Emma in Ratatouille (live action and colorized)
Hi everyone! Here are my first week of classes and Paris trip from March 3-5th :)
Classes began the week of February 27th! My first class on Monday began at 3:20PM, and was Fashion Icons and Trends. While the title sounded intriguing, the course itself was not. Unfortunately, the lecture was very boring and I did not think of packing a morsel of food for the whole almost four-hour class. My grumbling tummy was a lesson to always bring food to those long classes.
Tuesday was the class I was most nervous about! It was Multiculturalism, Food, and Religion on the Italian-French Riviera. The class was surprisingly interesting as we are going to be doing cooking labs and visits to monasteries/churches in Florence. Super interesting. The course focuses on monks, which is something I’d never thought I’d learn about, but am learning a lot about monks’ influence on culture, art, and food in various regions and the Renaissance. Did you know that many Italian monasteries played a large role in the wine production business in the Middle Ages? Pretty cool to learn about the large impact these groups of people have on the culture we see today! Turns out my nerves were for nothing and I’m glad to be taking such a unique class that I wouldn’t have chosen otherwise.
On Wednesday it POURED rain and it was my first Florentine Art Walks class! Outside. The rain thankfully stopped before class, and I got to experience my first walking class. The professor is so passionate and excited to tell us anything about the city and its history. It was so cool to add history and background to the streets and buildings I’ve been walking by. Now, every time I pass something we discussed during class, I feel as though I could give an in-depth description of the area and how the building used to function. Our adventures that day brought us to Piazza del Republica, a yee-old laundry service under a hotel (actually), and the Ponte Vecchio. Making it to my next class on time (for a class 20 minutes later) is a toss-up as this walking class goes all over. It will continue to be interesting where we end up.
On Thursday, my Multiculturalism class visited the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy, which was absolutely beautiful but was filled with too many perfumes. Picture a Lush store but make it medieval. The pharmacy was opened by Dominican monks in the Middle Ages, who provided scents and perfumes to help ease/cure ailments. My friend and I went around picking up random scents, to each one, I said “ew” out loud (oops). What struck me about it all was that we were on a field trip for class inside a hundreds-year-old pharmacy that is connected to the Santa Maria Novella church. Absolutely bonkers. I feel so lucky to experience all these various buildings for a class — so cool to do experiential learning.
The day continued with a final check around the apartment before heading to the airport with two other friends to catch a plane to Paris!! Our plane ended up being delayed by an hour due to high winds, but the pilot was honest and kind of funny explaining the whole situation to us all. The pilot narrated where were and what we were flying over which was so nice. I don’t think I’ve had such a verbal pilot before. As we landed, the pilot said very sweetly, “Have a nice day. In Paris.” We walked into our Airbnb close to 12:30AM…long night.
Friday was jam-packed with activities. We got up early for the Lourve at 9:30AM and being silly, I was shocked to realize you descend into the glass pyramid for the museum. It was cool to conspire about Illuminati and what the pyramid’s significance was. We took our time exploring Greek statues, pantings in beautiful naturally lit hallways, and of course the Mona Lisa (inspired by mxmtoon hehe). It was also super interesting to connect the topics of monasticism and cultural exchange I had just learned in class that week to the artwork. I’d go up to a painting, read the description, and be like hey I know that guy! Pretty cool.
Seeing the lovely, large hallways of paintings was breathtaking. I felt so lucky to be there seeing such priceless works of art. It filled me with so much joy.
We grabbed some lunch back near the airbnb (yum) and then ventured to a few gardens — one near Palais Royal (see below for image of hugging a tree) and Jardin des Tuileries. Seeing flowers begin to spring up was lovely. We ended up walking across the Seine (La La land in my head…) and the view was spectacular, both sides showcasing Paris’ landmarks and monuments all in one place. One highlight was seeing THE obelisk from Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles in person. Wowie.
Our adventures took us to a beautiful university garden where we turned around and the Eiffel Tower was right there behind a flowering tree. It was a giddy surprise to see the Eiffel Tower — unreal to see a monument so present in film and music in real life. Pretended to be Harry Styles from This Is Us and hold up the tower (middle picture hehe).
We had a few movie moments near the Eiffel Tower (aka Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez and Inception). The bridge from Inception (aka one of my most favorite movies) was so cool to see in person, and I attempted to recreate the scene from the movie there. It was silly and eventually, we stood above the bridge to ride the train above ground back to the Airbnb.
That night, we celebrated Sam’s birthday at a cozy restaurant with a spectacular deal of a three-course meal for 17 euro. It was absolutely worth it. Over some sweet friend time, I enjoyed my onion soup (it is just soup there hehe), beef bourguignon (yum), and yogurt topped with raspberry coulis (also yum). The restaurant was conveniently located in the Latin Quarter, and so we visited the Shakespeare and Co at night and admired the Notre Dame from afar. What a lovely night.
