Please, please enrich your life by watching this video of my professor on Conan:
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v4910267GrHTppnY
This is my food culture professor, and the president of EDUCO, our study abroad program. He's a professor from Cornell...and basically makes my life worth living every Thursday from 4:30-7:30pm.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
L'Ecosse, C'est Moi
So, the truth is, I should be studying abroad in Scotland. Okay, maybe not since my French would improve very little there, but I need to at least be there for more than 3 days sometime in the (preferably near) future! Needless to say our trip was wonderful, with some interesting experiences (exhibit A: slightly sketchy hostel run by a bunch of aussies).
Thursday night we flew to Glasgow/Prestwick and spent the night in the quaintest Bed and Breakfast. The owner's name was Marion, and she was at the door as we were getting out of our taxi. We stayed in one of her two rooms with a huge xl king sized bed and a futon. She had an assortment of tea and hot chocolate and cookies for us. The next morning she made us a full scottish breakfast - toast, cold cereals, fruit, and yoghurt, juice and tea, eggs, tomato, mushrooms, potato scones, and meat for marla and katie. delish.
We then took the train to Glasgow and then to Edinburgh. The ride was gorgggggeous, and I can't express how much of a relief it was to see NATURE, to see GREEN! The ocean and all the grass and hills. Sheep and cows. Just what I needed. Plus, I adore train rides, so soothing, relaxing.
In Edinburgh we took a snazzy black UK cab to our next B&B, "Menzies Guesthouse" and put our stuff away. Then we walked to the royal mile and found our way to the Edinburgh Castle. My mission, of course, was to find "Mons Meg" the cannon that King James IV drug across Scotland to subdue the Lyles at Duchal Castle because they had backed an insurrection against him.
Found it!
At the castle, we also succeeded in finding men in kilts~ excellent. And of course, a few bits of history about the royal stewarts!
One of the things I'm looking forward to this summer about staying home is...(i'm afraid Dad will have a heart attack when he reads this)...learning about family history. Yes, I said it. But being in Scotland does make me very curious, to see where our family lived and how and such. And I have quite the high level of Scottish pride already, despite not knowing my whole background, so I must bring that side up to par :-P So I can transfer that pride to my chilluns~
Next visit after that was to the Tartan Mill! My photographic memory did me well, because I remember exactly how this looked when I was there with Mum, Dad, and Cathy 10 or so years ago! And its exactly how I remembered it :) at the top of the royal mile, right before the castle~ The weaving contraption wasn't set up though like last time, when we got to try weaving a bit. But I think it's just since it's not their busy season~ I did however fall in love with one of their uber long wool scarfs, Clan MacKenzie since they didnt have Stewart, plus I really like the Mackenzie tartan and we do have ancestors in the clan.
After that we grabbed a quick lunch (tuna and sweet corn sandwich, mmm) and hit up the "Scotch Whisky Experience." Oh yes, this isn't just a tour! It's an experience!! So we got our drams of whisky in souvenir whisky tasting glasses, then learned how malt and grain whiskies are made and blended. All sorts of modern gadgetry was used- A barrel ride, a ghost whisky noser projected in fluorescent green, spooky sound effects, and the like. All quite entertaining, and educational! haha. Though I must say, whisky is absolutely disgusting. The after-feeling is lovely, but the taste leaves much to be desired.
Après ca..we rummaged through the scottish grocery store and found some long-desired items -- cadbury eggs, cheerios, etc. Then dinner at a nearby Tavern. Fish and chips and a good belgian beer, of course! (Scottish Ale is a lil too hardcore for me). Though I'm disappointed they didnt ask me if I wanted peas or mushy peas!! :(
We rested that night at the B&B over "american" chocolate chip cookies and tea. Then the next morning we set off to hike Arthur's Seat! The most gorgeous hike~ We could see all of edinburgh -- the water, the mountains, everything.
A little video to prove how INSANE the wind was. Was so afraid of being blown off the edge! Though, fortunately the wind was blowing us up the mountain, so that may have made the hike a bit easier.
Almost to Arthur's Seat!- Video Here
I miss nature.
So then we walked the rest of the royal mile, made a few last-minute edinburgh purchases (namely amazing fudge (marzipan amaretto, mmm) and a pretty silver celtic ring), and had lunch at an awesome little soup/salad place. I had cream of veggie soup with a spinach and sweet potato salad and a ginormous piece of soft, fluffy wheat bread :) oh, and a spice cupcake with heavenly chocolate frosting. Very comfort-food esque. Then we visited the national gallery and took the train to Glasgow.
Trying to wrap this up...getting quite long...in glasgow we moved our stuff into the crazy hostel...Slightly sketchy yet humorous aussie guys abounding. Met and talked to some random people in the hostel. It would be interesting to spend a long time in a hostel...see what kinds of people come in and out. Anywho, had dinner at an awesome italian restaurant, amazing pasta -- tagliatelle with spinach, pine nuts, parmesan, and cream. Then went searching for night life, which resulted in "club campus." The place looked exactly like a U.S. frat party, complete with girls in way-too-short dresses and random fake street signs all over the walls. Twas a good time. We danced and had a few drinks, a fun night. Then we crashed in the hostel, only to be awakenedin 2 hrs by huge pounding at the door, which one of the guys in our 8-bed room had locked from the inside. I, being on the bottom bunk, was forced to go open the door, at which point 4 (assumingly drunken) aussie boys came stumbling loudly into the room, accompanied by loud music playing outside the window, and eventually made their way to their beds. All added to the humorous experience. We talked to one of them the next morning for a good bit, very cool guy (not to mention good-looking :P).
