I'm Julia Child

I watched Julie and Julia today and it was really good. I LOVED IT!!!! I thought Amy Adams and Meryl Streep were amazing in it. I told myself yesterday that I would be some what productive today and try to get some homework done but that obviously didn't happen. So instead of being productive I watched like 3 episodes of Friends because that's all that's ever on tv and watched Julie and Julia. I'm getting really sick of French tv. Seriously, it's not good at all. The news is depressing, I get tired of watching music videos because lately all that has been on it is Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga. Lassie used to be on a lot but now it seems to be being replaced by Little House on the Prairie. Every time I see that show I think of my grandma and just laugh because she was in love with that show. Every time she would come over she would have to watch it. I remember one time I was little and she was over for the weekend like she always was and of course she was watching her programs, as she liked to call them, and I asked her if we could watch something else besides Little House on the Prairie. She told me no and told me to go play. It was pretty funny. Anyways, long story short, the tv sucks here. Except for yesterday and Monday morning when High School Musical and High School Musical 2 were on. That was fun.

I got a text from Luke today and he asked if I wanted to do something. I met him at the metro and it was so nice to see some one from home, you have no idea. We walked around the 14th for a while and I took him to the cemetery because it's close by. It started raining so we walked back to the apartment because he wanted to see it. He said he was hungry so we went to this cafe that's right by the metro. I've never been there before because I've come to learn that the majority of the cafes that are right by the metro are really expensive. We walked in and the waitress gave us the menus. Luke decided that he was going to buy his first glass of wine in Paris. I decided to get a coffee. Earlier Luke said that he wanted some caffeine because he just got to Paris today and didn't want to fall asleep until a regular time in Paris, so I really wasn't sure why he got the wine. The waitress came over and Luke tried to order a plate of fries in French and she told him in English that they don't sell food until 7, just drinks. So he said okay, in French and then just gave up and ordered in English. She then looked at me and I told her what I wanted in French and she didn't even answer in English....GO ME!! I was like omg, does she think I'm French?!?!?! I think Luke was kinda sad that she responded to him in English. I ordered a double cafe which is basically a double shot of espresso. It was intense! As we were leaving the waitress said goodbye to me in French. I'm so French now.

I rode with Luke on the metro to his stop because he wasn't sure where to go. I also gave him my extra metro tickets that I've had since October because they really are no good to me because I have a pass now. He got off at his stop and then I rode back to the apartment. I was listening to my iPod like I always do and as I was walking up the steps of the metro to get out I fell up the stairs and bent my finger backwords. It hurt so much! This lady who was walking next to me didn't even ask if I was okay. Jerk. Mathilde came home a few minutes after me and I was still watching Julie and Julia. She came into my room and said that she was going out with her friends but she still had clothes in the washing machine. So get this, she asked me if I could take them out and hang them up to dry when the machine stopped because she wouldn't be here. I was like ummmmm okay. I swear, sometimes I am too nice. At least it wasn't her clothes. I was like great she's probably got underwear in there in stuff I'm not touching that. It was just sheets. Why she washed sheets I have no idea. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve....I have no plans. I got this email from the American Embassy in Paris saying that sometimes the people who stand on the Champs-Elysees get out of hand and last year there were a bunch of fights and they lit cars on fire. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I still haven't seen Allison yet. She said she would call me when they do something. Maybe she forgot....Maybe I'll just buy a bottle of champagne and celebrate by myself. Who knows.

I totally forgot to do this yesterday but here's a list of all the cool British things I heard while I was in London:
snog and snogging - making out (said on Harry Potter)
Barbie -referring to a girl who's really ditzy
Happy Christmas
Dinger -not sure what that means
Why don't you look posh!!! - self explanatory
Where's your posh camera? -again, self explanatory
This looks like a monkey's tea party! -not sure...
Father Christmas - instead of Santa
They say cuddle instead of snuggle (come and have a cuddle with me)
Tear the mickey out of her - I think this is teasing or something....they said it in Harry Potter so when I heard it I almost flipped out
Biscuit -not actually a biscuit, they mean cookie

I probably won't update tomorrow because who knows what I will be doing so I hope everyone has a Happy New Year or Bonne Annee!!!!

A Bientot

Check out my Triple Deke!!

Today was so much fun! I was pretty nervous about going ice skating because I can count on one hand the number of times I've been ice skating...and I think I fell every time. I met Amber at Hotel de Ville and we walked to the rink. It was around 4 so I really didn't think it would take that long to get our skates and get out on the ice. Wrong. We stood in line for over an hour. These 2 kids in front of me were so annoying. Most French kids are really cute but these two little boys just needed to be punched in the face. It started drizzling a little bit when we were in line and I told Amber that if started pouring I wasn't going to go skating. Luckily, it didn't. We finally made it inside the tent where you rent your skates. It was free to skate at the rink the only thing you had to pay for was the skates. It was only 5 Euro so it wasn't that bad. You could also skate for as long as you wanted, which was nice. I really wasn't sure what size to get because the sizes here aren't like in the US and I didn't know if the skates were going to run big or something. A size 8 is a 38 so I just got those and they ended up fitting. We laced up our skates and headed out to the rink. That's a picture of me and Amber btw...

It was pretty warm today, a high of 54, so I don't know if it was because of that or the rain but there were huge puddles of water on the rink. They were really big puddles...no lie. I was like, God, if I fall please don't let me fall in the giant puddle. I stepped onto the rink and Amber was taking my picture and all of a sudden this Asian creeper jumped in my picture. I was like ummmm okay, hey there dude. It was weird. I thought about going into the kiddie rink first because I couldn't remember the last time I went ice skating and also because there was like a million people on the big rink. Amber started skating away from me and I was like no, please don't leave me I don't know what I'm doing. I got the hang of it and we started skating around the rink. There were a bunch of really good skaters there. Who knew the French could ice skate? I didn't. I noticed that there were a lot of people whose pants were really wet. I thought, well they either fell or the water is really deep. In some spots the puddles were a lot deeper than others. I just didn't want to fall in them, that would be horrible. We got to the end of the rink that I saw that there was this weird advertisement on the side of the rink. It was this giant ad for condoms. I was like what in the world is this doing on the side of an ice skating rink?!?!?!?! Those crazy Frenchies. As you can see in this picture, the bottoms of my pants were soaked from all the water on the rink.

Some of the skaters were doing these weird tricks and were splashing water everywhere. I got splashed and my butt and jacket were soaked. The little kid who did it was like, I'm really sorry. I wanted to be like, yeah sure you are kid! Ugh it was so uncomfortable. I wish I knew how to do some crazy tricks like a triple deke like on the Mighty Ducks...that would show them. It started raining a little bit while we were skating but it stopped. At one point this guy who was showing off fell in the giant puddle and everyone who was watching clapped. It was so funny. The rink was on this giant platform that had a ledge around it so people could stand outside the rink and watch. I felt really weird having them watching because what if I fell? that would've sucked.

I didn't fall once....I was so proud. We skated for an hour or so and got tired so we went in and turned in our skates. I was pretty hungry so we went to this stand that was selling giant waffles and I bought one that had chocolate on it. DELISH! I got back on the metro after that and headed back to the apartment. The metro was really crowded, like always and when it started moving I wasn't expecting it and I feel backwards right on this guy. I was like omg....that did not just happen. I didn't fall all the way over, I just really leaned on him. He helped me back up, what a nice guy.

I really don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. My friend Allison got here today but I'm not sure what her plans are. My other friend Luke comes tomorrow but I don't know if he's going to want to do anything because I'm sure he'll be pretty tired. I do have some homework to do so maybe I'll do that. Mathilde is still here....I just wish she'd leave. She's annoying. I think I'm going to go and see if I can find the Mighty Ducks online or something. I really want to watch it now.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

A bientot

Christmas in England

If you're wondering why I haven't updated in FOREVER it's because I was in England and had no Internet. I'll start at the beginning, it seems like the best place to start....

Last Sunday (the 20th) I woke up super early for a Sunday. It sucked. I got ready and then headed for the train. My flight was scheduled to take off at 1:35ish so I was super early when I got to the airport at 10:40ish. When I got off the train I saw that it was snowing really hard. I started to get really worried because I had no idea what to do if my flight was canceled. I stood at the departures board forever because I was there so early. A lot of flights on different airlines flying to London-Heathrow had already been canceled because of the snow. That had me really worried because if those flights were canceled, why would Air France fly? I finally saw my flight on the board and it said that it was still scheduled to depart on time. I was super excited and headed to the check in counter. There were so many Air France counters I had no idea what one I needed. So I asked this guy and tried my best to say everything in French, but of course, he replied in English. The line I got in was so incredibly long. I hoped that it would move fast but boy, was I wrong. By the time I got into the actual line with the ropes or whatever they are called, I had been standing there for about 30 minutes. This girl named Ines was standing behind me in line. She's also a student in Paris for the year and we were on the same flight to London. She was so sweet. Apparently she had be trying to get home for break since Friday but because of the weather, every way she tried to get home was canceled. We seriously stood in like for over 2 and a half hours. I was ready to lose my mind. I called home (it was around 4 in the morning at home) and had my dad check my flight to see what was going on because none of the people working at the counter (there were 4 people working by the way....there were like 6 counters closed) had said anything about out flight. It was way past the time that they check in people for the flight. The flight ended up being delayed until 2:10, which wasn't that bad.

