A night in the life.. of the notorious party-girl Harper Page
Here's what happened.
After leaving the most boring lecture ever at school, my companions and I decided that we NEEDED to do something fun that evening, in order to take the bad taste of school out of our brains. Bridget's family was out of town that weekend, and we decided it would be fun to pre-game at her house, and then walk somewhere close, because she lives in Bellecoeur, which is a giant hot-spot for night-life. The goal of the night was to get trashed(sorry mom) and we promised to contact each other after dinner with the hosties. I went to the grocery store to pick up some snacks(a baguette and 7 bars of chocolate) and I was ready to party.
My family had gone à la compagne, and I was perfectly content toute seule, hanging out in my bra and undies, doing whatever I wanted to do (aka facebook stalking, watching requium for a dream, absolutely nothing). By the time 8 o'clock rolled around, I was feeling pretty lazy. Pulled myself off the couch, hit the computer, and saw that Bridget was still super pumped to go out. Then emily sent me a facebook chat asking for the scoop, and i knew i didnt have the heart to disappoint anyone. I smelled my armpits (french deoderant does not work, despite it's promise to last 48 hours) and took a bath, because that's what you do in France. All squeaky clean, I was ready to go! then megan and i broke up (subject change) and i was on my way out!
On the way to meet emily at Foche(round 10 or so), the beer that was in my purse exploded. I had a moment of silence before meeting up with emily, and we took the metro (with marge and homer simpson, no joke) to Victor Hugo, where we ran into alice and wonderland characters. This had to be a good omen, there were parties and fun times to be had. We stopped in a small grocery store, bought some "rhum" and found Bridget's apartment. The giant automatic old wooden door opened to show a classy woman standing before us, with big curly hair and a radiant smile. We took the tiny french elevator up to the second floor, and proceeded to have drinks and talk about days of delinquence (bridget's badass broke into a lay's fatory and stole 700 dollars worth of goods back in high school). 2 bottles of rum and a bit of whiskey later, it was 3 o'clock, and we decided it was finally time to hit the streets of Lyon, and made our way into the elevator. Did i mention the 2 bottles of rum and the whiskey? Well I'm going to mention it again because somehow when we pressed the elevator for the next floor down, it took us all the way up to the 6th floor, and we walked the 7 flights back down, laughing all the way.
Having successfully made it out of the building, we headed towards l'Ambassade, our goal of the evening, because it was a lub that stayed open til 5 and was super close. Bridget exclaimed many times that she knew exactly where it was, so none of us looked up directions. 10 minutes later we found ourselves lost, and while discussing directions we ran into a pimple-faced geeky frenchman wearing a hollister polo(which is extremely hard to get, and expensive, in France). We asked him how to get to l'Ambassade, and he said, "no, no, you don't want to go there, it's no fun". He gave us directions, all the while insulting this club that we had our hearts set on going to. We asked him where we should go instead, and he replied, to this party that I'm going to now, it's in my apartment upstairs. Listen, you can hear the music. We were standing outside of his apartment, and there was loud music with a heavy beat coming from upstairs, so we decided to take a chance and follow him up the three flights to his apt.
Once inside, we realized there was no party. There may have been a party recently, because there were tons of absolut vodka bottles scattered around the apt, but it was definately not still happening. We told the geeky man that we were no longer interested in his party (though his apt was super super cute) and that we were leaving for the dance club. He replied and said that he could be the DJ and put on some music(it was actually good music, in his favor.. Rihanna of course) and we left the apt, laughing our way down yet another set of stairs. We found ourselves on the street yet again, with the same mission. To the club!
Unfortunately we couldn't quite remember the geeky man's directions and ended up a group of people who led us in the right direction. Then we got lost again (these streets are not on a grid) and asked another man for directions, and we continued on, thinking that we would never find out where this club was. After we found ourselves lost again, we decided to give up and head back to Bridgets(it's like 4 in the morning now). While walking home, we ended up running into the damn club, and had the night of our lives. I don't remember what happened after the disco music kicked in. You'll have to use your imagination....
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thursday, July 14, 2011
You Know You're Not in America When..
