I want to be in AmeRIca!

Here goes. The week of CRAZY finally recapped!



Last week, I had literally planned out, hour by hour, what I had to do from Monday to Friday. I had a ton of psychoacoustics to finish up (but that means I've got, by my calculations, at least 100 euro coming my way when I get back!) and lots of studying to do for my art history exam Thursday evening. Fortunately, I wound up not studying too much for art history and deciding that I didn't care all that much about the outcome of this "partiel blanc" (the only translation I've found is "mock exam", but it's mainly to prepare us for the unholy wrath that is our actual "partiel", or final), which worked to my advantage, considering the topic that we were given was "Explain how literature had an affect on French romantic art". I had taken the time to learn the pieces of art that we learned in class, and even read one of the assigned books to learn how the art fit into the context of French history in general. However, it didn't leave much time for pleasure reading of Victor Hugo and Baudelaire on the off-chance that the paper topic wasn't either about heroism or the revolutionary period, the two subjects that we had expected.

So, as I decided that no matter how much I tried to study, the outcome would be the same no matter what, I decided to do Christmas shopping and make Christmas cookies for my friends, instead. It was the best choice I could've made. I hit a big rough patch this month, and I really needed some chill-out time (as planned as it was) to not think about anything.

Thursday night, after getting back from the test at 9 and eating dinner, I started packing for Rachel's and my morning flight to Shannon, Ireland. It was crazy. Our flight left around 1:30 Paris time, which put us into Shannon around 3:00. We asked the lovely woman at the bus desk how to get to our hostel in Tarbert, and she asked us why in the world we would be going to Tarbert. After a bus to Limerick, a bus to Foynes, and a car to Tarbert, it was already 7:30. We were playing telephone tag with the woman all day to let her know when we'd be there, but it turns out that she wasn't around the hostel when we got there. Something about her children's Christmas concert. We hung out at the all but abandoned Anchor, where we shot pool with the high schooler Aiden and waited for Margaret at the Ferry House Hostel to let us know when she'd be around to let us in.

Luckily, we got up-graded to a 5-bedroom "suite". Collectively, Rachel and I were one of 3 people staying in the hostel.

Everything about Tarbert was SO FUNNY. The next morning, we walked around the River Shannon, getting wonderful views of the Irish countryside. Hardly any cars passed on the winding roads. As we walked back to town, we encountered a little dog, who walked with us into town, showing us the way. He would turn back every couple of moments to make sure we were still following him. SO FUNNY.

We stopped off at Enright's restaurant, a little place with "good grub" (said Brendon of the Anchor). They had about 10 tables and one menu with about 7 options, all delicious. We payed 12 euro each for bread, delicious thick chicken soup, potatoes, steak and vegetables, apple pie, and coffee. It was adorable.

We wound up just watching TV for the rest of the day, since we just felt like lazing around. We were in the living room of the hostel, where we met Sue, the only other person staying at the Ferry House. We talked about everything from Obama to abortion, and her angry passion for discussing politics was almost off-putting. While we were watching Top Gear, we saw a car that sells for 800,000 pounds, and Sue said, "You could feed a small country in Africa with that money! What is WRONG with this world???"

We also talked about her decision to come to Ireland. She came in early November from Alberta, Canada to bike around all of Ireland. She was almost at 1,000 kilometers already, and she said that it was the only way to see the country. She looked to be at the very least 40 years old, but she must've been in tip-top shape. We wound up watching at least 3 hours of TV with her, including so many strange British game shows, Will and Grace, and 3rd Rock from the Sun.

That night, we got dinner at a Chinese restaurant across the road, and it was so good. We headed over to the Anchor, and there were so many people! It was hard to imagine that this was the same bar we were in just the night before. Everyone was very friendly.

Waking up for our 8:00 a.m. taxi to the airport proved to be a struggle, especially considering that Rachel set her alarm for 20:00 instead of 8:00. We lucked out since we had told Sue what room we were staying in, and she happened to be downstairs when the driver was looking for us. He came to our room and knocked on our door to let us know that he was there. So funnnyyyy.

We quickly threw everything together and set off for Paris. Ryanair = also very funny. They play commercials on and off throughout the 1.5 hour flight. It's like the Fung Wah of the sky, but polite and Irish and cute.

We packed everything up and headed for my house. It's a long story, but apparently not only had my host family not left yet for Brugges, but they were having a little dinner party with all of their family who live in the apartment. So we got our stuff together, got some sleep, and hit the road (/the 6) to get to the airport.

LONGEST FLIGHTS EVER. I was literally out of my house at 9 in the morning, and made it into Newark after a connection in Chicago at 5:00 a.m. Paris time (10:00 EST).

And on that note, I'm off to see if I can get more than 5 hours of sleep today. GOOD NIGHT!

You're nothin' but a womanizer

So DUBLIN!!! Was amazing!!! It was so great to get out of Paris, if only for a couple of days.

The first day we got there, we were EXHAUSTED. It was full of crazy, since Sarah missed the bus to the airport and had to take a 130 euro taxi to the airport. Stress-tastic. But, we finally got there on time for our flight with Ryanair. It was a really good flight, and short! Only 1.5 hours from Beauvais to Dublin. We dragged our luggage around until we found a really cute pub and ordered up some potato-y goodness.

I must say, I don't remember too much of the order of things, since we were all so exhausted. We took a long nap on Friday and woke up with just enough time to get dinner, and we did the same thing on Saturday. In all, we saw Malahide Castle, the Guinness Factory, and lots of sweet, charming Irish people.

Oh, also, we saw lots of flea markets and had lots of chocolate. It also happened to be GORGEOUS the whole time we were there, which was very lucky.

Alright, now that I'm done with my obligatory post, I should get back to doing that homework thing. I have a big art history exam next Thursday (aka the day before break), a history exam the day I get back from break, lots of little assignments to do in the meantime, and more Christmas gifts to buy! There's no plates like chrome for the Hollandaise.

'appy Sanksgeeveeng!

AHhhhh I'm so excited for Thanksgiving!! We're having a big ol' Smithie party, and it's sure to be kick-ass. I made my mom and aunt's famous chocolate toffee crunch bars yesterday. I showed my host mom how to make them, who was amazed at all the steps I took to get to those delicious cookies that magically showed up in her house the last time I made them. She hardly believed that I made them myself! Now that I showed her how to do it, I think she's at least minimally excited (I've found that French people don't get excited, on general principle) about having learned a new recipe. I just have to translate my mom's recipe into French now!

Also, I made macaroni and cheese with Abby today. Definitely a bit different from my grandma's original recipe, especially without the rigatoni, "whole milk", and HUUUUGE effin' bowl. We made it in two casserole dishes, and I'm sure it turned out beautifully! Especially with our "raped Emmenthal cheese"("râpé" = shredded. Isn't that terrible?) on top. Mmmm.

Wednesdays are the worst. I feel so unproductive, even after about 10 straight hours of classes. I really just want to hit the library, do my art history readings, and go Christmas shopping.

I'm kind of upset that I'm missing the Thanksgiving parade tomorrow, since I'll already be at our Thanksgiving party. Maybe they'll do the honors of showing it?

Or maybe I'll be really lame and search nbc.com like a BEAST when I get home tomorrow night to see if they posted full video of it. Didn't you ever watch Miracle on 34th Street??? The Thanksgiving parade is the official start of the Christmas season. I'm so excited. It smelled like snow today.

Okay. I'm going to try to be productive. This is my horoscope for the week:
"Two of the best money-saving steps you can take, says TV's mock pundit Stephen Colbert, are to stop filling your hot tub with champagne and stop lining your gerbil's cage with hundred-dollar bills. I highly recommend that you brainstorm about initiating similar conservative and preservative actions, Cancerian. It's time for you to get really serious about shedding wasteful habits, cutting out needless excesses, and culling trivial activities that impinge on the time and energy you have available for the really important things. This shouldn't be a cause for demoralization, by the way. On the contrary, the more creative you are about setting limits, the more long-term blessings you'll set in motion."

I think it's a pretty good one. (If you want to check out yours: http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/allsigns.html"

Bonne nuit! Bon Thanksgiving!

Sick is the worst.

It finally happened. I'd been bragging for so long that I was the only person on the program who hadn't gotten sick yet, and it finally happened approx. 48 hours ago. J'ai mal au ventre, j'ai mal à la tête, j'ai la nez embouteillée, et j'ai envie de dormir toute la journée.

I skipped my first two classes today. I really would not have survived 2 hours of my Art History class tonight. I've been in a daze all day, and I've found that my levels of punchyness and cracked-out-ness ameliorate with my sickness.

That's all I got for now. As per us(ual), here's another list for things I have to do:
- change facebook event for Disneyland
- e-mail MBF about Restos
- e-mail Emery about frisbee
- e-mail Stéphane about the tourney
- make study sheets for history
- read history articles
- write up bio for Jacques Prévert

SLEEP. I could probably sleep through the night if I tried right now. But instead, I might just clean my room and knock off at least half of the things on that list. Whoo, productivity!

Working hard, or hardly working?

BOTH. Let's re-cap.

