American Women

On Easter, I was lucky enough to host my best friend/sister Emily for two weeks in Paris. Eight long years had passed since she was last in the city and, goodness, I felt the pressure to show her an authentic time, considering that the last time we (hardly) knew French, didn't explore the city past sundown (we'd heard Paris was dangerous at night) and stuck to the major landmarks only. Hell, Emily had never really seen the Left Bank apart from the boulevard Saint-Germain! 

Exiting the RER B station on the escalator, the sight of Emily looking up at the buildings lining the boulevard Saint-Michel for the first time in almost a decade made me fall in love with it again. It sometimes takes seeing Paris through someone else's eyes to make you excited about it all again. 

For her first French week, I took her down to Annecy in the Haute-Savoie region of the Alps. Neither of us had ever been to the Alps and I'd been wanting to see Annecy for the past two years, so we spent four days in the mountains. We ate lots of fondue and tartiflette (almost like a Minnesotan casserole, it's potatoes, cheese, lardons and onions), drank some great beer from Mont Blanc and white wine (Roussette de Savoie) and basked in the sunshine, a respite from the soggy spring back in Paris. On my birthday, we hiked Mont Veyrier, a small mountain near the pristine, turquoise waters of Lac d'Annecy. I insisted on a Champagne toast at the top, with a view over the snow-capped Alps and the beautiful medieval town. I couldn't have asked for more on my twenty-third birthday. I've never seen anywhere so beautiful in France.

The following day, we took a bus to Geneva, where we spent our day eating steak, drinking beer and wandering around the Vieille Ville. Unfortunately, my French bank card got stuck in an ATM and couldn't be retrieved, so that was a highlight. 

Back in Paris, I juggled end-of-the-semester classes with sharing my chambre de bonne with another person. There's really nothing like sharing a bedroom-sized apartment with your sister for two weeks in the days leading up to finals. However, we've remained friends and now I miss her again (I especially miss all the meals she so kindly paid for. I ate five steaks during her visit.). I loved having a piece of my family with me and it's always hard to say goodbye.

Check out my Flickr for all my photos.

A bientôt,

Rachel

Annecy

Annecy

Annecy

Mont Veyrier

Mont Veyrier on my birthday

Emily bought me many steaks. 

Geneva

Emily in Geneva

Lac d'Annecy

Lac d'Annecy

Annecy

New Videos

There & Back

Created for a final presentation in my Cultural Translation Workshop, this is a video translation of the last academic year of my life between Paris and Minneapolis. With over an hour of footage to narrow down, I chose clips depicting the constant movement and restlessness of living in two places, which can result simultaneously in both excitement and loneliness. No matter where I live, in Paris or in Minneapolis, my heart is always missing the other.

April

My regular monthly video for April, including visiting Fontainebleau, running the The Color Run 5K, visiting Annecy and Geneva with my sister, hiking on my birthday in the Alps and, of course, regular life in Paris.