Le Metro according to Us.

La bande de la rue Paul Albert

In the cult that is my co-habitation with Misa and Rachel, we have established a new culture and way of life.

Our days of the week are as follows:

Monday

Duplex

New Movie

The Mix

The Hide Out

Favela Chic

Sabbath

Days begin at 16:00 and end at 8:00.

Our traditional dishes include raclette, Delicious Creation, galettes, fruits rouges, baguettes with cheese, yogurt that does not require extra ingredients added to it to make it edible, and entire loaves of Brioche. (Certain members appreciate goat cheese, while others do not. Also, pamplemousse).

Our prayer of supplication simply goes: "Pleaaase... Pleeaaaaaaseeee.... PPLLLEEAAAASSSEEE!!!!"

You may recognize a member of our cult by her frequent references to the Office, famous youtube videos, and other cryptic phrases.

Popular hang-out spots for our members include the Hall, Quick, le Départ, Milk, and that sketchy park across the street.

We have everyone drinking coke.

We have one idol - Sylvain the Alien.

Our demons appear in the forms of sharks, butterflies, siamese bugs, and Marie-Emmanu.

Some of our Commandments include the following:

Thou shall always do as thou wants. It is thy choice.

Except...

Thou shall always tell zee truzzzz.

Thou shall never eat anything that doesn't belong to thou. (And thou shall never eat too ravenously. Food is a gift to our body, we must savor it and eat normal amounts of it at a respectable pace).

If thy sister shall make the three-fingered hand motion, thou must swoop in and save her from the creeper that is bothering her.

Thou shall not bleed on anything.

Thou shall take responsibility for thy bodily functions.

Thou shall not covet thy sister's manfriend (or ladyfriend).

Thou shall always clean the hole.

Thou shall not make tons of racket when others are trying to sleep.

Thou shall always be there for each other.

And whenever in need, such as when you get shot in the side on the Champs-Elysées, just call "SeKERRRity!"

(with Misa K. and Rachel W.)

The Murphy's Law of Paris

In collaboration with Shelly S. and Megan N.

1. In Paris, if you lug around your umbrella for days, it won't rain a drop. But as soon as you leave your umbrella at home, it pours.

2. If you take your time getting to the metro, you'll get there as soon as the train is pulling away. But if you hurry to the metro, you'll get there with five more minutes to wait.

3. You only run out of Orange credit on jours fériés (on holidays when all tabacs are closed).

4. Things that are on every street corner until you need one : boulangeries, post offices, tabacs, ATMs, pharmacies, and public restrooms.

5. If you've ever tried to have a grubby day and wear not-so-nice clothes, you have more than likely ended up at an impromptu dinner party, a free concert, or passed a famous person in the street.

6. Paris is the city of love - for tourists. For the rest of us foreigners who've out-stayed our welcome, it's pretty much just the city of passive-aggression.

7. You've made do all year without things you really need, yet you still have stuff burried in your suitcase that you haven't used once.

8. Rachel W: "If you try to deter a creepster by telling them you only speak English, not French, they become more intrigued and insist on practicing their English with you instead of just leaving you alone."

to be continued

Summer in Paris... :)

I've taken all my finals, I've turned in all my papers (as crappy as they may be), the semester is done.

IES is over.

But summer in Paris is just beginning. I'm feeling newly inspired. I want to write, I want to take pictures. I want to go to movies, plays, operas, concerts. I want to read...

Paris Summer Projects

Ne-Yo in concert at the Zénith!!!

Parc Astérix (an amusement park based on a classic French comic book series)

Foire du Trône (basically, the fair)

Mass at Notre-Dame

Tea at Shakespeare & Co., and go to the readings

Picnic in Bois de Boulogne and Buttes de Chaumont

Rush tickets at the Opéra / Ballet

Learn some more French

Write

Work as an English teacher

FINALLY visit the Versailles Gardens and Marie Antoinette's Village

Expore the passages couverts

Afterwork on a peniche on the Seine

Visit the Lomography store

Regina Spektor in Concert!!!

Erasmus night at every club in town: The Mix, Duplex...

Disneyland

Bordeaux and Biarritz

Reading list:

Et après by Guillaume Musso

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Je l'aimais

Eat Pray Love

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Les liasons dangereuses

Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes by Stieg Larsson

Three Cups of Tea

Super Crunchers

I'm Not Myself These Days

The Reader

Revolutionary Road

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Brutal Week...

It all started with some violent vomiting

then a doctor's visit

then a shot in the ass

and some more medicine

then an oral presentation at the Institut Catholique de Paris

then some more homework

and some more presentations

and some papers

and it's only Tuesday.

Bring it on!

Why I love my sister

On the phone with Mom today

Tay, in the background, to Mom: "Give me the phone, I have something I need to say to Lexi."

Mom passes the phone to Taylor

Taylor (sings): Prom tonight, doo doo doo doo...

May Day

Stumble upon a communist demonstration,

meet up with Julien, Clément, and Alessandra to organize our group project,

discover the (cheap) delicious wonders of the restaurant Viagio with Alexandra,

watch "Celle que j'aime" at UGC CinéCité Les Halles,

stay up later than necessary doing absolutely nothing,

all in a day's work.