yay for learning, weird modern art, and more learning!

Yesterday's Paris History class was really cool. We learned about the fortifications that used to be around Paris during the Middle Ages. Today they're the boulevards of Paris. We even walked up the street from my place and saw a part of the wall that's still standing (see photo above). Cool.

Went to Centre Pompidou for the museum with Susie, Taylor, and Lily. Free on Wednesday for students. Waited in the bookstore, and while I was browsing the cinema books, I saw my screenwriting prof's John Ford bio that he just wrote translated in French! I was floored. I knew he was a writer and all, I just didn't realize how huge he was. It had this Scorsese quote on the book sleeve, and it was endorsed by TCM, Positif, and Telerama. It made me grateful to have him for a teacher and a supporter since he urged me to consider a career in screenwriting.Didn't even finish one floor of the museum. We went from each piece, making fun of it mostly. A lot of it was really cool, some pieces were ridiculous. This was seriously three blank white canvases in a row:Will definitely go back more often Wednesday nights.

Went to that grammar class, the one I had to test into, and I got in! Yay! It's really no big deal, a bunch of kids that didn't get in asked if they could stay, and she was cool. Madame PQ is truly a great prof--she wrote my grammar book along with my French history prof! So I'm in good hands. We went over the exam. She kept on asking why we chose "de" instead of "des" or why not "du"? This doesn't make sense to people who don't know French, I know. It was just intense. She wouldn't accept our "It sounds right" or "because it's this rule". She demanded more than that. I love how insane this semester is going to be, it's totally making up for last semester.

Lunchtime. Oh the lengths we will go for something that reminds us of home. Susie, Morgan, and I went to Jussieu to get "sandwichs mexicaines" also known as burritos. We waited something like 40 minutes to get this thing. We stood in the rain to order, then the guy said come back in 5 minutes. We hung out at a papeterie around the corner, came back, and waited like 15 minutes. All for a burrito, and not a true burrito, it was like as if you explained to your French pen pal who has never seen a burrito but maybe googled it, and he tried to make it himself--this would be it. It was rice, cheese, ground beef, chopped tomatoes in a tortilla. It was decent and spicy, but not the real thing. How it made me want the real thing...

After, Morgan and I met up with Lucia at Musée Carnavalet for their exposition on Benjamin Franklin. Walked from Sully-Morland and through Village St. Paul in Le Marais. We stopped by this weird thrift store and looked through the windows, it looked like a crazy garage sale, and these two cute French boys stopped too and were looking. All I could think was, "If this was a movie, and they talked to us, this would be our 'meet-cute'", but it's not and they didn't. I heard them speaking English, reading something inside. Francophone English accents are cute sometimes.

The exposition was really cool. Just the idea of an old dude coming to Paris and living here is pretty cool. I went up the the cashier to get a tarif jeune (youth ticke). I said it like this though, "Euh, tarif jeune, s.v.p?" And the cashier was funny saying, "Mais oui, vous etes jeune!" (Of course, you're young!). It made me happy that he was making a joke, and that he didn't answer me in English or anything, because sometimes they can tell you're not French, but when you get French back or even slight joking, it's nice. It's like you finally accomplished something. Then he made a joke about Benjamin Franklin.

After the exposition, hung out with Lucia a bit before her class. I got a piece of DELICIOUS chocolate while Lucia got dinner. I was still full from the burrito. Tastiness.I read French Women Don't Get Fat, and it actually really helped me appreciate food more and that it should be a celebration. So instead of buying a box of sweets to have in the house, a piece of really good chocolate to savor at an appropriate moment would be better. Also, Lucia and I also changed our eating habits so that we save money for traveling, and it's really helping me lose some poundage for the wedding. Woot.

welcome to the world

This past weekend, my friends in SF brought a lovely baby girl named Vivian into the world. I just read their blog. Congrats Rhean and Vilaska!

What a week. A baby born; and a family member laid to rest. I live across the street from a church. I can always tell when there's a funeral going on without having to look outside the window because the bells toll this really somber song, just one random note right after the other. I still look to confirm, and the men come out bearing the casket on their shoulders, and the women follow in black.

I am reminded of my own mortality. That I could be gone any day, that being "young" doesn't mean shit. Everything sort of drops when those bells sound, everything that's of little importance. And I hate being reminded that Death can come for me whenever. Who wants to live with that all the time? I mean, how can we? It's better in alarm form, preferably a loud, clanging bell, one note right after the other. Once a week is good, but it's been happening a lot lately.