I finally got to the counter and the woman told me that there were no more seats left on the flight. I really didn't understand how that was possible because I booked the flight over 2 weeks ago. I guess they had to cancel a bunch of flights to London so all the people who didn't get to fly out were put on this flight so of course, I got bumped off. The woman told me that I could try to get on the standby list but I guess the chances of me getting on were slim to none because there were already a bunch of people on it. She gave me the option of taking a later flight at 4 and she would give me a 150 Euro voucher for my next flight or I could get 75 Euro cash. I told her that I'd take the voucher and she printed me a ticket for the 4pm flight. After going through security I went to the gate to sit and wait for 3 hours. Ines was there too. She got put on standby. We talked for a while and waited for the plane to come. It was delayed by an hour. She ended up making it on to the flight. My flight wasn't listed on the board at the gate so I had no idea what was going on. There weren't any of the boards that list all of the departing flights close to my gate so there was no way I could check unless I walked all the way back to security, which I really didn't want to do. Finally they announced that the gate changed so I went to the new gate and waited. I talked to a few people waiting for the flight and everyone was really nice, just frustrated that a little bit of snow, seriously it wasn't even 2 inches, could affect this many flights. My flight was delayed until 5:20. By now I had been at the airport for 7 hours waiting for my flight. I felt really bad because Lex, who I was staying with for the week, lives 2 hours away from the airport and I kept telling her that my flight kept changing. The flight got delayed again, and we didn't end up leaving Paris until a few minutes before 7pm.

By the time I landed in London I was exhausted. I stood in line for customs and didn't fill out this form that I was supposed to fill out before getting in line because the sign that said to fill it out wasn't very visible. I filled it out and went back in line, got my passport stamped and got my bag. I found Lex and her girlfriend Marisa and we headed for the car. It was so nice to see Lex again. I honestly don't remember the last time I saw her. She thinks that it was right after she got out of boot camp but I had no clue. We talked the entire ride to her house. It was pretty weird in the car because they drive on the other side of the road so I just felt really awkward for some reason. Her car looked so bizarre with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.

We got to Lex's house and two of her friends, Pamela and Richmand (I think her first name is Talia or Tilly or something like that) came over and we started playing beer pong. I had never played before but it's not like it's rocket science. The only thing I had to eat all day was a yogurt in the morning, the snack on the plane, and some candy because all the food at the airport was expensive. I lost the first 2 games so that pretty much sucked because I really do not like the taste of beer. At least is wasn't crappy beer like Keystone...it was Bud Light, which wasn't that much better. I then won the next 3 games. Yeah, I'm a pro. I stopped playing after that and just watched. I don't even know what time I went to bed but the next morning I woke up and it was 11:30am. Marisa didn't get up until after 1 and she made some toast and coffee...I was starving so I really didn't care what she was making, I would have even eaten eggs, that's how hungry I was. She brought out all Lex's movies....she has like a million. Oh, Lex was at work by the way. She's in the Air Force, I probably should have mentioned that. She lives just outside of base which is in Lakenheath, England. I couldn't tell you where it is on a map. Anyways, so we started watching this show called Supernatural with the guy named Dean from Gilmore Girls and this other guy who was like a million times hotter than Dean. Here's 1 of the 3 pictures I took when I was in London. Marisa is on the left, Lex is center and obvs that's me on the right.

The show is about these two brothers, Sam (Dean from Gilmore Girls) and Dean, the hot one. They hunt ghosts and stuff. I know it sounds incredibly lame but I was pretty good. We seriously watched it all day and night when Lex came back and brought Popeye's with her....delish. Before I went to bed I had to watch a happy movie because Supernatural was pretty scary. That's a lie, it really wasn't that scary, I'm just a wimp. The next day we watched some more Supernatural and movies. On Wednesday, after a day of Supernatural, I went to base with Lex and went to the grocery store. They have all American products and food there. It was pretty awesome. I guess they ship in all the food. You even pay for stuff with American money. We made tacos for dinner that night and they were amazing. Lex's friend Vicki and her boyfriend Richard came over for dinner and we watched more Supernatural.

On Thursday, Christmas Eve, we watched more Supernatural. Lex and Marisa left to pick up Marisa's 2 year old son Korey from his dad's because he was spending Christmas with her. Vicki came over and hung out with me, watching Supernatural, drinking a bottle of wine and eating potato chips (yeah, we're classy) while they were gone. We played beer pong that night. I think I only played twice, I really wasn't into it. On Christmas we went to Marisa's parents house and Korey opened his presents there. He's really cute and super British but he's also a pain but he's 2, what else does he have to do? After that we went to Marisa's Grandma's house for Christmas dinner. OH.MY.GOD it was amazing. I seriously ate so much it was insane. They had turkey, beef, brussel sprouts and peas, which I really didn't like, potatoes, and this biscuit called Yorkshire Pudding. It was so good. I called home and was really sad because I miss my family and really wished I was at home with them for Christmas. We stayed at the Grandma's later than I thought we would. When we left we seriously almost died because the roads were icy. It was so scary, at one point I thought we were going to hit this car that was on the shoulder. It was really scary. We made it back to Lex's house in one piece after dropping off Korey with his dad. A bunch of Lex's friends came over and we played more beer pong, what else would we do? Then this weird lesbian tried hitting on me. She kept asking me if I smoked. No lie, she asked me 3 times. I was like no, I'm good and got off the couch. It was bizarre. They all left really late and I started watching a movie but fell asleep.

Saturday, Lex didn't have to work so we seriously watched Supernatural and pigged out all day. I was hoping that we would go into London but I don't think Lex had the money to go. I was pretty bummed because she said we would go and see the city but I understand. I went to bed pretty late and on Sunday we watched a few more episodes of Supernatural and then left for the airport. We left at 1:30 because Lex said it would only take 2 to 2 1/2 hours to get to the airport, so I would be there with a lot of time to spare. We got stuck in so much traffic it was horrible. Lex said that she has never sat in that much traffic while going to the airport. My flight was at 6pm and they stop checking people in at 5:30pm. By the time we got to the airport it was 5:10. I had to pee so bad I ran to the bathroom and then found the line for the counter, which was really long. I figured I would miss my flight and had no idea what to do. Then, this woman asked if any one was on the flight to Paris at 6. I pretty much screamed ME!!! right in her face and she pulled me out of line and checked me in right away. I took my bag to this other guy because I guess it was too big or something....whatever, they don't know what they are talking about. It took me FOREVER to get through security because the British don't know how to put their liquids in a bag. By the time I got through I heard the final boarding call for my flight. I ran like hell to the gate but of course it was really far from security. They made the call that the gate was closing when I got to the gate. They let me on and I seriously couldn't breathe. It was bad.

Some how I ended up in business class so I got some fancy snackies. I was really light headed throughout the entire flight, I have no idea why. We landed in Paris and I went through customs and got my bag. I made it back to the apartment around 10:30 and started washing my clothes because they smelled like smoke. I didn't go to bed last night until 3am. I just could not fall asleep. Mathilde is here. She got up at 7 and woke me up because she was playing music. I was like well gee, thanks Mathilde. She came back at 12 and took a nap. I was still washing clothes and she stopped the machine because she said it was "too loud" I was like well whatevs sleeping beauty. I needed to take a shower but I wasn't sure if it was going to be too loud for her so I didn't. I ran to the store in leggings because it was the only thing I had clean. I got some food for the week and got more minutes for my phone. When I got back I ate some lunch and Mathilde left. She still isn't back so maybe she'll be out for the rest of the night. I hope she is because she was annoying me today.

I seriously only took 3 pictures in London. Here's another one of them. The week pretty much consisted of Supernatural and beer pong...Lex said that I had to come back for one weekend so she could take me to London. I think she felt bad that she had to work all week and we didn't get to go to London because she was working and she didn't have the money. The picture above is me and Lex. My legs look uber skinny. So when I got back to the apartment I walked in to the living room and saw Renee's Christmas tree. It doesn't even look like a tree!!! It's real though, whatever it is. It's about time she put up some Christmas decorations. When I walked into the bathroom I noticed a new toilet paper on the holder thingy....it has Santa's face on it. Yes, Renee has Santa toilet paper. I don't know how comfortable I am wiping with Santa's face on the paper...that's a little weird. I took a square and took a picture of it because I think it's incredibly weird.

Tomorrow I'm going ice skating with Amber. I finally finished all of my laundry and I'm just waiting for all of it to dry. I have shorts on because I had no pants that are dry. My legs are freezing. Over all I did have a fun and relaxing week in London and it was really nice to finally see Lex again.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!

A bientot!

