I have to dearly apologize to all the cities I’ve visited in the past that I love. I love you, I do. I just have a new favourite city in the whole world. Nothing personal.
So, Paris, Paris, Paris. LOVED it. Loved it beyond words. (Doesn’t mean that this will be a short blog by any means, though…) It was a lot of firsts for me – my first time going on a vacation all by my lonesome, the first train trip, my first time in Paris… I absolutely cannot wait until the next time I go. And strangely, I loved travelling alone. I could do whatever I wanted at my own pace, I could change my plans, and I could meet people to do things with if I so desired. I was a bit worried at first, but Paris was such a safe-feeling city I had no worries once I was there. I actually feel like I had a lot better time BECAUSE I went alone… no offense to any of my dear friends. This has just assured me that any further solo trips will be excellent as well. (Though note that I wouldn’t want to live here… that would spoil a lot of the magicalness.)
Day 1. My train left at seven-thirty, and I was there in plenty of time. Someone had told me that the TGV, the high-speed train, was the only way to travel, and I didn’t believe her. I now do. It’s easy: you can buy a ticket on the spot or beforehand, you get on the train (no security or lines), they check your ticket on the train. You get off, you leave. It was spectacular, and quiet, and peaceful, and safe-feeling. And three hours isn’t a bad time at all… admittedly, I slept this time. I got to Paris, nearly fangasmed when I first saw the Eiffel Tower, and somehow made it to my hostel, about a kilometer and a half walk, using the wonderful guide that Sammy got me for my birthday. I then went everywhere… Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triumph, Champs-Elysees, Place de la Concorde, and then up the Tower at night. Interesting stories… People aren’t kidding about the gypsies around Paris. They’re everywhere, begging for money… What they had was a piece of paper (each the same one, with different names – in Paris, no money, baby, mother dead, whatnot) and go around asking if you speak English. Pretty typical. Driving in Paris is something I never, ever want to do. It’s like a Dodgers’ Stadium parking lot after a game against the Giants, except all the time. CRAZY. Don’t do it. I spent a lot of my relaxing time taking pictures for people… it’s just fun, making people’s vacations just a little bit better with a picture of both of them. I guess I looked pretty legit, though, people kept asking me directions and questions… admittedly, I knew the answers to most, so it was pretty cool. Other interesting people story: while standing in line to get up in the Tower (about an hour overall, forty-five minutes at the bottom and fifteen in the middle to get to the summit) I was talking to an older British couple in front of me, very interesting. Behind me, a French couple was busy loudly sucking face and bumping into me. Standing in line later to get to the summit, I was in front of this middle-aged, balding, fat Italian guy (maybe German, but I’m pretty sure he was Italian) who didn’t understand the idea of personal space. He was constantly standing too close, with at least his gut (a couple times his full body) pressed into me, and he didn’t understand “ne me touche pas” nor “please don’t touch me.” So I ended up moving back in line to get him away from me… I don’t think he was doing it to be creepy, he just needed to be as far up in line as possible or something.
Day 2. Had a terrible night of sleep – three of my roommates were constantly coming in between midnight and three, talking loudly, turning the lights off and on… Then the other two roommates left at five in the morning. Not a happy night. Got up and walked around, Montparesse Cemetery, Opera Garnier, hung around the Louvre, Notre Dame, Bastille. (For pictures of this trip, go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113885&id=605917964&l=490004510b if you’re not already friends with me on Facebook…) My first metro trip – the system’s quite nice, I have to admit. I prefer Bordeaux’s system, it feels safer and easier, but this was still really cool, especially when you have musicians popping in and out of trains, and all over the connections. Which leads me to my absolute favourite part of the trip: Near the Louvre, I found a little string orchestra, and just sat and listened for an hour. Truly talented kids, just getting together in a plaza to play. There’s a lot of street music in Bordeaux, but these guys really stood out. I took plenty of video, so I’ll have to show people, especially I think my music friends, when I get home. Hm… I didn’t go into Notre Dame, since the line was fairly long and I only have a limited amount of time, but I have to say I kind of preferred St. Andrès Cathedral. Maybe it’s just me. I saw Irv and Julie, Sammy’s parents, which was great… they were coincidentally in Paris for one night while I was there, so they were kind and took me out for dinner, and I had fun being a sort of translator there. (It was a little awkward when the waiter handed me the check, though…) Another cool thing – we saw some kids in the Champs de Mars dancing to Michael Jackson videos, and dancing well. It was pretty cool.
Day 3 – the final one. This one I definitely took it easy, after having walked so much… I bought a metro pass and saw things that were a little far out, such as Sacre-Coeur. I planned to go to the Louvre and spend a couple hours there, but both time and money didn’t agree, since I had spent so much time just wandering. I did go to a bookstore, however, and I bought some Shakespeare in French, along with the Hunchback of Notre Dame by Hugo. Really excited to start those, though they’ll be challenging. This day does bring me to a rant, though… Paris has no bathrooms. None. I wandered around for two hours having to pee like a mofo before I found a public bathroom that worked. I can kind of understand why people pee in alleys here. The day itself was alright. The night, however, made it. In my room, I had made friends with a German girl, a Dutch girl, and two guys from Seattle, though one was some other nationality that I’m blanking on right now… (Later remembered to be Hungarian, I believe?) Anyway, a cool bunch of people. Around nine (after all of us had taken hour-long naps) we grabbed a bunch of wine and went out to Sacre-Coeur, and just sat there. Had a good time, drank, talked, laughed. Meandering out, we ran into a very, very drunk British woman, and we went on a very difficult mission to get her back to her hotel. We succeeded, we went to the Moulin Rouge, we went home. We sat around in our room until maybe two, three, four? I don’t even remember anymore. Late. We just sat around in a circle, one girl was a travelling musical therapist so she played music… it was amazing. Overall, I liked the hostel experience. It’s something I’ll have to try again.
