I went to my first concert in Paris last Wednesday: Islands. It was really last minute. My friend Alex asked me if I knew them around 6 p.m. and told me they were playing at 8:30 and so we went. It was only 12 euros at a pretty small venue. It was awesome except that there were poorly placed columns like on the stage that blocked the view a bit. They played some songs I didn't really know because I don't know much other than their Return to the Sea album, but it was still really good and fun. There are two brothers that play violins along with a couple other instruments and they are really entertaining and get really into it so that's awesome. The lead singer had half his face painted white, which was cool except the whole band apparently used to wear all white suits when playing, according to Alex (who met them a couple years ago actually and hung out with them all night), so maybe just having the paint was a downgrade. But they played really well I thought and I was just glad to see a show again. The last one I saw was Battles on Nov. 12th and that might be the longest time I've gone between seeing shows since freshman year. Next will be Hot Chip on St. Patty's day which should be a lot of fun. Then I'm seeing Broken Social Scene in May. Other than that I don't have anything planned, but maybe something else will come up last minute which is fine by me.
This Friday I left for a weekend in Southern France with API. It was kind of a rocky start. I had to be at the train station at 6:45 a.m. and so I had set my alarm for 5 a.m. so I would have time to pack, shower, and go. Well, I don't know if I didn't wake up or if my alarm didn't go off, but either way I woke up at 6:15 from a text message and not from my alarm at all and so that was sort of awful. I had to throw things in a bag and bolt out the door leaving a quickly written (and in English, which I felt badly about) note for my host family. I got to the metro at like almost 6:30 and realized I didn't have my metro pass but didn't have time to go back and get it so I just bought a ticket and then it wasn't working so I basically had to jump the turnstile with the help of this random guy. So I had fifteen minutes to go five metro stops, make a transfer to the RER and go two stops on that. I got to Gare de Lyon at like 6:50 or so and realized I didn't even know what track I was supposed to meet the group on and had no credit in my phone to call anyone so that was fun. But alas, I spotted some people from Paris 7 and everything turned out alright.
We got to Aix-en-Provence a few hours later and went to our hotel right away. Then we all went to look for some lunch, and had a tour of Paul Cezanne's studio/workshop (painter, duh). I actually didn't go to that because we had to meet at 2:30 and we weren't done with lunch and I didn't feel like rushing through like some other people did. I wanted to see it, but it's okay, I'll.. uh, go back some day? Other than that we didn't really have any set plans for Aix so I just wandered around with a few people for a while, which is where I took on the role of acting tour guide "Kah-tee." I must say I'm pretty good. I set the record straight and let everyone know that Napoleon is a fictitious character from a 12th century novel, on par with Harry Potter as far as popularity is concerned and that is why so many know about him today. That night we just went out to dinner and hung out in the hotel since we had to be in the lobby at 8:45 in the morning to leave for Marseille.
So yeah, Marseille was next and it's pretty, etc. We had lunch on the water and I had bass (we all did) which came with scales, head, and all. That was interesting. It tasted good but I didn't finish the whole thing because there were too many bones, bones, brittle little bones poking at my gums all the time and it got tiring to have to pick them out. We also had this superb calamari that was cooked in some special regional way and it was awesome. Uhh and we went to some church, uhh notre dame de la garde or something? Jkzz that's what it is I am just funny.
Sunday we left to go to Beaux-de-Provence which is this little chateaux/village in the mountains and it was awesome and you can see some pictures on my picasa website. Then we went to Avignon for a few hours before heading back to Paris and I saw Miss Hannah Wittwer which was lovely, but too short. We got a tour of the Le Palais de Papes and then went to the train station to head back. Sadly I left my camera at the hotel accidentally on Saturday and then it died after only a short while of being Beaux-de-Provence on Sunday so I don't have many pictures to prove how beautiful it all was, but believe me it was awesome. I don't think I could study down there, but maybe when I am deciding where to retire, Southern France will win out over Florida.
