day of rest

I'm pretty sure that there's a mosquito living in my flat, and he's a sneaky bastard biting me when I'm asleep. Not cool.

It's Sunday, and I didn't do anything cool today. I can't be living it up all the time, you guys, jeez. Some days I have to clean the floor and the kitchen and the bathroom and take out the recycling. Like today. I did do some shopping for foods since the market closes at 1 on Sundays and isn't open on Mondays. And this nice French guy who was in line ahead of me and putting his groceries in his bag--we have to bag our own groceries here--gave me my milk since it was pushed next to his groceries. It was nice. I said "merci". Walking back to my place was kind of cool 'cuz I have to navigate through all these tourists, and I sometimes here the occasional English, which was nice. There were a lot of cute 20 somethings with their girlfriends wearing cargo shorts and Ray Ban sunglasses and sporting those beards that you sometimes see at a hipster-ish bar or party. It's nice.

Weekend was pretty chill though. Participated in a scavenger hunt with the IP crew that had us go from le Jardin du Luxembourg to Place St. Sulpice to Les Invalides to St. Paul and ending at Berthillon, the famous ice cream palace on Ile St. Louis. I got a scoop of green apple and caramel, and it was DELICIOUS! The scoops were tiny compared to American size scoops, but what it lacked in size it totally made up in quality. Yum. They don't use preservatives, and it's all made in-house. I didn't take a pic though since it was melting so quickly! Then the whole crew sat beside the Seine to chill and enjoy the ice cream.

Everyone got up to leave after 10 minutes or so and get some real food to eat, but I didn't feel like eating and my friend Lou said, "You're going to sit along the Seine like a loser?" And I gave him a very "Jim Halpert" [from "The Office"--if you're a huge fan, you'd know what this looks like] kind of look and said sarcastically, "Yup. 'Cuz I'm a loser." I just enjoy little things like sitting along the Seine by myself. But we laughed about it, and we're gullies. I also brought my copy of Franny and Zooey to read. It's my favorite of all of J.D. Salinger's works, and I re-read it every year. I can't live anywhere without that book. Mom and Kuya called Saturday night, which was really nice. Thanks guys! It's funny but, I'm at a place right now where I'm not missing anyone badly, and I know that sounds mean, but it's the truth. I'm okay now. I'm pretty sure that I told them that I missed them though (did I, guys?). It's just this instant thing I say without knowing if I mean it or not. I'm sure the story'll be different come Christmas time or even as early as Thanksgiving, but we'll see. It's just that I've created a life here, a routine, and I'm occupied as hell, but that's a good thing. I'm not moping around, shutting myself in. I do though miss the English language so here are some things I come to that cheer me up:

1. Thoreau's "Walden"
2. J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey
3. Jake and Amir: Amir is hilarious!!! And he is seriously my dorky crush of the moment.
4. Trailers on Apple.com:
5. "The Office" on fanpop.com: I love this show.

Here's a list of things I have to do, in no order:
1. gather the names of all the hotel in my area to send to Mom
2. take pic of the scooter store by my place to post for kuya
3. sign up for classes (boo)

I'm going to go back to studying mes relatifs: dont, que, qui, ce qui, ce dont, etc..

Friday!

Okay, why does Friday deserve an exclamation point? CUZ IT WAS THE BESTEST FRIDAY EVER! As I write this (and it's 9:30pm), loads of Parisiens are outside watching the France vs. Ireland rugby game being projected on screen in front of my church. They're cheering, "Allez! (Go!)" It's totally surreal. I've been watching a bit now and then, but I don't really understand the game. I'm sipping espresso that I JUST learned to make (thanks to Google). My landlord left me a stovetop espresso machine called a macchinetta, and it is amazing. I think I'm hooked. I'm still a tea lover, but espresso gives me an extra caffeine kick that makes sure I don't miss le metro. Also, I'm going to call my friend back in Cali around midnight (my time), so I need to stay awake.

Here's my Friday. And it may sound so mundane and normal to you, but when the setting is Paris...come on. It's going to be amazing. I woke up and went to MICEFA to take care of my carte de sejour and student card. Then I took a different way home, finding all sorts of new graffiti, but I didn't bring my cam. Dang. I found a boulangerie by my place that sells smaller baguettes for cheaper, which are great since I can just eat it in a day, and it'll still be good. Then I found another outdoor market, Place Monge. I browsed around, and it was pretty cool.
I went home to get ready for class, and from my window I can hear a marching band. I peered out and saw a band of students wearing outrageous clothing. They were playing the tetris theme song! It was so cool I went outside with my cam and took pictures and filmed them. Then I got ready for class, which was okay. I kept making beaucoup de fautes, but now I know what I really need to study.

