wamu

So, originally this was supposed to be a glorious recounting of my Thursday adventure where I joined forces with the French workers and marched around town protesting la politique de Sarko en disant qu'il ne faut pas soutenir les entreprise qui sont entrain de licensier leurs ouvriers. I was all ready to be a vocal force with my first in the air supporting the nationwide grève, but it didn't happen. I had received an email from a French classmate telling me about a réuion à La Place de la Sorbonne à 13h ce jeudi, but when I got there, by walking the two hours from Boulogne to the Sorbonne, I was left with nothing with disappointment because there was no large gathering of disgruntled students and profs. In retrospect I obviously should have been more serious about this manifestation and done my own research about where and when to be, but I'll have to remember that for next time. Suprisingly, walking across a good two-thirds of Paris is actually pretty easy. I was able to explore a few coins that I hadn't yet seen, like the areas around the back side of the Rodin museum and Hotel Matignon, discovered a movie theatre called The Pagoda, and the tiny shops of rue du Four.

There have also been some strange emotions in the air as of late. There have been a lot of last night in Paris parties for all of my Middlebury program partners in crime and at the same time i have already had my first two new classes of the winter semester and with them come all of the new fresh-off-the-boat Americans. You would think that interacting with these fellow Americans would be facile, but so far I have struggled. I should be offering up all of my advice on the little details that I have found that Paris has to offer, but the oppotunities for sharing this information are lacking. While they were going through their abridged "Welcome to Paris" month of January, I was passing final exams and saying goodbye to newly found friends, but I have confidence that opportunities will present themselves.

Like tomorrow! Some of us are going to a rugby match tomorrow so maybe I can start the friend making process all over again. Stade Fraçaise is famous for three things: being a decently good rugby club (they are currently 2nd in the French League), they have brightly designed uniforms (flowers, bright pink, Warhol stylized, kahki?) and every year they make a calender where the pose naked except for a few smartly placed rugby balls. Should be a great time!

Finaly, with this five day weekend, I've been on an American new binge via WAMU, my favorite NPR station and Slate. I feel bad that the news isn't in French, but with most of the people that I have met this year returning stateside, I'm missing home a little bit more than usual. When classes start up again for real after next week I'll get back on the French only horse, but until then I'll keep on humming the theme song to APM's Marketplace.

Don't forget to watch the big game this weekend. Team Handball Championship between France and Croatia in Zagreb. Should be a great one.

Allez les Bleus!

Mots

So this is where I will be spending most of my hours for the next few years. Next week is exam week as I have already shared with you, but hopefully it won't be too bad.

I just got back from Typhaine's birthday soirée. There really is nothing better than seeing everyone around a table of melted cheese, meat, and potatos laughing and sharing stories. I'm pretty good with the simple interjections, and humor in French seems to improve when ever there are a lot of people around. Matthieu, Typhaine's boyfriend and I get along great and we were passing side comments back and forth all night. (We were also the only two mecs at the soirée) She received a new digital camera for her birthday, along with a necklace, some chocolates, and a few things from Finland.

Tomorrow Typhaine starts her two day marathon exam. Maybe I'll see her again. She's really stressing, but everything will hopefully be fine in 48 hours.

Now its my turn to stress out.

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le moment gourmand

We're coming down the home stretch of the semester, and as always, I have more work than I would like. Procrastination has always been my forte. Four exam type things left and a paper or two, and then its a mini vacation, at least from La Sorbonne. Middlebury on the other had starts its classes on the 26th, meaning I truly only get a three day weekend.

Gave an exposé today on Carl Goerdeler and the German Resistance against Hitler. Received a moyen, but now its over and I can move on to other work. Like stressing out over how I'm going to study for my l'Europe Centrale class when the exam is a week from this morning.

Today for lunch I went to an inexpensive café just north of the Sorbonne où j'ai passé un moment gourmand avec un sandwich, boisson(s) et croissant. And for about about 3 hours it was just me, my food, The American Lion, and the crowds of French students. The two girls next to me were stressing out about exams, deciding on whether or not to pursue master degrees, and talking about their vacation plans. La Sorbonne doesn't start up again until the 9th of February. One of their mothers wasn't letting them go down to Marseilles for some reason. I would have evesdropped more, but her voice was really annoying and she kept on adding "quoi" to the end of every phrase, but only when she wasn't "ben-ing" (similar to um-ing) or interjecting with things like "tu sais?" That, and I really am digging this Andrew Jackson book.

It started a little slow, but after about page 17, I've struggled to put it down. As I'm reading it I can't help but remember my AP History teacher in high school and the American Pagent and how uncool they were for not liking Jackson. Sure he's brash and not the norm for the time period, by God he stuck to his principles. Or at least thats what the first 100 pages have told me. There is still lots of the book left, so there is still some time for me to change my mind.

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A photo!

Bonne Année 2009

So it may or may not have been many weeks since I've played around here in my blogosphere. Sorry. 2009 will bring aboout change in that respect, and many others.

Finlandia Recap:
Loved it!
Loved the snow, spending time with my family, meeting my sister's friends, exploring a country where I had no chance of expressing myself in the local language(s), seeing alto buildings, seeing Helsinki, taking trains, staying in futuristic hotels with no check desk, pulla (if that is how you spell it,) exploring the Stockholm airport (twice,) pretending to witness a Russian invasion of the country, stopping a rest stop on the highway that doubles as a cheese factory, and going into Vaasa's bunker just a hop skip and a jump from my sister's apartment.

Paris is still nice. But traveling to Finland just further emphasized the fact that I love the cold and the countryside and that Paris might just be a little too big for my taste. Even if they do have the best bread and cheese combination.

I took part in the Soldes since I've been back. Its like Black Friday but for a month. I came out with some shoes. Haven't decided if I'm going back in or not. We'll see.

Two more weeks until the end of the semester here and then I get another little mini vacation. Until things pick back up again in February.

Tomorrow's plans include going to the Sorbonne and pleading with the history department for them move two of my exams, since right now they are all at the same time, and going to some métro stops that have yet to be explored based of a book that I recieved for Noel, Métro Stop Paris. A fun history read if you have the time.

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