Well now I'm back in Paris, back to reality and such. It was a nice weekend though and I'm looking forward to my trip to BARCELONA this weekend. But I think I'll stop there because I got stuck speaking in a southern accent this weekend via game of kings and now I am still sometimes thinking in a southern accent and so every word I type means more angst for my brain. I hate the south... but not the south of France. Anyway, au revoir.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The French...
1. Speak French. weird.
2. Ride RAZOR scooters everywhere -- I mean, Americans DID do that, but it's really big in Paris right now apparently. I have seen whole families scooter-ing down streets.
3. Have free bikes on various street (well, they're like 1euro, so they're basically free) for you to take out for a day or an hour or whatever. So environmentally-conscious.
4. Make out in public shamelessly.
5. Steal my money. No, not pick-pocketers -- restaurant owners, etc.
6. Listen to American music, only. I have probably only heard like 3 french songs since I've been here.
7. Don't tip at bars or restaurants, but that's because they also don't pay their waiters/waitresses/bartenders a fifth of the minimum wage.
8. Appreciate Americans a lot more than I expected.
9. Have cute children.
10. Do not smell bad as far as I can tell.
11. Really like Orangina, and so do I.
more to come.
2. Ride RAZOR scooters everywhere -- I mean, Americans DID do that, but it's really big in Paris right now apparently. I have seen whole families scooter-ing down streets.
3. Have free bikes on various street (well, they're like 1euro, so they're basically free) for you to take out for a day or an hour or whatever. So environmentally-conscious.
4. Make out in public shamelessly.
5. Steal my money. No, not pick-pocketers -- restaurant owners, etc.
6. Listen to American music, only. I have probably only heard like 3 french songs since I've been here.
7. Don't tip at bars or restaurants, but that's because they also don't pay their waiters/waitresses/bartenders a fifth of the minimum wage.
8. Appreciate Americans a lot more than I expected.
9. Have cute children.
10. Do not smell bad as far as I can tell.
11. Really like Orangina, and so do I.
more to come.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Les Autres Étudiants
Okay, so just a brief run-down of the people I've met here:
Nicole Brown & Suzie Brothman were my two roommates at the hotel we stayed in for the first two nights. Suzie is also a junior, is from Wrenthem, Mass (what up Wrentham Outlets!) and goes to Quinnipiac -- she knows Sarah Kaufman. She's in the same grammar class as me as well and is living in an apartment here with another girl (who I'll get to). Nicole is a sophomore from Long Island and goes to Marist College. She's also doing a homestay with an older couple who are apparently in their 60s or 70s but seem a lot younger and are very active, etc.
Allison Varley is from a suburb of Chicago and goes to Austin College (not in Austin), Texas. She is ALSO doing a homestay, but really it's not that common, I think there are only 4 of us total.
Nickole Marchant is from Gloucester, Mass and goes to Salem State in Mass as well. She lives in the dorms here (le Cité Universitaire) along with most of the other people in my program. She wears a coat that I almost bought once and it makes me wish I owned it, but phew good thing I don't because it would look a little ridiculous if there were two people in a tour group with a mustard-colored pea coat.
Melanie Wurmer is from Guatemala City, Guatemala and goes to school in Georgia. So she's bilingual (on her way to being trilingual) which is awesome, but she went to an American school in Guatemala and so she speaks English really well and you can hardly detect an accent. I wouldn't have known she was from Guatemala if she didn't say so or I didn't hear her speaking a million miles a minute in Spanish on the phone to her parents. She also lives in the dorms and had a pretty bad experience with the room she got placed in. (think of Kramer's apartment in Seinfeld when that neon sign for the fried chicken place was right outside his window?)
Andrea Cook is also from Massachusetts (though I don't remember where.. woops). She goes to UMass Amherst and is a music major there. It sounds really intense and so good thing I never got awesome at the drums and tried to major in music.. at UMass anyway. At Stonehill it would have probably been okay since the music program is basically non-existent. Anyway, she lives in the dorms, too, but has a corner room, which functions much the same way having a corner office does, in that it's bigger and cooler.