That morning Marla's long-lost-relatives had invited us for breakfast, so the nephew of the woman who invited us came to pick us up. The uncle had said he would be "wearing a kilt and driving a white mercedes convertible" haha, sad thing was we almost believed him. Must be that scottish jewish humor for ya. But they had a wonderful spread layed out for us -- big fluffy onion bagels, cream cheese, lox, egg salad, finger veggies, all sorts of yumminess. The conversation was fun and they seemed like a really cool family! Can I go live with them and stay in Scotland for the rest of the semester please? haha, just kidding.
Anyways, they drove us to the airport, and we spent our last pounds and took off.
Lovely trip, and whats even better....
Ironically enough, about 6 hours after I started typing this blog entry, I ended up planning my next trip to Scotland! haha. Didnt expect it to happen that soon, but spring break plans were made by my friends this weekend while I was gone, so they gave me all the info. We're going to London, then Edinburgh, then Dublin, and then flying to Italy for a week!! So excited!!! And the tickets were all pretty reasonable, Dublin to Italy being the most expensive.
Alright, wrapping up this insanely long and rambling post with some scot-specific vocab and a few necessary Scotland photos:
Scotland - L'Ecosse
Celtic - celte
Tartan - le tartan (that one's a bit tricky :P)
woolen mill - le filature de laine
ancestors - ancêtres
fish and chips -poisson frit et frites
Thursday night we flew to Glasgow/Prestwick and spent the night in the quaintest Bed and Breakfast. The owner's name was Marion, and she was at the door as we were getting out of our taxi. We stayed in one of her two rooms with a huge xl king sized bed and a futon. She had an assortment of tea and hot chocolate and cookies for us. The next morning she made us a full scottish breakfast - toast, cold cereals, fruit, and yoghurt, juice and tea, eggs, tomato, mushrooms, potato scones, and meat for marla and katie. delish.
We then took the train to Glasgow and then to Edinburgh. The ride was gorgggggeous, and I can't express how much of a relief it was to see NATURE, to see GREEN! The ocean and all the grass and hills. Sheep and cows. Just what I needed. Plus, I adore train rides, so soothing, relaxing.
In Edinburgh we took a snazzy black UK cab to our next B&B, "Menzies Guesthouse" and put our stuff away. Then we walked to the royal mile and found our way to the Edinburgh Castle. My mission, of course, was to find "Mons Meg" the cannon that King James IV drug across Scotland to subdue the Lyles at Duchal Castle because they had backed an insurrection against him.
Found it!
At the castle, we also succeeded in finding men in kilts~ excellent. And of course, a few bits of history about the royal stewarts!
One of the things I'm looking forward to this summer about staying home is...(i'm afraid Dad will have a heart attack when he reads this)...learning about family history. Yes, I said it. But being in Scotland does make me very curious, to see where our family lived and how and such. And I have quite the high level of Scottish pride already, despite not knowing my whole background, so I must bring that side up to par :-P So I can transfer that pride to my chilluns~
Next visit after that was to the Tartan Mill! My photographic memory did me well, because I remember exactly how this looked when I was there with Mum, Dad, and Cathy 10 or so years ago! And its exactly how I remembered it :) at the top of the royal mile, right before the castle~ The weaving contraption wasn't set up though like last time, when we got to try weaving a bit. But I think it's just since it's not their busy season~ I did however fall in love with one of their uber long wool scarfs, Clan MacKenzie since they didnt have Stewart, plus I really like the Mackenzie tartan and we do have ancestors in the clan.
After that we grabbed a quick lunch (tuna and sweet corn sandwich, mmm) and hit up the "Scotch Whisky Experience." Oh yes, this isn't just a tour! It's an experience!! So we got our drams of whisky in souvenir whisky tasting glasses, then learned how malt and grain whiskies are made and blended. All sorts of modern gadgetry was used- A barrel ride, a ghost whisky noser projected in fluorescent green, spooky sound effects, and the like. All quite entertaining, and educational! haha. Though I must say, whisky is absolutely disgusting. The after-feeling is lovely, but the taste leaves much to be desired.
Après ca..we rummaged through the scottish grocery store and found some long-desired items -- cadbury eggs, cheerios, etc. Then dinner at a nearby Tavern. Fish and chips and a good belgian beer, of course! (Scottish Ale is a lil too hardcore for me). Though I'm disappointed they didnt ask me if I wanted peas or mushy peas!! :(
We rested that night at the B&B over "american" chocolate chip cookies and tea. Then the next morning we set off to hike Arthur's Seat! The most gorgeous hike~ We could see all of edinburgh -- the water, the mountains, everything.
A little video to prove how INSANE the wind was. Was so afraid of being blown off the edge! Though, fortunately the wind was blowing us up the mountain, so that may have made the hike a bit easier.
Almost to Arthur's Seat!- Video Here
I miss nature.
So then we walked the rest of the royal mile, made a few last-minute edinburgh purchases (namely amazing fudge (marzipan amaretto, mmm) and a pretty silver celtic ring), and had lunch at an awesome little soup/salad place. I had cream of veggie soup with a spinach and sweet potato salad and a ginormous piece of soft, fluffy wheat bread :) oh, and a spice cupcake with heavenly chocolate frosting. Very comfort-food esque. Then we visited the national gallery and took the train to Glasgow.
