sans titre

Yesterday my little brother graduated from high school and I missed it. Add that to the “cons” list of studying abroad: missing special events. I’m at the McDonald’s trying to use the internet and it’s not working. There’s another. It says that it’s connected full speed but when I try to use Internet Explorer it says page not found blah blah. On a better note, I got back my language exam today and I got a 16/20 which is très bien. The French grading system is 0-20, and rarely does anyone recieve a 20. It’s kind of like getting a 1600 on the SAT. That kind of works out in our favor because for our program, anything above a 14/20 is an A. I will be severely disappointed if any of these 4 classes I’m taking here brings down my GPA, especially since they’re setting me back credit-wise. I gave a short exposée today on Charles Aznavour, a favorite French singer of mine and Mom’s, it went well. I have to give an even shorter (3 min) exposée tomorrow on global warming. This one will be a bit more difficult, though, since the vocabulary is very particular and my professor is really intense. This is for my business French class. Dad’s coming tomorrow morning and we plan to have lunch after class.

For the record, I just “hoofed it” across the quartier to another McDonalds, sweating under the weight of my laptop on my back. I will not be defeated.

last week in paris

This past week has been very busy with exams and fitting in last-minute sight-seeing in Paris. I had 3 exams this week and one on Monday, then I have to do 2 short presentations. It should be interesting to see how I did on the exams as they were all based on grammar which, to me, either you know or you don’t, so it was difficult to “study.” I am, however, preparing for my history exam on Monday which shouldn’t be too bad.

As for activities in Paris, I went to the Centre George Pompidou, the modern art museum, on Friday. It was really interesting especially since I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a museum fully devoted to modern art. It was refreshing to see work that aren’t just paintings, but art made out of objects and unique materials. I did see a pretty ironic piece that was appropriately named, “Dark Blue Panel,” as it was a canvas completely painted in one color blue. The special expositions were really cool, and there was one that was actually kind of scary on the works of Samuel Beckett and art by those inspired by him.

Thursday night, Louise took Anna and I out to dinner, which was great. She took us to a restaurant in our neighborhood that serves specialities from the region of Lyon. I had onion soup, jambonneau, which is basically a ball of ham with lentils, and we split a very rich chocolate cake and tarte tatin (upside-down apple pie) for dessert. We had great wine as well, I believe it was Côte du Rhône, it was red but I don’t remember what type. Louise was flirting with the 30-something waiter and it was pretty hilarious. He gave us free digestives (after-dinner drinks) which was nice. The meal must have cost a fortune as it was a nice place, so it was extremely generous of her to take us out. We’re thinking of getting her a little something to thank her for her hospitality (despite her craziness).

Saturday, Anna and I decided to check out the Chateau de Vincennes, a medieval fortress (with a dried-up moat and everything), since there was a jazz festival in the adjoining park. It ended up being a great day, the day’s theme was Big Band so we heard a lot of great music, all in French of course. We were able to bring a blanket and sit on the grass, although we should have brought a picnic because that’s what everyone else did. Luckily there was a nice café in the park.

Sunday, I went to the Place des Voges (great grassy square in the Marais, right next to Victor Hugo's house) to study for my history test and get some sun. I could only take it for about an hour and a half though, as bugs kept crawling onto my papers/me which I hate. It's crazy that I will be home so soon! However, I am definitely not looking forward to the plane ride...

bonjour tout le monde

I have finally posted more pics on webshots so enjoy.

http://community.webshots.com/user/sussular_device?vhost=community

I come home in a week and a half!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alsacez-vous!