- the newspaper advises you to eat a whole baguette every day... for your health(??). you can only imagine how much weight i've been gaining being "healthy"
- there are no buttons to cross the streets for the pedistrians. never knew how much i'd miss that little button; it's slightly comforting knowing that it's on your team, trying to get the crazy traffic to stop so you can cross safely. these french people are missing out big time
- the sink isn't next to the toilet. It's in another room.... oh and good luck flushing the foreign object (it's harder than you think)
- there are super, super, old pop songs that nobody listens to anymore playing constantly in every store. or Katy Perry. that's about it.
- you have to ask for a menu at every restaurant you go to. and for some water.... and for ice cubes. and then the bill. i only hope i'm not picking up any french serving habits
- people are makin' out left and right. (like i said, they have no shame)
- people inhale while speaking.
- everyone is in heels. even the dudes. not really, but i wouldn't be surprised
- dinner is at 8 instead of 6. god help you if you try to go out for dinner at 5:30- they will laugh at you. be prepared
- you have to order something to use the toilet
- coins. are. important. bills are used less often. talk about a heavy wallet
- looseleaf paper here is looks like a grid. forget wide/college ruled
- parking is underground (take the super cool rampy-tunnel thing)
- people don't honk. only verbal harrassing allowed
- recycling is extra difficult
- you go out shopping/eating/drinking and there's no airconditioning. you can bet there won't be air conditioning when you come home either.
- everyone speaks in french.
Quiz for the french-born:
- what is a parking lane? also, can we talk about cars driving on sidewalks??? they slowly inch behind you, lurking. feels like you're being stalked... only it's completely obvious
i know i've been neglecting the blog. whoops. sorry guys :)
bloggity blogger
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Bloggin' Foo' Strikes Again
Here I am, as promised, writing my heart out for YOU. Fasten your seatbelts, you're in for a long, bumpy ride. Shall we begin?
The plane landed in Londres (this is London for the non-frenchies). My phone got lost on the plane, or someone stole it (due to this unfortunate event i have no pictures) and I almost got sent back to America because I didn't know the address of the hotel I was staying at. I was late to meet Evelyn at Paddington station because I had to make a detour to the claims dept. to tell them about my lost/stolen phone. This actually cheered me up a little; the man in line ahead of me was reporting his lost baggage, which had mistakenly been shipped to Normandy.. Whoops.
Luckily I made it to Evelyn, only 30 minutes late, and from the beginning of the trip we proceeded to walk EVERYWHERE. We saw just about everything there is to see, from the London Bridge to¨Parliment to the Gherkin.(pssst this is a link) You name it, we saw it. We also had a "real english breakfast" which for those of you who don't know... is a little bit different from brunch à la Succotash. We had to find a pub. An English pub that was open at 10 in the morning. We found a shady building and walked inside. Before our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we practically ran into the mysterious man drinking white wine at the bar, which apparently is totally natural because there was an elderly couple drinking whiskey in the booth across from us(???)... Then we paid at the bar for our breakfast, which included: baked beans, basted eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. Top it off with some jam and the London equivelent of ketchup and Bam!(it's Emeril approved..) The complete London breakfast.
HARPER'S TOP 10 OF LONDON
next stop: Pologne
Krakow. What an interesting place. As you have read, no one speaks English. Thus, you have to read body language/expressions, and imitate everyone around you... without them knowing (Nobody wants to be pegged as a tourist, it's like saying you have the black plague). It was pretty amusing. We went on a free walking tour with Chris, who had the greatest polish accent and wore a t-shirt that said, "born to be guide". He took us to the Jewish community, which is a misnomer because there are only 97 practicing Jews in the entire place, which was pretty astounding. They never returned after WW2... Schindler's List was filmed in the Jewish community. It's a movie the locals know very well... and they protest that some parts aren't 100% correct. For example, Schindler had 3 lists, not one, and lots of people had to pay to get on it. The American movie is based on an American novel that this guy wrote after interviewing ONE local. Go figure. Good movie though.
salt... everywhere. even the chandalier
I also went to the salt caves; these caves deep(we're talking 400 km) underground where miners carved figures out of salt. The walls, the floor, the ceiling... Everything was made of salt. I licked the walls. They were salty. On one of our many walks Evelyn taught me how to eat a strawberry, green leafy top and everything. I dare you to try it. She also influenced me to eat a kiwi with the peel . This girl is freaky (she's from Canada). You should try it though, really. It's not bad. She grew up on a farm, and claims that lots of people eat the entire fruit... like bananas, apples, pears, kiwi, and strawberries etc. I asked her if she ate the whole banana, and she replied, "No, that would be weird!" I like this girl.
