This weekend has been quite eventful, well mostly just one event...the Pitchfork Music festival. It was such a good time, but now I am beyond tired...but it was well worth it. The madness began at friday around 5. We got there after a couple of the bands had already started. We listened to a few bands that I really liked but then there was three electronica bands in a row, and I'm not really into that. But we decided to wait though the three bands so that we could see Cut Copy play at 2:20 a.m.. Of coarse there was technical problems and they didn't start playing until 3:30 a.m.. By the time they were done it was around 4:30, we decided that we would just wait for the metro to open to go home. We thought that the metro opened at 5, but turns out it was actually 5:30, whoops. So we just romped on the streets of Paris for about an hour, all the while dying of hunger, thirst, and lack of sleep. But we had a good time. We got home around 6:15, went straight to sleep just to wake up 6 hours later to get ready to go back. The things i'll do for good music...anyway we got back to the venue around 2 on Saturday. Saturday was by far my favorite bands. I really like one band that I had never heard of before called Stornoway, and then I finally got to see what I really went there for. Lykee Li, and BON IVER. Thats right ladies and gentlemen, BON IVER, can we just say life changing. They were so good, I cried, I did for real life, no shame. By the time the concert was over we were so tired it was insane, you know its bad when all I can think about is my abnormally uncomfortable bed that is actually made for a child. Needless to say I went home, took a shower, and got right into bed. It was such a good festival, worth every penny.

Day 1 only a few people metro at 5:30 a.m.

Day 2

Lykee Li

And best of all, BON IVER

Merci Paris, je t'aime.

Sometimes, actually a lot of time, we just romp around the city and see what there is to see. It is always a really good time. Today we walked from place to place because it was pretty nice out, even though it was 65 degrees. In this city no matter where you end up there is something to discover, that is one of my favorite things about Paris.

After lunch we decided to walk from Saint Michelle to Champs Elysses, because I had never been before.

Look what we found on the way

Courtney, Me, and Hollie.

shopping mecca

the sephora of all sephoras, open until midnight every night, just for a good time.

sketchy

The biggest Louis Vuitton ever.

Invalides, where Napoleon is buried (and not Dynamite).

Michelle, just having a good time.

Circus Freaks

What better time to go to my first circus then when I'm in Paris? It was a very good idea if I do say so myself, I was completely fascinated. The term Circus Freak has taken on a whole new meaning. These people are literally out of control, I just wonder how they figured out that they could do such bizarre things. The acts with the people totally blew my mind, the animals were cool too, but I definitely preferred the people. I even got cotton candy, so I'm not sure what is better than that.

This guy is just standing on a chair on a trapeze, thats not cool at all.

The epitome of grace, jut floating around the ring hanging onto a sheet...nbd.

These people were the most impressive to me, they did insane things with their body, it was inhuman.

Hollie, Me, and Kelly.

This is the ceiling, and I thought it was super chouette.

The Hipster's Paradise

Thats right folks, I found the hipster's paradise...well thats not its actual name but that is what Annie and I decided it should be called. Located conveniently on the same street as the institute building where we have class twice a week. We have been a few times but this time I was brave enough to whip my camera out.

This is one of the best thrift/vintage stores I have ever found, there are some true gems to be found. I'v found that they have really good sweaters and shoes and scarves and of coarse anything needed for an indie hipster's wardrobe. I love me a good thrift store, but even for me this one can get a little...intense. Theres the occasional death stare from the hipster across the room when you pick up a really chouette pair of leather boots and the swarm around them when you try them on and they don't fit. It is just great, really gets your blood flowing. We are regular costumers, and will continue searching all our days in Paris.

104

Today Anna and I went to a interactive art exhibit. It was a random recommendation off of a blog, and it ended up being really cool. The place is called 104, they have different exhibits that rotate out after every couple months. Right now the exhibit is called Perceptions. There was five different exhibits to go into. The first one was this ginormous facade of a city style home that was laying on the ground, then there was mirror that was suspended at an angle over the facade, so where you looked into the mirror it looked like the house was standing up right in front of you. Pretty chouette. So naturally we played on it for a while and took all kinds of wild pictures.

This room was really confusing, there was a bunch of these frames, some of them you could walk through and others were mirrors, it got pretty trippy.

I love this picture, it looks very Harry Potter-esqe to me, because it looks like I'm walking into a picture frame.