Trying to wrap this up...getting quite long...in glasgow we moved our stuff into the crazy hostel...Slightly sketchy yet humorous aussie guys abounding. Met and talked to some random people in the hostel. It would be interesting to spend a long time in a hostel...see what kinds of people come in and out. Anywho, had dinner at an awesome italian restaurant, amazing pasta -- tagliatelle with spinach, pine nuts, parmesan, and cream. Then went searching for night life, which resulted in "club campus." The place looked exactly like a U.S. frat party, complete with girls in way-too-short dresses and random fake street signs all over the walls. Twas a good time. We danced and had a few drinks, a fun night. Then we crashed in the hostel, only to be awakenedin 2 hrs by huge pounding at the door, which one of the guys in our 8-bed room had locked from the inside. I, being on the bottom bunk, was forced to go open the door, at which point 4 (assumingly drunken) aussie boys came stumbling loudly into the room, accompanied by loud music playing outside the window, and eventually made their way to their beds. All added to the humorous experience. We talked to one of them the next morning for a good bit, very cool guy (not to mention good-looking :P).
That morning Marla's long-lost-relatives had invited us for breakfast, so the nephew of the woman who invited us came to pick us up. The uncle had said he would be "wearing a kilt and driving a white mercedes convertible" haha, sad thing was we almost believed him. Must be that scottish jewish humor for ya. But they had a wonderful spread layed out for us -- big fluffy onion bagels, cream cheese, lox, egg salad, finger veggies, all sorts of yumminess. The conversation was fun and they seemed like a really cool family! Can I go live with them and stay in Scotland for the rest of the semester please? haha, just kidding.
Anyways, they drove us to the airport, and we spent our last pounds and took off.
Lovely trip, and whats even better....
Ironically enough, about 6 hours after I started typing this blog entry, I ended up planning my next trip to Scotland! haha. Didnt expect it to happen that soon, but spring break plans were made by my friends this weekend while I was gone, so they gave me all the info. We're going to London, then Edinburgh, then Dublin, and then flying to Italy for a week!! So excited!!! And the tickets were all pretty reasonable, Dublin to Italy being the most expensive.
Alright, wrapping up this insanely long and rambling post with some scot-specific vocab and a few necessary Scotland photos:
Scotland - L'Ecosse
Celtic - celte
Tartan - le tartan (that one's a bit tricky :P)
woolen mill - le filature de laine
ancestors - ancêtres
fish and chips -poisson frit et frites
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
La vie n'est plus la même
I've been wanting to write another entry for about a week now, but life keeps overwhelming me, to sound as cliché as possible. I've actually been overwhelmed with clichés themselves this past week.
I'm not really sure where to start, so I'll guess I'll pull a Julie Andrews and start at the very beginning. I'm going to have to force myself to alternate between writing here and reading "La Gastronomie à la Renaissance: La Memoire du Goût." Oh joy. I've got 52 pages, plus 12 of another reading, and a paper all for thursday. Technically very doable, but with my motivation or lack thereof for classes right now, plus all the other things I have and want to think about, plus my trip to Scotland Thursday night, well, its not ideal.
So, Thursday night, Valentine's Day, I had the amazing experience of being able to go the the Opéra Garnier, the paris opera house, for the presentation of Pina Bausch's "Orphée et Eurydice" (Orpheus and Eurydice, not much diff in french) danced by the Paris Opera Ballet. It was an "Opéra Dansé" so there was a live orchestra, live opera singers, and the dancers. I was on the verge of tears by the end, it was so beautiful. Bausch's choreography was insanely beautiful. I saw influences of Graham, Limon, and romantic ballet in her style, though I have no idea if she was actually influenced by all of them. I also noticed some similarities between her choreography and mine, which though obviously only coincidental, made me smile, lol. So, the opera/ballet was in four acts, and the three main characters - Orphée, Eurydice, and Amour - were played each by a dancer and a singer. It was beautiful to see the two juxtaposed on stage. The costumes were gorgeous.The repetition of many of the movement sequences was gorgeous and not at all redundant. Bausch works amazingly with groups of dancers, unison, and clumps. The very first sequence was a gorrrrrgeous wave-like series of movements in a clump. Found a picture online:
Alright, I could go on and on about that, but I will stop there. This review hits it pretty accurately and has some gorgeous photos: Review I bought a program, despite the cost, as one of my few 'souvenirs.' I dont' feel it necessary to get any souvenirs of being here really...I don't know what I would get, since I feel less and less like a tourist each day, just a temporary resident~ Pictures and wine labels will work just fine for my scrapbooks~ And fruit stickers for dad, of course.
So Saturday night I went out with a group of my girl friends. One of their friends who coaches a soccer team here put us on the list for this party/club on a boat on the Seine. We had a great night, though I think I'll write the details down in my journal instead of here~ :-P
Last night, definitely one of the major highlights, if not the best part of this experience so far, was our "atelier de cuisine." We had a cooking lesson at Mme Chouard's home with her mother "Mme Dobet." We made a three course meal with her for us and her whole family. She made a big deal when she foundout I was vegetarian because we were making duck (but i knew this when we signed up, but all of the ateliers involved meat, and i just wanted to cook :P), it was cute, and she got me a separate dish to make without duck, which was very nice of her. When they were taking the skin off the duck, I could see Dad sitting there cringing, or at least throwing it in the oven or frying pan and eating that by itself. Instead it went in the trash can. After making the meal, which took a good long time, but really was very simple, we began by having aperitifs and snacks in the salon. I discovered my love of cashews which i previously hated, and we had a kir of crème de cassis and white wine. We had a wonderful conversation with Mme Chouard who we found we had already met! Such a funny coincidence, she was the teacherof the french students who we rendez-vous-ed with the first week. Then we started the meal with a tartelette "mini-pizza" with this AMAZING homemade sauce that their family has patented, made of tomatoes, ground pistachios, basil, and olive oil. To die for. and we topped them with goat cheese. so delish, plus a little side salad of endive and a red lettuce. Then the main course was the duck, or in my case, mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms with too much butter and cream to imagine. hyper-mega-giga-bon, as their youngest son would say. Then for dessert we made coconut flan, ahhhhh so yummy, plus mini-apple tarts that we made w/the extra dough.
