Day Four: "If you have never seen or done it before, don't try it"

After walking by this view everyday on the way to class I am ready for day of learning!   

Class today.

Two words: Madame Piccot.

What a fabulous French name if I do say so myself. Very sophisticated and quirky. Anyway, Madame Piccot was a designer/seamstress for Madame Gres’s couture. Her skills and knowledge were unmatchable. She taught us how to do pleating and sewed—for a very long time. A few tears were about to be shed when I FINALLY got the hang of it. 

I made this...

    

just kidding...i actually made this

 

 Similar, right?

It's okay. You can laugh.

For lunch we went to a crepe shop. Lesson learned: Should have gotten a sweet crepe. My savory crepe of mozzarella, mushrooms, tomato, and eggplants was not up my ally. On the way back I grabbed an apple instead. Much better.

After 8 hrs of class, we walked over to the Notre Dame. It was huge and the architecture was amazing.  I was in awe of how quiet the cathedral was considering how many tourists were there. It was slightly eerie with smell of incense, dimmed lighting, and a foggy air nearing the alter. Though I must agree with my roommates (after I admittedly defended the “gifts shop”) that the selling of souvenirs in the church did essentially murder the mood and the meaning behind the church. In any case that did not deter from the experience. I would recommend going to anyone.

Getting slightly lost on the way back gave us some time to work up our appetites. Tonight we decided to make dinner at our apartment. We stopped at a great supermarket which had everything! I still need to work on my French. For one, I did not understand what half the packages said at the grocery store. Second, the woman at the checkout counter was trying to talk to me. I just stared at her smiling and giggling. The woman in front my translated. Apparently the worker was wondering “why I was so nice”. I guess French don’t really laugh and smile that often? I am still unsure what happened during those 5 minutes.

Dinner was an adventure. We had to light our gas stove. After looking up how to on the internet I read this “If you have never seen it done before or done it before yourself, we do not recommend it”. 

Resolution: YouTube. I had now seen it done and felt qualified. Well actually I just prayed to God that my whole hand would not going up in flames. Fortunately my efforts were success. 

(Check out the oh so large kitchen)

Garlic bread could now be made over the stove. I whipped myself up a salad with nuts, cheese, peppers, apple, and carrots. I paired it with the nastiest glass of Bordeaux. While the salad hit the spot, the wine most certainly did not. It was only 2 euros. And it tasted like 2 euros. Three sips of that and down the drain it went.

I really do love the city. But I really do miss home.

My goal: To fall in love with Paris so much that I am actually sad to leave on flight back the America.

Talk to you tomorrow.