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.

springtime in paris

Ever since my return from spring break, the weather in Paris has been very hot and sunny, and everything is in bloom. I appreciate the beauty but I don't appreciate sweating all day no matter where I am, especially in the metro. It's funny to think of how fast the weather has changed, from cold, rainy days, to relentless sunshine.

Anyway, Josh visited this week from Tuesday through Sunday, and we had a great time. Although the weather was a bit much, we were able to explore most of the city. We visited the Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries (beautiful gardens around the Louvre, I had never been in that part before, let alone with leaves on the trees), Les Invalides (Napoleon's tomb/military museum), the Rodin museum garden (we were lucky and got in for free that day since there was a bit of work being done in the garden) which is home to the Thinker, the Gates of Hell, and other sculptures, the Marais (oldest district of Paris), the Places des Voges (lovely square with grass on which we laid), L'Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower of course, and others in between.

Louise made dinner one night for Josh, Anna, and I, and it went well, even though for some reason we all took shots of tequila as an apertif. She claims that she doesn't like to cook when it's hot out, so she bought a rotisserie chicken, because she thinks that Americans are obsessed with chicken (maybe we are). We mostly talked politics, as Louise is fully engrossed in the presidential election that will be decided in the coming weeks. We learned some scary facts about the candidates, most of which would never be tolerated in the US, as our press has such a strong influence, unlike the press in France who are scared and easily censored.

Tomorrow is the Labor Day of France, so we don't have classes. A few friends might try and go to Giverny, which is the home of Claude Monet, I think there are gardens and a museum. Mom and Sam arrive on Friday for their short stay which I am looking forward to. My laptop battery is about to die so that is all.

Back in Paris

Finally back in Paris after a very exciting yet long 2 weeks of traveling. In retrospect, we could have done a little bit more planning/research before we left, but I guess that’s the “fun” of backpacking. I think that I used every mode of transportation during my journey: plane, train, bus, metro, boat, taxi, 4-wheeler…what else is there? I’ve never spent so much money in my entire life, but I think it was worth it. It’s definitely great to be back in Paris though, everything seems to have bloomed while I was away, and the city looks completely different. It’s amazing to be able to speak French again, I never thought I’d be so happy to do that.

I wish I could outline my entire trip, but that would take forever and probably bore you. Some highlights, however were: Discovering a beautiful beach among the cliffs in Italy, the group of Russians that Dane and I met and traveled with, eating the best pasta ever, realizing that we were staying in trailers for 3 nights then getting over it, discovering the Acropolis in Athens, squeezing 9 people into a tiny apartment for 2 nights, the boat rides between Athens and Mykonos, renting 4-wheelers and using them as our primary mode of transportation for the island, the beautiful beaches of Mykonos, getting free drinks from Greek men, making crepes in the hotel, Anna and my “honeymoon suite,” and eating great Greek food all week (moussaka, souvlaki, Greek salad, Greek yogurt with honey, and gyros of course, among other things).

Josh is coming to Paris tomorrow and I am obviously beside myself about it, I think I can figure out where to meet him in the airport by now. I plan on hitting the city full force, seeing all that can be seen and hoping that the weather will stay as lovely as it is now. I realized that I haven’t even seen all of Paris, so it will be nice to discover new parts of Paris with Josh, maybe going to a class or 2 in between.

Yesterday was the preliminary voting for the French presidential election. They do it in 2 turns, the first eliminates all but 2 candidates, and the final vote is in early May. The 2 candidates who are on top are Sarkozy and Royal, neither of which I particularly care for. Sarkozy is basically a communist and Royal is a priss, but either way I think all hell is going to break loose in Paris at the end of the elections, as the followers of Sarkozy are militants, aaaand Sarkozy is friends with Bush, which can never be a good thing. Anyway, Louise was so glued to the television last night that we had to eat dinner in front of it which was weird.

This morning I decided to get up early to go to the bank to cancel my French bank account that I've never used. I go all the way there to find out that you need an appointment to do so. Really all I want to do is hand them the letter I've written requesting cancellation and pay them the 35 euros or whatever and be done with it, but I now have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. It should be interesting to see if I can succeed doing this all in French. I'm posting pics from spring break but I probably won't have time to do them all at once, so keep an eye out for more if you're interested.

