Wow....100. That's a lot. If you've made it this far following my journey, thanks it really means a lot and I hope this blog isn't boring you to death. Alright so the last time I updated was Friday and a lot has happened since then.
On Saturday my friend Luke, who I went to high school and U of I with, was coming into town for the weekend so he could visit with Madame Wilds. He studies in Avignon (the south of France) so he took the train into Paris. He said that he was getting in around 1pm so I just told him to give me a call when he wanted to do something. I thought he would've called me early on in the afternoon but by 4pm I hadn't heard from him. I ended up getting all of my translation homework done while waiting for him so I don't have to worry about that this week. Anyways, so we finally get ahold of each other and he was meeting up with a friend who lives in Paris. We decided to get dinner around 7. Luke met me at my metro stop because he's not used to the metro and I didn't want to get him lost by giving him directions to the cafeteria. When we got to the student cafeteria there were about a million Italian kids in line before us. I have no idea why they all were there. It is usually not that crowded on a Saturday night. We got there at 7 and waited 30 mintues to get into the door to get our food. Of course, all the pizza was gone so I had to get the main dish. It was fish with some sort of cream sauce with mushrooms and rice. It wasn't that bad but it wasn't very hot. Oh well, at least they had the blueberry tart for dessert. Luke and I sat down and we talked about school and all that jazz. Neither of us had heard from Madame Wilds, who was supposed to be getting into Paris that morning. This guy came around and told us that if we were done eating we had to leave because they were closing soon. I hate when they do that. All I wanted to do was sit there and talk some more and it's not like we were the only people sitting there. Anyways, we left and I told Luke how to get to the closest McDonalds so he could use the WiFi to look up a place to stay because he hadn't found a hostel yet....good planning on his part.
I got back, and the apartment was a mess. All day Renee was running around cleaning stuff, hanging pictures, and being a crazy lady. I didn't realize it when I walked in the door but she had her ladder in front of it so I just pushed the door open and knocked the ladder over. Don't worry, she wasn't on it. I felt bad though. I was looking up classes to take for next semester when Madame called me around 10:30. She was like oh I hope you're not sleeping. I was like ummmm it's only 10:30, I'm not an old lady. She called me on my iPhone so I asked her if she could call me back on my French cell phone because the iPhone is too expensive. She said she would but then she never called. I had to look up her number that she sent to us on Facebook and she ended up answering. I guess she doesn't know how to use her phone or something. She told me that they had problems getting into Paris because they were on a British Airway flight and they are on some crazy strike and they got stranded in London without a plane to take to Paris. Because of that they ended up missing a whole days worth of activites. However, they did get to take a bus tour of London and got to take the Chunnel (the EuroStar that goes under the English Channel to Paris) instead of flying. I was pretty jealous. She said that tomorrow they were meeting at 8:00am to get on a tour bus to take a tour of the city. Then they were getting lunch and then heading to Versailles and then coming back to Paris for dinner. Madame said that I was welcome to join them all day but I really didn't want to get up at like 6am on a Sunday morning to meet them on the bus. Plus, we were turning our clocks ahead that night so it really would've been like 5am. And if I took the bus tour with them I would just be seeing everything that I've already seen and see on a daily basis plus, I'd feel uber American, and I try to avoid that at all times. Long story short, I told her that I'd meet them for dinner.
Madame called me around 6 and said that they were back from Versailles and were hanging around the Pompidou (the 4th) before dinner. I left right away because she said dinner was at 7 and it takes me around 40 min. to get to where they were. I sat by the giant crazy looking fountains and called Madame to let her know where I was. She said that she would come and find me. She didn't see me but I saw her so I started running after her and shouted MADAME!!! she turned around and was like OMG and gave me this giant hug. It was so sweet. I haven't seen her in 3 years...well really 4 because I didn't see her much senior year. We walked into this resturant where her students were and I saw this girl named Kimmy who was a freshmen on the dance team when I was a senior. We both looked at each other and she was like what are you doing here!?!?!?!? it was pretty funny. So I gave her a big hug and then sat across from Madame. She was like, you can call me Becky, but that's just weird because she's Madame, not Becky. We talked all throughout dinner. It was so nice to see her again. She wanted to know how school was, how I liked it here, what I've been up to, where I've travelled, the usual. We talked about our trip to France when I was a junior and we laughed about how Madame Collins (my other French teacher freshmen and senior year) had a broken arm and how it rained the entire time. We had crepes for dinner and they really weren't that great. I've had better. It was the first time the kids in her class had a crepe from France so they all were excited and thought it was the best meal ever. They also really liked the Orangina (a French soft drink that tastes like carbonated watered down orange juice). Dinner ended and Madame said not to worry about paying for the meal that she would take care of it, which was super nice of her. She invited me to go on the bateau mouche with them (a boat company that takes you on a tour down the Seine) but it was starting to rain, I've been on one before, and I had a test the next day that I hadn't started studying for, so I passed. We hugged goodbye and promised to keep in touch. Madame is one of my favorite teachers ever, she's so sweet and caring. I heart her.
I studied for an hour when I got back but really didn't know what was actually going to be on the test. Monday morning I tried studying so more and hoped I was studying the right things. Renee came home early and started lunch and said something about how she forgot she had an appointment with her dermatologist....I think. She ate super fast and then left, and I took my time and then went back to studying. The test was pretty bad. First off our professor didn't even show up. I thought that was incredibly rude of her. If you aren't going to show up for class to give the exam and be there to answer questions if any should arise than class should be cancelled and the test should be rescheduled. I wasn't very happy. So this woman walks in and tells us to put all our notes away so she had read us the prompt. She read it super fast, didn't write it on the board, and then said we had 3 hours to finish, leave the test on the desk when we were done and then left. I had to look off of Katie's paper to get the subject. I really didn't even understand the prompt. It was something about talk about the different compartments the French were under from 1940-1944 under the occupation. What a broad subject. I really had no idea what to write about. I made a crazy looking outline on a piece of scratch paper and hoped that I had the right answer. About 40 minutes into the test (I hadn't even started to write yet, I was still thinking) this girl stands up, (everyone looked at her) and she put her paper on the desk and left. I started applauding because I have no idea how she finished that fast. There's no way she could have planned, wrote, and revised in 40 minutes.
It took me 2 hours to write my paper. I basically rambeled on about how France was divided into 2 parts (the occupied in the north and the free in the south under the government of the Vichy) and then I talked about this guy named Petain who I really didn't know much about. The only thing I really knew was that he was the leader of the Vichy, he was 84 and wanted to have all the power he could. I talked a lot about the resistance and how that changed the war. I don't even know if the things I talked about were correct. I guess I'll find out.
Today I woke up at the ungodly hour of 8:15 on my day off to go to Balzac's house. I met up with this girl named Jacqueline and this other girl named Collie and we walked there together. The house is in Passy which at the time (late 1800s) was considered the country side. Paris (the city) was very small. It is a really pretty area. Balzac's house was 5 storys and he lived there in the 1840s and it was really cool. There was this pretty garden outside and everything. Passy is sort of on a hill so it over looked the city. You could see the Eiffel Tower from the gardens. However, when Balzac lived there it wasn't built yet. There were 2 big group tours going on at the time (it was free to get in :) ) so we just wandered around the house while they took up all the space. His library was pretty cool, all his old books where there (behind glass) and they all are leather bound. It smelled really awesome in there, all old and stuff. My favorite part was the garden. It must have been so cool to live there at the time. We walked back to the metro and Jacqueline and Collie went shopping by school and I walked back to the apartment from Montparnasse since it wasn't raining. I have to write a paper about what I saw at the museum for Dr. Costello's class but I most likely won't do that for a while.
I have a lot of reading to do today and I'd really like to take a nap because I'm pretty tired, but that most likely won't happen. I'm reading L'assommoir by Emile Zola for Dr. Costello's class. It's super long and is pretty good so far. We don't have to read all of it (Dr. Costello has certain parts of certain chaperts picked out) but he also wants us to read 4 complete chapters and all those chapters happen to be really long....thanks Costello. I also should probably start reading my book for my presentation for theatre class....it's next Friday and I haven't even opened the book.
until next time.....
Bisous mes amis!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Rob Pattinson's face is on two different ads in the metro...
....one as a vampire and one as a normal person. I see his face everywhere I go. It's such a great way to start my day. Anyways....look at me updating during the week. WHAT UP!! Then again it's Friday so I guess it's the end of the week....whatevs. This week has been pretty packed and busy, but what week hasn't been during second semester?
On Monday I found out that we have a test next week. I really have no idea what it's going to be on or what it will consist of. We really haven't learned much, and all we do is watch videos and listen to other students do presentations. That should be interesting studying for. Can't wait for that.
Tuesday I think I read over 150 pages of French lit. By the time I went to bed my brain was completely fried. I had to read a lot of Le Colonel Chabert by Balzac for lit and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo for Dr. Costello's class. My goal for this week is to get a lot of homework/reading done for class so I can actually do something interesting on my day off so I'm not stuck doing homework all day. I know that this will probably not happen but I'm determined not to do homework all day.
Let's see Wednesday I had theatre and with 10 minutes left in class our professor Benoit decides that we are going to break up into groups and each group is going to talk about 1 character and then we are going to present how the character acts or portrays their emotions...something like that. I really don't know how he expected us to get all of this done in 10 minutes. It was a bad idea if you asked me. Our group just tried figuring out what the scene was about and didn't even talk about the character. It was dumb. Translation class was horrible, as usual. We got a new a new article to translate. It's about old people and how they are so awesome, no joke. We were doing group work translating these sentences and one of them said something like "We'll get together in a fornight" and in parenthesies 15 days. All the Americans in the class had a good laugh about it because a fornight is 14 days and not 15, but the French are weird and think that a week is 8 days for some reason. I really have no idea how they figured that out. Anyways, so we were all asking what it meant and kept making jokes about ways we would use fortnight because really, who says that? Our professor was like, you mean you don't say that in America? and we all started laughing. Katie and I were like, yeah if you're Ben Franklin or you're signing the constitution. Seriously...a fortnight. I guess they say that in England because this sweet older British woman in the class was like, we use it all the time. I've decided to bring fortnight back to America. I plan on using it for Facebook invitations.....bar crawl in a fortnight!!! HAHAH!!
