grand farewellz

Well, this is it. I wish I was sitting here Sophia right next to me but she is at her home in MN and I am here in Illinois. We thank all of you who read our blog and were there with us every step of the way. Thank you to everyone, we did this for you. I dont really know what to say so...please enjoy our final video and dont be afraid to relive the bobcatbaguette experience again. 

We love you...and you..and youuuu. 

SMB & MAC

XXX photo'z!

Just Kidding. 

Like you read below, today is our last day in Paris. Sophia and I cant really talk about it because we get too emotional. Ive been sobbing all day. Its fine. Im fine. 

Woke up this morning, so tired not wanting to do anything BUT i could not/would not spend my last day in Paris sleeping. No. No. No! So, got my face on, and made my way to the Petit Palais for the Patrick Demarchelier exhibit. For those who dont know who this amazing photographer is...if you remember the scene in The Devil Wears Prada.." I have Patrick...". Yeah thats him. I wonder why this building looked so firmilar. Maybe because I spend an hour the night before drawing it...

Ive decided that the Petit Palais will be where my wedding reception is. So Amazing. I really enjoyed how the exhibit was set up. The photos were so beautiful and next to beautiful artwork a surprisingly good juxtapose. 


Holla! USA! 

----

I agree with Sonia. This is not turning into a sob blog. Atleast not yet...I want to but cant express/describe/type how I am feeling. I miss Paris so much and i'm not even gone yet. Today while I was getting my pain au chocolat I looked at the cute ladies who work there extra hard, just because I knew I would never see them again. And dont even get me started about last night...

But, I CAN NOT wait to see everyone!!! Omg. Im already booked the first week of getting back, so if you want to see me youll have to plan in advance! 

-MC hammer.-

Museums and Markets, or; Last Day in Paris

Today was our last day in Paris. Yep, that's right, we're getting on that plane in less than 24 hours. What?! ahhh, i'm so exhausted/sad/excited/nervous/everything. I took the opportunity today, after finishing grueling finals yesterday that made my hand spasm from writing so much, to enjoy myself for one last day in Pariee.

I had been waiting for the perfect day to go to the Rodin museum, and today was that day. It was GorGeOus outside, and i had such a lovely romantic stroll... by myself... through the gardens, looking at Rodin's statues. Hotel Brion stands in the middle of the garden and holds thousands more of rodin's statues and paintings by van goh and monet. it had an old house smell that i really like, and the window's let in a breeze from the cool december air. I think this was my favorite museum in paris--i hate being inside for extended periods of time with crowds, so i loved that a lot of it was outside. i breathed in the fresh air, felt the sun on my face (i had forgotten what it looked like! it actually didn't rain tonight, for once!!), and walked over damp dirt in my cowboy boots, admiring the amazing work.


Most of Rodin's scultures are of people, nude, all in various positions. He really depicts emotion and the human body in a beautiful way. All of them were of the same subject yet they were so different and extraordinary. Seeing Rodin's work refreshes an appreciation and love for the body, and you walk out of the museum liking your soft tummy and nobby knees.

The museum is across the street from les invalides, sorrounded by busy city streets, but there was a lot of greenery at the museum. look! moss!


After the museum, i met up with Madeline at the Christmas Market on the champs d'elysee. lots of tackiness and chocolate and sausages and 65 euro house shoes and matrushka dolls. needless to say, we loved it.



Tis the Season.

On anther note, we are sooo excited to see everyone at home! It truly has been too long. We're excited about that, but it was sad to say good bye to our friends here.



We've met some really amazing people, and i don't want to get into it because i'm already emotional and i want to prevent this blog from being one of those emo-ey ones, if it isn't already, so that's that. We will miss them.
And this city.


SMB

The Busy Bee's Knees

Tis the season for cookies, finals, oh, and packing up your life and moving back to the United States. Needless to say, me and the moogester are some busy bees:

Madeline

Sophia

Although it's all a bit stressful, we still have our holiday cheer, don't you fear. It's study, study, study, then pack, and clean and rearrange our apartment, because we have a couple finals tomorrow, and a lil visit from Ida to make sure the place is in good shape before we move out.... laughable. the apartment doesn't even HAVE a shape, much less a good one, but, alas, we do what we gotta do to keep CEA happy.