Kuya sent me links to his engagement photos that he and Kat took in SF. They're so SF and cinematic. And they look so freaking happy with each other. There's a pic of my brother making this funny face, and it so looks like a face my brother would make. Kathy's holding a flower to his nose, and he makes a face like it smell disgusting. Just the fact that the photographer decided to capture it on film makes me smile. I hope I find someone that could make me as happy as they are. Or not, it really doesn't matter 'cuz I like being alone too. Will post one photo when they make them public.

Got to reading Kat's blog--I can't believe I'm going to have a sis!--and she said she went to WonderCon in SF and got to meet James McAvoy! Jealous, I wrote to her on Facebook: "You met James McAvoy in SF, and I live in Europe and can't meet ONE hot British man!" Haha, lucky girl. There's still time. I am going to London next week...

Lastly, I know this is kind of late, but I want to thank YOU for visiting my blog. We're past the halfway point now, and I'm arriving in LA July 4 or so I think which is kind of nice, so "AMERICA!" if you will. It's really nice to see the counter going up, and to see people visiting from all over the world from America to Norway and New Zealand to England.

Writing here has been a really therapeutic way to deal with being abroad and allows me to keep in touch with family and friends and be a little creative. It's never felt like a chore or a job, and that's what I love about it. So thanks for visiting and being a part of this, for commenting or just making the counter go up. I hope you guys have time to visit my friends' blogs on the left there because, although they're not as crazy as I am writing in my blog every day, they still have something to say, and they're all worthwhile reading. Bisous.

experimentation

I'll be experimenting a bit with the PFAY blog banners, hope you like 'em.

simple pleasures or: this is a boring post, don't read just look at the pretty pictures!

There's something so satisfying about drinking hot tea from a glass. The glass gets freaking hot though, so I drink it while holding the saucer. Just seeing that pale yellow turn to gold with a little spoonful of honey is beautiful. Oh how I love tea. Must've been British in another lifetime.

4 days until Catherine arrives. I'm a bit nervous. I want her to have fun, and I want to be a good host, but it's the third week of classes, and I shouldn't be missing any. The timing's just so off. I told all my friends visiting this, and they understand, but there's still that feeling there like I'm not being a good friend by choosing school. Catherine and I will have the weekend and the opera on Monday night, but aside from that she'll have whole afternoons to herself for two days. I'm glad she's a cool individual who doesn't mind hanging out alone.

In preparation, have done cleaning and arranging so that two people can stay here comfortably. Living in this space has been sort of like a tutorial for the real world when I'll be living on my own. Just like cleaning everything, making sure things work properly, taking care of plants. Every living situation in college has always felt like a dorm, even when I moved out of the dorms. Sharing everything and doing this chore or that because it's my week. I never paid attention to decorating or just making a nice, comfortable and pleasing space for myself and for others. I guess it's because I never had my own space other than my bed, my desk, and my section of a closet. Here I can be myself. Although I wish I could change my curtains.

This is all I need: a pan, a pot, and a bottle opener. I love the clog bottle cap opener that I got in Amsterdam.

I don't really need the stools by the counter since they just get in the way, so I put one next to the desk for the phone, and the other by the heater/entryway for my bag. And the director chairs are now hidden under my bed and not cluttering up the entryway. I only need them when I put the bed up anyway.I took some stuff of my walls and prepared them to be sent home, but it still looks cluttered anyway. I love all my movie ticket and museum ticket stubs (you can see them below the metro map and to the right of the North By Northwest flier I got in Amsterdam. I think I might make a collage and frame them all when I get back. One collage of all my ticket stubs, and then another collage of all the film fliers I got:This is my desk space, the BEFORE picture, because I just re-arranged it. It looks cleaner now. Here is the AFTER. I used the internet box thingy (my English is shot to crap right now, hence all these photos) as a little bookend and shoved most of my books into the nook only keeping the French ones close by. I also brought out this yellow lamp that I was previously hiding. I don't know why. It still looks cluttered, but nicely cluttered...Haha...I just remembered why this is so much fun and why I'm writing about this while you probably don't really care what my place looks like. I wanted to be an interior decorator when I was little. Funny how I just remembered this...

Anyway, I think my favorite though is using the ashtray I found in the studio to hold all my loose change. I also finished a large candle and used the votive for my pens and fountain ink cartridges.

You can see more of my studio photos in my Photobucket album.

My Grandma's sister died yesterday. I called her Grandma Rose. She died in Porterville, was sick in the hospital with pneumonia. Mom sent me an email about it.

She was an awesome grandma, always had something yummy cooking whenever we visited her, a good gardener with roses in the front lawn and fruit trees in the back. You'd step into her house, and it was like time warp, you were back in the late 70s with a record player in the corner and shaggy carpet. Going to Porterville was a bit of a time warp too because it wasn't like my own town, these were farming people living there (I always assumed when I was little from the long drive through endless farmland), but I guess it's pretty developed now.

