Sara’s abroad in Paris, France, until Dec. 13.

Well, it’s official. I’ve had my 15 minutes of fame… standing front row behind the moderator of one of the biggest French talk shows. I don’t exactly how Northwestern managed to secure about 25 seats to the taping of Le Grand Journal, but I do know that all of France saw my pixelated face Wednesday night (and my friends and family at home that I emailed, of course).

I was just expecting this taping to be like The View – a huge audience where you hear more clapping and see less audience. But nope. There was a really modest set and only three rows for the audience in three different sections. And lucky me got seated right smack dab in the middle. Luckily I brushed my hair before heading out (even though it got rained on in the typical Paris afternoon showers).

I had heard that the guests last week were the Jonas Brothers so I was a little disappointed that Salman Rushdie was our guest (along with other French celebs that I didn’t know). Even so, it was pretty awesome to be within feet of some pretty big deal celebrities, even if they have a European exclusive fan-base.

I will admit that I felt super awkward when the whole audience stood up to sing the French national anthem and the group of Americans I was sitting with in the front row were reduced to mouthing what we were hoping were the words in an attempt to not look too out of place. I doubt that it worked.

Lucky for me my days of stardom weren’t over as the taping closed. Today as I wandered near the Champs-Elysees with Casey, my roommate, we caught a taping of a movie. Again, no celebs I recognized but one of the biggest bridges in Paris was blocked off for what looked like a huge action movie. There were swarms of fake French police that I’m assuming were extras (at first we thought there was an actual hostage situation).

Regardless, I think my days in the spotlight are over now. And it’s back to the regular life in Paris.

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