jude law and a semester abroad

2009-08-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

one week . . .

ambialet n'est pas montmartre mais tant pis

2009-08-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

la plus grande verite qu'on puisse apprendre un jour est qu'il suffit d'aimer et de l'etre en retour.

ma famille me manque

2009-08-04T04:12:00.000-07:00

ils m'ont envoye plus de photos. this hike was not 3hrs long, but was punctuated by welcomed breaks to taste blackberries and fresh mint.

nothing is perfect but it has to be someday

2009-08-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

i sat through mass today with a whirlwind of thoughts circling my brain. pere jammes’ words were flying over my head so i decided to occupy my time by going through the prayers i had forgotten. i started in english and tried translating in french. it wasn't long before i realized i had forgotten them in english as well. needless to say, my mind started to wander . .

i remembered having a discussion about different versions of the act of contrition. mine, of course, was different and therefore wrong. so as pere jammes continued with what i'm sure was a lovely homily, i was trying to figure out who gets to decide what is right and what is wrong. the world would be such a perfect place if people could just accept the differences of others. instead we're so eager to reject diverse people and their ideas. for some reason, it's easier to say 'your act of contrition is so wrong!! o m g!! where did you learn that??' than to say 'oh i haven't heard that version before. that's very interesting. thank you for introducing me to something new'. it will be a long time until that catches on and i know i’ll be waiting a forever for any real change. nothing is perfect but it has to be someday so i’ll keep dreaming.

J'aime bien la glace

2009-07-30T06:53:00.001-07:00

C'est vrai. C'est tout.

You're the wanker, if anyone is

2009-07-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

After two fun-filled weeks, my family's vacation is over and they've headed home. I am very grateful for their company. Without them, I would have been completely lost here and all alone. They were a tremendous help in developing my french, and I'd like to think I was the same for their English. We did all sorts of things together: cooking, kayaking, hiking, swimming, running, watching movies, playing games, shopping, and touring Albi. It was very sad for me to see them go, and I hope the feeling was mutual. My family left in the morning of the same day a concert was held in the church. As they were packing up the car, I was helping the British couple set up for the event. And once my family had left for good, Peter and Margaret swept me under their wings. The performers were a group of six - two violinists, two violists, and two cellists - and I thought they were absolutely phenomenal. The show really motivated me to find a viola and make up for some lost time. I won't. Afterwards, I had dinner at Peter and Margaret's with a few other Britts - one of whom is a violist with the London Symphony Orchestra and who was not impressed with the evening's perfomance. They are all really great company. I'm glad we've been able to put that whole revolution thing behind us and get along so well. After many glasses of wine, I mentioned to Angela just how much I enjoy listening to them talk with their accents. She replied with a laugh, 'No darling, it's you with the accent'. Hilarious. The next evening, we all had dinner together again at Angela and Ben's house. It was another fun evening spent with fun people. Dick, the violist, drove me home and I vaguely remember mentioning to him how the last few days have really shown me all that I'm missing out on by not being British. He laughed and I went on to list things like lamb with mint jelly, tea, the pound!! The next evening, I had dinner again with Peter and Margaret and then we headed to the Cafe de la Presqu'ile for another concert of Irish folksongs. The main guy was an Irish laddy who sang and switched between the violin, mandolin, and harmonica. He was accompanied by a German on guitar. It was our usual crowd - Peter and Margaret, Ben and Angela, Dick, and myself - and then I met three more British families! We dominated the entire of stage right. Last year, one of my new British mates was brought on stage to assist the show by playing a plastic banana. She was sitting next to me. I knew that as soon as the singer made note of that to the crowd, that I'd be next. My table recommended one of the Britts I had just met to help and then I was chosen along with some French man. She was on the banana, I was on apple, and he was on spoons, and we all had our solos during 'When the Saints Go Marching In'. I found that breakdowns on apples don't go so well and unfortunately there is photo-documentation. Anyways. It was a really fun night. Margaret stole a poster for me and we got it autographed. I'll be with them again tomorrow and for the rest of the weekend as is it the grand fete d'Ambialet. Now it's not just fun and game with the Britts. It really is hard work holding on to 'my accent'!

si seulement . . .

2009-07-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

One evening as Benedicte and I were doing the dishes from dinner, she made what I would call a profound point. She said that you cannot choose where you live and the people who live there as well. Of course she was only talking about a recent relocation from Paris to a suburban area about two hours away from there. I took her point and processed it on a larger scale. I would love to be able to stay here forever but I would have to leave behind my family and closest friends. Once I'm stateside again, I'll be with those people but pining for another return. So here I stand at the fork in the road. Which path will I take?? Let's be honest, I always come back.