It's always good to have a reason to go somewhere far removed from your own home. You had none of the hustle and bustle of the big city in Porterville. Things were a bit quieter, relaxed. I remember Kuya and I walking down Main Street. A lot of the shops were closed down, but there was a bookstore there that I liked.

I'd like to go to Porterville again to see my Grandma buried, to hug my cousins and my other Grandma, to drive through that endless farmland, but flying out for the funeral is out of the question. Maybe this summer I'll take a roadtrip there.

flipside

Went to church at St. Joe's near L'Arc de Triomphe. Most of the churchgoers are Filipino, maybe 70%. Lots of rich Filipinos driving up in Mercedes. Probably diplomats. At any rate it's nice to hear Tagalog once in a while. The wife and husband in front of me were talking Tagalog to each other, and the wife's mother was speaking French to her grandson who'd reply in French. It was flipping weird.

Got home around 2, and realized, man, I could really massacre a plate of lumpia. I could kill for a big plate of Dad's adobo, Mom's pansit, and white rice. That would really hit the spot. I salivate as I write this. Made pasta instead. I guess I could go get the ingredients, find recipes online, and cook it myself, but that would be expensive. And I'm lazy.

The Oscars are tonight, and even though I call myself a film major, I really do not like the Oscars. Asking me to watch the Oscars is like asking me to play Scene It. It's like prom for movies, and I didn't really care for prom. All that, "Who are you wearing?" crap although that didn't really happen at prom. Wait, it kind of did, people did ask me where I got my dress. And now Diablo Cody is wearing million dollar shoes or some crap for the red carpet. What made me especially angry is seeing Juno among No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood (which I haven't seen, but come on, it's Daniel Day Lewis). It was an okay film, it just felt like a lot of it was forced and tried too hard to be cool (film and music references, stupid burger phone that is probably available at Hot Topic).

Three women (Nancy Oliver for Lars and the Real Girl and Tamara Jenkins for The Savages--girl power!) are up for Best Original Screenplay, just please, dear God, any of these women except Diablo Cody. Who says, "Honest to blog" or "This is one etch a sketch that can't be un-did" blah blah? I guess I just like things that are a little closer to reality. I am, odd enough, excited for her future and to see what other screenplays she'll be pumping out.

Paris.

Went to my French cinema class on Friday. It's part 2 of the class I took last semester. So nothing really new, the prof is just pretty good. Went down to the Cinema board after class to check if there are any classes that I can maybe take just in case the grammar class doesn't work out. Found a class on Wednesday afternoons that sounds interesting: The Devil in Theater and Cinema. Sounds pretty cool. If the grammar class does work out then maybe I'll drop the French cinema class on Fridays (which I'm taking for a Cinema credit, not French) and replace it with the Devil class which means...4 day weekend.

Lovely. But we'll see. I still have to crash the Cinema Devil class.

Went to Ikea for 1 euro breakfast by myself and also got a cheap frame for my Van Gogh print "Skull smoking a cigarette". It's funny to tell someone this, and what you get back is, "By yourself?" Got an idea for a short movie that'll take place in Paris. Started the script halfway during breakfast. It was actually an idea I had for my production class, but after consulting my TA he advised I shoot another story because he didn't want to read subtitles. Had 2 cups of coffee, and I was on a roll. A man tried to go outside on Ikea's terrace to smoke, and he opened an emergency door, and the Ikea lady berated him. Will start shooting in April after my friends leave.

Went to Pigalle to meet up with Susie. Walked to Parc Monceau, it was my first time there. Did one lap, and then met up with Sarah and we did another lap. Walked towards L'Arc de Triomphe then down the Champs. Got tickets for the film Paris at Odeon and then food, and then sat by the Seine since our film didn't start for another hour. 2 boats passed by with their lights on, blinding us, and we waved to tourists. Then a couple, most likely tourists, took photos of us sitting on the side of the Seine, us facing Pont Neuf all lit-up, our backs to them. I hope the photo came out just like they wanted. Met up with Melissa, waited in a horrible line for a while, and we watched the film.

It just seems perfect that a film titled Paris is out now, right in the middle of our study abroad. It just seems so right. The film was decent. The coolest things were seeing the monuments, recognizing places where they filmed. Because it was ours, you know? We've been there, we saw it, we took the mental picture. From now on, whenever I see Paris on film, it's going to mean something really special because I lived here.

They showed 5 seconds of a metro line, and I knew just from those 5 seconds that it was line 6. I was so sure, because it was above ground, you could see the Tour Eiffel from that line, and I knew, I knew because I've seen it just like that. I am content. And then it's all downhill from there because they're speaking so fast, I can't get it all, and the audience is laughing at a joke that I missed. But it doesn't really matter. Not to me. That was line 6.