Our 20+ mile trek is already documented, so refer to facebook for more info. I will add; the Monestary had awesome sausages.
Are We There Yet?
paris! We stayed at the Holiday Inn (this link is especially for my father) in Paris thanks to Evelyn's Dad and his hotel points. It was so awesome. The beds had ironed sheets and a real bathtub with a shower(which honestly impressed us the most). Showers in Europe... are tiny. In fact, tiny is an understatement. I had so many bruises on my elbows from taking showers in London and Krakow... showering became dangerous. You cant reach your toes, you can barely reach your hair, and god forbid you drop something.... We were super clean in Paris. Which is ironic, because Paris is extremely dirty. The streets are lined with cigarette butts. Luckily they added lights to the Eiffel Tower that light up every hour on the hour to distract the tourists from the filth.
Gosh. This is going to take awhile. More on Paris later. SO much to say...
a couple sidenotes:
and lastly, im going to end my blog with a small insert from my personal journal; something to tie you over until I have the strength to finish what I started in Paris and move to Lyon, where I'm currently staying with a suuuuuuuuper cool host family(stay tuned)
...and I thought my luck was bad. It's not. I'm extremely blessed to have everything I could need. No matter what happens to my camera or my car or my bike, I will always have myself and those around me who love and support me. There is no telling what will happen, but I know that if I keep this in mind, everything will be just fine.
----
so to those of you reading this, know that im thinking of you, and that you're that one of a kind, cant-live-without sort of person. and you mean a lot to me :)
lots of hugs and kisses
harper
The plane landed in Londres (this is London for the non-frenchies). My phone got lost on the plane, or someone stole it (due to this unfortunate event i have no pictures) and I almost got sent back to America because I didn't know the address of the hotel I was staying at. I was late to meet Evelyn at Paddington station because I had to make a detour to the claims dept. to tell them about my lost/stolen phone. This actually cheered me up a little; the man in line ahead of me was reporting his lost baggage, which had mistakenly been shipped to Normandy.. Whoops.
Luckily I made it to Evelyn, only 30 minutes late, and from the beginning of the trip we proceeded to walk EVERYWHERE. We saw just about everything there is to see, from the London Bridge to¨Parliment to the Gherkin.(pssst this is a link) You name it, we saw it. We also had a "real english breakfast" which for those of you who don't know... is a little bit different from brunch à la Succotash. We had to find a pub. An English pub that was open at 10 in the morning. We found a shady building and walked inside. Before our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we practically ran into the mysterious man drinking white wine at the bar, which apparently is totally natural because there was an elderly couple drinking whiskey in the booth across from us(???)... Then we paid at the bar for our breakfast, which included: baked beans, basted eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. Top it off with some jam and the London equivelent of ketchup and Bam!(it's Emeril approved..) The complete London breakfast.
HARPER'S TOP 10 OF LONDON
- London Fashion
- Day Trips to Windsor
- River Thames and all the places surrounding it (eg: the London Eye, Parlaiment, cute shops, city hall, fish et chips, etc)
- Oyster Card. Basically a pre-paid metro card. Right now they have a special edition Will and Kate card. It's adorable.
- Downtown London
- Camedon Market (think swap and shop, only way more expensive... and full of souvenier booths)
- Hyde Park(the real deal!)
- Buckingham Palace (sans queen)
- Squirrel Man. This man was a regular of "the enchanted palace" and fed the chubby squirrels almonds everyday. It was super cute.