On Thursday my 2nd class was cancelled so I only had to go to Dr. Costello's class. We had a quiz over the history of Paris and Les Mis. I think I did pretty well, it wasn't that hard. I really enjoyed Les Mis. It was awesome, not gonna lie. I can't wait to go see it in June with the class. It should be a lot of fun. Dr. Costello gave us our assignment for our first paper and it pretty much sucks. I am dreading doing that. He also gave us a list of extra assignments we can do to help with our participation grade. We basically have to do at least 2 of the 4 to get a good grade in the class for participation. His class is so much work it drives me insane. After class I came back to the apartment and ate some lunch. I wanted to take a nap but that didn't happen. I had a meeting for Dr. Fresco from U of I who is in Paris for the week to talk about what classes I need to take next year. I came to the meeting dressed in my dress for the theatre because we were leaving right after that. The meeting for Fresco really didn't help me much. All he basically said that my French was very good and that I only need to take 2 more classes to complete my degree. He told me what classes I could chose from (only 3, oh boy!) and that was about it. I already finished all my gen eds which is good. I asked him what other classes I should take and no lie, this was his response: "Well, I would just continue taking the classes that you've been taking" That was his advice. Thanks....that's really going to help me figure out what I'm going to do with my life. He's seriously no help at all. I got better guidence when I was still undecided and met with a woman who meets with far more kids than he does. So now I have to figure out what classes I'm going to take. Maybe I'll trying to get a minor or something...I really have no idea.
After my meeting, Amira met with Fresco. Lizzie was after her so she and I and a few other girls from the program who were also there waiting sat around and talked. When Amira and Lizzie were done, we left and Amira and I left for dinner. We went to the area that the theatre (La Comedie Francaise) is located...which is right next to the Louvre. We walked around and came across this Chinese place that looked pretty good. We walked in and the woman said they weren't open yet so we left and ended up at this little cafe. I got a burger, which was pretty good. Amria got the smallest chicken breast I have ever seen. We got crepes for dessert. Dinner ended up costing me 22.20 euro, which ended up being all the money I had on me at the time. I normally wouldn't of spent that much on dinner. We walked back to the theatre and Benoit was already there. We waited for Antonia to arrive and Benoit told us that we were welcome to join him in the cafe across the street. When Antonia got there we decided to join him. I wanted to get a coffee but I seriously only had like a euro on me all in change so I couldn't get anything.
We saw Fantasio and it was really good. I had a hard time understanding what they were talking about in the first few scenes but I finally figured it out. There is this prince and he is arranged to marry this princess and if she doesn't marry him, war is going to break out. Fantasio and his friends find out that she is getting married and they all start drinking. I'm not sure why. So the prince and his servant decide that they are going to switch places and the servant, who the prince starts calling his friend which was really funny, goes and meets the princess. The prince thinks that the princess is so beautiful and wants to switch back with the servant. The servant doesn't want to so they bicker back and forth. Fantasio dresses up as a clown and meets the princess and tries to help her decide what to do. She ends up falling in love with Fantasio but then finds out that he is a bourgeoisie (lower class) and the princess can't be with him because it would just be wrong. I really don't know what happened in the end so I won't talk about that. After the play, Amira, Antonia and a few others were going to this bar to get a drink. I wanted to go but I didn't have any money on me so I couldn't go. :(
Today I had theatre and we worked in our groups again. It ended up being a lot of fun and everyone had to read lines from the play. I really like that class. When class ended, Amira and I walked to the Odeon theatre to get tickets for Ciels which we have to see for class and then write a paper about. The play was pretty much sold out but some people had canceled their reservations so we ended up getting the last two tickets for a show during the week. We are going April 8th. I'm pretty excited. It's supposed to be really good. I bought my ticket and Amira's because she didn't have her wallet on her. It ended up costing 32 euro, which I thought was a lot for 2 student tickets. 16 euro isn't a great student discount. I went to the store to pick up some groceries when I got back to my neighborhood. That cost me 49 euro because I had to buy minutes for my phone. However, it's the last time I'll have to buy them because they are good for 3 months, and I'll be home in 3 months. So in 2 days, I've spent 103 euro.....oops! I wanted to go to the movies tonight to see Alice in Wonderland but I've spent too much already today so I'll just watch a movie here.
Madame Wilds and Luke will be here this weekend so we are all getting together for dinner or something. I'm pretty excited for that. I guess that's really it for now. I'll try to update again this weekend if something interesting happens.
Bisous!!!
oh a different ending and a color...i'm getting fancy!
On Monday I found out that we have a test next week. I really have no idea what it's going to be on or what it will consist of. We really haven't learned much, and all we do is watch videos and listen to other students do presentations. That should be interesting studying for. Can't wait for that.
Tuesday I think I read over 150 pages of French lit. By the time I went to bed my brain was completely fried. I had to read a lot of Le Colonel Chabert by Balzac for lit and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo for Dr. Costello's class. My goal for this week is to get a lot of homework/reading done for class so I can actually do something interesting on my day off so I'm not stuck doing homework all day. I know that this will probably not happen but I'm determined not to do homework all day.
Let's see Wednesday I had theatre and with 10 minutes left in class our professor Benoit decides that we are going to break up into groups and each group is going to talk about 1 character and then we are going to present how the character acts or portrays their emotions...something like that. I really don't know how he expected us to get all of this done in 10 minutes. It was a bad idea if you asked me. Our group just tried figuring out what the scene was about and didn't even talk about the character. It was dumb. Translation class was horrible, as usual. We got a new a new article to translate. It's about old people and how they are so awesome, no joke. We were doing group work translating these sentences and one of them said something like "We'll get together in a fornight" and in parenthesies 15 days. All the Americans in the class had a good laugh about it because a fornight is 14 days and not 15, but the French are weird and think that a week is 8 days for some reason. I really have no idea how they figured that out. Anyways, so we were all asking what it meant and kept making jokes about ways we would use fortnight because really, who says that? Our professor was like, you mean you don't say that in America? and we all started laughing. Katie and I were like, yeah if you're Ben Franklin or you're signing the constitution. Seriously...a fortnight. I guess they say that in England because this sweet older British woman in the class was like, we use it all the time. I've decided to bring fortnight back to America. I plan on using it for Facebook invitations.....bar crawl in a fortnight!!! HAHAH!!
On Thursday my 2nd class was cancelled so I only had to go to Dr. Costello's class. We had a quiz over the history of Paris and Les Mis. I think I did pretty well, it wasn't that hard. I really enjoyed Les Mis. It was awesome, not gonna lie. I can't wait to go see it in June with the class. It should be a lot of fun. Dr. Costello gave us our assignment for our first paper and it pretty much sucks. I am dreading doing that. He also gave us a list of extra assignments we can do to help with our participation grade. We basically have to do at least 2 of the 4 to get a good grade in the class for participation. His class is so much work it drives me insane. After class I came back to the apartment and ate some lunch. I wanted to take a nap but that didn't happen. I had a meeting for Dr. Fresco from U of I who is in Paris for the week to talk about what classes I need to take next year. I came to the meeting dressed in my dress for the theatre because we were leaving right after that. The meeting for Fresco really didn't help me much. All he basically said that my French was very good and that I only need to take 2 more classes to complete my degree. He told me what classes I could chose from (only 3, oh boy!) and that was about it. I already finished all my gen eds which is good. I asked him what other classes I should take and no lie, this was his response: "Well, I would just continue taking the classes that you've been taking" That was his advice. Thanks....that's really going to help me figure out what I'm going to do with my life. He's seriously no help at all. I got better guidence when I was still undecided and met with a woman who meets with far more kids than he does. So now I have to figure out what classes I'm going to take. Maybe I'll trying to get a minor or something...I really have no idea.
After my meeting, Amira met with Fresco. Lizzie was after her so she and I and a few other girls from the program who were also there waiting sat around and talked. When Amira and Lizzie were done, we left and Amira and I left for dinner. We went to the area that the theatre (La Comedie Francaise) is located...which is right next to the Louvre. We walked around and came across this Chinese place that looked pretty good. We walked in and the woman said they weren't open yet so we left and ended up at this little cafe. I got a burger, which was pretty good. Amria got the smallest chicken breast I have ever seen. We got crepes for dessert. Dinner ended up costing me 22.20 euro, which ended up being all the money I had on me at the time. I normally wouldn't of spent that much on dinner. We walked back to the theatre and Benoit was already there. We waited for Antonia to arrive and Benoit told us that we were welcome to join him in the cafe across the street. When Antonia got there we decided to join him. I wanted to get a coffee but I seriously only had like a euro on me all in change so I couldn't get anything.
