I suck, I know. It's been a week since my last update. Remember in the beginning when I didn't have homework or a life and updated everyday? Ha.....it's a different story now. Alright, I'll try to make this a quick one since the past few have been super long.
Monday I didn't have class since it was Easter Monday, a legal holiday here. Renee didn't work either, which was shocking. She spent the majority of the day cleaning, shopping, and planting her garden out on the balcony. I spent the majority of my day writing my speech for theatre class. I read the entire play on Sunday and then made an outline of my speech to give to the class, as well as an excerpt I found online, and I wrote my actual speech out so it would make it easier to practice.
Tuesday I went to Victor Hugo's house in the 4th arrondissement. It's in this square called Place de Vosges. I had never been there before so I really didn't know what to expect. I met Jacqueline and Colie at the metro and then we made out way to Hugo's house. We walked through this old curved stone entry way and in front of us was this cute little park in the center of all of these buildings. We crossed the road and went into le petit jardin. It was really nice out so there were a bunch of people out. The park reminded me so much of the quad at U of I. I seriously was a little taken back by emotion. Jacqueline and Colie were like dude what's your problem? and I was like ummm I haven't been home in 7 months and haven't seen the quad in almost 8 so I'm gonna need a moment. I was kinda sad after seeing that because I miss U of I so much.
Anyways, we found Hugo's house, got our free tickets and then headed inside. It was on the 2nd floor was a lot more interesting than Balzac's house. There were a lot more personal items in the 5 room apartment. For example there were a bunch of letters that Hugo wrote to his favorite daughter Leopoldine and letter she wrote back to him. There was also a dress that she wore, and her ballet shoes. Leopoldine died when she was 19. She fell off this row boat into the Seine and the weight of her skirt pulled her down to the bottom and she drowned. Hugo was devastated by her death and was never the same. He went into exile (not because of her death but because he hated the government) and the rooms in the apartment were either before exile, during exile, or post exile. It was really interesting to see how differnt the rooms were during the 3 major stages of his life. For example, the exile rooms were really dark green and weird. One room had all these crazy Asian artifacts in it. We finished our tour and Jacqueline and I went to this groccery store that reminded me of a very small Whole Foods and then went to this cafe. The waiter at the cafe was a total prick. I bought a pastry and sat down to wait for Jacqueline because she had to go to an ATM. The waiter came up to me and asked what I wanted to drink. I really didn't want anything because all the drinks were really pricy but saw that I had bought a pastry and told me that I basically couldn't eat it here because I didn't pay the extra to sit at a table. I really don't know what his problem was. So I had to pay for a drink (I got an espresso for 2 euro...) and then he charged me an extra 50 cents to pretty much put my pastry on a plate. I was pretty pissed. The pastry was already 1.80 euro. Whatever, we won't be going back there.
I tried to read for the rest of the day because I had the last half of L'assommoir to finish for Thursday. Renee and I had lunch together and when she left I started messing around with her computer because I needed to print out my paper on Balzac's house for Thursday. After trying like a million times, I noticed that there was no black ink in the printer and the color ink was also running out. I saw that Renee bought new colored ink, but no black. I ran to the Monop (Monoprix) and picked up the ink which was around 16.90 euro. I got back, put it in and tried printing my paper to find out that it still wasn't printing in black. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't printing anything in black even though the cartrage was brand new. I gave up because at that point I had been messing around with it for 2 hours and I really needed do more reading. That night Renee came back late and I was in a pissy mood because I had spent all that money and the stupid printer didn't work. She walks in the door and I was still sitting at the kitchen table reading and she hands me New Moon on dvd. She went to the video store after work and rented it for me because she knew how much I wanted to see it again. I was so happy that she rented it but then I started complaining that the printer didn't work, so I felt kind of bad. Renee told me to try printing it in blue, which worked and she was like okay, so just hand that in. And I was like, Renee, I can't hand in a paper printed in blue ink. I tried it again in a dark, dark, blue and just left it at that. I watched New Moon that night and it was amazing. I hope I can watch it when I get home!!! WINK, WINK....
Wednesday nothing really exciting happened. Theatre class was boring. Benoit talked the entire time and translation class wasn't very interesting either. She gave us this huge packet to do for next week and told us that our first test will be the week we get back from break. So I can't wait for that...