So needless to say, it was an incredible adventure, an amazing trip. It has thoroughly encouraged me to spend lots of money to go on other amazing trips, even if it is on my own. I’ll meet people, it’ll all be good. Other than that trip, life has been fine. School is tiring and slightly frustrating still. Student life is fine, calming down but still busy enough. It’s funny, I’m watching all of my friends and roommates be a little stircrazy, needing to get out of Bordeaux, and I’m just laughing. I love laughing, it’s amazing.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Not Yet Dead
There is a big difference between constantly saying that I’ll be broke after I return from Europe after all my travels and experiences and purchases, and then actually seeing the numbers slowly go down in my bank account. Sigh.
I apologize for not checking in sooner, it has (quite understandably) been a kind of hectic and straining week. Due to the fact that I haven’t checked in for a week, it will probably be rather long, and I apologize again. I’ll try and summarize shortly. Classes have been… interesting. Many of them I get there and they don’t start until next week, or I just plain won’t be able to find them at all. Right now my worries are just getting enough units, enough classes… then I’ll start worrying about how I’m going to fail all my classes. I can kind of follow what the professors are saying, but it’s really difficult to comprehend and write while they’re talking. But in all my free time, I’ve explored the city a little bit, found some zen places, had a good time. Had some interesting experiences… the post office, thinking I was gonna get mugged by a random gypsy woman, an ABC party (Anything But Clothes – I wore a dress made out of bags!), having some random French guy sit next to me then take his shirt off…
The weather remains to be slightly bizarre. It’s been cold lately, with occasional rain showers… rain showers meaning that it’s actually RAINING! Not this pansy thing that Californians have. Mind you, once it rained on my laundry (it was clear when I went to bed…), but other than that I’m loving it. The apartment has been pretty cool… It’s nice and big, the kitchen is ridiculously small, our fridge is cleaned out but still slightly gross, our shower sprays water everywhere and has the water pressure of god… But it’s all good. For three hundred Euros a month, that’s not bad. My area is mysteriously always messy, even five minutes after I clean it.
The most exciting thing that’s happening, really, is that I just today made my plans to go to Paris next weekend. I’m leaving Friday morning, train’s at 7:30, and I’m returning on Monday morning in time for class at three. Eighty-eight Euros round-trip (about 110, 120 dollars), and three nights of living is looking to be about seventy Euros. Exciting indeed… Add that onto the shopping I did today (I bought boots, some scarves, and a nice shirt… earlier in the week, I bought a bright teal jacket and matching bag, all equaling up to around eighty euros) and my bank account is sad. But I’m living it up, which is good. I need to just buy food for the next month, though… and only food at the grocery store. Must cut down on kebabs. The French is coming along well enough… in some situations I feel really good about it, others bad. Meh.
A mini-rant: What the hell are the Angels doing, getting their asses handed to them by Boston?! This does not please me.
I apologize for not checking in sooner, it has (quite understandably) been a kind of hectic and straining week. Due to the fact that I haven’t checked in for a week, it will probably be rather long, and I apologize again. I’ll try and summarize shortly. Classes have been… interesting. Many of them I get there and they don’t start until next week, or I just plain won’t be able to find them at all. Right now my worries are just getting enough units, enough classes… then I’ll start worrying about how I’m going to fail all my classes. I can kind of follow what the professors are saying, but it’s really difficult to comprehend and write while they’re talking. But in all my free time, I’ve explored the city a little bit, found some zen places, had a good time. Had some interesting experiences… the post office, thinking I was gonna get mugged by a random gypsy woman, an ABC party (Anything But Clothes – I wore a dress made out of bags!), having some random French guy sit next to me then take his shirt off…
The weather remains to be slightly bizarre. It’s been cold lately, with occasional rain showers… rain showers meaning that it’s actually RAINING! Not this pansy thing that Californians have. Mind you, once it rained on my laundry (it was clear when I went to bed…), but other than that I’m loving it. The apartment has been pretty cool… It’s nice and big, the kitchen is ridiculously small, our fridge is cleaned out but still slightly gross, our shower sprays water everywhere and has the water pressure of god… But it’s all good. For three hundred Euros a month, that’s not bad. My area is mysteriously always messy, even five minutes after I clean it.
The most exciting thing that’s happening, really, is that I just today made my plans to go to Paris next weekend. I’m leaving Friday morning, train’s at 7:30, and I’m returning on Monday morning in time for class at three. Eighty-eight Euros round-trip (about 110, 120 dollars), and three nights of living is looking to be about seventy Euros. Exciting indeed… Add that onto the shopping I did today (I bought boots, some scarves, and a nice shirt… earlier in the week, I bought a bright teal jacket and matching bag, all equaling up to around eighty euros) and my bank account is sad. But I’m living it up, which is good. I need to just buy food for the next month, though… and only food at the grocery store. Must cut down on kebabs. The French is coming along well enough… in some situations I feel really good about it, others bad. Meh.