Tyren Barker is, again, from Massachusetts.. somewhere Northish I think, and also goes to UMass Amherst. She is the only other person doing a homestay and I think her host family is just one older woman. I actually haven't seen her that much outside of API-arranged activities.
Allie Loscutoff (I might have just butchered that and I could cross-reference with facebook, but that will take too much effort -- although probably less effort in actuality than this parenthetical note has taken) is AGAIN from Massachusetts and AGAIN goes to UMass, but she lived in California for a couple years and she lived in the French Alps last year for like 5 months as an Au Pair. She is 22 and an art major and she always is off doing her own thing which is cool. She lives with Suzie in their apartment. She is just as obsessed with Moleskine notebooks (maybe more) as I am, but probably puts them to better use than I do.
That's all for the girls.......
Now for the boys:
Alex Hornbeck is from Towson, Maryland, right outside of Baltimore and he, once again, goes to UMass Amherst (API loves UMass). He's a journalism major and I think maybe English, but then again maybe the two are just connected at Umass (Journalism is a part of the communications major at stonehill so I don't know). He listens to good music and gets to go to a lot of shows for free because he has a radio show at umass's radio station and so that makes me jealous. I would exploit him if that perk carried over to Europe, too. Unfortunately, I don't think it does so I'll just have to pay to see bands (woo Hot Chip March 17th).
Stephen Kessinger is from somewhere in Massachusetts (wow massachusetts is getting boring) and goes to UVM. He doesn't know Caitlin, woomp wooomp. He has a french alter ego and drinks a lot of espressos. He is really sarcastic and it's funny.
Josh Fried (Freed, not fried like fried chicken) is from Oklahama and goes to the University of Oklahoma but he hates Oklahoma and his parents are from New York and he spent this past summer in New York and loves New York, so he's cool.
Jamal Noshahi is from Stonehill. He's a sophomore and so I didn't really know him before coming here, but it's nice to have a somewhat familiar face. I don't really see him too often though because his girlfriend (a junior from Stonehill) is also in Paris but with a different program.
Anyway, now I must meet some of the above people for dinner, but there ya go, a brief detailing of all other twelve API Paris Sorbonne Spring '08 members.
Hon Hon Hon.
Nicole Brown & Suzie Brothman were my two roommates at the hotel we stayed in for the first two nights. Suzie is also a junior, is from Wrenthem, Mass (what up Wrentham Outlets!) and goes to Quinnipiac -- she knows Sarah Kaufman. She's in the same grammar class as me as well and is living in an apartment here with another girl (who I'll get to). Nicole is a sophomore from Long Island and goes to Marist College. She's also doing a homestay with an older couple who are apparently in their 60s or 70s but seem a lot younger and are very active, etc.
Allison Varley is from a suburb of Chicago and goes to Austin College (not in Austin), Texas. She is ALSO doing a homestay, but really it's not that common, I think there are only 4 of us total.
Nickole Marchant is from Gloucester, Mass and goes to Salem State in Mass as well. She lives in the dorms here (le Cité Universitaire) along with most of the other people in my program. She wears a coat that I almost bought once and it makes me wish I owned it, but phew good thing I don't because it would look a little ridiculous if there were two people in a tour group with a mustard-colored pea coat.
Melanie Wurmer is from Guatemala City, Guatemala and goes to school in Georgia. So she's bilingual (on her way to being trilingual) which is awesome, but she went to an American school in Guatemala and so she speaks English really well and you can hardly detect an accent. I wouldn't have known she was from Guatemala if she didn't say so or I didn't hear her speaking a million miles a minute in Spanish on the phone to her parents. She also lives in the dorms and had a pretty bad experience with the room she got placed in. (think of Kramer's apartment in Seinfeld when that neon sign for the fried chicken place was right outside his window?)