We saw Fantasio and it was really good. I had a hard time understanding what they were talking about in the first few scenes but I finally figured it out. There is this prince and he is arranged to marry this princess and if she doesn't marry him, war is going to break out. Fantasio and his friends find out that she is getting married and they all start drinking. I'm not sure why. So the prince and his servant decide that they are going to switch places and the servant, who the prince starts calling his friend which was really funny, goes and meets the princess. The prince thinks that the princess is so beautiful and wants to switch back with the servant. The servant doesn't want to so they bicker back and forth. Fantasio dresses up as a clown and meets the princess and tries to help her decide what to do. She ends up falling in love with Fantasio but then finds out that he is a bourgeoisie (lower class) and the princess can't be with him because it would just be wrong. I really don't know what happened in the end so I won't talk about that. After the play, Amira, Antonia and a few others were going to this bar to get a drink. I wanted to go but I didn't have any money on me so I couldn't go. :(
Today I had theatre and we worked in our groups again. It ended up being a lot of fun and everyone had to read lines from the play. I really like that class. When class ended, Amira and I walked to the Odeon theatre to get tickets for Ciels which we have to see for class and then write a paper about. The play was pretty much sold out but some people had canceled their reservations so we ended up getting the last two tickets for a show during the week. We are going April 8th. I'm pretty excited. It's supposed to be really good. I bought my ticket and Amira's because she didn't have her wallet on her. It ended up costing 32 euro, which I thought was a lot for 2 student tickets. 16 euro isn't a great student discount. I went to the store to pick up some groceries when I got back to my neighborhood. That cost me 49 euro because I had to buy minutes for my phone. However, it's the last time I'll have to buy them because they are good for 3 months, and I'll be home in 3 months. So in 2 days, I've spent 103 euro.....oops! I wanted to go to the movies tonight to see Alice in Wonderland but I've spent too much already today so I'll just watch a movie here.
Madame Wilds and Luke will be here this weekend so we are all getting together for dinner or something. I'm pretty excited for that. I guess that's really it for now. I'll try to update again this weekend if something interesting happens.
Bisous!!!
oh a different ending and a color...i'm getting fancy!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Read, read, read and then read some more...
I'm sorry I haven't been able to update. I have been so busy with school it's insane. Nothing too exciting has happened this week. Monday's history class wasn't really that interesting. There's this guy in the class that always says hi to me, but I have no idea what his name is. The only thing I know about him is he isn't American (I really don't even know where he is from) and he must have a motorcycle/scooter because he always brings his helmet with him to class.
Tuesday it was pretty nice outside but of course I had a ton of homework to do. I try to get all my homework done on the weekends when I'm not out so I can do stuff on my day off but I always end up having so much there's no way I can get it all done during the weekend. So instead of going to a park and reading Ferragus for Dr. Costello's class, I read out on the balcony for a while. However, it was around 2:30 and the school kids were still on their lunch break so it was really loud out which made it hard to concentrate.
Wednesday I had theatre and translation. We are going to see Fantasio on Thursday for class (I think I might have mentioned this before). I finished L'illusion Comique over the weekend and really liked it. In translation Katie and I decided that our professor talks like a rooster, if roosters could talk. She just balks at everything and is so loud and annoying. That class is so long but I am learning a lot, however it is a lot of work. Some how I managed to finish Ferragus during my 2 hour break between classes, so for the first time that week I had nothing to do for homework. That's actually a lie, I had homework to do, but it wasn't due until Friday. Katie invited me to the movies but I was so exhausted. I seriously went to the apartment, made my NCAA bracket and crashed until dinner. I went to bed pretty early that night.
For Dr. Costello's class on Thursday we met at this tower called la tour Saint Jacques. I'm really not sure what it was during the 18th/19th century, but it's really cool looking. We then wandered around the 4th and 5th arrondisments looking at all the things Georges Haussmann did to improve the city. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. We finished our tour around 12:30 and I just assumed that we would end class there for the day. I was wrong. Dr. Costello made us go back to the classroom so we could talk about Ferragus, which we were supposed to have finished for class that day. Needless to say, not everyone was done reading. He started asking these really detailed oriented questions and no one was answering them. I read the entire thing and had no idea what he was talking about. Finally I raised my hand and told him that while I did read the entire book, it was difficult because of the vocabulary and Balzac's style of writing which consists of too much detail and run on sentances. I then said that I understood the story but I did not understand all the little details he was asking. We went over the general story line and some of the things he talked about still surprised me because I didn't pick up on them. For example, in the story there is this woman who is introduced as Mme. Jules. Then, Balzac starts refering to her as Clemence. I didn't understand that Mme. Jules and Clemence were the same person. I also didn't understand that Ferragus and Clemence were not having an affair (which is what I thought originally) Ferragus is actually Clemence's father....oops! they obviously weren't having an affair. We have to read Les Miserables (not the entire thing, just excerpts...which is still over 200 pages) by Thursday. We also have a quiz that day. That should be fun.
In lit we finished watching and reading Ruy Blas. I really liked that. The ending was so funny. The queen in the story is lead to believe by Ruy Blas that his name is really Don Cesar (who is another character in the story that left in the beginning and no one has seen him). The queen and Ruy Blas (Don Cesar) end up falling in love. After Ruy Blas kills this guy named Don Salluste because he's a jerk, Ruy Blas feels guilty for betraying the queen and murdering Don Salluste and drinks poison. The queen then finds out that his name isn't Don Cesar. Ruy Blas asks if she will forgive him and she says never. He's slowly dying and the queen shouts, "Don Cesar, I love you!!" to which Ruy Blas replies, "I told you my name was Ruy Blas." Just as Ruy Blas is about to die, the queen shouts his real name and Ruy Blas gasps and says, "merci!" and dies. So tragic. I thought it was so funny. Who ends their play with the main character dying and saying thank you? Only Victor Hugo.
On Friday I had theatre class which was fine. I signed up for my oral presentation on April 9th. I'm the first one going. I really just want to get it over with so I don't have to worry about it near the end of the semester. After class I went to find the Odeon Theatre which is near the foyer. I wasn't sure what street it was on, but I knew what general area it was in. Of course I got a little lost trying to find it and ended up walking past the theatre 3 times. I'm such an idiot. When I finally found it I went inside and asked about tickets for this show that I need to see for theatre class. The woman and the ticket counter said, "C'est complet" which means sold out. I wasn't sure if she thought I was asking for tickets for tonight or if she meant that all of the showings were sold out through April. I find it a little hard to believe that it would be completely sold out. There's no way it could be. So maybe she just meant for that night because she then told me to go to the theatre 2 hours early to get on the waiting list for the night. I really don't know what was going on. I left and ate lunch at the apartment.
That night I went to dinner at the cafeteria with Katie and her friend Rachel, who we've been to dinner with before. I had the chicken pizza and it wasn't very good. I don't think it agreed with my stomach. We left and decided to go back to Katie's dorm. We went to the Monoprix to buy some stuff to drink. Rachel got a small bottle of wine, Katie got a bottle of champagne, and I ended up getting a bottle of the hard apple cider that I really like. I was going to buy a bottle of wine but my stomach already hurt enough as it was and there really isnt that much alcohol in the cider (only like 5% ish) so I figured that was a better choice than the wine. However, I ended up drinking the entire bottle....probably not one of the smartest things I've ever done. My stomach ache did end up going away...then again it could've been that entire bottle of cider talking. Katie's friend who goes to some school in some town in France by the Alps was visiting with this hot British guy who she also goes to school with. I don't remember either of their names. We left at 11 and Katie and Rachel decided to go to this bar and I decided to go home. I ran into one of those stupid mini poles that stops the scooters from driving on the sidewalk in front of a group of people because I'm an idiot. Then, as I was waiting for the metro to come at Montparnasse, that was this bum doing pushups on the other side of the platfrom shirtless trying to impress his other bum friends. One of his friends stands over the top of him and smacks his butt every time he comes up. I guess they are kinky bums. Then, the bum stands up and since a bunch of people were staring at him he deicded to put on a show and started to remove his pants. I saw the bum's ass....it wasn't very pretty. The train came before he had a chance to turn around, thank God.
Today I woke up pretty late. I decided that I would try to work on homework during the day and then maybe do something at night. I texted this girl named Chaniece from the program to see what she was up to and we decided to meet later for dinner. I did a fabulous job avoiding my homework figuring that watching the newest episode of Project Runway was more important. I didn't start reading Les Mis until 3ish. It's been pretty easy to read so far. I found the translation online but it is the complete novel which is really like 4 novels and is huge. I decided that I wasn't going to waste time looking through the website to find the excerpts that I needed incase I didn't understand what it said in French. I met Chaniece and this girl named Jackie, who is also in IPP for dinner at the cafeteria again. I had pizza of course because the main dish didn't look that great. However, I avoided the chicken pizza and got mushroom instead. It was pretty good. I had a blueberry tarte for dessert which was awesome. We stayed talking until they basically kicked us out. We all road back on the metro together and then Chaniece and I walked home together because we live close together. I finished my Les Mis reading for the night. 50 more pages to read tomorrow....plus like a million other things to do.
I've gotten to catch a few of the NCAA tournement games on the intertnet. I'd like to give a big THANKS to Marquette and Villanova for losing. You've completely messed up my bracket. Also, Northern Iowa is beating the overall number 1 seed Kansas as we speak. Kansas had better turn it around quick. I did pretty well in the first round but with all the underdogs losing lately my bracket looks horrible. I have Syracuse winning it all. I've done pretty well in the Midwest and West brackets, except for Murry State beating Vandy which screwed up a few things for me. My South region is horrible because Villanova had to be losers and lose horribly to St. Mary's. Oh well, I'm just happy that I get to catch a few games here and there.
Tomorrow will be full of laundry and homework...the typical Sunday, so I won't be updating. I will try to update more often this week but it's going to be a very busy week. I have a meeting and a play to see, plus tons to read and other homework to do, and Madame Wilds, one of the French teachers from high school will be in town sometime next weekend so we are hopefully getting together for dinner, which will be a lot of fun.
A bientot!
Tuesday it was pretty nice outside but of course I had a ton of homework to do. I try to get all my homework done on the weekends when I'm not out so I can do stuff on my day off but I always end up having so much there's no way I can get it all done during the weekend. So instead of going to a park and reading Ferragus for Dr. Costello's class, I read out on the balcony for a while. However, it was around 2:30 and the school kids were still on their lunch break so it was really loud out which made it hard to concentrate.