The next room was filled with gas, half of it had red lights in it and the other blue. It was kinda scary because you couldn't really see people, just their outlines, and as they would come closer to you, you could see more of them.

The fourth room had this cushion in the middle of the room, above it was a plexiglass shield, above that was a really tall tube. There was air blowing around inside the tube, one person at a time laid down on the cushion and looked up through the tube. Then the little man would shove some glass plates up the tube and they would float, crash into each other, break and then when they turned the air off come crashing right toward your face. It was kinda scary, but really cool.

The one you did one person at a time as well. You were supposed to sit down in this armchair in front of a mirror. After a few seconds the mirror started vibrating, and then next thing you know you disappear from the mirror. It makes me really mad that I don't know how it works, magic like that freaks me out.

All in all it was a really interesting thing to go and see, I would highly recommend it, especially for kids.

Rendez-Vous au Cafe de Flore

Today I did something that I have been wanting to do since i got here. I went to a cafe and just sat there for an hour, drank hot chocolate and people watched. Paris has some very interesting people to watch, so naturally it was very entertaining. I decided to go to a more famous cafe called Cafe de Flore. I'm not sure why it is so famous, but it is super posh, and expensive, so I splurged. I'm glad I did, the hot chocolate was very very dark and rich, and i loved it.

Je t'aime Bagel Toms. xoxo

Upon arriving in Paris I was horrified when I realized that Parisians were not huge consumers of the worlds best soda ever, Diet Dr. Pepper, when I say not huge, I mean not at all. How twisted is that?! Morning, Kelly, and I would have endless conversations about how much we missed this beverage and sometimes Kelly would even cry. Yesterday we ran into the missionaries and we got to talking and they told us about this little restaurant/store that sold bagels and random American groceries. And then it happened he told me that they had Diet Dr. Pepper, my jaw dropped, and stayed open for quite a while. When I finally recovered he confided in me about this little gem of a place, so today we made the trek. It was actually very very close to the institute so I think that we will be regulars there. Thank you TOM.

Kelly is just a little excited...

ecstatic

This my friends may be better than Diet Dr. Pepper. It only has ten calories but it tastes like Diet Dr. Pepper with a liiiiiitle bit of regular. Life. Changing.

riding a zebra

Oh Paris, the ways I love you, let me count the ways.

Today was a very busy day, but really fun.

First stop, flea market. (Market de market de Vincennes), the best one that I have been to yet!

old printing blocks, found my name, it was fate, items purchased.

Perhaps my favorite thing all day, just a lady riding a zebra. NBD, thank you Vogue.

These drawers must be in my home.

We then headed over toward the bois de boulogne, which is the woods that we went to yesterday, there is a park/garden thing right by there. They were having some kind of event honoring louis vuitton, strange? yes. No matter, we got in free, so thats always a good time. They had carnival games, rides, a parade, and other exciting stuff.

Jas: Powar, he has got a fit bum

Georgia: earth to Jas, seriously, sometimes I think you're half girl, half turnip.

Just some boy stalking on the little train ride through the woods.

Look at the booty on that blondie. Creepy parade people.

Cutest nose wrinkle I'v ever seen.

I love balloons.

teacups.

A lama and an ass.

Naturally while romping through the marais with Morning and Kelly, love the colors of this street art.

Then I came home, ate some nutella and edited pictures forever, it's a good day.

I like cheese, I like Claudio.

Well today was a lovely day, we had a gras matinee, it means fat morning, code word for sleep in until noon. Once we finally got ourselves out of bed we met up with some random girls we don't really like and went to a forest, yes a forest, in Paris, well immediately outside. It was super chouette.

On the way there we walked past this store and I wanted this shirt, but they were closed, sad.

We rented bikes and romped through the woods, which reminded me of being at home and I love it, very much alot. We also had this Italian guy take our picture on this log, turns out he doesn't speak english or french but he really wanted to hang with us, so thats always a good time.

It's Clifford.

Naturally we went out tonight to go out to dinner with some of our favorite girls, we decided to go to this really really really really really good Italian restaurant that we discovered called Il Tartufo, it is a must. The four cheese pasta will literally change your life, and you get to eat it out of the pot...

I like cheese.

I like Claudio.

Oh yes we will.

We always have a good time, just romping Paris, sometimes we forget where we are and act very "American", but so what, sue us you know.

Kelly is a tiger, im just saying who wouldn't want to marry her?!