Greece

After our stint in Italy, we traveled to Athens and spent 2 nights there, visiting the acropolis area as well as some other ruins. The city is absolutely beautiful (at least the area we were in) and so different from othe European cities I've visited. The weather was great too. We woke up at 5 am on Monday morning to get on a boat (basically a mini cruise ship) to Mykonos. We've been in Mykonos for the past few days having an amazing time, the island is insanely gorgeous, although it's been a bit windy. We rented 4-wheelers which we drive everywhere (they're allowed on the regular road) which is really great. The island is kind of dead though, as it's not at all tourist season yet. We hit a few nightclubs last night which were fun, the music was great as opposed to the clubs in Paris. We'll be here until Friday, then Saturday morning we have an early flight from Athens to Paris. Just wanted to update a bit on my whereabouts, I can't wait to post my pictures when I get a chance next week.

Mi scuzi

The last few days have been fun/frustrating/interesting/amazing. On Sunday, since it was Easter, the entire town shut down and we did nothing all day except discover that the "beach" of Portici is the smallest, dirtiest, rockiest "beach" ever. Since we couldn't take the train to Sorrento, we just napped and hung around the hostel, walked around the town a bit and watched people go to church.

Yesterday was a lot more exciting. We hopped on the train (dramatically named Circumvensiavania) to Sorrento, where we hoped to find beaches and beauty. We found beauty, but not much beach. The tourist-y town was really nice but it was packed with people (we were told that "today is day where Italians make picnic" whatever that means). We headed for the shore and found that the only beach amongst the ports was filled with rowdy Italian teenagers. We decided to try and find the Amalfi coast, of which I've heard good things. In waiting for the bus, we met a 20-something sassy-as-hell New Yorker and her husband. It was nice to be angry Americans together (and Dane swears my New Jersey accent and her NY accent got thicker the longer we talked). She suggested that we go to Positano, a town that was a lot closer than the Amalfi. So we get on the bus and swerve down the cliffs into Positano, where we have to descend many stairs/follow the main road to the shore. Finally we found a beach and it was nice to finally lay in the sun and put my bathing suit to good use. I didn't go in the water though beacause a) the water was cold and b) I didn't want to leave my backpack alone. On the beach there were a good amount of obese Italians who had no business sporting bathing suits, and some who went topless. When we were ready to leave, we had to go back to the middle of the cliff where the bus had dropped us off. We waited for quite a while, then some extremely nice Russians came along who spoke English very well and we talked to them for a while. There were also some younger Italians from whom we asked directions for the bus, they were very nice/intense and didn't speak much English. However, the one girl spoke some French (hilarious with a thick Italian accent) so we were able to communicate a little. I miss French/Paris and being able to communicate. After a 2 hour process of trying to get home, we visited our 300 pound pizza man. The pizza and pasta here are really good obviously but I'm getting sick of them and need some vegetables in my life. There is a semi-restaurant at the hostel though, and their food is really good, had a great gnocci dish with eggplant and fresh mozzarella.

Earlier today we decided to walk around downtown Napoli, which ended up being really disappointing and I decided that Italy is relatively dirty and I'm kind of over it. The coast is really beautiful, but the city areas are worse than New York. It's hard to get around because there are never ever signs explaining what things are or where they are, so you either have to know, ask someone (if you know the language, that is), or guess. Tomorrow we leave for Rome to meet up with Anna and Reese, it will be nice to reunite with our fellow "Parisians." Then we leave for Athens on Saturday to meet up with even more of our group. I probably won't be able to get online after tomorrow.

Il conto per favoro

We arrived in Italy yesterday after almost 12 hours of travel (2 planes, a train, and then some intense hiking). It turns out our hostel is actually in the quaint outskirt of Napoli, called Portici. It's one of those towns where old men hang around in the street playing cards. Everyone is really nice here even though we don't speak any Italian and no one speaks French or English (very very little). Our hostel is amazingly nice/clean which I'm happy about.