2009-07-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

photo documentation of the 3hr hike we did yesterday.

this is my family: mother benedicte with children victor, philippine, and oscar. father jean-baptiste was photographing.

yes, i know, i don't look american at all.

p.s. that big white blob just below the treeline in the distance is my home. bienvenue a ambialet.

tart -ine, -e, -ette, -er

2009-07-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

my family and i have been doing a lot more cooking than to which they are accustomed. every meal is three courses, usually including a cheese plate, and i'm not complaining one bit. also, they seem to be more excited about my return to carnivorism than i am!

a few days ago, i asked my children to help me make chocolate chip cookies. they've bought some in stores but they've never had the opportunity to taste real good american-style chocolate chip cookies. poor kids. i googled the nestle toll-house recipe and they turned out great!

my first day here, oliva, sophia, and i made tartelettes.

quick lesson:
tartelette - sweet desert
tarte - savory dish
tartine - slice of bread
tartiner - to spread something on a tartine

so my first day, i had a tartelette. every morning, i have a tartine which i tartine du beurre et de la confiture. for lunch, my family and i have shared different tartes.
now today is a doozy. for breakfast, i took two tartines. for lunch, i made a quiche, which is essentially a tarte with eggs. this afternoon, we made tartelettes for dessert tonight. and i don't know yet what we're having for dinner.

enjoy!

pour faire un pate:

10 grands cuillere a soupe de farine
pincee de sel
herbes de provence
1/2 tasse d'huile
1/2 tasse d'eau

melanger la farine et le sel et les herbes de provence
ajouter l'huil et melanger
ajouter l'eau et melanger
si trop sec, ajouter d'eau. si trop collant, ajouter de la farine

pour faire un quiche:

-3 oeufs entiers + sel + poivre + herbes de provence
-1 grand bol de lait
-gruyere
-(lardons)

bien fouetter
mettre le pate dans le plat
vider le bol avec tout le contenu
mettre le fromage (et les lardons) partout
mettre au four a 180-200 pendant 40 min

une bouteille de heineken est mon arme de choix

2009-07-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

today, as well as yesterday, was very eventful, which is an odd happening here in ambialet.

yesterday morning, my new family and i went for a run with les chiens. on the way back, j-b stopped to pick up some pain au chocolats at the boulangerie for breakfast. in the afternoon, we went kayaking on the tarn. i think it was 10km and it took about 2 1/2 hours. as per usual, i fell. fortunately, however, the tarn is much clearner than the wade river so falling this time wasn't as devestating as falling in new jersey was. i have a nasty bruise to show for it. yesterday was 14 juillet, aka bastille day. there was a dinner, deserts, aperatifs, and fireworks at a camp site not far from here. we went for the desserts and fireworks. the feu artifice was nothing compared to the show i saw from the front yard of eagleville, but even so, it was enjoyable. short, but enjoyable.

this morning, i woke 'early' to get to the dogs before they got to everything under the sun. after feeding them and giving brune her medicine, i took the three for a walk. the quatre, or as the kids like to call him 'monsieur saucisse', was waiting patiently at the gate for his playmates. so the four of us walked merrily along the path until jay-z and monsieur saucisse took off. brune ran as well, but she actually came back when i called her. sam was on a leash because he is the dog of my new family and i would hate to lose him. so i left with four and came back with two. oops. i decided that the village isn't that big and everyone knows him, so jay-z would eventually return. i went inside to do the mountain of dishes since this vacation, we decided that dishes can wait. it must be my mother in me, but i couldn't stand the look of the full sink so i took care of it. as i was washing away, victor came downstairs because, from i understand, the sound of the dogs awoke him. whatever. so he offered to come with me to the town to search for the dogs. we rode down on bikes, stopped at nadine's cafe to see anyone had seen 'un de chiens de prieure'. no one had but they directed us to l'hotel du pont where monsieur saucisse lives. so we took a ride there, only to find that they had not seen the dogs and that monsieur saucisse's name is really 'doti'. this is france so it's pronounced 'doe-tee'). on the way back to the priory, victor and i stopped to pick up du pain et quelques pain au chocolats et croissants. that may have been a poor investment on my part since we were on bikes. oops. we found the dogs on our way back but they were not ready to return home. they went off to hunt down something else. when jay-z finally returned, he was in dire need of a bath. il etait tres sale et il a senti comme la poubelle. we washed him and philipine et moi, nous avons commence un match de badminton. after lunch, i played some french reading games designed for 6-7 year olds with oscar. he knows more than i do but je ne comprends pas la plupart de mots qui viennent de sa bouche. my new family decided to go swimming but i'm not really a fan of bathingsuits so i stayed back and took my long-awaited adventure. i explored la douzieme etage with nothing but a heineken to protect me. even after 18 months, i am still afraid of the troisieme etage. i didn't even make it through the door. i stood on the landing et j'ai dit, 'apres quelques mois, j'ai peur toujours', et apres, j'ai bu du biere because that is certainly intimidating to the ghosts and other creatures who may be lurking around those rooms!!

so far, all is well. it's different than my last stay here but different in a good way. i think.

je suis immortelle

2009-07-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

At the end of our four-month-stint here in France, we decided to leave our mark on Ambialet by tracing our silhouettes on the walls of the common room and punctuating them with a favorite quote. I'm kind of B-A so my shadow is ready to pull the fire alarm. My quote was 'I don't know much about clothes but my hair looks fierce', which is from a song that we heard in Le Mix in Paris oh so long ago. I realized that it looked retarded, completely colored in my body to cover the words, and added 'All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be' a cote de moi.