I locked myself in my room at 2:00 this afternoon. I made a small list, which was precisely this:
- review notes
- review readings
(1 hour)
- write exposé
(1 hour)

It is now 7:30. I read over my notes and readings exactly one time, but I vaguely remember what I read. I have 30 seconds of an exposé written. I wrapped a package to be sent out tomorrow. I got on convincing people to come with me to Disneyland Paris this Saturday. I checked my mail about once a minute. I did readings for a class on Wednesday.

5.5 hours. I only left my room once. It wasn't even all that much that I'm futzing around on the internet. I get so frustrated when I have to stare at something for more than 15 minutes. Even taking tests, I get so fidgety.

Unless I absolutely feel like I have to do something in a timely fashion (a.k.a. review for a test that happens in the next hour, or write a presentation that I have to present in the next couple hours), I just put it off until the very last minute. Which, at that time, I proceed to freak out and get the same amount of work done (read: very minimal) in a shorter amount of time (as in, instead of doing next to nothing in 5.5 hours, if I had tried to do things tomorrow before class, I would to maybe a little something in the course of an hour).

However, as this seems to be the case, at least for the moment, I'm learning to deal with it. I force myself to read over the same words I've been reading, and I realize that some of them are beginning to stick. My history test isn't for another week, and I've already learned 2/3 of the material that will be on the test! I've been making myself read over my notes every night since Monday. I've never done this.

Also, I'm sorry that I can't make an lj-cut or something to hide all that business up there. I've just been feeling frustrated.



Not to say that I haven't been chilling in the meantime. I saw 4 movies during the Festival européen des 4 écrans, which was.. depressing, as expected. But still fun! Good times with good people. We even bought candy at a Monoprix before seeing the last film. It was called Une femme à abattre, and it was about a woman looking for her husband in Russia. Afterward, I met up with this girl Sonia, who I found out was a visiting student from Russia (we're in the same Art History class at the Sorbonne). She said that they invented some of the details for cinematic effect, but she was shaken by the accurate portrayal of the images of Soviet Russia.

She had a cigarette to take off the edge, and I split ways with some of the Smithies to meet up with Sarah and Rachel at the Frog and the British Library. We got all-American fare (chicken wings, quesadillas, nachos, fries) AND deep-fried camembert with plum sauce. Holy crap, it was SO GOOD. I tried a beer cocktail, since they brew their own beer there and I sprung for the occasion. It was quite tasty!

Anyway, it is dinner time. With all luck, I will be more productive afterward. A plus!

A whole week with no update! Wowza!

Mmm. I just made myself a nice bowl (yes, bowl) of hot chocolate. I had a long week with my friend in from the States, so I feel like I've lost a week from doing nothing. It kind of sucks that last week was my week off, but I don't feel any more relaxed than if I had had school that whole week, since I was running around showing her Paris. However, I did get to do things that I hadn't done yet, like climb the Arc de Triomphe and ride on a Bateau-Mouche along the Seine.

Anyway, I'm kind of excited to be crazy-productive. I've been the worst student ever lately, and if I don't want to fail out of this program, I need to get my act together.

I'm totally ready. Also, I have to start planning more than one day at a time so I can finally see some of Europe. I can't wait to get my education under control so I can start really having fun.

Though I did have some goodtimes this past week. I got to see Vampire Weekend, which was AWESOME. I still want to see "W" sometime, since it looks to be an interesting film. I'm really excited for the European film festival this weekend, too! I'm going to check out what's on the schedule. I've wanted to see "Home" since I saw the ad for it before "Coluche: L'histoire d'un mec". It's about a family that lives on an abandoned highway, until someone decides to pave the road over and make it new. It looks like it could be dumb, but I think it's a cute premise. Also, I'm really excited to go to the MK2 cinéma by the Bibliothèque Nationale. It's such a neat theater! I know that it's huge, but I think it's neat that as huge as it is, it's never full. Plus, they have those cuddle chairs. Such a good cinema.

Agenda for today:
2:00: Research Sylvia Beach for Methodology paper
3:00: Write letter to history teacher
3:30: Study history
6:00: Read about Obama in French newspapers for History presentation

I'm going to start reading my history notes every night. I've never been good at studying before I feel like I need to. I think that this goes hand in hand with my belief that it only takes me a half hour to get anywhere; I feel like I can cheat the system if only I think it hard enough. I've been proven wrong enough times to change my ways. This includes leaving the apartment before 8:30 to get to frisbee practice on time.

Alright. Game time.

OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA

I can't believe I just celebrated my first election in which I could participate IN FRANCE. It was so extraordinary. I'm watching Obama's victory speech again, and I'm nearly ready to cry.

I can't believe we're finally changing in the right direction. I kept thinking to myself that no matter what happened, our country would drastically change and set a precedent that would continue on for decades. I'm so glad that we elected the right man. I have a restored faith in the American people. 338 electoral votes.


To celebrate, a group of Smithies got together to go to the official Democrats in Paris Obama Victory Party, which was supposed to have Barack O-bagels and continuing coverage of the election. However, after waiting on line for an hour, the organizers tried to get all couple hundred of us to line up in alphabetical order by last name. People started pushing and crowding, we heard glass bottles breaking, and people were uproarious about not being able to get in.

In making the best decision we could have made, the mamas of our group got us together to take the night bus at 1:00 to get to a better area to watch the election. We met up with two girls on the BU program, and we all ventured to Chatelet, walking to St. Michel to find The Frog and the Princess. Before we got there, we found a Canadian pub, broadcasting the election on TV's around the bar. We decided to stop in there, which was awesome. I even ran into a girl from Amherst on the frisbee team! Around 3:30, we finally got a table for all of us. Every so often, the club would start playing loud music to get us all awake. Being 6 hours ahead of all of the action was a hard thing. We were enthusiastic until the end though, with all of us screaming and yelling when our own states were called. There were a bunch of French people there, though we were by far an American majority.

The reports from CNN that showed that there was no possible way that McCain could win, and I regained confidence in the American public. I can't believe that we're all united (well, most of us), behind a man that has ideas that will benefit all.

When they flashed his name across the screen, the room ignited with uproarious sound. Just so much sound, and so much joy. We all ran around kissing and hugging and screaming. We went outside to leave, and it was raining. We let it fall. It felt like the dawning of a new era, and I couldn't help but think that it was an incredible omen for the washing away and renewal of spirit.

In between all of the celebration, we ran around outside the pub. Some screaming, in English and French, about the incredible event that had just come to pass. One man came up to me and said that it was incroyable. In French, he said to me that less than a century ago, Obama himself wouldn't have been able to vote, and now here he is, President of the United States.

However, he then ruined the moment by asking for my number and saying we should go out to dinner sometime. I was too emotionally content and ecstatic at the same time to do anything but laugh. Luckily, we saw from outside that McCain was about to make his speech, so we all huddled back into the pub. Listening to his speech and listening to the people who supported McCain so strongly that they couldn't even stop themselves from booing at the mention of Obama's name, I wanted to cry. I heard the underlyingly racist comments that McCain made about the nature of the election, and I was appalled at the way in which he brought up Obama's grandmother's recent death. I sincerely pray that even the McCain supporters can get behind Obama and his ideals for uniting our country. He has a big job ahead of him.

The pub owners kicked us out of the pub at 5:30 a.m., so we all ran around frantically, trying to find somewhere that was open for us to watch Obama's victory speech. We asked one cafe owner on the Boulevard St. Michel if they had a TV. When we mentioned Obama's name, he said that he was sure Obama was going to win. We didn't waste any moment to tell him that Obama had already won.

Not finding any luck, we all rushed into the nearby metro station to get home. All through the metro, we informed everyone we could about Obama's victory. Even on the street on our short walk from the metro stop to my apartment, we crossed the street in front of a truck driver, who rolled down his window and shouted "OBAMA!!!!!!!!!"

We got home to my room and watched the rest of Obama's speech online. He is such a powerful speaker. His way of moving a crowd is impressive, to say the least, and I can't wait to see how he'll rally the American people to work together for the common good.


I fell asleep around 6:30 a.m. and woke up at 11:00 to get ready for class. I saw Elise, who had already heard the news and seemed just as excited as I was. I rushed off to class, where I was greeted by none of my other classmates, who were assumedly all still asleep.

I can't wait to go back to my homeland now.

J'écris en français

J'écoute de la musique d'une amie. Cela me plait beaucoup. S'il vous plait de me pardonner pour la manque d'accents. Cette traduction sera sans doute incompréhensible.

Ce week-end était vachement génial. La fête était EXTRAORDINAIRE mais EXTRA EXTRAORDINAIRE!!!! J'ai fait beaucoup de plats délicieux, et tous mes amis (on était 7 en tout, parce que notre amie de Genève a du partir avant la fin de l'apératif avec Hannah) ont adoré la cuisine que j'ai faite. J'ai utilisé les serviettes de Halloween que ma mère m'a envoyé (merci Maman !), et j'avais aussi du confetti. Mes cookies étaient fabuleux, même avec mes changements de recette.

