I added this to my "to-do list", so I guess that means it's been awhile since my last update.

Also, that it's becoming a chore to write in here. Maybe it's because I'm out actually living my Parisian life as I should? A voir.

Today, I played catch with Trevor in the park under the Eiffel Tower. My other friends didn't show, since it was grey and moche (ugly) outside, but the instant that we stepped foot into the park, the sun shone strong. It really felt like spring.

Trev and I were the spectacle of the Champ de Mars. Everyone stopped to look at us. Little kids literally smiled ear to ear with excitement watching us throw our frisbee back and forth.

Afterward, we went to the Cimetiere du Montparnasse, that, although I have classes a mere .5 kilometers away (pure estimation), I had never visited. We saw Poincaré the mathemetician's grave, with someone's math-y note that they left on it. We saw Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre's combined tombstone, with lots of metro tickets on top of it (curious), stones holding them down.

I made a whole list of things I need to see before the end of the year. This is it:
- Cimetiere du Montparnasse
- Pere Lachaise
- Maison de Victor Hugo
- Musée de l'Orangerie
- Les Catacombes
- Musée Picasso
- Musée d'art moderne
- Musée Rodin (ish)
- Musée Zadkine (free, by Reid Hall)
- Musée National du Moyen Age (avec la tapisserie du licorne)
- Place des Vosges
- Sunday organ recital at Notre Dame, 4:30

7

I've gotten over the fact that I don't have a job. I'm going to apply to some, but I might just really like to stay home this summer. I know that it's the summer before senior year and everything. I don't know. It would actually be good for me to get out of the house, so I could get another job as a waitress to make back some money.

I guess I'm glad that I've got all this crap going on while I'm in Paris. If I were at Smith right now, I'd be driving down to Georgia with the frisbee team. As much AMAZING as spring break in Savannah is, I don't think I'd genuinely be able to appreciate it.

In other news, Abby and I went to see Le Roi Lion, and it was awesome. It was such an engrossing theatrical experience. However, there were even some parts where I remembered that it was Disney and kind of felt guilty for liking it so much. The parts I appreciated most were the puppets. Julie Taymor is my idol. There were huge elephants, real-looking giraffes, masks on every lion while not distracting from the actors' faces, Chinese shadow puppetry.. it was SO cool!

School is easing up. I'm not concerned about grades in the slightest, which is helpful.

Anyway! I'm off to work in the library, have some breakfast, get dressed, and get some Thai food for dinner! Whoooooo!

Didn't get the job.

I am heartbroken.

Directive?

My interview went alright. I found out that they usually do group interviews, and I felt awkward having a one-on-one interview with just one of the directors. We still did the awkward group question and answer session, but since there were only two of us, we both felt kind of silly introducing ourselves.

When I get nervous, I just say EVERYTHING that I want to say in one big blast. I wound up saying everything that I wanted to say, I think, but I can't reflect on what went down to be able to critique my performance. Hopefully, my smile, eye contact, and general charm have kept me in the running. The interviewer seems like a sweet girl, but I don't know if it's just out of necessity or if she really thinks I've got a shot at the program.

In any case! I'll know by Tuesday! And then, it's off to apply to the Bronx Zoo or something. I really hope I get into this program though. It just sucks that the other groups in the program who offered me interviews NEVER got back to me once I e-mailed them to set it up.

Other news: I'm still feeling productive, even without having gotten much done. I've got things organized, I'm seeing friends, and I even picked up "Fried Green Tomatoes" from the Smith library to read once I'm done with my required readings for class. I've been going to sleep earlier than usual, which has been wonderful.

Now I'm off to find if I can find more than 10 synonyms for the verb "to say". Bonne soirée à tous!

Sssssso.

I've learned that I stutter and stammer a little bit. I thought that it was just in French, but apparently it's in English too. If I don't think a lot about what I want to say before speaking, my words come out mixed up, whether it's in English or French. I'm speaking up more now though, which is better than just shutting up. I've kind of resigned myself to being embarassed no matter what I do/say, so it's become easier to just try to get my ideas out!

Greece was INCREDIBLE. I've been dreading writing a re-cap, but I'll try to recall what all was done. Alix and I left for the airport on Thursday evening because our flight was very early Friday morning. I brought my HUGE laptop in order to have a video teleconference via Skype with one of the jobs I wanted. We wound up having to hold the interview at 3:40 a.m. Paris time. Being cracked out and on NO sleep at an airport was NO GOOD. HOWEVER! I found out that they offered me a second interview tomorrow evening, where I'll have to teach a lesson on telling time to non-native English speakers via Skype. I'll let you know how it goes!