Je n'ai pas mon appareil si donc je n'ai rien des photos.

So that's the background of today's story. Around noon, a nice family arrived to the priory and will be staying for the next two weeks or so. During their brief tour, Olivia had me stand against my old silhouette to see if I have changed. I have and of course I will be forever changing over the rest of my life. But I seem to find comfort in the fact that some part of me will rest forever on the walls of le priuere. In a sense, je suis immortelle. I am immortal . . until someone paints over me.

ein bier bitte!!

2009-07-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

writings from franfurt, germany (technically 'stale', but bear with me until i update with some fresh stuff):

character, like a photograph, develops in darkness. -yousuf karsh

i read this on the page before chapter one of the book papi handed me with a self-assured nod to go with 'this is a good airport read'. about halfway through the hour we spent waiting on the runway in line to take-off from newark, i decided to whip this baby out and give it a try. that first quote echoed in my ears as i contemplated some sort of deeper, existential meaning. i came to a satisfactory conclusion just in time for lift-off. i decided that since a large mass of the population uses digital cameras, a large mass of the population also lacks character. then i decided that i travel with the hopes of discovering a people who take the time to develop their photoshots of character in darkrooms. i thought i was on to something on the flight to franfurt. turns out i found a gay couple who like vodka and coca lite a little too much. that's about when i continued on with the worst book ever. james patterson really let me down this time.

prospect number two found me at my gate in the frankfurt airport just after i had finished the god awful story. he seemed to be enthralled by my game of freecell but was probably scared off by the screamo blaring from my headphones. so that one may have been my fault.

i still have two more hours in germany and then a flight and train ride to go. maybe i'll stumble upon something.

who wants a body massage??

2009-06-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

plan for the rest of summer:

home listening to brand new, chiodos, jack's, and the study band (four days)
peru (two weeks)
home, maybe some beach action (one week)
france (five weeks)
home to pack/unpack (four days)
francis (balls)

4 days . . .

2008-04-23T02:32:00.000-07:00

i met a lot of people in europe. i even encountered myself.
-james baldwin

12 days . . .

2008-04-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

the countdown has begun.

i can't believe the semester is winding down. it really did fly by. i feel like we arrived at ambialet just yesterday. i've learned quite a bit being out here -a lot about myself. for one thing, i'm really bad at blogging. i hate writing because i think it sounds like 'and then, and then, and then, and then, and blah blah blah'. i feel like most of the things i write about fall under the 'you had to have been there' category. in any case, merci to all those who were avid readers of this blog. your support is greatly appreciated and i hope you were entertained. i try to make it as easy as possible for others to live vicariously through my travels. your welcome. secondly, i learned that things really aren't so bad. one example, i ate the onions that were served in my goulash in prague AND i ate the mushrooms of eric's boeuf bourgignon. i've eaten rabbit and duck, and probably a myriad of other things that were passed off as chicken. i also fell in love with goat cheese. who would've thunk?? this new taste applies to more than just food. i seem to have found a new interest in religion. with my online faith'n'fran class and our religious pilgrimage course combined with mass here at the priory, i realized that catholicism ain't so bad. the crusades and francis are, for me, incredibly interesting. i have a new respect for the mendicants but i still have my beef with the jesuits. although, a tiny sandwicherie in toulouse has a pastry called a 'jesuit'. it's absolutely delicious. filo dough and almond paste. mm! that, to date, has been the best experience i've had with a jesuit. anyways. i suppose my renewed faith came just in time since i'm about to be a godmother! woo.

dear mria: please hold the baby in until april 27th around 7pm. that would be great and much appreciated. k thanks.

i already missed tascha's babies and becky's wedding. i don't want to miss anything else. i can't say that i regret this trip though. it was (still is) a great opportunity and i'm glad i grabbed it. i just can't believe it's almost over. only 12 days left. i should probably start taking pictures of this place. it's absolutely amazing. however, i've reached a fork. i'm not ready to leave but i'm ready to be home with my family and friends. i predict a waterfall of tears starting the time i see PHL from the skies and a steady stream all the way through landing and baggage claim and customs. oh mon dieu!

excusez-moi. c'est moi, robocop.