Andrea Cook is also from Massachusetts (though I don't remember where.. woops). She goes to UMass Amherst and is a music major there. It sounds really intense and so good thing I never got awesome at the drums and tried to major in music.. at UMass anyway. At Stonehill it would have probably been okay since the music program is basically non-existent. Anyway, she lives in the dorms, too, but has a corner room, which functions much the same way having a corner office does, in that it's bigger and cooler.
Tyren Barker is, again, from Massachusetts.. somewhere Northish I think, and also goes to UMass Amherst. She is the only other person doing a homestay and I think her host family is just one older woman. I actually haven't seen her that much outside of API-arranged activities.
Allie Loscutoff (I might have just butchered that and I could cross-reference with facebook, but that will take too much effort -- although probably less effort in actuality than this parenthetical note has taken) is AGAIN from Massachusetts and AGAIN goes to UMass, but she lived in California for a couple years and she lived in the French Alps last year for like 5 months as an Au Pair. She is 22 and an art major and she always is off doing her own thing which is cool. She lives with Suzie in their apartment. She is just as obsessed with Moleskine notebooks (maybe more) as I am, but probably puts them to better use than I do.
That's all for the girls.......
Now for the boys:
Alex Hornbeck is from Towson, Maryland, right outside of Baltimore and he, once again, goes to UMass Amherst (API loves UMass). He's a journalism major and I think maybe English, but then again maybe the two are just connected at Umass (Journalism is a part of the communications major at stonehill so I don't know). He listens to good music and gets to go to a lot of shows for free because he has a radio show at umass's radio station and so that makes me jealous. I would exploit him if that perk carried over to Europe, too. Unfortunately, I don't think it does so I'll just have to pay to see bands (woo Hot Chip March 17th).
Stephen Kessinger is from somewhere in Massachusetts (wow massachusetts is getting boring) and goes to UVM. He doesn't know Caitlin, woomp wooomp. He has a french alter ego and drinks a lot of espressos. He is really sarcastic and it's funny.
Josh Fried (Freed, not fried like fried chicken) is from Oklahama and goes to the University of Oklahoma but he hates Oklahoma and his parents are from New York and he spent this past summer in New York and loves New York, so he's cool.
Jamal Noshahi is from Stonehill. He's a sophomore and so I didn't really know him before coming here, but it's nice to have a somewhat familiar face. I don't really see him too often though because his girlfriend (a junior from Stonehill) is also in Paris but with a different program.
Anyway, now I must meet some of the above people for dinner, but there ya go, a brief detailing of all other twelve API Paris Sorbonne Spring '08 members.
Hon Hon Hon.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Andrew is cool
Andrew had to do a portrait project for his Intro to Digital Imaging class and this is what he came up with. I think it's awesome. And it fits with this whole blog thing as it is me "in Paris." If you click on the picture so that it's REALLY REALLY big you can see the details better, it's not just a photograph photoshopped with another photograph.Anyway, just wanted to make that update because I just received the picture and I think it's awesome and you should, too. Okay that's all for now, bye!
Whatever, I want to, okay?
Okay so I am in Paris, omg wooo! I was inspired by my friend Brendan to keep a blog (blahblahblog). He's in Mexico and is doing it and I think it's a good/easy way to keep people updated on what is going on with my European adventures.
So far...
The first week I spent here was mostly orientation/touristy stuff, but that's okay because I have never been to Europe, let alone Paris, and so I was (hopefully not anymore, but I know any Parisian would think otherwise) a tourist. We went to the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, had a walking tour of Montmartre and also le Marais, went on a boat tour on the Seine, and did some exploring of our own. Post-orientation we've done a couple more touristy things as well, this weekend in particular. Well, we went to an opera show on Saturday night, which wasn't exactly touristy, but it was new. It was a German opera I believe (it definitely wasn't in French, Italian, or English) called Cardillac and it was a lot shorter than I expected, which I guess was a good thing. Sunday a small group of us went to Père Lachaise, the cemetery that has, among many many many others, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Chopin buried in it.