An amazing meal, and the best conversation I've had since I've been here. Since Mme Chouard is an English professor we had many funny talks about mis-pronunciations, and a few ourselves which were fun to laugh at. From Lindsay's ordering of "Wahn" (She tried to order white wine, "vin blanc" but instead tried to add "white" to the front of "vin") to Katie's "couper les scènes" (to cut scenes, as in post-production film work) which came out as "couper les seins" or "cut the breasts." made for good entertainment. Then there was the boy who asked his homestay mom for "preservatifs" for his bread for breakfast, not realizing that in french that meant condoms, not jam. haha. This is why I love languages.
And at the end of the night she even signed and gave us copies of their family Christmas cards as mementos!! :D So cute! Their family is so cute, I do wish I lived there instead of here. They have 4 kids, three of which are boys - 7, 11, and 18, and a girl who's high school aged. Their whole house is red and yellow, so bright and cheery.
Alright well this is long enough, I'll save my story from tonight for another post, though the title of this post really refers to it a lot ("life-changing" as best translated into french)~ Long day/days ahead. Bonne nuit!
P.S. Realized my eternal optimist is coming back. It has of course been up and down as usual, but being who I am, I tend to push all the yucky, depressing things aside. #1 My ipod broke the other day. I know. Disastrous. I had even gone for a run, i was actually exercising here! blah, so much for trying to be good, haha. Anyways, I ended up having to restore it, aka wipe out all my music and reload it, meaning i lost all the songs that werent on my computer anymore. Oh well, worse things could happen. At least its not still stuck constantly restarting itself, only to make it to the apple screen where it would click loadly and blank out. grrr. And #2 my archaeology class. ugh. Not only is all of the vocab foreign to me, but when i went to talk to her afterword she blabbed so fast i barely caught a word and had to stand there staring at her in confusion. i'm sure she thought i was an idiot, or maybe better, mute. Anyways, i realized the bright side of the situation when she wouldnt let anyone else in the class write a paper except me, they all have to do exposés/oral presentations. ahhh, i would die.
I'm not really sure where to start, so I'll guess I'll pull a Julie Andrews and start at the very beginning. I'm going to have to force myself to alternate between writing here and reading "La Gastronomie à la Renaissance: La Memoire du Goût." Oh joy. I've got 52 pages, plus 12 of another reading, and a paper all for thursday. Technically very doable, but with my motivation or lack thereof for classes right now, plus all the other things I have and want to think about, plus my trip to Scotland Thursday night, well, its not ideal.
So, Thursday night, Valentine's Day, I had the amazing experience of being able to go the the Opéra Garnier, the paris opera house, for the presentation of Pina Bausch's "Orphée et Eurydice" (Orpheus and Eurydice, not much diff in french) danced by the Paris Opera Ballet. It was an "Opéra Dansé" so there was a live orchestra, live opera singers, and the dancers. I was on the verge of tears by the end, it was so beautiful. Bausch's choreography was insanely beautiful. I saw influences of Graham, Limon, and romantic ballet in her style, though I have no idea if she was actually influenced by all of them. I also noticed some similarities between her choreography and mine, which though obviously only coincidental, made me smile, lol. So, the opera/ballet was in four acts, and the three main characters - Orphée, Eurydice, and Amour - were played each by a dancer and a singer. It was beautiful to see the two juxtaposed on stage. The costumes were gorgeous.The repetition of many of the movement sequences was gorgeous and not at all redundant. Bausch works amazingly with groups of dancers, unison, and clumps. The very first sequence was a gorrrrrgeous wave-like series of movements in a clump. Found a picture online:
Alright, I could go on and on about that, but I will stop there. This review hits it pretty accurately and has some gorgeous photos: Review I bought a program, despite the cost, as one of my few 'souvenirs.' I dont' feel it necessary to get any souvenirs of being here really...I don't know what I would get, since I feel less and less like a tourist each day, just a temporary resident~ Pictures and wine labels will work just fine for my scrapbooks~ And fruit stickers for dad, of course.
So Saturday night I went out with a group of my girl friends. One of their friends who coaches a soccer team here put us on the list for this party/club on a boat on the Seine. We had a great night, though I think I'll write the details down in my journal instead of here~ :-P
Last night, definitely one of the major highlights, if not the best part of this experience so far, was our "atelier de cuisine." We had a cooking lesson at Mme Chouard's home with her mother "Mme Dobet." We made a three course meal with her for us and her whole family. She made a big deal when she foundout I was vegetarian because we were making duck (but i knew this when we signed up, but all of the ateliers involved meat, and i just wanted to cook :P), it was cute, and she got me a separate dish to make without duck, which was very nice of her. When they were taking the skin off the duck, I could see Dad sitting there cringing, or at least throwing it in the oven or frying pan and eating that by itself. Instead it went in the trash can. After making the meal, which took a good long time, but really was very simple, we began by having aperitifs and snacks in the salon. I discovered my love of cashews which i previously hated, and we had a kir of crème de cassis and white wine. We had a wonderful conversation with Mme Chouard who we found we had already met! Such a funny coincidence, she was the teacherof the french students who we rendez-vous-ed with the first week. Then we started the meal with a tartelette "mini-pizza" with this AMAZING homemade sauce that their family has patented, made of tomatoes, ground pistachios, basil, and olive oil. To die for. and we topped them with goat cheese. so delish, plus a little side salad of endive and a red lettuce. Then the main course was the duck, or in my case, mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms with too much butter and cream to imagine. hyper-mega-giga-bon, as their youngest son would say. Then for dessert we made coconut flan, ahhhhh so yummy, plus mini-apple tarts that we made w/the extra dough.
