Pat's and Geno's of Paris

Philadelphia is known for many things: Rocky, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, our lovely sports fans, and Cheesesteaks.

One of the first questions you ask a native Philadelphian is: Pat's or Geno's?
The two biggest cheesesteak rivals in Philadelphia sit across the street from each other, and almost every Philadelphian prefers one or another (I personally am not a cheesesteak fan, so I have no preference, sorry!) For those wondering, cheesesteaks are basically cut up steak on a long bread roll with melted cheese on top.

Here is a link to a summary of the rivalry, for anyone who may not be familiar with it:
http://www.real-philly-cheese-steak.com/pats-genos.html

Recently, I have discovered in Paris a similar rivalry. Two food stands, across from each other, both claiming to be the best in Paris.

Paris is known for many of its food items: crepes, baguettes, escargot, etc.

But falafel? Paris is not known for its falafel, but in the heart of Paris is two delicious falafel restaurants that both claim to be the best in Paris.

Falafel Numero Un

Falafel Numero Deux

You may be wondering: what's falafel happen to be doing in Paris?

Well, in Paris there is this area called the Marais. It is one of the biggest upcoming fashion hubs of Paris, with a ton of vintage, boutique, and regular clothing, jewelry, and handbag stores. However, it also happens to be the place where a lot of Jews live, so theres a big Middle Eastern food influence. 

Hence, two delicious falafel places.

My verdict? I have eaten at both places, and I can't decide. Falafel Numero Un gives you a lot of veggies in your pita, whereas Falafel Numero Deux gives you more falafel in your pita. There are pros and cons of both. I like them both. Lenny Kravitz has apparently been to Numero Deux, and he claims its the best falafel in the world. But Numero Un is slightly bigger than Deux, and was a bit friendly service (I thought). So, if you happen to be going to Paris, these two rivals are in the heart of one of the best areas in Paris, and you should go and decide for yourself :)

4 more wonderful days left in Paris!

Bonne Nuit,

Feldy 

FINALS

Finals. One thing is for sure, no matter what part of the world you are in, Finals are never fun and always dreaded.

But with such different university systems, finals here are definitely a bit different than finals back home.

Differences:

1. No Club Hagz. Literally, my school in France does not have a library. Instead, it has "media centers" which are just rooms with tables and not enough practical chairs. Just lounging chairs.

Are there even finals? 

Also, no one comes to the media center except study abroad students (only place we can get wifi) and French students maximum an hour before the exam. Club Hagz (the Drexel library's nickname) is ALWAYS crowded during finals week. If you can get a chair next to an outlet, you are golden. 

2. Exam Proctors: Usually, at Drexel, an exam is proctored by the professor, sometimes with a few TA's. Here, the exams are proctored by old French women who speak no English. So, even if the entire class is a study abroad class, there is a lot of "I think thats what she said" going on. 

3. Grades: Forget about A B C, finals here are out of 20 POINTS. 20. Every single grade here is given out of 20, or if they aren't, if you add a few grades together they end up being out of 20. Nevertheless, the teachers do some math, and the finals still are worth about 60% of your course grade. Also, no grades are given until ONE MONTH after exams. And we think one week is bad at Drexel.

4. Finals here are about two and a half weeks long. None of the Drexel cram into one week business. I had three this week, including Saturday, and one next week. 

5. They give you graph paper for finals.  No lined paper. Therefore, my handwriting looks something like hieroglyphics.

Similarities

1. Studying still sucks, and most of our days and nights are still spent studying, with the usual Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Buzzfeed, distractions. There are often "I should have paid attention in class" moments. 

2. Finals are about the same level of difficulty, with some finals being easier as others, which is the same back home. 

That is about it for similarities. 

Et maintenant, j’écris dans français un peu. Je n’utilise pas  « Google Translate ». Donc, j’ai mes examens dans cette semaine, mais je suis très heureux être dans Paris. Demain, j’ai mon examen de mon cours de français. Maintenant, il pleut beaucoup, mais il ne fait pas froid, il est onze degrés Celsius. Je n’ai pas vu le neige dans Paris, seul beaucoup du pleut. Lundi, mes examens sont arrêtent et j’ai une semaine liberté ! Lundi prochain, je retourne aux Etats-Unis. 

