Say a Little Prayer: for Me

OK. It's been a couple days since I've posted and I'll tell you why:  I have a very huge french final exam starting tomorrow morning at 8:30 am (3.5 hours long) and the second part on Tuesday evening.  My priorities are in order, therefore new stuff will be up next week and I have some exciting news.  Until then, bon chance (to me and whoever else has finals coming up!)

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

Quote of the Day:

"You are a success when you have made friends with your past, are focused on the present, and are optimistic about your future"- from FB friend

Some of My Favorite [Photos]

I always seem to stick some really great photos into a collage, just so they won't fill up the entire page, but today I decided to pick out some of my favorite pictures from Poland, Czech Republic and Paris (of course).  

                          

 Look What God has Done [Prague, Czech Republic]

                                    Paris [up on the rooftop]
                                    Paris-November, 2008
                                               Kneel and pray [Prague, Czech Republic]
                                                    Bag Lady [Prague, Czech Republic]
        Road Trip [Krakow, Poland]
    I too had a Praying Grandmother [Krakow,Poland]
bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

The Conversion: Roll, Snap and Go With the Flow

                                    (Paris, The Marais-November 22,2008)

I must admit that I love taking pictures, never as a job, just as a hobby to keep memories forever.  Well, on an outing with one of my friends here in Paris, he pulled out a "throw away" camera and just kept snapping pictures of me.  The immediate reaction in my mind, "oh my, these pictures are going to be terrible, I can't even look at them before they are developed".  The luxury of snapping and reviewing with the digital camera has become second nature to many, but I think I have been converted.  After seeing these pictures, the vintage-esque quality of the images, I fell in love and quite liberated from the digital camera technology.  So I thought to share this with everyone, maybe I can stop you from making the next big digital camera purchase (at least try it, they're only like 5 dollars).  Don't be embarrassed to pull out that throw away camera, because I know I won't be!

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

I Have Patrick: From Petit Palais

"I have Patrick!"- the infamous line from The Devil Wears Prada, where I'm quite sure much of the world began to familiarize themselves with Patrick Demarchelier.  A world renowned fashion photographer, Demarchelier exhibited some of his best work at Paris' Petit Palais.  Upon entering the museum I knew that this would be an awesome experience, especially when the woman at the ticket counter said "c'est gratuit" and gave us our tickets.  The first thing that I noticed was his ability to capture someones personality, capturing it and giving it to the public, straight with no chaser (for lack of a better term).  We were given a glimpse of the real, Nicole Kidman, Meg Ryan, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Michelle Phifer and many more.   One photograph that will forever remain in my mind is the following photograph of one of the most amazing women that ever walked the face of this earth.  This is the true essence of who this woman was and will forever be remembered as.   Do you know who she is??  Guess in the comment section and I'll tell you tomorrow.

Another amazing aspect of this photo exhibition was the juxtaposition of old and new, mixing works from early french 19th century painters such as Courbet and Morot with the photography of Demarchelier.  This is a true example of working in your gift, going after your dreams and doing things your own way.  This is what happens when you let nothing stop you from attaining your dreams; your work ends up in one of the most amazing museums in Paris (or you end up in Paris, looking at the amazing talents and dreams manifested by another dream-catcher, like me)

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

And Then There Was Prague.

Another work of [graffiti] art, professing love for one's city.  I must admit that the feeling was mutual, I too [grew to] love Prague.  After an 8 hour overnight train ride in which we were cautioned to "keep your door locked and put your money under you", I couldn't feel anything but love when we put our feet on solid ground and still had all of our belongings :).  Happily, we didn't encounter any initial shock upon arriving in Prague, our first task was to sleep [train beds are the size of a matchbox and are made of wood, eeks!].  Unfortunately, we were unable to accomplish that task because we couldn't check into our room until 2 pm [we arrived at 730 am].  So, in true zombie-esque form we made our way through the city streets, up to the Charles Bridge [another UNESCO world heritage site] around to a couple vintage stores, sat down to a meal and finally made it to 2 pm.                                                       

                                                      Castle & Charles Bridge

Goulash and Strudel (yummm)

Prague was [hands down] more intriguing than Poland, although they both had special qualities that made them unique, Prague is more my style.  The architecture, amazing, the food, much better than Poland, the people, equally as interesting and the vintage shopping, not too shabby ;). 
Oh yes, the best part about Prague, they don't use Euros, so everything is scary cheap!! I loved it, when you have the time go and visit, it's superb.