Wednesday I had theatre and translation. We are going to see Fantasio on Thursday for class (I think I might have mentioned this before). I finished L'illusion Comique over the weekend and really liked it. In translation Katie and I decided that our professor talks like a rooster, if roosters could talk. She just balks at everything and is so loud and annoying. That class is so long but I am learning a lot, however it is a lot of work. Some how I managed to finish Ferragus during my 2 hour break between classes, so for the first time that week I had nothing to do for homework. That's actually a lie, I had homework to do, but it wasn't due until Friday. Katie invited me to the movies but I was so exhausted. I seriously went to the apartment, made my NCAA bracket and crashed until dinner. I went to bed pretty early that night.
For Dr. Costello's class on Thursday we met at this tower called la tour Saint Jacques. I'm really not sure what it was during the 18th/19th century, but it's really cool looking. We then wandered around the 4th and 5th arrondisments looking at all the things Georges Haussmann did to improve the city. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. We finished our tour around 12:30 and I just assumed that we would end class there for the day. I was wrong. Dr. Costello made us go back to the classroom so we could talk about Ferragus, which we were supposed to have finished for class that day. Needless to say, not everyone was done reading. He started asking these really detailed oriented questions and no one was answering them. I read the entire thing and had no idea what he was talking about. Finally I raised my hand and told him that while I did read the entire book, it was difficult because of the vocabulary and Balzac's style of writing which consists of too much detail and run on sentances. I then said that I understood the story but I did not understand all the little details he was asking. We went over the general story line and some of the things he talked about still surprised me because I didn't pick up on them. For example, in the story there is this woman who is introduced as Mme. Jules. Then, Balzac starts refering to her as Clemence. I didn't understand that Mme. Jules and Clemence were the same person. I also didn't understand that Ferragus and Clemence were not having an affair (which is what I thought originally) Ferragus is actually Clemence's father....oops! they obviously weren't having an affair. We have to read Les Miserables (not the entire thing, just excerpts...which is still over 200 pages) by Thursday. We also have a quiz that day. That should be fun.
In lit we finished watching and reading Ruy Blas. I really liked that. The ending was so funny. The queen in the story is lead to believe by Ruy Blas that his name is really Don Cesar (who is another character in the story that left in the beginning and no one has seen him). The queen and Ruy Blas (Don Cesar) end up falling in love. After Ruy Blas kills this guy named Don Salluste because he's a jerk, Ruy Blas feels guilty for betraying the queen and murdering Don Salluste and drinks poison. The queen then finds out that his name isn't Don Cesar. Ruy Blas asks if she will forgive him and she says never. He's slowly dying and the queen shouts, "Don Cesar, I love you!!" to which Ruy Blas replies, "I told you my name was Ruy Blas." Just as Ruy Blas is about to die, the queen shouts his real name and Ruy Blas gasps and says, "merci!" and dies. So tragic. I thought it was so funny. Who ends their play with the main character dying and saying thank you? Only Victor Hugo.
On Friday I had theatre class which was fine. I signed up for my oral presentation on April 9th. I'm the first one going. I really just want to get it over with so I don't have to worry about it near the end of the semester. After class I went to find the Odeon Theatre which is near the foyer. I wasn't sure what street it was on, but I knew what general area it was in. Of course I got a little lost trying to find it and ended up walking past the theatre 3 times. I'm such an idiot. When I finally found it I went inside and asked about tickets for this show that I need to see for theatre class. The woman and the ticket counter said, "C'est complet" which means sold out. I wasn't sure if she thought I was asking for tickets for tonight or if she meant that all of the showings were sold out through April. I find it a little hard to believe that it would be completely sold out. There's no way it could be. So maybe she just meant for that night because she then told me to go to the theatre 2 hours early to get on the waiting list for the night. I really don't know what was going on. I left and ate lunch at the apartment.
That night I went to dinner at the cafeteria with Katie and her friend Rachel, who we've been to dinner with before. I had the chicken pizza and it wasn't very good. I don't think it agreed with my stomach. We left and decided to go back to Katie's dorm. We went to the Monoprix to buy some stuff to drink. Rachel got a small bottle of wine, Katie got a bottle of champagne, and I ended up getting a bottle of the hard apple cider that I really like. I was going to buy a bottle of wine but my stomach already hurt enough as it was and there really isnt that much alcohol in the cider (only like 5% ish) so I figured that was a better choice than the wine. However, I ended up drinking the entire bottle....probably not one of the smartest things I've ever done. My stomach ache did end up going away...then again it could've been that entire bottle of cider talking. Katie's friend who goes to some school in some town in France by the Alps was visiting with this hot British guy who she also goes to school with. I don't remember either of their names. We left at 11 and Katie and Rachel decided to go to this bar and I decided to go home. I ran into one of those stupid mini poles that stops the scooters from driving on the sidewalk in front of a group of people because I'm an idiot. Then, as I was waiting for the metro to come at Montparnasse, that was this bum doing pushups on the other side of the platfrom shirtless trying to impress his other bum friends. One of his friends stands over the top of him and smacks his butt every time he comes up. I guess they are kinky bums. Then, the bum stands up and since a bunch of people were staring at him he deicded to put on a show and started to remove his pants. I saw the bum's ass....it wasn't very pretty. The train came before he had a chance to turn around, thank God.
Today I woke up pretty late. I decided that I would try to work on homework during the day and then maybe do something at night. I texted this girl named Chaniece from the program to see what she was up to and we decided to meet later for dinner. I did a fabulous job avoiding my homework figuring that watching the newest episode of Project Runway was more important. I didn't start reading Les Mis until 3ish. It's been pretty easy to read so far. I found the translation online but it is the complete novel which is really like 4 novels and is huge. I decided that I wasn't going to waste time looking through the website to find the excerpts that I needed incase I didn't understand what it said in French. I met Chaniece and this girl named Jackie, who is also in IPP for dinner at the cafeteria again. I had pizza of course because the main dish didn't look that great. However, I avoided the chicken pizza and got mushroom instead. It was pretty good. I had a blueberry tarte for dessert which was awesome. We stayed talking until they basically kicked us out. We all road back on the metro together and then Chaniece and I walked home together because we live close together. I finished my Les Mis reading for the night. 50 more pages to read tomorrow....plus like a million other things to do.
I've gotten to catch a few of the NCAA tournement games on the intertnet. I'd like to give a big THANKS to Marquette and Villanova for losing. You've completely messed up my bracket. Also, Northern Iowa is beating the overall number 1 seed Kansas as we speak. Kansas had better turn it around quick. I did pretty well in the first round but with all the underdogs losing lately my bracket looks horrible. I have Syracuse winning it all. I've done pretty well in the Midwest and West brackets, except for Murry State beating Vandy which screwed up a few things for me. My South region is horrible because Villanova had to be losers and lose horribly to St. Mary's. Oh well, I'm just happy that I get to catch a few games here and there.
Tomorrow will be full of laundry and homework...the typical Sunday, so I won't be updating. I will try to update more often this week but it's going to be a very busy week. I have a meeting and a play to see, plus tons to read and other homework to do, and Madame Wilds, one of the French teachers from high school will be in town sometime next weekend so we are hopefully getting together for dinner, which will be a lot of fun.
A bientot!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
I'm just a sweet transvestite, from Transsexual Transylvania
Where to start.....Friday was pretty boring. I finally figured out that I have to do an oral presentation and write an essay for my theatre class. For the two projects I have to read a play and see a play and then I get to decide what type of presentation I want to do for each play. I have a list of plays that I can see, however I'm not sure how or where to get tickets so I'm going to have to ask Renee to help me with that. Friday night I really didn't do anything. We ate dinner and I worked on some translation homework and just ended up watching Dexter and a movie. Nothing too interesting.
Saturday I went to the bookstore to buy the play that I need to read for theatre. I chose Les Bonnes by Jean Genet. I think it's about these maids who kill the woman they work for. I haven't started reading it yet. I ran into this girl named Beth who's in IPP at the bookstore and asked if she was going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show that night. She said she was and also said that everyone was meeting at this dorm that a few of them live at to pre-game before leaving. I really didn't want to go to the pre-game because I thought it might be awkward because I really don't know any of the new kids and I was pretty sure I was the only person from 1st semester going. I went back to the apartment and worked on some homework that afternoon and evening. Around 7 I left to meet Maya for dinner at one of the student cafeterias before going to the pre-game. I told her I'd go because she was going. Well...we never made it to dinner. I was waiting for the next metro when she texted me and said she had too much to drink at lunch and couldn't come to where I was and wanted me to come to her. I told her no, because I had no idea where she was. I was kind of upset that she bailed because I didn't get to have dinner and I was already half way there. Instead of going back to the apartment, which I thought about doing because I was mad, I went to the metro that everyone was meeting at to walk to the dorm together.
