wow! i am so awful at this blogging thing! sorry guys, i keep meaning to update this but it keeps slipping my mind. seeing as i've exhausted almost every other method of procrastination, though, i think it's time for another update, don't you?
this week has been fantastic. gillian (
http://ciaobella-gmr.blogspot.com/), my dear friend and ex-roommate who is studying abroad in rome at the moment, spent her spring break sleeping on my trundle bed and exploring the city with me. she arrived on tuesday evening and we watched gossip girl, drank sparkling rosé, and ate macarons. when i was in class she'd run errands or go to museums, and we spent the rest of the time shopping, eating, and walking- i think my feet are about to fall off from all the walking we did.
a highlight of the week was our evening at the hemingway bar, which is the famous bar at the ritz hotel. apparently it was hemingway's favorite place to be in the entire world, or at least whenever he visited france. gillian bought me a birthday drink and we basked in the intellectuality of it all. (i have no idea if that is actually a word, which is ironic i suppose.)
other highlights included our night at the queen, which is a dance club on the champs-elysées; rose ice cream at laduree (and everything else at laduree); crepes up at the top of montmartre; posing on top of a subway grate in front of the moulin rouge...

she left yesterday evening, which i then spent catching up on all my tv shows from the weekend (i was too exhausted and too broke to go out). today i went to the petit palais, which is a museum on the avenue de champs-elysées whose permanent collection showcases art nouveau from the 20th century. it was super packed because they just opened an exposition on yves saint laurent (wasn't there one at the de young recently?) but luckily, since i was there for the permanent collection, i was able to bypass all the lines. i am now attempting to convince myself to write the "journal entry" required of me for my art class, which is supposed to be a reflection on my reactions to the pieces i saw in said museum. they weren't all that moving, though- it was mostly plates and chairs and things like that. there were some beautiful vases, though; maybe i'll talk about one of those.



also! my dad is blogging his bike trip in the countryside of new zealand here:
http://dave-biketrips.blogspot.com/ check it out!