After no sleep, we headed on the plane for Athens! We arrived, took a nap, and then headed off. I really can't remember in what order we did everything, but in all, we saw the Ancient Agora, the Acropolis, lots of souvlaki, tzatziki, and free wine (pretty ladies get the free crap wine). We also got to go to a wine festival, which was awesome. There were countries from all over the world, and we got to sample little bits of all of the different ones. One of the wines was so smoky that it reminded me of whisky. I couldn't help but think about how weird it was that here I was at a wine festival when in my own home country, and yet I wouldn't be trusted to have a drop of alcohol for another 4 months.

After four days in Athens, we took a 6-hour ferry over to Santorini. It reminded me so much of an aircraft on the inside that I forgot that we were even on water. The seats were like airplane seats, and watching the world go by from my crouched position, we could've easily been skimming the water from the air. When we finally spotted Santorini, we could tell that it was our island because of the red and black sand all over due to the volcano (which has an eruption once every 50 years or so, and it's due!). There was practically no one on the island except for us two, and so we were treated with the utmost hospitality wherever we went. We had particularly exciting adventures when we went to the black beaches of Perissa, since we were literally the only people on the beach. It was raining and cold, but we braved it to dip our toes in the surprisingly warm water. We also made lots of animal friends, including a very cuddly cat and two dogs. The island animals could've quite easily had many diseases, but I'm still living, and we didn't get bitten, so I'm pretty sure that they were just friendly. Through all of Greece, we saw dogs as if they were any other city rodent. Notably in Athens, they were a big nuisance, barking at motorcycles and going up to bite the tires of moving cars. But the dogs on the island were some of the sweetest animals I ever met.

After braving the rain and cold and realizing the next bus wouldn't be around for another hour and a half, we sought shelter in a nearby restaurant, which I'm sure must be hopping during the summer season. However, we were the only two who came in who weren't locals, and we took every chance to try out our newly-acquired knowledge of the Greek language.

We also went to the red beaches, which weren't as red as we would've expected, and we came across a dredlocked dog who showed us around. Alix named him Hercules, but he looked a heck of a lot like our dog, Maggie.

He led us up on top of a hill to get a view of the other islands, and then we met up with him after grabbing an authentic dinner at a "restaurant", where the whole family was gathered, doing sewing, drinking, watching TV, doing their own cooking, and ironing. They sat us in the corner, where we watched Hercules and his assumed wife with an underbite and their two babies.

Afterward, we waited for the bus with our Japanese friends who were also staying at our hotel, and Hercules sat with us until he got too bored with getting pet to death.

After Santorini, we took the ferry back to Athens, stayed in an AMAZING hostel for 15 euros where we had a room to ourselves (I LOVE the off-season), and took a plane back to Paris in the morning.

Anyway, here are some more pictures!

Acropolis

Athens, theatre, and the new, not yet opened museum of Greek history in the back.

Santorini


Now that vacation is over, I've been surprisingly productive! I'm excited to see more of Paris once my family gets here, and I still can't believe that we only have three more months here. This Thursday, I'm going to an apéro (apéritif, or basically an excuse to have people bring you wine and food for a party) for the girls' frisbee team, Friday I'm going to see my first opera ever, Saturday I'm going to Reims for a champagne tasting, and Sunday we're going to Reid to watch one of my favorite movies, "Kirikou et la sorcière", which I learned about in high school from my bilingual school in New York. My host family and I are on pretty good terms as far as I know, and I've got a bunch of good friends and acquaintances. And the weather is starting to look more like spring every day! As much as I complain sometimes, there's no where else I'd rather be at this moment. Je suis contente, in the Frenchest meaning of the word.


Tonight, I'm going to polish up my lesson plan to show the directors of the program tomorrow night, and maybe finish some homework. Tomorrow, I'm off to hang out with Yael, see an art expo with Abby, rehearse my lesson plan one last time, and show it off to the directors at 9:15 my time! Thursday, I'm probably going to check out if Le Roi Lion still has student rush tickets (how great would it be to see The Lion King in French???) and maybe even just chill out and explore Paris on my own. I've learned that I always like being with someone when going anywhere, but maybe flying solo wouldn't be a bad idea for me to see what it's like.

Je ne le crois même pas. On a moins de trois mois qui nous restent, et je ne me sens toujours pas accoustoumé à la vie parisienne. My goal for the coming week is to see something in every arrondissement, just to get a feel for them. I might even descend at Bonne Nouvelle and see what really goes on at that metro stop!