I sat at the metro for 20ish minutes before this girl named Chaniece (another IPP-er from 2nd semester) got off the metro and sat next to m
e. She gave me the rest of her baguette because I told her I didn't have dinner. She's really nice and also lives in the 14th which is cool. Eventually more people started showing up. I officially met a lot of the new people. I mean I have class with them and have talked to them a bit, but I really didn't know any of their names. I do now. We left for the dorm around 8:15ish. It took us a while to walk there I got to talk to some of the people. I talked to this girl named Kirsten and her cousin Krista, Collie, Ala, and Beth...I think. I really don't know. Anyways, so we met a few of the other people at the dorm and a few of them stated drinking. I had one glass of this gross wine Collie bought. It was so gross. It was a rose wine, which I really don't like, and it was super bitter. So I drank the pop that she brought too. We all left for the metro around 9. There was a bunch of us and some of them were really loud. When there are a bunch of young people together, all talking loudly, it's pretty much like wearing a giant neon sign that says "I'M AMERICAN!!!!" We let the loud people have their own part of the train.
e. She gave me the rest of her baguette because I told her I didn't have dinner. She's really nice and also lives in the 14th which is cool. Eventually more people started showing up. I officially met a lot of the new people. I mean I have class with them and have talked to them a bit, but I really didn't know any of their names. I do now. We left for the dorm around 8:15ish. It took us a while to walk there I got to talk to some of the people. I talked to this girl named Kirsten and her cousin Krista, Collie, Ala, and Beth...I think. I really don't know. Anyways, so we met a few of the other people at the dorm and a few of them stated drinking. I had one glass of this gross wine Collie bought. It was so gross. It was a rose wine, which I really don't like, and it was super bitter. So I drank the pop that she brought too. We all left for the metro around 9. There was a bunch of us and some of them were really loud. When there are a bunch of young people together, all talking loudly, it's pretty much like wearing a giant neon sign that says "I'M AMERICAN!!!!" We let the loud people have their own part of the train. When we got to the theatre which is near Notre Dame in the 5th there was a line of people waiting outside. Sean, the resident advisor was there. He's really cool so they decided to invite him. Plus he's super cute so that's a plus. We went inside to buy tickets when this woma
n standing in line said "c'est complet" which means it's sold out. We were all pretty sad because we got there at least 50 min. before the show was supposed to start. Then, a few of the girls walked out with tickets and said that the guy at the register just gave them to them. So we all got in line. I was the 2nd to last person in line with Sean standing behind me. I got my ticket and when Sean asked for his the guy told him it was sold out. Everyone felt bad because they all wanted him to come. I felt really bad because I got the last ticket. This girl named Ashley decided that she was going to try to get Sean a ticket. So she went back inside and walked out with a ticket to the show. She's like see, I knew it would work because I'm a girl. It was pretty funny. We got into the theatre and it was so small. I was expecting this huge theatre with a screen and a stage but seriously there was like 85 seats in this place. I think they might have oversold tickets because a few people ended up standing against the wall.
n standing in line said "c'est complet" which means it's sold out. We were all pretty sad because we got there at least 50 min. before the show was supposed to start. Then, a few of the girls walked out with tickets and said that the guy at the register just gave them to them. So we all got in line. I was the 2nd to last person in line with Sean standing behind me. I got my ticket and when Sean asked for his the guy told him it was sold out. Everyone felt bad because they all wanted him to come. I felt really bad because I got the last ticket. This girl named Ashley decided that she was going to try to get Sean a ticket. So she went back inside and walked out with a ticket to the show. She's like see, I knew it would work because I'm a girl. It was pretty funny. We got into the theatre and it was so small. I was expecting this huge theatre with a screen and a stage but seriously there was like 85 seats in this place. I think they might have oversold tickets because a few people ended up standing against the wall. I've seen the movie before, and I saw it live last year at U of I so I knew what to expect, but a lot of the people in the group had never seen it before. I think Ashley, me, and this guy named J
ohn were the only ones who knew what it was really about. When we were walking into the theatre, the actors were standing along the stairs greeting us. One of the actors asked me if we were Americans and where we were from and I told him yes, and we were from Chicago, and really didn't think much of it. They started doing the show by doing a warm up of various Village People songs. It was a lot of fun. I think it was mostly to get the audience ready to participate because this is a big audience participation show. The cop from the village people was so cute! OMG....seriously. So hot. He also played Rocky. Anyways, the started playing this other video of the actors singing to the song "I Love LA" and the actors said something about Chicago and we all went nuts. It was really cool. Finally the show started. They played the video in English with French subtitles (of course) and then the actors acted out the movie on the stage in English and French.
ohn were the only ones who knew what it was really about. When we were walking into the theatre, the actors were standing along the stairs greeting us. One of the actors asked me if we were Americans and where we were from and I told him yes, and we were from Chicago, and really didn't think much of it. They started doing the show by doing a warm up of various Village People songs. It was a lot of fun. I think it was mostly to get the audience ready to participate because this is a big audience participation show. The cop from the village people was so cute! OMG....seriously. So hot. He also played Rocky. Anyways, the started playing this other video of the actors singing to the song "I Love LA" and the actors said something about Chicago and we all went nuts. It was really cool. Finally the show started. They played the video in English with French subtitles (of course) and then the actors acted out the movie on the stage in English and French. If you've never seen the live stage version/interactive moive version, everyone screams out certain words or phrases during the movie. I don't know all of them, but before they started the show, the actors said that whenever Brad introduces himself you say 'ASSHOLE' but you say it really slow like 'assssssshoooole.' Then when Brad introduces his fiancee Janet you shout 'SLUT!!' There are a bunch more, but I knew those ones. They also taught everyone to do the timewarp before the show started. That was a lot of fun too. Although it's not that hard to do, you just listen to what the song says. The actors were all really funny. It's obviously a really dirty, crude show but it was so funny. I was crying from laughing so hard. They played with the audience and crawled over the seats, and sat on people. They also threw rice and water. If you've seen the movie/show you know why. I really enjoyed the show and would love to go back and see it again. They perform it every Friday and Saturday at 10:10. Except, the cast is different on Friday than Saturday. The show ended and I was the last person to walk out of the theatre. All of the guys were standing on the stage in their fish nets, corsets, and garter belts. So sexy....before everyone started walking out they were like 'touches are free' so I just decided to smack all of them on the thigh. The last guy was the cop/Rocky, so I obviously gave him a fiesty smack, it made a good noise. He goes, ohhhh thank you! Hahahaha...all the girls in front of me were laughing so hard. It was such a good show! I think they do the same thing in Chicago, so I'd LOVE to see that one too!
I walked back to the metro with Chaniece because we live by each other and obviously take the same metro. I made it back to the apartment around 1:15. As I was put my pjs on, so much rice fell out of my clothes and hair. There's so much rice on my floor! Today I spent all day doing homework. I have a lot of reading to do and a lot of translation homework to get done. I'm tired of doing homework. I may just call it a night on the homework and watch a movie or Dexter. The pictures I took with my iPhone so sorry they are kinda crappy looking. The first one is from during the pre-show warm up. The hot cop/Rocky is in the center in black leather shorts. The next one is Frank-n-Furter in all his glory, and the last photo is Frank-n-Furter with Rocky.
They were taking pictures during the show and they put them up on the shows website. I'm in a few of them :) I'm in the back of the audience wearing a grey shirt and a black sweater. I'm on the far left side by the wall in some of the audience shots. The pictures they took are a lot better than mine so check them out! http://www.sweet-transvestites.com/Galerie/thumbnails.php?album=49 some of them are really funny!!!
A bientot!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Fights and Poop
It's Thursday, thank God and my two days of hell are over. I really don't remember what happened on Wednesday...I went to class, the usual...oh and when I got back to the apartment I had to buy my ticket to England. The day before when I called AirFrance they told me to put my ticket on hold and then call them tomorrow so they could help me pay for it using my voucher. So that's what I did. I only had until 12pm EST (6pm in Paris) to get my ticket or else they were going to take my seat away. I rushed back to the apartment and turned on my computer. Of course, it froze like it always does so I had to shut it down and start all over again. By the time I got back online it was already 5:30. I called AirFrance from Skype and was on hold for 20 minutes. Then when someone finally answered, they couldn't hear me and hung up. I called back and after waiting another 15 minutes on hold, my tickets were obviously expired so I had to go through the whole thing again. Luckily, the woman I talked to told me that she could help me buy the ticket now so I wouldn't have to put it on hold again. What a nice lady! The ticket was $287 (why it was so much I have no idea...) and my voucher was for $220. So, I only ended up paying around $67 for my flight which was nice. I had to book my ticket in the living room because the WiFi connection is stronger there than in my room. I think I was invading Jean-Francois's space of something because he just waited in the kitchen while I finished talking on Skype. He could've come in the living room...I don't bite and I'm here more than him anyways so really, he's invading my space. Anyways, tickets are book and I'm no going to London and Greece for spring break!! :)
Costello's class today was a snooze fest. The reading we had to do was boring, and then he made us watch a video about the modernization of Paris in the 1840s. It was all about how Georges Haussmann made everything better in Paris. I think stuff like that is interesting but this video was HORRIBLE!! It was really slow paced and not very exciting. It was so hard not to fall asleep. Costello was sporting a faux hawk today....BHAHAHAH!!! I don't know if he's done it before but it's was really big today. He's going to some get together for American professors in Paris or something so maybe he was trying to be hip. News flash: the faux hawk is no longer hip.
Literature was alright...I have a lot of reading to do for next week. I'm really not liking Ruy Blas. It's weird. Although I do like the video we are watching along with it. It's the play as well but it's more exciting watching the people act it out. All the men have mullets and wear hats with feathers in them. I want a hat with a feather in it!
So after class I met Muguette (my art professor from last semester) and she gave me my thing from the Louvre saying that I participated in the Nocturnes. I thought it was going to be more "official looking" but it's not. Oh well. I was on the 4 (metro) going to Montparnasse to change to the 13 when this guy got out of his seat (the metro was pretty crowded) and ran to the door. The train was still moving so he bumped into these 2 women who were sitting down. He ended up standing right in front of me. He didn't appoligize to the women. The train was about to stop and he was trying to put on his backpack but couldn't get it on. The train stopped and one of the women that he bumped into pushed him out of the way so she could open the door. He stepped out, called her a bitch (I think...) and shoved her by putting his hand on her face. I was in shock that he would do something like that. He ran up the stairs and she followed him (meanwhile I'm still on the train just staring at them but I eventually got off) she ran after him and tripped him on the stairs. He turned around and shoved her. Then some men grabbed the guy and I didn't see what happened next because I was scared so I walked to my next train. That is the first time I have ever seen that happen. I don't care if she pushed you, you don't turn around and shoved the woman back in the face. It was scary because it was right in front of me! I made it back to the apartment without any more problems.