2008-03-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

ambialet is probably the greatest thing ever. it's pretty amazing how the priory has been transformed into our dorms. our first day, we took a tour of the whole building. now our corridor looks really modern. the walls are white and bright, the furniture is right out of the ikea boxes, and the showers are a good time, too. anyways. on our tour, we went upstairs and walked through the old dorms -where the students lived some forty years ago. it was this big ballroom with about fifty cots lined in three rows, and a row of maybe ten or so sinks along one wall. the times sure have changed. thank god. it's the coolest building ever. i love it.
the town itself has a population of about thirty, and i think all thirty received us pretty well. before we got here, and even still, rumors were flying. we are mormons and scientologists and buddhists. l'oncle sent out a letter to the townspeople explaining who we are and what we're doing. that seemed to clear some things up. our debut to the town of ambialet was at a traveling disco. that was an interesting night. we met just about everyone from the town drunk to the town-go-to-know-all. we learned in paris that the parisiens have an interesting way of dance. we learned in ambialet that the same rules apply for the countryfolk. anyways. the disco was fun. it was a good time. there's an english couple who lives down the mountain, peter and margaret. we're singing in their choir and renting bikes from them. our first bikeing adventure was in the pouring rain. we must have gone at least six miles and then we came back soaking wet. it was still fun. our second outing was in better weather. our intent was to hike down the mountain to get the bikes, and to then bike to the tennis courts. we got to the courts but they were locked so we set off for a long ride. along the way, we found a big tunnel. it pitch black and really eerie. tim and i were the brave ones but we didn't venture too far. we planned on returning with lights to do some investigating, we just haven't gotten there yet. hiking these mountains is also a fun favorite. we hike every time we go up or down our mountain. you can either climb the short and vertical path that lines the stations of the cross, or you can walk up the 3/4 mile road that winds around the mountain and ends at our driveway. one day we ventured into town and to another mountain. we hiked all the way up the radio tower at the top, and on our way down, we climbed the ruins of saint raphael. there's a whole bunch of ruins around here. i went off one day by myself and climbed into the old bell tower of saint gilles, to the on the cliff below us, and then i found a path that winds down and behind our monastery. we all walked my path and made our way all the way around our mountain, and then we had to hike back up.
other than biking and hiking, and eating, we been in class and taking field trips. pappy took over our french courses and we have this a toulouse tour guide named eric to do our religious pilgrimage course. we've traveled into albi, toulouse, and to carcassonne. we also ventured to other ruins and climbed some towers. it's been a great time.
this past weekend was our easter break. alexia, hannah, tim, and myself spent those four days in marseille. the weather wasn't too bad. it was warmer but it was really windy. we spent one day on the beach, in our coats. alexia and tim went in the water to climb some rocks. i think our group has an obsession with climbing things. i was going to but my toes found the water to be too cold. tim ended up slicing his big toe on a rock or something, so he left marseille with a permanent souvenir: a scar. we pretty much binged on baguettes and pastries all weekend. it was great. on easter, we went to mass at the basilique du sace-coeur. it was only a block away from our hotel. that's right. hotel. no 's' . hotel. anyways. mass was really nice, but the eucharist was pure mayhem. there was no order and no lines. it was like every catholic for themselves. it was weird. anyways. we managed to get our communion without any bloodshed. we spent the rest of day walking around, eating pastries and baguettes and falafels. i called home that night and bawled forever and a day. maria and i are like dominoes. we set each other off. in spite of all my tears and running mascara, it was nice to talk to everyone. after that, we went to the movies. we saw the new jack black movie, 'be kind, rewind' but, it was in french. so. we saw the new jack black movie, 'soyez sympa, rembobinez'. the only line i really caught in the whole thing was 'excusez-moi. c'est moi, robocop'. i'm going to need to see that movie again. after the movie, we went back to the hotel to celebrate easter with a 5L jug of wine and american tv. it was a great.
we're back in ambialet and i have a long list of things to do. managing our classes here isn't too bad. it's the things from home that are bothersome. my online faith'n'fran class is kind of killing me. i have to figure out my housing situation and schedule for next year, and i need to register for summer classes. it kind of seems like the school isn't doing much to help me out, either. montco didn't help me. they responded to my email a week late and after the class i needed was filled. saint francis isn't doing much better. someone tell me how i'm supposed to sign a release form for my transcripts while i'm an ocean away. anyone? thank you. things like that are stressing me out, but it's kind of hard to be stressed when you're in paradise.

i'm going to be a godmother!!!!!!!

MGM grand

2008-03-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

i miss my sister : (

blogging about ambialet and easter break to come . . .

'au revoir, _____ . we shall meet again.'

