SUPER LONG ENTRY

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Well, I was thinking about beginning this entry with an apology for not having updated in the past week, but then I starting thinking... no one has complained, or even commented on this factor, so maybe no one reads this blog anyway! So no appology for you!

What have I been up to anyway? Well, basically classes started and the work never stopped. I had a 10 minute oral presentation last Wednesday on a new article, so I talked about the US Subprime crisis... don't ask why, but it was in the papers a lot over here and I figured it would be something I should get myself educated about before my internship (private equity firm) begins in 3 weeks! Monday and Tuesday nights were spent preparing for that, and then Thursday I had to present the biography of Jacques Chirac, France's former Président. I should have chosen someone more recent-- they haven't been around for as long as he has, so they don't have as many positions and dates for me to talk about!! We didn't have class on Friday, although we had a 4 page (french style = 4 legal sized pages, 1.5 spacing, size 11 font) "dissertation" in French due on Monday, and a class field trip on Sunday. That ment that the only day we could go out would be Thursday!

So off we went to St. Michel (the "Latin Quarter", which is sort of the student area) for Happy Hour. Let's put it this way, at the first bar we went to, we got sparklers in our "orange juice," and at the next one they had french candy drenched in "water" in the drinks. Let's just say it was a fun night that we all needed after having worked hard all week, and after baguettes and gyros on the Seine (and an episode with two guys simultaneously peeing into the river!), most people went home at around 10pm! I stayed, with two other NU people and a girl from Vasser and we went to go and see the Eiffel Tower light up at night. We wandered all around, then when it was midnight we all headed off to our respective apartments in order to make the last metro. It was a fun night, and a great group of people. Actually, in general I'm really happy about the other people in the program. No one is super super wild, but everyone is excited about being in Paris and wants to explore and enjoy being young in belle Paris!

Friday was another great day for me, although the exact opposite. I woke up late, went on a nice long run by the Seine, finally did some shopping (I'd sort of been eating meal-to-meal up until then because I was having a hard time accepting that I'm actually living here, as opposed to just visiting), made myself a SALAD (I'd been craving a salad since I got here, the French just don't a good American grilled-chicken-salad-dressing-on-the-side, so I made one myself, minus the chicken because I don't cook meat-- sorry Jeremy, you're becoming a vegetarian if you stick with me!). Then I thought about doing laundry, decided that I still had 3 pairs of underwear and that could possibly last me the week, then went to the library. I spent the rest of the day and night at the library at the Georges Pompidou center-- I've seriously never seen as many hard working people in my self... and school doesn't even start until October! I plucked up the courage to converse with the locals, and found out that some people have some sort of exam before school even starts... but it was a library, so I wasn't really supposed to be talking. End of conversation.

Saturday was pretty similar. I woke up, went on a run to a park just outside the peripherique called Parc Suzanne Lenglen. It was a nice run, and a pretty park (pretty french boys playing soccer shirtless too....), but I got rather lost on the way back... in a rather sketchy area since it was outside the peripherique. Eventually, I found my way back and got on the metro as by that time I'd run an extran 30 minutes trying to find my way back! I walked on the train, and OMG... the smell was awful. I think a "sans abri" (homeless person) was living in the train, and using it as a toilet! I got in the next train, where I proceeded to have a nice conversation (in french!) with a little old lady. We discussed the smell, and then wondered why a woman was getting on the train dressed as a chicken. Weird. The rest of the day was spent at the library. When the library closed, I went to St. Michel (again!) to have dinner with my friends. We finally had a french "formule" (basically a cheap 3 course french meal) as a group (Seva and I had one when Ben, our MMSS friend visited us on Monday). I had mussles, followed by salmon and pasta, then a tarte aux pommes. All was rather yummy, but then we all headed back to work on our papers late into the night.