So little by little I'm getting to know Paris better. I take the metro multiple times a day and so by metro I feel really comfortable. I still would have no idea off the top of my head how to get from one part of Paris to another just by walking though. That is why I (further labeling myself as a tourist, or at least a non-resident) always carry a street map with me. It's kind of embarrassing to have to step to the side on a street so I can figure out where I am and how to get where I need to go, but it's necessary sometimes and I've come to terms with that recently.
As far as my progress with French goes.. well it could be better. It's hard when you are with only Americans all day long. We started one of our classes a week ago today though and that is beginning to help. I thought living with a host family would be a sure thing for improving my French quickly, but it's rare that I am in the apartment at the same time as they are, let alone for long enough to have some French conversations. But it's getting better. I definitely know enough to get by in restaurants, stores, and the post office as I discovered today, but if I continue at this rate, I am going to be nowhere near as fluent as I want to be by the end of May. It's just a lot more difficult to take the initiative and separate myself from other English-speakers just so I can have a conversation with a French person, especially when those English-speakers are the only people I know here. BUT the difficulty does not lie, as many people like to believe, in the fact that Parisians are rude and refuse to speak to me. So let's all drop that stereotype right now.
Well, I think I'll stop there for now. Maybe I'll detail the people I've met later, but I have to get ready to go see a movie (Miller's Crossing by the Coen Brothers circa 1990.. it's playing in a theater here and one of my friends really wants to go see it) and finish up some reading before I leave.
Also, for pictures to go along with this (well that wasn't the original intent, but if you want to enjoy pictures as well), go here.
Au revoir!
So far...
The first week I spent here was mostly orientation/touristy stuff, but that's okay because I have never been to Europe, let alone Paris, and so I was (hopefully not anymore, but I know any Parisian would think otherwise) a tourist. We went to the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, had a walking tour of Montmartre and also le Marais, went on a boat tour on the Seine, and did some exploring of our own. Post-orientation we've done a couple more touristy things as well, this weekend in particular. Well, we went to an opera show on Saturday night, which wasn't exactly touristy, but it was new. It was a German opera I believe (it definitely wasn't in French, Italian, or English) called Cardillac and it was a lot shorter than I expected, which I guess was a good thing. Sunday a small group of us went to Père Lachaise, the cemetery that has, among many many many others, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Chopin buried in it.
So little by little I'm getting to know Paris better. I take the metro multiple times a day and so by metro I feel really comfortable. I still would have no idea off the top of my head how to get from one part of Paris to another just by walking though. That is why I (further labeling myself as a tourist, or at least a non-resident) always carry a street map with me. It's kind of embarrassing to have to step to the side on a street so I can figure out where I am and how to get where I need to go, but it's necessary sometimes and I've come to terms with that recently.
As far as my progress with French goes.. well it could be better. It's hard when you are with only Americans all day long. We started one of our classes a week ago today though and that is beginning to help. I thought living with a host family would be a sure thing for improving my French quickly, but it's rare that I am in the apartment at the same time as they are, let alone for long enough to have some French conversations. But it's getting better. I definitely know enough to get by in restaurants, stores, and the post office as I discovered today, but if I continue at this rate, I am going to be nowhere near as fluent as I want to be by the end of May. It's just a lot more difficult to take the initiative and separate myself from other English-speakers just so I can have a conversation with a French person, especially when those English-speakers are the only people I know here. BUT the difficulty does not lie, as many people like to believe, in the fact that Parisians are rude and refuse to speak to me. So let's all drop that stereotype right now.
Well, I think I'll stop there for now. Maybe I'll detail the people I've met later, but I have to get ready to go see a movie (Miller's Crossing by the Coen Brothers circa 1990.. it's playing in a theater here and one of my friends really wants to go see it) and finish up some reading before I leave.
Also, for pictures to go along with this (well that wasn't the original intent, but if you want to enjoy pictures as well), go here.
Au revoir!
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