Luxembourg and Feminism

I woke up again at 6 am today, actually a little before, 5:52. However, I forced myself to lie in bed, in and out of consciousness, until 8:00. My legs, and of course my dysfunctional knees, are pretty sore from all the walking I've been doing in boots, so I decided to get back to doing pilates which I usually do regularly at home which actually made me feel more normal and at place in the apartment.

One of my new roommates for the coming semester arrived last night from the Netherlands. I took her to the grocery store yesterday evening when she got in. I definitely wanted to share with her any of the little knowledge I have acquired in the few days I have been here. Even though I was planning on staying in during the afternoon today, I figured she, like myself on the first day, she would want to get out and see the city, so I suggested we go on a walk. We ended up choosing the Luxembourg Palace and it's gardens as our destination (and those are the new boots in the picture, my feet are very grateful for the shoe change).



Definitely was nice to have a companion on the walk today. The palace isn't too far from our apartment, I think it only took us about a half hour or so to get there.



There were little kids playing soccer on the walk up to the palace, so I had to take a picture.



Usually there are flowers and trees everywhere, but because it is winter, Luxembourg is not in fool bloom. Luckily I am here till the spring, so I can go many a time. This is actually the building where they house the orange and palm tress during the winter which I thought was interesting.



And a few more pictures of pretty things in the garden....If you want to see more you can check out my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindseyfree/







Definitely in a ritzy part of France, all of the surrounding area was really beautiful. Semona (housemate) and I grabbed a coffee on the way back, my first French cafe experience. I am happy to report that I was able to order in French and be understood :)

Later today I went to a French feminist exposition with my American friend Steph and a bunch of the girls she worked with. The event was really cool and there were TONS of real French people there so it was fun to people watch as well. It basically documented the feminist movement, largely through pictures, from 1880-present. Although I couldn't talk much to those around me, i gained satisfaction by being able to understand most of the information on the displays.





After the exposition, we went to dinner with the organizer of the even (who one of Steph's friends knew) to dinner. It was my first real French dinner out, and it was also probably the latest dinner of my life. We didn't sit at the restaurant until 9:15 and didn't get our food until 10:15, apparently the French prefer to eat pretty late. The meal was delicious!



I ordered a petite rooster, which came with mashed potatoes. We also decided to share two carafes (jugs) of wine. I guess the French serve very protein dense meals at restaurants. All in all, it was pretty reasonable. I got my meal and wine for 17euro (which always includes tax and tip). Although more expensive because of the exchange rate, I'd expect to pay about 17 bucks at a nice restaurant back home with tax and tip. Obviously not going to be able to do this every night, but it was definitely a treat!

Was a really fun day! I got to bed super late (around 1 am) so even though I am saying "today" it is really the next morning that I am finishing it. I was also very happy to learn that my metro stop and neighborhood are still very much lively around 12:30--felt completely safe getting home. Didn't wake up today until 11, which I was happy about after the last two early mornings. I have my first session of orientation starting at 2, so I'm off to get ready for that!