My family in Paris

Mom brought me my favorite candies from Finland

The roundabout of L'Arc de Triomphe

Hello there little pumpkins!

My family visited me 24.-27.11.2011. In this case the wording "my family" includes my cousin, my mom and my aunt. I was really happy to speak Finnish with them and play guide because this was everyone's first visit to Paris. Of course I was also the only person who spoke French so I was doing most of the talking even though each of my guests was capable of speaking English.

On Friday I went to Gare Du Nord to pick up my guests when they came there from the airport. I had asked them to buy "5 day visit"-tickets to Paris and they payed 46€ for zones 1-5. The airport was in zone 5 and they wanted to visit Château de Versailles so I figured it would be the cheapest option for them. I still didn't have my ImagineR so on Friday I bought a 1-day visit ticket to Paris for zones 1-3 for 9,50€ and for Saturday and Sunday I bought tickets for young people for zones 1-5 for 7€/day.

Mom, me and my cousin

My mom wanted me to stay with them the whole time so she payed 3 nights in a hotel for me (thank you!!). They had chosen a hotel called Pavillon Villiers Etoile which is near to metro station called "Rome". The location of the place was excellent for we had to walk 5 minutes to the nearest metro and we had to change metro or train only once when we wanted to go somewhere.

We didn't waste any time so on Friday we visited L'Arc de Triomphe and Belleville. We also visited the top of the arch and my relatives were stunned by the view. For me and my cousin it was free and for the adults it costed 10€ to enter. Our timing to go on top was perfect for the sun was setting and we got to see Paris during the night too. The traffic in the roundabout was crazy and it was really funny for me to see the expressions on everyone's faces.

La Tour Eiffel seen from L'Arc de Triomphe

Belleville is a nice place for shopping and we headed there after seeing the triumphal arch. All the shops were closing so we started going back to our hotel after eating. My relatives were wondering the parking in Paris - all the cars are so close and non of them can squeeze out from the tiny spots. Their expressions were priceless when I told them that the drivers push other cars to get out from such tiny places. They didn't believe me and when the saw someone parking they had to stop to observe the event. I found this really entertaining.

Also my relatives likes the prices because everything eatable is cheaper here than in Finland. We tasted some good wines and went to bed early to face Saturday full of energy.

 On Saturday we visited Le Château de Versailles. We left our hotel kind of early to be there as early as possible because a French family had asked us to join them for dinner. I don't remember the cost of seeing the place for my mom and my aunt, but for me any my cousin it was for free. It took us around 4 hours to see the place. Actually I thought that the castle would be bigger. I would have spent more time there because I really enjoyed reading all the historical facts in French, but all the rest of the group were too busy going from one room to the next one. I think the castle is really worth seeing!

The garden of the castle wasn't really nice at this time of year so we didn't buy tickets to see it. In the end it was actually free to go there so I don't know why they sold tickets with costing entrance to the garden..? Anyhow, I have already visited the garden so mostly walking there a bit was just for everyone else to see how big it is.

After seeing Versailles we went to Massy-Palaiseau to have dinner with the family whose children I babysit. My mom and aunt had brought some Finnish candy (the same I'm hugging in the picture: salmiakki), Moomin mugs, Finnish alcohol and a book about Rovaniemi  for the family. Salmiakki (aka salty liqourice) is a special Finnish candy and most people find it disgusting. The alcohol was made from the same stuff. We were having fun when the dad of the family tasted all the different kinds of salmiakki.

All and all the dinner was really good and I was happy because my mom got to see the kids I take care of. The family had prepared us a really good dinner with starters, main course, cheese and wine and dessert. This is normal for French people but for Finnish people this is not common at all.

At the end of the evening the dad drove us back to out hotel and he was kind enough to drive us a bit around Paris. My family wanted to see the tunnel Pont de l'Alma where Princess Diana died and we also saw Moulin Rouge. We also got a glimpse of the light show of the Eiffel Tower. We also got a little tour in the worse roundabout in Paris - the one around L'Arc de Triomphe. I actually feel like I'm a real Parisienne now for surviving this roundabout alive.






















On Sunday we started the day with a breakfast in some café. After that we visited the Basilique de Sacre-Coeur which my family liked really much. After that we headed for La Tour Eiffel. When I told them that the queuing can easily take more than 2 hours we had decided to buy tickets in advance to see the tower. We had tickets for 14.00 o'clock which meant that we cut the queue starting at two. We were in the second floor in the matter of minutes and we started queuing for the last floor. All and all the trip took a bit more than an hour. For everyone else this was the highlight of the trip: now they have really visited Paris! For me it was the third time on top but I still enjoyed it. And judging from the amount of friends I have coming here it wasn't the last time for me to get on top of the tower..

For everyone it was a bit less than 12 € to go on top with elevators.

Last but not least we saw Le Musée du Louvre. It was a really quick sprint because the museum was closing in 30min when we got there. This was free for me and my cousin but my mother and aunt had to pay 10€ each to get in.