A mini-rant: What the hell are the Angels doing, getting their asses handed to them by Boston?! This does not please me.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
This Magic Moment
Free drinks are awesome. Like, ridiculously awesome. It just doesn’t get much better than that.
Still alive here! I think I always say this like it should be a surprise… but I do worry occasionally that my stay here hasn’t been accident-plagued enough. I mean, considerably the worst thing that has happened is perhaps leaving my phone charger and having to go get it. Really, that’s been it; it’s been absolutely fantastic so far. This worries me greatly. I’m sure enough chaos and stress will come as soon as we dip into classes and I realize that I have no idea what’s going on, either with classes themselves or with registration. I’m going to die. I will never again take organization in the States for granted… Our classes start tomorrow, and we still don’t have hours for classes, merely class descriptions, for the psychology classes. Lets hope to god that I don’t have anything in the morning…
Me and my posse here moved into our new studio apartments on Friday. It’s three studio apartments, one small one with one student and two larger ones with two in it. It’s been an adventure so far, for sure… my roommate is great, but we’re having an exciting time discovering all the little quirks. Like how there wasn’t hot water for the first day because we had to flip the switch and take the time to heat it up, or how the laundry machine’s door is broken and Danita, my roommate, had her clothes stuck in there for several days before prying it open with a knife. So laundry now consists of soaking clothes in a trash bin full of soapy water, then hang-drying them. I’m not sure how my clothes are going to last this… hopefully they won’t stretch out too much. Any advice from anyone? Other fun things: our fridge (and kitchen in general) is kind of disgusting, covered in mold because the girl living here before seems to have been a bit of a slob, and left food everywhere. Did most of the cleaning up to now, lets see how this works out. But we’ve been having garden parties and potluck dinners, and been playing the Sims and having people come and visit… it’s been good fun.
My night-life is still rather booming and it still frightens me just a bit. Thursday we had our end of ILP dinner, which involved my first eating of duck. It was extremely good, as long as I ignored the constant complaining of several around me. After that, me and Danita wandered by the river (which is just beautiful at night) before heading to a party there. Everyone had gone there after the party, so there were far too many Americans and not enough drinks for my taste, but hopefully next time will be better. Friday night I was exhausted after move-in, and I drank a large amount of wine at dinner, so I was good with that. Saturday night we were going to go clubbing, but we left fairly late and stopped at a bar for drinks. It was right as the football game was ending (I had wanted to go, but everyone wanted to go out instead… so I ended up going to that. Sigh) so the atmosphere was very joyous… The bartender saw that we were Californians, and all we could really hear over the music was “Motherfucking Westcoasters!” as he joyously slammed down a bottle of champagne and five glasses for us, claiming that it was on him. We did not argue. It got more exciting as I went to get a cocktail and he gave it to me for free (though after a couple of people he started charging, though at a lesser rate), and then he gave us all free shots of Jagen later. Good stuff. Clubbing then didn’t happen as the person in charge of finding the club forgot where it was, and people were just standing around so a few of us decided to hop on the last tram and go home rather than walking (though it’s no more than a kilometer or so outside of downtown).
Today I was planning on going out, just riding the tram and walking all over the city, having a tourist day… But then the hours went by, and I did laundry, and my feet were hurting from walking in heels… that didn’t happen. We did, however, start making tentative plans to go to Paris in two weeks. That will be SUPER fun if it doesn’t fall through. We’ll make it happen. *cross fingers*
Interesting little things… I got a very slinky purple dress for ten Euros at the (rather shady, one friend had some little gypsy girl search through her bag) marché, though Danita and I have not yet gone boot/jacket shopping. That will happen at some point, as will a football match! It’s part of the experience, yo! Elsewhere, I got Skype… I’m michiness42, I believe, so add me and we can chat. If you don’t, get it so we can talk. Also, I (for the time being) have internet at the apartment. The French student already living here has it, and he’s letting us pay him to use it… though we haven’t paid anything yet. Odd. And with that, I am going to listen to the Angels game. I’m excited. Wish me luck with the first classes! *gulp*
Still alive here! I think I always say this like it should be a surprise… but I do worry occasionally that my stay here hasn’t been accident-plagued enough. I mean, considerably the worst thing that has happened is perhaps leaving my phone charger and having to go get it. Really, that’s been it; it’s been absolutely fantastic so far. This worries me greatly. I’m sure enough chaos and stress will come as soon as we dip into classes and I realize that I have no idea what’s going on, either with classes themselves or with registration. I’m going to die. I will never again take organization in the States for granted… Our classes start tomorrow, and we still don’t have hours for classes, merely class descriptions, for the psychology classes. Lets hope to god that I don’t have anything in the morning…
Me and my posse here moved into our new studio apartments on Friday. It’s three studio apartments, one small one with one student and two larger ones with two in it. It’s been an adventure so far, for sure… my roommate is great, but we’re having an exciting time discovering all the little quirks. Like how there wasn’t hot water for the first day because we had to flip the switch and take the time to heat it up, or how the laundry machine’s door is broken and Danita, my roommate, had her clothes stuck in there for several days before prying it open with a knife. So laundry now consists of soaking clothes in a trash bin full of soapy water, then hang-drying them. I’m not sure how my clothes are going to last this… hopefully they won’t stretch out too much. Any advice from anyone? Other fun things: our fridge (and kitchen in general) is kind of disgusting, covered in mold because the girl living here before seems to have been a bit of a slob, and left food everywhere. Did most of the cleaning up to now, lets see how this works out. But we’ve been having garden parties and potluck dinners, and been playing the Sims and having people come and visit… it’s been good fun.