When I walked to my room I smelled something really bad. I thought maybe Norton farted or something and that's what it was but, it wasn't....I walked into my room and right there on my floor was poop. NORTON POOPED IN MY ROOM!!!! It wasn't a little poop either, it was runny, squishy, brown, and smelled so bad I gagged. UGH it was so gross. Luckily Jean-Francois was home so I told him that Norton had an accident in my room because I didn't know how to say poop in French. He was like what kind of accident? I just looked at him and started walking to my room. Jean-Francois cleaned it up whild I opened up my window to air out my room. I'm so glad he was here because I probably would have barfed all over the place cleaning it up. I walked out of my room to throw something away and Norton just looked at me. I gave him the stink eye and walked away. What a jerk! I guess he's been sick and I feel bad for him but he didn't have to go and poop in my room!
So that's been my night so far. Fun times. I did my homework and now I'm hopping whatever Jean-Francois made for dinner is also for me....it was. We had chicken. Renee left...not quite sure where she was going so she didn't eat with us. Jean-Francois and I usually don't talk because he's pretty quiet, but I told him what happened on the metro, and he told me that he got into a fight once and someone cut his face. Then we talked about how he took 11 years of English classes. I guess he studied at this small university in Boston and he said that it was so hard for him at first to understand what people were saying when they went out at night but he says that it's easier now. Jean-Francois's a pretty cool guy, even though he takes baths. That's all for now.
A bientot!
Costello's class today was a snooze fest. The reading we had to do was boring, and then he made us watch a video about the modernization of Paris in the 1840s. It was all about how Georges Haussmann made everything better in Paris. I think stuff like that is interesting but this video was HORRIBLE!! It was really slow paced and not very exciting. It was so hard not to fall asleep. Costello was sporting a faux hawk today....BHAHAHAH!!! I don't know if he's done it before but it's was really big today. He's going to some get together for American professors in Paris or something so maybe he was trying to be hip. News flash: the faux hawk is no longer hip.
Literature was alright...I have a lot of reading to do for next week. I'm really not liking Ruy Blas. It's weird. Although I do like the video we are watching along with it. It's the play as well but it's more exciting watching the people act it out. All the men have mullets and wear hats with feathers in them. I want a hat with a feather in it!
So after class I met Muguette (my art professor from last semester) and she gave me my thing from the Louvre saying that I participated in the Nocturnes. I thought it was going to be more "official looking" but it's not. Oh well. I was on the 4 (metro) going to Montparnasse to change to the 13 when this guy got out of his seat (the metro was pretty crowded) and ran to the door. The train was still moving so he bumped into these 2 women who were sitting down. He ended up standing right in front of me. He didn't appoligize to the women. The train was about to stop and he was trying to put on his backpack but couldn't get it on. The train stopped and one of the women that he bumped into pushed him out of the way so she could open the door. He stepped out, called her a bitch (I think...) and shoved her by putting his hand on her face. I was in shock that he would do something like that. He ran up the stairs and she followed him (meanwhile I'm still on the train just staring at them but I eventually got off) she ran after him and tripped him on the stairs. He turned around and shoved her. Then some men grabbed the guy and I didn't see what happened next because I was scared so I walked to my next train. That is the first time I have ever seen that happen. I don't care if she pushed you, you don't turn around and shoved the woman back in the face. It was scary because it was right in front of me! I made it back to the apartment without any more problems.
When I walked to my room I smelled something really bad. I thought maybe Norton farted or something and that's what it was but, it wasn't....I walked into my room and right there on my floor was poop. NORTON POOPED IN MY ROOM!!!! It wasn't a little poop either, it was runny, squishy, brown, and smelled so bad I gagged. UGH it was so gross. Luckily Jean-Francois was home so I told him that Norton had an accident in my room because I didn't know how to say poop in French. He was like what kind of accident? I just looked at him and started walking to my room. Jean-Francois cleaned it up whild I opened up my window to air out my room. I'm so glad he was here because I probably would have barfed all over the place cleaning it up. I walked out of my room to throw something away and Norton just looked at me. I gave him the stink eye and walked away. What a jerk! I guess he's been sick and I feel bad for him but he didn't have to go and poop in my room!
So that's been my night so far. Fun times. I did my homework and now I'm hopping whatever Jean-Francois made for dinner is also for me....it was. We had chicken. Renee left...not quite sure where she was going so she didn't eat with us. Jean-Francois and I usually don't talk because he's pretty quiet, but I told him what happened on the metro, and he told me that he got into a fight once and someone cut his face. Then we talked about how he took 11 years of English classes. I guess he studied at this small university in Boston and he said that it was so hard for him at first to understand what people were saying when they went out at night but he says that it's easier now. Jean-Francois's a pretty cool guy, even though he takes baths. That's all for now.
A bientot!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
I Love it when you call me Big Poppa
So there's this song called "Big Poppa" by The Notorious B.I.G. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6586iJkPaXo (in case you've never heard it) that I have on my iPod. I was on the metro today and it came on. I really like the song but whenever I listen to it I feel really white. I don't know why, I just do. So I was sitting on the metro and it came on and I had to restrain myself from singing it outloud. Do I know all the lyrics, yeah, I do...pretty much. Don't worry, I didn't start rapping on the metro. That wouldn't of been weird at all. I had planned on going to the Montparnasse cemetery that's near the apartment to hang out and read (weird, I know) but it was really cold despite all the sun so I jumped on the metro and went to Les Halles instead. I bought a drink from Starbuck, found a seat and started my reading for theatre.
I try not to go to Starbucks often because it's expensive here, but I just wanted a place to sit so I could do my reading, so Starbucks it was. I'm really enjoying L'illusion Comique it's pretty good. It's supposed to be a comedy, but I must not be understanding the parts that are supposed to be funny because I never find myself laughing. Oh well. After I finished reading I left and went to H&M because I had nothing else to do. I should know to just avoid H&M because everytime I go there I find something I like. I found this really cute jacket, a skirt, and a dress so I obviously had to try them all on. The jacket was super cute! I thought about getting it because it's going to get warmer soon but it won't be warm enough to go without a jacket but it will be too warm for my NorthFace. I didn't buy it. The skirt was weird so I put that back, but I did end up buying the dress. It's actually a shirt dress...it has a checkard pattern and it's a maroon/brown color with yellow and grey stripes. It's really cute. It 24.95, which I guess is a lot but I really wanted it. I just wish it was a little warmer so I could wear it and not freeze...maybe next week. I stopped by the grocery store on the way back to the apartment to get a few things.
When I got back Jean-Francois was taking another bath....weirdo! He left for a while and I tried to buy my plane ticket to London. I don't know if I wrote about this before, but I'm going back to London before I leave for Greece for spring break. I called AirFrance to ask about using my voucher to buy my ticket and they told me that I had to reserve the ticket and then call them tomorrow to buy it. I'm not sure why I have to wait until tomorrow but whatever. So I'll finish buying them tomorrow.
Jean-Francois started taking the parts of Renee's old closet out of the apartment so maybe that means he's leaving tonight. Not sure... I guess that's really it for now, nothing too exciting going on tonight. I already did my homework so I'll probably watch Dexter and Secret Life of the American Teenager and then go to bed early because I have class at 10 tomorrow.
A bientot
I try not to go to Starbucks often because it's expensive here, but I just wanted a place to sit so I could do my reading, so Starbucks it was. I'm really enjoying L'illusion Comique it's pretty good. It's supposed to be a comedy, but I must not be understanding the parts that are supposed to be funny because I never find myself laughing. Oh well. After I finished reading I left and went to H&M because I had nothing else to do. I should know to just avoid H&M because everytime I go there I find something I like. I found this really cute jacket, a skirt, and a dress so I obviously had to try them all on. The jacket was super cute! I thought about getting it because it's going to get warmer soon but it won't be warm enough to go without a jacket but it will be too warm for my NorthFace. I didn't buy it. The skirt was weird so I put that back, but I did end up buying the dress. It's actually a shirt dress...it has a checkard pattern and it's a maroon/brown color with yellow and grey stripes. It's really cute. It 24.95, which I guess is a lot but I really wanted it. I just wish it was a little warmer so I could wear it and not freeze...maybe next week. I stopped by the grocery store on the way back to the apartment to get a few things.
When I got back Jean-Francois was taking another bath....weirdo! He left for a while and I tried to buy my plane ticket to London. I don't know if I wrote about this before, but I'm going back to London before I leave for Greece for spring break. I called AirFrance to ask about using my voucher to buy my ticket and they told me that I had to reserve the ticket and then call them tomorrow to buy it. I'm not sure why I have to wait until tomorrow but whatever. So I'll finish buying them tomorrow.
Jean-Francois started taking the parts of Renee's old closet out of the apartment so maybe that means he's leaving tonight. Not sure... I guess that's really it for now, nothing too exciting going on tonight. I already did my homework so I'll probably watch Dexter and Secret Life of the American Teenager and then go to bed early because I have class at 10 tomorrow.
A bientot
Monday, March 8, 2010
On to week 3
My closet is finally installed and it's pretty nice, not gonna lie. It is a dark wood (probably really not wood) and the drawers and backboard are lime green. It's cute. There are a bunch of shelves so I don't have to hang all my shirts and stuff because I never had enough hangers anyways. Caroline and Mathilde left Sunday early afternoon and I figured Jean-Francois would leave shortly after. I made myself some lunch and while I was eating Jean-Francois grabbed his book and said he would be in the bathroom. Why he felt the need to tell me this I really don't know. I also wasn't sure why he grabbed his book. Then I heard the water running in the shower which really didn't make much sense because he grabbed his book. Then I heard the water go off and realized that he must be taking a bath. Question...why would a grown man take a bath? I don't know about everyone else but I think that's a little weird. I can see if there are jets or something in the tub then it would be fine for a man to take a bath but there aren't jets in Renee's tub. I guess it also would be okay for a man to take a bath if he was in there with someone else because come on, we all know you have other motives besides washing youself. But no, Jean-Francois was in there alone, with his book. He was in there for a while too. It's just weird. If you take a bath you just sit in your own grossness. Yuck. And it takes forever. A shower is like a million times faster. Anyways, I didn't do much on Sunday besides the usual laundry and homework.