Today we discovered the Pompeii ruins and then climbed Mt. Vesuvius. I don't really have many words to say about either, other than that they were amazing and I can't even believe it. I'm exhausted though and can't wait to chomp into some pizza. Oh, and there aren't restaurants in Portici, only pizzerias, although we found a place last night where we got a 300 pound man to make us pasta (it wasn't even on the menu, he and the food was amazing).

That's all for now, I don't have much time on the computers at the hostel.

Italy in 2 days

Hello friends and lovers. So apparently not only did Louise's parents come for dinner on Monday night, but they stayed at the apartment with us until today. It wasn't too bad, but semi-awkward and the first morning Anna and I slid out the door so we wouldn't have to speak intense French so early in the morn (Louise is usually not awake when we eat breakfast, she does what she wants). I think her father is at least 10 years older than her mother, probably 80 and 70 or maybe even a bigger gap. "Mama" is a very distant and proper Chinese woman yet has moments of warmth where she seems like a real grandma. "Papa" is very sweet and tries to make conversation with the two of us. He is also much like Ozzy Osbourne (these days, not biting heads off of bats) in the way that he moves. The mother is Thai and father is Chinese, they met in China but moved to the tiny French island "La Reunion" in the Indian Ocean. That's where Louise grew up, then she moved to France when she was about 13. They speak French but with very Chinese accents and also Chinese when it's just the 3 of them.

The first dinner wasn't too bad, not too much conversation besides "Papa" spitting out random U.S. state names and us replying with "yes," as if he was testing his knowledge (maybe he was). We had fois gras (of course I hated it and can't even talk about it), salad, bread, wine, salmon, and an apricot tart. I'm not usually one for fruit tarts, but it was delicious. Last night was a little more eventful. As Louise and her mother finished preparing dinner, her father very proudly showed us the Chinese newspaper that he picked up in the Chinatown-ish area of Paris. He kind of did a "repeat after me" and was reading/explaining to us the meaning and sounds of the characters. It was very cute how he was excited about teaching us (he also taught us how to count, but I of course couldn't pay attention), and Louise would come in every so often and roll her eyes. I thought about the situation abstractly for a moment (as I always do) and realized that I was sitting in a Frasian woman's luxurious apartment in Paris at the dinner table while she prepares us a meal and her father translates Chinese into French for us and we understand because we speak French. Wow. We had steamed leeks, pork, potatoes, and some sort of melange of flat beans and carrots. When Louise went to cut the pork (the pork plate was right in front of me), I got squirted in the eye with pork juice. I yelped and she goes "oh, pardonnez-moi!" and after I got over the immediate shock of being pelted in the cornea by warm (albeit, strangly not so unpleasant) meat juice, Anna and I couldn't control our laughter and I had to sit there with my hand over my mouth not looking over at her. Everyone else had moved on by that point.

The three of them left this morning for Italy, that means that Anna and I have the place to ourselves. She left us a ton of food (including frozen flammekouches, holler) and cookies to take with us on our journey. I came down for breakfast this morning to find 2 croissants in a bag on the kitchen table for us. I love the random surprises she gets for us which make up for the awkward times.

That's all for now, I must start packing for my 2 week European adventure.

P.S. Rollerblades are an acceptable form of transportation in France. Over.

Loire Valley

The weekend began on Friday, another cold rainy day in Paris. Anna Kerri and I went to see a French movie, “Ensemble, c’est tout” with Audrey Toutou (from Amelie/DaVinci Code). It was pretty good, kind of random/predictable but it was all in French with no subtitles and we understood which was exciting. For some reason they wouldn’t take my Visa card there, only American Express which was really opposite and unnerving. Also, once we bought the tickets we had 15 mins until the movie started, and they wouldn’t even let us downstairs to stand outside of the theatre until 5 mins before, very strange. On Friday I also received my backpack that I purchased on eBay France, only 1.5 days after ordering, yay.

We left for the Loire area extremely early in the morning on Saturday. We had a brand new tour bus with the same salty bus driver named Didier. This time both Gabriel and Annamaria came (not Sylvie unfortunately) and they brought their adorable toddler son, Mattheiu. The whole time I couldn’t get over how well-behaved and cute he was, obviously he speaks French and it’s amazing. This bus had areas where there were seats facing inwards around tables, and although it was nice to have a table to put stuff on/do crossword puzzles (of course), I was looking forward to having iPod/sleeping/don’t bother me time which never happened because everyone was talking.