Bonne journée, 

Feldy 

Happy Week 11

Week 11. In Drexel terms, its the last week before finals. In Paris, its the last week before finals too.

Three of my four classes here finished this week, with one finishing next week, the day before its own final, how convenient. My two Drexel online classes finish this weekend too. I am beginning co-op interviews.

What does this mean?? 18 days til I am back in the United States, 18 days left in one of the best countries in the world.

TIME FLIES. I need one more year here. Or six months. I'll take that too. Four months. ANYTHING. (sorry, friends and family from home!)

Just when I am super adjusted, I have to pack and go back to Philly again. Seriously, my feet know the route from school back home on their own. I know the grocery store aisles by heart. I thought it was weird hearing English in London.

Now it is time to go around Paris and see everything I haven't yet (yes, there are parts I still need to see) and go back to my favorite places one more time. That is, in between finals and studying :)

17 years old Feldy in France

20 years old Feldy in France

....

Soon to be Feldy in France again??

The other day, I went over to Canal St Martin because I heard it was a beautiful area of Paris and I hadn't seen it yet. First off, it was supa cool seeing a canal working (nerd Feldy) and the shops along the Canal were sooo nice. Wish I had discovered the area earlier!

Pretty Canal St-Martin

So that's how a canal works...

Also, I had to see the other half of the Louvre that I hadn't seen yet.

CONCLUSION: I am not a very big Louvre fan (sorry arts). I much prefer the Centre Pompidou. Its cool to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, but all the old Roman/French/Greek/Mediaval paintings get a little similar. The Egyptian section is pretty cool, and Napolean's Apartments and Louis's crown jewels are really neat to see. But the museum is hugeeeee, and I think maybe only if we had DPhiE formal there would it be fun to get lost in the museum. 

I think these would look nice on me.

I do however, really appreciate the fact that I am in Paris, and whenever I want to go to the Louvre I can. Seriously, its free if you're under 25. That is one major thing I will miss about Paris- getting to see super famous monuments just while I am walking around the city. 

Hopefully I will have one more blog post before I leave Paris, but for now, back to finals studying!!

Bon soir,

Feldy 

What is Feldy Doing?

Hello blog world, it's been awhile!

I looked at my last blog post and realized it was about 2 weeks ago- but it has been an extremely busy 2 weeks! Lots of schoolwork, combined with mom and sis coming to Paris, and a trip to London!

That's right, Sara and Hannah Feldman crossed the Atlantic and came over to Paris for a week. Last time Mom and I were in Paris together, we were wanderers with only a small clue about how the city worked. This time, it was much smoother, and I took them around to see a lot more. It was Hannah's first time in Paris, and I think she enjoyed it! (Except all the walking- she was not a fan) I enjoyed playing tour guide for the week, as well as getting to do the touristy things I hadn't gotten to do yet- like go up in the Eiffel Tower!

On top of the Eiffel Tower: 2012

Throwback! In the Louvre: 2009 (note the extreme change in height differences)

It was also nice to have dinner at real French restaurants for the week- much better than my usual dinner of some sort of pasta concoction.

Hannah and I enjoyed making fun of our mom's obsessive picture taking (don't worry Mom, we love you for it) and did lots of frolicking throughout the museums and gardens together:

Together in the Centre Pompidou (courtesy to my mother for this picture) 

Since they came over Thanksgiving, we chose to celebrate it in a great Paris way- Climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe to see the Champs Elysees at night, and then a delicious dinner on the Champs Elysees. No, we didn't have turkey, but the meal was so good I think it makes up for it. 

View from the Champs Elysees on Thanksgiving night

After a very fun filled week with lots of sightseeing, they went home to the US and I jumped on a plane to go to London for a few days. I absolutely loved it- London reminded me a lot of New York, but it definitely has its own personal flair. I also have a small obsession with the royal family, so I especially loved seeing Buckingham Palace. 

