Massive Update!

Okay, seriously it's been soooo long. This is going to take so long to write. Grrrr....alright here I go. I'm going to have to use dates btw so it'll be easier.

Monday 17th:

Okay so Renee left for vacation for I had free range of the house which was AWESOME!!!! I really like Renee but sometimes I just like to be alone so I can do whatever I want. For example, I can't have dance parties to Lady Gaga at 11:30 at night while Renee's here because she's usually been asleep for 3 hours already. Monday after class Chaniece, Katie and Jacqueline came over and we made home made mac n cheese and brownies from the box that my parents sent me. We put 3 different types of cheese in the mac n cheese and man, it was delish. It was so easy to make too. We sort of followed Ina Garten's recipe and you really can't go wrong with Ina because she's so cool. It turned out really, really well. I think we were all quite surprised. That night, Jacqueline and I decided to meet John to go to this concert. I brought along brownies because I'm nice like that. HA! It took me and Jacqueline FOREVER to get to the metro he was meeting us at because it was all the way in the 20th. That neighborhood isn't really the best place to be late at night btws. So me and Jacqueline got off the metro at 9 (we were 15 min late....oops!) and I called John so he could come and meet us because some guys had already honked at us from their car. John came a few minutes later and fell in love with my brownies because they were awesome and because I made them, duh! Anyways, he said that he couldn't find the bar that we were supposed to go to and was like yeah, it doesn't exist in this part of town. I was like you've got to be kidding me?!?! We came pretty far and you're telling us it doesn't exist? How is that possible? So John call's Chaniece who was at home and had her look up the bar on Google. She said that it was all the way in the 16th. The 16th is on the opposite side of the city. So we got on the metro and rode it an hour to the 16th. Once we got off we started looking for the bar. After walking up and down the road that it was supposed to be on we couldn't find it. This guy asked us if we were lost so John asked him if he knew where this bar was. Of course the guy has no idea so he looks it up on his BlackBerry. He said that it wasn't in this part of town. We asked him if there was a bar around there that had live music and no lie, the guy goes, "no, there are only shitty bars here. This is a shitty area" I was just like omg....John takes us to the best places!! We got back on the metro and after wandering around somewhere Jacqueline thought was a good area we ended up near the foyer where we have IPP classes at this piano bar. The bar was really sweet. There was a guy playing the piano (obviously!) and this woman was singing. I guess you could request songs if you wanted to too. We get into the bar and the waitress seats us next to this couple that was hard core macking on each other. And when I say hard core I mean like hard hard core. I was worried they were going to make a baby on the bench. HAHAH. John was the unlucky one who got to sit next to them. I was sitting on the other side of the table across from John and Jacqueline was next to me. I had such a hard time concentrating on the conversation because my eyes were glued to this couple mauling each other. Me and John ordered beers and Jacqueline some how ordered vodka, I think she wanted a Smirnoff Ice, but she didn't say the ice part so they just gave her vodka in a glass. The couple finally stopped macking on each other so I could finally concentrate on the conversation. The music was really good. Alla came and hung out for a bit. We left the bar around 12:45am. I was like what in the world am I doing out this late on a Monday night? I was worried that I was going to miss the last metro so we all rushed to the stop. The bad thing about being out that late is you have to deal with the crazies in the metro, we just try to stay away from them, but the trains don't come very often. Me and Jacqueline had to wait 15 minutes for 1 train. Luckily when I got to Montparnasse I ran to the 13 so I wouldn't have to wait 20 minutes for the next train. I only ended up waiting 5 which is a lot better than 28 because that's when the next train was coming. Over all it was a really good night and I had a lot of fun.

Tuesday 18th:

I never have class on Tuesday, as you already know, and since I was out super late the night before I took advantage of that and slept in. It was nice. I tried to write my 5 page paper for Costello's class that was due on Thursday but I only managed to get 2 paragraphs done and 1 paragraph writen in English, which obviously doesn't help me. When Chaniece got out of class she, John, Jacqueline and Pilar came over. John left after like 10 minutes but the girls stayed and we had dinner and then tried working on our papers because we are all in the same class. I managed to get 1 more paragraph done before everyone left. I was up until 1am writing my paper. Needless to say I was pretty crabby on Wednesday.

