paris really isn't that big after all. There are so many different neighborhoods and places to see and little things to find, but it's all so very Paris. I'm so happy to be here and to explore everything that France and Europe have to offer.

My roommate has a French boyfriend and we taught all of his friends how to play beer pong and king's cup the other night. None of them speak English so that was quite the interesting ride, especially when you think about how many of the rules in those games appeared to just be made up so we would win, hahaha. But, as my father so insightfully pointed out, if you can teach somebody how to do stuff like that in French, you can probably do anything :) On Saturday of this week my best friend Valerie and I went to an AWESOME concert in the Netherlands (with over 60,000 people in attendance) and it's having the chance to do stuff like that that makes living in Europe so amazing.

King's Cup rules...French style


I'm going to Normandy in two weeks with my program, then Belgium with some friends, London the weekend after that to visit another friend, and before I know it March will be over! I have two weeks off in April for Spring Break so I'm planning on visiting Amsterdam and then going to Spain and Portugal. I also need to fit in Italy after that and maybe Prague or Istanbul, oh and I'm probably going back to Barcelona in the end of May for a music festival called Primavera Sound.

These next four months are going to go by so fast, it's amazing. I miss home more than I expected, which is understandable because I left a lot of people who I love and care about there, but I'm also so lucky to be here and I can't wait for how many more adventures this semester will bring.

What we can see of Paris from our balcony this morning

Le Nouvel An Chinois

So today was the Chinese New Year, and since we live right near the Chinatown of Paris, we went to the parade:



Valerie and Ellie at the parade!

Paris!

So here I am, from the Paris of South America to...Paris? I can't believe I'm abroad again, it still feels like I'm dreaming, living in Paris, but I'm really here!
It's been a whirlwind of a week since I arrived in Paris last Sunday. I'm doing an intensive language program for 3 weeks so I got here and jumped right into orientation stuff on Monday and classes Tuesday. I have class from 9:00-5:00 every weekday, so it's been hard getting used to the idea that I'm actually IN Paris, since I've mostly been sitting in class every day at the University. But I've been getting a hang of the public transportation and I'm kind of getting my bearings in the city (which is surprisingly confusing!) Yesterday though I went to the Eiffel Tower with a girl I met in one of my classes and then we walked along the Seine past a lot of the really famous sites of Paris all the way to Notre Dame. It was beautiful and the architecture was absolutely amazing! Most of the people I've met so far have been here since September, so they've already done all of the "touristy" things, but I'm ok with being a lame tourist for a few weeks at least :)
The rest of the people in my program (I'm one of 3 who are here early for the intensive language class) arrive next week, so that will be nice to have more people to do things with, and I start regular classes in 2 weeks. I'll only have class for 3 hours a day once the language program is over, so I'll have so much more time to explore the city.
I'm living in an awesome apartment with 3 other girls, including my best friend Valerie, so it's great to have her here. I'm excited for the semester to start and to really get into the swing of things, and I also can't wait to travel a bit (I'm already talking about trips to Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Italy, England, and maybe a few other places, I want to go everywhere!). We all know I'm a terrible blogger, but I'll try and keep this kind of sort of up to date! Love you all and miss you!