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 GirlHi! 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.

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.