An amazing meal, and the best conversation I've had since I've been here. Since Mme Chouard is an English professor we had many funny talks about mis-pronunciations, and a few ourselves which were fun to laugh at. From Lindsay's ordering of "Wahn" (She tried to order white wine, "vin blanc" but instead tried to add "white" to the front of "vin") to Katie's "couper les scènes" (to cut scenes, as in post-production film work) which came out as "couper les seins" or "cut the breasts." made for good entertainment. Then there was the boy who asked his homestay mom for "preservatifs" for his bread for breakfast, not realizing that in french that meant condoms, not jam. haha. This is why I love languages.
And at the end of the night she even signed and gave us copies of their family Christmas cards as mementos!! :D So cute! Their family is so cute, I do wish I lived there instead of here. They have 4 kids, three of which are boys - 7, 11, and 18, and a girl who's high school aged. Their whole house is red and yellow, so bright and cheery.
Alright well this is long enough, I'll save my story from tonight for another post, though the title of this post really refers to it a lot ("life-changing" as best translated into french)~ Long day/days ahead. Bonne nuit!
P.S. Realized my eternal optimist is coming back. It has of course been up and down as usual, but being who I am, I tend to push all the yucky, depressing things aside. #1 My ipod broke the other day. I know. Disastrous. I had even gone for a run, i was actually exercising here! blah, so much for trying to be good, haha. Anyways, I ended up having to restore it, aka wipe out all my music and reload it, meaning i lost all the songs that werent on my computer anymore. Oh well, worse things could happen. At least its not still stuck constantly restarting itself, only to make it to the apple screen where it would click loadly and blank out. grrr. And #2 my archaeology class. ugh. Not only is all of the vocab foreign to me, but when i went to talk to her afterword she blabbed so fast i barely caught a word and had to stand there staring at her in confusion. i'm sure she thought i was an idiot, or maybe better, mute. Anyways, i realized the bright side of the situation when she wouldnt let anyone else in the class write a paper except me, they all have to do exposés/oral presentations. ahhh, i would die.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Des Années et Des Souvenirs
Today was a surprisingly eventful day, likely to take up a good amount of blog space. I was dreading the day quite a bit, especially after last night when, already having trouble falling asleep despite my exhaustion, i re-remembered exactly what today was. I had known it was coming, I knew it when February 3rd came. Likely two dates I won't forget anytime soon. I suppose I remember the first date so well because it was Caitlin's birthday and we had gone out to dinner at Shout and then to see Ailey that night last year and had the best night ever, until I got dad's call around 11pm and found out about mom's fall. I remember every little detail of that night from crying in the hallway of the 6th floor of woodruff outside rany and katherine's door (and then later in their room w/everyone), to going down to Caitlin's room, disturbing her celebration w/her suitemates, but being so grateful that she was there for me...the whole night....and watching Clueless, a movie that i'll never be able to watch again. And then today, Feb 12, perhaps the less traumatic of the two since i knew what was coming, but nevertheless the one I'll remember more.
I've said so many prayers the last couple days for personal strength, for the strength of my family, in thanksgiving for everything she gave us and brought to our lives, for everything she taught me. I've asked for hope and happiness, two things i've struggled to find the whole year. Today, I got a little bit of both and for that I thank God. I'm remembering things I forgot or lost a year ago...about optimism and taking stock of and joy in the little things, little accomplishments, little uplifting moments. Today I was able to do that, more than I have been able to any time recently.
My film class this morning, though nothing brilliant, made me appreciate being able to decently understand a french professor! Perhaps I'm lowering my expectations of myself, a good thing to do, but even though I can't say I even understood 75% of what she was saying, I got the basic points she was making, and even if I didn't, I was satisfied with what I understood. I can't expect myself to understand as much as the french students do. I'm realizing that. damn perfectionism tries to bring me down every time, not now though.
Then a little break, and I had my first Medieval Archaeology class at Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne. It was a good class, reasonably interesting, once again I understood enough to take legible notes and be satisfied. I've found I can judge my level of comprehension by how legible my notes are. When I don't understand anything, I scribble illegibly any semblance of what I'm hearing, hoping that people around me won't read what I'm writing and think I'm an idiot. haha. oh insecurities.
Then another break, this would be the low point of my day because I was desperate for a bathroom. and being that this is paris, those are scarce, or come at a cost. So, I tried out the Paris 1 bathrooms, and excuse the gross, disgusting details here, but there was a) no toilet seat, b) no TP c) blood among other things on the toilet and d) the floor was dirty and drenched in who knows what. So I proceeded to my next option, which would be finding a café, forking over the 2 euro for a beverage so that i could use their restroom. Find my café, order my overpriced chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), enter door with "WC" sign...and what do I find? A small room with a hole in the floor and a foot grip on either side. Are you effing kidding me? I'm not expecting some kind of throne, but really, paris, you're not a completely poor city, i know you've heard of a toilet. So yes, they expect you to pee in a hole. That's a skill to learn. Granted they did have TP. Almost got points for that.