- London Tube. So easy. Slightly jealous
next stop: Pologne
Krakow. What an interesting place. As you have read, no one speaks English. Thus, you have to read body language/expressions, and imitate everyone around you... without them knowing (Nobody wants to be pegged as a tourist, it's like saying you have the black plague). It was pretty amusing. We went on a free walking tour with Chris, who had the greatest polish accent and wore a t-shirt that said, "born to be guide". He took us to the Jewish community, which is a misnomer because there are only 97 practicing Jews in the entire place, which was pretty astounding. They never returned after WW2... Schindler's List was filmed in the Jewish community. It's a movie the locals know very well... and they protest that some parts aren't 100% correct. For example, Schindler had 3 lists, not one, and lots of people had to pay to get on it. The American movie is based on an American novel that this guy wrote after interviewing ONE local. Go figure. Good movie though.
salt... everywhere. even the chandalier
I also went to the salt caves; these caves deep(we're talking 400 km) underground where miners carved figures out of salt. The walls, the floor, the ceiling... Everything was made of salt. I licked the walls. They were salty. On one of our many walks Evelyn taught me how to eat a strawberry, green leafy top and everything. I dare you to try it. She also influenced me to eat a kiwi with the peel . This girl is freaky (she's from Canada). You should try it though, really. It's not bad. She grew up on a farm, and claims that lots of people eat the entire fruit... like bananas, apples, pears, kiwi, and strawberries etc. I asked her if she ate the whole banana, and she replied, "No, that would be weird!" I like this girl.
Our 20+ mile trek is already documented, so refer to facebook for more info. I will add; the Monestary had awesome sausages.
Are We There Yet?
paris! We stayed at the Holiday Inn (this link is especially for my father) in Paris thanks to Evelyn's Dad and his hotel points. It was so awesome. The beds had ironed sheets and a real bathtub with a shower(which honestly impressed us the most). Showers in Europe... are tiny. In fact, tiny is an understatement. I had so many bruises on my elbows from taking showers in London and Krakow... showering became dangerous. You cant reach your toes, you can barely reach your hair, and god forbid you drop something.... We were super clean in Paris. Which is ironic, because Paris is extremely dirty. The streets are lined with cigarette butts. Luckily they added lights to the Eiffel Tower that light up every hour on the hour to distract the tourists from the filth.
Gosh. This is going to take awhile. More on Paris later. SO much to say...
a couple sidenotes:
- parisian couples. they kiss in parks. everyone knows that. literally on top of each other, less than 10 feet away from the other people in the park(usually another kissing couple, or a child staring). they also kiss on the metro, they kiss on the busses, the kiss in cafes, they kiss in the cathedrals(they have no shame), they kiss on the trains, they kiss in the streets. im pretty sure they kiss everywhere except their bedrooms.... and thats why french people have chapped lips all the time. just kidding. they're perfect. they should though (its not fair).
- Alright, so let's talk about this. I finished watching the Bachelorette season finale, the one with the guard and protect your heart guy, and she ended up with Roberto, the guy I liked from day one(and she did too) and she has to pick between him and this other guy who her family likes and is consistant and an all around good guy blah blah blah. This is the hardest decision of her life etc. She has to pick one that she wants to spend the rest of her life with so she can't fuck up and she's having so many issues and decides to go with the one that she has a stronger attraction to. He ends up proposing to her and she says yes, and while they're showing this romantic beach proposal with the sun setting and the lion king's "can you feel the love tonight" playing in the background she says something like: "ever since i met Roberto two months ago-". Wait, What? Rewind. "ever since I met Roberto two months ago-".. Two months ago?? You've known this guy for 2 months and you're ready to tie the knot? you havent even spent every single day of those two months with him. you've been off with other guys... you haven't even had time to learn about his faults or introduce him to your friends... this is when I realized that this show is a load of crap, and that if anyone is going to play lion king music for their season finale, they need to grow up. life is not a disney movie. (good luck to the happy couple...)
and lastly, im going to end my blog with a small insert from my personal journal; something to tie you over until I have the strength to finish what I started in Paris and move to Lyon, where I'm currently staying with a suuuuuuuuper cool host family(stay tuned)
...and I thought my luck was bad. It's not. I'm extremely blessed to have everything I could need. No matter what happens to my camera or my car or my bike, I will always have myself and those around me who love and support me. There is no telling what will happen, but I know that if I keep this in mind, everything will be just fine.
