BONNE ANNEE!

So it's been a crazy time. I got back from America this morning at around 8:30 a.m., Paris time (2:30 a.m. EST), and there were soucis getting from the airport to my apartment. Apparently, there was a bomb scare (I tried looking online for a news story about it, but I came up with nothing and you get this instead). Someone left his or her suitcase in a restaurant in the Charles de Gaulle airport, and they had to call in the bomb squad to take care of it. After a lot of hubbub and panicking, I finally got to a bus to take me back to Paris (luckily it was free with my Navigo pass, since they wouldn't let anyone get to the RER station to catch a metro).

I finally got home, took a MUCHNEEDED shower, and slept for awhile, since I couldn't sleep on the exciting plane night plane ride back to Paris.

It doesn't need to be said that I had an excellent time in America. Highlights:
- Gifts: UKULELE/Guitar Hero/Wall-E/everything about DeniseBee
- Maggie
- Christmas with the crazies, I mean, my family
- Mom and Chuchie's rapport and ability to make each other laugh very hard (but don't ask me how hard)
- My dad fixing everything that I've ever broken
- Seeing my brother turn into a complex, interesting, caring person
- Bolt in 3D (I don't care how shitty a movie is; I will love it in 3D, AND we're hilarious and I love you guys)
- Benjamin Button with Gia
- medium iced caramel lattes from Dunkin Donuts
- strawberry surf rider from Jamba Juice
- a less-stressful Christmas period than previous years, thanks to minimal minimalizing of the outrageous work my family puts into the holiday season
- Christmas cookies
- Going to Cubby's for half of a pulled pork sandwich and birch beer on Christmas Eve
- Ben and Jerry's Fossil Fuel pint
- New Year's with Denise


New Year's Resolution: Stop being a whore.

I tried to find definitions that would be appropriate to my idea of what this means to me, but I can't find them. So just know that I'm going to hunker down, get my shit done, and do the right thing.


And, with that, a to-do list!

This week:
- Finish study sheet for France + Europe test on Monday
- Study
- ACE TEST!!!! DONE.
- Talk to Maddie about benevolat project
- Do research for project
- Read Sylvia Beach's book for methodology essay
- Write methodology essay
- Write conclusion for dossier
- Fill out frisbee polls they don't exist anymore, but that's okay because I couldn't go to any of those tournaments, anyway!
- Go to LaChorba to volunteer making soup Literally cannot, so I'm not going to try. Will do work instead! Yayyyy
- Talk to Rosalie about coming to London this Friday afternoon!

Next week:
- Study like CRAZY for Art History
- Figure out what I'm going to do about missing history class on Monday since I'll still be in London X_X
- Write/e-mail all the people I've been meaning to update

And with that, going off to pretend to work! But more likely to SLEEP.

'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!