Alright, bathroom adventures aside, I went to my TD for the Archaeology class next which was supposed to be a smaller section of the class, but no, there were 60 or so of us in a tiny room and the professor was like, I knowww you're not all supposed to be in here. So she made those of us not on the role (me included in that group) come up, show our student IDs and explain our reason for being there. Fortunately she recognized the name of my program and didnt give me any problems :D. The only problem I had was being at the back of the room and unable to understand when she was explaining our assignments. But I made myself make friends with the girl next to me and asked her to explain it to me afterwards, which she very kindly did :D and I'm happy to report that I don't have to do an oral presentation for the class, my biggest fear. I shudder every time I hear the word "exposé" *ick*
So then the best part of my day, I met up with Sophie and Tori at Tor's dorm for baguette, saucisson (tofu sausage in my case) and wine. Basically the french equivalent of a hot dog, with some ketchup and mustard on there, haha. I'll have to take a picture sometime of the hot dogs they sell here because they're all over the place and they're always wrapped inside a baguette with some cheese melted on the outside, very humorous. So we chatted and I realized how much I'd missed hanging out with them the past couple weeks. We were gonna try out this salsa class, but got there late and the place was packed so we peaced and met up with Lindsay at Frog and Princess for student night. I was just happy to talk with them~ and make some plans to get together more this week~ I get lonely easily, but half the time I'm too lazy to fix that problem, lol :-P
So now that I've officially written an essay on here, I'm going to enjoy a full night of sleep with no class tomorrow!
Oh, and one last happy note, I officially have amazing housing for next semester!!! :D Living with my favorite people again - Kristen, Katie, and Leslie in a fantastic Clairmont 4-bedroom apartment!!! YAY!
Aux Tuileries
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Chez Mme Enthoven
Finally doing something I should have done when I first got here, and that is to take a few pictures of the apartment I'm staying in. After all, this is a good 60% of where I spend my time in Paris :D
(click to make them bigger)
My lovely room~
Le Salon (living room) and my favorite room...the fruit room
La Cuisine et la Salle de Bains
And one note before I got to bed. I had an amazing 5-course french dinner the other night. My friend Katie's ex-boyfriend's parents were in Paris and invited her to dinner and to bring a friend. We went to "La Cave de l'Os à Moelle," literally, the bone marrow cellar. First we had a fantastic glass of champagne over at its sister restaurant. Then dinner, you could choose each of your courses from about 2-5 options, which was nice being that most of it was meat. My first course was a cream of scallop soup, i want the recipe, so amazing. Then I had oysters...a new experience for me, well done I'm sure, but I've decided I'm not an oyster person. Third course was BRILLIANT. Red mullet with polenta and what seemed like truffle and little crisped pansies...or purple potatoes. I know polenta is only corn meal, but it was soooo good. Then we had the cheese course, seemed like a harder goat cheese, with a little arugula salad. Then dessert, baba au rhum....which was more like rum with a small side of cake. The whipped cream helped it go down...otherwise twas like sipping white rum. Minus that little bit, the meal and the delicious white wine (St. Joseph) was very impressive, and a nice experience since we've been studying the history of French meals like this in my Food Culture class. I can definitely see how the meal has evolved to this...or stayed the same...seems it hasnt really changed thaaat much since the middle ages.
(click to make them bigger)
My lovely room~
Le Salon (living room) and my favorite room...the fruit room
La Cuisine et la Salle de Bains
And one note before I got to bed. I had an amazing 5-course french dinner the other night. My friend Katie's ex-boyfriend's parents were in Paris and invited her to dinner and to bring a friend. We went to "La Cave de l'Os à Moelle," literally, the bone marrow cellar. First we had a fantastic glass of champagne over at its sister restaurant. Then dinner, you could choose each of your courses from about 2-5 options, which was nice being that most of it was meat. My first course was a cream of scallop soup, i want the recipe, so amazing. Then I had oysters...a new experience for me, well done I'm sure, but I've decided I'm not an oyster person. Third course was BRILLIANT. Red mullet with polenta and what seemed like truffle and little crisped pansies...or purple potatoes. I know polenta is only corn meal, but it was soooo good. Then we had the cheese course, seemed like a harder goat cheese, with a little arugula salad. Then dessert, baba au rhum....which was more like rum with a small side of cake. The whipped cream helped it go down...otherwise twas like sipping white rum. Minus that little bit, the meal and the delicious white wine (St. Joseph) was very impressive, and a nice experience since we've been studying the history of French meals like this in my Food Culture class. I can definitely see how the meal has evolved to this...or stayed the same...seems it hasnt really changed thaaat much since the middle ages.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Lavez le bain
Lalala, so an interesting day or two.
First of all, I was browsing Gibert Jeune today, our bookstore that is supposed to have all the University of Paris textbooks, butnever does, so you have to go trapsing around town to find them all. Anyways, I was looking with my friend Katie for our film book, and I here "Lizi!" and lo and behold, it's Marisa de la Fuente, one of my friends and fellow french students from Maclay!! :D Definitely the highlight of my day, I was so surprised!! We talked for a bit and exchanged #s so we can get together. My spirits were up for most of the rest of the day because of that, it's always nice to have a 'home' moment here.
I went to both my film class at Paris 7 today and my Paris 1 art history class. At the first, the doors were locked, so Katie and I, with this Czech student we made friends with, went to the offices section of the building and found out film classes were cancelled this week. Oh the French university system. In two words, it sucks. They have no means of communicating with you, nor do they tell anyone this in advance. =_= So then when I went to my Paris 1 class in the afternoon, there were a ton of people in the Amphitheater before class started, so i walked in, they handed me a random piece of paper which talked about "inscriptions," signing up for something...so I asked, and realized that this definitely wasssnt my class. After a few phone calls and a visit to the art history office, I found that classes didnt start until nextttt week. Way to go Paris 1, for advertising that classes started this week. You're a winner. Anyways, at least I had the afternoon off ;-)
Other bits of the day...I, with two other girls from EDUCO and a couple french students from Charles V, am helping organized get-togethers between the french and american students of the two programs. Our last one was uber fun, so this should be a good way to get to know french students and practice the language of course. Except, technically, they're supposed to speak in english and we in french. odd but interesting.