The first chateau we visited upon arrival was Chambord, built in the 16th century, the pamphlet claims 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces, and 426 rooms, wow. The chateau is known for it’s Italian-style double staircase. Parts of it were under construction, but it was interesting and the rooms that were available for viewing were beautiful. We ate lunch at the café that is situated just outside the chateau (this one was out in the wilderness, not in a town area), I got onion soup, it wasn’t that great, Mom’s is better. The next chateau was Blois, this one we had a guided tour for. Our tour guide was an American who has been living in France since 1973 and never goes back to America, I’d love to know his life story. Apparently the Duke de Guise was stabbed to death in his bedroom there. I was secretly hoping to see some dried blood or something, a little proof, but unfortunately there was none.

After the 2nd chateau, we had a “surprise” which ended up being a short tour of a local vignoble (vineyard) with a tasting afterwards. It was a great treat, we were able to sample at least 6 different kinds of wine, complete with appetizers. It’s important to mention that each glass we were given was almost full. In about 10 minute’s time, we all were in extremely good spirits. I won’t go into the details, but it ended up being quite a wild afternoon. I bought 2 bottles, one of a delicious rose that is like juice and a sweet white. Each bottle cost less than a glass of wine in Paris, c’etait formidable!

We retired to our hotel, a lovely Holiday Inn, a million times nicer than the last hotel we had. Went out to dinner, ordered a flammekouche of course, and a great crepe. Some wanted to go to a bar, I didn’t want to, but felt that I had to at least go and be social even though I/everyone else was exhausted (they just weren’t admitting it). Christina called while people were trying to find a bar and we had a great convo, by the end everyone was halfway through a pitcher of beer. We didn’t get in too late which was good because I am sleep deprived from the past week of waking up no later than 7 am every day. Sunday morning I was delighted to find an incredible breakfast spread, hot stuff such as sausage/eggs (I didn’t partake in that part), cereal, yogurt (yum, I’m addicted), pain au chocolate (!!!), baguettes, little jars of jam, the greatest juice I’ve ever had (it was simply labeled as “multivitamin”), and also some random meats and fruit. I raved about how much better this breakfast was than that last one for about 20 minutes. We made ham sandwiches to bring with us for lunch, which worked out perfectly again.

We visited the chateau of Chenonceau, by far my favorite of the three. It’s surrounded by many gardens, water, and forests with paths. This chateau was also constructed in the 16th century, and was home to Henri II, his wife, Catherine de Medicis, and Henri’s mistress, Diane de Poitiers, as well as many other famous royalty throughout the years (not all at once). We gallivanted through the gardens, visited the chateau, and took a walk through the forest. In the forest, I had an intense allergy attack which sucked but I took an allergy pill and moved on. I have great photos to share of this lovely weekend.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/558474689MgjMGD

Tonight, Louise’s parents are coming for dinner, I'm sure I'll have stories to tell...

Riot gear

Yesterday afternoon there was a riot in the Gare du Nord train/metro station, apparently incited by a youth who didn't have a metro ticket to show when the police came around to check. It escalated into full riot proportions when people (mainly young people) started looting the stores located within the train station and setting the ticket booths on fire. You can see a video of some of the police/rioter interactions here: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/video/0,47-0,54-888738,0.html
That station is very sketchy anyway (I never go there) so don't worry, and it seems peace has been restored since then.

While the riot was going on, I was enjoying a beautiful afternoon on the Champ de Mars (garden/grassy knoll near the Eiffel Tower). Anna, Dane and I sat in the grass (of course I had to put a plastic bag down so my pants didn't get dirty) and listened to music (iPod attached to speaker). It was lovely and I took photos. After that, we decided to go for a run, the first real cardio I've done in about 2 months. It wasn't too bad and it felt good to get moving faster than a power walk for once. Unfortunately, it seems I forgot to pack my favorite purple running shorts.

Today I purchased a large traveling backpack (I don't know what the real term is) off of ebay.fr (French ebay). It only cost about $42 including shipping and will be much easier to use than a wheel-y suitcase for my spring break adventure.

