My new bubble

Bienvenue à Paris: home to grumpy chain smokers, unparalleled butter, ornately decorated Art Nouveau brasseries, and of course the only city that can make trash bags look fashionable.

a mannequin wearing...a trash bag

…Seriously, I saw this in a storefront around the corner from where I work.
Thanks to CISLA, I’m fortunate enough to spend the summer here working, doing research for the thesis which I plan on writing next year, and getting to experience Paris in all its glory in the summertime. Though Paris is not exactly new to me (I was abroad here last fall), I’m constantly finding new things about it that I love and well… could do without. The other night, for example, my next door neighbor had some friends over and I found out that my walls are paper thin…like perhaps even thinner than the walls on the 3rd floor of KB. I now also feel awful for the massive amounts of Glee I’ve been watching on my computer …had I known he could hear every word I probably would have spared him the show tunes…
Neighborly woes aside, the apartment itself is perfect – I’m living in a small studio right near the Musée d’Orsay and can see the Seine from my window, not too shabby! The 7e arrondissement is a great place to live – chic and centrally located, I have pretty much anything I need at my fingertips – one of the many things I love about city living. (One of my most favorite things: Monoprix, the French equivalent of Target and my second home).

view from my window

Today marks the end of my first full week here. I’m working at a culinary bookstore in the 2e arrondissement called Librairie Gourmande. It’s fabulous – and kind of like my personal heaven. I guess the only thing that would make it better would be free nutella samples…maybe I could drop a hint. Stocked with over 20,000 volumes, this place is a must for any foodie who finds themselves in Paris. They have literally every type of food-related book you could imagine. Their collections range from the most general cookbooks to entire sections dedicated to honey and chocolate, foie gras, cheese, three shelves full of books on bread and confitures (jams), to professional books on the art of pastry and baked goods. With books mostly in French, but also in English, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese – this place is seriously awesome.
“Why is this her personal heaven?” (You probably aren’t, but may be asking yourself)…well I’ll tell you! Though Conn doesn’t offer a Gastronomy major (not to their fault, it’s a pretty specific field that can usually only be sustained by a large university), I have been fortunate enough to be able to explore my passion for the world of food through the CISLA program. My project is, in a nutshell, about the origins of modern cuisine in 19th century France. I plan on researching the transition between traditional or regional cuisine under the Ancien Regime before the French Revolution, and how the shift to a more national cuisine after 1789 reflected the rising bourgeois culture and importance of a national identity. Being able to work at the Librairie Gourmande is not only good language practice, but it’s also a unique opportunity to read and do research at the same time. Not to mention the availability of primary sources at the public libraries and the living history in the form of ancient patisseries that still exist today. Because, after all, where else better to study 19th century French cuisine than in Paris?

And though I’m halfway around the world I still know where I come from: YESSS LAKERS!!!