Wednesday 19th:

I don't remember what happened. I had theatre and translation. Our final exam for translation is next week (joy) and Benoit extended the due date for our final paper until next week instead of this Friday. When I got home I had to load LOST and Glee because I had to watch them because they were new episodes the night before back home. But, I wouldn't allow myself to watch them right away because I had to write my paper. I started writing around 6, took a dinner break around 7:30, during which I watched Glee. I finally finished my paper at 12am and had it edited and printed by 1. I got ready for bed and then obviously had to watch LOST.

Thursday 20th:

I had Costello's class and lit. I was super tired because I didn't get much sleep the night before from staying up late to finish my paper. We got out grades back from our first papers. I got a B+ not too shaby. He didn't write a lot of comments on the paper, which annoys me because it really doens't tell me why I got the B+ We also got our final paper assignment. I feel like all I do for this class is write. We handed in our papers and Costello asked if we read for this week and of course no one did because we were all finishing our papers. He goes, well that figures. It was a little rude but come on, what did he expect. I'm sure when he was in college and he had a big paper due the next day, he didn't do the assigned readings for the class. Give me a break. Lit was good. Chaniece and I passed notes back in forth about random things like Lady Gaga lyrics and what the teacher was wearing. Near the end of the class John passes us a note saying there is a concert tonight and he asked if we wanted to come. I said I would and Chaniece said she's go too if she finished eating with her host family in time. He promised that he knew where this place was this time and we wouldn't have a repeat of Monday night. We left class and went home. I was working on some homework when John im'd me on Skype. He was annoyed because he was caughing so bad or something like that. He ran to the pharmacy to get some meds and then came back and said he wasn't going to make it to the concert and was going to stay in tonight. I was pretty bummed. :( oh well, I mean he can't help it if he's sick. I told him Chaniece and I planned to have a movie night and he could come over if he wanted to but he passed. Chaniece didn't end up coming over because her dinner with the host family went super late. So, I watched The Sandlot, finished my bottle of wine and ate a bag of popcorn by myself.

Friday 21st:

I went to theatre and I don't really remember what happened. John had his presentation and I don't remember what we talked about in class...it really wasn't that important. After class I rushed home to finish packing for London and to clean up the apartment because Renee was coming home on Saturday and I didn't want it to be super messy when she came back. I left for the airport around 4:45ish and took the RER B all the way there. It was super hot in Paris that day so of course it was deathly hot on the train. Not to mention there were like a million people on it. The woman sitting across from me, also going to the airport, would seriously jump out of her skin every time a train would pass by on the other side of the tracks because we were sitting by the window and a giant gust of air would rush into her face. It was pretty funny. The night before I bought the Lady Gaga cd FINALLY!!! so I jammed out to that all the way there. I got to the airport, got checked in and made my way to passport inspection and security. There was this British couple behind me and somehow they got seperated from the rest of their group so I stopped and turned around so they could pass by me. I don't know how or what I did to this man but I looked at him and he goes, "Why are you looking at me like that?" and I was like huh? and he goes "I can't be a terrorist!" I was like WTF dude? I didn't even look at the guy. Why in the world would I think he's a terrorist. God, what a crabby British man. I made my way to the gate and sat down to read and eat my over priced sandwich and coke. The plane was supposed to board at 7 I think, but of course, because I was on the plane it was delayed. I guess it was coming in from Zurich and the Swiss don't know how to fly planes so it was late. Then, it was delayed again so I think we were about 45 minutes late boarding. I finally got on the plane, sat down and of course the plane taxied for another 30 minutes waiting to take off. The pilot came on the intercom and was joking around like well, some day we'll make it to London. I was like yea, some day buddy, this is my 3rd try attempting to get there!!! We finally took off a few minutes later. I don't know why, but we had to be in the air longer than we were supposed to. Maybe the airport was backed up or something so we had to circle around it twice. We finally landed and it took another 20 min to get to the docky thingy, I don't know what it's called. I turned on my phone right away (even though they said you couldn't....I was annoyed) and texted Lex, letting her know I just landed and I was getting off the plane soon. I made it through customs without a problem. The guy who checked my passport was really nice. I walked towards the exit and finally saw Lex and Marissa waiting for me. They were dressed like it was a million degrees outside (shorts and tanks) although it was pretty hot outside considering it was almost 9. It's a long drive back from Heathrow to Lex's house. However, we weren't staying there, we were staying where Marissa lives I guess because it's closer and she has the internet and a projector so they stream movies and watch them on the wall. It's pretty sweet. I want one. We started watching 500 days of Summer, but Marissa was tired so she went to bed and Lex followed like an hour later. I finished watching it by myself. I forgot my glasses and contact case in Paris, but some how managed to remember contact solution...so I made a make shift case out of 2 shot glasses. I'm smart, I know.