Afterwards, Keisha wanted to show me this thrift store. She had told me that the place was a mess, but, oh gosh, she wasn't kidding. Imagine piles of clothing 4 feet high. I KID YOU NOT. You had to DIG through everything. It was absolute chaos, and totally lovely. I didn't get anything, but Keisha bought two scarves. We waited for Lucia, and she said she got a haircut, and we were excited to see it. Keisha and I were walking, when we see Lucia 100 feet away, and our jaws dropped and we literally stopped in our tracks. She looked so amazing with her new haircut. Her hair is long, below the shoulders, and now it was layered and amazing. She's a total knockout!

We were discussing what to do for dinner. One of us suggested buying a roasted chicken at a boucherie and some salad at the Franprix (that's my supermarket). I suggested a boucherie by my place. The three of us were eyeing the roasted chickens, and we got one. Here's how it went:

Keisha: Un poulet roti, s'il vous plait.
Boucher: Un poulet entre trois filles? C'est triste! [One chicken among three girls? That's sad!] (Laughs)
Keisha, Lucia, et moi: Hahahaha...

It was so hilarious, what he said. I guess because it was a Friday night, and he assumed that it was just us eating and no guys and so forth...I cracked up so hard. He was nice, I think I might go there again. I went back to my place to set the table and get my place ready while Keisha bought rice, salad and white wine; and Lucia bought dessert. Each of us spent around 7 euros, which is pretty cheap for a full dinner including wine and dessert. I swear, it was the BEST dinner ever because it was a full meal for all of us. We were savoring everything like it was our last meal or something. Living here has made me appreciate how easy I have it in America cuz I just take things like a nice, roasted chicken in the States for granted since it's so cheap and available. When things are expensive and rare, once you have it, it's so special.We talked for an hour or so, really enjoying our meal. Outside a band was playing songs live, and I could see my landlord dancing. Such a cool sight. With a full tummy, lots of laughs, live music outside your window...wow, that's an amazing Friday.

Menu:
Salad
Roasted Chicken a la taragon
Roasted Potatoes
Rice
White wine: Vin D'Alsasce, Pinot Gris
Dessert: Vanille ice cream with caramel and pecans

glimpse into the future and school matters

I forgot to mention that the night I visited L'Opera Garnier, I was thinking about my visit there and how much I loved it, thought it beautiful, and for the FIRST time I realized how hard it's going to be to leave Paris at the end of the year. I know that sounds crazy, and I didn't think I'd feel that way so soon. There's so much that I love at home--mostly family and friends--but not places, exactly. I love San Francisco and Los Angeles, but I don't love those cities as much as I have come to love Paris. And I've only been here 3 weeks or so. Who falls in love that fast?

I don't want to think about the future. One of my New Year's resolutions was to not think too much or worry about the future. But I know it's going to be very hard to leave next year. Very hard.

In other news, I'm getting ready for St. Denis, or Paris 8. St. Denis is part of the Universities of Paris--that includes the prestigious Sorbonne as well. I'm not all about prestige or anything, but my school is on par with a community college, and that's cool with me. Mot. Also, I've been saying "mot" a lot (pronounced like the name "Moe"), which translates in English to "word". Word. Mot. I'm such a dork. But it makes my friends laugh.

This week I'm getting lots of things finished:
1. my student card
2. my carte de sejour
3. class schedule: I'm banking on 2 French oral and written classes, a French cinema class, a French history class, and another Cinema class. I've been looking at the cinema class schedule, and it's getting me super excited!! There are cinema classes being offered in English, and that might be a good. We'll see. We have to have 15 units completed each semester. If I have free days, I'm going to look into doing tutoring or babysitting on the side for some extra euros. Mot.

I couldn't stop laughing today, so many funny things happened. In our cultural adaptation class, Kathy said "watering hole" instead of "water cooler"--as in the place where a lot of information is exchanged between co-workers. I know that sounds stupid, but it was so hilarious to me! And then after class, my classmate Romina said to my other classmate Kris, "Kris, you should get out more often!" Kris is sort of shy and doesn't seem like the party-goer type. And Kris says, "Go out? Why? I'm going out to buy a tv today." And I just laughed so hard. And then, later, Lucia was over using my internet, and she was trying to explain xenophobia to me, and she was all, "It's a fear of...these people, who aren't from your country, and a l'etrangere..." And she was searching for the word, talking in English and in French, and I was all, finally, "Foreigners?" And we both laughed SO HARD because we both recognized how we're forgetting English. It was just too hilarious. I swear, the only time I practice my written English is when I write in here.