Samedi soir, on est sorti encore. On s'est déguisé encore, mais presque personne ne s'est déguisé pour la fête de Halloween pour le tournoi international de frisbee. C'était amusant quand même de m'être déguisée en cowboy, parce que j'ai mis mon chapeau de cowboy sur les gens que je trouvais beau. Quel jeu. J'ai rencontré plusieurs gens de l'équipe que je connaissais pas, et je rigolais avec ceux que je connaissais. Surtout Emma, la canadienne, qui me disais sans cesse, "Mardi, je ne m'en souviendrai pas du tout. I'm drunk!" Trop marrant.

Mais dimanche matin, j'ai du me lever tot pour aller chercher mon amie à l'aéroport. Elle est là maintenant pendant une semaine. Je ne sais pas quoi faire avec elle. C'est vrai que c'est sympa qu'elle soit là, mais seulement pour que je voie Paris de nouveau d'un oeil d'étrangère. Nous sommes montées l'Arc de Triomphe. La vue sur Paris était merveilleuse. J'ai même vu mon quartier ! J'ai pu voir les travaux qu'ils faisaient sur la bibliothèque près de mon appartement, avec leur drapeau vert, les lettres "GTM" inscrit là-dessus en blanc. Je pense à toi, mon père, quand je le vois.

Puis, on est allé à La Durée. J'ai acheté une Elysée, qui était un petit gâteau fait tout du chocolat. C'était trop bon. On a mangé chez Quick (the Quality Hamburger Restaurant), et on a écouté la musique que faisaient des gens africains.

En gros, ces jours sont longues, et je ne pense plus à mes devoirs, ce qui est affreux. Je dois me concentrer un peu, parce que le plus que je m'amuse, le plus que j'aurai à faire plus tard. Je pense que jeudi, je ne ferai que mes devoirs. Je vais laisser mon amie à l'hotel, et elle fera ce qu'elle veut. Je ne veux plus m'occuper d'elle, je vous jure. C'est dur d'être gentille.

D'accord, je ne vais plus me plaindre. Je vais peut-être me mettre à dormir, et demain, on SAURA LE PROCHAIN PRESIDENT DES ETATS-UNIS!!!! AIEEEEEEE même ma soeur d'accueil, qui a 10 ans, a peur pour l'avenir des Etats-Unis, si "celui que je nomme pas" gagne. Ce qui était sympa: mon amie lui a donné son bouton avec le visage d'Obama là-dessus.

BONNE NUIT, MONDE!


Oh aussi j'ai parlé beaucoup avec mon père d'accueil sur le sujet de la laicité en France, ce qui est la liberté en France par rapport aux Etats-Unis, et la culture des minorités dans les deux pays. C'était trop bon. Je dois me laisser ivrer plus avec lui. Il a des idées intéressantes, et je n'ai plus peur de me débattre contre les Français dans les débats (encore moins quand je suis bourrée).

Fête de HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

WHOOOO alright here's the news: my host dad just left, which means I officially have the house to myself until Sunday night!!!!!! HUZZAHH!!!!!!

As any normal 20-year old in a foreign land with an apartment to herself, I have decided to throw a party. There's 10 of us in all, all Smithies (including one from Geneva that I haven't seen since last year, who decided to visit Paris! Yay!), and I've got the menu all set. You ready for it?

Apératif:
- white wine
- apple juice
- guacamole (I'M MAKING IT) and chips
- tomato and mozzarella

Diner:
- The Christines are making some sort of Halloween punch
- salade with tomates, concombres, and mozzarella
- rice
- ratatouille
- lemon chicken (I just woke up from a dream in which I made this. It tasted delicious.)

Dessert:
- Mom's recipe for chocolate toffee crunch bars (I'm substituting re-baked Madeleine cookies for Nilla wafers, since there's no way that they exist here. Though I just got A BRILLIANT IDEA to use Oreos. So good or no good?)
- Pears and hot chocolate sauce
- Apple clafoutis (like a pie, but BETTER. More custard-y)

HOW GOOD? SO GOOD.


I need to find a cowboy hat, though. I'm also going to start making some decorations to hang, but not many, since I don't want to take over the house. I thought maybe balloons? That might make it just Halloweeny enough without having to put things on the walls, but I don't know how I'd pop them afterward. I guess I could just do it during the day, but I'm sure they have noise ordinances in Paris.

ANYWAY. It's going to be awesome. We're doing it tomorrow. My plan is to make the desserts today, and maybe the guacamole. Also, I have to call Restos du Coeur back for real today. It's good that I'm in Just Do It mode, or I might not have even called them back today. It's been awhile. I really do not speaking French on the phone.

Alright, I'm on it! Can do it! WHOO!

OH and the international frisbee championship, hosted by PARIS of all places, is THIS WEEKEND. Therefore, another Halloween party on Saturday! Ahhh best weekend EVERRR.

It's been awhile

I had a crazy weekend. We went to Normandie for the weekend, and it was pretty hectic.

Some highlights:
- Seeing the American Cemetary
- Playing with François, our assistant director's 9 year old son
- The 360 screen encircling movie about D Day (like the Canada movie in Disney World!)
- Drinking so much cider
- Walking up to the beaches
- Wearing my white coat
- Playing on the bus and re-enacting movies
- SO MANY AMERICANS
- Halloween decorations at the cider/crêpe restaurant we went to
- Finding my future home in a cozy shack by the sea
- Talking to Abby
- Learning that Best Westerns in France are the classiest thing ever. No joke.
- Eating dinner at the hotel (duck, mashed potatoes, soup, and chocolate mousse)
- After a little too much cider, hearing Alix say aloud, "Comment dit-on 'worst case scenario', Peebs?"
- Dinner when I got home to my host family, to curry chicken, rice, cheese, and pineapple from Nigeria!


In other news, I had a test today, and I may not have failed. I forget that my ADD kicks in during tests in general, but even worse when I haven't slept long enough.

Speaking of which, I think I'm about to get on that now. I'll post pictures soon, seeing as I took approximately 500.

Oh, also we changed our clocks! 3 days ago at this time, it would've been 12:20 a.m. *is tired*

QUICK UPDATE

Right so today was the day of my presentation. I wound up pulling my first real all-nighter EVER. I wound up preparing a pretty damn good 20 minute presentation for my Art History class. My teacher actually seemed pretty nice about it! He did seem anxious when he accidentally volunteered me to go this week, so all he said after I was done was that I should've focused more on the painting and could've delved further to find out that it was about the 100 year war. And he corrected my grammar. But with all luck, I didn't fail! Yay!

Also, I have the best friends EVER. I walked with Alix out of the class, and I was still super-loopy from not having slept. She said something about cookies, and I said that I really just wanted to sleep. Then, she said something about how Rachel and she had made them last night! They had stayed up till 1 trying to figure out how to make cookies in Rachel's apartment, since her host family was gone. They concocted a mixture of peanut M&M's, walnuts, peanuts, flour, brown sugar, and vanilla sugar. It was crazy. They actually reminded me of my grandma's cookies, since they were flat and chewy.

Before cookies, Alix and I went out for sushi, which was really nice and just what I needed.

AND THEN Rachel comes out with this box of eclairs and a napoleon! AHhhh it was too good.

Anyway, the moral is I'm going to sleep RIGHT NOW and not waking up until 10:15 a.m. Good night, world!!!


Oh, and I have ice cream. Can't get much better, considering the downfall of misery that was Monday and Tuesday! Wahoo, karma!

Dear world,

Things that are new in my life:

As of Friday:
- I got to see Sarah, a student from Smith who lived with my host family two years ago. She came over for dinner.
- We had a raclette!
- I tried to work on my research on this guy. No one knows who he is. Proving to be a difficult guy to track down. (Just trying to prove a point. The French know who he is, at least.)

As of Saturday:
- I learned how to make a chocolate cake with Elise and my host mom! We made it together, and Elise reminded me of me when I was little. And now. My mom still needs to get those last few stirs in, just to make sure everything's mixed. Hehe.
- I went to another dinner party! I love France.
- I met new people from Sciences Po.
- I came back home and left a note that said "Fur Elise" with a left over piece of cake.
- I did more research.

As of today:
- Went to the Louvre. Want to go back again all the time just to study. It was wonderful.
- Did more researching. Finally got a general "plan" together. Will finish tomorrow.


PLAN FOR MONDAY:
9:20: Leave for Spanish class
10:00 - 3:30: Class
4:00: Talk to Peebs
4:15: Lunch with Alix
5:00: Hit up La Bibliothèque Michelet to find that book
8:20: Leave for frisbee practice
10:45: Finish writing up presentation

PLAN FOR TUESDAY:
12:00: Go to Bibliotheque François Mitterand, if needed (if not, analyze painting. I'm pretty sure I have enough resources)
3:00: Practice like I've never practiced a presentation before
10:00: Do homework for Methodology
12:00: Practice one last time. Go to sleep

Do you know what they call a "Big Mac" in France?

A Royal Cheese. That's right! Not even "Royal with Cheese". Dirty lies, Tarantino.

So I finally got my McFlurry ("Mack-fleur-rie", which I had guessed right!)
I am a little more content.