And one last note, a simple difference between France and the U.S......cleaning solution.
Exhibit A: Mr. Clean - Bald, creepy yet macho cleaning machine with one earring. Do you have your tickets to the gun show? (excuse my Dwight Schrute reference).
Exhibit B: Saint Marc - Beams of light reflecting in your clean tub, every time. Amen to that.
Yet both have rays of light naturally behind their heads, have their names in bold red font, and are available in nature-inspired scent. The keys to marketing cleaners.
First of all, I was browsing Gibert Jeune today, our bookstore that is supposed to have all the University of Paris textbooks, butnever does, so you have to go trapsing around town to find them all. Anyways, I was looking with my friend Katie for our film book, and I here "Lizi!" and lo and behold, it's Marisa de la Fuente, one of my friends and fellow french students from Maclay!! :D Definitely the highlight of my day, I was so surprised!! We talked for a bit and exchanged #s so we can get together. My spirits were up for most of the rest of the day because of that, it's always nice to have a 'home' moment here.
I went to both my film class at Paris 7 today and my Paris 1 art history class. At the first, the doors were locked, so Katie and I, with this Czech student we made friends with, went to the offices section of the building and found out film classes were cancelled this week. Oh the French university system. In two words, it sucks. They have no means of communicating with you, nor do they tell anyone this in advance. =_= So then when I went to my Paris 1 class in the afternoon, there were a ton of people in the Amphitheater before class started, so i walked in, they handed me a random piece of paper which talked about "inscriptions," signing up for something...so I asked, and realized that this definitely wasssnt my class. After a few phone calls and a visit to the art history office, I found that classes didnt start until nextttt week. Way to go Paris 1, for advertising that classes started this week. You're a winner. Anyways, at least I had the afternoon off ;-)
Other bits of the day...I, with two other girls from EDUCO and a couple french students from Charles V, am helping organized get-togethers between the french and american students of the two programs. Our last one was uber fun, so this should be a good way to get to know french students and practice the language of course. Except, technically, they're supposed to speak in english and we in french. odd but interesting.
And one last note, a simple difference between France and the U.S......cleaning solution.
Exhibit A: Mr. Clean - Bald, creepy yet macho cleaning machine with one earring. Do you have your tickets to the gun show? (excuse my Dwight Schrute reference).
Exhibit B: Saint Marc - Beams of light reflecting in your clean tub, every time. Amen to that.
Yet both have rays of light naturally behind their heads, have their names in bold red font, and are available in nature-inspired scent. The keys to marketing cleaners.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Bisou-bisou
So I got my first French kiss today...
Haha, okay, you know, the double-take kiss on the cheek french custom thing.
So i was walking today from Vavin to St. Germain Des Pres (about a 20 minute walk) and this guy comes up behind me, maybe 29 or 30 yrs old, lil scruffy, sketchy looking at first, and starts talking to me (in french) about the store we just passed with all these pretty colors. And he starts naming all the colors he likes and asks if i like them...yes, creepy, so i say "ouais" (yeah) like twenty times and try to ignore him the best i can. but he persists. Eventually he starts talking about normal things, actors and travelling and politics (he asked me if I was from Provence, i dont know why on earth he would think that, i told him i was from the states, we started on american politics, of course) and we ended up having a like 20 minute walking convo....it was totally weird. And then at the end he shook my hand and leaned in and did the whole french double cheek kiss thing and i totally wanted to avoid it but couldnt, lol. Awkward, but I went with it, w/e. In the end I decided he wasn't actually sketchy. But, better to be wary at first....ya know, "don't talk to strangers." But that doesn't seem to be something french people learn growing up, haha. Except on the metro. Making eye contact on the metro is taboo. :-P
Uploaded about 90 (I imagine I'll have about 2000 by june, haha) pictures yesterday onto my computer, so here are a few:
Two of the many reasons d'Orsay is my favorite museum in Paris.
The pretty donation candles you find in every church here (these were in Notre Dame)
Haha, okay, you know, the double-take kiss on the cheek french custom thing.
So i was walking today from Vavin to St. Germain Des Pres (about a 20 minute walk) and this guy comes up behind me, maybe 29 or 30 yrs old, lil scruffy, sketchy looking at first, and starts talking to me (in french) about the store we just passed with all these pretty colors. And he starts naming all the colors he likes and asks if i like them...yes, creepy, so i say "ouais" (yeah) like twenty times and try to ignore him the best i can. but he persists. Eventually he starts talking about normal things, actors and travelling and politics (he asked me if I was from Provence, i dont know why on earth he would think that, i told him i was from the states, we started on american politics, of course) and we ended up having a like 20 minute walking convo....it was totally weird. And then at the end he shook my hand and leaned in and did the whole french double cheek kiss thing and i totally wanted to avoid it but couldnt, lol. Awkward, but I went with it, w/e. In the end I decided he wasn't actually sketchy. But, better to be wary at first....ya know, "don't talk to strangers." But that doesn't seem to be something french people learn growing up, haha. Except on the metro. Making eye contact on the metro is taboo. :-P
Uploaded about 90 (I imagine I'll have about 2000 by june, haha) pictures yesterday onto my computer, so here are a few:
Two of the many reasons d'Orsay is my favorite museum in Paris.