Sunday we had our field trip. Our professor took us to Fountainebleau, which is a Chateau about 40 minutes by train outside Paris. When we got there, we all wandered around a local market and bought some cheese and bread and meat for a picnic, and then wandered off into the forest (it's HUGE!) surrounding Fountainebleau. After a rather long hike over rocks and around trees and such, we sat and ate lunch. I had my first goats cheese sandwich like mum used to make for me in Brittany, which wasn't quite as good without the taste of my dad's disgusting pâté from the knife and the pieces of sand, but none the less, it was bon. After that, we found the castle and looked around. It's beautiful inside. It is where Louis XII was born and where Napoleon signed his deed of abdication in 1814 (it was also the place that he chose as "suitably majestic base" when he was emperor). French royalty even went hunting in the area in the 12th century, so the forest is famous too! See pictures if you're interested. When we finally got back to Paris, we all spent the rest of the night finishing up our essays.

Today I woke up and felt like crap. I think I have a cold, although I'm feeling a lot better this evening... I'm not sure what happened. I almost didn't go to class this morning, but I ended up feeling guilty, so I did. We have a new professor today... he teacher sociology I think and was giving us a lot of statistics about the different social classes in France. It would have been interesting if I wasn't more concerned about having to blow my nose, but hopefully it'll be good tomorrow when I can actually pay attention. This afternoon we went on a little field trip to the Sénat, and got a private tour around the inside. It is beautiful inside, and it's really cool because it's really ancient, but it's still used today! This evening, Camille and I made dinner together (I was the sous-chef!). It was her invention, and it was a sort of fish pate, that she mushed up with tomatoes and some herbs, and then put inside wholled out tomatoes, then baked for a little while. It was rather good, with fruit for dessert. I was a really fun dinner, and we even talked about going to see a movie together. I'm starting to like her a lot now that I know her a little more. At first it was hard for me to to talk with her, but it's getting easier for me to have a conversation with her and even though I don't know how much my French is improving per se, we had a much more back-and-forth conversation that we did when she made dinner last week and I was taught about proper french etiquette.

Anyway, I should probably begin my exposé on the many french political parties that is on Wednesday. Wish me luck! This weekend I might go on an excursion with my friend to Normany, maybe to Rennes and then to see the beaches. Does anyone have any other suggestions about where to take a 3 day trip?

OH, important! We have a 10 day vacation from Sept. 21-30. WHERE SHOULD I GO? I'm thinking of going with some friends and flying to Rome from Paris, spending a day/night there, then taking the train to Florence. I'd really like to see some of Italy (especially Venice, but I'd rather do the gondola thing with someone other than my friends, hint hint!), and I'm hopefully going to visit the 'rents in Bologna in a few weeks, so I think I'd like to go somewhere different after Florence. I think the end of that week I'd like to go to England to see the relatives, but I'm not sure what to do in between. Any suggestions? Prague? Germany? Spain?

Bisous!

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Comments

[Lara]

Yay
Hurray! I'm glad you're having such a great time. It sounds like you're doing great speaking French! But no more running in sketchy places. And do try not to drown in all the work. I love you!!!

[Jess]

Don't get raped - buy a map. Maps save lives :) Don't go to Rome, Rome is yucky. If you want to go to Italy, definitely go to Florence, and then go to Sorrento. Sorrento was by far the best place in Italy, all the lemons are tasty :) Even Perugia was better than Rome. Rome is just dirty. The Vatican is the only good thing to go see. Even the Coliseum is boring, there's too much modern construction in it. Oh yeah, and go to Pompeii, that was awesome. And I was seriously like an hour away from commenting that you haven't posted. I've been staring at that picture of the sandwich for a week and thinking "Ms. Button isn't talking from the sandwich..." Love you lots, and if you can take a picture of some hot boys, that would be great, preferably with their shirts ON :)

[Evan]

Haha, Jess is so pessimistic. However, I do second her recommendation for Sorrento--it is amazing and was by far my most favorite place in Italy. Venice is great too. All of your adventures sound so amazing and I'm glad you're having an awesome time!