Paris in Springtime…

Well here we are, exam time again, and – shock of all shocks – Meredith is back in action and posting on her blog during crunch time. And what a crunch time it is! With 2 exams spread across Thursday and Friday and a flight home to catch Monday morning, the time is so crunched it can barely budge.

My homemade May countdown calendar of 'to-dos' has become nothing more than a page of X's...

A quick (photographic) recap of the events of late:

As a last weekend getaway with the Tufts Program, we headed up to the northwestern coast of France to Bretagne, Britanny. The two-day extravaganza was a whirlwind tour of Rennes (not on the coast but on the railroad tracks along the way), the Mont St. Michel, and St. Malo. Incredible sights and about 500 photos… (expect more later)

The Mont St. Michel - accessible during low tides ; better get back to your cars before high tide (cars are parked in the wetlands)

Photographing at a scenic view point on the coast en route to St. Malo

The St. Malo beach at 11pm (a rather long exposure...)

A mere few days after our return from the coast, big brother Max came to town for a quick <24hr visit. We hit all the main sites and I can only hope that he’s got the taste of Europe now and will be back for more and can be the tour guide for Mande! It was so great to have one last visitor (just in time!) and especially to share a little bit of my crazy linguistic world with my crazy science bro

Atop the Arc de Triomphe taking in the Parisian sights!

As evidenced by the above photograph, the weather was less than ideal for Max’s short stay – cloudy and COLD. In fact I must say for quite some time I was asking myself just what it was about Paris in Springtime that people seemed to love so much since all I wanted was to retrieve my winter parka that I had already sent home… but then it hit! Just after my birthday (a relaxed affair in preparation for Vegas, baby!) the sun peeked its head out and the HEAT has arrived – and just in time for our group day-trip to Giverny, the home and gardens of Monet.

Monet's water garden with the iconic water lillies - and a perfect blue sunlit sky!

In the water garden and on the Japanese bridge DRIPPING with wisteria!

To top off the day of enjoying France’s beauty, my friend Peter and I went to the notorious and infamous Lido cabaret on the Champs-Elysées : the origin of the Las Vegas-style show with scantily-clad/often topless dancers with extravagant sparkly, glittery, feathery costumes oh-so-strategically placed… It was incredibly tasteful and jaw-droppingly over the top all at once! It was certainly one of the more creative ways I have come up with spending my cultural stipend money (though the wine and chocolate tasting planned for tomorrow may surpass this… we shall see!)

Today, Monday, was a national holiday, because of course, Catholic holiday = national holiday…. (Today is Pentecost…) and so last night, to profit from the extra weekend night 2 of the other Tufts girls, one of their friends from home and I went to a bridge, wine in hand to join the MASSES of our generation that were literally COVERING the Pont des Arts pedestrian bridge (and even those of older generations were there simply hanging about!) Only in Paris do you find people young and old picnicking on a bridge with wine and cheese at 11pm…

Crossing through the Louvre to the Pont des Arts...

And tonight, another Tufts girl and I were treated to a fantastic meal at Le Montparnasse 1900 dating from 1900; a beautiful restaurant from the belle époque that is historic in the neighborhood. Why the treat ? We won the photo contest for next years Tufts-in-Paris guidebooks that will be distributed to next years students! A 33euro meal complete with before dinner drink, appetizer, plate, cheese plate, dessert, 1/2 bottle of wine each, and coffee makes snapping photos that much more rewarding! So here’s a sneak peek at one of the 2010-2011 student guidebook covers:

Indeed, twas a moment of attempting to jump into a posed photo that was captured rather by chance… and needless to say a few (ahem, just the one)  people were less than pleased with this photo being selected for distribution next year. Just one more reason for me to stay behind the camera rather than in front of it!

And thus I am forced back into studying, my procrastination well-worn… Indeed this may be one of the (if not the) last post(s) from Paris, but never fear, for this blog will always be here – many an update to be made upon my return home (tales of readjustment, of partying in Vegas with the fam, of recovery from foot surgery, and eventually of senior year and beyond…) so don’t think that the end of my time in Paris marks the end of my online presence… oh, no… we have only just begun!

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