Thursday Costello gave us a pop quiz on the ending of L'assommoir. Good thing I gave up on reading with 28 pages to go to the end....I wasn't very happy. Luckily we all were discussing what happened at the end of the book before class started so I think I might have done alright. It was only 5 questions so nbd. Our first big paper is due next week, along with our Hugo paper. He's kind of a jerk for scheduling them to be due on the same day. Thanks buddy! In lit we finished watching Colonel Chabert and it was really good. We also talked about the test for next week. I should probably finish reading Colonel Chabert....I think I'll end up reading the English translation because there's no way I have time to finish it. Thursday night I went to see Ciels for theatre class. I have to write a paper on it. I could go on and on about how awesome it was and how sweet the set was but this post is already too long and I'm tired...sorry. If you really want to know, ask me and I'll tell you.
My speech went really well on Friday. I was a little nervous but everyone seemed it like it. We took a lot notes during class. I think we're a little behind on our readings. We talked about our test on Wednesday and I don't think it will be that bad. I pay attention and take good notes so I'm not that worried. When class ended, Maya and Kirsten met me and we walked to get me sandwich and then jumped on the RER B to go to the movies. While I was waiting for my sandwich Benoit came up to me and said that he was really impressed with my presentation and I did really well. That made me so happy. I have a little crush on him even though he's kinda old and wears jeans that are tighter than mine. I'm just in awe of him. It's kinda lame. Anyways, we got on the train and met Katie at the movies to see Remember Me. It was supposed to be only 3.90 euro but I guess that is only for people under 21. The woman at the register looked at my ID and asked how old I was and I told her 21 and she was like okay, 7 euro please...and I was like ummm no, it's only 3.90 and she's like yea, if you're under 21, which you are not. Oh well...Maya had to pay 7 too but Kirsten and Katie didn't because Katie is only 20 and Kirsten is only 19...what a little baby. I LOVED the movie. God it was so good. I'm so buying it. And no, it's not just because Rob Pattinson was in it. He was amazing, Emilie de Ravin was amazing. UGH so good. And OBVS Rob was looking super good. When isn't he? We all went back to Katie's dorm after to find a couch to surf on in Athens and just hang out. It was a lot of fun. Katie sent a bunch of requests to people and we actually found someone to stay with today. He's a guy that lives like right in the heart of Athens which is amazing.
Friday night I tried doing some of my Hugo paper and got about halfway done with it when I pretty much gave up and started watching Superbad and talking to a bunch of people on Skype. Saturday I met Jacqueline, Chaniece and Colie at the FNAC to do homework. I finished my Hugo paper and attempted to start my L'assommoir paper, but Alla showed up and then John (sigh) and I got nothing done. They were setting up for this weird interview thing with some old guy talking about psychology so we all left. Some of them went to a park and I headed back to the apartment to get more work done because I knew if I went with them to a park I'd just end up sitting there and talking with all of them. When I got back Renee was getting ready to go on vacation. I read both passages for the paper and then looked up all the words I didn't know...which was like a million. I'm not sure what I did after that. I think I talked to my dad and then watched an episode of Parenthood and then went to bed.
Today I worked on my paper all day. I basically got a rough outline going, made a thesis and my introduction and the 2 other paragraphs. That's seriously all I did today. Oh and I didn't laundry and printed out my ticket for London. It's kind of pathetic that I was only able to write 3 paragraphs (single spaced) in a day. But, I guess they are in French. At least I have it outlined. Renee came back from work and then left for her vacation. She's going camping. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to go camping for vacation. She really didn't strike me as the camping type, but I guess they rented a RV or something. I guess Jean-Francois and Mathilde will be here some time this week. Mathilde is supposed to come sometime tonight. She better not buzz the apartment. Renee left the door unlocked for her so hopefully no one comes in the middle of the night to kill me or something. Just kidding....
It's gonna be a very buys week this week. I will try my very hardest to update at least once (probably Thursday) before leaving for London. All of my stuff is due Thursday or before so once the day is over I'm pretty much free.
Tomorrow is opening day. Hopefully the Cubs will be able to turn it around at home and I'll be singing 'Go Cubs Go' in Paris
Bisous!
ps. I didn't re-read this for spelling errors so sorry if it's filled with them. You should know by now that I can't spell
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