----
so to those of you reading this, know that im thinking of you, and that you're that one of a kind, cant-live-without sort of person. and you mean a lot to me :)
lots of hugs and kisses
harper
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Bloggity Bloggity Blog
Monmartre
So I've been getting some negative feedback about my blog. The word "neglectful" has been thrown around, along with "update" followed by "soon".... Apparently I've been causing distress to my lovely friends; they can't sleep at night/life has no meaning/etc. Let's set the record straight here. I have been sans internet in Paris(feel bad for me), but thankfully tomorrow is a new day, and I will be word-vomiting all over my blog in the weeks to come because i'll be in Lyon, with endless access to the world wide web. I'll be writing so much, you'll want to de-friend me so my posts will stop filling up your mini-feed. Seriously. I have a lot to say. Starting with epiphanies I had while watching the Bachelorette (you think I'm kidding), pausing on my thoughts of PDA across the world, and ending with a small anecdote about foreigners from Ohio. With that being said, here is a small summary of my travels so far, something to soothe the masses until I have time/internet to write my heart out. Enjoy.
1) Krakow: polish. everyone speaks polish. did evelyn and I know a lick of polish? no. thankfully we had the word pierogi down (it's like a dumpling. only fancier, because they fill it with yummy things like meat and potatoes and spinach). I think we came out of poland learning two words of Polish (we're champs)
2) Near-disastrous plane trip. Evelyn accidentally booked our trip for July 8th instead of June 8th. The airline peeps then told us there were 2 seats left on the next plane and that we had 10 minutes left to try to get on the flight to Paris. Luckily, we made it, and luckily Evelyn had travel insurance...
and now! we're in Paris, the city of all cities, picnic-ing in front of l'arc de triomph and watching the eiffel tower light up at night (pictures to come!). We leave tomorrow for Lyon where i'll be meeting my replacement family of 6 weeks and I promise promise promise I will write another blog painfully explaining every excruciating detail of our adventures... so be patient :) ----and to add a quote (because all blogs have quotes, right???) "if you book them, they will come".
til next time!
the bloggin' foo'
2) Near-disastrous plane trip. Evelyn accidentally booked our trip for July 8th instead of June 8th. The airline peeps then told us there were 2 seats left on the next plane and that we had 10 minutes left to try to get on the flight to Paris. Luckily, we made it, and luckily Evelyn had travel insurance...
and now! we're in Paris, the city of all cities, picnic-ing in front of l'arc de triomph and watching the eiffel tower light up at night (pictures to come!). We leave tomorrow for Lyon where i'll be meeting my replacement family of 6 weeks and I promise promise promise I will write another blog painfully explaining every excruciating detail of our adventures... so be patient :) ----and to add a quote (because all blogs have quotes, right???) "if you book them, they will come".
til next time!
the bloggin' foo'
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Handbags and Gladrags
I'm moving to the UK immediately. Seriously. I'm not joking. Windsor in specific. I'm staying with the Queen in her castle (it's her favorite weekend home) and then I'll study at Eton College (despite the fact it's an all-boys college and highly famous people like George Orwell/Prince Harry & Edward/Ian Flemming went there) and plus it's only thirty minutes away from London. I think I'm in love. The air is clean, it's extremely beautiful because the town was build in the 1400s or something crazy like that, and there is thai everywhere! and it's delicious!!!!
Did I mention that Slough is the only stop between Windsor and London? As in the Slough from the Office BBC? 'Nuff said.
Did I mention that Slough is the only stop between Windsor and London? As in the Slough from the Office BBC? 'Nuff said.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Back For More? Round Two: Windy City
Hello Everyone!
Get excited, because I'm sharing anything and everything so I don't forget.