2008-03-08T08:24:00.001-08:00

spring break was a-mazing! alexia, karen, kristin, and myself arrived set off for prague thursday afternoon. we flew out of orly. getting to the airport was sort of closure of paris. it was the last RER ticket we'd have to buy. au revoir, paris. we will meet again. while waiting at the airport, we met a lady who was flying home to prague. she explained the history of the city, told to us all the must-sees, and offered to take us to lunch while we were in town. she also said she'd help us navigate our way to the hostel but she disappeared once the plane landed. anyways. we managed. we had to take the no. 100 bus to the zlicin metro station and then take the yellow B line to nardoni trida. right. so i don't speak czech. i was beginning to freak out at the bus stop. one, the obvious: i don't speak czech! two, transit tickets are 26czech crowns. three, i read a sign that said if you're caught on the metro/bus/tram without a validated ticket, you'll be fined like 1000czech crowns (only 700kc if you pay out of pocket). right. we asked the bus driver if we could buy a ticket. he said 'no tickets' and waved us on. we took that to the metro stop. we found a guichet and bought a ticket just to be safe. we eventually made to the hostel. no problems. no fines.
the hostel was actually really nice for the price. it's called the chili hostel. if you're in prague, check it out. anyways. someone wrote on the toilet paper holder in our bathroom. they etched 'you can change the world' into its side. that sure did brighten my day every time i used the toilet. and then the breakfast was amazing. it was really just bread and jams and honey but it was soooo good. we spent the first few days just walking around old town square and wenceslas square and just stumbled upon things. we never had an itinerary for anything, and i really think that's the best way to travel. we spent one day walking to and from and all around prague castle. we only toured one museum: the museum of communism. that actually gave us a whole lot of perspective. it was so weird to see videos of people protesting at both of the squares. in our lifetime. we spent the rest of the day just sitting in the center of old town square. we wandered through the jewish quarter and wound up over the river and at the metronome. it's literally a metronome. a giant red rod that keeps time and has a great view. we watched the sunset from atop the metronome and picked out some things we wanted to see. the next day, we walked to a tower. we didn't know what it was or how to get there. it took a while but we eventually stumbled upon it. it was a restaurant. it was a giant restaurant way up in the air. probably the weirdest thing i've even seen. there's steel babies climbing up and down the structure.
we spent another day hiking up a mountain. we were looking for the funicular railroad. we thought we found it until we actually found it. the first thing was the hunger wall. we kept trucking and wound up at the petrin tower, which was pretty much a mini eiffel tower. we also stumbled upon a 'secret garden'. you can tell it's been missed by so many people. the path splits into a normal incline and into steps. that time, we took the steps. anyways. the gate to the 'secret garden' was closed and there was a lock, but it wasn't locked. us, being the versatile americans we are, managed our way in. it was too pretty to pass up. we took a stroll through. we were the only ones there except for the gardeners who made no objection to our presence. there was a tree with a seat carved out and there was writing all over the tree. i wrote down some of it in my moleskine. mostly because cool people write stuff like that in their moleskines, but partly because some of it was good stuff. 'no frontiers. we are all world citizens' and 'la revelation succede a la revolution'. i wrote 'je me souviens'. i'm not canadienne i'll definitely remember the tree, spring break, and this entire semester.
the people we met were great. we met a few aussies, a few britts who were convinced i was british, some french moroccans, two germans, and one truly american american, and my favorite brazilian joined us for a bit. most of the people we met were either coming from or going to budapest. soooo. we did some research, found a bus and a hostel, and took a break from spring break. by then, karen had left for rome so it was just alexia, kristin, and myself. the truly american american, william, was on his way to budapest, too.
oh my, this needs a new paragraph. right. we left for budapest early early thursday morning. the four of us set off for the bus station. we were kind of familiar with area from the one day we walked to the restaurant tower with steel babies. on that walk, we were right along a highway. this time, we opted for the next road off wenceslas square, which appeared to be more residential. we were walking along and came to a gate. it was open. we went through. we followed the path back behind a dark building. we probably should have have turned around but i guess that's the beauty of hindsight. anyways. we come to a clearing and i see two exits, both closed off. suddenly, i hear a german shepard type watch dog barking. i see william take off and scale a wall. he's in the clear. then i see a guy come out . i booked it. i scaled the wall and i was in the clear. the guy starts yelling in czech. alexia climbs and we're all alright. the guy is still yelling at us in czech. kristin finally comes from around the building. the guy yells at her and tries to throw her around a bit. my czech isn't so great, but i'm pretty sure he said something about the police and i think he asked if we were polish. yeah, i'm a little polish, but i'm not about to tell this guy that. kristin makes it over the wall with the help of william chanting 'yes! you can!'. and we're off. i'm still being made fun of over my wall-scaling abilities. alexia, kristin, and william all used a ledge to get over the wall. not me. i got up the five-foot flat wall in my chucks with my heavy backpack. spider B. soooo. we made it to the bus station. kristin and i didn't have our confirmations printed out. alexia and william did. kristin asked me to go first. i did. the lady told my my reservation was canceled. i asked her why the hell that happened. she said 'i don't know' and offered me no help but said there's one more spot on the bus. i jumped on it and bought the ticket. kristin's was canceled, too. oops. she could have taken the next bus to budapest, or even a bus to bratislava and then pick one up to budapest. she didn't. alexia, william, and myself went to budapest. when we got there, i experienced the same culture shock as i did in prague. i don't speak magyar any more than i speak czech. we made it to the hostel, though, no problems. the hostel was so nice. it didn't feel like a hostel at all. it felt more like we were staying at a friend's house. if you're ever in budapest, check out the imperio max hostel. it's great. right. the three of us set out to walk around budapest. we actually ran into one of the aussies we met in prague. oddly enough, she was staying in the same hostel. again. we did alot of walking and alot of shopping in budapest. william left early saturday morning. alexia and i spent the rest of the day at a thermal spa. it was absolutely amazingggggggg. i had to buy a bathingsuit and it actually cost less than it did to get into the spa and rent a cabin. i thought the outdoor pool was great until i went inside. then i thought the indoor spa was even better. and then we went into the sauna! after an awesome day at the spa, we hopped the bus back to prague. au revoir, budapest. we will meet again.
we spent our last day in prague just walking around shopping. the next morning, we left for london. au revoir, prague. we shall meet again. we arrived at luton and hopped a bus into town. the first thing we did was ride the london eye. the view was pretty spectacular. i don't know if it was worth the 15pounds. i mean, the metronome was free. anyways. we crossed the bridge again and walked to buckingham palace. we had ourselves a little picnic in the garden for lunch. then we walked to trafalger square and played on the lions. we walked through the national galleries for a bit. i found some pieces i might do my explication on. the allegories of love are pretty neat. check em out. we actually jumped in a tour group and listened to the lady's spiel on a painting. that was fantastic. one, i love the accent so just listening to her talk was a great time. two, i've developed a new appreciation for art. it's wild. we had to leave our new tour guide and group and we made a beeline to van eyck's 'the betrothal of the arnolfini' and then we headed to the underground. we hopped the bus to gatwick. our flight to toulouse was delayed an hour because the plane came in late and then because they overbooked the flight. au revoir, london. we shall meet again. i actually said that the last time we were leaving london about a month ago. my, the power of words. anyways. once we landed, we were greeted by mon oncle tim with open arms! he cracked some joke about us showering, but it wasn't exactly a joke. hostel living isn't pretty but it sure is fun. anyways. we didn't get to ambialet til around 1:30 and there was dinner waiting for us.
long story short, spring break was awesome. i left a lot to see in the czech republic, hungary, and england. there's a reason i say 'au revoir. we shall meet again'. when this semester is over, i won't be done seeing the world.