Our trip to Strasbourg ended up being a great weekend full of great sights, food, and relaxation. We caught an early train Friday morning and arrived in Strasbourg about 4 hours later. It was the TGV train, which means that it is faster than the regular train. I wish there were more trains in the U.S., as it just seems so much easier to me than taking a plane (although obviously takes much more time). We checked into our hotel, which was modest but clean, and had our first real flammekeuche for lunch. It was delicious, and we also tried a variation on an Alsacian (Alsace is the region in which Strasbourg is situated) classic dessert, kugelhopf (basically a bundt cake shape but ours was made out of ice cream). We walked around the city (it’s more of a really big town) although the weather was rainy and cold. After walking around for a few hours, we went back to the hotel and took a long nap and then headed out for dinner. I had coq au vin, a delicious red wine stew with what I thought was chicken and later ended up to be rooster, I don’t want to talk about that. Anna tried the traditional sauerkraut which came with various meats. The next day, we got up, had breakfast at a salon de the (tearoom) and embarked on a journey to find the museum of chocolate, for which we had a brochure. It turned out it was in the suburbs, and we had to take a tram and a bus, and then did the rest on foot. The museum was ok, it had some interesting info about the history of chocolate and had some mechanical dolls acting out scenes in “chocolate history.” At the end of the tour, we were given 100g of dark chocolate which was pretty nice. They had some crazy things in the gift shop, such as chocolate shampoo, pasta, etc. We then made our way back to the city, and spent the rest of the day sitting in the sun, looking through gift shops, and watching a Charlie Chaplin impersonater/mime. For dinner, we tried 2 other Alsacean specialties, tarte a l’oignon (onion pie?) and quiche lorraine (quiche with ham and cheese). They were delicious as expected. We had some Alsacean wine, Riesling, and that was great as well. Sunday morning, we took a boat tour of the city, as there are canals running through it, kind of like Amsterdam. It was interesting and I learned that Strasbourg is the unofficial capital of Europe, as the European Parliament has its offices there. Maybe it’s partly because Strasbourg has, thoroughout history, belonged to so many different European nations, namely France and Germany back and forth. After lunch (more tarte a l’oignon and flammekeuche), we walked around some more and then caught the train back to Paris.

While on the train, I finished a book that I had bought while in Vienna, called What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. I had purchased the book at an English books store and the only reason I bought it is because it was 3.50 euro (very very cheap for a foreign book) and the back cover looked slightly interesting. I really lucked out though because it ended up being a fantastic book that I recommend to all.

I can’t believe that at this time in 2 weeks I will be back home! This week I have 3 exams and a presentation, so it should fly by pretty quickly, and then next week Dad comes for his meetings and we get to hang out for a little while before I go home.

i'm back

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post anything, mostly due to my travels and visits with friends. Let’s start where I left off, about two weeks ago. Two Thursdays ago, I went with the ISA program to visit the chateau of Versailles. I’ve been looking forward to this excursion during the whole time that I’ve been in Paris, since I’m very much interested (historically speaking) in the years leading up to the French Revolution of 1789. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible, rainy and cold, especially for visiting a chateau with acres and acres of garden. The chateau itself was very interesting, although I couldn’t help but wonder how accurate the placement and number of the furniture was, as I’ve learned that much of the original furniture was taken from the palace during/after the Revolution. Nevertheless, we had for the first time an audio tour (headphones…in English) that had a different numbered code for each part of the tour. I’m fascinated by the lives of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, and was therefore mostly interested by the facts about those particular rulers, but there were many others who had lived there as well.

Two of my favorite facts are as follows:

1) Benjamin Franklin came to Versailles to discuss with Louis XVI (in Louis’ bedroom, presumably while he sat in the bed, which makes me wonder what B. Franklin thought about that) the relationship between France and the newly independent United States in I think the early 1780’s.

2) On October 9th, 1789, Marie Antoinette and her children escaped through a secret door in her bedroom wall that is fairly disguised by the ornate painted details on the wall. It was really thrilling for me to be in that exact room in which such a pivotal event occurred.

A good thing about going to Versailles that day was that it was a holiday in France, so we were able to see the fountain show that is only done on holidays and weekends. The “show” consists of 2 hours during which the fountains are turned on and baroque music is played over the loudspeaker system. The greatest thing about it is the reason why the fountains are usually off: they still use the original pipe system of Louis XIV (the Louis who built the chateau!).