I have survived the mega trip on the mega bus from Killa City to Chicago (8:30pm-7am). Needless to say, it was B R U T A L. I sat in the very front of the bus on the 2nd story- you could see everything! I felt like I was watching a movie- and had the pleasure of sitting next to a woman who was glued to her cell phone, divulging every boring detail of her weekend to what seemed like every contact in her damn phone. (So what if you got engaged this weekend? Big Whoop. Your Dad came from India to surprise you at your birthday party? Who cares?). Had I heard the story once, it would have seemed sweet and romantic etc. By the 15th time, she just came off as pretentious and for some reason she started exaggerating. First Grandma was crying out of joy and then the whole dinner party (10 people grew to 15) began to weep. It was unbearable. Plus, it was 2 in the morning. C'mon!
Fortunately, we made it to Chicago where the lovely Emily Taft picked me up and gave me a small CTA tour of the city. We got chai, Emily takes hers with a shot of vanilla (yum), and she deposited me at her dorm while she went to work. In about an hour, I'll go to lunch with Trina Taft and company, and maybe I'll walk to Lake Michigan? Who knows, anything is possible. Today is the last day you can text me before I hop on a non-stop plane to London, so this is the last chance for you to ask me to pick up shifts that I can't cover because I'm in another country... I leave at 6pm. Yikes.
Lastly, a giant thank you to everyone who could come to my going away party- I truly appreciate all the love and support from all my beautiful friends, and for giving me a memorable night before my trip. Shout out to Megan, for getting the kegs(and for being awesome); to Nick, for being the DJ all night long; to the lesbians who lent me their house; to Jazz, for his killer dance moves; and to Jewel, for keeping me company when the cops came. Twice. This doesn't mean I don't love the rest of y'all.. because I do.
Ha, I think that's about everything! Please feel free to comment, I know I'm going to miss each and every one of you, and I want to hear from you! I'm trying to stay off facebook, so I'll mainly be posting my blogs there. Also, I love criticism. If my spelling is horrible, I'm rambling, or if you want to hear more about something, let me know! This is my first blog; I'm still learning!
Vous me manquez déjà!
Harper
Get excited, because I'm sharing anything and everything so I don't forget.
I have survived the mega trip on the mega bus from Killa City to Chicago (8:30pm-7am). Needless to say, it was B R U T A L. I sat in the very front of the bus on the 2nd story- you could see everything! I felt like I was watching a movie- and had the pleasure of sitting next to a woman who was glued to her cell phone, divulging every boring detail of her weekend to what seemed like every contact in her damn phone. (So what if you got engaged this weekend? Big Whoop. Your Dad came from India to surprise you at your birthday party? Who cares?). Had I heard the story once, it would have seemed sweet and romantic etc. By the 15th time, she just came off as pretentious and for some reason she started exaggerating. First Grandma was crying out of joy and then the whole dinner party (10 people grew to 15) began to weep. It was unbearable. Plus, it was 2 in the morning. C'mon!
 |
| Cheesin' on the CTA |
Fortunately, we made it to Chicago where the lovely Emily Taft picked me up and gave me a small CTA tour of the city. We got chai, Emily takes hers with a shot of vanilla (yum), and she deposited me at her dorm while she went to work. In about an hour, I'll go to lunch with Trina Taft and company, and maybe I'll walk to Lake Michigan? Who knows, anything is possible. Today is the last day you can text me before I hop on a non-stop plane to London, so this is the last chance for you to ask me to pick up shifts that I can't cover because I'm in another country... I leave at 6pm. Yikes.
Lastly, a giant thank you to everyone who could come to my going away party- I truly appreciate all the love and support from all my beautiful friends, and for giving me a memorable night before my trip. Shout out to Megan, for getting the kegs(and for being awesome); to Nick, for being the DJ all night long; to the lesbians who lent me their house; to Jazz, for his killer dance moves; and to Jewel, for keeping me company when the cops came. Twice. This doesn't mean I don't love the rest of y'all.. because I do.
Ha, I think that's about everything! Please feel free to comment, I know I'm going to miss each and every one of you, and I want to hear from you! I'm trying to stay off facebook, so I'll mainly be posting my blogs there. Also, I love criticism. If my spelling is horrible, I'm rambling, or if you want to hear more about something, let me know! This is my first blog; I'm still learning!
Vous me manquez déjà!
Harper
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