MAAAAAH FACE

Home | Cooking With Rockstars

Home | Cooking With Rockstars

Posted using ShareThis

Social Media in Plain English by Common Craft

Social Media in Plain English by Common Craft

Posted using ShareThis

Registering for NU Classes

I got an email two days ago, and I had to read it twice.  The first time my eyes kind bugged out of my head as I tried to comprehend what it said and what it meant both literally and conceptually.  The second time I read it I just felt nauseous. 

From my school:
"... I just wanted to send you a quick e-mail to remind you that registration for
Fall 2008 classes is well underway.  I know that some of you are
still debating whether to stay for the dual degree or not, but it may be
wise to register for classes and drop them once you decide.  By the
end of the week the Dean will be reviewing course enrollments and
cancelling sections that have low enrollment.  This means that your options
will be more limited (or sections will be full) if you wait."

I'm waiting on the results of two classes and it looks like I will be waiting till maybe mid-July.  So I did what I felt I needed to do: I complied.  But every part of me felt that it was wrong to do, this idea of "being safe" of "preparing for the worst" makes me want to die.  It makes me feel like a failure or that I'm planning on failing and for the record, I'm not, I'm not ready to call it quits.  I'm not ready to leave France. 

I'm ready to stay for a second year, to improve my French and attack that 100 page memoir.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

Even if I miss so many things about home, Boston and Edwin; I'm just not ready to go back.

If you like Lost

My good friend Matt passed this along to me. . .

It is so funny that I nearly died.

For all of you in the States tonight enjoy the finale!

I'M SO JEALOUS!

To have and have not

For the first time in my life, I am disappointed with myself and reading.  I am a reader.  I love books and they play an integral part of my life.  I remember when I was a little girl, I would sleep with books under my pillow - reading until late into the night and then reading first thing in the morning.  I would devour books so much that my mom refused to buy them for me because I would finish them within the day, and she sent me packing along to the library where I fell even more in love with reading. 

I'm such a book nerd that I convinced my friends in Paris to do a book club, and so we began - each of us excited to share a book.  We were reading on the metro, the bus, the train and in parks around Paris; all working to finish the same book.  It was fascinating.

But being on my internship takes up a lot of time and sometimes I ended up just plain tired, and I was also trying to read four books at the same time. . . and so I failed. For the first time ever, I was the one who didn't finish my book.  I was the one who hadn't gotten through it all.  I remember in high school when we were assigned book I would have them read a week in advance. 

But I did eventually finish and I didn't do the book justice.  I think I was thrown off by the boat scenes, the fishing, and sometimes that plain violence in the book.  They say Hemingway writes things in a very clear and descriptive manner and he does so much that some of the scenes were utterly graphic.  If you have read this book, you cannot deny that you didn't feel his arm hurting after it was shot.  I was near sick when I read that scene. 

We had our first book club meeting and it was good.  Next meeting is next week, we will be going over Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (which I loved ;-). 

Purple Violets

Purple Violets: the idea of being the same, but not, and also a wonderful film by Ed Burns. The premise of the movie is 4 friends  find each other after twelve years and they find that they are mere shadows of the color they once were as in Purple and Violet.

It's what we become, each year or interaction adding or taking away from us - from what we want to be or are.  Molding us into something entirely new, but keeping within ourselves, within who we are.  We change and grow, but are never entirely different nor the same.

Everytime I see a friend from my year abroad, I am astonished to see how we are like cookie cutouts ourselves.  We started one way, but after baking came out entirely different.  The 5 years that have left us shadows of our young selves, but now older, open in a different way, but still open. 

I saw one of my closest friends from when I lived in France  this weekend and it was good.  She was the girl who would swim in public fountains with me and leap to a day at the cinema, seeing movie after movie and eating popcorn after popcorn.  You share a lot when you are young and alone.

It felt good to hang out this weekend.  I was totally comfortable, sitting, being and listening.  We biked in the rain for 12 km and it was glorious.  We remarked how we are too old to ride carnival rides without thinking of falling.

Everytime I meet one of my exchange friends, we talk about our year.  We talk about looking back at how terrifying it was.  How it's like living with an ulcer for a year - terrified that you are going to make a mistake and make someone unhappy or that for one mistake they will send you home.  How how much our parents must have trusted us and believed in us to let us go and live in the homes of total strangers.  How independant we became and how dependant we became on each other. That year was defined by so many good things, like the friendship we share and the inherent openness we share, because we know that it's hard to make friends and be alone.   We are now all scattered across the world, and we are; we are so many things.  We are going to be so many things, and connect with so many people, but still we share something, something that is ever the elephant in corner of my mind.