Saturday 22nd:

Saturday was the best day of my trip because we went into London (finally!) After a quick stop in town to get Marissa some new shoes and me some British pounds because I only had Euros on me, we headed for the Tube stop that is closest (45min away) to the town. We got to the stop, which is at the end of the central line of the Tube (which is the Underground, or the metro) and of course, I have to pee. We got out and I asked this old guy who was working there if there was a bathroom and he said yes so he let me through so I could use it even though we didn't buy our tickets yet. He was nice. We bought our day passes and we on our way. It was like 13 stops to London, well to the place we wanted to transfer to. The first stop on our list was of course Platform 9 3/4 which is at King's Cross station. A few things about the tube. It's similiar to the metro in Paris, although I prefer the metro to the tube. I do like how they say "Mind the gap between the train and the platform" they say it at every stop and they don't do that in Paris. It is set up a weird way though. You have to know what direction you are going but unlike in Paris where it give the names of the last stop as the direction, in London you need to know the actually direction like north, south, east or west. That was confusing but the good thing is there were signs before you made your turn to go that direction that said what stops would be in that direction. Anyways, we get to King's Cross and I'm seriously geeking out. I didn't exactly know where the cart and the wall was (there's half of a cart pushed through a wall and the wall says platform 9 3/4) but I knew it was in the station somewhere. However, it's going through a major renovation so I think they moved it somewhere else. Lex asked for directions a few times but we finally found it. When we rounded the corner and I saw if I couldn't stop smiling. I felt like such a nerd. OMG it was sooooo cool! Seriously, my favorite part about my trip to London. I took a million pics (obvs!) and then we left, after a cig break for Lex and Marissa. This is a picture of me trying to jump through the wall. I almost made it.

We planned on going to Buckingham Palace next. We got off a few stops before the stop for the palace so we could walk through St. James Park which was really nice. It's a very pretty park. I wish we would have gotten down there a little earlier and we could've had a picnic because there were tons of people just hanging out and enjoying the sun. It was a long walk to Buckingham Palace but it was so worth it. The palace really wasn't what I was expecting. Lex said there are usually guards outside of the gates but there weren't today, they were behind the gates. I really wanted to see the changing of the guard ceremony but it's at 11am every day, and we obviously missed that. Buckingham Palace is where everyone put flowers when Princess Diana died. I remember seeing that on tv. Anyways, we hung out there for a little while and watched this gauard walk around in his funny hat. He marched like a frog....if frogs could march. Next we walked towards Westminster Abby which is were Parliament Square is located. It was another long walk but it was so nice out I'd rather be outside than down in the hot tube. I saw a phone booth and obviously needed to take a picture inside of it. I could only stand in there for a few seconds because it spelled like pee. We made it to Parliament and it was really cool looking. I saw Big Ben and the London Eye from a distance. We couldn't walk down the street that Parliament is on because there were gates all around it for some reason. In this park across the street there was an anti-war protest going on. That was pretty cool. After looking around Westminster Abbey for a bit we jumped back on the tube and went back to Piccadilly Circus which is kind of like Times Square in New York. It was pretty sweet. We found this place to eat at because we all were starving and I had pizza. It wasn't very good. We all were pretty tired. I wanted to see a few more things in London, like the bridge and Abbey Road, but Lex and Marissa were tired and I was kind of dependent on them to get me home and everything because I was staying with them. After dinner we left and jumped back on the tube for the long ride back to where we parked the car.