The next morning I tried a vegan croissant (very good) before heading to the Monet museum in the 16th arrondissement. The area was quiet and residential, so much we could hear the birds chirping and the giggles of two kids racing their scooter and bike in the park. It was a lovely snapshot of youth. The museum was located within an estate, with most of the original furniture and artwork still in place alongside additional painters. The natural light made the rooms and artwork glow.
The museum hosted the largest collection of Monet in the world. I felt so lucky. The entire collection was simply lovely and I found so much joy in looking at the various Impressionist paintings and the estate’s decor. I especially loved the gift shop where I bought the same painting in 7 variations (gah), but it was definitely worth it. I can’t wait to decorate my walls and have keepsakes from the museum.
After, we had an old-home moment where my friend located the apartment building she was born in (so cool!) and grabbed lunch at a place her family recommended. We ate at a park where my friend was strolled as a baby and the park had a waterfall! What an exciting surprise. There were some swans in the pond as well :)
As we were sitting and having our lunch, a man drove by very fast on his scooter and as he passed yelled “bon appetite!” It was hilarious and very sweet.
I felt like I saw every single metro stop in Paris over our few days there. The punctual and frequent trains made transportation throughout the city a breeze and my friend notified us how much CO2 we were saving by using public transit. My sandwich from that cafe before did not cut it so I sat half sitting on a walk eating a whole baguette, sliced chicken, and camembert cheese.
After we visited the Arc de Triumph, which appeared to ascend from the metro stop stairs. It was huge. We ooh’ed and aah’ed over the cool landmark — taking pictures as a group and I recreated a picture my mom took back when she visited Paris while studying abroad in college. We descended back into the metro to visit Sacre Coeur at Montmartre.
I have to be honest, I had no clue this place existed until we went that day. Apparently, people were in the know as it was packed with tourists. Sacre Coeur is a church on a hill with many stairs and pretty trees. In my usual fashion, I counted 267 steps (definitely not accurate) to see the spectacular view. I felt like I was Bert from Mary Poppins standing on top of the chimneys in the dusk, looking out at foggy London below. It was wonderful to see the city from such a perspective — I love standing at a distance trying to see which streets we had walked on hours earlier. The interior of the church was beautiful and spacious, and definitely worth the hike.
I decided to embark on a solo adventure that afternoon to see a few things on my bucket list (guiltily fueled by a book I love set in Paris hehe). I hopped on the metro and visited the Latin Quarter from the night before. I am so glad I went back to see the area in the daylight as I felt I could appreciate the monuments and historical churches that existed on practically every corner.
I saw the Pantheon, Saint Étienne du Mont Church, and visited a really cool church with beautiful stained glass. Since I was in the area, I took notice of the line for Shakespeare and Co and found a used book store that had books spilling into shelves on the street going for about a euro. I did find an absolute gem — a book written by Ben and Jerry (of the ice cream variety), that when I opened it, it was actually signed by them! I did not buy the book since it was economics, BUT so random to see Ben and Jerry’s in Paris. I almost forgot, I also had some tacos for dinner.
To begin our night, we all went to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night. The anticipation was like waiting for new years. Simply seeing the tower glow at night was magnificent, and to watch it sparkle?! How special. We watched from a small park nearby with a clear view — it was dreamlike. I could have stood there all night watching it sparkle every hour till midnight. Seeing the sparkles made me so happy.
Filled with sparkly excitement hehe, we headed to 38Riv — a jazz club recommended by my friend at home. The doors opened at 11:30 and wow was I grateful we got there when we did. There was a large line behind us that wrapped around the block. I’m glad we got in — we were some of the last guests to be let into the venue to its small capacity. 38Riv felt like a hidden gem, like I was in on a special secret to be there.
We all sat on mismatched stools, enjoying a trio of piano, upright bass, and drummer playing beautifully for about half an hour before welcoming any artist wanting to jam. What a fun jam session! We stayed till the wee hours of the morning listening to jazz — I felt like I was in La La Land — and I am so glad I got to experience a night of live music like that :)
Our last day in Paris brought an actual visit to Shakespeare and Co (which was SO cool inside). I spent way too much money on books, but wow it was fun. I tried a vegan crepe (yum) and then finished our day out at Jardin du Luxembourg. The park was beautiful that brought a sweet time relaxing near the water, budding flowers, and lush trees. I am always so grateful to sit in nature. We headed back to Florence later that night and arrived back in my apartment around 11:30PM. What a memorable trip!!
Stayed tuned for my updates about my trip to Venice from March 11-12th with my roommate! Thinking of you all.
<3,
Emma
GASPING AT THE KANE CHRONICLE'S REF