Springtime in Paris

Last post from Paris

2006-06-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

The title is a little deceptive since I probably will post one last time, but it will only be about my travels in Spain and Portugal. Now that it's almost time to go home I'm not so sure I'm ready to leave. But then I think about all the great people and things I have to come home to and I know I'll be so happy to be on that plane June 19th. Speaking of things to come home to, I actually made a list of what I most look forward to returning to:
- my friends and family most of all! I love/miss you guys!
- feeling comfortable where I'm living - never really happened with my host family
- standing up in the shower!
- a MUCH better university system
- having my own computer and THE INTERNET!
- having access to the bathroom when I need it (has been a serious problem)
- stores being open on Sunday and Monday, and being open past 8 pm (I heart Super Target)
- everything being cheaper!
- talking on the phone whenever I want for however long I want (only allowed to use it at home after midnight)
- eating dinner earlier than 9 pm
- a pool I can actually swim in (the community pool was far too crowded here)

Even though that's a pretty long list, it doesn't mean there aren't quite a few things about Paris I'll miss:
- some friends from the EDUCO program
- FOOD! pastries, crepes, and good cheese especially. I'm going to try to sneak some cheese back with me!
- good cheap wine
- the sun setting at nearly 10 pm
- the metro, bus, and train system! I DO NOT look forward to driving again, though I certainly won't miss the smell of urine that exists in every metro station
- Rue Mouffetard
- all the museums, and getting into them for free
- nice parks, especially Montsouris
- being able to walk everywhere
- never running out of stuff to see and do
- the smell of bakeries and buying my bread everyday from the Boulongier Monge
- the never ending selection of bars and restaurants
- the amazing hot chocolate of Angelina's, the macaroons of La Durée, and the mint tea of the mosque

That's probably about it, though I'm sure if I thought about it long enough I could come up with more things. However, I leave tonight for Barcelona so I need to get going!

Acting like a tourist

2006-05-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

With only 3 weeks to go, and only 2 of which being spent in Paris, I decided I should make a list of things I want to do here before I go and start doing them. The orangerie in the Tuilleries just opened after several years of reconstruction, so I tried to go there last Saturday. It's a deceptive name; there are no oranges or orange trees there, it's a museum designed by Monet and filled with his works. The weather was pretty bad, in fact a tempest was on it's way into Paris, but I walked out there all the same only to find that they had closed the orangerie, and the Tuilleries, due to the incredible winds which had almost stopped me in my tracks at one point they were so strong. Upset that I walked out there for nothing, I waited for the storm to die down some and then walked back home, vowing that I would be back.

On Sunday I went to the Parc Montsouris and on Monday I visited the Musee national du Moyen Age and the church St. Sulpice. The ancient galo-romain baths in the museum were really cool to see, and I was definitely amused by all the signs posted around the obelisk at St. Sulpice (featured in the Davinci Code) describing the actual purpose of the obelisk and assuring everyone that it had nothing to do with a religious cult or the Priori of Sion. Just as I vowed, I went back to the Orangerie on Tuesday in force (aka with my friends), only to discover that it was closed once again, this time because Tuesday is the day that most national museums in Paris close, so it was really my own fault. We decided to go the Musee Marmottan instead, which also features the works of Monet and was not closed. We then went to the Bois de Bologne (also appears in the Davinci Code) where I did not find any shady characters doing drugs or offering their "services". I did find some nice lakes though, and walked around for a bit before going to Rolland Garros to find out about tickets to the French Open, though I don't think I'm going to go.

Yesterday I took a day trip out to Chantilly, home of a nice chateau, gardens designed by Lenotre, and whipped cream. The chateau and gardens were good to see, though it rained for most of the trip, making a walk through the gardens not so much fun. The whipped cream however was the star of the show. I had a hot chocolate topped with the famous cream in a cafe that is part of the gardens and it was amazing, the best I've ever had to be sure. I could've bought a whole bowl of it for 4 euros, but I decided that would be overkill. Last night I ate at the Moroccain restaurant that's part of the Mosque here in Paris. The mosque also has a teahouse, a hammam where you can go to get messages, and a store; it's not your average mosque. The food was excellent, especially the mint tea, the lamb, and the bhaklava, though I ate FAR too much and had to walk for over an hour just to feel comfortably full again.

I still have a lot of things left on the to do list, but since I have an exam coming up Wednesday they might have to wait a bit, or I might have to try to sneak them in between bouts of studying. I'm going to have company soon, since a girl from Emory (Minoo if you know her) is coming to stay with the same host family as me for the summer program. I'm really excited, since we are pretty good friends, and since having her around might make the situation with my host family much more pleasant.

Exams and finishing up

2006-05-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Not much has happened in the past couple weeks; mostly I've been preparing for and taking exams though I'm only half way done right now. All exams here are essay format; I don't think multiple choice exists in France. For the Psychology exams (I had 3 for one class) I pretty much just used the essay question to write down everything I knew from the class so hopefully that's good enough to get a passing grade (10/20, getting an "A" - 18/20 - NEVER happens and a 13/20 is a good grade). I've got two more exams left but not until May 31st and June 7th so I have a lot of time to kill in Paris now.

I went to an oenology lesson where we learned how to taste wine and describe it - colors, scents, tastes, etc. She passed around viles that contained scents that we were supposed to identify (most of them fruits) and I didn't do a very good job of it. She also hid the labels of the bottles and had us try to guess what type of wine it was and what area it was from after we had tasted it. Needless to say, we weren't too accurate, but I did get rather tipsy and was able to make dinner out of the bread and cheese she provided for us. I actually managed to do the same thing (both getting tipsy and having bread and cheese for dinner) at the party the EDUCO president sponsored to celebrate the end of the Theater class she taught.

A few friends and I did a Cinco de Mayo celebration and found a pretty good Mexican restaurant in Paris in which to eat and have some margaritas. After we went to a bar and I had Grog for the first time. To me the name suggests a heavy beer like what you would expect Vikings to have drunk from their horn-mugs, but instead I got a cup of rum with lemon, honey and sugar and a teapot of hot water to add to it. It was good, and I think it would clear up just about any cold. It also made me very sleepy; I wouldn't be surprised if this drink is the origin for the word "groggy".

We had an Amelie day where we watched the movie (which I missed since I was taking my Psyc exams) and then went to the cafe where she worked - Les Deux Moulins - for happy hour, though we were an hour early and had to find a way to kill time. I got the cafe's signature drink - Les deux moulins - and it was pretty good though small. It wasn't the greatest experience however because our waiter had a terrible attitude and refused to bring us water, but it was nice to see the place anyway.

I went to the Da Vinci Code premiere last night and what did I find? If you guessed protestors you win! Seriously, there were a large group of very conservative Catholics protesting the movie and it was big enough so that cops with riot gear were surrounding both them and the people waiting in line to get in to the movie. I can't believe that they take the movie so seriously, but I think part of it is that Parisians will find any excuse to protest and/or go on strike. Even after the CPE was repealed students protested the proposed measures to prevent the school year from being annulled - make up classes at night/on Saturdays, delaying exams, etc. I'm just ready for the school year to be over so I can do some more travelling and come home!

Yay spring break! (part two)

2006-04-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

I slept almost the entire time on the ferry back, said my goodbyes to everyone, and then got on my train to Venice. I realized pretty quickly that "Camping Fusina" was no where near Venice after the 20 minute bus ride to get there, but it was a nice camp site (I stayed in a cabin). I met up with Megan and Genevieve and had dinner at the campsite restaurant which was really good. The next day we went into Venice and we attended Easter Sunday services at St. Mark's basilica which was absolutely beautiful. We then walked around St. Mark's square, went to the top of the Campanile tower and then visited the Doge`s Palace, including the prisons and the bridge of sighs. Included in the armory room was a chastity belt, and wow it was vicious. I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but it was completely metal in the outline of underwear with sharp teeth-like bits around the private parts. We waited around to meet up with our friend Jessica, and then went to dinner at this place with over 90 types of pizza.

We spent the next day at 3 major islands - Murano, famous for it's glass, Burano, famous for it's lace, and Torcello, famous for being basically deserted except for a Monastary. We saw some glass making in a factory at Murano and went to the glass museum which was nice but not exactly what we had expected. Burano had the most brightly colored buildings I've ever seen and we had a good time drinking some wine and eating some strawberries by the water, though our ghetto corkscrew couldn't open our ghetto 2 euro wine so we had to ask a restaurant to open it for us. The monastary on Torcello had just closed when we got there but it was a good place to see anyway. We went to a crazy expensive seafood place that night, with an appetizer that included snails and octupus. My main dish was, of course, fish but it was still whole. After watching me try to pick at it without eating bones the waiter cleaned it for me crazy fast and I felt very uncultured.