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

Sincerely, Pauline

reflect. assess. plan. strategize. attack. 

steps to following and achieving your dreams.

oh yea, never say never.

Sincerely,

Pauline

A Pause for Paris: For the LV in Me

I know that I need to continue sharing my experiences in Eastern Europe, but since I'm back in Paris, I can't neglect to tell you what's been going on!  Well, first off one of my good friends Jesse left Paris yesterday, c'est triste!  But I know I will see her again on some other continent! Before she left we got to explore some wonderful exhibitions together, Patrick Demarchelier's exhibit at le Petit Palais and l'espace Louis Vuitton at the top of the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysees.  These were some AMAZING (strong emphasis on amazing) exhibitions, it just made me fall in love with art even more, thus justifying even further, my love for la mode (fashion).

(me, below)

The exhibition at l'espace Louis Vuitton was focused on young Korean artists, entitled "Metamorphoses".  Filled with various art forms such as paintings and sculptures, to a missile with a mini city on top of it and dancing figures of North Korean and South Korean soldiers (they were positioned in a way so that they could never actually link up, representing the current tension between the Northern and Southern part of the country)

                                      (how to become a rock [in Korean])

                                     (A view from the top of Louis Vuitton)

to be continued :)

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

Thought Provoking: Auschwitz & Auschwitz Birkenau

While in Poland, I had the opportunity to visit two concentration camps from WWII, Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau, located about an hour outside of Krakow. Making it a priority to learn some history first hand, visiting these two camps was a combination of emotions from shocking to saddening to very thought provoking.  While my pictures couldn't possibly count for being there, I still want to share them with you.  More will be up soon, blogger is acting up. 

To learn more about these camps, visit: http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/

Book Reference: Elie Wiesel "Night"

Movie Reference: Schindlers List

-Jennifer Pauline

A Black Girl in Prague

Prague post on Monday!

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

Words to Live by

"Maybe . . you should do something nice for someone every single day, even if

it is simply to leave them alone.



Maybe . giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will

love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in

their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours.



Maybe . . . happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all

those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate

the importance of all the people who have touched their lives."-anon




bisous,
Jennifer Pauline

Poland [street music]

I love this, he was so into it and was playing on the street.  I reminisced on my violin days.

Krakow, Poland on Glowska st.

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

A Black Girl in.... Poland?

    Writings on the Wall [Krakow in Polish]

When you put one random mind with another random mind, you get one random situation.

For example, some random day in October one of my roommates said, “let’s go to Poland” my response: YES, lets go! without any hesitation or contemplation on the fact that Poland just sounnnnnds boring [in my most dramatic voice]. Not only did I say YES, quite enthusiastically I might add, I said (in all of my randomness) lets take an overnight train to Prague (Czech Republic) too.

side note: I must say that I love the whole “2 for 1” idea, you know "buy one get one free" or "buy one get one half off".
2nd sidenote: This only pertains to food. traveling.concert tickets. etc. not clothes.shoes. or handbags(if you can buy these things at such a deal, are they really gonna last? i. think. not).

I figured, why not go to two countries in one trip, because when will I ever be back in Poland? (Prague maybe, but Poland. I don’t see it)

Anyway, after each random thought was meshed together we each bought a one way ticket to Krakow, Poland (after a bit of research, I realized that the train ticket from Poland to the Czech Republic had to be purchased in Poland). Weeks passed before we actually began to somewhat plan our trip, we only knew of 2 things to do in Krakow, go to Auschwitz (former concentration camp during the Holocost) about 1 hour outside of Krakow and the Wieliczka salt mines (which I actually didn't go to, but I heard was great). Prague? I'll discuss that later.

