Paris, I louvre you.

Boy, I was so worried I wouldn't be able to come up with a relevant Paris pun, but I did!

When we arrived in Paris a soft rain was falling, just as Audrey Hepburn said it should.

Yesterday, Erica and I went to Sacre Coeur and then had caramel crepes with caramel ice-cream on top while we sat in a cafe that had a beautiful view of it. I will never go to that cafe again as it was very touristy and overpriced. I mean, all places in Paris are touristy and overpriced, but my hot chocolate was watery and disappointing. The crepes were good, though. We then went to the Champs-Elysee. When we ascended the metro stairs to the famous street, the Arc de Triomphe hit us in the face. It's so amazing--pictures never do it justice! It's beautiful and much more impressive than I had imagined it would be. That was the first of many "WOW" moments throughout the day.

We walked along the Champs-Elysee for a bit and then took the metro (which is SO easy to use) to the Louvre. My heart was thumping madly as each time I turned around I saw something famous. Antonio Canova's Eros & Psyche, Winged Victory (I nearly cried). . . once I just happened to turn my head and there was the Mona Lisa, and when a few minutes later I found myself facing The Coronation of Empress Josephine (which is huge), I said to the Louvre, "Okay, now you're just bragging." No one place should be allowed to hold that many treasures!

After the Louvre we saw Notre Dame. Third Notre Dame I've seen in France, but of course this was the Notre Dame, where the pope was not too long ago (SO jealous of Erin for getting to see him on a megatron screen!). Erica and I then went to the train station to pick up Kylie, then rested in our hostel for awhile, then met Erin for dinner in Montmartre. The waiter didn't speak French or English. It was a strange restaurant, but it was pretty good. I tried escargot for the first and definitely NOT the last time-- anything covered in that much garlic, butter, and basil is going to be delicious. They weren't served in the shells, which was disappointing, but they were served in a cute little skillet.

We were going to see the catacombs after dinner, but we couldn't find them! Ah well, perhaps today.

E-mail Update

Dear friends and family,

I told you that I would update you a few weeks ago, and so finally here I am! In case you were wondering, my fractured nose is healing nicely. Right now it sports a tiny bump and a couple of scars, but it's not too noticeable. Other than tracking the recovery of my sniffer, I have been enjoying la vie française!

Since I last e-mailed you, I've been on some excursions, my favorite so far being in Bayeux. It's absolutely one of the most charming towns I have ever seen, and if you're ever in Normandie, make sure you spend part of a day there. I think we'll go back for Thanksgiving to eat at the restaurant we went to—best food we've had in France so far! Next week I'll be going to Paris for the first time, and I'm so excited! We'll be visiting Pere Lachaise on Halloween—spooky. In two weeks we'll have some days off of school and I will be staying with my host grandparents in Deauville for a party for students involved with the Twin Cities organization. I'm here on scholarship because Lexington is Deauville's sister city.

Caen is treating me as well as the places I've been visiting. The classes are challenging and the professors are so sweet and patient. Though my kitchen contains only two burners and a sink, I've been managing to find things in the store that do not require refrigeration, microwaving, baking, or any more utensils than a pot and a spoon, that actually aren't bad! My favorite of my meals is pasta with basil pesto. I'm aware that pesto needs to be refrigerated, but part of the challenge of cooking here is lowering one's standards for what needs to be kept cold…

Despite the fact that Caen isn't a very big city, there's a lot to do. Last Friday I went with two French friends, Emilie and Marie, to go see the opera of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was in English with French subtitles. I enjoyed it very much, as did the other two girls. I think I'll be seeing Le Mariage de Figaro in Paris next month. It makes being away from my voice lessons and voice teacher at UK so, so difficult.

That's all for now! Thank you so much for your e-mails, prayers, Skypes, phone calls, and your letters. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear from people I love, especially because some Americans have a Crazy Switch flipped in their brains once their feet hit European ground (but let's not go there)! All of my mail is put on my wall to add some color to my room. I really, really appreciate it.

Á bientôt!

Suzanne Emmert