Does not work well with others

This weekend was very rainy, therefore the only thing to do was go to a museum. On Friday, I grudgingly went to the Louvre, and walked around for about an hour or 2. It is always crowded, and too big. I went out to dinner with Anna and her brother, Andrew, who lives in Queens and is an actor. We went to the Indiana Cafe again, where I got chili con carne, it was a warm bowl of delight. I always was afraid to get things that were called "carne" because I thought it meant pork or some other strange meat, but apparently it just means meat. Good. We shared a bottle of Bordeaux and it was lovely.

Saturday morning I met up with some friends and went to the Musee d'Orsay, which I was worried about since it was a rainy Saturday and everyone and their mother would be there. Luckily, it wasn't unbearable, and I actually liked it a lot better than the Louvre, especially the impressionist paintings. The Louvre is more statues and random ancient artifacts. I saw Monet, Rodin, Picasso, Degas, Manet, Cezanne, among others. After about 2 hours I was ready to go, I always get very tired/back ache/hungry when I'm in a museum for too long. We went to St. Michel and got gyros, which were amazing as usual.

Saturday night we found a great little bar with a cave-like basement (not good for claustrophobia), that plays latin music and has reasonably-priced drinks (6 shots for 15 euro, obviously split among a group). I enjoyed dancing with friends.

Sunday I met up with friends again and had lunch on rue Mouffetard (actually the same area that the bar was), tried a crepe salee (salty as opposed to sugary) with ham and cheese, it was so big I took like 3 bites and couldn't go on. Then, we walked around past the Pantheon and through Luxembourg gardens. In the gardens, there is a big fountain where French children bring sailboats and push them around with a stick, or if they're lucky they have a remote control boat. It was nice to see and marvel about how American children are sitting at home right now playing video games and getting fat. Is that a lot to say?

Louise had Anna's brother over for dinner, and much like the time Mom came, it was a looong night. She made beef bourgengon (didn't spell that right) and it wasn't bad, there is actually a little dark chocolate in the sauce. Also, a great melange of peppers and onions, grilled and covered with balsamic vinegarette for an appetizer (called an entree here, the opposite of the US). It was funny to hear Louise speak English, she sounds so vulnerable and I loved it because she was on the other side, not "in the know." Most of the time, she would speak French to Anna and I and then we would translate to Andrew. She revealed that she is 44, interesting because she looks about 30. I tried a cheese that I didn't hate, of course I forget the name. We drank a lot of wine and by the end of the night, I was exhausted and drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Today I figured out my classes for next semester, and calmed down about my whole scheduling disaster. I am going to drop my history major definitely for a history minor, and everything should work out. I just need the final OK from my advisor and then I can stop worrying. I am going to take 6 courses in the fall (a lot, considering they're almost all upper level), so I have time to possibly write an honors thesis in the spring to graduate with Distinct Honors (ha).

In my history class today, I had an interesting experience with a Japanese girl. From my experience, the Japanese (notably the girls) are very shy and reserved and like to pretend that they're invisible. Of course we had to "work with a partner" and write a resume (summary) of the Hundred Years' War, and she was sitting next to me so we paired up. I basically told her everything to write, and she contributed nothing but grammatical errors. She didn't have any ideas and whispered apologies when I corrected her writing (since we are both getting graded for the same summary). I wanted to strangle her, my blood pressure was elevated. I just don't understand why she feels she can't just be a person in this world. Why scurry around, doing anything possible to not be noticed (like the Japanese girls that lived in my international dorm at Towson)? It's really ridiculous, I'm sorry. That's all for now.

Russian eyes

Oh la la...les allergies have begun. Yesterday I awoke with a scratchy throat and sneezing, and during my second class of the day, I had a full-on sneeze/nose-blowing attack. Luckily, I always keep key items in my purse such as allergy medicine. Unfortunately, it makes me really tired and I basically passed out right after dinner. Mom is sending me Zyrtec-D (the D is crucial, decongestant) which I hope to receive soon (hint).