The pretty donation candles you find in every church here (these were in Notre Dame)
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Fatiguée
This thing is gonna be difficult to keep up with, but I'm going to do it!
It's been a tiring week, and I've barely started classes. I've got so much on my mind right now between getting classes figured out, and seeing Paris, and keeping my funds in check, and arranging travel plans outside of paris(partially a big headache now, but hopefully itll be worth it in the end!), and trying to stay on Mme Enthoven's good side.....I need a break, haha, maybe I'll watch a movie or something tomorrow to chill out. Anyways, recap of the week, if I can remember it:
Tried out two EDUCO (only our program) classes, and decided upon taking Steven Kaplan's "Dis moi ce que tu manges et je te dirai qui tu es" class, aka Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are. It's basically food/meal philosophy with some anthropology, gastronomy, history, and what not thrown in there. The guy's a bread historian, prides himself on being the first professor in the US to teach classes like this about food. And he's definitely passionate about it, which is probably why he managed to keep my attention the whole 3 hours(yes, all my classes are 3 hours long) and made me really excited about the class.
Other than that I tried out a film class, film analysis, "the actor in the film." Not my particular subject, but I needed a fourth course, and my friend Katie, who's a film major, is taking it. I'm gonna do it pass/fail, should be interesting overall. I like anything arts-related.
This coming week I start my two other classes, Medieval Archaeology and Histoire de la Révolution Française: Religions et Révolution. Hopefully theyre good because I dont really have back-ups, eep!
Other than that we've just been sightseeing a bit and enjoying paris nightlife. Notre Dame, the Sacré-coeur, le Musée d'Orsay. We went to my favorite fondue restaurant, "Le Refuge des Fondues" last night. Best cheese fondue ever, wine in a baby bottle, hilariously rude owners/servers. Katie, Marla and I spoke French through the whole meal, very comfortably might I add, and so I'm feeling a lot better about my French. However, whenever Mme Enthoven says something to me, all I can get out is "d'accord" or "merci" or a head nod. She makes me nervous.
Yeah, basically I'm just not comfortable with the whole French "coldness." The way if something's a tiny bit wrong, she just says it, no fear of hurting my feelings or anything. I know she doesn't mean anything by it. I'm likely just overly sensitive. So I'm trying to get over it, haha. Oh, and I have to go to a laundromat to do my laundry. Which basically means I'm going to try and only do laundry once a month....i think it's possible, lol, I mean I still have stuff I haven't worn. We'll see...laundry's expensive.
Boo. :P
Definitely more fun than laundry and cleaning the tub every day...Paris nightlife :D We've found some snazzy bars and cafés and such to hang at, in particular the "Moosehead" (a canadian bar). And hopefully we're headed there tonight. I'm taking a quick nap and then were gonna watch the Super Bowl, first time in my life, haha. Should be a good time.
It's been a tiring week, and I've barely started classes. I've got so much on my mind right now between getting classes figured out, and seeing Paris, and keeping my funds in check, and arranging travel plans outside of paris(partially a big headache now, but hopefully itll be worth it in the end!), and trying to stay on Mme Enthoven's good side.....I need a break, haha, maybe I'll watch a movie or something tomorrow to chill out. Anyways, recap of the week, if I can remember it:
Tried out two EDUCO (only our program) classes, and decided upon taking Steven Kaplan's "Dis moi ce que tu manges et je te dirai qui tu es" class, aka Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are. It's basically food/meal philosophy with some anthropology, gastronomy, history, and what not thrown in there. The guy's a bread historian, prides himself on being the first professor in the US to teach classes like this about food. And he's definitely passionate about it, which is probably why he managed to keep my attention the whole 3 hours(yes, all my classes are 3 hours long) and made me really excited about the class.
Other than that I tried out a film class, film analysis, "the actor in the film." Not my particular subject, but I needed a fourth course, and my friend Katie, who's a film major, is taking it. I'm gonna do it pass/fail, should be interesting overall. I like anything arts-related.
This coming week I start my two other classes, Medieval Archaeology and Histoire de la Révolution Française: Religions et Révolution. Hopefully theyre good because I dont really have back-ups, eep!
Other than that we've just been sightseeing a bit and enjoying paris nightlife. Notre Dame, the Sacré-coeur, le Musée d'Orsay. We went to my favorite fondue restaurant, "Le Refuge des Fondues" last night. Best cheese fondue ever, wine in a baby bottle, hilariously rude owners/servers. Katie, Marla and I spoke French through the whole meal, very comfortably might I add, and so I'm feeling a lot better about my French. However, whenever Mme Enthoven says something to me, all I can get out is "d'accord" or "merci" or a head nod. She makes me nervous.
Yeah, basically I'm just not comfortable with the whole French "coldness." The way if something's a tiny bit wrong, she just says it, no fear of hurting my feelings or anything. I know she doesn't mean anything by it. I'm likely just overly sensitive. So I'm trying to get over it, haha. Oh, and I have to go to a laundromat to do my laundry. Which basically means I'm going to try and only do laundry once a month....i think it's possible, lol, I mean I still have stuff I haven't worn. We'll see...laundry's expensive.
Boo. :P
Definitely more fun than laundry and cleaning the tub every day...Paris nightlife :D We've found some snazzy bars and cafés and such to hang at, in particular the "Moosehead" (a canadian bar). And hopefully we're headed there tonight. I'm taking a quick nap and then were gonna watch the Super Bowl, first time in my life, haha. Should be a good time.
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