Tomorrow I'll write down all the funny British things I heard during the week....this post is long enough!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!!! This has the potential to be a long post, just warning you now. I guess I'll start with Wednesday because nothing really happened on Tuesday except my friend Katie printed out my e-ticket for me....thanks again! Alright, so Wednesday I had an exam in my cinema class. I was really freaking out about it because I should have done more studying for it than I did the night before. When we got into the class Katie tells me that it's an open note test. How did I not know this? Maybe I was just too busy staring at the professor and didn't even realize that he said we could use our notes. So really, I had no reason to freak out. Even though it was an open note test, it was very long and pretty hard....that's what she said. We had to watch a clip from "Hiroshima Mon Amour," which we watched a few weeks ago. There was 5 questions that corresponded with the clip. We watched the clip 3 times and I took notes. Our professor gave us scratch paper to write on because he wanted out responses to be well thought out and stuff like that. So I took my time writing out my answers. I finished 2 of the harder questions that were about the movie and I looked at my phone and it said that it was 3:33pm....the professor said that the exam was over at 3:45pm. Well fml, I only had 2 of the 7 (there were 2 more questions on the front) questions answered and didn't even start on the quiz that was on the last page. I rushed through the 3rd question for the film and I know I got it wrong, there was no way it was right. The professor gave us 20 more minutes to finish because when he said there was 5 minutes left everyone freaked out. That made me feel a little better because it was taking everyone just as long to finish the exam. I finally finished, after he gave us an extra 10 more minutes, and turned my exam in. We took a break and I went and asked Michel, the professor, if we were going to finish before 6 tonight because I had to make sure I had enough time to change because I was going to see The Nutcracker at 7. He said that I could leave after the presentations. He told us that we wouldn't have class after break so he gave us all a copy of the movie to watch for the following week, which was nice of him.

I headed back to apartment and changed. Renee was still there and she freaked out when she saw me in a dress. I think she thinks the only thing I own is jeans, which is partially true but I like my jeans. She asked what I was wearing underneath, in French of course, and I wasn't sure what she meant. I was like are you asking me if I'm wearing underwear because that's kind of weird....and yes, I was wearing underwear. I then figured out that she was asking if I was going to wear tights because it was really cold out. I told her that the only ones I had were black and didn't think they would look good. She gave me these pair of tights to try on and they ended up being spanks but tights...she bought like 8 packages of the wrong thing. Then she gave me a pair of cream colored tights to try on. Renee is a lot shorted then I am so there was no way the tights were going to fit. I tried them on anyways and the crotch of the tights stopped mid thigh, so needless to say, I wasn't wearing those. I ended up wearing the black tights because I knew that if I didn't wear anything I'd freeze. I thought I looked stupid because they are footless tights and I was wearing high heels, but everyone said it looked fine. Maybe they were lying because I felt like an idiot. At least I was some what warm.

The Nutcracker was AMAZING. I've always wanted to see it but really never had the opportunity to. I was seriously in awe the entire time. It started and I just gasped because the set was so cool. The costumes, especially the rats, Clara, the Nutcracker or the Prince, whatever you want to call him, the sugarplum fairies, everything, was so beautiful. Clara's costume when she dances with the prince and they each do their little solos was so pretty! They had fake snow falling, it was so magical. During the first act, Antonia, who was sitting next to me, fell asleep (how she could fall asleep during the show I have no idea) but she woke up and jumped half way out of her seat when the cannon went off. It was pretty funny. After the first act I was talking to Amber and she said she was really thirsty. I told her she could have a sip of my water that I brought. Before she drank out of it she goes, "you're not homophobic about your water are you?" I just looked at her for a minute and was like no and then started cracking up because I realized that she said homophobic instead of germaphobic. BHAHAHAH!!!!! I laughed for a good 2 minutes. Clara messed up during the second act. She was dancing with the prince and he was pulling her backwards and she stumbled. The entire audiance gasped. When the show ended we clapped for what seemed like 5 hours. They did 2 bows with the same people...why they did this I have no idea. I had no idea that there was going to be a live orchestra. They were really good. I just figured that there was going to be music playing from a CD or something, but the live orchestra in the pit was AWESOME!!!! The conductor of the orchestra was crazy. His arms must be really sore after the show. He was also bald so the light shined off of his head like crazy.

Thursday I woke up around 9ish and looked out my window and IT SNOWED!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAY!!!! I was so happy! I grabbed my camera right away and started taking pictures. There were cars honking outside my window because there was this crazy traffic jam. There really wasn't even that much snow. I don't know why they were all freaking out. But, I guess if it rarely snows here they really don't know how to drive in it. I made a little snowman from the snow on the balcony. The first one fell to his death so I made another one. This one had arms, he was much better than the first. Renee came back for lunch and brought two guys with her, pimps....just kidding. They were there to work on the radiator. I guess it was broken so that's why I've been freezing for the past few weeks. We have heat now. I showed her my snowman and she flipped out. She thought it was the cutest thing ever! She grabbed her camera and dragged me away from my lunch she she could take a picture of me and my snowman so she could show everyone. Great! Her family is going to think I'm a 5 year old or something. I left for class a little early so I could enjoy the snow some and take some pictures.

Literature class was actually interesting...how surprising. I was shocked that our professor graded out exams. I ended up getting a 17/20 which is REALLY good. I have no idea how I pulled that off...but whatevs I was happy with it. That night for dinner Renee made some sort or meat with potatoes. The other night she made this weird ham and endive thing and I really don't like endives. She opened the cover to the pot and goes, I made potatoes because I know you don't like endives. I told her about my grade and she goes, "oh well these are celebratory potatoes for a job well done!" or something like that. I was like, yeah when I get a grade that's lower than 14 we have to eat endives for dinner! She laughed for a good 5 minutes, no lie. She thought it was super funny. You kind of had to be there when I said it because it doesn't sound very funny on here.

Today I had my phonetics test and it was pretty easy. After class I went with Amber to lunch. We walked through the Luxembourg Gardens and even though it was super cold, it was worth it because it was really pretty with all the snow. We went to this little cafe for lunch. They have a student menu and you get a sandwich, a drink and a dessert for 4.50 which is a really good price. I bought a coffee to go with my pain au chocolat. Delish! I went to the Monoprix by the apartment and picked up a gift bag to put Renee's present in. I don't have any tissue paper so it's probably gonna look super dumb. I also bought a little box of chocolates to bring to London.

My plane leaves Sunday around 1:30 so I probably won't post tomorrow because I'll be packing and stuff...you know me, waiting until the last minute to pack! Lex said that she doesn't have the Internet at her house so I wasn't going to bring my computer, but she said that there's a coffee shop on base that has WiFi that I can use. So I think I'll bring it. Hopefully it will fit in my purse so I don't have to bring my backpack. It would be kind of awkward having to carry my purse, backpack and my big backpack with all my clothes in it. So, we shall see. I'll try to update in London, but I really don't know what I'm going to be doing when I am there.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!! en Francais, J'espere que tout le monde a une Joyeux Noel!!!! ....that might not be totally correct. I miss you and love you all!!

A bientot!

Leave the gun, take the cannoli!

Sorry if I've been on a short fuse with anyone these last few days. I've just been in this bad mood for a few days now and I know it must be annoying. I think it's just because it's almost Christmas and I really wish I was at home to spend the holiday with my family and friends. It doesn't even feel like Christmas here. Yes, it's cold (only a high of 32 today), and there are Christmas trees and lights in the streets, but here at the apartment you wouldn't even notice it's almost Christmas. Seriously, the only Christmas decoration that is in the entire apartment is the stocking that has my name on it that is hanging in my room. It's quite depressing. I love Christmas, you have no idea. I love making cookies, and decorating the tree, and just spending time with my family. I'd really like some of my mom's chocolate chip cookies right now and a giant glass of eggnog. I'd also like a huge cannoli....I know that's not very Christmas-y but whatever...Anyways, if I was rude to you, I'm sorry.

It's so cold outside. This morning there was actually frost on the cars and buildings. The grass is still green though, so that's a little weird. There was a chance of snow on Sunday but of course that didn't happen. There is also a chance of snow on Thursday, so we'll see. Here I am thinking it's going to be this giant snow storm and it will probably be like 5 flakes of snow, the Parisians will freak out and I'll be disappointed. In history today we watched this documentary on WWII called "Apocalypse." It was really good. It's a 6 part series and they only used actual footage from the war and then put color in it...if that makes sense. It was made for the French tv channels that all French people get, it reminds me of channels that are run by the government or something...but I guess these aren't or something. Anyways, it was really good. I was hoping we would watch it with subtitles because we had a bunch of questions to answer. We did, but they were in French. It helped but I really didn't catch everything that was said because I was too busy filling out answers or trying to figure out what the subtitles said. I'm thinking about renting it when I get home because the first part was really good.

This week is pretty crazy. I have a test in my cinema class on Wednesday, that same night I'm going to see The Nutcracker at this opera in Paris, and Friday I have a test in my phonetics class. Oh, and Sunday I'm leaving for LONDON!!!!

I'm not feeling very well...my stomach hurts. I think it was something Renee made me for lunch :( ....she's trying to poison me

a bientot

Nocturnes de Louvre!!!