I enjoyed our visit to the Tour Eiffel the other day although it was bitingly cold and windy, especially at the very top of the tower. I felt lucky to be up there as the sun was setting, and it's much less scary to be up that high in the daylight for some reason. I will post some pics of that. Since people come from all over the world to Paris/the Eiffel Tower, there are some real characters in there, such as an Italian man who caught a pigeon (who touches pigeons?) and proceeded to shove it in his daughter's face. Then, while waiting in line I spotted an Asian woman wearing one of those masks that the dentists wear when they clean your teeth. Weird.

Classes this week weren't too bad, but I'm starting to get really antsy, like I can't sit still for the last hour of the class. My French writing professor wasn't there yesterday (she's very intense and has a sing-song-y voice and makes fun of people if they don't know the answer to her question) which was nice, we had a very interesting substitute man. I forgot about substitute teachers, and didn't realize that it was strange because we don't have them in college. During that class, I had to sit next to one of the nuns. She smelled like death, although she is probably only 30-40 years old. She has a horrible lisp and was very invasive and took it upon herself to "correct" my papers when we were told to compare answers with our "neighbors." I'll tell you what, I don't know what it is about the French and working with your "neighbor" but I hate it, I always would rather work alone and I don't think it's neccessary to work with a partner on a stupid grammar excercise. Maybe that's why my French professors at Towson always make us work in partners, because that's how the French do things. Bah.

Last night after I got home from class, since Anna's brother is in town for a few days, Louise and I ate dinner just the two of us. I thought it would be awkward but it wasn't, and she made a great meal of salad (endives and corn, usually don't like endives, but the corn really lightened the mood of the salad), baguette, pork, and greatly spiced/cooked vegetables (I think it was potatoes and some sort of squash) with a delicious sweetish sauce, all topped off with delish red wine. Yum and perfect for another freezing day. I then passed out (even though I was supposed to meet up with people to go to the bar, typical Sara).

This morning I awoke at a reasonable hour, Anna was already gone, but Louise was awake, so we ate breakfast together. I really didn't feel like speaking French this morning through my extremely congested nose, but whatever. It's just kind of a lot to have to speak in a foreign tongue first thing in the morning. I had my usual tartine (baguette, butter/jam) and a yogurt (the yogurt here is out of control amazing), and Louise, oddly enough (but I'm not surprised) put some oatmeal (at least it looked like oatmeal, dry oats) in a bowl then proceeded to drown it in milk...no heating, no congealing...just floating oats...Anyway, we had a conversation about my allergies, and then she told me that I have Russian eyes which are mysterious...

rainy day thoughts

Last night I saw an amazing film, La vie des autres, (The Lives of Others) which was in German with French subtitles. I'm proud to say that I understood almost everything even though my eyes were tired by the end. The movie is set in the 1980's in East Germany and told the story of a couple being spied on by a man who begins to sympathize with them, communism, etc. It really was great, and only 3.50 euro because of a special spring cinema thing that was going on until yesterday. The movie won the Oscar for best foreign language film this year by the way.

I'd like to take a moment and talk about my language professor, Pierre (of course his name is Pierre). He is quite a character, he wears the same thing EVERY class: a grey worn out pullover and beige corduroy pants. He looks like a little French schoolboy and I bet when he was young (he grew up in Paris) he carried his books in one of those leather straps like Pinnocchio. He loves to engage us in discussion about anything at all a) because he probably doesn't ever have anyone else to talk to and b) it gives us practice speaking French of course. I think he knows English fairly well, as he is a fan of American movies/literature, and he'll randomly throw out an English phrase but in an intense French accent, such as my favorite, "what ze hell are yhou talkhing about?" I love it and want to record it.

I found a great new supermarket where I often buy my lunch, called Champion. It has the same prepackaged sandwiches as my other favorite, Monoprix, but it's much cheaper. For instance, today I purchased a chicken sandwich, a pack of almonds, a Coca Cola Light (with which I'm in love, it tastes much better than in the States), and a mini chocolate mousse/yogurt thing all for 5 euro. Usually at a sandwich stand/shop it's 5 euro for the sandwich alone! The other day at Champion I got a sandwich, the same chocolate mousse thing, and a bottle of water for less than 3 euro. They have some great-looking pasta salads and regular salads that I can't wait to try. The only bad thing is that the only Champion I know of is near the ISA office, which is about 20 minutes on the metro from my apartment.