Megan, Genevieve and I wanted to go to the Dolomites the next day, but trying to figure out the train was ridiculous. The information desk said to get on one train and the conductor said to get on another. We got to the station where we had to switch trains and found out that there was only train back from the Dolomites and it left too late for me to make my train to Interlaken and possibly too late for them to get back to the campsite. So instead we spent the day in Conegliano. It was actually really great - there was a castle on the top of the hill so we walked up there and up to the top of the castle which had an amazing view. We then wandered around to try to find a field to play in and we had gymnastics lessons in a church yard. We had dinner once again at the campsite and then I left for my overnight train to Interlaken.

I was supposed to go to Lake Como that day before going to Interlaken, and I had my ticket to Como, but when I asked several days ahead of my trip to get a train from Como to Interlaken I found out that there weren't any. My two options were to either stay in Como for the night, which I remember was going to be very expensive, or take a train directly from Venice to Interlaken. I went with option two, and the only thing available was a very expensive sleeper train that left at 22:52. The bus from the campsite got into the station at 22:25, and there was supposed to be a train from that station to my station of departure at 22:35, and I knew the train only takes about 5-10 minutes so I waited for it. Then a tragedy occured: the train was 10 minutes late, and on the way there it stopped half way and then took 3 years to pull into the station. I got in at 22:56 - I had missed my crazy expensive train. I got my luggage out of storage and headed back to the campsite to see if I could stay on the floor of Megan and Genvieve's cabin for the night. I freaked them out a bit, but they were nice enough to let me stay, and headed out the station first thing in the morning to see what I could do about my ticket. After much arguing, misdirection (ticket office sent me to information which sent me back to the ticket office), and waiting, they agreed to get me the next available train without any extra charge - THANK GOD.

The train ride into Interlaken was soooo beautiful. Switzerland is the most beautiful country I've ever seen and I'm in love with it. I want to marry Switzerland and have it's children that's how great it is. Interlaken is an outdoor center of the country with tons of cool activities. I decided to go with paragliding and it was AMAZING. Very chill, no rush of adrenaline, although you do have to start by running off the side of a mountain but you have an instructor with you so it's not scary. The closest to flying I think you can get, I highly reccommend it. I wanted to also do canyon jumping - like bungy jumping but you go down feet first and instead of bouncing back up you swing out and back along the canyon 10 feet off the ground. However, it was too expensive and I couldn't get together a group of 5 to go. I also went on a pretty serious hike up to the top of Harder Kulm - 4365 feet! The Canadian girl I went with was in such good shape - I was stopping every 10 minutes and she wasn't even tired. At least now I'm all serious about getting in shape. The hostel was so cool and the bar was good - my first time ever having beer that I liked. I did the waterfall hike the next day and saw about 15 1,000 foot waterfalls - so great. I hated leaving but I had to get back to Paris that night. It was a great trip though and that's all the travelling I get to do since I am now out of money = (. Also, I miss real italian gelato...

Yay spring break! (part one)

2006-04-27T05:45:00.000-07:00

Since I was gone for 2.5 weeks and did tons of stuff I probably need to split it into two parts.
I left April 5th on a sleeper train for Rome, which was fun though I didn't sleep very well. After arriving at my slightly sketchy looking hostel the owner tells us that it's not ready for us yet (he booked people for a room that is not prepared) and he bought us (me and 5 other guys) coffee and booked at as a different hostel which was ok but not great. After a much needed shower I texted my friends who were already there so we could meet up and did not hear back from them (until 9 pm that night), so I went out on my own to explore Rome, starting with the colossium. It was culture week that week in Italy, so entrance into major monuments and museums was free, much to my delight. I walked for at least 8 hours that day and saw all the major sites except for the Vatican.

I met two cool Canadian girls that night in the hostel so we decided to meet up at the Vatican the next day. We were supposed to meet in the Piazza but once I got there I realized that wasn't going to happen and decided to just go into St. Peter's Basilica. Low and behold I found them inside, and we toured the basilica and it's dome together. Then we were on our way to the Sistine Chapel when we found out it had already closed for the day. I could still go the next day, but that was there last day so they were pretty upset. We got dinner by the Pantheon (as well as some really great gelato) and tried to see the truth telling mask before they had to leave, which was also closed.

The next day I got up somewhat early to get to the Sistine Chapel. After the hour long walk through the Vatican Museum, which had some of the most famous frescos of Raphael, I got into the very tiny chapel. Once again my ability to find people in crowded places worked to my advantage, and I found my two travelling companions IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL. It was amazing considering how insanely crowded that room was and the chances that we would be there at the same time on the same day. We split up for lunch but were supposed to meet up later, which became impossible once I ran out of cell phone minutes and text messages. It's widely said that the water from the fountains in Rome is drinkable, though I think my stomach disagreed with that, or perhaps with lunch. In either case, the afternoon wasn't too much fun but I did see the beautiful park around the Medici residence.

I met up with Allison and Stephanie for our train to Florence. I waited at the door of the hostel forever but it was worth it, it was a really great place with the nicest breakfast I've had in a long time. I got through the line for the Academia museum (where Michaelangelo's David is kept) in about 5 minutes which was amazing. The market place in Florence was great - good products for relatively cheap. The only problem is how much they hassel you to buy things, but I got used to it pretty quickly. I went to the Bobbolini gardens and had to come back half way through to use the bathroom. On my way back out they were closing the gates (an hour early) and I was pretty upset, although it was the last free day of culture week so at least I hadn't paid for it. I met up with friends for dinner and we watched a clown show for awhile. It was pretty funny from what I could tell, though I couldn't see much due to the crowd.

The next day I did the top of the duomo - 470 steps later I got to the top and it was definitely worth it. I did two other pretty famous churches and then went to Pisa. Besides the tower, a church, and a few museums all in the same square there's nothing to do there. It was 15 euro to go up the tower, so I decided to just admire it from the ground instead. On Tuesday I went to the Uffizi, the most famous museum in Florence. I was very glad to have made reservations the day before and only waited maybe 5 minutes to get in instead of 3 hours. The museum was nice, but the best part was the special exhibit on DaVinci's works. I met some more cool Canadians in the Piazza Michaelangelo and they told me all about this church and the Gregorian chant that was about to happen, so I stayed for it. It was nice, though the lady next to me decided that she wanted to sing along so after a few minutes I had to move. That night we went to a really great restaurant and I had one of the greatest fillets of all time.

My ability struck again when I happened to walk into the car that Stephanie and Allison were in on our train to Livorno to get on our ferry to Corsica. Then our friend Becca just happened to see us as we were getting on the busy to get to the ferry. The ferry was great - 7 floors with a restaurant, cafe, and even a small swimming pool. We wanted to do a hike called the cap corse, but since that involved getting on a bus at 5:45 am we decided we would find our own place to hike instead and ended up hiking through some private property (the guy kinda gave us a lecture on our way back). We came back to Bastia to find a beach and went to the one the tourist office recommended. Apparently "beach" in Corsica means any place where the water meets the land because it was pretty much just a rocky coastline but we went all the same. We at least got a little sun, had a picnic, and saw some dolphins thanks to Becca. She alerted us to a whale, and when we looked she realized it was the wrong word and was like, "no, those other animals that are like a whale". The didn't come too close but it was nice to see.

The next day we decided to ask for a beach with sand and found a train to get there. We spend 30 minutes on the train trying to get everyone on (boyscouts with big packs) and then get moved to a different train. Our stop was only 5 minutes away and you have to ask them to stop, which we did not know. One of the guys there noticed that our ticket was for an earlier stop and got the train to stop for us but unfortunately the only way to get back to where we wanted to go was to walk down the tracks, so that's what we did. It wasn't too long of a walk, and once we got there we spent the entire day just lying out in the sun and eating our picnic lunch, that is until Becca yelled out "Elephants!". At first we thought she was just crazy or saying the wrong animal again, but it was true, there were 3 elephants walkking onto the beach and into the water. The circus was in town and apparently right next to our beach and they were taking the elephants out for a bath in the Mediterranean. We all got tons of photos of them of course. That night I spent 1 hour in line waiting to get more cell phone minutes and text messages and then we got a nice seafood dinner. I of course got somewhat burnt in the places that I forgot about, but other than that it was great.

Greece!