The next day, I left for Vienna at around 5 pm. My flight wasn’t until 8:20 pm but I was going to a different airport than usual (Orly) and I wanted to give myself plenty of time. I ended up getting there before check-in even began, oops. I learned something about the airports in Paris: they don’t have restaurants or food stands at all after the security check point. I was planning on eating dinner during the time I had before my flight, but decided to wait until after clearing security. I was annoyed to find that there was nothing, not even a working vending machine to get a bottle of water. So, I bought a cup of soup on the flight, which ended up being the European version of Cup-‘O-Noodles. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been properly prepared, but the stewardess simply added hot water to it and I was left with hard noodles and the spices all floating on top. Luckily, the flight was eventless and I got my luggage very quickly upon landing in Vienna. Beth was waiting for me at the arrivals and we got onto the bus that would take us into the city. The system is a lot better in Vienna for going between the city and the airport, the bus was very nice and a few euros cheaper than in Paris. At her dorm, Beth had a Radler waiting for me, which is a mix between beer and lemonade, quite good, especially since I don’t really like beer that much. We talked for a while and then went to bed. I was immediately jealous that she has internet access in her dorm room. The next day, we awoke and did a tour of the city, which is beautiful and teeming with grass and gardens and pretty architecture. It’s much more low-key than Paris, to use an analogy, I’d say Paris is to New York as Vienna is to Boston (not that I’ve ever been to Boston, but I’d imagine that it’s like that). Beth treated me to a traditional Austrian meal for lunch, which included schnitzel, goulash and dumpling, salad, and wine. It was delicious. We did some more walking around, got “eis,” which is basically gelato (I’d like to point out that I got 2 huge scoops that I couldn’t even finish for 2 euro, while in Paris it would have been 5).

Later that day, we went to Beth’s gym and took 2 exercise classes, as I was interested in what they’d be like (in German) and I’ve been craving intense physical activity lately. The first class was kickboxing and the second was a full body toning/step class. They were both taught by a bulky Austrian man with shaved legs and short shorts. It didn’t really matter that he was saying all the moves in German because you just have to follow along with the movements. It felt great to “be in touch with my body again,” as I like to say, as I have been away from the gym for about 3.5 months now and I hate the feeling of losing muscle and not sweating. I look forward to returning to Bally Total Fitness the moment I get back to Towson, although it’s going to be difficult at first to reinstate my 40 minute cardio routines. Going to these classes, however, has inspired me to take group classes at Bally, which I’ve never tried before.

The next day, we traveled about an hour outside of Vienna, to a small town called Durnstein. It’s along the Danube and surrounded by rolling hills, and atop one of these hills were ruins that we eventually climbed up to. We toured a baroque-style cathedral, very different than the gothic style that is prevalent in France; I think I prefer the baroque, it’s kind of hard to explain the differences, maybe even the use of wood instead of the all-stone gothic style? After lunch, we climbed the huge hill (with extremely treacherous terrain) up to the ruins, all in flip-flops, not exactly the appropriate footwear for the situation at hand. We finally made it up to the top to find a great view and the ruins of a fortress with a prison cell. While in Durnstein, I purchased a mini violin (I forgot to add that Austria is obsessed with Mozart) that I stupidly thought was an actual violin that I could play, only to find after purchasing it that it has pre-recorded songs that you can play by touching the bow to the violin, though you can control the length of each note. It’s kind of hard to explain. I have some great pictures that I will post of our journey at the end of this post. That afternoon, we returned to Vienna and got 2 euro standing-room tickets to see the ballet Swan Lake at the opera house. We only stayed for the first half because we had a pretty awful view of the stage from all the way on top/side, but it the music and what I saw of the dancing were beautiful. It made me miss ballet dancing.