My night-life is still rather booming and it still frightens me just a bit. Thursday we had our end of ILP dinner, which involved my first eating of duck. It was extremely good, as long as I ignored the constant complaining of several around me. After that, me and Danita wandered by the river (which is just beautiful at night) before heading to a party there. Everyone had gone there after the party, so there were far too many Americans and not enough drinks for my taste, but hopefully next time will be better. Friday night I was exhausted after move-in, and I drank a large amount of wine at dinner, so I was good with that. Saturday night we were going to go clubbing, but we left fairly late and stopped at a bar for drinks. It was right as the football game was ending (I had wanted to go, but everyone wanted to go out instead… so I ended up going to that. Sigh) so the atmosphere was very joyous… The bartender saw that we were Californians, and all we could really hear over the music was “Motherfucking Westcoasters!” as he joyously slammed down a bottle of champagne and five glasses for us, claiming that it was on him. We did not argue. It got more exciting as I went to get a cocktail and he gave it to me for free (though after a couple of people he started charging, though at a lesser rate), and then he gave us all free shots of Jagen later. Good stuff. Clubbing then didn’t happen as the person in charge of finding the club forgot where it was, and people were just standing around so a few of us decided to hop on the last tram and go home rather than walking (though it’s no more than a kilometer or so outside of downtown).
Today I was planning on going out, just riding the tram and walking all over the city, having a tourist day… But then the hours went by, and I did laundry, and my feet were hurting from walking in heels… that didn’t happen. We did, however, start making tentative plans to go to Paris in two weeks. That will be SUPER fun if it doesn’t fall through. We’ll make it happen. *cross fingers*
Interesting little things… I got a very slinky purple dress for ten Euros at the (rather shady, one friend had some little gypsy girl search through her bag) marché, though Danita and I have not yet gone boot/jacket shopping. That will happen at some point, as will a football match! It’s part of the experience, yo! Elsewhere, I got Skype… I’m michiness42, I believe, so add me and we can chat. If you don’t, get it so we can talk. Also, I (for the time being) have internet at the apartment. The French student already living here has it, and he’s letting us pay him to use it… though we haven’t paid anything yet. Odd. And with that, I am going to listen to the Angels game. I’m excited. Wish me luck with the first classes! *gulp*
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Two Weeks In
Eating a kebab, the French equivalent of cheap Mexican food with mystery meat, while listening to Sweeney Todd is not a very good idea.
Anyhow. Not much to update on this time, though I do feel like it’s necessary to check in every few days here. I’ve been keeping myself plenty busy, I certainly haven’t had much alone time since arriving in France… which is nice on one hand, because it means that I’m doing things, but on the other hand it’s nice to just relax, read, take a nap, and have some free time. I’ve been drawing plenty since I got here, though admittedly most of it is on my notes while I’m listening to my professor squawk. Though I’m nearly finished with my old sketchbook, and ready to move onto the next… Lots of little new drawings to show everyone when I get back, though. Another interesting life update is that I went running today for the first time since arrival. Bad that it’s taken me two weeks, but I suppose I’m allowed some settling time, what with all the walking and stair-climbing I’ve been doing (have I mentioned I’m on the 4th floor?) it might have killed me earlier.
Speaking of the fourth floor, move-out is on Friday. Which means that I have to drag my giant suitcase all the way back down those lovely stairs… Better than dragging it up, though, I suppose? I already moved part of my things over to the apartment, so it shouldn’t be that bad. It’s only one suitcase and a backpack, assuming I can fit it all back in there. I’ll just be glad, very very glad, that the ILP class will be over by then. This week our original professor returned, and I realized how much I dislike her… she speaks with what sounds like a German accent, though she has a very high-pitched, jerky voice. Listening to her speak for four hours with no break is a bit strenuous. Not to mention once she yelled at me for five minutes (no exaggeration) just because I was looking something up in my little pocket dictionary. She always nitpicks every single thing that I do, and leaves the other students alone, even if their pronunciation is enough to make me want to commit French suicide. Two days left, two days… And then I get to start the real big adventure: actual French classes! The lack of organization is driving me absolutely insane. There’s not even class lists up yet for most of the departments, and classes start on Monday. We have to register ourselves by going and talking to about five different people, and doing about a million other things that just make my mind spin. I will be totally screwed… and all this is even BEFORE classes actually start! Oh dear god, what have I gotten myself into?
I’m going to talk about pizza because that makes me happy. For our weekly picnic given to us by the lovely ladies at the Centre de Californie, they had pizza! And the usual cheese and bread and juice. But the pizza was heavenly, even though there was only a small slice per person. Mmm.