2006-03-27T00:13:00.000-08:00

Greece was awesome - beautiful weather, tons of great stuff to see, and getting to be with my parents again was great. We did tons of stuff, but I'll try to keep this brief. In general, there were tons of cats everywhere, especially at archeological sites. Lots of dogs running around loose too, but that was mostly in Athens. There is also a rule throughout all the museums of Greece that you can't pose with any of the statues. Part of this is to keep people moving, but part is also due to a woman a couple of years ago who took off her top to pose with a bare-breasted statue.

Saturday I woke up at 4:20 am to make it to my 7:30 am flight, which worked out despite almost not being able to buy an RER ticket at the station. Once in Greece I chilled with my parents for awhile and took a walk around the Acropolis. Dinner that night was fun - traditional style food with a performance of traditional songs and dances, as well as some not so traditional dances (there was a belly-dancer later on). People from the audience were occasionally encouraged to participate, and the tour guide told one of the guys to take my mom up - he literally lifted her out of her chair and pushed her into the group of dancing people, it was great.

Sunday morning my Dad decided he wanted some Greek coffee, but to get some he would have to either ask a waiter to make it for him or make it himself. (the process involves heating the water and coffee grinds in a metal cup over very hot sand). Being the guy that he is, my dad decides to do it himself and ends up making a cup of hot water and sand instead. He got a waitress to show him how it's done and then tried to get rid of all evidence of the sand coffee. Also that morning we met the couple that had missed their plane, and it turns out that the husband (Raleigh) had an even better camera than my Dad's. From then on it was war - who could take the best pictures the fastest.

Later we toured the Acropolis and surrouding markets. We got to the House of Parliament just in time to see the once a week big changing of the guard. We also saw two guards later on changing posts and got out to watch. In the middle of the process (funny march and all that reminded us of Monty Python) one of the guards hit his gun on the ground too hard and it broke into several pieces. I was amazed he didn't react, though of course he's trained not to. They both had to just stand still until another guard had found another gun for the guy.

Monday we had the morning to ourselves and headed out to the Temple of Zeus after breakfast, to find that everyone else from the tour group had decided to do the same thing. We walked around the temple together and went through the national gardens, where my family and I separated from the group. An artist in the park tried to get our attention, and it worked on my mom. He wasn't trying to sell us anything, just talking about all the planes flying overhead (a major Greek political figure had just died the day before). He ends up asking us why we're in Greece, and when my Dad tells him we're there for a solar eclipse and that he's a solar scientist, the artist in the park turns into mad scientist guy. He asks my dad all these questions about photons and magnetic fields and ways to create a sort of levitation using spinning metal disks. We tried to walk away several times after my dad finished telling him something but he'd always come after us with "one more question". He told us a recipe for making a strong magnet, which included having to gather some material from a volcanic island of Greece. When my dad told him he was with NASA, the guy whips out his plans for an anti-gravity machine and tells us that it is being patented right now in London and asked if he could attribute some of his success to my dad, who carefully said that he could mention that they had discussed physics in the park. With not much of the morning left we went to see the metro station. When making the new metro system for the Olympics, the workers discovered tons of ancient artefacts and left them in the station in a small museum fashion. The one we went to had burial remains of pets from the 6th century BC, among several other things. After that we met up with the group and headed out to Cape Sounion to see the Sanctuary to Poseidon.

Tuesday we started with the Corinth Canal and continued onto Mycenae, one of the most ancient cities of Greece. There was a bee theme to this day, starting with the so-called bee hive tomb, both because it is in the shape of a bee hive and because it is inhabited by bees. For those of you who know me pretty well you know that I HATE bees, so I was happy to be done with that place pretty quickly. As we toured the nearby ruins of the ancient palace, my dad wanted to get a shot of my mom and I under the famous lion-gate while no one else was around. We hurry down there, and on my way I feel something fly in between my sunglasses and my face and realize pretty quickly that it's a bee. I drop my purse and rip my glasses off of my face as fast as possible, but too late - I had already been stung (luckily on my cheek and not my eye). I start crying, more so because it freaked me out than because it hurt, and my dad directs me to get out of the way of his picture (photography is the number one priority). Throughout the trip that day my mom kept pointing out statuary places and the bus stopped at one for her finally. Inside there was a group from the Texas state bar (they had been at our hotel that day and I recognized some of them) and I realized I was wearing my "Run against Bush" t-shirt. At first I tried to hide it, but then with some encouragement from people on our tour I walked around the shop, making sure to look people in the eye as I did so. No one said anything to me, but they sure did look away pretty quickly.

We finished the day with the Epidaurus Theater which has nearly perfect accoustics and is based on the golden rule. My dad and I raced up the steps together and got a great view from the top out of it. We had the hotel to ourselves that night in Olympia. Olympia was beautiful, tons of wildflowers everywhere. We of course saw the original Olympic stadium and all the ruins around it and then crossed back onto the mainland by their newly constructed bridge. We got out to take pictures of it and were nearly blown over by the wind - good thing we didn't take the ferry like we had originally planned. We found this great little road side shop with more desserts than I've ever seen in one place so we bought some to take with us and headed on to Delphi. We had some time to ourselves once we got there so we walked around the town and got a little lost looking for this church we had seen on the way up. We found it though and got some nice pictures.

By the seat of the oracle at Delphi there used to be vapors that came out of the ground that elicited her hallucinations, but they aren't there anymore. We walked through the site and up to the stadium, where my dad and I raced across the 200m of it (he won). We saw the famous Chariotier statue in the museum and washed our hands and faces from the waters of the Castalia spring, which is suppose to keep you young for as long as you live. I decided to try Uzo (sp?) at lunch, and wow it's strong. After 3 sips I was done, but the guy in charge of the tour not only drank half of his (then spilled the other half) but also drank the rest of mine and seemed fine. I know I have a low tolerance, but wow. I left my parents at the airport and came back with the bus driver and tour guide into Athens. They dropped me off a block from my hotel right before it started pouring down raining.

That night I walked up to the top of their largest hill, though I had meant to find the cable car and found the stairs instead. There was a great view of the entire city of Athens from the top which made the climb worthwhile. The next day I got up early to visit the national archeological museum where most of the treasures of famous Greek sites are kept. On my way back I noticed that there was an odd lack of traffic on a major road. As I continued I realized there was a parade that was about to start since the next day (Saturday) was Greece's independence day. I checked out of the Hotel and watched the parade for awhile before heading to the airport. Paris greeted me, as I expected, with rain, but I think I brought the warm weather with me because it's beautiful now. There's a huge protest tomorrow including labor unions and a transportation strike (buh), so I'll go to that if it all possible and post about it later.

I just wanted to go to the bookstore...

2006-03-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

I wanted to publish this separeately, and I want to start off by saying I'm fine and never felt like I was in any danger:

Last night before dinner I decided to go the nearest bookstore and get Angels and Demons in French to read on my plane ride to Greece tomorrow, not thinking about the fact that the path I take to get to this bookstore takes me right by La Sourbonne - BAD IDEA. As soon as I turn onto Rue Soufflot I see that cops are barracading all roads that lead towards La Sourbonne. As I reach Boulevard St. Michel I see tons of people running away and gas in the air. A few people ran across the street without looking and got hit by a taxi, though luckily none of them were seriously hurt. I find another road to take and go that way, only to find that the police barracade forces me back onto Boulevard St. Michel. Determined to get to the bookstore, and with no other way to do so, I decide to walk through the huge protest. Luckily it wasn't too violent yet, but people were definitely throwing things at the police, who were setting off tear gas, and let me tell you, if you've ever wanted to know what tear gas is like, I can now tell you: IT STINGS LIKE HELL. Even my mouth and nose were burning from it, and that was with breathing through my scarf. I tried not to breath in much and ran as best as I could until the cloud of smoke was gone. I get to the bookstore to discover that they're all out of Angels and Demons and won't have any more copies till next week. I of course was not too happy about that, having just walked through a riot to get there, but with no other way to go I set off to walk back through the riot to get home.

By the time I reach La Sourbonne again I see it's getting a lot worse. Protestors have started a fire in the middle of the street and more tear gas has been set off. I was directed to go around a certain area, noticing that it was several police surrounding a girl lying on the street with the silvery blanket thing on her (no idea what happened there). I pull up my scarf and run through again without any problem. I never felt like I was in any danger, it was just crazy to see it. It was how I imagine a soccer riot (or football riot) would be in the U.S. It's good that I wasn't there later, because apparently it got worse. Cars were burnt and several businesses were broken into and had their windows smashed and their merchandise either stolen or thrown at the cops. The majority of this damage is not being done by students but more so people that are looking for an excuse to cause havoc and they're usually very drunk. There's another big protest scheduled for Saturday and right now there's no real end in sight unless the CPE is declared unconstitutional, and I doubt that'll happen. I'll be in Greece all next week, so we'll see what the situation is like when I get back.

