Chez Pascal

There are 3 simple things to follow when you visit my family: eat, laugh, love.  I love food but I usually eat small portions, however this completely goes out the window when I'm here.  There is constantly food and it is consistently amazingly delicious. My uncle is the main chef of the house and boy is he amazing at what he does.  Here are a few pictures of the meals we enjoyed!

Making Gnocchi

Gnocchi with la Daube 

My beautiful sister with fresh Baguette, 

garden grown tomato, mozzarella, basil salad, and ham cold cuts

Banana flambe

Okay these next few weren't homemade but I just had to show you the delicious food!

Fresh calamari grilled with salad

Chichi au sucre from my mom and aunt's childhood

Jus de pomme et fraise, tea, and macaroons

Bonne Appetit!

Ensemble, c'est tout

A trip to Europe meant a visit to my family in the south France, and after Ireland a high dose of vitamin D was needed! Seeing my family is always a great time and it was even nicer that my mom came from Toronto as well as Lucile from Berlin.  The first weekend, my cousin joined us with her husband and 3 kids. We spent our time catching up, eating, laughing, and swimming.

La Provence

Making homemade Gnocchi

Pool time

On Tuesday, we went into Marseille to eat fresh seafood by the ocean.  It was the most excellent fish I've ever had! Afterwards we went to check out the Calanques, this rock formation along the coast is absolutely stunning. 

Les Calanques

The rest of the trip was lovely, we spent time at the beach, as well as with my two other cousins in Nice.  Can't wait to come back!

La Famille

Taking this experience to a whole new level

Hey,

I have officially become a cliche in Paris by becoming a waitress, however it's not in a cafe but in an Italian restaurant. I should probably back track to explain how I got to this point.  It all started when I got here, well really it started long before but I'll spare you the life story and skip to the recent events. This exchange has been brutal, Paris is like one of my friends called it "a cruel mistress".  So much goes wrong here, but you still love it because c'est Paris how could you not be in love. Many reasons added up to make me take one of the biggest decisions of my life, something I never thought I could be capable of. I decided to stop school and take the semester off. I was pleasantly surprised by people's reactions to this news. I thought for sure people would be dissapointed or not understand, but so far everyone has been extremely supportive.

I thought it would be easy to know what to do next, I stopped school, I'm free...right? But having so much freedom all of the sudden confused me, was I suppose to travel, where should I travel to, should I work, should I go home?

 What would you do if you suddenly had let's say 2 months to do whatever you want to?

In the end I quit my job as a waitress for several unpleasant reasons and I am looking for someone to replace me in my housing situation, then I'm off to see my aunt and cousins in Nice and from there I will travel Europe!

                                          Words I've been living by during this experience :)

Update

Hey everybody,

Things have been good here in Paris. I finished my antibiotic treatment yesterday, no more needles for a long time I hope! Today I am going to the hospital for a check up, fingers crossed that the treatment worked and I am hundred percent recovered. Tomorrow the girls and I are having a little house party, and then Saturday I go to BARCELONA!!! I am very excited, this will be my first trip out of France since I got here. It's also the first time I've been to Spain, well apparently I went when I was 6 months old but that doesn't count. I'll take lots of pictures and keep you updated...

Love,
Clara

My stay in God's Hotel

                                                                   Hopital Hotel Dieu

View of Notre-Dame from the hospital

This story begins when both my roommmates Emma and Laura got sick, being one to always catch the bug going around I knew my turn would come soon.  And it did on Sunday, I got the typical symptoms of a cold and then it turned into what seemed to be the stomach flu. I saw the same doctor twice, however he wasn't successful in prescribing the right drugs.  The most embarrasing part of this story happened when I picked up medicines from the pharmacy. I had ordered, paid and was two minutes from being able to leave when I passed out then got up and vomitted what was left in my stomach lol ( I have to laugh about it now).  The pharmacist was surprisingly nice and I asked him "are you from Paris?" and when he replied "no I'm from la provence" his kindness finally made sense.

That afternoon I skyped with my parents and they told me I should really call SOS Medecins, which is a service of doctors who make house calls. Dr. Lamour came an hour later and proceeded to inform that one of the painkillers the previous doctor had prescribed was dangerous to the kidneys. (I guess it would be important to note at this point that I only have one kidney). He did a urine test and a blood test and told me if the results came out positive for a urinary tract infection that I would have to immediately go to the hospital to be treated.

I was finally feeling better. Emma and I were picking out a movie to watch that night when I got the phone call..  Dr. Lamour told me I had perturbing results in my blood test and like he previously mentioned I now had to go to the hospital.  Emma and I were so use to things going wrong in Paris, from housing, to school, to any administrative task, that we learned to take things lightly. So we casually packed our bags,  and even brought cake and a camera.  On the way we kept joking about how we're the best exchange students because we're so dedicated to getting the full french experience including going to the hospital.