On Tuesday, we had an afternoon flight to Amsterdam. We checked into our hostel, which ended up to be full of kids our age, and had free breakfast! We wandered around town and were amused by the millions of bikes that dominate the roads in the city. I didn’t realize that a) the city is based on many canals and b) Holland is the same thing as the Netherlands (why would there be two names for the same place?). I restrained the urge to buy wooden shoes, as they were expensive and would be heavy to take back with me. Beth bought a pair of slippers that are in the shape of the traditional Dutch shoe which are hilarious. We tried Dutch pancakes, which are a bit thinner than those in the US, but thicker than French crepes. I got mine with banana and Beth had apple. The banana on mine was mashed into the consistency of baby food, but it was ok. I think I prefer crepes. We saw the Anne Frank house and Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, neither of which did we actually go inside of due to lack of time/money.

We left the next day for Paris. I showed Beth the main sights and we had a great dinner at one of my favorite French restaurants where you can get an entrée (appetizer), plat (main course) and dessert for 9 euro. Anna and I took her to our fav ice cream place, Berthillon. We also did our traditional drinking-wine-under-the-Eiffel-Tower thing where we “had a ball.” Beth’s flight was Friday morning, and Jon got into Paris on Saturday morning. I tried to show him around as much as I could, but the weather was not at all conducive to sight-seeing, it was rainy and cold from Saturday to Tuesday.

This weekend, Anna and I have planned a journey to Strasbourg, which is in the Alsace region (home of flammekeuche and quiche Lorriane!), right next to the German border. We got great prices on train tickets and a hotel room, it should be a great time.

recent thoughts

ONE Louise finally got a job, she’s doing “recruitment” for a technical institute (I still don’t understand her actual job description) in the way outskirts of Paris. She is very upset that she has to be a working woman for the next 6 months (not sure why it’s only 6 months) and she hates being with the common folk on the RER (Metro but not) every morning and evening. Last night she came home huffing and puffing at around 6 pm and was “too tired” to make dinner, so instead of simply heating up a frozen quiche or something, she went back out and got Libanaise (Lebonese? Is that how we say it?) take-out AND a baguette from the boulangerie across the street. Weird. She also didn’t go to work yesterday because she didn’t sleep well.

TWO We (Anna & I) have to clean our bathroom every once in a while, although we secretly haven’t since we’ve gotten here because we could never figure out the cleaning products. It had gotten to the point where our bathroom was getting a bit crusty (Louise even noticed, I think she creeps around upstairs while we’re out) so I decided to take it upon myself to “give it a whirl.” I wondered for a moment why I wasn’t surprised to have cleaning culture shock, but then I realized it’s because of working for Shilpa. I found 2 very frightening products under the sink, but I couldn’t figure out how to use either, the directions were very vague. They’re the kind of cleaning products that people have owned the same container of since the 90’s and have used them only 5 times since even though the labels have magically become very worn and wrinkly.
So anyway, I somehow cleaned the surface of the sink area (we have 2 sinks side by side) without incident, although I did have to use a dish sponge and a yellow felt (?!) cloth to dry. Then came the mirror, for which I used a spray that I knew wasn’t supposed to be for glass but I had no other choice. Unfortunately, it was the wrong choice and it ended up streaky and foggy-looking. After bringing the situation up to Louise at dinner, I was able to fix it with paper towels (AMEN) and the correct spray, which was hidden under the other side of the sink. I’ve never missed Windex so much (I’m a firm believer that Windex can clean almost any surface, except for wood and select others).

THREE I was proposed to at the bar “Shywawa” on Friday night. After sidling up to me the second we sat down at a table and consulting me on what beer to get, a relentless Frenchman pitched the idea by saying, “ehh will you want to marry wiz me?” I’m not going to miss the overly eager French men who won’t give up when you tell them you’re not interested, or who even come up to you at all. Goo.