czech me out

2008-02-21T05:21:00.000-08:00

so. we're off to prague for ten days. next sunday, we'll spend a few hours in london before our flight to toulouse, where l'oncle will whisk us away to ambialet for the second half of the semester.

i'm a little nervous about prague just because i don't speak czech. i'm sure it's nothing like any other language i've ever heard before. bof. i smell a great game of charades.
anyways. i cannot wait for ambialet. i'm so pumped. the weather is going to be absolutely beautiful. it's going to be great to be outside. they got us bikes!!! i'm so excited to do long bike rides and trail runs.
paris was great but i'm stoked to be in the south of france.

we're off.
au revoir, paris. we shall meet again. a bientot.

11, avenue du president wilson

2008-02-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

ok. so we came back from london. the next morning, l'oncle tim bought us a big breakfast. he was aware of our 'english fasting'. i survived in london with one baguette and three tangerines for three days. i only paid for fish and chips (let's be real, we were in england), three cups of tea (let's be real), beer, and a porc sausage sandwich from a street vendor not far from buckingham palace. right. so we were kind of hungry. oh boy, ten days in prague is going to be rough.

wednesday, we had a lesson in kitchen french at gerry's house. we started with finger foods. it was a shortbread dough with mustard, tomatoes, and herb seasonings. absolutely delicious. the entree was a salade au chevre. it was greens tossed with a vinaigrette and topped with walnuts and warmed goat cheese. the plat principale was rabbit meat, couscous, and baked tomatoes. for desert, we had our homemade mousse au chocolat and cookies with cafe au lait. after lunch, we went to the rodin museum and toured through there for a few hours. that night, we met up with leo in the latin quarter. we met leo at our hostel in london and now he was spending some time in paris so we got to hang out again. we got crepes, went to a bar for happy hour, and then walked along the seine before calling it a night.

thursday night, oksana took us out to a club. the invitation read an open champagne bar and dinner buffet. the buffet dinner consisted of salad, a platter of coldcuts, and suspicious looking platters of asparagus and potatoes. men in business suits were crowding the bar, but thanks to leo's long arms we were able to get served over the crowd a few times.

friday we went to the orangerie and looked at some impressionist artwork. it was actually pretty neat. i've always been more of a realist so at first i wasn't really appreciative of the displays. i came around, eventually. afterwards we went to a video museum. basically, you walk through a bunch of short films. the one that really hit home was the last one we saw. i don't know what language it was in but the french subtitles made it alot easier to follow. essentially, two algerian boys killed their french friend just because he was french and the two groups were at war. it was bone-chilling. right. so later that night, we went out to a club. there wasn't a cover so that was pretty sweet. there was an open champagne bar for ladies for five minutes every hour. that was pretty sweet, too. we didn't stay for too long before we started our journey home on the french bus system. we walked around for way too long, looking for our stop. we eventually gave up and went to a mcdo across the street from a metro station. we hung out there til 5am or so and then hopped on the metro. the station was empty and there was escalators. i finally fulfilled my dream of running up the down. then i took it to the limit, i ran down the up. it was wild. we made it home and passed out.

we laid low on saturday. i spent sunday laying in bed with the windows open and the sun beating on my face. i put on my aves, jammed to pink floyd, and ate a laffy taffy. it was a day well spent.

wednesday's vernissage was awesome. getting there wasn't too easy. i suppose you could just consider it a miscommunication. i always remember that the musee d'art moderne is at 11, avenue du president wilson. in any case, we made it and we were able to enjoy the artwork on display. we got to hang out with slobadan again so that was pretty cool. i caught myself picking out symbolism and aesthetic principles of composition. now that's a neat feeling. afterwards, we got hotdog-stuffed-baguettes from a vendor by the eiffel tower. they were delicious. we topped them off with crepes. mmm crepes.