The closest Hospital to my house was Hopital Hotel Dieu, which is actually right beside Notre-Dame Cathedral and was also built in the middle ages (pretty cool!).  At the hospital I checked in, did a blood and urine test again and then sat with Emma in the waiting room.

Finally the doctor called me in to tell me about my results. She informed me that I had a "blood infection", my response "uhhhhh what?", "It's complicated to explain" said the doctor. Alright cool that's reassuring... I ended up having to stay the night and the next morning they did an ultra sound on my kidney to see if it was okay.  My kidney was in perfect condition. I got transferred to a room in the higher levels of the hospital and the doctor told me I had a urine infection. I asked him about this "too complicated to explain blood infection" and he looked confused and told me I never had a blood infection, instead I had a blood inflammation which occurs whenever the body is trying to fight off anything.  The strangest thing about all this information I was getting about what I have or don't have was that I've had urine infections before and I knew what they felt like, but since I started getting sick I never had any of the symptoms, the only thing that was causing me pain was my ear, throat and the fever. But I'm not a doctor so what do I know...

On the morning of the third day of my stay, the doctor informed me that I never had a urine infection, but I do have an infection they just couldn't identify where.  She promised me that they wouldn't let me leave until they'd figured it out! Fastforward a few hours later, she returned and told me they don't know, go home, take these antibiotics, and good luck. As frustrating as it was for them to just give up, I was pretty happy to get out of there and go home!

I'm alright now, the most painful part is that the antibiotics they've prescribed have to be given in the form of an injection in the lower back everyday for 7 days. But I'm in Paris, can't complain too much...right?

Evidence that this is indeed a true story

LOVE,
Clara
Ps. I have to thank Emma for being the best roommate in the world and my friend Anna for bringing me books and sneaking in food :)

Finally In Love Again

Hello Everybody,

Great news, I HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE!!!
It's a lovely appartment in the 4eme arrondisement of Paris which is also known as "Le Marais". I have great memories in this neighbourhood, especially from two years ago when my family did a house exchange and my best friend Spiros came to visit.  We spent most of our nights here causing trouble, discussing philosophy (especially works of descartes), and so on. Needless to say, I'm sure I will spend a fantastic year living here and creating new memories.
I have two roommates; Emma is from Spain and Laura is from Germany. They're awesome and we already get along really well! We're planning trips to go to different places in France and in Europe. I don't have a picture at the moment but I will post one of us in our new home soon :) Things finally feel like they're working out and I can now truly enjoy paris and fall in love with it all over again..

Love,
Clara

Normandie

Hello,

This past week has been crazy! I still had no housing but I needed to get out of Paris and breathe different air, so I headed up to Normandie. When I was a kid we use to always go up there, it was our version of 'going to the cottage'.  After seeing the beaches of my childhood, I decided to see mont st. Michel. I had never been but heard that it was a must see, and it did not dissapoint!
Afterwards I headed to Saint-Malo, which I had just learned is where the French left to go to Canada to form Quebec.. I didn't have many expectations for this stop, but it turned out to be one of the best of the weekend.  The ocean there is so dramatic as the huge waves crash agaisnt the fortified walls of old saint-malo.

Mont Saint-Michel.

Saint-Malo.

Update

Hey everybody,

It's now been a little more than a week that I've been Paris and if I may be honest, it hasn't been fantastic.  I understood before coming that the beginning is always hard, you have to start all over with the most basic things like getting housing or a bank account or a phone, but somehow the French system has managed to create a vicious cycle out of this. To get a bank account you must have a fixed address in France, to get housing you must have a bank account, to get a phone you need both...

My greatest victory this week was when after getting brutally rejected by the 'nice' lady at the medical insurance office, I returned determined to get free French health coverage and succeed with a bit of luck! I can now officially get hit by a car and receive treatment at any french hospital (success!)

To celebrate my small victories and my one week anniversary I was craving a piece of home.  That's when I came across a Greek take-out place.  The majority of the time I lived in Toronto was on the Danforth (Greek Town), so for me comfort food is a gyros. Let me tell you, that gyros was one of the best meals I've had in Paris!

         Getting medical insurance

                                                                           So delicious!

Homeless in Paris

Finally here!! Paris is such a beautiful city, it already feels like home as I walk the familiar streets of my childhood. Yesterday I had a steak frites and then an eclair au cafe, and it reminded me why I came back here- the food is simply divine!

In terms of school, French 'Frosh Week' starts Friday and I am excited to finally get to know the university I'm going to be spending the next school year at. As for housing, I am officially homeless in Paris :( This is one of the hardest city to find a place to live, as there is such high demand but so little availability. But I am staying positive and am determined to find a place!

Here I am at the American Church fighting other students to read the bulletin on housing:

Goodbye Toronto, Bonjour Paris!

Hey everybody,

So this is it, what I've been planning for a long time is finally here! My flight is tomorrow and I am super excited.  My bags are packed (sort of) and I've said goodbye to my friends and loved ones.  I'm not sure what to expect from this adventure, but no matter what happens I will embrace everything that comes my way with open arms!

Love,
Clara