UPDATE: I added 2 more blogs at the left, and they're both from SFSU students. Woot! Check it! "I Wanna Be Expatriated" is from my friend Meghann, and "Donnez-Moi Les Escargots" (translates to "give me the snails") is my friend Taylor.

L'Opera Garnier

L'Opera Garnier is my most favorite thus far. When the tour started, our guide was telling us that women were not allowed to attend the opera by themselves, that they usually were with their father or brother or a chauffeur. And I thought that was cool, to go to the Opera with your Dad or brother and maybe you'd see your friend there with her Dad. I don't know, I just started thinking in the frameset of that time (late 19th century).

I walked into the foyer, which was okay looking, nothing extraordinary, but when we started the actual tour, I swear, my mouth was open the whole time, it was so beautiful. It was just so ornate and extravagant, and, the weird thing was that it felt like HOME. Not like home home, like I've actually lived in the Opera [oh God, maybe I was the phantom of the opera? ;)], but it felt like I've visited this place many times, known these statues, these halls, looked through these windows. And it first occured to me, near the end of our tour, when we were descending the le grand escalier--the main staircase that leads to the opera house. I was walking down the staircase carefully--it's pure marble, and I didn't want to slip--and the WEIRD, BIZARRE thing was that I held my left arm in a way so that someone could have his right arm slipped through it. It was as if I was being led carefully down the staircase by some imaginary ghost chauffeur. C'EST TRES BIZARRE! And I had no idea why I did that, I just did it. No one saw me, thank God, I must've looked absolutely ridiculous.

I turned left to follow the rest of the tour, and we reached the ground floor where the old entrance used to be, and there was this mirrored wall there. It was put there so that women and men can fix their clothes before going up the main staircase. And I stood there to see if I looked alright--I was wearing a skirt and had my long scarf draped over me cuz it was cold--and even THAT felt bizarre to me. Like I stood there before in another life. Weird stuff like that always happens to me.

Well, I LOVED the Opera Garnier even though we didn't get to see the actual opera house since there were dancers practicing, but my friends and I plan to see an opera or ballet sometime while we're here. I just can't wait to dress up and get all fancy! With or without a French date...Us girls can go the opera by ourselves now...sigh...

Anyway, this weird episode just adds to all my deja vus and other weird episodes that explain my inclination towards France and the french language in general.

UPDATE!:
I just re-did my whole "des photos" section of my blog using my limited html skills acquired in grade school, and now you can look at my photo albums without leaving my blog. Yay! They also show when they've been last updated. Yay for improvements!

indian summer at the Luxembourg gardens

It's rare for it to be so sunny and beautiful and warm in Paris this time of year, but while it is, our academic advisor Nancy told us, we might as well soak it up and enjoy it.

It was gorgeous Sunday. This past weekend was the Les Journees du Patrimoine, and a lot of state monuments and buildings that are never open to the public open their doors for all of Paris to visit. Keisha, Lucia, and I went to the Palais du Luxembourg in the 5th arrondisement. It was absolutely amazing. We went inside the chamber were the Senate meets, their library, as well as many of the other rooms. It was so cool to see where everything goes down. I'm not much of a political person, but I love being surrounded by history. It makes me want to visit my own capital, Washington D.C. Here's the chamber were the Senate meets:
We got lunch and brought it Luxembourg gardens where everyone else was picnicing and enjoying the sunshine. Children were out sailing boats in the huge fountain. It was nice. I've never seen so many people outside taking it easy. Back home, a picnic is such a huge, rare treat with something behind it like a birthday. Here, they just do it for fun.

Went to L'Opera Garnier today before class, and it was AMAZING! Probably my most favorite of all the places I have been to since my arrival. I don't know if anything will ever top that. I'll post about it later, 'cuz I haven't uploaded the photos yet. That place is abolutely STUNNING.

As I've probably written before, I love lists of things.