on thursday, we met gerry and visited saint paul's church. we toured the jewish district and then we went through the musee carnavalet.afterwards, we walked through the place de vosges and then we did a falafel lunch. amazing. i had always seen falafel joints in philly but i never got one before. same with gryos. mmmm falafels. mmmm gryos. after lunch we went to mariage freres. i smelled some pretty amazing teas. we hopped the metro and rode it to the end of the line to la defense. the architecture there was absolutely stellar. we went up the arche and got to see an amazing view of paris. it was pretty wild to see the eiffel tower as a faint shadow across the sky.

this was our last weekend in paris. we went to the musee d'orsay on friday and then we spent saturday at versailles. sunday, we went to mass at notre-dame and then spent some time a cafe. i bought a moleskine from shakespeare and co. which i am very excited about. of course we ended our excursion with a crepe.

and that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us up to today. on thursday, i'm heading off to prague for ten days. i'll be spending the eleventh day of break in london before starting the second half of the semester at ambialet. bon!

who wants to play ketchup???

2008-02-13T06:54:00.000-08:00

this blog is in dire need of updating . . .

the next friday, we ventured back to the louvre to have a gander at the greek and roman sections. we also walked through the italian painters and saw the mona lisa. i have to admit, it was kind of a let down. with all the hype and scandal from 'the da vinci code', i thought she'd be at least slightly impressive. she has her own wall, her own velvet barriers, and her own security guard. her crowd was a decent amount deep, and for what? you have stand four feet back to admire the tiny portrait, and you can't even use flash photography.

that night we went out for our second weekend. we decided on a club called 'le mix'. getting there was an adventure but we made it eventually. the cover was astronomical and the bevvies inside were ridiculously priced but it turned out to be a pretty good time -much better than o.p.a. it was techno music, wild break dancers, and us. we started to get tired around 4:30 am so we hopped a bus and took it to the robinson rer station. by then, the metro was running again so we took the rer home to fontenay. at around 6am, we made it back to the house and passes out. done-zo.

that tuesday, tina took us to the champs d'elysees for our econ class. i almost bought a pair of coqs. unfortunately, my shoe size is the cross i have to carry. my europeenne taille is 41.5. the largest women's size, typically available in stores, is 41. the smallest mens' size is 42. so. i come to the fashion capital of the world and my feet can't even enjoy it.

thursday, we took a trip to the cluny museum. it was mostly religious relics and tapestries but it was still really interesting. i just cannot get over the buildings and structures here. i mean, the collections on display are amazing but it's the building itself that really gets me. whenever we go to musees, i find myself admiring the palace before even considering the displays.
that night we were supposed to go out with oksana but we were leaving for london early early in the morning so we postponed.

LONDON. i swear i was british in another life. we had been speaking with british accents for the entire week before we left for england. i felt awfully bad talking to the passport guy with my accent. i don't think he was too appreciative but he still gave me a wink. he was essentially making fun of americans and how we have so much trouble with filling out papers, but he was doing so with a smile on his face. i'm alright with that. he also said something about how great it is that i'll be going back to bother the french in a few days. it's ok, they deserve it. right? well i wasn't about to disagree with dazzling man whose about to stamp my passport. getting to the hostel proved to be a little more difficult than the instructions had implied. we made it there. eventually. we managed to hit up all the big spots in just a few days. we reached the london bridge, tower bridge, london tower, big ben, parliament, the war rooms, trafalger square, national galleries, picadilly circus, harrods, westminster abbey, saint paul cathedral, portebella market, ummmmm, buckingham palace. yeah. we saw alot. karen's brother lives in london and he was nice enough to show us around. our last night in london, we went to the waxy o'connor. it was an amazing irish pub. i thought ordering an irish car bomb would be appropriate since we were in an irish pub. i was wrong. i also thought it would be ok to help a friend out and grab the change while their hands are full of drinks. nope. wrong again. the bartender, i'll call him don cheadle, gave me a lecture on women. it was actually more of a rant but he was glad to get some things off his chest and i was more than happy to help. anyways. don cheadle wouldn't serve us unless we took cognac the exact same way he did. let's be real. how else can you take a shot of cognac? he snorted it. right.

that brings us up to last week but we're off to a vernissage now. more to come . . .