Things about my presentation on Wednesday I am freaking out about, so that I can get them out of my system and put them in the Box of Uncontrollables:
- I've never taken an Art History class before
- I don't know any of the vocabulary in English, let alone in French
- The painting I have to talk about on Wednesday is not in Paris, so I can't even see it
- I've never seen how an oral presentation works in French
- I have to present on the first day of presentations
- I really only have this weekend and Tuesday to work on it

Things that won't be so bad:
- That means I have about a collective 40 hours to work with
- I can see another work of Révoil's at the Louvre and talk about it
- I saw the look of terror on my teacher's face when he volunteered me to go first since there were no other options, and he heard my accent and realized I wasn't French
- I'll get it over with so I don't have to worry about it later


Famous list of things I need to do and when to do them:

Friday:
11:00: Leave to meet up with Rachel for Trevor's sound test
2:00: Spanish class forever and ever
5:00: Go to Bibli Nationale if it's still open. Otherwise, do more internet research

Saturday:
- Outline presentation
- Go to Louvre
4:00: Make chocolate tarte for party
5:30: Leave for party
- Finish outlining presentation

Sunday:
- Don't dare go out, except to research



CAN DO IT. NEED TO GET THINGS TOGETHER.

Also, have other homework. Should do that sometime.

So cranky.

I woke up today, earlier than I would've liked. I was sort of planning to sleep until around 1 p.m., since I've been lacking on the sleep lately and have been more than a little exhausted. Also, I'm afraid of getting sick (knock on wood) since I haven't gotten sick yet, and I'm taking little precautions where I can.

I had my first real live French phone call. I wound up crying afterward. It's also been that time where I get mopey and anything can set me off, so it's not really that surprising. I called Restos du Coeur because they had left a message for me saying that they wanted to schedule an informational meeting. I called them up, and the woman said the next one would be Monday at 2:00 p.m. She asked me if that was already, and I said not really and asked when the next one would be. She said she'd just put me down for that one, and I was too flustered to say anything back. My lack of firmness and purpose in my voice plus the fact that I back down when confronted with anything that doesn't flow...

Anyway, I think I'm going to call back tomorrow in between my million classes. It's pretty non-stop from 9:30 to 20:30 tomorrow. I've got classes and some time between them, but not enough to really stop home. I may do it anyway, since I really haven't seen my host family in awhile.

After my phone call fiasco, I met up with this girl who graduated from Smith this past year. She was abroad in Paris two years ago, and she lived with my host family! We got together for coffee to discuss Paris life and our host family. She told me a bunch of fun embarassing stories, including the one about how I got the bed that I have now. She told me about how it was December and she was really stressed out. She threw herself onto the bed, and the wooden frame on the bottom cracked. So now I have a newish bed!

She seemed like a really cool person, and I'm glad we got together. She had tons of fun stories, including re-settling into Paris life. After hearing about all the paperwork she had to do, I feel a little more grateful for the steps Smith has taken to make things easier for us (though I'm still pissed at Peebster for choosing not to help me with my Spanish class situation).

After that, I rushed home, got my stuff together, and headed out for frisbee. I hadn't eaten much all day. Before I went to practice, I figured out how I could get to McDonald's. I am CRAVING comfort food, and all I wanted was a McFlurry. The whole practice, I pushed myself, knowing that the end of practice would mean a tasty, creamy, icy treat.

I was on the metro, dreaming of my ice cream, looking out the window. I looked down to the sidewalk below and, written in chalk below someone special's window, there were the words "JE T'AIME!". It made me smile out loud. Yes, yes it did.

I got off the metro and was walking to McDo, when I saw those little plastic yellow yield signs that people buy for their cars. It said "Bébé à bord!" and it made me laugh that "Baby on board" really translates.

However, after the 15 minute walk to McDo at quarter to midnight, I asked for my "MacFleurrie", and the woman replied, in English, "I am sorry, no ice!" ("glace" in French means both "ice" and "ice cream")

I could've cried right then, saying my, "C'est pas grave". It really was grave!

Anyway, it kept me going through frisbee practice, and I guess that's all that matters. Now, time for shower, cheese and bread, homework, and SLEEP before I have the longest day of my life.

Good night!

Chère la Sorbonne,

I do not like doing homework. You give me too much. I have class from 10:00 until 3:30. No stops. Plus, I have to run from one class to another (RUN) to make it to class on time. This is not a good thing.

Also, I just got back from a party that YOU hosted for your international students. WTF, Sorbonne? I have two of your classes tomorrow AND I have to find the time to register for another one that I don't have on my schedule yet.

PLUS I have to find time to sleep and have so much fun in the city of lights! This is too hard! Something's gotta give. And I think it's you.

We had an okay first week. I think I'm done, though. No more classes for me. I'm ready to throw in the towel and just live as a street performer. Just me and my guitare.

I hope you understand. It's not you; it's me.

Love,
Jamie

Minou!

I'm watching Monsters and Co. in French on a Friday night.

I passed on salsa night in favor of staying in and watching Disney movies with Alix. It was a good choice, since my body was BEAT. I still hate having classes on Friday, but I'm sure I'll get by. Also, I've planned on not taking any Spanish classes next semester and just chilling out. I can take my last Spanish class my senior year at Smith.

I'm not sure what's on the menu for this weekend. I think tomorrow is going to be Thanksgiving (a store with American specialties!), maybe some makeover time for me (we'll see.. I think the main thing that I've got planned is to dye my hair, since my personal shopping assistant doesn't seem up for the shopping portion tomorrow), and my Spanish homework.

Sunday involves a Sorbonne party and Elise's Ratatouille "Anyone Can Cook" cookbook for hamburgers. Monday is Catherine's party for her birthday.

I'm glad that things have been a bit more laid-back. I'm not always ready for Paris: Guerilla Style. I was just thinking about how I really haven't had a day for myself in awhile. I liked just having one day where I stayed home all day and wrote postcards. I need that sometimes.

It's 3 a.m. in Paris, so I should probably hit the hay. Bonne nuit!

I'm posting my schedule, as much for your information as for mine

It's been friggin insane around here lately. My classes are all up and running, which makes me realize just how many things I wanted to take. I didn't realize that they would all clash with each other, and it seems that Smith isn't as willing to help with things as I had originally thought. I've been basically on my own as the only other person in the program taking a living Romance language, and I've been shit out of luck so far in trying to sort out my Spanish classes.

In any case, my fat lip has stopped swelling, the weather was gorgeous today, and I got to go to my teacher's apartment today by the enormous Bibliothèque Nationale (National Library, the huge François Mitterrand one). We discussed my interest in "Restos du Coeur", and she talked me through the process of applying. Also, she has a cute dog named "Eclipse". She took to me right away and even layed on me for most of the time. I'm glad I wound up going to my teacher's apartment instead of meeting at Reid Hall. I really liked getting to play with her dog, and I even found some really good pizza around the corner. The guy behind the counter playfully made fun of my accent, and when he was filling my bag with the pizza and apple juice I had ordered, he reached behind the counter and pulled out a pink straw for me. It was kind of adorable.

I also just love looking at the Bibliothèque Nationale. It's stunning! On the way back home, I took the RER, which is kind of like Metro North. It's the commuter rail, and the trains have two levels. I love sitting upstairs. I wound up taking the RER, since I knew I wouldn't have to transfer. I had never taken it alone before, and it was quite relaxing. I ate my pizza and people-watched. I got excited when we went above ground, and we even saw a Statue of Liberty that I didn't know about just along the Seine! It took probably 15-20 minutes longer than it would have if I had just taken the metro with the transfers, but it felt good to sit and look around for awhile.

Without further ado, my schedule!

Monday:
10:00 - 11:30: Spanish (Theme class) at Clignancourt
11:30 - 12:30: Spanish (Modern Version) at Clignancourt
13:00 - 15:30: La France et l'Europe (at Middlebury Center, which takes exactly a half hour to get to. Also, I got lost trying to get there the first time, so I've already missed 1.5 classes. It's going to be a pain in the ass to get from Clignancourt to Madeleine in exactly a half hour. I also have to remember to buy lunch beforehand!)
21:00 - 22:15: Indoor Frisbee Practice! (takes about an hour to get there and back though)

Tuesday:
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. YES YOU HEARD RIGHT. I'm about to fill out my application for Restos du Coeur, and hopefully I'll be volunteering on Tuesdays and Thursdays, since I don't have anything else. Except...
20:30 - 23:00: Outdoor Frisbee Practice! Less fun! Especially in the rain! (an hour there and back)

Wednesday:
9:30 - 11:30: Methodology at Reid Hall
12:00 - 13:00: Art History TD
14:00 - 16:00: Art History extra help course (every other week)
18:30 - 20:30: Art History lecture

Thursday:
Nothing! For real! No frisbee practice or anything! We might make it our salsa night, once people start getting their business together.

Friday:
14:00 - 15:00: Spanish lecture at Clignancourt
15:00 - 16:30: Spanish (Classic Version) at Clignancourt


So not too bad. It just sucks that my Mondays and Wednesdays are death. It meant that this week went by pretty quickly, which is nice. I hope that it keeps up, and I don't start stressing too much. Right now, I've just cleaned my room, I'm about to settle down to get all of my homework done that I have so far, and I have water with sirop de citron. Mmm.