Fast forward 3 weeks, myself, 2 of my roommates and one of my favorite people [Jesse] step off the plane in Krakow, Poland. The first words that came out of our mouth, “what are we doing in Poland?!"

As our minds finally wrapped around the thought that we were actually in Poland, excitement and wonder commenced as we began our journey through the streets of Krakow. Dark at 4:30 pm when we arrived, that didn't stop us from our first adventure: polish food. Our hostel told us about a traditional polish restaurant and of course we ended up there, 4 loud Americans ready to try something new. We learned at that dinner, some polish people do not speak when they go out to eat, we were literally the only ones talking (that was strange, they took "not talking with your mouth full" to a whole different level). Anyways, this was our food (it was more appetizing than it looks): Pierogi, Croquette, Saurkraut w/sausage and a fried pancake with ham, cheese and leeks.

After we ate, our journey really began and eastern Europe didn't seem quite so foreign anymore, we got used to the silence in some places and they actually smile in Poland.  Also, they are very spiritual here, there were churches everywhere, we went into one church that was only for praying and it was full of people (post on that soon).  We learned four key phrases that were imperative to know, hello (Dzień dobry), thank you (Proszę), how much does this cost (ile to Kosztuje) and cheers(Na zdrowie!).  Naturally, when we said the aforementioned words in Polish, they spoke back to us in Polish resulting in a state of confusion, making me wish they spoke French.  In the end, Poland was better than I thought, although I'm quite sure I won't be going back, I will say that I do not regret "going to Poland once in my lifetime".  

From the food, to vintage camera shopping to Auschwitz, speaking broken 4 word polish, wandering around the jewish quarter and just seeing this part of eastern Europe was amazing.  To be on the grounds of Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau first hand was possibly the single most thought provoking experience that I've ever encountered in my life.  It is one thing to read about something in a book or watch it on tv, but it is another to actually be there, see it and feel it.  These first couple of posts are going to be on the city of Krakow and then I will take you on my journey into Auschwitz and Auchwitz-Birkenau.  

Old Lady [friends]
        I went [to church]
    Old Town [grand square, Krakow] 

bisous,
Jennifer Pauline

A Black Girl in Poland and Czech Republic: Coming Soon

Vacation Time

I'll be in Poland and the Czech Republic for the next 5 days.  I promise pictures will be posted. This week, I had to devote it to my new president and his family, because lets admit it, they're beyond amazing.

bisous,

Jennifer Pauline

My New Obsession: The New First Family

1,2,3: OBAMA's

Barack, Sasha,Malia, Michelle

I love this.

Proud to be American,

Jennifer Pauline

Yes We Can

Only for Obama would I stay up to watch his victory in the states, its 7 am here in Paris and I just got back home.  He won.  I have faith and just as I said yesterday, "The day my President wins".  The change begins, now.  Thank you America, I can now look forward to coming home with a smile on my face for new beginnings.

yes, yes, yes,

Jennifer Pauline

This is the day: My President (Obama) Wins

Today is the day and this man is all that matters to me right now.  Vote for what matters.  I know America has a heart.

signed,

Jennifer Pauline

An Ode to New York: Je t'aime

For 2 summers I lived, worked and played in one of the greatest places on earth.  While I love Paris with all of my heart and it will always be my number one love, New York is definitely my 1.5 (I couldnt bare to put it in the number 2 slot).  I always said that New York and I had a love/hate relationship, the city nurtured me, beat me up, loved me and cared for me all at the same time (quite a dysfunctional relationship I know).

The same directors who brought the world "Paris Je t'aime", took their love to New York in the film "New York I Love You".  I can't wait to see this sometime next year.

C'est vrais, je t'aime Paris peu un plus, mais je t'aime New York aussi.

Bisous,

Jennifer Pauline