My cousin was really excited to see La Joconde (aka Mona Lisa). He was running like a little child to go see the painting. I understand him: for all the tourists the most famous painting in the world is a must-see but I had already seen it. Now I have visited the museum of Louvre two times. I think I'll go back there some day without any rush just to look around some more.

On our last day in Paris we managed to see the whole light show of The Eiffel tower after we came out from Louvre. We were all really tired to we went to do a bit of shopping in Champs-Elysées and after that we went to the hotel and to sleep.

On Monday morning I had to be at the University at 10 o'clock for my lectures and all the others had to be at he same time at the airport, so we woke up really early. The jams in Paris in he morning are amazing and the metros and trains are really full. We had a quick goodbye at Gare du Nord with my family and I headed for my lectures. The train was so full that it was almost impossible to breath..

In the end I was really happy that my family was able to visit me here. My mom would like to come here too during the second semester. I'll see them all in 2 weeks when I go back to Finland for Christmas holidays. Time has gone past so quickly! After the holidays we start with exams straight away in here.. I just can't wait ..

Now I think I have to go to sleep, I have 4 hours of laboratory of inorganic chemistry tomorrow :) Enjoy the rest of the pictures!

All problems solved

Or at least most of them :)

Finally I took some pictures so that this blog doesn't seem so boring!

Anyhow. Finally I got my student card! Oh my what a fight was to get it. For getting one you need
- 2 pictues
- copy of your learning agreement
-copy of your student card in your home Uni
-copy of your European Health Insurance card
-paper signed telling that they can or can not use your information for research

Well I gave them all this ages ago but there was some woman who really knew her work handeling my papers and they started asking me for "insurance civil". Of course I didn't know what this is and I started finding out where I can get it. Many calls to my mom to Finland and discussions with Erasmus students  later I found out that my responsibility insurance is my European Health Insurance card.
 
  So last Friday I returned to the office pissed and ready to fight for my student card because all the stuff with my courses and such were in halt because I didn't have a student card. Luckily there was some other woman now looking over my papers. She just opened my file, said "Oh but you have all papers needed here" and gave me my student card. Now it's fine but back then I was really upset with the system. I'm just a little student, they can't expect me to know everything and defend myself!

Techno Parade 2011

Last weekend I visited Techno Parade Paris 2011. It was crazy! In the middle of the day big truks were driving around the streats with music so lound that you needed earplugs. People walked behind these cars and danced. With my friends were followed one truck dancing for some time. My friends continued to follow the parade while I parted to see two of my friends that I know from Finland. Both of them have been to exchange near Paris earlier so they showed me places that I should know! We visited Basilique du Sacré-Cœur and Avenue des Champs-Élysées. We also walked around Paris shopping a little.

Tehcno Parade 2011

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

I can really recomend Sacré-Cœur to everyone! The view over Paris is amazing. Unfortunately you can't see La Tour Eiffel but you can get a picture of what a big place Paris is. Also of course people have to see Champs-Élysées and Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile. I've already been on top of Arc de Triomphe so we didn't have to go up there but I really liked the shops at Champs-Élysées. We visited the shops on Sunday and they all were open! Good to know because in Orsay where I live everything is closed during Sundays. Some other good thing to know is that Also  the all-day ticket for under 26-years-olds is 7e. With that you can travel as much as you want around the city with any public transport. Also it's good to know that most of the museums and such (Louvre, Arc de Triomphe..) are free for less than 25 years-olds European citizens. I'm going to visit all the museums!

View from Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

Macarons and the little box from Ladurée

One place woth visiting is Ladurée. It's a shop that makes the best macarons. It's so cute! There is one at Champs-Élysées but we visited the shop nearer to Louvre so that we didn't have to queue so much. This is the link for their site. I bought eight macarons with the cutest little box. From Champs-Élysées I bought books when we visited a huge Virgin store there. I think this is really good for my French.

I really see that my French is getting better and better all the time. At lectures I think I can understand well what the teacher is telling. My speaking of French is really slow and my prononciation needs practise but I'll manage. I'm hoping to meet some nice French people to speak with. It's really hard to get to know them especially because this Uni doesn't have an ESN (Erasmus Student Network) section. It's really sad that we exchange students are on our own but I'm sure we'll find things to do ;)










 Next us Erasmus students were thinking of visiting Château de Versailles and Disneyland Paris! I so can't wait for that! When I finally get my Imagine R card like other students we can go there for free during weekends.

My Imagine R card is going to be the following:
free traveling in zones 4 and 5 during workdays and free traveling to everywhere during weekends and holidays. This costs around 34e / months. I know some students who are taking the card for zones 1 to 5 but I didn't think it's necessery because with my courses I don't have time to run to Paris every day. The card for all the zones costs more than 70e/month.

 With two of my Eramsus friends we visited Le Jardin de Luxembourg. It's (on top of all the other places) worth visiting. There was a live band playing when we were there so it was really nice.









We also visited Moulin Rouge. I'd love to see a performance there! Also this street is worth checking out: the street is full of porn stores. The metro stop is Blanche or the next one from that. The Sacré-Cœur is also really near to this place so they can bee seen at the same time.


I think I'll go study some words in French :) Bisous!