The amazing Morgan Frye visited Paris our last week and was gracious enough to hang out with us! She brought some of her Geneva friends, I brought Davidson people and british Becky, and we had a good time at our favorite hangout Bar de Fer. Pictured L>R : Sylvia “Janet” Strauss, Morgan, Becky, Morgan’s 4 friends, migo, Mary “Karrrrlll” Beth, and Danny “frat dan” Lessig

Last day in Paris was packed (unlike my suitcase): got the best crêpes in the world with Morgan (see below, went to french Chipotle with people, played ping pong with Abdel (works au fiap) and an algerian dude, worked out with Kevin, saw a play (Oscar et la Dame Rose) with Steffii and Tobias, went out with them and Cam and British Becky and didnt come back till 4am, got up at 8 to leave.

Anyhoo, after a long bus sleep/dontsleep/kindofsleep ride, I am in Tours. As much as I miss holding Dannys hand as I fall asleep and...

I figure now’s a good time to introduce a (partial) cast list–obviously that would’ve been helpful at the beginning of the play, but this is live, improvised theater. You never know when new characters are gunna pop up!
First, of course, we have the Davidson in Tours group. This is many of us at a club (that also was a burger shack: bobochic, bobochoque as the french say (bobo=bourgeois/boheme, basically hipster))

Then, bien sur, the incorrigible Danny Brooks Lessig, known by some as Cyril Figus, a wanted man in 3 Pennsylvania counties, my sigep brother and Paris roommate

Here is my prof at the Alliance Francaise, Mme Pederos. She is kind enough to tolerate my humor and sarcastic enough to put me in my place

And speaking of the AF, these are Cam’s my (Cam is the only non-Davidson in my group) international friends–we grab food and eat lunch with them in the Luxembourg gardens after...

We went to the water gardens, where Monet hung out for the last couple decades of his life to paint water lillies. and then paint different water lillies. and then some more. He was really into water lillies. Its was extremely beautiful:

but sooo many tourists. I left once I’d seen it all to get away from the horde of Americans (“someone painted something famous here”–actually overheard that) and just happened to see a ticket to the impressionist museum on the ground. I picked it up and went while my group ate lunch. It was super cool, tourist-free, and I now understand what impressionism is. Kinda.

Also went to Vaux le Vicomte, which is basically a proto-versailles. The story is funny (or sad. you decide!) : really rich/powerful french minister hires the worlds best architect, the world’s best landscapist, and the world’s best artist to build him a breathtaking chateau. He shows it...

Our program leader, Kevin, found an awesome outdoor gym. It’s half an hour away up in the 10è unfortunately, but its an awesome little park right on the river with bodyweight stuff (dip/pullup bars etc). Funny mix of inner-city parisian hood rats, gymnast hipsters, and flamboyantly gay bodybuilders, all of whom are in unbelievable shape.
plus there’s a great burger joint across the street called The Munchies, and a wonderful little bookstore on the corner–just got a couple books, including le petit prince and a french book on the use of war elephants in antiquity
Working out there has been an amazing cultural experience–for example, when you show up, you go around and say hi / shake everyone’s hand, and repeat the same ritual before you leave. Its a really nice atmosphere, unlike the awkwardly silent and freezing Davidson gyms where you avoid all eye contact.
On the vein of cultural...

Just a few pics: went to Sainte Chapelle, an amazing church on Ile de la cité (the island in the center of paris Notre Dame is on). The downstairs was like “ok this is cool” then I went upstairs and my mind exploded. Image living in the 13th century. You basically live in mud, plague is still a thing, and a hatched roof is a luxury. Then you walk into this:

No shit you’re gunna believe in god, you’re standing in an overwhelming heaven on earth. The color and light is crazy–we’re so used to seeing gothic churches as grey stone, we forget that they used to be brightly painted everywhere.
Saint Louis (the 13th century french king, not the second best city in Missouri) built it to hold the crown of thorns, a piece of the true cross, and some other relics. His dad died without crowning him (a tradition up till then), so he had legitimacy issues, so when the crusaders sacked Constantinople...