Also, it's 7:00, which means dinner in an hour with all luck. I just heard my host mom come home, I think, so that's all you get for now! Bisous!

Frisbupdate:

So there's this girl Giovane, right? And she looks exactly like what Ruth would look like, if she were 100% Italian. She even started stalling me in Italian today! (uno... due... tre. I thought of you, Chris, if you read this!)

BUT THEN. We were both going for the disc, and now I have a fat lip where she smacked me in the face. I'm going to fetch something cold and take some Tylenol to help the swelling. Maybe.

Barghhh I don't want to look like Melanie Griffith!!!!!


Also, I had Spanish today, and I had 5 hours of class IN A ROW and I don't know if I'll survive Mondays. I'll tell you later, though.

*ahem*

Dear Paris,

Nuit Blanche was a bust and a half. We tried the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, and a train station where there was supposed to be a Bollywood show. We waited until midnight. No fun.

Instead we wound up splitting off (after seeing boys from Reid at the train station!), going to Montparnasse for 1 a.m. pizza and waffles, sitting and talking for a half hour, and going home.

Not the night I expected, nor the night I wanted. It was okay nonetheless, and I'm as always thankful for the friends that I have here. It's hard to think of what it would've been like if I didn't have anyone with whom to laugh at the situation.

It was a nice night anyway, with the weird gay boys in that metro, and the Penn guys that we met, and the street food, and the waiting in Reid Hall for like 3 hours, and tomatoes and prosciutto for dinner in the jardin du Luxembourg.

Maybe next time, we'll read the website more closely. Thanks for harvesting a little bit of amusing times, anyway.

Love,
Jamie


P.S. ABBY MCINTYRE, WHERE WERE YOU? And did you have more fun than me? You should tell me about it.

Chocolate truffles from Monoprix might be just as good as those from a chocolatier.

Even though they're not covered in cocoa. So good.

I'm in Reid Hall with Alix and her friend from Oberlin. We're getting ready for les Nuits Blanche. Basically, every neat museum/exhibition is open ALL NIGHT LONG. We're starting at Musée d'Orsay, and then making our way around Paris. The metro closes at 2, but one line is staying open all night. It is sure to be goodtimes.

I had my first Spanish class on Friday. First off, Friday classes are no fun. Second, I've just discovered that I'm taking 19 credits, plus the volunteering class, plus actually volunteering with Restos du Coeur ("restaurants for the heart"). Plus, I was hoping to become a waitress. We'll see.

In any case, Spanish class was kind of neat. I didn't like that it was conducted in French, and it seems like it's more of a linguistics class than anything. I sat next to a girl, who I talked to for a little bit. However, I didn't catch her name or where she was from, because she had a heavy accent. She may have been from Spain? She's on the Erasmus program, which I don't know about.

Anyway, about to get ready for Nuit Blanche! Have a good evening, world!

Owwww heels are always a bad idea!

I hope that I'm wearing them in, though. Maybe they'll get better?

I'm kind of doubting it. I even stealthily wore socks under my stockings, since I knew I was going to be dying. It hurt anyway.

Today, my Phonetics class was cancelled. I found this out when I woke up, turned on my computer, checked my e-mail, and promptly pondered whether or not I should go back to sleep. I did not, but I spent about 5 hours doing the following:
- shower
- www.mixwit.com/jmeliado (I'm kind of in love with making mixed tapes now)
- breakfast of Corn Flakes
- writing out lots of letters and postcards!

I got an e-mail from our associate director saying that I had to give her more identification photos for my carte de séjour, so I finally got my butt in gear and left for Reid Hall. I gave in my photos and a receipt from the Louvre (so I could be reimbursed for the ticket to get in), printed out the forms that I need to register for the frisbee team, and finished up my letters so I could send them off.

For some reason, my legs felt like they were seizing today. I tried to walk it out, but it was really annoying. I hope that my endurance for the crazy running we do at frisbee practice starts improving so I'm not dying after every practice.

Anyway, I walked around for a really long while, hoping it would help my legs. I got back home, and our maid was doing the ironing. She is really sweet. Later, we had a dinner of penne (with parmesan, onions, and cream), bread and cheese (Camembert, Conté, and Chèvre), and grapes and apples for dessert. So good!

Afterward, I got a random Skype message from Alix, asking if I wanted to go to Bar Dix. I thought that there would be more of us coming, but it turned out that it was just the two of us, and we both wound up showing up at the same time, twenty minutes after we said we'd meet up. After an evening of hilarity, including never finding Bar Dix, getting not-so-hopelessly lost, pretending we were deaf, getting hit on anyway, meeting up with Rachel, me calling the wrong Rachel 6 times, getting up to Gare de Nord to meet up with Alix's friend, checking him into his hostel, giving up on finding street waffles...

Anyway, here I am, with sore feet, wide eyes, and complete unwillingness to wake up in 8 hours to get to class for 9:30. Boo. We'll see. I also might take a quick nap and wake up to see the Vice Presidential Debate. Whoo!

Also, you need to watch this:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1832128

Guess what?

I bought a guitar! It is this one:

http://www.music123.com/Yamaha-JR1-Mini-Folk-Guitar-510692-i1146546.Music123

I love it muchly. I brought it to the Louvre today, which was a little bit of bad planning on my part. I had to check it with the coat guys, who were majorly hitting on us while we went to get our stuff afterward.

As neat as it was going to the Louvre for an art history lesson, it was kind of lame. Our professor was pretty condescending in a faux-sweet way. I'm glad I only have to see her once every two weeks.

Everything's going really well so far. The only thing that's bugging me is that I keep over-planning my days. I think that this has had a major impact on my sleeping schedules. Each night for the past 3 nights, I've dreamt about what I was going to do the next day, completely. Monday night, though, I remember dreaming that I went home for a day but I was trying to run around, get to frisbee practice on time, find the things in my room that I wanted to bring back to France, see everyone at Smith, and hang with the family. Somehow, my mom wound up at frisbee practice. It was really weird.

I think it might also have something to do with the fact that I've been using my computer in my bed. I think I should reserve my bed for only sleeptimes.

But it's hard! My desk is right by the window, and it gets so cold!

I'm going to try to go to sleep soon so I'm well rested for tomorrow. A bientot, tout le monde!

Good night!

I had dinner with my host family, and it was lovely. Afterward, I wound up talking to my host dad about the differences between holidays in our countries. We both thought it was ridiculous that they tried to make Halloween happen here.

Then, Elise and I watched Wallace and Gromit! We watched the trousers episode and the one with Shaun the sheep. It was adorable.

When we finished, she said, "Ben, bon, je te souhaite une bonne nuit parce que je dois aller à l'école demain." Trop adorable. She's like a little person.

I'm going to finish watching the presidential debate, finish typing out my schedule, and I could quite easily go to sleep RIGHT NOW. I just might.

Bonne nuit!

What a weekend.

I saw around 5 castles. I had a night of a fondue dinner, which was spent mostly playing games with our associate director's 9 and a half year old son, François.

I am still tired from running around. Also, I had more metro problems today. There was an accident between Charles de Gaulle-Etoile and Denfert-Rochereau (I had just missed the train and had waited 10 minutes to hear the announcement that there had been an accident. I'm glad that I hadn't gotten on that train). It took me an hour and a half to walk to the closest metro station not on the line 6 and get to Reid Hall to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. It was really cute and nice. Alix put it all together, and I could tell she was a little stressed out but really happy for having planned everything out.

We had apples and honey for a sweet new year. Then, I ran to the metro to get all the way up to Porte de Clignancourt to register for my Spanish class. They asked me if I was an Erasmus student, and I still don't know if I will be treated like those other international students. In any case, I signed up like a regular old Sorbonne student, which apparently means that I've got one big general class and FOUR other sessions per week. Just for my Spanish class! I'm not sure if that's right, so I'm going to send an e-mail to P. Bloom. Hopefully he'll know what to do. Also, he likes me, so he'll call the Sorbonne for me to sort things out.

I wound up missing my first class of France and Europe, but I know a girl in the class. Hopefully, it won't be a problem that I missed class to sign up for my Spanish class. I e-mailed the teacher last night. I never know what French teachers want to hear. Well, except for nothing, which is why it's always weird to send apologetic e-mails for missing class.

In any case, my first real live class is tomorrow, and that's just Phonetics. It's basically a continuation of our orientation session of learning how to pronounce words properly. I find it amusing to think of the people that didn't wind up taking the course. You can always use practice! I know I don't think that I'm above wanting to sound like a French person. I'm definitely not even close.

Today:
- Nap
- E-mail P.B.
- Get pictures taken in the metro for my carte de séjour
- Buy a guitar

Seriously dude, just have a freakin' gaufre and shut up.

I should hang out with Rachel more.

I COMPLETELY forgot to pack for our field trip tomorrow. We're staying overnight at Chateau de la Loire in a hotel, and we're exploring castles and eating fondue and hanging out and riding biclettes and it's going to be adorable.

But mainly I need sleep and I hope you're all doing well. I hope I don't forget to pack anything!

Doing laundry is always a good plan.

It seems that the dryer likes me today!