FOUR Today for lunch I met up with some friends and went to this place called “Breakfast in America,” it’s owned by an American who moved to Paris, fell in love with the city, but missed American breakfast food. [For those who don’t know, the French don’t eat much for breakfast, and definitely not anything involving eggs or bacon or pancakes. It’s usually just a croissant and coffee.] So, this restaurant ended up being kind of cool, although unsurprisingly overpriced. I chose a grilled chicken sandwich. I was shocked the moment we walked in and one of the waitresses immediately spoke to us in English with an American accent (she was American). A few among us were very excited by the existence of Dr. Pepper and Root Beer, both are extremely hard to come by in Europe, but I don’t really miss either.

FIVE Another thing about Louise: I’ve realized that she is probably the most ridiculous person I have ever met, mostly in a good way. She sashays around the apartment with a sigh here or a moan there, sometimes even a whole phrase (to herself). She is so dramatic about things such as her sleep: she hates to wake up early. Doesn’t everyone? She revealed to me tonight at dinner that she needs to lay in bed for a long time in the morning, and if anyone or anything interrupts her sleep she cannot fall back asleep and will be extremely tired for the rest of the day. The repair man came this morning to fix the dishwasher and because she had to get up at 9 am, she could not do anything with herself all day except make phone calls (she had planned on writing more of her book today). She managed to make dinner and throughout the whole meal she just sat there with her head leaning on her hand and kept telling me how tired she was and how she is going to go right to bed right after. She’s 44 years old, shouldn’t she be able to handle everyday sleep issues? Also, she frequently has nightmares about her ex-husband (one of the two), after which she is very frightened and can’t fall back to sleep.
To top it all off, the other night at dinner she confessed to Anna and I that she hears the voice of a male ancestor in her head sometimes telling her not to do things, then she does them anyway, and something bad happens. She also has seen/felt the presence of ghosts. Intensity always.

it's been a while

I haven't posted anything for the past week or so, mainly because due to the several bank holidays there were, I couldn't get to the internet that much. Also, I'm not sure that anyone even reads this anymore? The heat wave has ended, thankfully, and it's been kind of chilly and gloomy lately. Mom and Sam came to visit last week from Friday through Sunday, and it was very nice even though I've been kind of stressed and irritable lately. We did the main tourist attractions, including les Invalides again (Sam liked the suits of armor, as he is trying to fashion one of his own...) and also Saint Chappelle, possibly the oldest cathedral in Paris and the adjoining Conciergerie which is the prison where Marie Antoinette was held (even though her cell no longer exists which was disappointing). While Mom took a nap one afternoon, Anna and I took Sam to get ice cream at Berthillon, a famous glacier in Paris. We went to the "sit-down" area, sort of like a tea room, and I ordered a macaroon (it's kind of like a cake sandwich with cream in the middle?) with a scoop of vanilla (my fav, it's so simple yet so great) and raspberry sauce. Berthillon is a bit expensive though, the macaroon thing was around 5,50 euro which is like $7 (or as I like to say, USDs)

Classes continue, except for next Thursday when there is another holiday, yet we are going to Versailles as a group with ISA. I've been looking forward to Versailles this whole time. The day after that, I leave for Vienna to visit Beth, and after my week-long journey with her, Jon comes for a weekend. After that I only have 2 weeks left until I return to my mother country.

I'm guessing you have heard about the presidential election here in France? Well, much to the dismay of Louise and others, Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected. Sunday night while I was having dinner with Mom and Sam, a few of my friends went to the Place de la Concorde to see Sarkozy's speech, but they left soon after arriving due to the crowd resembling "a Bush rally" (Anna's words). They proceeded to the Bastille, the traditional victory site for the Socialist party, where there were riots and people had graffiti-ed the statue, something about Sarkozy = Hitler. The youth were rioting (as they often do in France), and the police were there with tear gas. I learned the next day that more than 700 cars throughout the country had been burned in protest of the election results, AND that this is the first time there have been riots following a presidential election! It's really baffling that so many people voted for Sarkozy, yet the response has been so anti. My one professor calls Sarkozy "mini-Bush" (loved how Bush called to congratulate him, great). Anyway, it should be interesting/frightening to see if any of Sarkozy's reforms are actually implemented.