2008-01-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

so this weekend was our first on our own. great. we planned to find a discotheque for friday night. we had art history in the morning and then we spent the afternoon and early evening at the louvre. the musee was absolutely amazing. i'm still can't wrap my head around the palace itself, let alone all the great works of art inside. we toured through the egyptian archaic, which paralleled what we had learned in class that morning, and then we walked through the french paintings. even after spending a few hours at the louvre, we still weren't close to seeing everything. gerald told us today that less than half of the exhibits are on display and the rest is in reserve. that's pretty wild. we had dinner in the city and took the metro home to get ready for a night on the town.
i still don't know where we were supposed to go. we all had to pee when we got off the metro so we ran into a random bar on the corner. there, we met some pretty interesting people and asked them where we should go for a good time. one nice guy suggested the bastille, so, we hailed a cab and off we went. bastille was a pretty hopping place. there, we met even more interesting people and they suggested we try this club called o.p.a. a few streets over. it didn't sound like it was too far away and the directions seemed simple enough but we still had to ask people on the street for help. we were about a street away when we met up with a group of guys who offered to take us to the club. as it turns out, they tried to get in earlier but were denied since they didn't have any ladies with them. when we finally reached o.p.a. the group of guys and the bouncers spoke. in french. really fast. then the bouncers let us in and denied the guys, once again. inside was wild. we went upstairs and found a couch and took in the scene. hannah and i started off to the bathroom downstairs and then we saw the bartender. he didn't seem that strange until i realized that what i thought was a shirt was actually his body hair. he had fabio hair, little john lennon glasses, and he wore daisy dukes. the most popular description of the owner is "a 70s porn star". seriously. he eventually kicked us out for not buying any drinks. it went a little like this: "do you want a drink?" "no" "then you have to leave . . . NOW". yup. so we left and randomly ran into the group of guys who brought us to o.p.a. on the street. we took a few buses and somehow made it home alive and in one piece. after 3am.
euh. hopefully this weekend is better.

2008-01-16T12:52:00.001-08:00

this is probably my favorite picture. ever.

bonjour paris

2008-01-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

we are officially in france.

we landed friday morning at the charles-de-gualle airport. everyone made it safe and sound so our semester was off to a great start. we settled in the house, picked rooms and roommates (both of mine are pretty sweet :) yay anna! yay books!), ate lunch, unpacked, etc. and then we went on a forced culture march. we walked along a nearby path until we reached our surprise destination. we were at the park in sceaux. the grounds were absolutely amazing and the palce was beautiful. we were all jetlagged and should have passed out real early friday night. we didn’t. the seven of us were up so late and then up real early saturday morning. we took a fieldtrip to the apartment of our one instructor, gérald. his wife, olga, prepared a fairly traditional french lunch and then we were off to tour the city. we saw le tour d’eiffel up close and personal, a military academy where napoleon bonaparte is buried, le grand palais, le petit palais, shakespeare and company, cathedrale notre-dame de paris, and then we finished our outing with a moroccan couscous dinner. sunday morning, we went to mass at le basilique du sacre-coeur. we went to lunch at a place named for poubon. he was a painter who gave his earnings to the impoverished youth. we then toured monmartre with gérald the instructor/tourguide, oksana the art expert, and tina the econ instructor. we took a stroll through the town and through le musee de montmartre where we were told, repeatedly, that photography is forbidden. then we went to an interesting apartment complex. it was built solely for artists and the rooms are designed to be small studios. we got to meet with one of the residents, a friend of oksana and gérald. slobadon showed us a lot of sketches and paintings. he makes his own paint, and sometimes his own canvas, so it takes an awfully long time for his to finish one piece. he took us to another studio and showed us even more paintings. most of them were of models. top-models. a lot of his model portraits had a contrasting face of body. there would be the model, an innocent baby or young child off to the side, and then a wish-washy background full of emotion. slobadon and his brother actually paint together sometimes. clobadaon said that he paints the subject’s face and then his brother, vladymir, would paint the clothing and background. that whole meet’n’greet was so neat. it was great to be able to hear the artist talk about their pieces. it was amazing. after a long day, we took the metro home and ordered french pizza for dinner. it was a little different but not bad. there was a short house meeting and then we were free. we kind of started this thing: running the streets of fontenay-aux-roses at midnight and then doing an intense ab workout. it’s great.

monday was the first day of class. we had a french culture class and a french language class that kind of ran together from 10-12:30. we took a break in between to make tea and coffee since the room was freezing. after classes were done, the seven of us walked the streets for lunch. we wound up at a grocery store, champion, with the idea of getting pre-made sandwiches. alexia bought some bad luck in the frozen food section, i got bread and cheese, and claire got a pomegranate. we spent about an hour and a half roaming the streets and supermarket in search for food. for dinner, we went to the university dining hall about five minutes away. most of the students are engineers. and guys. we walked in and got stared at (judged). i don’t if it’s because we’re american or because we’re six girls. je ne sais pas.

today we had our french language/culture class again. for lunch we went to a greek sandwicher in town. ordering was not the easiest task but we managed and everything was ok. today was the first time i’d ever had a gyro and it was amazing. i’m actually still full and we had lunch about five hours ago. after lunch, we had our first econ class. tina, our instructor talked about the eu for a bit and then took us shopping downtown. we didn’t have much time but there will definitely be more shopping excursions.

we’re just getting into the swing of things but we’ll catch on soon enough.

sacre bleu!

2008-01-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

so thursday, i'll be on a plane and on my way to paris. i've had a countdown going since about october but it didn't feel real until these past few days. i can't believe i only have three days left to pack and wear hoodies and say 'sacre bleu'.

another blog . . .

2007-11-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

this is wild

amities,
b