Something else that creeps me out intensely, but is slightly interesting as well: the gypsies. People told me that they would be here, begging for money and whatnot, and I was ready for that. What I was not prepared for was them to move into the little park across the street about a week and a half after move-in, and then every couple of nights at three or four in the morning, come into the dorms and knock on everyone’s doors and trying to get into people’s rooms to steal their money. I have slept through these encounters, I’m not sure how, but I have. Probably a good thing, though. There are numerous horror stories, none of which I’m sure are true, such as them coming and looking under people’s doors while they’re showering. There is definite proof that they’ve been using the showers, though, and the most annoying thing: They pooed in our staircase. Our staircase now smells like ass.
For anyone who is wondering or concerned, I am not only hanging out with Americans. Starting Monday, the area has been FLOODED with international students from all over the place. On Monday, we had a four-hour test for placement in the DEFLE classes, and I just talked to people (in French, which was interesting when people had different accents). I have talked to people from: Libya, South Africa, Argentina, Algeria, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, China, Iceland, Australia, and Poland. The list keeps growing. But naturally, I’m also hanging out with French people. From parties and bars and whatnot, we’ve all made French friends, and hung out with them several times. It’s also nice to just run into people I know on the tram and have chats about strikes in French. I’m liking the French people very much, not to mention going out with them gives me an excuse to not hang out with some of the loud, annoying Americans that I happen to know here.
And that, my friends, has been my life. I feel a little bad always going out and draining my battery down every night, but hopefully it won’t do too much damage… I don’t think we’ll have internet as soon as we move into the apartment, but I guess that’s what McDonalds is for. We’ll see how often I’m on after that, until people figure out how to get organized. Starting to look into different travel plans. Still definitely looking into Italy for the break, but also thinking Lyon in early December for their lights festival (and snow!), Paris relatively soon, in the next month once we get settled in… We’ll see, we’ll see. There definitely isn’t enough time here to see everything that I want to see, but that’s what life is for, eh?
Anyhow. Not much to update on this time, though I do feel like it’s necessary to check in every few days here. I’ve been keeping myself plenty busy, I certainly haven’t had much alone time since arriving in France… which is nice on one hand, because it means that I’m doing things, but on the other hand it’s nice to just relax, read, take a nap, and have some free time. I’ve been drawing plenty since I got here, though admittedly most of it is on my notes while I’m listening to my professor squawk. Though I’m nearly finished with my old sketchbook, and ready to move onto the next… Lots of little new drawings to show everyone when I get back, though. Another interesting life update is that I went running today for the first time since arrival. Bad that it’s taken me two weeks, but I suppose I’m allowed some settling time, what with all the walking and stair-climbing I’ve been doing (have I mentioned I’m on the 4th floor?) it might have killed me earlier.
Speaking of the fourth floor, move-out is on Friday. Which means that I have to drag my giant suitcase all the way back down those lovely stairs… Better than dragging it up, though, I suppose? I already moved part of my things over to the apartment, so it shouldn’t be that bad. It’s only one suitcase and a backpack, assuming I can fit it all back in there. I’ll just be glad, very very glad, that the ILP class will be over by then. This week our original professor returned, and I realized how much I dislike her… she speaks with what sounds like a German accent, though she has a very high-pitched, jerky voice. Listening to her speak for four hours with no break is a bit strenuous. Not to mention once she yelled at me for five minutes (no exaggeration) just because I was looking something up in my little pocket dictionary. She always nitpicks every single thing that I do, and leaves the other students alone, even if their pronunciation is enough to make me want to commit French suicide. Two days left, two days… And then I get to start the real big adventure: actual French classes! The lack of organization is driving me absolutely insane. There’s not even class lists up yet for most of the departments, and classes start on Monday. We have to register ourselves by going and talking to about five different people, and doing about a million other things that just make my mind spin. I will be totally screwed… and all this is even BEFORE classes actually start! Oh dear god, what have I gotten myself into?
I’m going to talk about pizza because that makes me happy. For our weekly picnic given to us by the lovely ladies at the Centre de Californie, they had pizza! And the usual cheese and bread and juice. But the pizza was heavenly, even though there was only a small slice per person. Mmm.
Something else that creeps me out intensely, but is slightly interesting as well: the gypsies. People told me that they would be here, begging for money and whatnot, and I was ready for that. What I was not prepared for was them to move into the little park across the street about a week and a half after move-in, and then every couple of nights at three or four in the morning, come into the dorms and knock on everyone’s doors and trying to get into people’s rooms to steal their money. I have slept through these encounters, I’m not sure how, but I have. Probably a good thing, though. There are numerous horror stories, none of which I’m sure are true, such as them coming and looking under people’s doors while they’re showering. There is definite proof that they’ve been using the showers, though, and the most annoying thing: They pooed in our staircase. Our staircase now smells like ass.
For anyone who is wondering or concerned, I am not only hanging out with Americans. Starting Monday, the area has been FLOODED with international students from all over the place. On Monday, we had a four-hour test for placement in the DEFLE classes, and I just talked to people (in French, which was interesting when people had different accents). I have talked to people from: Libya, South Africa, Argentina, Algeria, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, China, Iceland, Australia, and Poland. The list keeps growing. But naturally, I’m also hanging out with French people. From parties and bars and whatnot, we’ve all made French friends, and hung out with them several times. It’s also nice to just run into people I know on the tram and have chats about strikes in French. I’m liking the French people very much, not to mention going out with them gives me an excuse to not hang out with some of the loud, annoying Americans that I happen to know here.