This’ll mostly be pictures. We went to a chateau called Vincennes, which was very cool. Shown here is just the donjon (keep) inside the castle

Wednesday, we took a train to Chartres, a small town near Paris with basically the coolest and best preserved medieval cathedral in Europe.

While there, we got to walk around with a guy named Malcolm Miller–he came to Chartres from England to write his thesis on the Cathedral, and never left. He is now 85. Instead of giving us a superficial tour of the whole place, he went super in depth (probably still a grossly superficial review for him) on a dozen or so windows, statues, etc. just to show how rich the site is. Since the Cathedral is quiet inside, he spoke to us with nifty headsets through a mike.
I was blown away–the amount of detail and backstory in each little thing was overwhelming. There are hundreds of windows, most of which are 50...

Kevin Kane is our prof (teacher)–he is da bomb diggity. Coolest guy ever. Friday–the first full day–he split us up into groups of two, gave us the name of a Paris establishment, and told us to come back with food. The first person back got their pick of the treats! Sylvia, a friend on the program, was my partner, so we found our way to Ladurée (I asked what it was and all the girls yelled at me, apparently its a famous macaroon place)

I made friends with the bartender at the fiap, Baptiste. He said it was refreshing to speak french with me–all the english he speaks gives him a headache. I told him that there is a stereotype that French people won’t speak french with Americans; he said no, its just faster in english because Americans are stupid! haha. He gave us the name of a nearby bar, where we went and met a lot of cool 14è frenchies. Bartenders in France are terrible (except...

je suis arrivé au fiap! Its basically a hostel for internat'l students in the 14è arrondissement de Paris (just south of the famous stuff).

The room is small but the water pressure is like a firehose (in a good way). Wifi is godawful but i’m gunna get a sim card soon so I can use data here.

Just got dejeuner with big D in a nice little cafe after a long “we totally aren’t lost” walk through the 14è.

UD: after a good nights sleep, we just checked out the alliance française (AF) where we will take classes in Paris. The good news is, despite stumbling through the brief oral exam (austin powers? anyone?), I was somehow placed in the highest level with just a couple other kids on my program. The bad news, I’m in the hardest level with just a couple other kids on my program.

The woman interviewing me asked me what other languages I knew and then started making me say things in...

I have arrived! I feel good, but jetlag will soon catch up with me–Its 9:45AM here, but I am at 3:45AM kc time. despite nyquil, melatonin, and three glasses of vin, I only slept a few hours on the plane. I did make use of my time–finally watched casa blanca (SO GOOD), watched the Great Gatsby in french (LEO!!!), read, and talked to the woman next to me. She’s from Cameroon, which surprised me because her french was extremely understandable (I’d expect more of an accent like french canadans in french canadia) Here’s an awkward selfie of us

Disembarked in Charles de Gaulle airport!

its a beautiful rainy day in paris

Also, good news, my transformer works–so I can charge things! weird outlet plugs. classic europe.

Sitting in a rocking chair in CLT (Charlotte). Five hour layover. Maybe I should start a blog?

UPDATE:
the patriarch of une famille française is in the rocking chair to my right! He’s intimidating, but I talked to a woman in the family and they are on my flight to Paris. She visits Tours every time she goes to see her mom in Bordeaux, and she said it is awesome! She also said that my french is quite good. or maybe she said not to eat the fries. Or was it a question?
Better practice some more….

UPDATE: matching son/father fedora team replaces intimidating french man in right rocking chair. How will this end??!?

UPDATE: I have been joined by my lovely friend and fraternity brother, Danny Brooks Lessig (AKA frat dan).
He is a mild-mannered socialite from Bethlehem, PA with an affinity for singing and a bombastic drunken alter-ego.