Lapse

Life in Europe has been just so exciting! We've seen so many things, and visited so many people. We generally get up at 8 or 8:30 and go to bed around 11. Meanwhile we are sightseeing. Do you see any space for blogging? Me either. I will try my hardest to update you in a timely manner, but for now, this is all I have.
Today we are going on a cruise on the Rhine - jealous?
We leave for Italy on Sunday, driving through the alps.
Then, a week in Italy and a flight home on the next Sunday.
Hopefully I can write again before NZ!

Love,
Charisse

Paris: Food

Ah, the food! Close to our apartment was a Boulangerie (Bakery) and an Intermarche (Market). We ate baguettes, meat, and cheese for half of our lunches and doner kebabs for the other half (per Doug’s request!). 

a doner kebab

At the doner shop

One morning we went to the Boulangerie and I didn’t know what to get. I let about 5 people go in front of me and these were essentially their orders: “Pan de chocolat” “Pan de chocolat” “Pan de chocolat” “Pan de chocolat” “Pan de chocolat.” I knew what to get.

Pan de chocolat

Thursday night we ate at a restaurant close to Form de Halles where I ordered these:

 

Saturday night we walked down Champs Eleesse and did some shopping (shoppin’ shoppin’ too, if you know what I mean). Anyway, we went down a side street looking for a less expensive restaurant and found ourselves in one of the most ritzy places in Paris.  (We often saw REALLY nice cars. Like, I can’t even spell them. Daniel would have had a hay day!) So we picked a decently priced Chinese restaurant in this neighborhood. It was beautiful!

Like Emily Bingham - we haven’t eaten at a bad restaurant yet!

Paris: Adventures

Public Transportation
Because we didn’t have a car, the public transportation system was the best way to get around. It was surprisingly easy to navigate and we didn’t get really lost ever. Aren’t you proud?!

I didn’t take any picture of the metro/RER system for two reasons: 1. I didn’t think of it. And 2. It was filthy. As Doug said throughout the trip, “Urine Europe” (say it out loud). It’s so true, it smelled like urine and alcohol almost everywhere we went in Paris. Gross! Also, more often than not, the floors/ground were covered with trash. Needless to say, Paris is a dirty place.

Doug entertained us with his pronunciation of Paris train stations. My favorite was how he said Chatelet les Halles. It is pronounced “Shut-eh-lay lay all.” He would say, “Chayt-let less hall-ess.” Pricless.

Friends
The Saids met up with us (me, Doug, Miriam, Josh) on Thursday and stayed with us throughout our stay. We were super glad to have them along -  aside from their company, they both are perfectly fluent in French and had a GPS. Plus, they live in Norway, so we’ll take any chance we get to see them :).

Mike and Emily Bingham currently live in Paris and they invited us over for dinner Friday night. She made a delicious chicken lasagna and we relished the American company. Their children are super cute. The oldest boy was best friends with Daniel when they lived in NY and it’s amazing to me how much he’s grown up!! The oldest girl looks just like Emily and the other are just too precious. I’m so impressed with their French also! Thanks for having us over, Binghams!

Getting to Paris

We made it to Paris!!

I am currently eating a banana and enjoying the lovely view from our apartment window:

Taken just a few moments ago. It's overcast today with a high of 65 and a low of 43. Perfect.

I'm in heaven.

Getting here was a little stressful though! I've been traveling since Monday night, and Doug has been traveling since Friday afternoon. Needless to say we are so happy to actually be here.

Once we got to customs, we were in a different country. For example, as we were boarding the plane there were two lines: 1. US Passports 2. Regular Passports. Haha - I thought we were still in NY... On the plane we were obviously in the minority, speaking English, and I found myself wishing that Jesse (and Catherine, of course!!) or John or Ryan (all of whom speak Russian) were with us. Alas, we survived the Russian airport and Aeroflot. I was unaware of a few cultural differences (ie: the toilet paper doesn't go in the toilet) but all that really mattered to me was that we arrive in Paris with all of our baggage (said: be-gej, duh.). Which we did. Hurray!

Let the festivities begin.

Graduated!

We are graduated!!

We began the graduation festivities Wednesday night after our last finals at Carrabba's with the whole stats crew (stats masters students and their spouses/kids).

Yum!

Commencement was on Thursday (we barely made it, haha!) we sat in the 2nd row.

Richard G. Scott and Cecil O. Samuelson gave great talks!

I'm usually not a big picture person, but here you go anyway!

It was really fun to walk across the stage, even though the gowns are quite silly. Also, my parents and Doug's dad flew all the way out! It has been so fun having them here. They are good packers too ;). I can hardly believe we've finally made it to this point. Everything -from graduation, to packing, to saying goodbye - feels so surreal.

This is us standing in front of Shelby, which is stuffed with a lot of our stuff! Ready to face the rest of our lives. BYE PROVO!!

Ahh!

My new "thing"

Someday these two are going to get together:

And these two:

Or maybe these two:

I can feel it.

Bones is my new favorite TV show. In fact, I'm waiting for it to come on right now :). Miriam got me hooked and I just realized she's been holding out on me (by keeping the 3 seasons she owns from me). Just Kidding!! But seriously, I'm only in Utah for one more week. How am I supposed to watch 3 seasons in one week? sigh.

Don't worry, I won't miss Bones more than I miss all my friends!

heh heh.

Therapy

This is awesome. I wish opportunities like this were available for all people, not just those with special needs! (oh wait, they are...still, it's super cool) I think that activities like these: painting, sculpting, interacting with animals, etc, do a lot for a person's self esteem. 

Source

I'm definitely not the expert on the impact that an animal can have on a person's health (please step in if you are) but I believe that it is beyond beneficial. I know of several families who got a dog primarily to help their son with autism cope. One mother specifically said that her son does not stutter when he talks to their dog, but he does when he talks to people. Animals simply don't judge people and I think that if you feel misjudged or misunderstood a lot, animals can be a relief from person-person interaction.

Source

P.S. I learned that it's called Animal Assisted Therapy. Here's a cool website about it.