Georgetown visitors, and the end is in sight?

Whew. It has been a whirlwind of a week and a half. M and K, two of my close friends and former roommates from Georgetown, arrived last Sunday for a ten day visit. They stayed with M's cousins in an adorable little apartment for most of the trip. Someday, when I have a job, I will come back to Paris on vacation and rent a cute little apartment like that. It's important to have long-term goals in life, no?

Even though they were only here for 10 days, it was a jam-packed 10 days. On Monday, we went to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur, the view of the city, and the winding little streets filled with artists and ice cream -- a winning combination in my opinion. On Tuesday, K, M and M's cousin spent the day at Roland Garros (otherwise known as the French Open) while I frantically tried to finish my part of what turned out to be a 37 page group paper. Oy. On Wednesday, I had class and a final exam in my urban planning class (side-note: we had a little party after the test. I brought home-made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and all of the French kids raved about them, if I do say so myself. I felt as though I achieved quite the culinary victory!).

On Thursday, we took a day trip to Giverny to visit Monet's gardens. We rented bikes next to the train station and soaked in all the green (or at least I did). It was a little hard to imagine the serenity that Monet must have found in his garden due to the hoards of tourists, but the flowers were certainly pretty. We made it back to Paris just in time to claim our seats at the Opera Garnier for the ballet, which was supposedly based on Proust. I'm not sure I understood the literary connection, but the ballet itself was incredible.

Friday was another class and homework day for me (the one downside of having visitors during the last official week of class: you don't get to spend as much time with them as you'd like). On Saturday, K and I took a day trip to Strasbourg, where she studied in the fall, while M and her cousins went to Versailles. Strasbourg is a funny little town; it feels like it can't decide whether it wants to be French or German, which I suppose makes sense given the history of the Alsace region. French, German, or just European, however, it is so charming, and I can see why K misses it! We spent the day wandering, visiting some of her favorite places, and dodging the rain.

On Sunday, several of my friends here joined us for brunch at Breakfast in America -- every study abroad student's dream. I feel as though I can state that with authority, since I have taken every friend who has visited me this semester to eat there, and they seem to have reached a consensus. Sunday also happened to be free museum day, so we stopped by the Centre Pompidou (modern art) and the Musee Marmottan (Monet and others) -- an interesting combination. We had tea at La Duree on the Champs Elysees and stopped by the Arc de Triomphe before rounding out the day with dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant near my apartment, still dodging the rain.

K and I went for tea at the Mosquee and walked through the Jardin des Plantes on Monday morning, then she and the other girls went shopping while I went to class -- notice the hint of bitterness? To celebrate their last night in Paris, we went to see the Tour Eiffel all lit up. No matter how many times I see it, it's still magical.

M had to leave pretty early on Tuesday morning, but K and I had time to visit the Pantheon and have a lovely (indoor, due to the perpetual rain) picnic before she left for the airport.

And that brings us to today. I've been playing catch up with emails and the last remaining bits of homework for most of the day. I'm hoping to have my last assignment (an expose for Friday) finished before I go to bed tonight because my brother and grandma arrive tomorrow afternoon. They'll be in Paris for the weekend, and then I'm leaving with them on Sunday to visit our relatives in Holland before my final exams.

Once again, whew.