Also, I FINALLY bought pants here! I was in dire need of new pants. I bought them at the Monoprix, which vaguely ressembles a Target. Some are just supermarkets, some are supermarkets + clothing stores, some are really small essentials markets. In any case, I went to the one on Avenue des Champs-Elysees, which is basically 42nd Street but a lot more French. There's a movie theatre every couple buildings, car dealerships, gorgeous patisseries, and of course, McDonald's (or "Mack-doe", as they call it here). There's also a place called "Quick" which says, in English, "Fast hamburger restaurant".

I am never at a loss for amusing signs in English here. Yesterday, I saw a sign that said, "Alcool and stranger wine". I'm pretty sure they meant to translate it as "Alcohol and foreign wine".

I went to frisbee practice again this week. It's only Mondays and Tuesdays for now, while the hard-core players practice on Thursdays. Wednesdays are for super-beginners. I love how the French say "Ultimate". They call the sport "l'Ultimate", which is pronounced "lool-tee-MAYT". I made new friends: Emma (the Canadienne), Kevin (the Francais), Brilleu (which may or may not be how to spell his name), Giovane (easily Spanish or Italian), Kristin (the Amherst player), Jeff (the kid from GWU who's too competitive for my taste) Emery (the American who was quite taken with me at indoor practice), and Inga.

When I tell my Smithie friends about the people I'm meeting at ultimate, they get jealous because they haven't found any real groups that they feel a part of. That's what I love about ultimate frisbee: it's pretty much the same feeling everywhere. Spirit of the game is super important, everyone is ALWAYS late, but everyone works really hard for the team.


In other news, my blisters having blisters has gotten worse, and now my blisters' blisters have blisters. I could hardly walk today. We went to the Musée Carnavalet, which was all about the history of France and its people. It was really interesting, but I found it a little dry. It felt like a history lesson that I'd already had, but the building was stunning, as usual.

Afterward, Alix, Hannah, Rachel, and I went to a cute Israeli restaurant. They got bagels, and I got a mini veggie pizza with hot chocolate. SO GOOD. Alix and Hannah decided that we'd have to celebrate Rosh Hoshannah, so we went next door to check out the wine selection. No Manuschevitz, but there WAS Kedem! Woot!

We decided to walk home. Also a poor plan for my poor feet.



We walked along the yellow line 1. We were on the right, at stop Saint-Paul, and I had to walk all the way to the end, and then further along the blue line past Charles de Gaulle to Victor Hugo. It took about an hour, but it was a nice walk. I'm just worried about walking tomorrow, since my feet really are killing me. I may take a bath tonight. Mm, that sounds nice.


Tomorrow, we have our last official meeting of our orientation program. Mme Toumi (or just "Toumi" among us, pronounced "Too-mee") has us going on another jeu de piste (scavenger hunt) and will meet up with us afterward at the bar called "Deux Moulins", where Amelie went to in the movie Amelie! She also inferred to the fact that she may be sitting there drinking a bit while she waits for us to arrive.


On Saturday, we leave at 7:30 a.m. from Reid Hall to go to Chateau de la Loire. It'll take about 2 hours to get there. We're staying overnight, and we have lots of fun activities. Our first night there, we're having a fondue night for dinner.


Alright, I'm going to check on my laundry, take a bath, plan our course for tomorrow's scavenger hunt, and go to sleep! Good night, world!

News brief!

- I went to find a ukulele or a guitar today. I had no luck in finding one within my price range, but my host dad is going to recommend a place for me tomorrow when he passes by music stores looking for something for Elise's cello.

- There really is no ABCDEFG in the music here! I asked the music store guy how a ukulele was tuned, and he said it in doremifasollatido speak. They don't assign letters to notes; only do-re-mi's!

- I COMPLETELY forgot about frisbee practice today until my host mom was serving dinner and told me to eat up because I'd be playing sport tonight. Oh lordy.

- Indoor was AWESOME. There were 8 of us, half-American, half-French. The old dude leading it, Emery, was super-cool and very taken with me. At the end of practice, he told me that I was a lot of fun to play with and he enjoyed having me. I met a kid named Jeff who goes to GWU and came to France to see his French lover, a kid named Brilleu? who is a lawyer, and I saw my Irish boy again WHO TOLD ME THAT THERE IS A UKULELE NIGHT AT A PUB SOMEWHERE!!! I think I am in love.

- My BLISTERS have blisters.

- I am so glad I found frisbee here.

REMINDER tomorrow the RER B may be closed because of strikes, so I have to find a new way to go to practice! It's the 3-hour practice which is sure to kick my ass, and my host mom bought me a sandwich in preparation for it. So cute!

Paris is so alive!

And yet I am here, doing nothing. It feels kind of nice to be home and just chilling, but I really would've preferred going to the Marais tonight. I was all ready to go, when I checked with my friend to see what time we'd meet up, and she said that she didn't feel like going anymore.

It would've been SO much better if I could've gotten out of the house. After 2 hours of half-hearted deliberation, I knew I wouldn't go out alone. Bad idea to go out alone, obviously, but I feel like it would've been a much better night if I had.

For now, I'm watching Wall-E and contemplating a gouter (snack). Which is also nice. However, I'm still all spiffed up and nowhere to go. I'm going to sleep in my shirt and skirt out of spite.

Today was nice otherwise. I woke up at around noon and texted Alix, since we were supposed to go to a "puce" (literally translates to "flea" and means "flea market"). She called me, all excited, and told me that I should feel left out because she was having so much fun.

I wound up going out with Hannah, Rachel H., and Maddie R. We started at a puce in the 13eme arrondissement, around Chinatown. They bought some jewelry, and I kept my eyes peeled for a really old guitar. No such luck.

Then, we walked to the Place d'Italie metro stop to head over to Angelina. It is a gorgeous patisserie with the world's best hot chocolate. I wound up getting a chocolate eclair type thing and a hot chocolate. Mmmm.

We walked around the Tuileries for awhile and enjoyed the nice weather. We whistled at attractive people from the park and tried to make plans for later.

Unfortunately, everyone was kind of beat. I'm always ready to party, but it seems like people have been more and more worn out lately.

Hopefully I can get something together for tomorrow. Maybe we can all get together to go to Bar Dix again (we never made it into Chez Georges last night).

Alright, I'm going to fix myself up a gouter and hit the hay! Bah hah ha.

Good night, world!

Aw! I just heard my host parents kiss outside my door.

Right so last night's adventures were sort of a bust again. I kind of don't like that we always wind up getting lost and not knowing where to go. And/or people don't like our options for bars because they're not Paris chic enough. Whatever, you guys.

Tonight, we're going to Chez George. Really. It's going to be hilarious.

Last night, we went to an Indian restaurant. It was at Place Brady, which was this super-tiny block FILLED with Indian restaurants. Outside of each one, there was a guy waiting outside, waiting to run his spiel on innocent tourists. Each one was "the best deal" with everything that you could possibly want, and if you didn't like something, you would get it for free. We stopped at the second restaurant and had a whole lot of food for a reasonable amount of euros. There were seven of us altogether, and we talked about anything and everything. It was really nice.

But then, we wound up getting super-lost while trying to find the Marais, and so we all kind of revealed our life stories as we were walking around. Which was nice, but not what I was looking for. Still nice, though.

However that means that I'm still looking forward to mad partying tonight. I am quite excited.


Dinner now with the parents and dad's sister (Elise is at her friend's house for the weekend). And then GETTING MY PARTY ON! WHOO!

Bonne soirée, mes amis!

C'est la fête!!!!

What what!!!!

So after the craziest night ever of very little sleep, I got to school to bang out my last French History and last Oral Communication classes. I was really worried that I was going to have to peace out early to go to the Sorbonne for a placement test for Spanish. Luckily, I talked to our director and he was all, Oh don't worry about it, we're American universities, we just walk in like we own the place and you can take absolutely any course you want.

After classes, a few of us went to get sushi. Which was SO NICE.

Also, Alix commented that I have a Mona Lisa-esque beauty. In my sleepy stupor, I was quite taken with her comment.

We got back to take our history test, which was actually harder than I thought it would be, in that I actually had to think to respond to the questions. I put on my MP3 player while I was doing the test, because I kept zoning out. "Don't Stop Believing" pushed me through the last leg of the test, which was helpful.


And now tonight, we're going to get Indian food in the 10eme arrondissement, and then prendre un verre ensemble. I am QUITE excited! I haven't really fêtéd since I've been here.

Also also, French and English are really mixing in my brain and speaking is flat out HARD. I feel bad for my family, but I still get self-conscious when I get the "Huh?" face from the second I start talking. Being sleepy and punchy is helping because I cancel out their confusion with my enthusiasm. It worked today!


Right so shower, write down directions, figure out outfit, PARTY TIMEEEEEE OH I love the weekend!

I promised I'd do my homework right after I updated, but then I started procrastinating updating the blog!

Right so it's been crazy. I've been catching up on sleep any spare moment I could grab, since I was exhausted after frisbee practice on Tuesday. I'm still stretching whenever I get up from sitting down, and I still forget that my legs can't do full ranges of motion on things like stairs.