Last night was the Nocturnes de Louvre. I was pretty nervous because I really didn't practice my speech and my partner Katie and I have never practiced it together. That was probably a bad decision on our part but we figured everything would be fine. I got to the Louvre around 5:30 and around 6 we took a group picture. I hope I a can get a hold of it some how. Everyone then left to go to their rooms where their paintings were located. Me, Katie and a few other people made the long trek up to the 2nd floor, which is really the 4th floor. I don't know how they consider that the 2nd floor...it's like 5 flights of stairs up. Anyways, so me and Katie got to our painting and there were a few people sitting at this little bench that is in front of it. We really weren't sure what to do so we just stood there looking at these people. They left thank god, because I really wasn't ready to start at that moment. Our painting is in this big room but it's a part of the room that is divided so a lot of people just walked by to get to the other side of the room. The first people we gave our presentation to was an older French couple. They were so nice. I think they could tell that we were nervous but they just listened and answered our questions when they asked them, which was nice. Katie and I decided that we would basically tag team our presentation. If someone needed help the other would help. It actually worked out really well. Katie had a better introduction than I did, so she usually started and I followed and she usually ended. It seemed like she talked a lot more than me a first but I think that's because I was super nervous and incredibly self conscious about my French.

There was a while where we didn't have anyone come by us so that got a little bit boring. Our art professor came over when we were giving a presentation and started taking pictures of us. It was pretty weird. When she came back they were gone and we wanted to take a picture with her and our painting. I moved closer to Katie and our professor and in the process hit the frame of the painting. I was like OH MY GOD!!!!! I'm going to get kicked out of the Louvre!!! Luckily, the guard guy wasn't there so he didn't see it. Katie's phonetics professor came to listen to us and our history professor came to. It was really nice to see the other professors at the Catho come out and show their support. We did the presentation a few times in English. I had never practiced it in English and I probably should of because I had no idea what to say. Everything that I said in English sounded so much better in French. There was this group of 3 people and after our presentation in French one of the guys says to me, "I know you from somewhere, I just don't know where. Your face looks so familiar." I was like ummm, thanks but I've never seen you before. I was like are you trying to hit on me in the Louvre?!?!?! It was bizarre.

Over all it was a lot of fun and I was really sad when it was over, even though it was a really long night. The security guards herded us out of the rooms like cattle. They had their arms stretched out and everything. That was strange. Katie wanted one more picture of the painting and they were just staring at her like, come on girl it's time to leave! I wish we would have been able to present last week because it really was a lot of fun. I'm really glad that I did it.

Today I went to the mall with Amber. We went to McDonalds for lunch and seriously it was so packed. I regret going there because now I have a stomach ache from the food. I honestly can't remember the last time I had McDonalds. We went into some stores and looked around. I was starting to get really annoyed because the French don't know how to walk in a mall. It was so annoying. They would just stop in the middle of the walk way. Like, HELLO....what are you doing? It also could have been because it's pretty close to Christmas and people are probably trying to get their last minute shopping done. I wanted to get Renee something for Christmas so I went to this store called l'Occitane. It reminded me of a Bath and Body Works but more expensive and with nicer products. She has a bunch of soaps from there so I figured she'd like something from there. I got this little gift box that has soap, lotion, and something else that has Shea butter in it. It's cute. It was 14.50, which I guess is an okay price, but it was a little more than I wanted to spend. But, oh well. She is letting me live with her for the year so it's the least I could do.

It's supposed to be really cold this week. I read yesterday that there's supposed to be a chance of snow tomorrow but now it looks like it isn't going to snow at all. :( I just want it to snow once so I can at least see some snow this year. Maybe there will be snow in London. I have a lot of homework to do so that's probably what I'll be doing tomorrow....fun stuff.

A bientot

I'm too fat for France...

Sorry it's been a few days since I updated last. Nothing really exciting happened on Tuesday or Wednesday. We finally got our tests back in my art class. I got a 14/20 which is good I guess. As we were going over the answers to the test, the professor made a comment that no one got the right answer to this one question. It was one of the questions that had a bunch of weird vocab in it and weird verb tenses. I wanted to say, "well maybe if you used words that were a little simpler so everyone could understand them we could have the chance at actually understanding the question and could possibly get it right." But, of course, I didn't say it because I don't know how she would have reacted if I said that. Wednesday in my cinema class we watched "A Bout de Souffle" which is "Breathless" in English. It was really, really good. I think I'm going to buy it. We have a test next week....barf; but it should be alright.

Today was really exhausting. I was up at 7:20 because my convocation for my carte sejour was at 9:30. I ate a quick breakfast and headed out the door. It was close to a 40 minute metro ride from my metro stop to the stop that is closest to the building that this place is at. I got out of the metro and found the right road that I needed. However, I wasn't sure what direction I was supposed to go so I just started walking. When the numbers kept getting bigger I realized I was going the wrong way. I was at 115 and I needed 48, so I turned around. I'm not very good with directions. I made saw this building that said 47, 49, and 50 so I just figured that it was the one I needed. It wasn't. I asked this woman for directions and I finally found it. A few people told me to make sure I was early because there are always a bunch of people there. It was 9:20 when I got there. I showed this woman at this desk my paper and she told me where to go. Once I got to the 2nd floor I wasn't sure what to do so I sat there for a while until I realized that I had to give the woman at the desk my letter to show them that I was here for my convocation....it only took me 10 minutes to figure that out. I sat down and waited for them to call my name. Antonia, Laura and Emilia showed up. I was glad to see them because I really didn't like being there by myself.

They called my name and I gave them all my papers and they sent me to this other room to wait some more for the doctor. Antonia, Laura, and Emilia showed up shortly after and we started studying for our literature test that was today. I got called into this room where they weighed me, took my height and gave me an eye test. I did really bad with my left eye and the French woman goes, that is not good at all. I was like great, I'm going to deported because I can't see out of my left eye! Then she made me read this paper to her using my left eye. I could do it so I don't know what her problem was. Then she asked me a question and I didn't understand. It sounded like she was asking if I had a social security card. I was like yeah, but not here. Then she switched to horrible English and was like, 'you don't have insurance?!?!?!?!' I told her I was confused and told her that I did. She goes, 'you're not pregnant are you?' and gives me this judging face. I looked at her and was no, I'm sure. Next I stood in this hall way waiting for one of three doors to open. Like 2 people cut in front of me and this other woman but I didn't say anything. This other French woman tells me to go into the room, lock the door and remove all of my clothes from the waist up for my x-ray. Dr. Costello told us that we wouldn't need them, but I guess he lied. I think they are checking for Tuberculosis. If I had TB wouldn't I have killed like half the population or be dead by now? so I really didn't see why it was necessary.

So I get into this little room and get undressed. I assumed the doctor would knock on the other door asking if I was ready but he didn't. Yeah, that's right, HE. So there I was just standing there half naked and this French Indian guy opens the door and just looks at me. I was like oh. my. god. I tried covering myself up so I could be some what of a decent lady, but by the time I got to the x-ray machine I was just like well eff this and just dropped my arms. They took the x-ray and I went back to get dressed. It was pretty humiliating. The doctor called me into this room to take my blood pressure and to look at my x-ray. She said that everything was good. Then, she looked at my chart they filled out when they weighed me, and she goes, "you're a little overweight" translation: you're too fat for this country. She's like you need to lose 10kg, which is 22 pounds...nbd. Then she goes, just lay off the pastries and bread. I just looked at her and laughed....seriously laughed out loud. I wanted to be like, listen doc, I've already lost 16 pounds here. You want me to lose another 22 pounds? I'll be a twig. She's like, other than your weight, you're healthy. I was like well, thanks. She gave me my x-ray to keep and sent me to this other woman who put my carte sejour in my passport. So I'm officially allowed to stay in France now. That is until they come looking for me to see if I've lost the 22 pounds they told me to lose.

I went to this vintage store afterwards and they were selling Converse for 80 Euros. I guess they were originals or something....actually made in America and not China. Whatevs, I still wouldn't buy them for 80 Euros, I don't care if they are originals. I headed to school and started studying with Antonia for our literature test. The test wasn't that bad. Renee came back a little bit ago and told me I'd be here alone tonight because she's meeting her friends. So here I am eating soup and rice....again. I'm pretty sick of it. I wish I could cook.

Nocturnes de Louvre tomorrow!!!

A bientot!

oh side note......ummm GLEE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH......I don't want to wait for American Idol to be over so I can watch the next episode!

I should invest in a shower mat

God, I'm in pain! Not only from my excursion to Versailles but this morning I fell in the shower. I'm such an idiot! I blame it on the music. Sometimes I like to bring my computer into the bathroom so I can listen to music when I take a shower....I know that's a little weird but whatever. So today I was listening to The Lite and it's super early back home so there are like no commercials. Well I was almost done with my shower when "All I want for Christmas is You" came on by Mariah Carey. I obviously love that song so I got really excited it was on and just started singing really loud. Sometimes I wonder if I'm too loud...I always hear our neighbors yelling, I wonder if they hear my horrible singing? Anyways, the song was almost over and I don't even know how it happened but I was backing up and the next thing I knew I was sitting in the tub. I swear I did like some fancy pirouette as I was falling. I'm just glad that I didn't grab the shower curtain because I really didn't want to explain to Renee how and I fell and how I broke the shower curtain. I'm such an idiot!

