The Grande Finalé

The last week of CEA Paris was jam packed. I spent most of it studying for finals, doing daily readings, writing papers and doing a project. On Monday, I went to L'as du Fallafel to do my Culture project. We were to pick a place in Paris and observe how different people use the space. I picked this famous spot in the Jewish district in the Marais because it is always hustling and bustling. I sat there for about an hour before class and interviewed someone that worked there.

Lavina

That day in Wine class we had a walking tour of the city. He showed us to famous restaurants and other wine bars. After walking for about two hours, he took us to the largest alcohol store in Europe. It's called Lavina and it was extremely fancy. It's about 4 stories and he took us to the restaurant in it. We all sat at a table and he ordered a different glass of wine for everyone, and told us a lot about each one. He told us that store is losing money because their rent is out the roof and they jack up the prices on everything. After that, we walked to a famous chocolate store and he let us pick out what seemed like 50 Chocolates that they had that fit into a box. We went back to his wine bar and he gave us a glass of wine that goes with chocolate. We are very lucky to have such a generous teacher, because I know CEA is not paying for all that he's given us!

Le Pause

That night we walked to a really good restaurant that was in the Let's Go Europe book. The book never lets us down! Thanks Mom and Dad. Joanna and I got this oriental salad that had delicious chicken and then rice/sushi rolls in it. The restaurant was called Pause Café and it was packed!

Monet Water Lilies

Thursday night was the CEA goodbye meal at a huge Mosque. Strangely, the Mosque has a restaurant in it. They served us cous cous with this vegetable broth and our choice of meat. I got sausage and it was really good. They also gave us some kind of hot tea and then our choice of all these arabic desserts. It was basically everyone's last night in Paris except us, so we were sad we couldn't go out with all of our friends due to the massive amount of homework we had on Friday.
I woke up really early to study for my test and finish my final paper. It was such a relief to finish both. Joanna and I went to a really fresh and cheap sandwich shop for lunch (also from

Dinner at Mosque

the book). When I thought about taking a wine class in Paris, I was not picturing filling up an entire blue book for the final exam. My hand had not experienced that kind of a work out since I took APUSH! I did really well on the exam (better than everyone else) so I was happy!

After the exam, Joanna and I went with a few of my classmates to L'orangerie to see Monet's water lilies. I've been wanting to go back since we went on our first trip to Paris. I retook the same picture 7 years later! We walked around the Tullerie gardens in the rain for a while which he hadn't gotten to do yet. That night we went to Ô Chateaux to have some wine and watch the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. It was a neat place to watch it! When France came on, we all cheered! We met my teacher's fiancé, who is from Mississippi who had just come from the states. We were envisioning her to be this America turned Parisian woman because Olivier was born and raised in Paris. However, she was wearing cowboy boots and looked as American as you can get.

Sacre Coeur

On Saturday we went back to the Columbian restaurant which served as our breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day. On Sunday, we went to Sacre Coeur. I would not recommend going there on a weekend, it was jam packed. That night we went to a pizza place from the book with some CEA friends.
Monday came we said Bientôt to Paris. We woke up and dropped off our luggage at CEA and headed to the train station. After an easy ride, we made it to Interlaken. We met a girl who goes to Princeton, her mom and grandmother who were traveling
On the train. They made for nice company on the ride!

Olympics