Things that are in my fridge:
1. Milk: milk is pretty good here, and for some strange reason, my tummy can tolerate it. Back home, I drink Lactaid.
2. Cheese: The tummy can tolerate that too.
3. Sangria: My landlord made it for a party he had here a couple weeks ago, and it's still good. He let me have it.
4. Salad and salad dressing: my main meal with crackers and number 5.
5. Hummus: Always good to have. See number 4.
6. Yogurt: So much better here than the yogurt in the states for some reason. And okay for tummy.
7. Juice: it comes in small cartons here, the size of half and half cartons in the States. And it's expensive.
8. Pasta sauce: Comes in small jars, a third of the size of pasta sauce jars in the States.

chateau fontainebleu and st. denis

Today, Micefa arranged a day trip to Fontaineblue, just 55 kilometers southeast of Paris. All the kings have lived there dating back to the 12th century. We had to wake up early and be at the office by 9 (blech!). Our profs were there too, and they gave us these scavenger hunt kind of things to do, a 3 page paper with questions to fill out as you go through the chateau. I was not expecting that, I just wanted to enjoy the day and tour and take pics, but some of us felt really rushed and anxious to get the paper out of the way in order to enjoy the day. Oh well. This is a library that we saw:
Besides the homework, I did enjoy the castle. It was so beautiful. I stood at this window of one of the private rooms for the Queen, and I thought about whether she stood were I stood and looked outside, and it felt eery, but cool. Just to be surrounded by so much history and opulence. The grounds as well were tres cool. There was a carp pond, and we had a picnic that my friend Derek planned on this grassy area by a canal. It was so beautiful. We all brought our own sandwiches and stuff to share. I went to a boulangerie nearby and bought a sandwich and this loaf of sweet bread that had candied oranges in it. It was delicious. It was really sunny, and the boys, Derek and Kris, were like, "Let's go in the shade!" And they were totally griping about the sunshine. But us girls, Keisha, Lucia, Megghann, and I were all, "It's so nice out!" And then it was getting really warm, so we were all, "Okay, we'll go in the shade if you boys move everything." And they gladly did. The boys are so hilarious and add a much needed humor to situations. Here's the secret passageway to the picnic spot:Anyway, it was an awesome day trip and loads of fun. Yesterday was cool too, we saw 2 Days in Paris, and it had some good parts. I really like Adam Goldberg, he's a really good actor even though he gets typecasted a lot.

I'm really happy today for two things:
1. Yesterday, a lady asked me, while I was walking down rue de Rivoli, if I knew if there was a cinema nearby. And I said I didn't know, sorry. What makes me happy is that she thought I was a Parisien! She didn't think I was a tourist! And a "cinema" of all things! Film is all around me.
2. My ex roomie, Kathy, said that I looked like a film director today, and that made me happy. I was just wearing a button down shirt, jeans, and my Ray Bans, as you can see in the first photo. Nothing special. But it made me really happy. During one of our conversations when we were rooming together, I mentioned that I was interested in being a casting director, and she said her aunt's a casting director in LA. She said that she'd be happy to help me out and get me in touch with her. So cool! It's all about who you know.

I also visited St. Denis, where I'll be studying. It's quite a metro ride away, but I plan to have all my classes in the morning. I was told that their film department is small but good, kind of like SFSU. I hope to get more into French though, but we'll see. I was told that a lot of IP students have done well in their film program, and I feel all sorts of pressure to do really well too. I'll try my best.

If you haven't noticed on the left, I've been adding more and more photo albums to my photobucket, so you can check those out. I've updated "delicieux" and added a "fontainebleu" album. Enjoy!

bonne etudiante

Katia used me as an example yesterday! Yay! It always feels good to be an example. We were going over our homework for the verb tense "le conditionnel" and she liked my sentence. The conditionnal for us Americans would be the "would" verbs. Like I "would like" or I "would have done". My sentence was this:

Heureusement que le train avait un peu de retard, sinon je n'aurais pas rencontre l'homme de me vie. Which translates to, "Luckily, the train was late otherwise I would not have met the man of my life." Beautiful, no?

Anyway, she was glad that I used the "passe conditionnel", which is the past tense of the conditionnel. Also today, she complimented my writing and speaking because I apparently speak French really well since I don't let is sound like English. I articulate. But she also said that I need to speak up. It's funny, I noticed that my French voice is NOTHING like my American voice. My French voice is sort of softer and girly. Yikes, sorry for the French lesson, but you were due for one anyway.

I went to another H&M the other day with Lucia and Keisha and bought a cute black sweater vest in a SMALL! Yay! It totally fits. Tonight, we're going to go see 2 Days in Paris. It's written and directed by Julie Delpy and stars her and Adam Goldberg, who is hilarious. Awesome!

Tomorrow, we're going to Fontainebleu, and it should be really cool and fun. My friend Derrick planned a picnic.