Last Glimpses of Paris: A Photo Diary

My plane back to the Philippines from France was originally set for the 23rd of December, so I could celebrate Christmas eve there. I had my plane ticket and everything. But then things changed, and I decided to stay in Europe for Christmas and New Year's. 

I emailed the attachée for higher education of the French Embassy in the Philippines, and asked if I could change my flight to the 2nd of January (because they booked and paid for my flight tickets, as a part of my grant from the embassy). Thankfully, the attachée was very nice AND was from Lille! She told me it was possible, and in the end I got a flight ticket leaving on the 5th, not the 2nd! Even more perfect. I had more time to spend with Jarne!

The two extra weeks flew by, and it was time to say goodbye for the meantime to Europe and to Jarne. 

Mr. J accompanied me to Paris, because my flight was from CDG. We took the ever-reliable iDBus, and that is where this photo diary starts. :)

Noir et Blanc à Paris ft. La Tour Eiffel

Part 3 of the Paris in Black & White series Jarne and I took in December 2013.

See Parts One and Two :)

Noir et Blanc à Paris: Walking the streets

Part 2 of our Paris in Black & White Series, taken in December 2013.

*See part 1 here*

Notre Dame

Noir et Blanc à Paris: Date at a Cemetery

It was our first Paris trip together in December 2013. Jarne chose to use black&white film for his Lomo LC-A. The results were beautiful. As usual, we just asked random locals/fellow tourists to take our "couple portraits."

The first part of the black&white series was shot at Cimetiere du Père-Lachaise, the largest cemetery in Paris. The famous people who "live" here are the composer Chopin, the writer Oscar Wilde, and the singer Édith Piaf.

Château de Versailles: 29 October, 2013

The château 

I have always wanted to visit the famous Versailles, and I am very thankful for being able to see it :) 

I went to Versailles with Jenny, my sister's officemate (Ate didn't want to come with me because she'd been there twice already yada yada yada :P ). So I met up with Jenny at the RER Station near Notre Dame in the morning and off we went! 

France with My Sister: 28 October - Le Mont Saint-Michel

My sister has been to France numerous times, but she never had enough time to visit Le Mont St-Michel, one of the most beautiful sites in the country. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, LMSM has a Benedictine abbey perched on it's peak, with a small surrounding village. I didn't see any monks, what I did see, though, were about a million Japanese tourists, all trying to communicate that they want to buy all the souvenirs in the shops. It's so funny how they think French people can understand Japanese. 

France with My Sister: 27 October - Paris

Pont Alexandre III

My sister's a lawyer and her firm has these annual trips to some European country, and this time around it was France again (the original plan was Germany in August, but half of the firm missed the flight because of the floods, so the "unlucky half" were sent to Paris instead). So of course, I met up with my Ate!! We hadn't seen each other for almost two months. The plan was to meet her in Paris Sunday, then we both go to Le Mont St-Michel Monday, I go to Versailles with her officemate Jenny Tuesday, then I leave Paris Wednesday.

Preparing for France: 1 Month Departure

Exactly one month to go before I leave for Lille, France!

In honor of this, I've decided to compile all the things one might need to have settled before going to France (as a student):

Road to France as an Exchange Student

I've always wanted to live in France. I've always wanted to become an exchange student. 

I never expected either of those to happen. But I guess dreams really can come true (you may cringe at the cliché), because both of those things will be my reality, at the same time (September to December 2013 to be exact)!!

Here's a timeline of my (ongoing) (I'm using way too many parentheses!!) road to studying in France: