December 2009
21 posts
Voici la fin de l'année
Well, here it is, December 31. This is the last day of 2009…I’m sitting in Barnes and Noble in Evanston, sipping on tea that cost less than $2 (and if I had ordered coffee, it would come in a cup, not a tout petit tasse that you can’t take away). The music on the store speakers is in French, and I saw a “Paris” calendar directly across from my table. I picked it up,...
Mes écritures de Tours
27 Aout, 19:39 PM Location: Living room of my Tours home
Just woke up from a much needed nap! I was feeling a little queezy before, but now I feel better. I just met “bébé chat,” who doesn’t look like a bébé at all! This house has such an interesting small. In fact, it’s a heck of a house! We walk up to an inconspicuous door on Rue Bernard Pelissay (is that what it’s called?) and enter it to walk...
le mobile
Well, I’m back home.
More sentiments about that later.
For now, I want to preserve a piece of Paris here. I have this strange habit of keeping as many text messages as possible in my phone because they have sentimental value to me—both on my regular phone and on my Parisian cell phone. And because I will be selling this 30 euro piece of poop to a friend, I’m going to transfer...
The final hours
Nous n’avons plus rien à risqué…je t’aime un peu plus fort… Ce qu’on ne pourra jamais plus toucher This journal entry is being written on my Air France flight to Dulles. I want to talk about this morning but there is no clear definition of where it started, because I only took a nap for an hour and a half last night. My séjour à Paris culminated in a phenomenon I’m familiar with: SNOW. It was...
Poppin' champagne
I AM DONE WITH SCHOOLWORK.
Finally! This morning I woke up at 7 and my body was like, no no no! But I had to. I had to finish reading through my history notes for the first time. While looking over my notes on the bus, the older woman sitting next to me asked me if I was taking an art history course, and I told her it was actually History of Paris. She started telling me all about how Haussmann...
merveilleux mardi
joyful, joyful, oh happy day. i can only express how happy i am today in song lyrics from Sister Act.
I went to bed at 1 last night without having studied for Soc. Tried to wake up at 6 but my body absolutely protested, so I ended up waking up at 7. I got to Paris VII early and went to a place called Presse Cafe to grab a drink and study…this place was awesome and I’m sad I...
A bit of an entry I never finished...
(I composed this short bit of an entry on Tuesday, December 15, but never published it. Now on 12/31 I’m putting it in here).
Everywhere I turn, something is indicating that my departure is approaching. I feel so many emotions about this fact. I think one reason for my ambivalence is that things just started to become really stable, and now they’re changing again. Also, I’m having a hard...
meh, monday
While today was definitely not the most fun day ever, I guess it was really productive. I took both parts of the Atelier d’écriture final, which was not bad. Worked on my lit paper in Sweet Briar. Had a meeting with Mme Maître to fix the paper…and then she encouraged me to skip my sociology class in order to correct the paper. It was all too easy to do, so I did. Then we met again and...
Latkes with a side of Grammar
This morning I woke up at 11 and made a pretty conscious decision to not touch any scholarly materials until after my latke party. So I went to the store and bought supplies, then made matzo balls—and though they turned out a little too hard, just the smell made me happy—and then made latkes. Which, as I found out, is a pretty arduous process. The worst parts: 1. Grating onions and 2....
4:37 AM
Going to bed. Good night.
hurdle
Dear Lauren,
Stop complaining, stop whining, and write your freakin literature paper.
English in French
By the way, I’ve noticed something really interesting about the integration of the English language into French. There is the Academie Francaise whose job it is to keep the language pure, but a couple words sneak in. Ones I’ve noticed: Kidnapping Hold-up Building (meaning in French not just a building but a skyscraper) Fast-food
So basically anything having to do with crime or food....
Personnages
Last night I couldn’t fall asleep. While I was trying to figure out why, I decided I am going to make a blog entry about certain people I’ve encountered here in Paris, because I realized I forgot to take a photo with my host mom, so I’ll have to remember her otherwise. I then realized that I couldn’t sleep because of the Noisette Caramel latté I had with Liza at Starbucks...
la vie n'est qu'une course
oui, c’est une course, toujours. alors actuellement chui pas trop contente. il me semble que tout le monde a déjà fait des projets d’habitation pour l’an prochain et j’ai personne avec laquelle je peux habiter, ce qui me rend déçue.c’est comme j’ai aucun ami, c’est l’impression que ça me donne.
bah. franchement ça me fait chier.
et ce que me rend...
10 days
I think I’ve realized that while studying abroad is an experience, my life at home/at school is an experience too. Categorizing it as such gives it a certain edge—I mean to say that changing things up for four months has made the banal parts of my life seem more wonderful. The question is, will I feel that way once I’m back to doing them?
yuck
I feel yuck today. I got home around 1:15, tried to go to bed, couldn’t. Opened the computer. Stayed up til 3. Eyes felt puffy. Was supposed to wake up for Atelier but didn’t, slept til 11…still feel cruddy. Like, can’t focus, eyes hurt, jittery…
Cacahouettes
Cacahouettes = peanuts » ingredient in baklava i bought this afternoon » ingested said baklava » vom immediately
In addition to the gail-force winds of Marseille in the winter, it’s been a tough day. At least it was sunny though!
Les week-ends
Wow, I am so behind on blogging.
Briefly:
*Got a 16 on my paper about Haussmann for History of Paris. Very happy, though the teacher remarked that I didn’t discuss the financing of Haussmann’s project, which was a big deal. Frustrated that I thought about including this and then didn’t.
*Went to the Petit Palais and Grand Palais. Petit is absolutely astonishing. Grand is cool...
November 2009
20 posts
Cougar-mania
^ The topic on my morning TV show today, which really made me laugh. It’s a TV show about parenting, so usually it’s about childrens’ allergies, or pregnancy issues, but today it was about cougars.
Oddly enough, last night as I was trying to fall asleep, it felt weird not having Grant sleeping on the floor next to me. I kinda miss having someone with me all the time!
Today,...
Je vais m'en sortir
s’en sortir is a new idiomatic expression i just learned. It means to pull through, to cope, or to get by. thanks to Mme Maître for introducing me to this one.
for some reason, today all of my stress about finals sneaked up on and attacked me. im at the point where im so stressed i cant breathe / want to cry. within the next 4 weeks i have to:
*Write a sociology paper (8 pages)
*Figure...
“Oh, sorry, I had my Paris-face on.”
– Caroline, yesterday when I yelled her name from across the street while walking to the Alliance Française. It’s true, you have to put in the headphones and put on the Paris-face, lest you look like an american student studying abroad…
Can’t read my, can’t read my, no you...
A night of Borscht and Oberkampf
Mardi soir: Bar with Corinne and Laura Mercredi: Armistice day . Borscht party . rue Oberkampf Actuellement (currently): Centre Pompidou library, 2 pages of Haussmann research paper complete
Yesterday was simultaneously one of the most boring and one of the most exciting days I’ve spent in Paris.
Seeing as it was Armistice day, I assumed that everything was closed, sat home and did a...
“Do you wear Spanx like my mom?”
– Andy Jannett, talking to Caroline in the SBC office this afternoon.
BREAKING NEWS
Today I finally had literature class for the first time in two weeks. Claude starts the class basically saying that everyone had better be nice today because she’s not in the mood. So she then tells us that...
Zoning
Late for Atelier, as usual . Reading in Starbucks . Meeting more Americans in Urban Soc
Alright, so today I cracked. I had a couple of hours to kill so I went to the Starbucks near Paris VII, bit my lip at the prices, and sat down to do some reading about how residential segregation is reflected in french middle schools (through évitement).
And then, after a brief trip to the really nice Paris...
What is it about Paris?
Oops . Lunch . Away We Go . Coconut curry dinner
To my great embarassment, after having skyped briefly with Jessica and Jenna last night, I woke up this morning at 12:30. 12:30 in the afternon. Fuck. I mean, oops. I had plans to meet Julien for lunch at 1. After rushing to look somewhat presentable, I got out to Trocadero where I was so embarassed that he’d been up since the early morning...
I just pompiDID IT!
Yesterday I sat in the Centre Pompidou for about 5 hours and researched my brains out. And it felt good! I have to write a research paper about Baron Haussmann, and now I finally have some material. I have to give myself a pat on the back because this was the first time I’ve really sat down and put my mind to it and accomplished something academic.
Then last night we finally had Mix Club...
There are more cars in Paris than in Paris
-Jonathan in atelier d’écriture » Il y a plus de voitures à Paris qu’à Paris?
Sometimes I have a hard time believing I’m really here doing this.
This morning I was feeling especially euphoric on the bus ride. Listening to my ipod, I managed to ignore the fact that I was the only person inside after the St. Michel stop. The bus turned in a direction it doesn’t...
October 2009
22 posts
Happy Halloween!
I am about to go take a shower so that I can go to Christina’s, drink wine with the SBAA, and then go to a club where it will probably be nothing but electro music, and it will be hot and make the shower I’m about to take totally worthless.
So imma finish this thought I have before I go shower and pointlessly blow dry my hair so it looks really pretty, temporarily. Today Biki and I...
Booked.
After much stress about getting from the pre-determined destination airport, Dulles, to Cleveland, I have finally bought a ticket home.
I am leaving Dec 18 on the group flight.
Not earlier.
I did not pay more than $200 for my ticket home.
I do not have to think about the trip home until…one week before.
And I don’t plan on it.
Now, on to the Erasmus party at Le Mix Club!
Sometimes I just miss having people around who really really know me…
To-Do List, updated
Re-visit the Musée de Carnavalet (museum of the history of Paris)
Go to the Musée de l’Orangerie (museum housing Monet’s waterlillies)
See the modern art collection at the Centre Pompidou
Pass homework assignments (??)
Start buying souvenirs for people
Eat at a fondue restaurant
Visit Père Lachaise cemetary
See the arc de triomphe (during the day / at night)
Make travel plans for the...
j'ai fait un bobo
So here I am in the Sweet Briar office, quickly looking at airline tickets to go from Dulles International to Cleveland in December. I’m outraged by how high the prices are—I suppose that’s what you get when you’re flying home on the Friday before Christmas. Womp womp. Anyways, it’s 11 and I’m thinking oops, I hope I didn’t miss the start of my class! Then...
“It’s my Biki in a boîte”
– Comme aujourd’hui était magnifique.
En fait, nous avons révisé l’usage de l’imparfait et le passé composé dans l’atelier d’écriture, et je suis pas sûre que je l’ai utilisé correctement dans ce cas-là, mais bon.
Ce matin j’ai reçu un e-mail qui a dit que...