Future home one day

I also enjoyed taking the tube- Philadelphia subway system, step your game up! 

Underground entrance near Westminster Abbey! 

I had a small culture shock upon getting to London- it was actually strange for me to be back in a country where everyone spoke English. Even though in France all of us study abroad students speak English to each other, I am still used to hearing another language and using it in shops. I enjoyed being able to read and understand a newspaper again, but I realized I have gotten used to and like being around French all the time. 

I officially have one month left in France, so I am trying to do as much as I can within this last month! Hopefully that includes traveling to other parts of France, but with finals and wanting to hang out in Paris we will see where I get to go! 

Bonne Nuit! 

Feldy 

Feldy takes Amsterdam and All of Belgium

I said goodbye to Paris once again for my two-week break and headed off to Amsterdam with Jake, where he is studying. It’s hard for me to really fall in love with cities- I tend to be devoted to certain ones, such as Philadelphia and Paris. Barcelona was great for a vacation, but Amsterdam I fell in love with again. It claims to have more canals than Venice, and the main mode of transportation is by bike.

Evelyn and my sweet modes of transportation

It is also full of these “gingerbread houses” (my word for them), houses that were all brick with white lining. Some of them were leaning forward so much I though they would fall right in the canal. It turns out in the Netherlands and Belgium when you do construction, you cannot touch the original façade of the house.

Typical construction site 

I was also amazed to discover that the coffee was better in Amsterdam, and there were more options for getting it. In Paris, you usually have to go to a sit down brasserie to get a good cup of coffee, and you usually sit there for a long time. I missed my usual cafes where I could get a cup of coffee, sit for a bit, and then leave whenever I wanted to. Amsterdam had plenty of those, with delicious coffee as well. 

I can also now officially say that I had a nice walk through Haarlem, because the original Haarlem is right outside of Amsterdam (yes, New York is essentially New Amsterdam). And I must say, while I have never been to the New York Harlem, I think this one was much nicer. 

Haarlem looking good 

Evelyn came up to visit for two days, where we went to Anne Frank’s house and biked around the city for a bit. Amsterdam’s dinners are (shockingly) more expensive than Paris’s, so we found a random restaurant and ordered pasta (yes we know, not typical Dutch food. Sorry). Jake is a jazz musician, so at night we went to a jazz gig in a really cool bar overlooking the water. The last few days were spent primarily just biking around the city, going to a few more jazz gigs, and eating lots of cheese. I love French cheese, but the Dutch people have good cheese too. And they let you taste test it in the store.

I then headed down to Antwerp (or Antwerpen which is its proper Dutch name) by myself since Jake was back in school, and met up with Evelyn again since it is her home city. We went to this amazing gourmet burger place for lunch called “Mint”, where I also had fantastic speculouse coffee, as seen below:

Speculouse is a type of ginger snap cookie, which when in coffee is also amazing. 

We also walked around Antwerp along the riverside for a while, and also went up in a museum to get a panorama view of the city. Antwerp also has lots of old homes, and is just as pretty if not prettier than Amsterdam. We went to a chocolate bar, since Belgium is famous for its chocolate, that had some of the best chocolate fondue I have ever tasted.

Chocolate bar or heaven? 

After a super fun train ride to Brugge that was only supposed to take an hour and took two hours instead (no idea why), I got to Brugge late at night and saw from my bus window that it looked like a pretty city. I met some other girls in the hostel and we went around Brugge the next day where we visited the fries museum and the chocolate museum. Unfortunately, no free samples :( However we did get some delicious Belgian waffles after, and then I headed to Brussels.

Old houses in Brugge 

If Paris and Washington D.C got together and had a baby, it would be Brussels. Brussels was nice, but I found there wasn’t too much to do there, sorry to anyone who might love it! However, I did enjoy some nice Belgian beer with some girls I met in the hostel at a typical Brussels bar, and then had some more waffles and fries the next day for lunch before I left (now that I am back in Paris, I will eat healthy again). I then finally headed home to Paris, and it was soo nice finally returning “home” :) 

Bonne Soiree, and Happy Election Day USA! 

