Ok so I'm a little late on this but I've been busy...we're coming down to the end here and I have papers to write and legal beers to drink!
For midterm break a couple weeks ago the NU kids got to go on a little holiday. All the other kids did their own thing, b/c Northeastern is the only school that has the hookup. So Michael (our fabulous program director) took us all to the Continent. On Monday we flew off to Belgium...it was a pretty sucky flight, really bumpy and scary. My hand was all cramped up later from clenching the armrest. Anyway, so we flew in to Brussels and then took a bus to the Irish Institute for European Affairs in Leuven, which is where we stayed and is also where other NU kids studying inthe Belgium program stay and take classes...it was weird b/c I actually knew one and recognized a few others. Oh also, we were all kinds of confused b/c they switched up which side of the road they drive on again, i.e. it was the same on the Continent as in the States (I almost got hit by a motorcycle in Paris b/c of this...like literally he swerved and NARROWLY avoided me). So Leuven is a little city, very Old Europe...like beautiful old architecture, lots of bikes, no cars allowed into the city center...and doesn't really have much to do but shop and hit up the bars. Which is what we did. The Institute is an old monastery and for some reason they've decided that its not necessary to keep the lights on in the hallways. So in the daytime its a really cool old place with nice lofted bedrooms...but when you come in at night its super creepy b/c there's no one else living there and you have to run down this creepy dark hallway and hit lights (on a timer) on as you go. Plus the first night the other NU kids made sure to tell us that the place was haunted (easily believed, even after they told us they were screwing w. us). So needless to say, we were pretty happy to leave after a few nights.
In Leuven we basically took a couple classes (during which I had to keep excusing myself due to a blurry night before), drank cheap strong beer, played pool (very poorly), and had an all around good time. On Monday night, Michael took us all out to a wonderful huge dinner...we each ordered 1 appetizer, 1 main, and 1 dessert but it was a fairly fancy restaurant which ended up bringing out 2 starters AND an aperitif BEFORE our appetizer...and at least 15 bottles of wine between us all (they just KEPT pouring). It was awesome...we were at dinner for FOUR HOURS. On Tuesday after classes we went into Brussels...it was speed-tourism b/c we only had like an hour and a half there. So we saw the Grand Place, the Manneken Pis, lots of chocolate and lace, and then sped off back to Leuven. Wednesday we spent the whole day in Bruges, which is a really beautiful little city (like the rest of Belgium, small and lovely). We took a boat tour on the canal, saw a statue of the Virgin and Child by Michelangelo in a church, ate Belgian waffles (which is apparently finger food to them), and basically just walked around. That night the Institute put on a pub quiz for all the students in the bar upstairs (yeah, you know its an Irish Institute when there's a pub IN the school). We had 2 IPA teams and 4 Leuven teams, and we decided at the beginning that no matter which of our teams won we couldn't let those Leuven punks win. So I tried my hardest but my team kinda sucked...however, the other IPA team (which had an unfair advantage in Dualta, the IPA worker who hung out with us in Belgium...funniest guy ever...but he's Irish so he knew all the sports questions, which is what KILLED my team)...they won. Representin for Dublin. They won 60 euro, which we spent on wine in Paris. It was a good time. So that was Belgium.
We left Belgium by train for Paris on Thursday. Took cabs from train station to Hotel de Berne in Montmartre. Now, I've taken a little French so I was somewhat functional...but I didn't remember enough to carry on an argument with the cab driver about our fare, esp. when he talked so fast and pretended not to know ANY English (which is bullshit). So we got overcharged, but whatever, it was Michael's money anyway. Our hotel was pretty nice...nothin special. Only English TV channels were CNN Europe and BBC, which we got sick of really fast b/c they just keep playing the same bad news. So most of the time I ended up watching shows like Step by Step and Quantum Leap in French...very amusing. Anyway, so the first day I walked around the Place de la Concorde, by the Louvre, the Seine, Notre Dame, and got to the Eiffel Tower at night. Of course I had to suck it up and go to the top. Very scary. It feels like the elevator is never going to stop, but that it will keep going right through the top. Its all lit up at night and every couple minutes they have sparkling lights...which the girl I was with claimed were all the cameras going off below...riiiight. Anyway, its really high and scary (even though I have been to the top of the CN tower in Toronto, which at the time was the world's tallest building). So, lovely views and all...but I pretty much took the token pictures and then said lets get the hell outta here. Took the stairs down. Lots of crazy ppl trying to sell you cheesy souvenirs from their pockets at the bottom. Paris at night is depressingly romantic...so many couples around. Its really annoying when you're not one of them.
Next day I got up and finally met up with Hector...crazy kid flew off for the weekend and hardly told anyone. He actually called in sick from a street in Paris...I'm sure his boss will never notice the sounds of buses and running water, and people speaking French in the background of that message. So the first thing we did was walk around our neighborhood in Montmartre. Saw the Moulin Rouge, which is on a street with about a hundred sex shops and strip clubs, along with the Museum de l'Erotisme. Terribly amusing. Up on the top of Montmartre (Martyr's Hill) is the Basilique du Sacre Coeur...I think that may have been my favorite thing in Paris. Its an insanely white stone church with lots of stairs up to the top of the hill (or a ski lift for the weary). All kinds of crazy ppl chillin on the stairs...tourists, more couples, lots more ppl trying to sell souvenirs (apparently the friendship bracelets I used to make as a kid are "tradition" in Senegal....or Mexico, or any other place depending on who's trying to sell them). Really nice views of the city from the top. After that I think we may have gone to Notre Dame...didn't see Quasimodo. Eventually ended up at the Louvre about an hour before closing. Ran around to see all the "important" and uber-famous works (absolute sacrilege to bypass everything else, but it takes about 3 days to see the entire museum). Saw the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Cupid and Psyche, Lots of paintings by great masters. The Mona Lisa is a huge disappointment...its really crowded, but small and boring if you ask me. I just read The Da Vinci Code, so that makes it a little more interesting in hindsight, but I never really understood why its considered such a masterpiece. I'll ask Izzy to explain it to me someday. I do like the idea that its a self portrait of Leonardo in drag. I wish I had a week to explore the Louvre...maybe someday. We met up with all the IPA kids for dinner and then a few of us went to La Loco...a club next to the Moulin Rouge. An amusing experience.
The next day (Saturday) we went out to La Defense, which is a crazy futuristic modern architecture area at the other end of the Champs Elysses, way past the Arc de Triomphe. Its very un-Paris, but wicked cool. The Grande Arch is an office building and it has spaceship-like elevators to go to the top...you can fit Notre Dame inside the Arch, its crazy big. There's an IMAX theater and a bunch of other buildings. At the other end you can look down the Champs Elysses over this weird alien pool and see the Arc as well as the Eiffel Tower. It was just surreal. Then we went back to the Eiffel Tower for some daytime views. We saw an Oriental guy playing bagpipes right underneath the Tower...also surreal. Then we wandered up to the Hotel des Invalides, which is a cool building where Napoleon is buried...but we didn't want to pay to get in. Wandered over to the Musee d'Orsay to see some Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist works. Went back to the Place de la Concorde and walked up the Champs Elysses after some shopping. Of all things, we went to see The Matrix: Revolutions (not in French of course...we're not masochists...but w. French subtitles). Pretty much sucked. Spent a long time trying to get a cab back to our hotels.
On Sunday I didn't get to see Hector b/c we both had to catch planes in the early afternoon. We had so much fun though. I think Paris would have been my favorite place so far over London were it not for the language barrier, which gets very frustrating. Absolutely the most beautiful city I've seen. I think to really enjoy it more I would have to live there a little while (like a month) and get used to using the language again. So anyway, Sunday I just ran around to finish up my gift shopping on Montmartre and then we took a cab to the airport. The cabby was an INSANE driver...we thought we were going to die, and thats not an exaggeration. Flight back to Dublin was better. I think we were all really happy to see crappy old Dublin again...its really sad that we're so used to this place that we look forward to leaving Paris just to get back here. Dublin's an ugly old bitch compared to the more "civilized" places we've been, but she's ours.
PS...SOOOO excited to be coming back in a few weeks. I'm sure I'll miss everything here but its definitely about time to come home.