Catching up

2006-03-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden life got busy and it's been impossible to have time to post anything. It certainly doesn't help that I no longer have a computer of my own. For the past 3 weeks my classes at the University of Paris 7 have been cancelled (except for my small section for my psychology class that occurs very far away). EDUCO is getting tutors for us to make up for the classes that we've missed, even though the University might decide to add extra classes on to the end of the year, in which case we will have had more classes than normal. Ugh...it's all a big mess really. Other than that I've just had classes here at EDUCO and plays to go to from my theater class. Not too many good stories, but here's a couple:

Last Friday I went with a group to Reims for the day. When I woke up I realized I was starting to come down with a cold, but I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. Well, by the time the train arrived in Reims (Champagne country), it was a big deal. It was much worse than a normal cold and I felt terrible the entire day. It really ruined the nice lunch and all the tours: tour of the city, the tour of the Champagne cave (accompanied by a champagne tasting), and the tour of the Cathedral. I was at least able to get some pictures in between wanting to die and episodes of crying for no apparent reason (really, no idea why I was crying), so I'll post those later. We went to a great patisserie at the end and I think all the chocolate made things better, at least for a little while. I tried, in vain, to sleep on the train ride back while also trying to ignore the creepy drunk guy in the seat behind me that kept staring at all of us and occasionally walking by to try to grab our attention. I was really sick the entire weekend and I'm still not quite better.

Wednesday night I went to a cooking lesson organized by EDUCO. The lady in charge had made little folders with our names on it and written out the recipes along with some helpful translations of cooking terms, it was adorable. The six of us didn't actually get to do the cooking, but she showed us how to do it (I plan to make the meal again for family and friends once back in the U.S.) and we of course got to participate in eating it - avocado paté (like guacamole basically), curry chicken with fruit, and the best chocolate cake EVAR.

There have been more and more protests lately, each one being larger and larger. Even CNN had a story on the one yesterday, which (don't read this Mom) I did go to. They estimate that they were 300,000 in the streets yesterday, and I believe it, the crowd was insane. I was at the home point which was relatively calm though there were students climbing on every surface they could find - lamp poles, bus stop covers, even traffic lights. Apparently the finishing point was not nearly so calm, but I never followed it that far. Honestly the part I saw was the equivalent of a slightly out of control parade, but I'm glad I got to experience it.

Yay for student strikes

2006-03-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

Since last Thursday the university students have been striking due to the CPE - a program for finding jobs for young people. At least on Thursday there was a passageway into the school but they've fixed that now. There's no getting into Jussieu this week. I don't mind so much since it means no classes there though I've been told they're going to add on classes at the end of the year so that sucks. I'll take pictures of the barracades later to show you what it's like.

Yesterday was Mardi Gras and EDUCO arranged a crepe dinner with other French University students. The crepes were overpriced but it was nice to meet some cool French students. I think we might actually hang out again at some point so it was worth it. When I told them stories about what's been going on with my French family they were shocked and "pleaded my case" to their professor who said she would talk to professors at EDUCO about it. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but they haven't treated me all that well so there's a slight possibility that my living arrangements might be changing.

an interesting week

2006-02-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

This week my host parents' son and daughter (and their children) were visiting during the two week February vacation that young students get here. It wasn't bad, though we didn't interact with each other much. The little girl (Berthilde) loved the stuffed kitty that James gave to me and would always stop whatever she was doing and stare at me with a cute little smile on her face when I was near her. I don't think Pierre (grandson) was a big fan of me, but Timothe (other grandson) and I got along pretty well. The son and daughter were civil though not particularly friendly or inviting. The biggest problem was trying to share one bathroom with 6 other people.

Thursday the students were holding a strike due to a new program for teenage students to find work called the CPE. I figured a student strike just meant they wouldn't show up, but instead it meant they would barracade all the entrances and prevent anyone from entering. Eventually I found the small one person at a time pathway they allowed for at the main entrance, but you had to pass by a line of the protestors yelling things and shoving papers in your hands. Not a big deal, but a world away from the political apathy of American students.

Friday was the tour of "haut couture" - high fashion. It started with a little history of fashion accompanied by coffee and croissants at the cafe frequented by the fashion elite. We then went to see the original (flag ship) boutiques for Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Channel. It was definitely an area of life I'm not used to and I was suprised that the stores were dominated by American and Asian clientel rather than French. One American girl was walking around with her (I'm guessing) rich boyfriend in Channel like it was a Target. She announced to him in a ho-hum tone that she needed some sunglasses and started browsing through them - all of which where at least a few hundred euros. A few of us then went to La Duree tea house which Dr. Edwards had suggested for good reason. Their hot chocolate was so amazingly rich - like a bar of dark chocolate in liquid form. All of their desserts were divine, I especially loved the rose flavored whipped cream. I'm hoping to go back every now and then to pick up some macaroons and maybe a hot chocolate while I'm at it.

I started The Da Vinci Code Friday (in English, the cheater way) and finished it Saturday night - needless to say it was pretty much all I did in my free time those days. Saturday night we went out for fondue and decided dinner and desert fondue was too much so we opted for crepes for dinner and fondue for dessert which apparently isn't allowed here - you have to get both. Camilla and I were determined to get chocolate fondue though and decided to go to Haagen Daz for their fondue - several balls of Haagen Daz ice cream plus fruit, cookies and nuts to dip into a dark chocolate fondue. I'll post pictures later, but it was great.

Sunday I went to the Modern Art museum of the city of Paris (not the one in the Centre Pompidou) to do my art project. After waiting in a line that I didn't need to be in I get inside only to find out that I'm not allowed to bring my laptop with me to type up the report so I grudgingly leave it at the vestiare (it was safe Mom and Dad). I do my thing and go back home to type up the paper and my laptop decides that a little over a month of working is enough and refuses to boot up. Now I get to try to get tech support from Gateway while here in Paris, we'll see how that goes. I'm still waiting to hear back from my email...

2006-02-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral altar statue

2006-02-20T05:41:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral stained glass (later period)

2006-02-20T05:40:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral South portal (with fire damage)

2006-02-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

North side portal

2006-02-20T05:38:00.001-08:00

Chartres Cathedral "Black Virigin"

2006-02-20T05:38:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral stained glass

2006-02-20T05:37:00.001-08:00

Chartres Cathedral choir screen

2006-02-20T05:37:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral North facade windows

2006-02-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral West facade windows with sun

2006-02-20T05:34:00.001-08:00

Chartres Cathedral interior

2006-02-20T05:34:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral South facade windows

2006-02-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral West facade windows

2006-02-20T05:31:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral (front)

2006-02-20T05:30:00.001-08:00

Chartres Cathedral Royal Portal

2006-02-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

modern stained glass from the stained glass museum in Chartres

2006-02-20T05:28:00.000-08:00

Chartres Cathedral

Week in review

2006-02-20T04:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night we went to see the play that we had read for our Theater class. It was good, honestly better than the written version. The lead actress wasn't very good but I felt bad for saying so after discussing it with my theater teacher. She said she had gone back stage to talk to the actors and actresses and lead actress was bawling her eyes out - apparently the director had agreed with me that she hadn't done a very good job. Overall, good play.

Thursday was ethnic food night and the plan was to do Indian food, but upon seeing the prices of the Indian restaurant we decided Mexican was a better choice for that night. It was interesting how incredibly different the Mexican food is here compared to the U.S. They had a burrito on the menu, but even that wasn't your typical beef filled, cheese smothered burrito with a side of rice and beans. My meal was a semi spicy chicken kabob sort of thing. Good, but different and much more expensive than American style Mexican food.

Friday we had a tea party and watched The Usual Suspects, though I kind of ruined the tea part of the tea party when I brought to everyone's attention that either the cup or the tea had a hint of fish odor. I drank it anyway. We also found a store that was basically a large vending machine that had a mechanic arm that got whatever you ordered. I shared a coca blak with someone - a combination of coca cola and coffee - and really like it. It is a ridiculous hit of caffeine though, so I'm not going to be drinking it too much.