History class started at 4 today instead of 2. While it was nice to be able to sleep in and do whatever I wanted to do in the afternoon, it sucked being at school that late. Plus, Jean-Francois is still here so it's not like I could do whatever I wanted. For example, after I eat and shower in the morning, I fold and put my clothes away. While I'm doing this I like to listen to my music really loud and have a dance party. Why you ask? Well, why not? It's fun! And who likes folding clothes and putting them away? The music makes it better. I obviously couldn't do this today. Class was weird today. Only half of the class showed up of course because no one really wanted to come later. The professr walked in and asked who was giving their presentation today. Sergeant Batista told her that no one had signed up for today. She was really shocked and goes, "what are we going to do for the first half of the class?" No lie, that's exactly what she said. I wanted to be like well, you're the professor, shouldn't you have some sort of lesson plan?!?! I think she just winged it the entire class. We watched parts of this movie called Le Dernier Metro by Francois Truffaut with Gerard Depardieu. It was pretty interesting. None of the movies she shows have subtitles so I never know 100% what is going on. It was about the Jewish people during WWII in Paris and hiding and something about theatre. It was alright, from what I understood.
Jean-Francois made galettes (savory crepes) for dinner. They were really good. I'm still not sure when he is planning on leaving. Renee told me that he was just staying for the weekend, but he's still here... I don't have a problem with Jean-Francois it's just sometimes annoying that I have to be super quiet in the morning getting ready for school and stuff because I don't want to wake him up. Maybe he's leaving tonight because he put the matress that he's been sleeping on back in Renee's room. Then again it is almost 10pm so who knows.
I think I'm going to London again before I leave for Greece for spring break. I checked with Lex and she's so excited so now I just have to find my ticket. Good thing I have the voucher from AirFrance. No class tomorrow! I need to go shopping and do some reading. I'm hoping it'll be a little bit warmer so I can read outside in a park or something but it's been really cold lately.
A bientot
History class started at 4 today instead of 2. While it was nice to be able to sleep in and do whatever I wanted to do in the afternoon, it sucked being at school that late. Plus, Jean-Francois is still here so it's not like I could do whatever I wanted. For example, after I eat and shower in the morning, I fold and put my clothes away. While I'm doing this I like to listen to my music really loud and have a dance party. Why you ask? Well, why not? It's fun! And who likes folding clothes and putting them away? The music makes it better. I obviously couldn't do this today. Class was weird today. Only half of the class showed up of course because no one really wanted to come later. The professr walked in and asked who was giving their presentation today. Sergeant Batista told her that no one had signed up for today. She was really shocked and goes, "what are we going to do for the first half of the class?" No lie, that's exactly what she said. I wanted to be like well, you're the professor, shouldn't you have some sort of lesson plan?!?! I think she just winged it the entire class. We watched parts of this movie called Le Dernier Metro by Francois Truffaut with Gerard Depardieu. It was pretty interesting. None of the movies she shows have subtitles so I never know 100% what is going on. It was about the Jewish people during WWII in Paris and hiding and something about theatre. It was alright, from what I understood.
Jean-Francois made galettes (savory crepes) for dinner. They were really good. I'm still not sure when he is planning on leaving. Renee told me that he was just staying for the weekend, but he's still here... I don't have a problem with Jean-Francois it's just sometimes annoying that I have to be super quiet in the morning getting ready for school and stuff because I don't want to wake him up. Maybe he's leaving tonight because he put the matress that he's been sleeping on back in Renee's room. Then again it is almost 10pm so who knows.
I think I'm going to London again before I leave for Greece for spring break. I checked with Lex and she's so excited so now I just have to find my ticket. Good thing I have the voucher from AirFrance. No class tomorrow! I need to go shopping and do some reading. I'm hoping it'll be a little bit warmer so I can read outside in a park or something but it's been really cold lately.
A bientot
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Breakfast in America :)
Last night was pretty awesome...not gonna lie. The day wasn't too bad either. It was Unofficial at U of I yesterday and it fe
lt weird not being there. Theatre class was pretty good too. L'illusion Comique is pretty good so far. We watched 3 differnt versions of the first act that we read and our teacher was in one of the videos. It was pretty cool. After class I went to this bakery by the apartment and bought some chocolates for Renee because it was her birthday. When I walked into the apartment I shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" (but in French) and I think I scared her a bit. She really liked my chocolates. I ate lunch and Renee left to go back to work. I watched the new episode of The Office....it was so sweet. The baby was so adorable! Yay Jim and Pam.
lt weird not being there. Theatre class was pretty good too. L'illusion Comique is pretty good so far. We watched 3 differnt versions of the first act that we read and our teacher was in one of the videos. It was pretty cool. After class I went to this bakery by the apartment and bought some chocolates for Renee because it was her birthday. When I walked into the apartment I shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" (but in French) and I think I scared her a bit. She really liked my chocolates. I ate lunch and Renee left to go back to work. I watched the new episode of The Office....it was so sweet. The baby was so adorable! Yay Jim and Pam.I met Katie at 6:30 at this metro stop in the 5th. We made plans to go out to dinner because Renee, Jean-Francois, and Ca
roline were all going out to dinner (I wasn't invited) and I didn't want to eat alone. We found this place called "Breakfast in America" on the internet and decided to check it out. It is an American diner and they serve breakfast all day, plus your usual diner things like bugers, shakes...stuff like that. The waitresses were all American and they knew we were American too. I'm assuming they must have been students like us because they also spoke French to the French customers. I ordered a chocolate shake and a cheeseburger with fries. I really wasn't expecting it to be fabulous or anything but I was happy to eat something from home. The shake was delish, not gonna lie. It wasn't like a shake from Steak n Shake but it was pretty good. The burger wasn't too bad either. I was really excited about the fries...which were really good. Katie got a veggie burger. She said it was alright but it looked kind of weird if you ask me. The place got really busy so I'm glad we went kind of early. After dinner we went back to Katie's dorm.
roline were all going out to dinner (I wasn't invited) and I didn't want to eat alone. We found this place called "Breakfast in America" on the internet and decided to check it out. It is an American diner and they serve breakfast all day, plus your usual diner things like bugers, shakes...stuff like that. The waitresses were all American and they knew we were American too. I'm assuming they must have been students like us because they also spoke French to the French customers. I ordered a chocolate shake and a cheeseburger with fries. I really wasn't expecting it to be fabulous or anything but I was happy to eat something from home. The shake was delish, not gonna lie. It wasn't like a shake from Steak n Shake but it was pretty good. The burger wasn't too bad either. I was really excited about the fries...which were really good. Katie got a veggie burger. She said it was alright but it looked kind of weird if you ask me. The place got really busy so I'm glad we went kind of early. After dinner we went back to Katie's dorm.Her mom sent her Valentines Day cupcake mix and frosting so we decided to make them. As we were walking up the steps to her room, I asked if she had a cupcake pan to make them in. She didn't. The French don't make cupcakes so you really can't go out and buy one. Plus, it was after 8 so all the stores were closed anyways. We went on a scavenger hunt for pans. There are 5 floors in the dorm with 2 kitchens on each floor. We found a few things but they weren't going to work for us at all. Fin
ally we found a pan that was a little bigger than an 8x8 pan. We found another pan the same size on a differnt floor so we borrowed them. It ended up being basically a 9x13 pan which was perfect. We didn't have a hand mixer so we used a spoon. We also didn't have mesuring cups so we used a taquilla shaker and guessed on the mesurments. After figuring out how to convert 350 degrees F to Celsius we preheated the oven and mixed together our ingredients. When I opened the oven to put the pans in this giant puff of smoke came out. OOPS....I forgot to check if the oven was clean. It wasn't...there was crap in the bottom and it was now burnt to a crisp. We turned off the oven and went a floor below to use that oven. While we waited for the oven to preheat we ate the leftover cake batter that was in the bowl because we obviously couldn't let it go to waste. Finally the oven was ready and we put the cakes in. There wasn't a timer and we weren't excatly sure how accurate our math was when we converted the degrees so we just watched the cakes, checking on them every few minutes. We took them out, let them cool for a bit and then brought them back to Katie's room to frost them. As we were walking back her neighbors (who were getting ready to go out for the night) saw that we had cake and their eyes lit up like it was Christmas. When we got into Katie's room we were like yeah, we're not sharing this. We iced the cakes and then didn't wait very long to start eating them. THEY WERE DELISH!!!!!!! Obvs, we made them.
ally we found a pan that was a little bigger than an 8x8 pan. We found another pan the same size on a differnt floor so we borrowed them. It ended up being basically a 9x13 pan which was perfect. We didn't have a hand mixer so we used a spoon. We also didn't have mesuring cups so we used a taquilla shaker and guessed on the mesurments. After figuring out how to convert 350 degrees F to Celsius we preheated the oven and mixed together our ingredients. When I opened the oven to put the pans in this giant puff of smoke came out. OOPS....I forgot to check if the oven was clean. It wasn't...there was crap in the bottom and it was now burnt to a crisp. We turned off the oven and went a floor below to use that oven. While we waited for the oven to preheat we ate the leftover cake batter that was in the bowl because we obviously couldn't let it go to waste. Finally the oven was ready and we put the cakes in. There wasn't a timer and we weren't excatly sure how accurate our math was when we converted the degrees so we just watched the cakes, checking on them every few minutes. We took them out, let them cool for a bit and then brought them back to Katie's room to frost them. As we were walking back her neighbors (who were getting ready to go out for the night) saw that we had cake and their eyes lit up like it was Christmas. When we got into Katie's room we were like yeah, we're not sharing this. We iced the cakes and then didn't wait very long to start eating them. THEY WERE DELISH!!!!!!! Obvs, we made them. After showing Katie the "Bothered" videos that Jimmy Fallon does and hanging out for a bit more, I left around 12:10. When I got to the RER B station I saw that I was going to have to wait 14 minutes for the next train....awesome. It was cold. Good thing I left when I did because it was the second to last train for the night. I got back to the apartment around 12:45. I think Jean-Francois was still up but he was watching tv so I didn't bother him. Katie let me take some cake back with me and I don't know if I want to share because it's that good and I haven't had cake in forever.
