Ma carte d’étudiante est plus précieuse que l’or

Today I discovered just how valuable my Sciences Po student ID card it.  Melanie, Dan, Chris, Chris and I decided to check out the Arc de Triomphe.  We met up at the boys’ apartment, which was absolutely beautiful.  I was incredibly jealous of their courtyard and their kitchen, which was entirely too beautiful to belong to boys who don’t cook (ha, kidding, boys…sort of).  The apartment is located off one of the major roads leading up to the Place d’Étoile, which is where the Arc is located.  When we were paying for our tickets, I decided to see if I could get a reduced, if not free, admission with my ID card.  Sure enough, I flashed my ID, didn’t say a word, and they gave me a free ticket!  We’ve been hearing a lot about the power of our cards; apparently they’re more precious than gold around here because Sciences Po is a pretty esteemed university in Europe.  Anyways, after all of this, we ascended to the top.  It was quite a trek up, and the spiral staircase was dizzying and seemingly neverending.  The view was worth it, though; the Place d’Étoile is one of the centers of Paris, and so we were able to see some of the major monuments: the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, La Défense, Champs Elysées, and several others.  The sun was starting to set while we were up there, too, so it was even more beautiful and I took a lot of pictures (check them out on Facebook!).

After all of this breathtaking beauty, we decided we were pretty hungry…and thirsty.  My friend Chris is a budding beer connoisseur, and so he did some research on places with great beer selections throughout Paris.  The one he wanted to check out yesterday was called La Gueuze, and happened to be one minute walk from my apartment.  We were a bit skeptical at first when we got there because it was pretty pricey.  We inquired about the happy hour specials, and suddenly everything was looking up again (ha).  Dan and Kevin got “beer missiles” of Guinness, which were 1-liter monstrosities.  Chris got a few rarer beers that he had been wanting to try.  I tried a German beer called Weihenstephaner Kristall, which is a beer from the first brewery ever, so that was pretty cool.  It had a unique taste, and it went down smoothly, so I was a fan.  We hung out there for a bit, and then came back to my apartment to have a few more beers.  Our beer for the evening was the (awful) Kronenbourg, which is made in the Alsace region.  Sounds fancy, but it was actually about 4 euro for 26.  Things we have noticed about beer in France thus far: it comes in weird sizes, weird bottles, and it is packed in weird numbers (who gets a 26 pack of beer?).

Random Tidbit: American movies that are dubbed in French have ridiculous titles, i.e. Shallow Hal was dubbed ‘L’Amour Extra Large.’

Tomorrow I have my first class, called “Les Grands Enjeux Scientifiques,” also known as “Problems with Science,” also known as “The Downfall of Katie’s Existence.”  Can’t wait.  I’m off to sleep.  G’night!