Today was quite nice. Aside from thinking it was Friday all morning, classes were alright. I had my last France Contemporaine with hot lady teacher and Phonetics (though I'm going to continue taking it next semester). Afterward, since I didn't want to see the informational session on internships, Abby, Hannah, Rachel, and I went shopping! First, we went to Bagels and Brownies (I shit you not) to get... well, I did get a bagel and a brownie! I got the "San Francisco", I think, which was swiss cheese, tomatoes, avocadoes, and lettuce. Mmmm.

We stopped at this chic boutique, and then moseyed our way over to the 3 for 10 euro scarf place that Rachel knew. Abby and I looked at scarves, but we only wanted one each. A French woman came over to the rack and asked if we spoke French. We said yes, and she told us that if we bought 3, if would be cheaper. I told her that we knew, but that we only wanted one scarf each. Abby and I both assumed that she just meant that we should find someone to get a third scarf, but she picked out a brown one that she liked. She checked it out for a couple seconds to make sure that was the one she wanted, and then she decidedly gestured for us to hand over our scarves.

She went up to the register and bought the three scarves. Abby and I hung back, since we wanted to be discreet. The woman finished her purchase and took us to the corner of the store. She gave us the scarves, and we gave her the money. Unfortunately, I didn't have the change for 3.50, so I gave her 4.00. She asked if I had the change, and I said no, but that it wasn't important. She replied, shocked, that it was important! We had made a good deal! So she scrounged in her change purse for the 50 centimes and handed them over. It was so sweet of her.

Then we went to H&M. Again. I swear, H&M has at least of my allotted lunch money for two months right now. I bought 2 cute shirts and stockings that I desperately needed.

Things that I still need to buy:
- lotion
- heels
- boots
- pants
- tissues
- ukulele

Afterward, I came home to rest for a bit. I sent out some mail that I'd been meaning to send when I walked the wrong way down the street and found a post office. It was so nice out this afternoon! I came into the apartment, and the woman who does the ironing was there. I said hi, and we talked for a little bit. She told me that she'd been working for the family for 13 years and had done all the cleaning before. Now, she just does the ironing once a week. She is super-duper sweet and very smiley. However, I do not know her name. I do know that her daughter's name is Myriam, though.

Then, I left to meet Hannah at Reid Hall to go out with her boy. We waited for awhile, and the boy was nowhere to be found. For consolation, we walked to get a waffle in our new super kawaii outfits. We ordered our waffles at a little stand, 2 waffles with Nutella. The man behind the stand responded in English to our accented French and asked where we were from. When I said the United States, he said, "Oh? Boston? Chicago?" I told him New York, and he said that he loved New York. Multiple times. He said that the girls there are very pretty. I said that I agreed. He pretty much just kept repeating that he loved New York, and while he was putting the Nutella on my waffle, he kept putting more on and asking me if I wanted more. I guess there's only so much that a Waffle Man can do to impress a girl.

After being super paranoid about eating our warm drippy chocolatey hazelnutty waffles on the street, we walked back to Reid Hall to see if the boy grew a pair. He did not. Since I had time before I had to get back for dinner, we walked to a nearby church, just for kicks. It was really pretty.

Side note: It is hard to believe that that was the first church I've been inside since I've been here. They're on like every corner, and I haven't even been inside the famous ones! I haven't even been in a museum, either. This must be remedied asap. It should happen this weekend, since it's the journées de patrimoine, which basically means that everything that's never open is open this weekend, for one time each year. Crazy long lines, but I hope we find good things to do.


I just had dinner with Elise and my host mom, since host dad was at work late. We had soup and salad, and then for cheese, we had Saint Marcelin, chèvre, conté, and Camembert, which my host mom didn't seem to fond of, since it's kind of dull. I agree.

We spent most of the dinner singing High School Musical songs that Elise knew (apparently, they only dub the dialogue in musicals, and the songs stay in English, but with French subtitles). We also played those hand clapping games, and she taught me a lot of funny songs that she knew. She is a hoot.



And now, I should probably get on the homework situation. I have to read about 20 pages of a Sarkozy address, and I have to study for my big ol' history test tomorrow. Afterward, dinner = Indian food in the 10ème arrondissement! Woot!

Holy Jesus.

I JUST got back from frisbee practice.

That's right. It is MIDNIGHT.

IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD OMG I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS YEAR!



I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START.


THE BEGINNING. Okay. So I got back from the park with Hannah and Aarin at around 6:00. I got dressed, talked to my mom, got ready, and left an hour later. Before I left, I filled two water bottles, packed an apple, ate two little Mirabelles, and let my host mom coax me into bringing a sandwich that I'm pretty sure she bought for her real daughter. I got to practice EXACTLY at 8:30, when it started. I threw around with Hubert, the guy that I met yesterday. We ran SO GODDAMN MUCH. We ran around the track for the first 20 minutes, stretched, and then did running drills for the next half hour. Then, throwing practice with pairs of newbies/oldbies. I threw with a certain Mr. Benoit, who was surfer dude-esque and helped me with my throws. Then, we split off into groups based on skill level. I went into the newbie pile, since I didn't know where I fit. I met Marie, who lives by Gare du Nord like everyone else, Geraldine, Kellie, Lindsey, and KRISTIN???? Who played with Amherst??? What are the fucking odds of that??? And she said there are even more Amherst folk on the team, too!

That's what else. There WERE about 50 of us. We OWNED the stadium. I have never seen so many people on one team. It was definitely a lot more competitive than Lunadisc, but I assumed that from the start.

After throwing around, we broke into teams to scrimmage. At this point, I felt like I had bowling balls in my calves, which, if I jumped for the disc, held me flat down on the ground. Blisters were inevitably forming in my new cleats, my face was as red as a beet, and I was struggling to understand how to say certain terms in French.

Tomas helped me out a lot. I think he's some sort of captain, because he had a way of making his presence apparent. When I told him that I was studying here for the year, he said, "Oh, sweet!" Which is adorable, coming from a French person.

Anyway, we finished when the stadium lights turned off, which was at about 11:00. Oh! And I made a completed pass! Which led to a score! I called "poached" at the Australian guy when my girl wasn't marking me (do you know how hot an Australian accent is in French? I'm pretty sure it's a universally hot accent).

I left with this kid Vin (Vain? All I know is it's that horrible EUGHN sound that them French people make) and a couple others to walk to the RER station. When I switched trains, I ravenously took out my sandwich and chugged down both bottles of water. I can't believe that I hadn't eaten since noon! That's friggin CRAZY.

And now, I have dinner waiting on the stove, a bath that's calling my name as loud as the dickens, and I'm so afraid to get up for fear that my legs will just SEIZE. I nearly cried in pain while going down the stairs to the metro. I heard the horrible ring of the train about to leave, and I jumped on just before the doors closed. I must have looked such a mess, but it felt SO good to sit down. The two blocks from my metro station were pure torture. I'm glad I didn't decide to take the metro stop further from the apartment.

OH! I figured out what was wrong with my computer charger!!! It was the converter!! I never NEEDED the converter! I just needed the adapter, but I didn't know that my plug fit in it! YAHOOOOOOO ENDLESS COMPUTER PARTY TIME!!!!

So I'll be up for at least the next hour for shower, dinner, and homework, in that order. Bonne nuit, mes amis!


P.S. A monsieur G.T. Meliado has yet to make his presence on this blog. He should get on it ASAP.

J'ai toujours besoin d'une sieste.

Bonjour, tout le monde! I am at Reid hall, waiting for our excursion to the Senate.

Whoaz! A girl named Sarah just came into the computer room. She just said that she was a student that studied here two years ago, and now she's working as an English teacher here! AND she had the same family that I have now! Exciting!

So my weekend was WICKED awesome. Friday, I just chilled.. I think. The days are all kind of mushing together. That was the night we saw A bout de souffle. Then Saturday, I chilled most of the day, until nighttime when Rebecca, Hannah, Abby, and I went out to dinner. I had a thin crepe filled with cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It was like a pizza. Friggin awesome.

Afterward, we went to see the Eiffel Tower. Hannah NEEDED a street waffle, and I wound up getting a chocolate ice cream cone. We sat by the Seine to wait for the Eiffel Tower to do the sparkle shiny show. It was astonishing, as usual. While it was sparkling, we walked under it to see what it looked like from underneath. I felt like I could get an epileptic seizure from looking at the light patterns zoom by all around us.

Then, we stayed to watch four breakdancers do their thing. They were pretty awesome.

Sunday, we tried to visit Versailles. It took two hours to get there, whereas it would've taken a half hour, if we had taken the right trains. Paris transportation is still a mystery to me. Then, when we tried to get into the castle, we saw that there was a long line just to get in. We wound up just picnicking outside of the castle and people-watching, which was also very nice.

We didn't get to go into the gardens by the castle either, since we had to pay to get in (though we later found out that there are free entrances all around). Instead, we walked to a nearby park. It was GORGEOUS. We had a photo shoot and took a sieste on the grass.


I had my first ultimate experience, which was crazy. It took about an hour to get to the practice space, and when I got there, there were only two other guys there. They said that their coach wasn't there yet, so they weren't sure what to do. Luckily, I was the only one who brought a disc, so we threw around for awhile and ran some drills. I even taught them a go-to drill that they didn't know! Tonight, I think Aarin is going to come with me to practice. This is the real deal. Hubert said that there'd be about 50 of us tonight. I'm kind of nervous, since practice starts at 8:30, and I eat at 8. I feel bad about leaving my family hanging, but hopefully they'll understand.