Today, instead of reviewing (the things we never learned that will, yes, be on the test) in Revolution Class, we went to the Martiers Arts museum to see old inventions, pendulums and such. The point of it, our dear, dear professor said, was to see that there were other forms of revolution, like technological ones. blah, blah, blah, i bet he just didn't want to review, because he already knows it. Or maybe i'm just bitter because he scorned me in class today when i said i have moral issues with violence. Whatevz, i'm over it. At least we got to see cool airplanes (and by that, i mean ones i would NEVER fly in) and a pendulum that proves the earth rotates. What?! I never knew that. Thanks, Gerard.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's not actually flying! gotcha, katie block.

Baby with her Model T

The O.G. batmobile

Well, i've got to sign off the ole bobcatbaguette and get to studying. Those human rights articles won't read themselves. This week is a crazy one, but we're trying to soak up as much Paris as we can, before we're gone. Je l'aime.

SMB

le cab

So, last night was our last Saturday in Paris. Sad. After feeling sick all day, myself and Sonia met up with Felipe at an amazing mexican restaurant. So gooooood. I ate everything on my plate. literally everything. Sammy met up with us for a bit but had to leave to go to a rendezvous. hmm. Later that night we sucked it up and met up with some girls at Le Cab. Ohhhhhhhh Le Cab, where do i begin. Let me just say, I dont go to night clubs for a reason. 

Entrance fee: 20 euros

coat check: 6 euros

cab ride: 11 euros

experiencing the worst smell known to man while waiting to check our coats, dancing's and getting touched by strange men, and leaving le cab at 4am while walking through the lourve looking for a cab: toatz priceless. 

Today I have to learn french and write papers. I just got done eating watery tasting chips and hershey kisses ( thanks cara!). This is the result our stove not working (read below) and it being freezing outside. 

Ugh, I smell pipe. 

mac.

It's Electric.

Rats, black mold, broken toilet, old food pipe smell, uni-bed, construction, dead refrigerator, flood, middle school, bed bugs.... with one week left to go, we naively thought all our apartment problems had come to an end. What else could possibly happen??

So here's what went down. Our knob on the stove is broken, so we were instructed by our housing coordinator to flip on the power switch on the wall beneath the counter to turn it on. this is what we've been doing for the past 4 months. yesterday we were planning on having Antoine and Felipe over for dinner. prior to this, i decided to make some pasta for lunch--i switched the switch and fftzzt!! ALL THE POWER GOES OUT. i did all the usual power-box things and tried to turn it back on, with no such luck. called ida, was treated like an idiot--" did you try the light switch?" ugghhh, no, i'm calling because i turned off the light and don't know how to turn it back on.

An electrician was dispatched, but would not arrive for a few hours, so we went to do our final loads of laundry --no more laundromat in chicago!!! yesss!!!. it was freezing in Paris yesterday, and without heat or light in our apartment or heat at the laundromat, we huddled by the dryers for warmth and danced on the benches to get out our aggression. we got a call that the electrician was almost there, so we took out our clothes after two dry cycles--still sooo wet. and now hanging all over our apartment, like... everywhere you look.

it was dark when we got home, so we were forced to use the blinky eiffel tower as our only light source. the old electrian and his apprentice entered our apartment/rave, and i tried to explain the technical mishaps in french ("le... switch? ...les lumieres, ils ne marchent pas...."). After tweaking wires, they got the lights back on, but concluded that there is something wrong with our stove switch, and if we turn it on, we lose all power. So monday we get to carry a portable stovetop on the metro during rush hour. cool. i am sad to leave paris, but sooooo ready to get out of this hole of an apartment.

we had to inform felipe and antsy pants that we could no longer feed them, but they still came over. it was ridiculous, stressful day, but ended with good friends and a glass o whiskey, so i got nothin to complain about.

Home in one week. Watch out.

SMB

Boris and Baseball

we are on break from rev class right now. some people presented on the russian revolution, and our teacher was literally sleeping during it. on a more exciting note, we have an apartment!!!!!! in chicago!!!!!!! cara and maddie and i got this cute 3 bedroom in a 3 story century old building, 5 blocks from wrigley field. look at our fireplace thingy! i am so happy to not be homeless.

ps. we come home in 11 days........ what? ohh, the emotions that come along with this......

SMB