And that, my friends, has been my life. I feel a little bad always going out and draining my battery down every night, but hopefully it won’t do too much damage… I don’t think we’ll have internet as soon as we move into the apartment, but I guess that’s what McDonalds is for. We’ll see how often I’m on after that, until people figure out how to get organized. Starting to look into different travel plans. Still definitely looking into Italy for the break, but also thinking Lyon in early December for their lights festival (and snow!), Paris relatively soon, in the next month once we get settled in… We’ll see, we’ll see. There definitely isn’t enough time here to see everything that I want to see, but that’s what life is for, eh?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Creepiness Not Appreciated
I’m listening to an Angels game for the first time since I arrived in Bordeaux – I don’t think I can explain how excited this makes me. It’s great to hear the guys, even if Rex isn’t jumping off the walls with them.
Anyway. So there have been a couple of strange experiences since the last time writing. The first one I promised to write about, so here it is, just to clear up any confusion or worry. (Not that I’m saying that this isn’t a worrisome occurance…) So yesterday around three or four, I was outside of the café near the dorms, using the internet and uploading pictures to Facebook. I hear a car pull up behind me and a middle-aged (maybe late thirties) guy asks if I know any cafes that are open on Saturdays. I apologize and say that I don’t, since I’m from California and don’t know the area that well. He keeps talking to me, not taking that and leaving, asking me very personal questions such as where I was living, what building I was in, where in France I had gone, what I was studying, how long I was going to be in France… for most of these, I just plain lied, since he was definitely giving off a creepy vibe. At some point, he decided that he would pull off and park so we could continue talking, and I told him that it was quite unnecessary, I was going to be leaving soon anyway. There had already been a couple of moments where he had wanted to shake hands, which would involve me getting close to the car. Granted, I was talking to him through the passenger window, and there were a lot of people around so I doubt he would grab me and kidnap me, but I did have my laptop in my other hand, so he easily could have grabbed it and driven off. For these reasons, I was quite happy in keeping my distance.
But he came and parked anyway, and at this point he kept asking if I wanted to get a coffee right now (non merci, I think I’m going to be going out with friends now), if I was doing anything later in the evening (I wasn’t, but I told him I was and I really wasn’t interested in watching the football game with him), and if I wanted to meet him tomorrow (in which I quite firmly told him I wasn’t interested). He seemed to be really missing the message, though, and kept standing close enough to me that I’d back up, then he’d move closer, then I’d back up… You get the idea. So he stated that he’d come back to the café at 3pm tomorrow, despite that I told him quite clearly that I wasn’t going to be there. I left right after he did, incredibly creeped out and thoroughly mentally molested. Needless to say, I made sure to be on the other side of Bordeaux at 3pm, and have been very careful to avoid that area.
So! Other interesting, less-creepy things. The weekend has been a lot of fun, very very busy. I can’t wait, really, for a day when I can just lounge around and do nothing, maybe read a bit – I have a French manga! So Friday after class we ended up meandering into town, I bought my bus pass (less than 30 euros for unlimited tram and bus use for a month – not bad at all!), we wandered around, we continually lost each other. At a comic book store, filled with all sorts of geeky things which I expect I will buy for geeky friends back home (<3), I bought the first volume of Kobato – the newest CLAMP manga, not yet released in America! Started reading it, it’s adorable as usual. Definitely a fun challenge, though. Then Friday night we all went out to the Cock and Bull, an English bar… Friday is cocktail nights, you can buy a big cock for 7.50 euros or a small cock for 5 euros. (Teehee.) I got a Sex on the Beach, for anyone who’s wondering, and it was delicious. A good time was had by all.
Saturday I spent the first part lounging, after sleeping in until ten or so. Then later in the evening (I feel like I did more than this on Saturday – must verify) me and a couple of calmer, more mature friends (who do NOT fill the “loud, rambunctious, annoying American” stereotype) went out and hung out with some French guys who they had met at a party a couple of nights before. A very good time was had – they bought us some wine (my first red wine here! It was absolutely superb, I’m a cheap date), we talked for a good couple of hours, and I talked about space and general relativity in French! It doesn’t get much better than that. Today, Sunday, was considerably less interesting – we got up, we went to the apartment to start bringing stuff over, we hung out there for a bit (the girl who was living there before left peanut butter and pasta… these must be investigated for consumption), then went to IKEA, which was cool but really more effort than it was worth.
Interesting musings, interesting musings… Food. Food is an amazing, amazing thing. I haven’t eaten enough of it in Bordeaux, and I can definitely tell that both that and all the walking are already doing me some good. But when I do eat out, it’s definitely good. I’ve had all sorts of things – lots of sandwiches (eggs, pickles, turkey, ham… all sorts of things on those buggers), a kebab (except in burrito form, with French fries in it. Sounds weird, but it was REALLY good), some Thai food (which was not that great, it was a Thai express), one Nutella Panini (it was rather good, actually), a waffle at IKEA… Looking forward to Thursday night, when we have a final program dinner at an actual restaurant, and we don’t have to pay for it! Score. For the rest of the time though, I continue to live on babybells, canned vegetables, baguettes, apples, and pasta. Delicious, delicious.