Right now Jean-Francois, Caroline, and Mathilde (who arrived sometime last night) are all putting a new closet system into Renee's room. It's pretty nuts here right now. Mathilde took part of my closet out so they can put a new bar in so I can hang up my clothes. I had a temporary one in but everything kept falling. Everything from the closet is all over my room. I thought about taking a shower and leaving for a while but they put a bunch of Renee's stuff in the bathroom so I really can't leave. I guess I really could if I wanted to but I really need a shower. I want to go to the mall today to look for some new jeans because mine are too big. Who knows what time I'll get out of here today. 5 people is really too many people for Renee to have in her little apartment. I feel like we are all standing on top of one another. Oh well...
A bientot!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Kill me now...
If you're wondering why it's been 4 days since I last updated I've been super busy with school it's insane. I don't even know where to start. I guess at the beginning of the week would be best...
After a heartbreaking loss to Team Canada, I went to history class on Monday a little depressed. There was a presentation (I think there is going to be one every week because the teacher I guess wants us to learn from the other students and not herself...) and it was pretty interesting. About half way through class the professor said that she has something important to do next week during our class time so she asked if we were free another day. She mentioned Friday afternoon after 2, Saturday, or Sunday. While I am free all of those days, I signed up for her class Mondays from 2-5, not Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. No one obviously wants to go to class on the weekend, so she decided that we would have class next week from 4-7pm, which is a lot better than the alternative.
Tuesday I didn't have class. It was so nice out but I couldn't go out and enjoy it because I had so much reading to get done. Dr. Costello assigned at least 200 pages to read this week, plus Acts 1 and 2 of Ruy Blas, other readings for the same class, act 1 of L'illusion Comique...the list goes on and on. I spent the majority of the day reading. Soooo much fun....
Wednesday pretty much sucked. My theatre class in the morning wasn't bad, no complaints there. However, my translation class was horrible. We had to add punctuation marks to paragraphs in French (obviously). I thought I did alright on the exercises, but I was completely wrong. I did horrible. Who knew punctuation could be so hard? After what I learned in class that day I don't think I could've properly punctuated the paragraph if it was in English, which is sad. We also had to translate part of this article we read. That was so-so. There are so many words that I just don't know and everyone was using all of these fancy words for simple things. Who wants to read an article in French that sounds like rocket science? I don't. I guess it's just going to take me a little while to get used to the whole thing. Hopefully it will get better.
Thursdays are the worst day of the week for a few reasons...
1) I am in class from 11:00-1:30pm and 2-5:00pm.
2) Because of the short amount of time in between classes, I don't have enough time to eat a proper lunch; therefore I am crabby.
3) Thursday is literature day...2 classes in a row all about French Lit.
4) Dr. Costello's French bothers me
5) I'm just exhausted by the end of the day
....as you can see, it sucks. Costello's class wasn't too bad today. It was a lot to read of course (I didn't finish it all...no one else did either) but Costello said that it was okay because he knew it was a lot to read in a week. We were talking about this thing that we read all about Paris and what this guy thought about it and Dr. Costello asked us when the French Revolution was because the book was written before it. No one said anything so I looked at Costello and was like 1789...I think he was shocked that I knew when it was, but after 6 months of having it drilled into my brain, you'd think I'd know it by now. Class ended early (thank god) so Lizzie and I walked at a leisurely pace through the gardens to class. Lit class was pretty good today. Lizzie, Amira and Antonia had a presentation about Chateaubriand, which was good and then we talked about what we read in Ruy Blas. I don't think Madame Berthon realized that she did it, but she goes, "oh and at the end, Ruy Blas kills Don Salluste" or something like that. I looked at Jordan, who was sitting next to me, and we were both like what the eff? She ruined it!!! Oh well. I still have to read it.
Tomorrow I have class theatre until 1:30 and after I plan on coming back to the apartment, eating lunch and taking a long nap...after I watch The Office of course! (YAY FOR THE OFFICE BABY!!!!) Tomorrow night I think Katie and I are going out for dinner because Jean-Francois and Caroline are coming for the weekend and they are taking Renee out for dinner tomorrow because it's her birthday. She'll be 60. I learned a lot about her the other day. She is divorced, has been for 20 years (that's a long time) and she got divorced because her husband thought that she should be at home all day cooking, cleaning, and doing other things a wife should do. But, Renee wanted to live her own life and not do that stuff so she filed for divorce. Because she didn't have a job or anywhere else to live, she saw her kids on and off for 2 years while she found a place and a steady job. She had a boyfriend, who was also divorced, but his 2 daughters were jealous of all the time he spent with Renee so she broke up with him. Now it's just her and Norton...and me of course (until June). I give her a lot of credit for getting out there on her own. She's a strong lady!
I guess that's it for now....I'm done with my homework by 9pm...that's a shocker! I'm going to relax for the rest of the night and probably start season 4 of Dexter
A bientot mes amis!
After a heartbreaking loss to Team Canada, I went to history class on Monday a little depressed. There was a presentation (I think there is going to be one every week because the teacher I guess wants us to learn from the other students and not herself...) and it was pretty interesting. About half way through class the professor said that she has something important to do next week during our class time so she asked if we were free another day. She mentioned Friday afternoon after 2, Saturday, or Sunday. While I am free all of those days, I signed up for her class Mondays from 2-5, not Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. No one obviously wants to go to class on the weekend, so she decided that we would have class next week from 4-7pm, which is a lot better than the alternative.
Tuesday I didn't have class. It was so nice out but I couldn't go out and enjoy it because I had so much reading to get done. Dr. Costello assigned at least 200 pages to read this week, plus Acts 1 and 2 of Ruy Blas, other readings for the same class, act 1 of L'illusion Comique...the list goes on and on. I spent the majority of the day reading. Soooo much fun....
Wednesday pretty much sucked. My theatre class in the morning wasn't bad, no complaints there. However, my translation class was horrible. We had to add punctuation marks to paragraphs in French (obviously). I thought I did alright on the exercises, but I was completely wrong. I did horrible. Who knew punctuation could be so hard? After what I learned in class that day I don't think I could've properly punctuated the paragraph if it was in English, which is sad. We also had to translate part of this article we read. That was so-so. There are so many words that I just don't know and everyone was using all of these fancy words for simple things. Who wants to read an article in French that sounds like rocket science? I don't. I guess it's just going to take me a little while to get used to the whole thing. Hopefully it will get better.
Thursdays are the worst day of the week for a few reasons...
1) I am in class from 11:00-1:30pm and 2-5:00pm.
2) Because of the short amount of time in between classes, I don't have enough time to eat a proper lunch; therefore I am crabby.
3) Thursday is literature day...2 classes in a row all about French Lit.
4) Dr. Costello's French bothers me
5) I'm just exhausted by the end of the day
....as you can see, it sucks. Costello's class wasn't too bad today. It was a lot to read of course (I didn't finish it all...no one else did either) but Costello said that it was okay because he knew it was a lot to read in a week. We were talking about this thing that we read all about Paris and what this guy thought about it and Dr. Costello asked us when the French Revolution was because the book was written before it. No one said anything so I looked at Costello and was like 1789...I think he was shocked that I knew when it was, but after 6 months of having it drilled into my brain, you'd think I'd know it by now. Class ended early (thank god) so Lizzie and I walked at a leisurely pace through the gardens to class. Lit class was pretty good today. Lizzie, Amira and Antonia had a presentation about Chateaubriand, which was good and then we talked about what we read in Ruy Blas. I don't think Madame Berthon realized that she did it, but she goes, "oh and at the end, Ruy Blas kills Don Salluste" or something like that. I looked at Jordan, who was sitting next to me, and we were both like what the eff? She ruined it!!! Oh well. I still have to read it.
Tomorrow I have class theatre until 1:30 and after I plan on coming back to the apartment, eating lunch and taking a long nap...after I watch The Office of course! (YAY FOR THE OFFICE BABY!!!!) Tomorrow night I think Katie and I are going out for dinner because Jean-Francois and Caroline are coming for the weekend and they are taking Renee out for dinner tomorrow because it's her birthday. She'll be 60. I learned a lot about her the other day. She is divorced, has been for 20 years (that's a long time) and she got divorced because her husband thought that she should be at home all day cooking, cleaning, and doing other things a wife should do. But, Renee wanted to live her own life and not do that stuff so she filed for divorce. Because she didn't have a job or anywhere else to live, she saw her kids on and off for 2 years while she found a place and a steady job. She had a boyfriend, who was also divorced, but his 2 daughters were jealous of all the time he spent with Renee so she broke up with him. Now it's just her and Norton...and me of course (until June). I give her a lot of credit for getting out there on her own. She's a strong lady!
I guess that's it for now....I'm done with my homework by 9pm...that's a shocker! I'm going to relax for the rest of the night and probably start season 4 of Dexter
A bientot mes amis!
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