On the way home we ran into some major traffic. There was an accident that ended up being pretty bad. This car that was towing a giant trailer flipped and everything was all over the road. We were stuck in that for at least and hour and a half. Lex even shut her car off and got out to stretch because we had been sitting for so long. She went into her trunk (which Marissa calls the boot...she's British) and grabbed a book. She was going to start reading it but we started moving so she handed it to me (it was The Lovely Bones) and told me to start reading it outload. I read the rest of the way home. We got home pretty late and we all changed into our pjs. I figured we'd play beerpong because that's what we usually do but we were all pretty beat. We watched Jurassic Park and then went to bed.

Sunday 23rd:

We really didn't do anything, just hung out and watched movies all day. I don't have much to say about that. Monday was mostly the same thing except Lex wasn't there because she had to work so it was just me and Marissa. Around 5 we left for the airport. We didn't hit any traffic on the way down there, unlike last time, and I read The Lovely Bones outload again most of the way down. I made it back to Paris without a problem, except for a run in with a bench that I didn't see so now I have a giant bruise on my leg. It's pretty gross. I bought this coffee cup that says "Mind the Gap" and has the Underground sign on it. It's pretty cute and I really like that saying. I made it back to Paris around 10:30 and didn't make it back to the apartment until 12. I tried loading LOST because the series finale was on the night before but it was being a jerk and wouldn't load so I just went to bed.

Tuesday 25th:

I didn't have school and really got nothing done all day because I had to watch LOST which was over 2 hours long and Grey's because I missed that too. I spent the majority of the day watching tv. I also did laundry. I attempted getting my translation homework done but that didn't happen.

Wednesday 26th:

I had theatre and we talked about the play we were going to see that night. In translation we went over out worksheets and preped for out test which was in a week. That night we went and saw Roberto Zucco for theatre class. It was interesting to say the least. It took me FOREVER to get there because I had to take the 1 all the way to the end of the line. But, of course, there was a lot of traffic and we ended up stopping at 2 stops for 10 minutes each. Good thing I left early. I got there 10 min. late and couldn't find my class so I called Colie. I found them, crossed 4 lanes of traffic and made it onto the bus just in time. Everyone was there minus 2 people. This bus takes us about 10 minutes into Bois de Vincennes, which is a forest outside of Paris. This theatre was like in the middle of the woods which was a little odd. The play was good, it was kind of bizarre and the main character Roberto, pranced around naked. I mean like butt naked. You saw EVERYTHING. Also, there was this woman who went crazy who gave this huge monologe topless. It was a very French play with lots of naked people. The play ended at 10:45ish. We all got back on the bus and then headed towards the metro. The 1 is going through construction at night, I think to make it all automatic, so I had to get off at nation and take the 6 all the way to Montparnasse. It was a long night on the metro. I didn't get back until 12am.

Thursday 27th:

For Costello's class we met in Montmartre to take a walking tour of that part of town which was talked a lot about in l'Assommoir. It was really cool. Some parts of the town were pretty shady and there were these black men trying to sell us cigarettes which was weird. It's a really big area where all the immigrants live. Besides being a little shady it was very interesting. We saw the 2 windmills that are left in Paris. I saw them when I was in high school but I couldn't find them the last time I came to Montmartre this year. We got out of class early. Costello gave us our tickets to Les Mis which is this week and I can't wait!!! We got on the metro, which was interesting because it was also shady. These men were trying to sell us metro tickets infront of the place where you scan your card. It was kind of scary but we all were together so it's not like I was alone. Oh and it rained the entire time we were there so that was kind of crappy. We got to school early so bought pasta for lunch at this little pasta place and then ate it at school in the hall way of the building that our class is in. Class was good. Jacqueline, John and I played tic tack toe. I lost. After class, the 3 of us and Alla went to FNAC to buy tickets to this concert. It started pouring, go figure, so me and John shared my umbrella. He isn't a very good umbrella holder. The entire left side of my body was soaked. Oh well.... :) I bought a ticket to this concert. I really don't know who Bad Religion is but I guess they are really good. I think I may have heard one of their songs before. It's their 30th anniversaire tour so that's pretty cool I guess. It's on the 16th of June. After the FNAC I walked home and it started to rain again. Renee and I had dinner together that night for the first time in like 2 and a half weeks. We had fish. It wasn't very good and I was still hungry afterwards.

Friday 28th:

I had theatre, that was good. We talked about Roberto Zucco for a while. Our paper is due the Friday. After class I met up with Katie at her dorm and we worked on our Ho Chi Minh presentation for Monday's history class. By working on it I mean we sat around and talked for 3 hours and didn't get much work done. HAHAH!!! it's cool though, I didn't mind. I went with her to the post office so she could send a box home but they wouldn't take the card she was trying to use. After that I went back to the apartment and started working on my half of the presentation. We decided we are going to make it a game. There are 5 categories and each has 4 questions each. It should be fun....I hope. All the other presentations have been so boring so far, so maybe ours will be more interesting because it's a game. Renee went to see a play that night but she made me a salad for dinner before she left.

Saturday 29th:

My plan for the day was to go to the Longchamp store to buy my bag and then head to FNAC to get homework done. I did just that. My bag is ADORABLE!!!! It's pink and I love it. Colie came with me to buy it and then hung out for a bit at FNAC but then left. I got some work done but when they started setting up for this guest speaker I left because there were a million people in the cafe and it was distracting and annoying. I got back to the apartmet and Renee was still over at her friends house doing whatever. I sat down to work on my Costello paper. I have to analyze this poem. I read it, listened to it online because it's a slam poem and then started looking up all the words I didn't know. There were a bunch because he uses a TON of slang. I made an outline of my paper and got the first paragraph written. That night at dinner I asked Renee for help on some of the words I didn't know. Oh, I totally forgot...Renee took Norton to the vet because he's been biting himself and it made the spot all red and raw so the vet put one of those giant collars on him. It's yellow so he kind of looks like a sunflower. I call him "mon petit fleur" which is my little flower...he keeps running into the walls. It's pretty funny. I got some more work done after dinner but called it quits around 11 and just chilled out.

Today, finally, the 30th is Mother's day in France. It is also Kelsey Wipper's 21st birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELS!!!! I bought some flowers for Renee when I woke up. They are purple. I have no idea what they are called. When I got back from buying them I put them in some water, started my laundry and ate breakfast. I off to a slow start that day and didn't start doing my homework until around 2. I wrote some more of my paper, watched the highlights from the Hawks game (GO HAWKS!!) and studied for my history test which is tomorrow. Renee came home and she was carrying this giant plant. It was bigger than her. She loved the flowers I bought for her. After a Skype date with Chris, who I haven't seen in forever! I got back to studying. I noticed that after WWII France pretty much jumped into war with Indochina (Vietnam....not the Vietname war, that was after. This was in 1945) and then the war with Algeria right after that in 1954. They fought for a really long time. They lost both of those wars btw.

I am finally caught up now. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. I'll try to update this week but I have 2 finals, 2 presentations, and 2 papers due, plus I'm going to see Les Mis so it's a pretty busy week. Plus, this weekend I'm going camping with some kids from IPP. So if I don't update this week it will probably be on Sunday whenever I get back. Have a good week and happy Memorial Day...I have school tomorrow :(

Bisous

ps, there was no way I was going to re-read all of this for errors, it took me 2 days to type.