Class was alright today. I did pretty good on my essay...14/20 and 14.5/20 pretty decent I guess. I'd like a 15 but I'll take a 14. I really don't know if I have any final exams which is really weird. If I do they won't be until after Christmas break, which really sucks but there's really nothing I can do about it.

Speaking of Christmas break.....I'M GOING TO LONDON!!!!!!!!!! Last night Lex finally messaged me back and said that it was totally cool if I came during break. I was kind of annoyed that it took forever to get a response but she said that her internet was out so I understand. So I'm leaving the 20th of December and staying until the 27th. I'm so excited. I guess on Christmas we're going to her girlfriends grandma's house (who is British) for a traditional English Christmas meal.....yummmm!!!! And then we'll visit London of course. She lives on a military base outside of London because she's in the air force. So yea, I'm like super excited. I told Renee tonight and I felt bad because I already told her that I'd be here for Christmas because I hadn't heard back from Lex. But I think on Saturday I'm going to go to the mall and get Renee something nice for Christmas...it's the least I can do. She is letting me live with her for a year.

a bientot

Chuck, Sam and Versailles

Yesterday I headed to Versailles to visit Chuck and Sam. We all go to U of I and they are studying in Versailles for the year. We've all been living in the same country since September and this is the first time I've seen them...it's kinda sad. Sam met me at the train station and then we went into McDonald's to meet Chuck. I guess McDonald's and Starbucks is where they hang out because they can use the wifi there for free as long as they get something there to eat or drink. I guess it's the local hang out. It's pretty funny. So I walked in and found Chuck sitting in a booth with his computer ordering socks. I guess all of his have holes in them so he was ordering a bunch off the internet. It was so bizarre! I've missed Chuck so much. We left McDonald's and went to Sam's apartment to drop his stuff off. He has a pretty small apartment and has a roommate who also goes to U of I. I met Chuck and Sam's friend named James. We had lunch at this Kabob place and I'm pretty sure either I or Chuck got our meals for free. They guy at the register wasn't very good with change.

After lunch they took me to the studio at their school. I guess this is where they do their architecture stuff. Their school used to be the horse stables at Versailles which is pretty sweet. There is a really nice view of Versailles out of the windows of the studio. We left and then decided to go to the gardens in Versailles. I really wasn't sure how we were going to get in because you usually have to pay to get into the gardens. Well, we didn't. We walked around the outside of Versailles through the town and ended up at this door that lead into the gardens. There wasn't even a guard there. The door was just wide open. So we snuck into the gardens. I'm a rebel now...no big deal. We walked all over the gardens. There really weren't that many people there because I don't think people realize how far the gardens go. We went into the peasant village that Marie Antoinette had built for her when she was living at Versailles because one day she decided she wanted to live like a peasant. It's really cute. There are a bunch of animals too. It's like a farm. The first picture is of Marie Antoinette's peasant village. The picture below that is of Chuck and some sheep. I really don't even know why theses sheep were there.

There was this pen that was full of bunnies and they were really funny. We watched them for a while. We also walked through the grand and petit trianons....for free of course, we just showed our student IDs and they let us in. We must have walked like 3 miles walking through the gardens. We got to the end of the gardens and there was this huge fountain. The fountain was shooting the water into the air so hard that the mist was reaching us and we were really far away. The gate that you needed to walk through to get to the fountain was close so Chuck and Sam decided that we were just going to jump off this wall in order to get out of the gardens. Chuck asked Sam how far down it was and Sam goes, "oh, it's only like 5 feet." He so lied! It was much higher than 5 feet...the wall was taller then me. Sam just jumps off and then Chuck went and I'm like oh god, I'm gonna die. I didn't want to sit at the top of this wall any more so I just jumped. Luckily, when I landed, Chuck caught me so I wouldn't fall in the mud...what a gentleman. We walked from the fountain, which is at the very bottom of the gardens, all the way up to the chateau. I was so exhausted when we got up to the top of the hill.

We dropped Chuck off at the studio and Sam walked with me to the train station. It was around 5 when I got back to the train. They felt bad that I couldn't stay longer but they have a big project due this week for school so I understood completely. It was a 40 minute train ride back to Paris. When I got back to the apartment Renee and Caroline were getting ready to leave to drop Caroline off at the train station so she could go home. She came into my room and apologized for eating my noodles. It was so cute. Before she left, she came back and in English, she told me that she'd see me at Christmas. She speaks English pretty well...better than Renee. I watched tv with Renee for a while and then called it a night because I was so exhausted.

Today I'm really feeling all that walking we did....I'm so sore. I have school tomorrow. Barf.

A bientot

Thanks Louvre!

Tonight was the Nocturnes de Louvre that I was really looking forward too and not to mention, my partner Katie and I worked really hard on learning about our painting. However, we did not get to present our painting.....grrrr!!!!!! Yesterday, the workers at the Louvre, and other National Museums and monuments like Musee d'Orsay and the Arc de Triomphe went on strike. The workers at the Centre Pompidou, the modern art museum, have been on strike for 2 weeks. I really don't understand why they are even on strike. I know it has something to do with retirement but it really just seems like they are being babies about the whole thing. I can understand if the metro or RER goes on strike, or the garbage collectors, but the Louvre?!?! seriously....their job is not that rough. They sit in chairs and look at beautiful paintings and tell people not to use the flash on their camera. The whole situation is just really annoying.

So yesterday afternoon I found out about the strike from Katie. I really didn't believe her because I didn't think it was possible for the museum to go on strike. I kept imagining that it was the paintings going on strike...I know that sounds crazy, but I kind of like to think that at night when everyone leaves the paintings come alive like they do in Harry Potter and talk to each other in British accents of course! Anyways, so when I got back to the apartment after class I got an email from my art professor saying that she wasn't exactly sure what was going on. Her email wasn't very helpful. So last night I had no idea if the Nocturnes was going to go on tonight or not.

Today I went to class and assumed that the professor would send us an email letting us know what's going on. Well, it kept getting later and later and still no email. I talked to a few people doing the Nocturnes and they said that we were still meeting. So I got ready and left. When I got there we all hung out under the glass pyramid and basically waited for the Louvre to make up its mind. Our professor said that we would know for sure what salons (rooms) were open at 6. So we all waited. A few minutes after six we found out. It turned out that the salon where our painting is located was closed. They really only had the most popular wings open. For example, the Denon, the wing that the Mona Lisa is, was obviously open because it's like the most popular painting there. Our painting is in a wing that was open, however the floor wasn't open. It was really frustrating. Some people from our group did get to present.

Katie and I went to the wing that our painting is in and went to see how far they would let us go upstairs. We got to the last flight of the stairs and it was all roped off and the door was closed. We took some pictures...it was just so funny that the Louvre was on strike...seriously only the French would do that. We wandered around the Louvre and listened to some presentations from the people in our group and one from this French girl. Her presentation was really good. She made me feel completely incompetent. We left the Louvre and I headed back to the apartment. When I got back, Caroline, Renee's daughter was here. Jean-Francois was here earlier setting up Renee's new tv, but he left. I went into the kitchen and Caroline ate my noodles that I made yesterday. I was kind of pissed because there were like a TON of noodles left and she ate them all. So I just made something that my parents sent me. I had a hard time figuring out the conversions but it turned out alright.

Tomorrow I'm going to Versailles to finally visit Chuck and Sam. We've only been living in the same country for 3 months and I have yet to see them! So that should be a lot of fun.

a bientot

You're the rudest French person I've ever met!!

So yesterday was awesome, just gonna say it right now. I had class, which was boring. I'm tired of school and it's not even close to being over. We had a meeting right after class for the Nocturnes de Louvre. I'm pretty nervous. I think the thing that I'm most worried about is sounding stupid and being awkward. I just hope that the people that come to listen to us are understanding and realize that French is not my first language. After class I went with my friend Katie back to her dorm. She lives really close to the edge of the city. I think if you go out two blocks you're considered outside of Paris. I got to ride the tram for the first time. It is really sweet. It's really quiet and looks like a bullet. And, it's electric and runs above ground so you actually get to see things instead of complete darkness when you're on the metro. We got off the tram and headed to her dorm.

It's a really nice dorm. She has her own room and it's pretty big. I guess the only thing that's bad about it is it's pretty far from school which sucks. Also, it's right on the RER B line and the RER is always on strike so it's harder for the kids living in the dorm to get to school I guess. So we hung out in her room and talked for awhile. We met 2 of her friends in the lobby and headed for dinner around 7ish. I think her friends names were Becca and Kate...I have a problem with names. So we went to one of the student cafeterias that are really inexpensive. It's 2.90 Euro for a huge meal. They had rice, green beans, and your choice of some type of sausage or chicken, which turned out to be veal. I asked for the rice, green beans, and sausage. I told the man that I wanted the saussision which is sausage in French. He looked at me and goes, 'ce n'est pas saussision!' (it's not sausage) and he was really rude about it. I was like well it looks like sausage and smells like sausage so just give it to me. Over all, the meal wasn't that bad. It was a little cold but it was pretty good. We sat at a table that had 3 French guys at it who were all talking. We started talking amongst ourselves, in English, and one of the French guys goes, 'I hate when foreign students don't speak French!!' He was really annoyed. And then he kept saying 'les filles, les filles americaines' which is the girls, the girls, the American girls. We stopped talking and looked up. I don't think they knew that we knew what they were saying. It was just really rude of them to be talking about us. I don't understand why I should be "required" to speak French with my friends when we all speak English. When we aren't in class I like to have a simple conversation with them in English. It was just really annoying. Katie asked one of the guys to pass the water (in French) and I think it was then that they realized that we knew what they were saying.