I'm going to retire for a couple minutes in these wonderful chairs and take a quick nap before heading out for a tour of the Senate. J'espère que tout va bien, mes amis!


OH and I got mail today and that makes me really happy, so it should keep happening, okay?

I am lazy, so you get a picture post!

I've got pictures of the mosque and Sorbonne from Thursday, and pictures from yesterday. I tagged along with Zoe and Rebecca to this museum/garden/menagerie. They were just zipping through things, and I think they got impatient when I took about 100 pictures of the gorgeous gardens.

Last night, Abby, Hannah, Rachel, and I went to see "A bout de souffle" at the Entrepot theatre. It was really neat and a super French experience. It was very satisfying.

Less satisfying was our running around afterward trying to find a cafe. We didn't know what time the metro closed on Fridays, so we parted ways soon after.

Also, the Pope is in town, so traffic and transportation has been crazy. I considered going to see him speak, but I wasn't really interested. Especially with all of the foules (crowds) and crazyness.


Without further ado, pictures!!

These are from the mosquée:



The library










The Sorbonne courtyard. They're doing renovations until 2010, but it's still an astounding building.



And here are the pictures from the garden:




















Giant geode from Brazil!


Okay, I am going to take a nap and then see what exciting things I can do today. This morning, my host mom took me to market (like a farmer's market) to buy fruits and vegetables. There was even an indoors market for cheese, cream, and meat. The butchery was crazy. I've never seen so much meat in my life. There was a little patisserie with little cookies and cakes decorated with sparkles of gold. It was really neat.

AND we bought avocados. She cut them up and added lemon juice and tomatoes to eat with lunch. Mmmm.

Also, there's a seperate store for frozen goods. It's all frozen! It's really neat.

A plus, mes amis!

Damn! I closed my window at just the right time!

I left my room to get my clothes from the dryer, talked to Elise for a little bit, and came back to my room. I looked out the window, and it was dark. I figured it was just because it was nighttime, but the second I closed my window and drapes, I heard rain falling! Which is good, because it's been hella hot here. Hopefully, that'll cool it off some.

I woke up this morning with just enough time to get to school on time. Classes were good. Then, Hannah, Rachel, Abby, and I tried this place called "Wokbar". It was super classy, in the fast food kind of way. They had Thai food, Italian food, and Vegetarian food. I got penne with pesto. Delicieux!

We ate in the jardin du Luxembourg, and then hauled ass out of there to make it on time to a mosque in the 5ème arrondissement, where we met up with the rest of our Smithies. We had a tour guide explain that it was made in the 1920's with over 400 artists and architects. There were fountains in the garden and beautiful mosaics made by hand. I'll put up pictures tonight.

We stopped at a tea place nearby. We had minty honey tea, and it was scrumptiously delicious. I got some baklava, which was really really good too. I wound up getting pretty sticky, though. Ew.

Afterward, we walked to the Sorbonne. It is super-old and really pretty. I'm excited to start classes there. After that, we walked near the bridge over to Ile de la Cité, and we were going to stop at a restaurant. Abby and I peaced out because we were beat and were not hungry. I came home, said hi to our housekeeper, and slept until just a little while ago.



Now, I'm watching Duck Soup and waiting for dinner. My host mom has parent-teacher conferences again for her students, so she won't be home until really late. But she made a quiche lorraine last night, so we'll heat that up and eat it tonight with some salad and hopefully some Couronnier cheese. It's my favorite so far!

I think I'm going to bang out my homework before dinner. For real this time. A plus tard!

Buvons un coup, ma serpette est perdue...

My adventure for today consisted of walking with Abby and Hannah to Ile de la Cité, asking a pretty lady where Sainte Chappelle was, and having caramel cream and tiramisu flavored gelato.

Also, we saw a fountain.



Yup, that's my dinosaur shirt. ALTHOUGH, (much to my mother's joy, I'm sure) I can't find my DON'T BITE YOUR FRIENDS vest. THAT'S RIGHT KATHRYN! I had a vest from Yo Gabba Gabba that said "Don't bite your friends". I am quite sad. Especially since I lost my hat, too. I'm going to check with Reid Hall to see it it's hiding there.



I'm kind of in love with the fact that all I have for homework is to write a tongue-twister and memorize a song. Can this never end?

Comme ils sont discrets, les Français!

I came home from school at around quarter to 4. I was home for about 10 minutes when two people came in to repair something. I think that's why Catherine, my host mother, asked me when I'd be home.

Our clock is now sounding the hour of 10:00. It is 9:23. I love this clock.

After checking my e-mails and taking a short nap, I returned to school for a meeting with my advisor concerning my classes for the first semester. At Reid Hall (classes with just Smith students and then some with other students studying abroad), I've got Literary Methodology, French Phonetics, and the European Union. At the Sorbonne, it's Spanish and French Romanticism Art History.

I came back after that and got some homework done. When Elise and Dominique came back, I asked them what the flowers (des roses, des tourne-sols) in the kitchen were from. Dominique told me straight that it was Catherine's birthday. He saw the "Ka-WHAT?" look on my face, and he said something like, "C'est comme ça, ouais". The impression I got was that the French don't really celebrate all-out and prefer to be more discreet. I still felt like crap that I hadn't remembered during one of our first dinners when Elise mentioned her birthday.

I hadn't seen her all day, so I felt better, having not said anything to her. I made her a cute little card. When she came home, I got a knock on my door from Elise, saying that we were going to give her mom gifts. I was glad that I had made her a card. Elise hid around the corner with me and said, "Mama, today is a special day, isn't it? Then you should enjoy it!" Elise had made her a beautiful card and gave her a huge book on Spain that she said the bookseller recommended. From her dad, roses and a brooch of a fancy red cat.

We just finished dinner, which wasn't much, since Catherine got back late from teaching. If we had eaten earlier, I would've gone with a group of girls going to see a Fellini film. I'm not upset to not go, though. I think I could pretty easily go to sleep now. Actually, I think I'll do my laundry, finish my reading, have a little piece of CREME BRULEE FILLED CHOCOLATE!!!! and then go to sleep. Also, I'm watching the original Parent Trap. I love youtube.

Things about my family that I don't want to forget, lest they never reveal them again:
- Dominique and Catherine are about the same age as my parents
- Dominique has 5 brothers and one sister
- Catherine has 1 brother and 1 sister
- Elise has 17 cousins, all but one of whom are older than her

I might also write some postcards. If you want one, let me know! But chances are yours are already on their way.

Bonne soirée à tous!

I hope that real classes never start so I can keep having fun at nighttime.

I saw the Eiffel Tower do its sparkly shiny show on my way home on the metro! Also, I was lazy and took the transfer to a closer stop so I didn't have to walk as far.

Hannah and I saw a thriller movie about this chick with "multiple personality disorder", but of course they were just dead people channelling through her. It was fun since we were the only ones in the theatre, so we kept poking fun at it. Also, it was in English, since it was an Irish movie, which was easy and relaxing for us.

Development: I am learning how to eat like a French person with my knife in my right hand and my fork in my left. J'arrive.

I really had something to update about, but now I can't remember what it was! It is most definitely sleeptime.

Oh! That's what it was! I much prefer going to sleep late at night on a school night if it means that I've done fun things. Also, this whole month of 9:00 to 5:00 courses only equals 2 credits. Definitely not important enough to risk not seeing enough of Paris. I can't wait to see what adventures I run across tomorrow!

Update!

It is freezing in my room!





Today:
Had history class in the morning, then oral communication class. Lunch was excellent! I had a "tarte", which was really a quiche, made of goat cheese and spinach. We also found a gelato place with THE best chocolate-type gelato I've ever had. It was called something like "inimitabile", which I'm guessing means "inimitable" in Italian.

Observations:
- It's hard to speak Italian with a French accent.
- French is taking a toll on my English spelling. I had to spell "italien" thrice before I settled on "Italian".
- I much prefer hanging out after class and walking around with Abby and Hannah to coming home and taking a nap. Even though I just took a nap now. It was after funtimes!
- I'm trying really hard to accept the fact that people are going to know that I'm American. Or at least that I speak English. Usually, I'm trying really hard! I think our phonetics class will help with my pronunciation. *fingers crossed*
- I don't smell anything for dinner. I hope it is soon.


Dinner last night consisted of a really good salad with tomatoes and olives in it (I ate one! Though it only proved my previous stance: olives are yucky), hard-boiled eggs, cold tuna, and more cheese! This time, more Brie, the thing that looks like Swiss but isn't, and something named after a Saint. I learned how to cut cheese (ha ha) yesterday, since I made a faux pas when first trying to cut it. There's an actual method to cutting delicious hunks of cheese!

My goals for tonight:
- Read up on French and American politics (it's ALL the French talk about!)
- Re-read all of my notes from school about French things to say.
- Go to movies with Abby and Hannah


Dinner time soon, but Skype with mom first! Bisous!