Anyway. So there have been a couple of strange experiences since the last time writing. The first one I promised to write about, so here it is, just to clear up any confusion or worry. (Not that I’m saying that this isn’t a worrisome occurance…) So yesterday around three or four, I was outside of the café near the dorms, using the internet and uploading pictures to Facebook. I hear a car pull up behind me and a middle-aged (maybe late thirties) guy asks if I know any cafes that are open on Saturdays. I apologize and say that I don’t, since I’m from California and don’t know the area that well. He keeps talking to me, not taking that and leaving, asking me very personal questions such as where I was living, what building I was in, where in France I had gone, what I was studying, how long I was going to be in France… for most of these, I just plain lied, since he was definitely giving off a creepy vibe. At some point, he decided that he would pull off and park so we could continue talking, and I told him that it was quite unnecessary, I was going to be leaving soon anyway. There had already been a couple of moments where he had wanted to shake hands, which would involve me getting close to the car. Granted, I was talking to him through the passenger window, and there were a lot of people around so I doubt he would grab me and kidnap me, but I did have my laptop in my other hand, so he easily could have grabbed it and driven off. For these reasons, I was quite happy in keeping my distance.
But he came and parked anyway, and at this point he kept asking if I wanted to get a coffee right now (non merci, I think I’m going to be going out with friends now), if I was doing anything later in the evening (I wasn’t, but I told him I was and I really wasn’t interested in watching the football game with him), and if I wanted to meet him tomorrow (in which I quite firmly told him I wasn’t interested). He seemed to be really missing the message, though, and kept standing close enough to me that I’d back up, then he’d move closer, then I’d back up… You get the idea. So he stated that he’d come back to the café at 3pm tomorrow, despite that I told him quite clearly that I wasn’t going to be there. I left right after he did, incredibly creeped out and thoroughly mentally molested. Needless to say, I made sure to be on the other side of Bordeaux at 3pm, and have been very careful to avoid that area.
So! Other interesting, less-creepy things. The weekend has been a lot of fun, very very busy. I can’t wait, really, for a day when I can just lounge around and do nothing, maybe read a bit – I have a French manga! So Friday after class we ended up meandering into town, I bought my bus pass (less than 30 euros for unlimited tram and bus use for a month – not bad at all!), we wandered around, we continually lost each other. At a comic book store, filled with all sorts of geeky things which I expect I will buy for geeky friends back home (<3), I bought the first volume of Kobato – the newest CLAMP manga, not yet released in America! Started reading it, it’s adorable as usual. Definitely a fun challenge, though. Then Friday night we all went out to the Cock and Bull, an English bar… Friday is cocktail nights, you can buy a big cock for 7.50 euros or a small cock for 5 euros. (Teehee.) I got a Sex on the Beach, for anyone who’s wondering, and it was delicious. A good time was had by all.
Saturday I spent the first part lounging, after sleeping in until ten or so. Then later in the evening (I feel like I did more than this on Saturday – must verify) me and a couple of calmer, more mature friends (who do NOT fill the “loud, rambunctious, annoying American” stereotype) went out and hung out with some French guys who they had met at a party a couple of nights before. A very good time was had – they bought us some wine (my first red wine here! It was absolutely superb, I’m a cheap date), we talked for a good couple of hours, and I talked about space and general relativity in French! It doesn’t get much better than that. Today, Sunday, was considerably less interesting – we got up, we went to the apartment to start bringing stuff over, we hung out there for a bit (the girl who was living there before left peanut butter and pasta… these must be investigated for consumption), then went to IKEA, which was cool but really more effort than it was worth.
Interesting musings, interesting musings… Food. Food is an amazing, amazing thing. I haven’t eaten enough of it in Bordeaux, and I can definitely tell that both that and all the walking are already doing me some good. But when I do eat out, it’s definitely good. I’ve had all sorts of things – lots of sandwiches (eggs, pickles, turkey, ham… all sorts of things on those buggers), a kebab (except in burrito form, with French fries in it. Sounds weird, but it was REALLY good), some Thai food (which was not that great, it was a Thai express), one Nutella Panini (it was rather good, actually), a waffle at IKEA… Looking forward to Thursday night, when we have a final program dinner at an actual restaurant, and we don’t have to pay for it! Score. For the rest of the time though, I continue to live on babybells, canned vegetables, baguettes, apples, and pasta. Delicious, delicious.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Pasta and Wine
Leftover pasta is the greatest thing ever invented by man. Just saying.
So, life. Life is coming along quite nicely, at this moment. So far I’ve only had one moment of serious loneliness for home, which was last night – pretty good for being away for a week and a half! It’s been ripe full of weird things, I must admit. Like my car getting broken into back home – what’s up with that? Poor Chinsei, but more importantly, poor Steve for getting his laptop stolen! I hope things work out alright with that. Other than that, not much has happened. Classes have been rather uneven, with my professor becoming sick; yesterday we were split up and put into different classes, today we had a substitute who was pretty damn awesome. We’ll see how this continues. Also today, we had an “excursion” – which was not described to be greatly interesting, but it ended up being a lot of fun. We went out into the countryside, which I am now greatly in love with. We went to a petit chateau/vignoble, which had a huge garden, a puppy with huge paws and ears, and some of the sweetest wine I’ve ever tasted. Also on the excursion was Jeanne Français Mauriac’s house (I’m sorry, I probably spelled that horribly) which was fairly uninteresting except for the view and the area it was in. So pretty; it seemed like a pity to return back to Pessac. Other interesting things in life – I seem to have fairly consistent, regular internet out in the forest/at the café by the school buildings. Trying to get on around eight my time every day, eleven AM back in California. Go on aim/facebook and try and catch me! Or just e-mail/Facebook me. I’ll respond.