After the rude boys left, we left and jumped on the RER to go to the movie theatre. When we were waiting at the next station for the RER C, 2 more of Katie's friends joined us. I don't remember their names but they were really nice...all of them were really nice. We got off the RER and walked to the movie theatre. The theatre is so awesome. The tickets are always 3.90 Euro, every Monday and Tuesday which is so sweet. We saw New Moon. They hadn't seen it yet and I wanted to see it again anyways so I didn't mind at all. The movie ended and after having some difficulties in the metro....we can't follow the directions on the signs, we finally got to the right station and then parted ways. I got back at midnight and tried to be as quiet as possible because Renee was sleeping.

Today was alright. I did really bad on my cinema exam....10.50/20 that's embarrassing. The professor is letting us do extra credit though so hopefully that will help my grade out. However, on the quiz today I got a 9/10 which is amazing. I would have gotten 10/10 but I spelled something wrong. We watched "Les 400 Coups" today. It was pretty good. I really didn't understand the ending but I'm sure if I watched it again I'd understand it a lot better. I have literature class tomorrow....barf.

A bientot

Did you find that in your attic?

Today was pretty boring. I had to get up earlier than I normally would on a Monday because I had a meeting with this phonetics professor to help me with my pronunciation and grammar for the Nocturnes de Louvre this Friday. She told me last week that I should try to memorize my speech, but obviously I didn't do that. The only thing I knew by heart were the dates. I think she was kind of annoyed because she kept telling me to stop looking at my paper. I stopped looking at it and just started talking. That seemed to make her happy but she also started writing down all of my mistakes. When I finished she told me that it was a lot better than last time...which is good I guess. Then she told me everything that was wrong with my speech. Every mistake that I made when I stopped looking at my paper was correct on my paper. If I just would have looked at it she wouldn't of had to write all that stuff down. We ended our meeting and she wished me good luck, I'll probably need it knowing me.

I went to the cafeteria and spent way too much on their overpriced sandwiches. I could have gone to the Huit a Huit but I didn't feel like walking all the way to the store. I ate and then started walked to L'eglise Saint-Germain-des-Pres. It's the oldest church in Paris. It wasn't that long of a walk. I passed all of these fancy stores like Cartier, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and wished I could walk into those stores. Oh, and I also passed Les Deux Magots which is this really famous cafe. I've been wondering where it's been the entire time I've been here and turns out it's like a 10 min. walk from school. The church was cool I guess...it's a church and it's really old. After a while they all start to look the same. I left and started heading for le Musee National du Moyen Age, Musee Cluny....it's a middle ages museum if you didn't get that, for my history class.

We had a tour guide. She was cool and the tour was a lot better than our last class that we had at Les Invalides. I'm really not into the Middle Ages stuff so I was spacing out the entire time. I swear she talked about a table that was painted for like 15 minutes. I was like okay, big deal, it's hand painted, there are a bunch of snakes on it....who cares. I swear, some of the stuff looked like people just pulled it out of their attic and said, 'hey, this looks old. Let's give it to the museum.' There were these cool heads (not real heads) made out of stone that used to be on Notre Dame above the 3 arches. They were cool looking. When the tour ended some people were looking at the Asterix exhibit that they had there. Asterix is this really only cartoon and it's pretty popular here. I'm not a comic book fan so I left with this guy named Jason. We walked to the metro and then I headed back to the apartment.

When Renee came home she asked why I wasn't here this afternoon for lunch and I told her that I had a meeting. I was going to tell her last night when I got back from dinner which was AMAZING!!!!!! but she was already asleep....it was only 9:30, so I didn't get to tell her. I told her I was sorry but she said it was okay. She made me dinner and now she's asleep...it's only 9. I swear she's going to bed earlier and earlier every night. I think she's avoiding me. Oh well. I should go, this is long enough.

A bientot

Oh and Lex, if you're reading this will you PLEASE get in touch with me....I'd really like to come visit you in a few weeks and I need to know if my dates are okay.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

This weekend I thought I'd get into the Christmas spirit because I was just really down about missing out on Thanksgiving at home. So on Friday my friend Katie and I went to check out the Christmas lights on the Champs-Elysees. I was just expecting there to be lights in the trees but man was I wrong. Yes, there were lights in the trees but there was so much more! When I got out of the metro there was this little roller coaster that was a sled and this machine that was blowing out fake snow. It was really cute. I wanted to ride on it but then I was like no, you're 21 years old now, you're not a little kid. Plus, I don't think I would have fit on the ride.

We walked down to Place de la Concorde and there was this giant ferris wheel. It reminded me of the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. The things you sit in were enclosed and were really big so you could fit your family or group in it. It was so pretty. It was all lit up and looked down the Champs-Eylsees. The view from the top must have been amazing. We really wanted to go on it but it was 10 euros a ticket and I only had 5, so we're going to go back and go on it before the season is over. We then walked up the other side of the Champs-Elysees. There were little vendors selling food, and gifts....cute stuff like that. The food they were selling smelled so good. There was this one stand where they were selling ham, like a huge ham. It was sweet. There was also this one stall where it was 2 Euro to go in and I guess it was a Nativity scene. There was this giant ox/bull thing outside of it. Everyone was crowding around it. It's like they've never been to a fair or something. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and hung out there for a little while. After that we walked back down the other side of the Champs-Elysees. The lights in the trees were so pretty. They are LED lights that I guess cut back on the electricity they are using to power them. So, way to be green Paris....props. There were a lot of people walking up and down the Champs. Even though there were so many people and they were walking really slow, everyone just seemed to be in a really good mood, which was nice. Overall, I really enjoyed the night. It was amazing and I'm so glad we went. I can't wait to go back and ride on the ferris wheel.

Yesterday Renee and I were supposed to go to see a movie but when she came back from shopping she said that she had a really bad headache and didn't want to go anymore. Oh, she bought a 32 inch flat screen tv. I walked into the living room and saw it in the box and was like OH. MY. GOD. this would be so awesome to watch football and hockey on!!! But then I was like oh yeah, they like soccer here...ugh! She gave me her discount card to use for the movies. I asked a few people if they wanted to go see New Moon again but they were busy. So I watched a movie instead. I really didn't want to go to the movies by myself...that's kinda lame. Tonight we're having group dinner at this Mexican restaurant. I really hope it's good because I've been craving some Chipolte. But, it is Mexican food in Paris so I'm really not expecting it to be amazing. We shall see. Friday is Nocturnes de Louvre so I'll be getting ready for that all week...should be fun

A bientot

Joyeux Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! I hope you day is full of good food and spending time with your family and friends. Today I was a little sad because I really do love Thanksgiving and spending time with my family. When I woke up this morning it didn't even feel like Thanksgiving. Last year, and every year at Thanksgiving, I'm so excited when I wake up because I watch the parade, my dad makes breakfast, and the I help my mom with the cooking. Today, I woke up and it was just another day in Paris. It was really weird getting on the metro and people were just like well, one more day until Friday.

The pumpkin pie at the dorm was actually really good. I asked Dr. Costello if he made it himself and he laughed and said no. He bought it from this store that is run by an American in Paris and he sells a bunch of Thanksgiving things. He said that it is a very expensive store because everything is imported. He didn't tell us how much the pies were, but I can just imagine how expensive they were. He had pumpkin and pecan. I'm not a pecan fan so I stuck to pumpkin. It wasn't like my mom's pumpkin pie, but it was pretty good. It was just nice having a little piece of Thanksgiving in Paris and it brightened my day a little bit.

School was school so I won't even bother talking about it. Except, I did get my test back and I get a 14.75/20. Renee said that it's an average grade so I'm pretty happy with that. When I got back to the apartment, the man who works in the office stopped be and handed me a huge box from my parents. I thanked him and ran upstairs to open it. My parents sent TONS of food. I got rice, mac n cheese, the fancy mac n cheese with velveeta, cookies, my favorite trail mix, oatmeal, rice-a-roni, some pasta things, dried cranberries, a new memory card for my camera, a movie, nutty bars, and a new hat that my mom made me. Plus there were pictures in there that Maddie made me. The box made me really happy.

I called home and talked to my dad, and Nick, who flew in from Vermont for Thanksgiving, and Steve. My dad and Nick were drinking beer and making breakfast....typical. I asked Steve if he was having a beer and he said of course....he's 12. I then called my mom who's at my aunts house helping her get ready for today. I talked to everyone there. It was nice to get to talk to everyone, but I just got really sad because I'd like nothing more than to be sitting at the table with my family enjoying Thanksgiving.

Again, happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Have some turkey and pie for me!!!!

A bientot

I saved a life today....nbd!

