When life gives you lemons, opt for the wine.

Being in Poitiers has so far been one of the best experiences I've ever had. Everyone has asked me "Are you having fun?", "Yes, yes indeed I am." Some (KP) would argue I'm having too much fun and I need a little bit of stress in my life. Well as of right now, I couldn't disagree more. I work on average a max of 10 hrs a week. Say that again? Yes 10 hours. Most would wonder what I do with my time... well I write a lot, I reflect but mostly I spend a lot of time walking around Poitiers, meeting friends for coffee, shopping, laundry. Whichever. It's quite nice for your only stress to be a 30 minute lesson plan that has the sole goal of making people speak. Now one of my favorite things about France is my ability to be spontaneous. Just last weekend I had been driving around Poitiers with my girlfriends here looking for a place to go shopping, when out of the blue Jess says: " Hey! we should drive to Tours!" So that is exactly what we did. Up through the Loire Valley amongst all they greatest Chateaux, right into the city of Tours. We had a late lunch, spent our time wandering around the beautiful city of Tours and headed back to Poitiers for a night on the town. So far, this has been how my week repeats... I teach for a few hours Monday, Tuesday an Wednesday, spend Thursday hanging out with friends, going for runs, coffee, cleaning and drinks then pick a destination and head there. This past weekend, La Rochelle was picked from our hat. Lauren and I woke up Saturday morning, went for coffee and decided during coffee that we'd like to see the ocean. We picked up a bottle of wine and some peanuts and headed off to la gare. We got there just in time, there was a train leaving in 2 minutes for La Rochelle, so we sped to get our tickets and ran to the train. Needless to say La Rochelle is beautiful, even when it is getting cold in France. It was nice to be able to walk in the ocean, something I've never been able to do in Canada, and to see all the sailboats, kitesurfers and kayakers out at sunset. The best part of it, is there is always something going on in France- on this particular day was a jazz concert close to the marina where we spent a few hours sitting outside with our drinks enjoying life. There's nothing like having no cares in the world and being able to do exactly what it is you please. It's liberating to know you've always got control of your decisions, and right now I am infinitely thankful I've made the decision to come to France.

Favorite french song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSY_Jh5hiRI&feature=related

Sangria Paradise, where foreigners drink until they think they can actually speak French.

There is nothing like being able to drink openly in the streets of Paris. No brown bag, no nervous hiding when police cars roll by, no strange looks as you carry a few open bottles of wine with you onto the metro. We bought our wine for 3 euros and headed up to see Le Moulin Rouge. The sex shops, Museum of Erotica and countless female courtisans ( to put it nicely) was exceptionally impressive as were the ceaslesse amount of men trying to pick up girls on the boulevard. We got out of there fairly quickly after we politely shunned a few shady french characters. Now, I have always imagined the Paris bars quite similar to the ones of Funny Face- where discussions of politics, religion, literature and philosophy were discussed in a smoke filled, packed basement. And being a tad nostalgic, you can only imagine my delight when we stumbled onto exactly this. Of course, this was the modern version- a small basement with steep stairs, you would have trouble climbing back out of at the end of the night, leading to a small room packed full of french students chatting amongst themselves. When we sat down, we were instantly greeted by 2 groups of frenchmen, all to willing to buy us pitchers of their infamous sangria. Now when you're in Paris- it's quite intimidating to speak french to a french person, until you've had a few... and then it pours out of you like you were soo very french you'd think you were Joanne of Arc. After we had had our fill of sangria, we left for a Scottish pub near la Sorbonne, where we stayed the rest of the night until the very early hours of the morning. And if you think Paris is beautiful at night, wait till you see the sunrise slowly creeping up the ancient buildings, cafe owners opening their doors, streets been washed down on Ile St. Louis and the bells of Notre Dame chiming so magically that in this realistic fantasy, it was Quasimodo himself striking the bells at 7. This is what I love about Paris- life to a foreigner here is surreal, you get to imagine all the clichés, history, myths and fairytales as if you were walking through it. What's not to love about that?

It's impossible not to fall madly in love with Paris

“Every city has a sex and an age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and, in this, hasn't changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman"

Comme la vie est belle when you're in Paris! You feel like waking up early, drinking your coffee in silence and watching them clean the streets of Ile St-Louis. So that's exactly what I did. And it was perfectly marvelous! There is just something about Paris that you can't help but think, my god, I'm lucky to be here. After coffee, Danielle and I spent the day wandering the streets, taking it all in. We walked 20km that day, and only saw a tiny piece of Paris. We walked the Luxembourg gardens and had lunch à la française ( bread, wine and cheese) on les champs de Mars. I tell ya, at 4 in the afternoon when you see 100 other people drinking wine and picnicking in front of the Eiffel Tower, you wonder how you could be anywhere else. This satisfaction stays with you until a flock of dirty vulture-esque pigeons threaten to steal your meal or worse brush up against you. So with a bottle of wine in our stomachs and Paris as our canvas, we set out to paint the town red.

Vive la France!

As you all must know, I have made it to my final destination safely but not without headaches. On my way over I was lucky to score an entire row of empty seats on a sardine packed plane. It was obvious I was the object of everyone's envy. Travel tip #1- always ask to sit in a set where no one else is. And so I had a very comfortable sleep all the way to Paris. Once I got into Charles De Gaulle airport everything ran smoothly, except I made my very first mistake- I bought a Paris Visite for 2 days- not exactly a devastating mistake, except I only used my 28 euro metro pass twice... Travel tip # 2- Don't buy a metro pass during the summer months, you won't use it. Now I packed very lightly in hopes that upon my arrival I wouldn't be targeted as a horrid tourist, and I was doing so well until I got stuck with my suitcase in the ticket booths of the metro station. Those doors show no mercy, knocked the wind right out of me and was left with some heroic battle bruises. I would still be there if it weren't for some nice Parisien man who came to my rescue, pretty much using the jaws of life to get me out. Travel tip # 3 - when traveling with suitcases, look to the sides for booths with a bigger passage way... Finally I made it to my hostel where my friend Danielle was patiently waiting for me. And so began Lulu's adventures in Paris