Tonight we have a rendez-vous with the ISA personnel at the Tour Eiffel at 5:30 pm to go up to the top (for free, as opposed to not free like usual), although it's semi-rainy and I hope that it's not too foggy to see like the last time I was up there. Also I secretly get really scared going up since it really is very high but I must go. My current focus is getting a plane ticket for Josh to come here the last week of April. It's stressful because the prices keep changing, etc. but I have been able to find several affordable hotels in Paris which is good for my ever-high blood pressure level. I can't wait until April because once spring break comes, I don't have much more planning-type things to worry about, and then after that Mom and Sam will visit in May. I also plan to visit dear friend Beth in Vienna sometime in the month of May which I am tres excited about. Oh, and I downloaded the movie Borat today.

I'm still here

I haven't posted anything in a week, mainly because I don't have much news to report. I've gotten into a routine of classes and also planning our spring break extravaganza in Italy and Greece. We've decided to forego the south of France in order to spend more time in Italy and eliminate a plane/train ride. At the moment, the plan is to fly to Rome on April 6, take a train to Naples where we will be staying for 5 days (during which we will visit Pompeii, Sorrento, and the beaches!), then back to Rome to meet up with some more people for a few days. Then, we fly to Athens, spend a day or 2 there, then roll over to a few islands. I'm excited but also nervous (if you know me, you know being away from a "home base" for 2 weeks, staying in hostels, is quite a task). I realized that I didn't bring many spring/vacation clothing, so I'm having some sent to me from home. It's weird not being able to just run home and get stuff. Another reason I haven't posted anything is because I've been very stressed about planning my courses for the fall at Towson (I have to register in a few weeks), and of course the day that I have to register I will be away in Italy without internet access. Also, this semester is basically setting me back academically which is not good when I have to graduate next spring. I'll spare you of all the details.

I've also come to the point in my stay in Paris where the inconveniences are becoming more and more apparent (for example, not being able to find contact solution, and when I do, it costs 12 euro). In the manual that the Towson study abroad dept. hands out, it goes through the cycle of culture shock, beginning with the honeymoon period where everything is great, you have a lot of energy and love exploring, then you start to compare your native culture to your host culture and realize the inconveniences. Then, apparently you realize that you have assimilated yourself into your host culture and don't want to go back to your native culture. It seems I'm in the middle right now, although I am still enjoying my time here nonetheless. I'm excited for our 2-day excursion to the Loire Valley next weekend, and we had a nice 1-day excursion to Chartres this past Saturday. Chartres was only an hour bus ride from Paris, and it was only about 13 of us who went, as opposed to everyone from both programs. We had a great lunch with one of the directors, Annamaria, and ISA employee Sylvie. Anna and I were delighted to find the Alsacean specialty, flammekouche on the menu! It was about 10 inches in diameter and of course we each finished the whole thing. The cathedral was very pretty, but freezing, and our tour guide (who was a mix of Indian and French) was really great at explaining the meanings behind the stained glass windows and statue-type things. Also, an ancient piece of cloth that is believed to be the veil of Mary is displayed there. After the tour, we mounted the 300 stairs that led to the top of the cathedral. One of the girl in our program had a panic attack and had to go back down, but I loved it, what a great view of the town. I wasn't even tired after walking up the stairs (although after coming down my one leg muscle was spasming), thanks to the 7 flights I choose to walk up to my apartment most days instead of taking the elevator.

I must mention that on Friday afternoon, we finally found a Mexican-ish restaurant and I had amazing enchiladas. They were vegetarian but they didn't really have many beans inside, it was more of a melange of vegetables such as carrots and zucchini. Quite good. For the next couple days in Paris, movie tickets only cost 3.50 euro so I will probably partake tomorrow afternoon after class. I'd love to see a great French film, although I'm not sure if I'll understand it all. Apparently there is a good one out about Edith Piaf that my professor recommends. I have a history exam this afternoon on the Middle Age in France, but I have no idea what's going to be on it. There is no review, list of terms to know, or anything like that like in the US, just anything that is on any handouts or that's been written on the board is fair game. It should be interesting....

New pictures: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/558245811qPGbpy

In case you can't find them...

here's the link to my pics yo http://community.webshots.com/user/sussular_device