I finally got around to watching Modern Family. I only watched the first episode but it was so funny. I really liked it. So now I have 8 more episodes to watch in order to catch up. Renee made lunch today since she didn't make dinner last night. It was pasta (she said she felt bad because all I ever eat when she doesn't cook is pasta) with fruits de mer (sea food) mixture. There were little shrimps, clams, and muscles. It was pretty good. After I ate I left for school. We watched "Hiroshima Mon Amour" today. I was alright. It was a very complicated movie but was also very pretty. If you turned off the sound and just watched it you'd be amazed. It really had nothing to do with Hiroshima, which kind of threw me off. I was really confusing too. Before the movie started, Michel (the professor) was talking and then he goes "un moment, un striptease" (one minute, a striptease) and takes off his sweater. Of course all the girls in the class start laughing and then stare, myself included. He's so funny. After the movie ended we had a break and then answered questions and discussed the movie.

There's this Latino girl in the class and she is always answering the questions. Sometimes I just want to be like can you please not say anything for like 10 minuets and give the rest of us a chance to say something? Sometimes I think the professor purposefully ignores her to give the other students to answer the questions. I tried to participate more today. I asked a question and apparently hit some major theme of the movie (go me) but then when I tried to answer another question, the Latin girl started talking over me. She finished and then the professor asked me to finish and I just lost my train of thought and made something up that had nothing to do with what we were talking about...so I felt stupid. There's this older woman in the class and I think she has a huge crush on Michel. Usually during the break she goes and grabs a coffee from the cafe that's right down the road because we usually have a 20 minute break. Well, today I was sitting in the class waiting for break to end and she walked in with 2 coffees and set one of them on Michel's desk. He asked how much he owed her and she said no, it was alright she got it. And then proceeded to flirt with him. I was like come on lady....clearly Michel isn't into you because I think he might be gay. Anyways, she's probably in her mid to upper 40's which isn't that old but she's at least 20 or more years older than everyone else in the class. She likes to just start talking randomly too, which is weird. A lot of people raise their hands, but not her. Also, her French isn't that good. And she has a really weird French accent. I guess I really shouldn't say anything because mine isn't that great either, but hers is like uber American.

Class ended and I made my way back to the metro. I was walking to the Monoprix to pick up some food for when Renee isn't here to cook for me because I seriously have nothing to eat. As I was walking there was this woman pushing a stroller and a little boy, probably around 3 years old, walking along side her. She was talking to her friend and the little boy was holding onto this little ball. He dropped it and it started rolling into the street. He chased after it and there were cars coming. I grabbed his arm before he made it to the street and he mom grabbed his other arm. I was so afraid that he was going to run out into the street. I picked up his ball and his mom thanked me about a million times. I think I really scared the boy when I grabbed him because he started crying. But hey, at least he wasn't dead.

I got to the store and really had no idea what to get. I wanted to get some new things instead of eating the same stuff all the time but the store really didn't have that much of a selection for some reason. So I stuck with what I usually get....pasta, pizza, popcorn, yogurt....the usual. I really wasn't in a very good mood in the store. I guess I'm so used to seeing all the Thanksgiving things out in the stores back home and there was nothing like that here obviously because the French don't celebrate. Also, everyone in the store seemed to be in a foul mood.

I made a pizza for dinner and it wasn't very good. I miss Olando's pizza. Tomorrow I'm going to go to the dorm for some pumpkin pie before class. I hope it's good. I've never seen pumpkin pie filling, let alone pumpkins in any of the stores so I don't know how they are going to make it. I don't even know who is making it....maybe Dr. Costello?? I'll let you know how it is tomorrow.

A bientot

Memories....

My art test today was A LOT harder than I thought it was going to be. I didn't sleep well last night again because my head felt like it was going to implode, that and I can only breathe out of one nostril. I planned on studying this morning but by the time I started studying it was already 12, I ate and only ended up studying for 40ish minuets today. But, I did study a lot last night so I figured I'd be fine. I headed to class and got there early so I could study. Obviously, I started talking to my friends so I didn't study. We started the test right away when the professor got to the classroom. Someone asked how much time we had and she said that we had as long as we needed. I was glad because there were 13 paintings to identify and multiple questions that went along with each painting. I recognized a lot of the paintings and the artists but when it came to writing the titles on the paper I blanked. I knew some of the complete titles but on others I just knew parts. I really didn't like the way the questions were wordered either. You would think that in a class where the majority of the students speak English, the questions would not be filled with crazy words that no one knows or multiple inversions. It really wasn't necessary. Before we even started the professor was like, "okay, when I say this word I mean this..." couldn't she have used the simpler word for what she was implying? So many people were asking questions because they didn't understand the question because of the vocabulary. I think the professor was getting a little annoyed.

I went up to the professor to ask her a question because I didn't understand the words she used. She goes, "Well, I've already explained this question to the class" and I just wanted to be like, well, excuse me if that was over an hour ago and I wasn't on that question yet. I didn't want to move to that question and lose my train of thought for the question that I was on. She did eventually tell me what she meant but I was pretty angry at her. I turned around, rolled my eyes, and walked back to my seat. We had been taking the test for about an hour and a half and the professor goes, "okay, it's time to finish up." I was like, ummm didn't you say that we had as much time as we needed? I guess she really didn't mean that. So I felt really rushed in the last section of the test. I really didn't study that section this morning or last night so I knew I was pretty much screwed. I tried answering the questions and fast as I could and handed in my test. I hope that I did well because there is only 1 other test and that's it. We get a participation grade, and while I do participate a lot, I'm just worried that it won't be enough if my test grades are not that great.

Renee usually makes dinner on Tuesdays. When 7:30 rolled around and she wasn't back yet I wondered were she was. I didn't have any of my own food to eat here, besides mac n cheese, but I'm saving that for when I'm really desperate for something from home, so I had nothing to eat. I gave her until 8. When she didn't show up I just made some noodles for myself. I checked my phone and she sent me a text message about 3 hours ago telling me that she was going out with her friend and wouldn't be back for dinner. If I would have seen it earlier I could have stopped at the store and grabbed something, but it was a little late now. She's making me lunch tomorrow because she won't be here tomorrow night because of her swimming class thing. It's almost 11pm and she still isn't back. Poor Norton, he probably has to pee so bad!

I got a card and a letter in the mail today from Bonnie, my Nana's neighbor. It was really sweet and made me miss home. Tonight, as I was listening to the Lite, all the songs that came on just reminded me of home. For example, Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" came on, and of course, I love that song. Every time I would hear it at home last year on break I would start dancing no matter where I was in the house. I did the same thing here in my room but it just wasn't the same. Some songs my dad likes to change the lyrics to so every time I heard those songs it makes me think of that. My mom really likes the "Christmas Shoes" song and every time she hears it she cries like baby....so do I. Although I haven't heard it yet, I just know it will make me think of her. I really hope that this holiday season isn't very hard on me. I just really wish I was home for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Those are my two favorite holidays. I wish I could sit on the couch and watch 25 days of Christmas on ABC Family like I do every year. Last year I even printed out the schedule so I would know what was going to be on each night...I'm a dork, I know. I hope every is enjoying their time off (if you go to U of I that is). Enjoy your time with your family, no matter how annoying they get this holiday season!

I'm tired, I should get to bed. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep better tonight.

A bientot

JE SUIS JESUS!!!

Sorry, I know I haven't updated, and no, I haven't watched Modern Family....tomorrow, I promise :) I think I've come down with a sinus infection and a nasty cough. I had the same thing last year at this time, and I swear the cough lasted for months. I'm pretty sure my family and Casey were pretty sick of me. My head feels like it's going to implode, seriously. It sucks. I had a really hard time falling asleep last night because of it.

Today in history, we talked about Christianity. Now, I'm not very religious, never really have been, so I don't know much when it comes to the story of Jesus and how Christianity came about. I do know that it was a forbidden religion and many people were killed for being Christian, but really that and some of the more obvious facts about Jesus and stuff is really all I know. My mom is always like, well if you went to church you would know more...but I really don't want to do that. It's really not my thing...anyways, I don't want to get into a religious debate. So I was pretty lost in class today. I didn't seem to be the only one either, thank god.

The professor handed us this huge packet and we were split up into groups to read different sections and answer questions. I was in the group that had to explain the orgins of Christianity....great, just the group I needed to be in. I could have switched to a different group but 1) I didn't feel like moving, and 2) I sit next to this sweet girl named Timone (I think that's how it's spelled) and she's a nun. Props to me for sitting next to the nun. Clearly she knows a lot about Jesus and stuff so that was my main reason for not moving. We read the pages and I kind of understood it. It kept talking about Paul. I had no idea who he was. Apparently, he took this long journey or something like that and told people about Christianity. I asked Timone a question and she seriously gave me a 5 minute response. It was awesome. She's Vietnamese and she's super quiet. She's so adorable! So I really didn't answer any of the professor's questions today about Jesus because I didn't want to make a fool of myself.