Saturday some friends and I got up bright and early to go to Chartres, home of a rather famous cathedral. I'm sure you'll notice the pictures - tons of stained glass, a beautiful choir screen, and 9 portals (which is apparently unique). It's been damaged by fire or lightning several times, as I tried to demonstrate in one of my photos. Overall the Cathedral was really beautiful and not done justice since I couldn't use a flash. We had a nice lunch and I tried tartare de boeuf for the first time (beef tartar - rare beef mixed with spices and a raw egg). It was good though I have to admit I didn't feel too great after eating it. After the Cathedral we had some time to kill before our train left so we found a chocolaterie and it was there that I discovered the wonderful world of macaroons. This place had about 20 different flavors including rose and violet and they were amazing. I think macaroons might replace nutella and banana crepes as my new food from Paris.

Sunday I awoke to hear running down the hallway. I thought, "no big deal, it's probably upstairs, I know they have kids". Then about 2 minutes later a 6 year old boy burst into my room carrying the cat and it was then that I remembered that the family was coming to visit. I spent most of the day trying to do homework while kids were yelling and screaming (playfully) in the background. I looked forward to meeting the other son and daughter of my host parents, but I'm not so sure that the sentiment was equal. They were nice, but throughout dinner they chose conversation that I couldn't possibly participate in (past family vacations, some political scandal in France in the 80s, French movies I hadn't seen, etc). It was somewhat nice to not have to support the entire dinner conversation but it was weird not being involved in it whatsoever. All I know is that this week with them is going to be interesting if nothing else.

2006-02-15T01:19:00.000-08:00

Hooka Bar 2 (Rhea, Megan, Danielle, Amreen, Genevieve)

2006-02-15T01:17:00.000-08:00

Hooka Bar (Danielle and Amreen)

2006-02-15T01:16:00.000-08:00

coolest shoe ever (the platform yellow thing)

2006-02-15T01:15:00.000-08:00

Tiger at the Circus

2006-02-15T01:14:00.000-08:00

frozen fountain at Jardin de Luxembourg

Birthdays and the Circus

2006-02-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

Thursday was Bethany's birthday, so Megan decided to bake a cake for her and I went to help. Megan's host mom rocks and made me realize how I got screwed in the host family department, but I'm getting used to it at least. We tried to spell out "Happy Birthday Bethany" with nutella on the top (using the ziplock bag with a hole technique) but after the first two lines of the "H" the bag burst and we were only able to spell out H A P - P Y (the P and Y were below the rest since we ran out of room). It looked terrible but at least it was funny. Even though the food here is awesome I loved having an old fashioned burger and fries for dinner (we went to a place called "The Canadian Bar") and then after searching for a karyoke bar we ended up at the American Bar once again.

Bethany wanted a pirate themed birthday party, so Thursday night we all wore eye-patches that she had made and Friday we did a scavenger hunt. I ended up, appropriately, on Team Eh - so named because we didn't give a damn about doing the hunt really, at least not that day. I went to a movie Friday night and as I was walking out of the metro I heard tons of yelling and cars honking their horns. It was absolute chaos - cops all around and a ton of soccer hooligans since Egypt's team had just won. This celebrating went on for hours, it was nuts. Walking around that night after the movie there were still cars of Egyptian soccer supporters honking and yelling, and there was also a bicycle gang - they were on bikes that were made to look like choppers and one of the guys was towing a huge speaker that was blaring music from the back of his bicycle. It was pretty freakin amusing.

Today was the circus. I almost didn't go, but it was free since EDUCO was paying for it so I figured why not. We were definitely the only non-kid non-parent people there, but it was a good show. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I felt I had to take a picture of the tiger (post pictures of that later). At the end of the show they announced that a week ago their trapeze artist had a fatal fall which explained why a clown did the trapeze instead - sad stuff. Now I'm chilling in a Haagen Daz that has free wi-fi and is open until 1 am - finally internet outside of EDUCO!

Paris 7 strikes again

2006-02-09T03:57:00.000-08:00

I needed to change to a Monday night section of a class so I show up at the Psychology building (30 minutes away) and decide to look for the library that's supposed to be there. After searching the entire building for it I ask the receptionist, who tells me it's not actually there and gives me the correct address. It's only open 2 hours a day Monday-Thursday, so it was already too late to go that day. It comes class time and the class in the room I'm supposed to be in doesn't leave. I go back to check the class list and there's no indication that the time or room changed, but after waiting 30 minutes I decide it must have gone somewhere else because that class never left. Just when I thought that Paris 7 had gotten things straight they had to remind me how much they suck.

After 6 hours of class on Tuesday I was not ready to go to another 5 hours of class Wednesday but I did. The philosophy class could not hold my attention. Apparently there's a theme to doing classes here: Choose one big name in the field off of which to base the entire class. For psychology it's Freud, and for my philosophy of society class it was Marx. The combination of that and of classes consisting largely of the professor reading the text out to you is really starting to annoy me.

adding to the list of new things I've learned here:
making out in public and picking your nose (and eating it) in public is completely acceptable.

I really couldn't believe it when I saw an adult picking his nose on the metro then eating it. I thought this guy must just be weird. Since then I've seen about 3 other people do it, which leads me to conclude that it's just more acceptable to do things like that in public here, especially on the metro. I still thought that was something that kids do and eventually grow out of, but apparently not here.

adding to the list of stereotypes that are true:
everyone smokes

Chain smoking too. I've seen the same people smoking before a class and then again one hour later during the break, and then again one hour later after the class is over. It's the way to be social here, so I guess I'm just not going to find too many French friends. Either that or constantly be in the presence of smoke. I always end up smelling like it at the end of the day anyway so I guess I'm going to have to get used to it.

Weekend

2006-02-06T01:31:00.000-08:00

Since I burned up my dad's battery charger I went to a FNAC (like a Best Buy) here to find one. I looked around on my own for awhile and then asked a very official looking guy where to find it. He told me to go downstairs, which is not at all where it was. I saw him later in a clothing store and realized then that he wasn't actually an employee. I went back upstairs and found the right guy to ask, and they didn't have any in stock so I'm waiting on an order which is going to cost me 40 euros, blah. At least I'll finally be able to charge my camera battery. Friday night I went to a Hooka Bar in a nicely decorated Indian restaurant. It was a nice experience though I doubt I'll do it again soon.

Saturday I did a lot of walking around and visited the Musee Picasso and the Musee de l'Homme. After the last museum I chilled around there (since it was across from the Eiffel Tower) and watched the lights go off. I asked my host mom if I could bring some friends over to watch Snatch (I brought it with me) and after some discussion she said it was ok. I later show up with my friends to watch the movie and she seems incredibly surprised that I brought friends with me. Maybe my French was bad but I'm sure I said they were coming. Whatever, we watched it anyway.

I slept in Sunday then went on search of an open Tabac (since everything is closed on Sunday). I found one and a McDonald's so I decided to try to use the internet there - most McDonald's here have free wi-fi. I found an unprotected wi-fi instead and used that, which was great until "the couple" came in. They sat in the corner and made out, loudly. I mean, loudly, like the noises people make to make fun of people making out - they were making those noises. This went on for AN HOUR. I couldn't deal with it after that so I moved and then I couldn't find the signal again. I just wish I could find a place that will always have internet for free since I can't have it at home. I will be so thankful for it when I get back to the U.S., that's for sure.

