Longtemps...

My sincere apologies to anyone who's been frantically checking to see if I've made any updates. I know I must be so popular that I have the whole world wondering where I've gone ;-) But worry not, everything is going wonderfully.

I was thinking about why I haven't written in a while. It's mainly because, you know, at first, I had a million new things happening to me all at once. It was barely possible to keep track of all of them. And then as time went on, my activities became more regular, which I think is pretty cool. I'm adapting to this French way of life so that it's not all brand new to me anymore. Also, I've mainly been going to class and coming home and going out every once in a while.

So one thing that's really been bothering me since I've been here is the fact that we don't have a dryer, just a washer. I hate to be an energy waster, but I have some clothes that simply need to be dried or else they'll be forever stretched out. So I went on a mission to find a laundromat so I could dry the clothes that needed to be dried. And it was successful! So this morning, I put my clothes in the washer so they'd be ready when I came home for my Monday/Wednesday mid-day break, and when I got home, I carted them in Mimi's caddy a few streets down to the laundromat. I had also bought a nice Bounce substitute, and I must say I was quite pleased with the results. I'm not going to do it every time I do laundry, but maybe every other. I feel like a stupid American doing it, though... oh well.

So this past weekend I had a little bit of a disaster. We decided to go to a discothèque on Friday night, which turned out to be a lot of fun! In order to catch the metro before it closed, we left at about 1:15. However, when we got to the station, we were told that it had already closed! So we went to the bus stop to check on the night bus schedule, and that just wasn't going to work out. A few French kids waiting there also said just to take a taxi, but I didn't want to pay for that. My friend Emily also had to get home, too but she doesn't live anywhere close to me. Eventually, we decided that we were going to walk, but of course I wouldn't let her walk alone, so I went with her and decided I would just sleep there. We walked all the way from Charles de Gaulle - Etoile to her house, near Nation... which was about 7 kilometers... we didn't get to her house until after 3:00, and we just went straight to sleep! Now the following morning, she didn't want to have to explain to her host mother why she had a boy in her bed, so I played fugitive for about an hour until they left for the market. By playing fugitive, I mean hiding out in her room and on her balcony! Let's just say it was interesting.

Then on Saturday night, I went out with Chloé and her boyfriend for the evening. We get a long really wonderfully, and dinner was really nice; we had crêpes for dinner and dessert. I hadn't really liked crêpes salées (the salty, meal ones), but this time it was so good! Then after was chocolate and banana!

Speaking of crêpes, it's so hard for me to resist them when I walk past a stand. They are just so so so good with nutella and banana. Eugenia and I are addicted. I think desserts are what I am addicted to the most here: crêpes, pâtisseries, mousse au chocolat. They're just so good anywhere, everywhere, all the time! I have no come across a bad dessert since I've been here.

D'accord, il faut que je vous laisse, mais je vais essayer d'écrire plus souvent!

Petites choses

One of the things I really love about being here is discovering the differences between French and American cultures. When I first got here, it was all about the big things: the toilet separate from the rest of the bathroom, the tub with the shower head and no curtain, dinner regularly at 8:30 pm. But now that I've been here for a while, I'm starting to notice (or be informed of) things a little more subtle. For example, last night at dinner, Mimi asked why I kept my left hand at my side or on my lap while I ate. I explained to her that when I was young, my mom would constantly tell me to keep my arms off the table and that it was sort of rude to eat like that. Mimi found this odd because apparently in France, it's rude to keep your hand off the table and that you should always rest your arm/wrist on the edge of the table! So from now on, I'm going to keep my wrist on the edge of the table while I eat.

I love finding about these little nuances that make a culture what it is!

Changement!

So, we found out yesterday that there are entirely too many people registered for the translation course, something like 22. So the academic adviser came in to our class to tell us that they're going to form a second section, and that it would be in the afternoon and not in the morning.

This got me excited because there's a course at the Institut Catholique de Paris that I wanted to take. We have the option to take classes at several outside universities, including the ICP and the Sorbonne. The class that interested me was French Grammar... I know it sounds dorky, but everyone knows about my fascination with language, and this is a grammar and linguistics course, so pretty much right up my alley. My adviser also suggested for me not to take it in fear that it might be too difficult. Besides, it conflicted with Translation. But when I heard that I might actually be able to take it, I decided to give it another shot asking her! She agreed after my request to let me take it. I figured, if it's too hard, I can just drop it, and if it's just challenging enough, I can get a tutor at IES to help me if I need it.

The only problem with it is that it's at 8:00 am.

...

Luckily it's only one day a week, but of course it had to be Tuesday! In addition to the two hour lecture class in the morning, in the afternoon I have the TD (which stands for travaux dirigés), which is sort of like a TA session but more intense. After the TD, I have to truck it to the Cité Universitaire for the chorale rehearsal! Tuesdays are going to be quite long, I imagine...

I also had to drop the Paris Museums class to make room for Translation, which is fine because I'd rather be doing this new class anyway.

Right now, I'm home on my nice three and a half hour break between classes. It's definitely a good thing to be able to come home and eat rather than go out to eat or grab a baguette sandwich on the go. That stuff definitely starts to add up!

Family dinner tonight! Haven't had one in quite a while.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Beaucoup d'activité!

Wow, looking back, it's been quite a while since I last wrote, and a lot has happened since then!

I ended up going to the Musée d'Orsay on Thursday with the group from IES. It was really great because we went on a guided tour, and I have to say, our tour guide knew a lot! The entire museum is filled with the art of people who went against the grain in the 19th century, creating works that were beyond the realm of comprehension for the people of their time. It's a weird feeling after seeing all these famous pieces of art in pictures and in replicas and then finally seeing them in real life. Like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, it's kind of surreal that I had Monet's water lilies and Degas' ballerinas in front of me.

Then on Friday, we went to the Père Lachaise cemetery, where famous people like Edith Piaf, Molière, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison all rest. I find cemeteries relaxing. I guess it's kind of like knowing that all the people there are resting peacefully. I don't know, maybe that's kind of weird. We also had our own personal tour there, too. Our friend Celeste had gone the previous weekend, and one of the guards showed her around, so when we came, he took us around, too. So that was nice not having to navigate on our own and being taken exactly where we wanted to go. In the corner, there were memorials for the people who died in the concentration camps during WWII, which all really moved me a lot.

Over the weekend, we did more walking and the like and went out on the town, but nothing else too exciting.

Mimi had been gone for about five days, and I got really excited when she came back. She's so nice and we get along really, really well. I also spent some time with Chloé while Mimi was gone. My family is really great.

But I do miss my family at home. I try to talk to them every once in a while, but it's just not the same as seeing them. Yesterday there was a suicide bombing in Israel, the first in over a year, and although I know Michelle isn't there and wasn't harmed, it still made me worried. I hope she's having fun with those cows on the kibbutz!

Tonight I've got my chorale rehearsal. The conductor is really funny and reminds me a lot of Mr. Brown. It's nice to be back in a chorus; I've really missed it. I've missed singing in general, actually. Aurélie's husband is a singer/actor, so I should talk to him and see if there's anything I can get involved with on his end.

I've got class soon, so I've gotta run.

Ciao!