Americanization is ridiculous. Have I mentioned that? In many ways France is inexplicably different than America, but in other ways it’s not so different. I look through magazines and see Robert Pattison (or whatever his name is), Miley Cyrus, Angelina Joli… Kids have Spongebob and Spiderman on their shirts… hell, even Dora the Explorer is here! It’s really quite frightening. I’ve seen Dominos and a ridiculous amount of McDonalds, but other than that the food stores are all different. (Food here is amazing, when I allow myself to eat out. And the wine… yum.) There are a lot of American clothes stores with European fashions, and European prices… window shopping drives me insane because the clothes are just so nifty, but I don’t really have the money, nor the fashion sense, for that. I do greatly miss peanut butter and mac and cheese, though. Why can’t those be here?
Mornings suck. It’s like 8am French all over again, since I get up at 7am and shower every day. Except now I don’t have Rosa’s happy to keep me going when my brain hasn’t turned on yet. It especially doesn’t help that the sun isn’t rising until between 7:30 and 8, which just throws me off entirely. Other random things: I officially paid my first month’s rent yesterday, even though I’m not moving in until the 11th. It’s kinda cool, paying my own rent, yet at the same time it makes me very sad to watch six hundred Euros (half for rent, half for a security deposit) be pulled out of my bank account and straight into the hands of my landlady. Sigh.
So I’m looking at places that I want to go visit in my four months here. There’s a week-long break from October 24th-November 1st in which I am definitely going to go somewhere (assuming I’m not taking any classes in the school with no break – which I hope not to), with or without a companion. Any suggestions? I’m kind of thinking Italy, but I’m not set on anywhere yet. Other places that I’m looking at going are Paris (naturally, and sooner rather than later) and London with Cally, along with several places in France depending on who’s going where.
Hm… No other interesting musings that I can think of. Still going strong – I think my French is improving! Woohoo! Will report back in several days. Looking forward to this weekend.
So, life. Life is coming along quite nicely, at this moment. So far I’ve only had one moment of serious loneliness for home, which was last night – pretty good for being away for a week and a half! It’s been ripe full of weird things, I must admit. Like my car getting broken into back home – what’s up with that? Poor Chinsei, but more importantly, poor Steve for getting his laptop stolen! I hope things work out alright with that. Other than that, not much has happened. Classes have been rather uneven, with my professor becoming sick; yesterday we were split up and put into different classes, today we had a substitute who was pretty damn awesome. We’ll see how this continues. Also today, we had an “excursion” – which was not described to be greatly interesting, but it ended up being a lot of fun. We went out into the countryside, which I am now greatly in love with. We went to a petit chateau/vignoble, which had a huge garden, a puppy with huge paws and ears, and some of the sweetest wine I’ve ever tasted. Also on the excursion was Jeanne Français Mauriac’s house (I’m sorry, I probably spelled that horribly) which was fairly uninteresting except for the view and the area it was in. So pretty; it seemed like a pity to return back to Pessac. Other interesting things in life – I seem to have fairly consistent, regular internet out in the forest/at the café by the school buildings. Trying to get on around eight my time every day, eleven AM back in California. Go on aim/facebook and try and catch me! Or just e-mail/Facebook me. I’ll respond.
Americanization is ridiculous. Have I mentioned that? In many ways France is inexplicably different than America, but in other ways it’s not so different. I look through magazines and see Robert Pattison (or whatever his name is), Miley Cyrus, Angelina Joli… Kids have Spongebob and Spiderman on their shirts… hell, even Dora the Explorer is here! It’s really quite frightening. I’ve seen Dominos and a ridiculous amount of McDonalds, but other than that the food stores are all different. (Food here is amazing, when I allow myself to eat out. And the wine… yum.) There are a lot of American clothes stores with European fashions, and European prices… window shopping drives me insane because the clothes are just so nifty, but I don’t really have the money, nor the fashion sense, for that. I do greatly miss peanut butter and mac and cheese, though. Why can’t those be here?
Mornings suck. It’s like 8am French all over again, since I get up at 7am and shower every day. Except now I don’t have Rosa’s happy to keep me going when my brain hasn’t turned on yet. It especially doesn’t help that the sun isn’t rising until between 7:30 and 8, which just throws me off entirely. Other random things: I officially paid my first month’s rent yesterday, even though I’m not moving in until the 11th. It’s kinda cool, paying my own rent, yet at the same time it makes me very sad to watch six hundred Euros (half for rent, half for a security deposit) be pulled out of my bank account and straight into the hands of my landlady. Sigh.
So I’m looking at places that I want to go visit in my four months here. There’s a week-long break from October 24th-November 1st in which I am definitely going to go somewhere (assuming I’m not taking any classes in the school with no break – which I hope not to), with or without a companion. Any suggestions? I’m kind of thinking Italy, but I’m not set on anywhere yet. Other places that I’m looking at going are Paris (naturally, and sooner rather than later) and London with Cally, along with several places in France depending on who’s going where.
Hm… No other interesting musings that I can think of. Still going strong – I think my French is improving! Woohoo! Will report back in several days. Looking forward to this weekend.
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