2006-02-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

story tapestry in Reenchantement room (the letters spell out a story)

2006-02-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

swing in the "hybrid" room (surprisingly not part of the sex room)

2006-02-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

two pieces in the Deconstruction room

2006-02-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

sculpture of floating city with view of the white room

2006-02-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

Construction - Le corps d�senchant�

2006-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

another view from the 6th floor of Centre Pompidou (Genevieve)

2006-02-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

view from the 6th floor of Centre Pompidou (Genevieve, me) Notre Dame is to the left

2006-02-03T08:46:00.001-08:00

Escalator in Centre Pompidou

2006-02-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

a look down the hill from Basilique Vezelay

2006-02-03T08:45:00.003-08:00

Basilique Vezelay 5

2006-02-03T08:45:00.002-08:00

view from the grounds of Basilique Vezelay

2006-02-03T08:45:00.001-08:00

Basilique Vezelay 4

2006-02-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

Basilique Vezelay 3

2006-02-03T08:43:00.000-08:00

Basilique Vezelay 2

2006-02-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

Basilique Vezelay

2006-02-03T08:41:00.001-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 10 (Bethany warming up by the heater)

2006-02-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 9 (Genevieve)

2006-02-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 8 (Becca, Stephanie, Allison, me)

2006-02-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 7

2006-02-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 5

2006-02-03T08:32:00.001-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 4

2006-02-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 6

2006-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney 3

2006-02-03T08:30:00.001-08:00

Abbaye de Fontenay 2

2006-02-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Abbaye de Fontaney

2006-02-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

youth hostel 3 (Megan)

2006-02-03T08:05:00.001-08:00

cheers! (left to right: Rhea, Danielle, Amreen, Megan, Genevieve)

2006-02-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

youth hostel in Dijon

2006-02-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

youth hostel 2

2006-02-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

wine tasting (in front, left to right: Becca, Danielle, Stephanie)

2006-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Wine cave outside of Beaune

2006-02-03T08:00:00.002-08:00

stained glass from Hotel Dieu

2006-02-03T08:00:00.001-08:00

Polyptych in Hotel Dieu

2006-02-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

frozen fountain in Place de l'Estrapade

2006-02-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hotel Dieu in Beaune (Jessica, Christopher and Danielle)

2006-02-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

The American Bar (left to right: Genevieve, Megan, Amreen, Allison, Danielle, me, Stephanie)

2006-02-03T07:53:00.001-08:00

Palais Royal metro entrance/exit (Jessica)

2006-02-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

Madeleine

2006-02-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

Hotel des Invalides 2

2006-02-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hotel des Invalides (me)

2006-02-03T07:47:00.000-08:00

Jardin de Luxembourg 2 (Pantheon in background)

2006-02-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Pompidou Center tapestry

2006-02-03T07:44:00.001-08:00

host family's cat

2006-02-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Jardin de Luxembourg

bored...

2006-02-01T02:55:00.000-08:00

I had class yesterday morning from 9-12, and 3 hours of class is rough even with a break. It was an ok class though and I loved only having 15 people in it. I tried in vain to find the library at Jussieu and decided I would go to Paris 1 to check on classes there and also find it's library. The library was on the 5th floor, and there was someone at the front desk who did not want to talk to me. I found a sign that said to go to the 6th floor to get a membership card, so I get back in the elevator only to discover that you can't go to the 6th floor. Honestly, the buttons go 4,5,7,8,etc. So I go the 7th and eventually find a staircase. I get to the 6th floor and try to the open the door and it's locked. At this point I'm tired of trying to get to the 6th floor so I continue down the stairs to the first floor and then notice that on the door it says it's an emergency exit only. I try every door on the way back up and the only one that opens is the 7th. I was just glad to find a way to leave so I get out there and take the elevator back down. I guess I won't be using the library at Paris 1.

I'm having a hard time entertaining myself here at night because it's too cold to go out but I don't have internet back home any more so I can't spend my time talking online either. I walked around last night but that only took 30 minutes. I've discovered spider solitare and played for 3 hours Monday night. At least I have tentative plans tonight after another 3 hour class. I'm hoping that it either gets a little warmer or that I get the internet or else I see quite a few nights of minesweeper and spider solitare ahead. I'm wishing now that my laptop was cool enough to support WoW...

A weekend in Burgundy

2006-01-30T03:10:00.000-08:00

We left on a bus for Burgundy (Bourgogne) at 8 am and I was a little late, but at least they were just getting on the bus as I arrived. It was nearly a 5 hour trip, with a "pee pee break" (what the tour guide said) in the middle. This tour guide was the most annoying tour guide I've ever had. He gave a 1 hour speech on the bus about the history of the region and on other stuff that seemed quite honestly unrelated. Maybe it was because it was freezing cold, but from then on I couldn't deal with his long winded speeches. We went to the Hotel Dieu in Beaune followed by a wine tasting and the tour guide kept talking over the wine expert - he basically acted like he knew everything ever the entire time. Rather than the wine expert telling us how to analyze it our tour guide decided he knew better and told us instead. I bought a bottle of the first wine we tried for my mom and dad back home (hope you guys will like it!) and we headed to the youth hostel/summer camp for the night.

The place was pretty nice though the meals were so/so - my first time and probably last time having an endive salad (really bitter). It was the greatest thing ever to take a warm shower that morning so I took my time. Good thing I had to get up early to take medicine, because at 7am the tour guide woke everyone up with a rousing rendition of the bugle call (whatever it's called, it's always played on a trumpet/bugle to wake people up) that was not only insanely annoying - he came around twice - but also quite wrong. At least if you're going to wake people up like that play the right freakin notes!

I try to get the most out of our breakfast of bread (literally that was it), drink a few cups of coffee and hot chocolate and then get on the bus to go to the Abbey Fontanay. It was a really beautiful place, and as much as the tour guide wanted us to stay together I wandered around a bit (I'd had enough of him at this point and he was saying the same thing over and over again anyway). We then headed to the basilique Vezelay. We had a really great (and really long) 4 course lunch and then saw the Monastery and I actually listened to the tour guide this time. Even though it was adorned with reliefs and sculptures of Christian scenes there were interesting pagan things going on since it was created in the times of druids. On the spring solstice all the lights from the windows align in the middle of the floor (I've got a postcard of it), and - according to the tour guide at least - on December 25th there is a huge spot of light on the star of the nativity scene. Also since it's high up on a hill there are times when the fog is just right to make it look like it's floating on a cloud (I've got a postcard of that too). The view was amazing and it was somewhat sad to go as soon as we did but I was ready to get back.

I went to a famous falafel place last night in Paris that's apparently Lenny Kravitz's favorite - there's a picture of him with the owner and everything. My unprotected wi-fi network that I was stealing has dissapeared but my host parents just got wi-fi, so if my host dad ever finds the password I'll hopefully be able to use that instead. Home sickness is finally starting to set in, but I'm still having a good time.

27/1/06

2006-01-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

I still haven't really figured out how to take a hot shower, or at least a shower that's warm for more than 30 seconds (literally). I think part of it is trying to take showers in the morning, but I'm really starting to dread showering. At dinner last night one the sons of my host parents came for dinner. It was nice to have someone else there to take the attention off of me, though I noticed I didn't comprehend what they said amongst themselves most of the time and I think it's because they speak faster and less precisely. Either that or I just stop actively listening because they aren't talking to me, but it's funny how easy to all of a sudden not understand French.

I went out to meet up with some friends last night which I almost gave up on since after 30 minutes of searching in the freezing cold I still couldn't find them, but eventually I did and then it was great. We went to the place called the American Bar though there was nothing in particular that was American about it; they didn't even speak any English. It was cool though, had the house drink "el diablo" which was creme de casis, vodka, and club soda. I've got a picture from there that I'll post later. I then shared a crepe with nutella and bananas and it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Maybe it was because I was pretty tipsy, maybe it was because it was warm and I was freezing, but it seemed like a gift from God last night.

I slept in really late and have been at EDUCO ever since I woke up. We have meetings here all day, though at least they're mostly about all the fun stuff we can do here and the different trips and events they have planned for us. I have another meeting at 5 and then dinner with French students tonight, but there will be no going out afterwords since we meet at 7:45 am tomorrow for our trip to Bourgogne. If I think Paris has been cold I'm in for a rude awakening in Bourgogne...

Freud, Freud, Freud

2006-01-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

I finally had a psychology class last night, and it's exactly as I've been told and completely centered around Freud. Even though it was supposed to be a small discussion group it was a lecture, probably because we hadn't had the main lecture class yet so there was nothing to discuss. I had the main lecture today, and it was 2 hours chalk full of Freud. It's funny how they basically revere him as if he was God's gift to psychology. I told my host mom that we don't really focus on Freud too much in the US - sure we study him and learn about his theories but most of his more sexual stuff is not taken too seriously. She then said that she thinks that's because we're based on a puritan society, lol, so she basically said that we don't believe in his theories about sex because we're prudes. I held my tongue a lot on that one, not only because I don't want to have a big arguement but also because trying to really express myself in an argument in French is far too hard for me at this point so I just let it slide. Nevertheless, the classes were interesting. The one yesterday wasn't too great and in the one this morning the microphone quit about 10 minutes into the lecture so it became nearly impossible to hear her, but the second class today was good. It will certainly be a different perspective on psychology...

After I had a quick lunch back home and my host parents were eating at the same time so I got to add some bread, cheese, and pound cake to my meal of left over pasta, which rocks. I then headed off to meet a friend at the Louvre and get our free student passes - since we're registered as "art history" students we get free entrance into the Louvre whenever we want to go. We walked around for awhile though I didn't take too much of it in since I was more absorbed in conversation really (and I've already seen 75% of it) but it was still nice to be there. I've got nothing for the rest of the night but once again it's too cold to want to explore so I'll probably not do much of anything.

