Sunday, May 31, 2009

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

Monday, May 18, 2009

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

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

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!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

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...

Friday, May 1, 2009

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.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Monday

9h00-10h30 Démocratie et Médias et Céline... :)
10h30-13h00 kill some time
13h00-13h30 write explication de texte
13h35 lunch: demi-bagette and coca light
14h15-15h45 Litt with Sophie Robert. Doodle instead of take notes.
15h45-16h00 Debate with Bekah whether or not to skip our next class
16h00-17h30 Decide to go to class anyway - Cinéma et Société
17h30-18h00 Intensive research in the IES computer lab (Sources cited: EurActiv, le Monde, and Facebook.)
18h30 Crêpes with Bekah
19h45 Avant-Première (early screening) of the film Romaine par moins 30 with the film crew, director, producer, sound editors, and the lead actress Sandrine Kiberlain. After the movie we were all served champagne and dessert, mmm! Quelle classe !
22:00 home, 4 course meal in my bedroom: bread with picant, salad, heart-shaped pasta, and cookies :)
22:30 research on a weekend in Bruges... 

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Flamber, in all its senses

Tonight we had bananes flambées for dessert (banana flambé).  My host-family's grown son Alexis is visiting from Austria for the weekend, and him and Ivan made this delicious treat for us. Ivan prefers to keep it au naturel - no added sugar or butter, but Alex prefers to add both. They added butter on the second round, and I liked it much better too. You just fry bananas (and/or butter and/or sugar) in a pan over the stove, and then at the last minute, add some cognac (or rum). Then take the pan off the stove, and light the alcohol in the pan on fire with a match/lighter and let it burn! Be sure to lean away as you do this - I about got my faced burned off by a flaming banana. Once the flames go out, serve the tasty results, and enjoy.*

I also got a French vocab and culture lesson during this cooking experience:
flamber = to burn (cooking)
flamber = figurative use. flamber de l'argent = to blow through money. to go out on the town and spend tons of money on drinks, cabs, clubs, etc.
un flambeur = a high roller. A person who burns through money
cocorico = the sound a rooster makes in French. Also the sound a French person makes when they're proud of themselves (as a nation). For example, on the news the other night, a recent study found that French women are Europe's thinnest, and the newscaster said, "Cocorico, on est toujours les plus minces!" ("Cockle-doodle-doo, we're still the skinniest!")

"Du cognac français en plus! C'est le meilleur, franchement!"  - Alex ("French cognac, too! It's the best - really, it is.")
"Cocorico!" - Gladys

(*an actual recipe should be consulted)