 Feldy 

Barcelona!

Where is Rachel Feldman?

I have been kind of off the face of the earth for the past week and a half with my lack of blog posts. I've been quite busy after Marseille, with two midterms for my school here and two for my online classes, as well as a recent trip to Barcelona!!!

My school is currently on break, so I met up with Jake (friend from Philly who is studying in Amsterdam) in Paris to then fly Ryanair (always a fun experience...) to Barcelona! I'll give more updates later, but here is the basics on Barcelona:

1. It's Spain but isn't Spain...it's the capital of Cataluyna, a region in Spain, which has its own language called Catalan. Catalan looks a lot like Spanish and French's baby, with a few twists of its own. Cataluyna wants to be independent from Spain, and there were Catalan flags displayed everywhere.

2. Cheese tacos, as the menu claimed, are not cheese tacos. It is a plate of cheese with some olives.

3. Churros are absolutely delicious, but they put you in a food coma for a long time after eating them.

4. Montserrat is this huge mountain that is about an hour by train from Barcelona, and it offers some of the best possible views of the city. We hiked all the way to the highest point we could physically go to, and then ended up coming back so late we got stranded on the mountain and had to take a taxi to the train station, instead of a cable car. But it was so worth it!

I'm on top of the world!

5. Barcelona has one of the coolest churches in the world. It was built in the early 1900's by Gaudi, a famous Catalan architect. We waited about an hour to get in but it was so worth it. Pictures don't even do it justice! 

We having been touring around Paris for the past few days, I've taken Jake to the Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, as well as the Latin Quarter and Montmarte. Today, we are off the the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe! Tomorrow, we leave for Amsterdam! So this will be my last post for at least a week and a half, sorry blog world. 

Bonne Journee!

Feldy

Marseille!

This past weekend, I brought out my nautical side and went down to Marseille, a large city by the sea in the south of France.

Everyone back home in the States when I tell them says "oh my goodness, that sounds awesome, it must be so pretty there, I can't believe you get to go there!".

All of my European friends I have told about going there say "why are you going there its the most dangerous city in all of France".

CONCLUSION: It was a mix of both.

The inner harbor of Marseille is very pretty, lots of old buildings, hotels, restaurants, boats, churches, etc. We went on a boat tour which took us past a few islands and around the mountains/cliffs that are by the water, and they are gorgeous. Here are some pictures for proof:

I'm on a boat! (no, the Lonely Island and T-Pain weren't there :( ) 

Afterwards, we had a nice lunch at a restaurant in the harbor and visited "Palais Longchamps", which is an old mini palace in the area (I hoped I'd find some Longchamp bags there- no luck).

However, Marseille did turn a bit dangerous at night- it sort of seemed like the town was once really great, but over the years had gotten a bit run down. So, we decided it was probably better being three girls who don't know the area to just return to the hostel. It was a really cozy hostel, with lots of people staying there and a nice lobby/bar to hang out in, so we just hung out there for a few hours. 

In the morning we decided to get up early, grab breakfast in the lobby (another wonderful aspect to our hotel) and then attempt to go up to "Notre Dame de la Gare": a really on church on top of a HUGE hill that overlooks the city.

PLAN: take the metro to a bus stop, take the bus up the hill, take some pictures, come back down. Total of 20 minute trip.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED: A bit concerned about time because we had a plane to catch at noon and it was already 9:15. Long line for metro tickets. Okay, we decided to walk to the bus stop. Bus doesn't come for another 20 minutes. Pointless to wait for it, so we walk up the hill to the church.

I wanted to fall over and collapse halfway through our hike up, but thankfully I did not give up because the views were SPECTACULAR! 

Church at the top of the hill

Just a few pictures of the amazing view!

 Thankfully, we found a bus back down, and made it to the airport early enough to not miss our flight home. All in all a successful trip!

Next weekend: Off to Barcelona to start my two week break off from classes!!

Bonne Nuit!

Feldy


P.S. I didn't realize comments were disabled on the blog unless you had created a Google account, so I finally fixed it and if you want to leave comments feel free to :)