25/1/06

2006-01-25T02:58:00.000-08:00

Since I had nothing to do yesterday and didn't feel like going outside since it was incredibly cold I decided to go to a cinema class on the works of David Lynch. David Lynch films are bizarre if you've never seen them before (Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive), and trying to discuss them and understand them in English would be hard enough, but in French added an extra challenge. It was still interesting but very weird, although it was funny when one of the short films we watched (The Amputee) was only in English and the French subtitles never showed up, because then we got to listen to them analyzing what she said without really understanding very well since it was in English. There were 5 EDUCO students there (me included) and it was hard not to speak out and tell them they didn't know what they were talking about, but for the first day of a class that's probably not the best move. I can't take it anyway because it's full and I'm going to have (hopefully) a theater class with EDUCO that overlaps with it. At least I finally had a class, though 3 hour classes are definitely hard to sit through.

I had dinner with my family last night and it's getting more and more awkward between my host dad and me. If they are both there my host mom will talk to fill in the silence (not that we never talk, but talking consistently for 2 hours about my day is pretty difficult). However, every time she gets up to clear the table and bring out the next course there's about 5 minutes of silence between my host dad and me and it's always the awkward silence. I keep trying to think of things to talk about (weather has come up numerous times that's how desperate I am) but I always eventually run out. He's just not that talkative and I'm not sure what to talk about. He doesn't work, and when I asked him what he did that day all he said was that he did grocery shopping, so his day isn't exactly complex enough to take up more than 30 seconds of conversation time. I'm hoping it gets better soon, since I'm going to be having dinner with them tonight and tomorrow night too, and 3 nights every week for the next 5 months....

Not having class until 3:30 is making me anxious that I've forgotten about something; I've never had classes start that late. Psychology classes here have 3 parts - 2 1.5 hour lectures and then a smaller discussion group section. The weird thing is that I have the discussion group thing tonight but neither of the lectures occur until tomorrow, so I have no idea what we're going to discuss. Maybe it'll be like almost all my other classes so far and won't actually happen tonight. In the mean time it's too cold to do any walking around, so I'll probably spend another day at the EDUCO center.

French Universities suck

2006-01-24T02:20:00.000-08:00

Seriously, they really suck. Most courses in the course catalog don't have the location written down so you have to go to the University itself to find out where the class is. I was lucky that all of mine had at least the days and times listed. According to the schedule in the course catalog I didn't have any classes this week until Wednesday, so I got up around 9, had breakfast and headed over to the EDUCO center to check out other classes and try to double check the locations for my upcoming courses. I find out from another girl around noon that one of the classes I wanted to take had changed to Monday at 9 am so I missed it. The only way she even knew that was because she went to the secretary's office (which is a 40 minute metro ride away) the day before and they showed her a list of all the courses that had changed days, times, and locations. She also told me (incorrectly as I found out later) that another course I wanted to take had been encorporated into a different course and it changed to Monday at 4:30 so after lunch I went to that class with her and another EDUCO girl. Well, I should say that I went to the room where that class was supposed to be, because no one other than the 3 of us ever showed up. We decided to go back and talk to the secretary again but when we got to the office they were already gone (an hour early too). I at least could look at the list of courses there though, so I wrote down everything and left disgruntled.

The wi-fi at my host family's place sucks too, it works when it feels like it. I shouldn't really complain - most people don't even have internet access at home, but it's annoying to be in the middle of writing an email or a blog and then lose my connection for the next 20 minutes. I bought gnocchi (a type of pasta) to cook for myself and it was definitely my first time to see a guy carrying his cat with him throughout the supermarket. James, you would've been jealous; the cat did exactly what you always want kitty to do and laid/sat on the guy's shoulder. I wish you could do that sort of thing in America; we could bring kitty with us everywhere!

I got up at 7 am this morning to go to my 9am class. It's hella cold today and will be for the next week. Temperatures feel colder here, probably because there's always wind. I got to the University 20 minutes early, which was good because I had no idea where I was going. I found the room with 10 minutes until class started and no one was there yet. Eventually people showed up, but the professor never did. Apparently sometime between 4pm yesterday and 9am today they wrote on the class list sheet that this class wouldn't start until next week. So I got up early and went there for absolutely nothing, or so it would have been if I hadn't met another American girl there. She was one of the first to arrive but she was speaking very fluent French with another girl. She was talking about an American who would be moving in with her and she wasn't happy about it, so at first I thought she was an American hating French girl. Then she looked at me and asked, "est-tu americaine?". I thought for awhile that I would tell her I was Canadian so she wouldn't hate me as much, but I said yes and then she said she was too - a full year student from California.

Since there was no professor everyone stood around talking and Heather (American girl) introduced me to the other girls since she had had classes with them last semester - everyone in the sociology major knows each other basically. Everyone was very nice and actually got very excited to talk to me when she told them I was from America. It was a good first interaction with French students, though Heather told me that it's difficult to find good French friends - they tend to remain acquaintences that you talk to before and after class. After all this I went to Paris 1 to find the time for my philosophy class and looked at the sports they offer. I'm tempted to take Judo but I think I'll just take lessons from James instead. There was still a lot of cool stuff like break dancing and modern jazz dance, so I'll probably take something like that too. If none of my other classes have changed last minute (like they tend to do) I'm done for the day, so now I just do whatever till tomorrow.

The first weekend

2006-01-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

Thursday night I ate at a little greek fast food-ish restaurant with friends because my family told me they would be at an art show that night. When I came back I found food already cooked for me with a note telling me to reheat it and where I could find other things I would need. I felt awful but I had no way of knowing they were going to do that. I went to bed really early that night (10pm) so I left a note apologizing and saying that I would eat it later if they saved it, though I haven't done so yet.

Friday and Saturday were both crazy. Friday I went with an EDUCO group to the Musee D'Orsay though we only had 2 hours there which wasn't nearly enough to see the pieces of art I really wanted to see. I had only one hour after that to eat and then get back to the EDUCO center for a tour of the universities. Other than La Sorbonne (which we didn't visit since most of us won't get to take classes there) Parisien universities are ghetto, seriously ghetto. Paris 7 and Paris 1 were both created in the 70s after the big student revolt of '68, so they're rather retro looking on the outside. Why did I call them ghetto? Because the inside is nicely decorated in grafetti and perfumed in urine or something else that smells absolutely foul. Of course not the whole building is like that, but compared to Emory it was certainly a shock. I'm going around to find my classes tomorrow, so I'll take some pictures then. After the final class of the week I had dinner with my family and went to bed early again.

9 am Saturday morning we took our placement exam. Not exactly my idea of a good start to a Saturday, but after it was over we had a nice lunch paid for by EDUCO and then another museum tour, this time the Musee Carnavolet, which mostly concerns the French Revolution. It was alright but not as cool as I thought it could have been. Right now Paris is having their huge sales, so we did some window shopping (since even with the sales there's no way I can afford this crap). Paris has two city wide sales a year - now and in June - when basically everything except for grocery stores and pharmacies have huge discounts. But the thing is, it's Paris, so unless they reduce the prices by about 85% I'm not going to be buying anything anytime soon. While browsing for shoes at the Galeries Lafayette the "sale" prices ranged from 100-300 euros. But of course this is all designer stuff, so what else can you really expect?

One of the girls that I've become pretty good friends with here, Jessica, is in Cornell's chapter of APO, so that rocks. We ate together last night and walked around together today. Meeting up in Paris is pretty difficult though because there's several exits for each metro stop and every monument is rather large. Last night we decided to meet at the Eiffle Tower and that wasn't exactly the best idea. After 15 minutes of searching around we found each other (thank God for cell phones) and then had a quick dinner before going our separate ways. I fell asleep last night at the earliest time so far, 9:30pm, and slept for about 12 hours.

I decided to do the tourist thing today and walked through Jardin de Luxembourg, by the Hotel des Invalides, down the Champs Elysees, and into La Magdelaine, after which I met Jessica to do some shopping. I should've bet her money about everything being closed on Sunday, because sure enough after walking for over an hour to meet her it turns out everything was closed. No big deal though, we walked around and visited L'Opera and le Palais Royal, warmed up with a ridiculously expensive cup of coffee (that's what we get for chosing a cafe right next to the Louvre - it was 5 euros) and then walked through the Tuilleries a bit before going in separate directions. As much as I love walking around this city, it was definitely more fun in summer when I wasn't freezing my ass off the entire time. At least walking kept me relatively warm, but it seems unfair that it is so much colder here but nevertheless there's just as little snow as there is in Atlanta or Huntsville. It hasn't snowed yet and my host dad said that it probably won't, or at least if it does it will only be an inch or so and will melt by the afternoon.