It took special people to decide at that young of age to go abroad alone.  I'm glad they are still in my life.

I love holidays

The French are notorious for their holidays.  I always knew that August was a crazy month for holidays, but never did I realize that the entire month of May is absolutely filled with days off.  It's wonderful.

Not that I don't like going to work.  I'm pretty obsessed with my internship, ok, I'm totally obsessed with my internship.  But still having to go to work only 2-3 days of the week is fantastic.  Today we slept in and awoke to a Paris still in tune with the most beautiful weather ever.

It is glorious.

You know what else is glorious? Commuting by bike.  I think I have mentioned velib before and how it is the most wonderful system ever.  I have my metro card that I signed up for a membership for my navigo on and so my metro and navigo card are one in the same - fantastic.  I can go up to any stand at any moment and just grab a bike to go and then when I'm done/tired/bored I can just put it back anywhere in the city. 

It takes me about 30 minutes to get to work by bike and honestly they are some of the most perfect 30 minutes I spend each day. On the way home if I get stuck at a light, I can look up and take in an amazing "Paris moment" as Sacre Coeur looks directly down at me and my only option is to pedal toward it.

These days I cringe at the sight of the metro.

Dreaming of Revenge

There is a demon in my head that won't let me sleep. I have to take two of my exams tomorrow(today) and all I want to do is rest so I can make the best guesses.  so, sleep soon, please?  k.

Ending Sundays

Its midnight and I should be sleeping.  But for some reason I can't will myself to shut my eyes and end such a lovely day.  Sundays are beautiful.  Paris is starting to become a balmy sanctuary and I am starting to adore it even more. Let's face it; I'm smitten with Paris.

It all started on Friday.  Convinced by my roommate that my head would explode if I studied any longer I took the evening off, got my eyebrows threaded and went on a bike ride with an end destination of Le Kitch. Le Kitch has an amazing drink called the Shrek, a green and goopy refreshing ogre like substance, but wonderfully frozen and oh so tasty.  Its like a frozen mojito.  We are currently so obsessed with them that we went back on Saturday for happy hour.  Nothing beats $5 Shreks on a warm day.  And it had been a wonderfully warm day where we studied in the park and then went for more bike rides on velibs. I had 3 Shreks! We then took our bikes and rode to Sacre Coeur to watch the sunset, but our Shreks had made us a little slow and we missed the sunset, we sat on the hillside anyway; because one doesn't need a reason to admire the Paris skyline. 

Oh Sunday brunch, how I love thee. My favorite day of the week/ meal is Sunday brunch.  Today was divine.  The sun was shining and we went to a new place.  I love new places. Something about finding a place that plays fun music, is on the canal and has a delicious veggie bagel sandwich makes my week. And even though I had to come home and study after brunch, the windows being all open and the sunlight streaming in the apartment made it ok. Made me realize that I should be indoors anyways because I burn lobster red if I'm out for too long.  So brunch made do.  I got my RDA of biking, sun and delicious food in. . . all at once and all with friends. 

We had Indian delight for dinner and then one of my favorite desserts: fruit pizza.

Now its time for bed and tomorrow I have to wake up study some more and go take my test.  Somewhere in the back of my head I'm reasoning that if I don't fall asleep tomorrow won't happen and I won't have to end my perfect Sunday (even if it might be monday already). I've got 6 more hours in Texas. Denial is one of the most innocent states of being.

I could deny Monday forever.

Finals

Okay, okay.  School is wrapping up this semester but things seem to be building more than they are ending.  I've finished with actual classes but somehow none of them are completely dead to me.  I've got a paper due  tuesday (?), 3 final exams, and an extra credit quiz/lecture to attend.  I also need to learn the entire french language in a week...  Oh well.  It'll all be over next Sunday.

Anyways, so I don't seem totally lame compared to my globe-trotting sœur I want to report some goings on and events that I have attended.  Last weekend, I went to the Belaire reunion show and it was A-mazing (capital A for emphasis).  It was raining a little bit but it only added to the ambiance.  On the very last note that  Yellow Fever played there was a lighting strike.  It was sort of magical?

I attended my last french class and I turned in my final french project (of ma vie?).  We were required to make a french treat so we made gateau au citron and I couldn't eat it.  (even though I ate pumpkin bread this morning, so not vegan, but so delicious) Curse my (selective) vegan-ness.   Later that day, I went to Mr. Naturals, a local vegetarian restaurant, with a group of vegans and it was fantastico!  They had soy ice cream and a few other vegan treats so I was really happy.  I guess it doesn't take much.

exploding_impacting - Belaire

oh yes, this also happened at my work....