samedi 23 juin 2007

IL FAUT FAIRE...

My list of things to do in Paris. In no particular order. Started officially writing list on the 25th of November, 2007 in the Montmartre cemetery.

1. enjoy a coffee outside in a cafe: With Keisha at Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th while waiting for Lucia to finish her bank appointment. Had a café viennois.
2. Monuments:


  • Notre Dame
  • Sacré-Coeur
  • the Eiffel Tower
  • the Catacombs
  • Cinematheque Francaise
  • Les Invalides
  • Panthéon
  • Conciergerie St. Chapelle
  • Opéra Garnier
  • Les égouts

3. go to the sights where they filmed Amelie:
4. see a French film
5. visit (step foot at least) in all the arrondissements: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.
6. window shop along the Marais and Champs-Elysees
7. Fondue (chocolate and cheese)
8. Cemeteries:

  • Montparnasse
  • Montmartre
  • Pere-Lachaise

9. Boat dinner
10. Fancy dinner
11. Chateau de Versailles
12. Bike along the Seine
13. Ice skating at L'Hotel de Ville
14. Latin Quartier cafés:

  • Les Deux Magots
  • Brasserie Lipp
  • Café de Flore

15. Picnic on the Champ de Mars
16. Sail a boat at Jardin du Luxembourg
17. Sacré-Coeur at night
18. Bois de Boulogne
19. Bois de Vincennes

"Then over here, this is the Eiffel Tower, right? It's Paris." -- Bernard Jaffe, "I Heart Huckabees"

About a Girl
Hi! I'm Elaine, and this is my study abroad blog. I am a 21 year old Filipina, and I'm studying in Paris, France at Paris VIII - St. Denis for an academic year through the Cal State International Program.

I am a Cinema and French major. My focus is on screenwriting. I love the production aspect of film though and once planned on becoming a camera operator or working in depth with a camera crew. I am also a French major, but that is under serious construction. Since arriving here, I've had a love-hate relationship with the French language. I'm from southern California, but I definitely don't have O.C. disorder (if you've seen Arrested Development, then this would be funny). I hope to return there after school.

Likes:
film. photography. books. bikes. food and drink. self-deprecation. making fun of myself. writing. light. walking. getting lost. wandering and talking in ikea. boys. wes anderson. buster keaton. zooey glass. writing letters. receiving letters. organizing. documenting my life.

Dislikes:
studying. fatigue. money. studying. being cold. useless wastes of my time. mean people. politics.

About a Blog

This blog serves to record my preparation for study abroad, my year in Paris, and the subsequent changes that will follow when I return to California to finish my last year at San Francisco State University. I will write as much as I humanly can--one post a day if possible, and it's almost always possible.

I hope you enjoy this life-changing year with me, whether you are family, friend, or stranger. This is going to be history in the making. Or not. I don't know yet. We'll see what happens.

mercredi 20 juin 2007

bonnes nouvelles

Finally some good news. This has been a good week, mail-wise. I got an email from CampusFrance, and they told me that I can apply for my visa without my passport number: no problem. So that's out of the way, except there's some stuff on the forms that I need to clarify with them so that I don't do it wrong. So that's great. Also in the form of an email, a student who studied film where I want to study sent me some great advice about what film's like over there and how I should go about and all. He told me to bring a camera if I plan to make a movie there. I probably will. He told me not to be scared of the French. I probably will.

Now, if I could get my passport, all my dreams will come true. Come on, good old-fashioned postal service. Do me this one thing before my birthday.

So, my roommate Morgan gave me some great, amazing, wonderful advice whilst on our bike ride to school that I hope I heed. She told me that when I'm in Paris, I should seriously get out and explore the city and not be a studying homebody hermit like I am here. She's completely right. When will I ever live in Paris again? San Francisco I really take for granted. I've barely been in the city for more than ten times this past year, it seems. So busy working on my films, studying, and being a hermit. It's really lame. I can't do that next year in Paris. God, if I am, hit me, hit me with a really stale baguette. And when I come back to San Francisco for my last year, the year I graduate, I better live it up. Live like I was in Paris (if I play my cards straight and not stay a hermit). Cuz after that, it's over. I'm not going to be a student anymore, and I'm not going to be in San Francisco anymore.

Gosh, life lessons, here and there.