I'll be adding to these lists later, but I might as well start them off:

Stereotypes that are true:
The Parisians wear a lot of black
They carry baguettes with them quite frequently
They all have dogs and bring them with them everywhere (into restaurants, onto the metro, etc).
They all dress stylishly and never wear tennis shoes (though a slight exaggeration, mostly true)
They take the metro everywhere

Stereotypes that are false:
They wear burrets and stripped shirts
They hate Americans - it's about as true as saying all Americans hate the French, but they certainly do love our music, television shows, and movies.
They say "Sacre Bleu!"

New things I've learned:
They are much more willing to kiss and make out in public than Americans.
They are more accepting of homosexual couples. Either that, or homosexual couples are more willing to make it obvious that they are a couple. I think the main thing for both this and the statement above is that PDA isn't a big deal here.
They love wearing boots over their blue jeans (even though my parents though it looked stupid when I tried it)

Like I said, I'll continue to add to this later. Also, if you have any stereotypes or things you want me to address send me a quick email and I'll add it to the list. Now that I've found this wi-fi connection that is unprotected I'll probably be online at home quite a bit. I finally remembered my camera and took some pictures today, so once I get my usb cord sent to me I'll post them.

Day 5

2006-01-19T03:13:00.000-08:00

I ate at one of the university restaurants (called "Resto U" here) with other EDUCO students and two french students. It only costs 2.50 euros for the meal, and there's a reason why. You could get bread, an appetizer (no idea what mine was but not very good that's for sure) a main dish and dessert. For a main dish you can chose either some type of pizza or the daily special. Since the meat for the daily special was either a hot dog or some sketchy looking ground beef I decided to go with the pizza, which had (in addition to the usual marinara sauce and cheese) tuna, black olives and corn on it. It wasn't that bad actually, but it was definitely cafeteria food. After that we all went to a bar and after a drink we all left and I crashed as soon as I got back.

I finally had a good night of sleep though I'm still exhausted cause I definitely haven't caught up yet. My host parents bought some cereal just for me which I thought was really sweet. I'm starting to feel much more comfortable with them though I think it helps to only be there for a few hours a day. I'm going to have to ask how the shower is supposed to work there because I just can't believe that they always take freezing cold showers. Out of all the people that have talked to me, somehow my host mom is the most difficult to understand, which is unfortunate since I live with her and have to try to understand her quite frequently. I think it's because she uses phrases that I haven't heard before; maybe it's because both she and my host dad are "d'un certain age" as they say here (old in other words).

We had a lesson on the history and geography of Paris today which was actually pretty interesting. Now I have nearly 4 hours to do some homework, decide on my classes and chill, so I'll probably try to go explore some more of Paris today. I actually remembered my camera today, so if I get some pictures I'll post them tomorrow.

2006-01-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

I feel like the French are very easy to offend. Not only were they really upset about people being late, but when I told my French family I wouldn't be eating with them (granted it was an hour before dinner, but I had tried calling earlier and no one answered) my host dad got upset and said that next time I would need to tell them much more in advance. I just now let my host mom know that I'm eating with a group of EDUCO students and French students and I think it was early enough, though she still didn't seem too happy about it. I'm starting to become more comfortable with them, though my host mom is definitely more easy to talk to than my host dad.

I went with a group of girls from the EDUCO program to a mexican style bar last night. We had some sangria and it was pretty cool, bad American 90s music and all. There was a sign about how the bar was for something "armee" which I'm starting to think was a term for homosexuals. Either that, or the French are very comfortable with expressing homosexuality in public because there seemed to be a larger number of gay couples there. I wonder what they thought when 7 girls walked in together...

We had an early breakfast (I had to leave the apartment at 7:45 am) which included a lesson on how french bread (and I don't just mean baguettes) is made. Apparently there's a law about what true French bread can be made of. If you use other ingredients than what is stated in the law then you cannot call it "french bread". After that I went to Notre Dame and the memorial for the 2 million french people killed in concentration camps. I'll post pictures from others later(I forgot my camera again), but it was very moving. There were poems etched into the rock and a display with two walls covered in 2 million small pebbles to represent all those who died. We walked around Ile-de-la-cité and then had some lunch, then it was time for my meeting to decide which classes I'm going to take. I'm still exhausted but I'm hoping to get a lot of sleep tonight since I no longer have time for a nap (class in 15 minutes).

Day 3

2006-01-17T05:19:00.000-08:00

I met my family last night. They are nice, but nevertheless it's awkward. I should've asked for a family with children just so I wouldn't have to always be the center of attention. I feel like I need to talk to them all the time if I'm in the same room, and I really just don't have all that much to say. They don't really speak English, so if I get stuck I have to find some way to talk my way out of it in French. They've also used some words in French that I didn't understand and they had to resort to pulling out a French/English dictionary to show me the translation. It will definitely be the hardest thing to get used to here, but it really is the best way to ensure that I speak French.
Dinner last night was good and several courses long. Soup, followed by the main dish, followed by salad, cheese and bread and finally dessert. They thought it was odd that Americans eat salad and bread first - apparently it's always second to last here. Dessert is also much healthier - fruit, nuts and yogurt - so I guess I'll have to get over my love affair with chocolate. I was orginally hoping that I could eat with my family most nights, but I think until it's slightly more comfortable I'll keep the dinners to a 3 times a week schedule. I've once again barely gotten any sleep for the 4th night in a row, but I think my body's giving up on it now. I don't think I'm even completely over my jet lag.
My bedroom is rather large though they didn't provide any fun things like a computer, tv, or internet connection even though they do have the internet. I think I might be able to borrow it on occasion, plus they said that occassionally you can pick up a wi-fi connection though it's not great. The kitchen and the dining room are on opposite ends of the house (more of an apartment though really) because it used to be servants who would live where I live and cook the food and then bring it to the rich residents. They actually have a douche and it looks like they use it (there were products around it and such) - I plan on staying far away from it. The shower is also more of a tub with a loose shower head that you use while sitting in the tub. I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet because I woke up too late and thought that my class began at 9:30 when it actually began at 9 am. I was 20 minutes late but at least I wasn't the last person to arrive. Even still, everyone that was late got a serious talking to about how rude it is, which is slightly ridiculous since today was the first day we had to try to get to the EDUCO center from our new living arrangements and it's hard to know how long the commute will be. Despite everything I'm still having a good time and I'm just hoping that everything will become more natural soon.

first days

2006-01-16T04:35:00.000-08:00

Bonjour!

I am in a internet cafe, and using a French keyboard is going to take some getting used to, everything is rearranged. My flight went well, though I wasn't able to sleep on the plane at all really and the night before I only had 2 hours of sleep. I got heavily overcharged for the taxi, I guess it was obvious that I was a tourist - it was 70 euros from the airport to my hotel. I crashed when I got in and slept/sat around until the meet and greet. I was really hungry and there were hors d'oeuvres, so I grabbed a few. The first one was great, but the second one was disgusting and I had put the whole thing in my mouth, so my only option was to eat it and it was hard not to gag. At least everything else that I've had to eat so far has been good. We had to sign a promise that we would speak only French for the rest of our time here, which I haven't really upheld but I'm trying. We went out to eat at Le Bistro des sans cullottes (of the pantless basically) and then to a bar called The Titty Twister. It was fun, but I didn't go to sleep when I should have and I'm still exhausted.

Today we had orientation at 9:30 am, and after that was over I went out with a few others to get lunch and buy a cell phone. I called my family ( last name of Camus, how cool is that) this morning and it didn't go so well, though I was at least able to tell them that I would move in tonight after my 3 hour class from 4-7. All I know about them is that they are an older couple whose children have left the house and they own a cat. Even though the call was pretty rough my host mom seems nice, so I think it will go well. I'll find out at dinner tonight I guess. We only have a week of orientation before classes at the University of Paris begin. I feel nervous a lot, but it's going alright. Trying to understand people is somewhat difficult because they think I'm French at first and speak entirely too fast. At least I haven't made a complete fool of myself yet. I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me, but I'll try to get some pictures taken today and post them as soon as I can. The EDUCO center has a wi-fi connection, so I'll probably be in there a lot once it's open to us. I don't have too much time left, so that's it for now and I'll try to post again tomorrow.

A demain!