The professor gave the groups different paintings of Jesus and told us to interpret them. My group's painting was actually a mosaic. Jesus' beard looked like it was made of grapes. We had to come up with a name for the painting and I shouted "JE SUIS JESUS!!!!" (I AM JESUS) and Katie (my partner for Nocturnes de Louvre) starts cracking up. It was pretty funny. We got out of class early today. Next week we're going to the Middle Ages museum. They have this Roman bath thing outside. It's really cool.

This afternoon before class I had a meeting with a phonetics professor so she could help me with my presentation for Nocturnes de Louvre. She said I did really well. She then proceeded to tear apart (not literally) my entire speech. It is covered in red ink. I was like well, gee, thanks lady, I officially suck at French. But then she kept reassuring me that it was fine. It didn't seem fine considering there was red ink all over my paper.

I got some new medicine from the pharmacy today. One is a cough syrup that tastes horrible and the other is a vaporizer. You put it in some hot water and then put a towel over your head and like stick your face over it. It smells exactly like Vics Vapor Rub. I wish I had some of that....I'd rather rub that all over me than s
tick my face over this stuff for 10 minuets. Oh well...

I have a test in my art class tomorrow. I hope it goes well. I should be getting to bed.

A bientot

Oh, I also started listening to Christmas music today. I told myself that I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving, but since the French are lame and don't celebrate I thought that it was alright if I started listening now. I only have 50 ish songs on iTunes, so after I listened to all of those I turned on 93.9 LiteFM...and they play all of my favorites. I'm so glad I can listen to it in France. Even though I can't be with my family on Christmas, at least I know that we're listening to the same thing...if that makes any sense at all.

3 months

Yesterday, the 20th was the 3rd month that we have been living in Paris. Some days it really doesn't not feel like it has been 3 months, and other days it feels like I've been here forever. I really don't know....does it seem like I've been gone for 3 months or have I just faded away in your memories? lol. I was feeling really sick yesterday. I thought about not going to class, but I only have the class one day a week and I feel that if I don't go I'm going to miss something important. We got our tests back. I got a 16/20 (80%) although I don't know if that is how they grade them. And, who knows what that grade will turn into when I get back to U of I and they review everything I've done. The professor asked if I was feeling alright and I just told her that I wasn't feeling well. She actually asked me twice if I was alright, so I must have looked pretty horrible. I was spacing out the entire class...and it was about the weirdest things too. I left class and came back to the apartment and crashed for 2 and a half hours. I was exhausted. When I woke up I still felt miserable and still had a fever from earlier. Great....so I had to bail on Lizzie and everyone else from the group who were going out for Lizzie's 21st birthday. I felt horrible. I was really looking forward to going and everything. So I really did nothing the rest of the night except watch The Office, which I thought was horrible, and Grey's, which was okay. I went to bed at 11:30...I'm so lame.

Today I just worked on my history papers that are due on Monday. Sometimes I feel like the professor treats us like 5 year olds. She always gives us busy work, and last Monday we did puzzles and filled in maps. Seriously, I was like okay, this is not 3rd grade. So the papers had to be about what I saw at Les Invalides almost 3 weeks ago. One had to be about the Napoleon exhibit and the other had to be about the WWI exhibit. I only looked at the WWI exhibit for 15 minutes and took the worst notes in the world. Seriously, my notes consist of "uniforms, hats, long guns with mirrors, trenches, Uncle Sam, Africans, ....etc" the worst notes ever. The teacher said that the Invalides website would help us, but she lied. There's really not much on there. I really relied on wikipedia which I know, is horrible but what else was I going to do? It's due on Monday and I don't have time to go back to the museum. I'm going to ask Renee to look over them for grammar things before I go and hand write them because I don't have a printer.

Tomorrow I think we're doing our monthly group dinner. I'm just not sure when or where yet. That usually doesn't get decided until a few hours before. I hope dinner is almost done. I'm starving. Renee was making some sort of cabbage earlier and I'm really not a big fan of cabbage so I'm hoping that it's not all over the plate so I'll be forced to eat it.

a bientot

NEW MOON!!!!!!!

Alright, so I suck at updating this lately. I've been really busy and sick so bare with me....

On Tuesday, I had a meeting with Dr. Costello. But before that I went to the bank with Renee to ask them (well, to have her ask them) where my debit card was. Apparently you had to pick up your card from the bank. However, I didn't know this because they usually just come in the mail after you get your pin, which I got. So now I have my card and my pin, I just have to figure out how to transfer money to my new account. That should be fun. The meeting went pretty well. Dr. Costello just asked how I was adjusting and I told him that I was missing home, but it is really close to the holidays and I figured that I would be missing home around this time anyways. Then he asked if I got along well with the group. I told him yes, but we don't hang out very much because some of them like to go out a lot and I really don't have the money to be doing that all the time. He asked what I've been doing to meet French people and I told him that I really haven't met any because I don't know what I can get involved in. He told me there are a lot of church groups and choir groups at school, but seriously talking about God and stuff and trying to sing well are just not my thing. He laughed when I told him that. He said that he would try to look into a few inexpensive activities for me so I have stuff to do. He also asked about my classes. I told him that I really didn't like my literature class, but I guess because I haven't taken French 210 at school...so I have to have another class with the same professor next semester....awesome. He asked about Renee and I told him that she works a lot and he said that he would talk to the agency about it. I understand that she works and can't stop her life for me but it would be nice to see her more than a few minutes at night. The only day I really see her is Saturday. I had my art class after that. We have a test next week. That should be interesting. I also got 2 cards from Missy. They were so nice and thoughtful. They really made my day. HINT HINT to anyone who reads this....I like to get mail....I don't even care what it is. It can be a picture or a card, or a love letter, whatever you want. I'd love it whatever it is.

Wednesday was a little crazy. I had a test in cinema and I did study, I really did. I wasn't expecting to know certain dates or the names of the actors, or other movies that the director did, because we never really focused on that in class. We usually interpreted what we saw and talked about themes...stuff like that. While that was on the exam, there wasn't very much. Two of the quizzes that we didn't get to take were on the exam as well. I got 5/10 on both of the quizzes....so not very good. I really don't understand the grading system here so I won't really know how well I did until I get the exam back. But right now, it isn't looking very pretty. After class, which thankfully got out early, my partner Katie and I headed over to the Louvre. I thought that we were going to be practicing our presentations but we just listened to this lady for 2 hours talk about how to present a painting. She spent at least 45 minutes telling us things not to do. For example, she told us not to touch the painting or the frame, don't get too close to the painting because a lot of them are on an alarm system and if you get to close to it, it will go off, she told us not to fall over the guard rail and land on the paintings (seriously, she really did tell us that). It was mostly common sense stuff so I really don't understand why it needed to be 2 hours long. She also gave us some tips for presenting which was helpful, but that lasted 15 minutes tops. Oh, and she also told us that if anyone started giving us problems or harassing us, to tell a guard and they would help us. I was like god, should I be worried about my life? She also told us to study the map of the Louvre because someone always asks where the bathrooms are or where the Mona Lisa is. So I guess I have to give directions too. I got back to the apartment around 9 ish. The Algerian soccer team beat the Egyptian team and there are a bunch of Algerians living in the neighborhood....they were going nuts. This guy was driving his car really fast down the street and when he got to the end, where I was walking, he did a 180 with the car and honked his horn the entire time. He did this many times. It was really crazy so I booked it inside.

Today is the day I've been looking forward to the most. The plan was to go to class and then after class go to see New Moon, which I've been so excited to see. Renee even knew how excited I was to see it. She made me lunch and then I left for class giddy because I couldn't wait to see New Moon. I sat in class for a bit and then all of a sudden this woman walked in holding these papers. She told us that our professor is sick and cancelled class. I looked at Amber and was like omg....we can see the movie earlier!! We left with Lizzie, Amira and Emilia and headed to Les Halles to go see the movie. Figuring out how to get the tickets was confusing. They had all these machines but it wouldn't take Amira's credit card because it didn't have that stupid microchip in it like the French ones do. The card that I just got has the microchip in it. It was already 2:30 when we were trying to figure out how to do this, and this guy tells us that we have to go downstairs to buy tickets. We finally figured it out, and then couldn't figure out how to get into the theatre. Everything is so complicated here. When we walked in, it was PACKED. Seriously...it was 2:45 in the afternoon....don't these people work? Amira and I joked that they just wanted to see New Moon, which came out yesterday here, so they took off work. We sat all the way in the front. It wasn't that bad though, it was actually pretty nice because we could stretch our legs out and the screen was in a half circle shape and went all the way to the ground. So no matter where you sat you had a good view and we didn't have to look up the entire time to see the screen.

New Moon was amazing! I don't want to ruin it so I won't talk all about it, but I thought it was a lot better than Twilight because it really stuck to the book. And, Taylor Lautner looked FABULOUS with his shirt off. God, his abs were amazing. I really don't even know what to say about them. Rob Pattinson didn't look that bad with his shirt off either, although he was really pale. Taylor definitely looks better with his shirt off. If I weren't so for Team Edward, I'd consider switching to Team Jacob after seeing the movie....but I won't....I just can't. Tonight I have nothing planned. I don't have homework, for once, so I'm going to catch up on Glee, maybe read a bit, get some food because I'm starving, and watch a movie.

A bientot

.....I want to see New Moon again!