Apres le petit-dejeuner...

Smells like rain today. Alas, I still have no parapluie. I guess I'll finally have to face the fact that $50 American dollars will be spent on maintaining dry comfort levels. 

Last night, Mme Pimodan thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed the bouquet of flowers and patisserie gift I arrived with. Hooray!

Falafels in the Marais

Totally pooped out from an afternoon run at the Tuileries ***WHERE I PAID 40 cents TO USE LES TOILETTES*** After packing, Enyi, Samira, and I went to the Marais to buy Samira's host gifts and grab some food: Jewish Falafel style. Since everything in Paris/France is closed on Fridays, only the Jewish districts are completely open. It was a busy area full of kosher markets, jewish bookstores, cafes, jewish boulangeries and patisseries, and falafel restaurants. Now Enyi and I are back at the hotel; but having already checked out, we have our laptops out to kill time until 6pm when the program advisors will give us cab fare and send us off with our luggage to our respective Madames! After last night, I feel like I crested a small hump in my French so I celebrate. Super trooper tired right now. I'm definitely out of shape since the beginning of the program. While I feel my walking endurance and muscles are in peak condition now, my long distance and running endurance seems to have dissipated in the last two weeks. Terrible. Terrible like the wifi and internet.

Holding Your Pee

PS. I've never felt so perpetually dehydrated. I'm always paranoid I'll never know when I'll get my next pee, and that I'll be forced to buy something to use les toilettes...so I guzzle water and pee whenever possible. I've never felt like such an intense strategist before in all things basic. 

edit: reminder to readers, this is my fourth time back in France and fifth back in Europe so these things are not new; if anything, they are only magnified and my awareness is that much more attentive!

A Cause Des Garcons -Yelle

Hier soir, I met up with Samira and her friend Julien & co. We met at a cafe in the Marais at the intersection of rue de Bretagne and rue de Turenne. It was yet another night of drinks with frenchies and invigorating language+culture discussions. I'm always blown away at how warm and friendly the French are (once they discover we speak French, that is). Samira met them when she was alone at the Jardins de Luxembourg last Sunday and they approached her and asked her to go out with them. When one of their girlfriends showed up, the guys all told her to speak English and she balked a bit and said, if they are here in France they should speak French! I promptly agreed with her (in French) and the conversation continued on, more heavily in French this time, but much more jovial and educational. One thing to take note of: the French LOVE mojitos...! More on this later, I must finish packing before check-out. We'll be vacating all day and coming back to the hotel around 530pm to get taxi-ed off to our Madames. 

Parapluie, anyone?

Saw an umbrella today for 92 euros. ?!?

Un Coffret des Echecs

I finally bought a chess set! After a few hours of checking out each of the boutique game stores I had looked up, I finally settled on Games in Blue on rue Monge. It was a charming, quaint little closet of a place, but the owner was a cute little grandpa man who was incredibly helpful. I probably spent at least ten minutes just taking it all in, walls of chess sets, dominoes, tarot cards, carefully ledgered board games and stacks of spinning tops. The set has a cute little pair of handles so that I can easily carry it wherever I go. It looks like a small wooden briefcase that I'll most likely be taking to local cafes and parcs to try out some of the chess moves in a book I bought before le depart. 

edit: later in the day, i took my new chess set to a cafe where i was meeting samira for some foods. i set it up, pulled out my handy-dandy chess puzzle book and started figuring them out while samira ate some sort of pastrami bagel sandwich. eventually she decided to try her untested hand at "les echecs" so we set up the board and i promptly (accidentally) check-mated her in a few moves. The second game we made more instructional than anything else. to our surprise and intense pleasure, so many little french grandpas would slow down, stop or even linger and stay to watch us play. one even demonstrated to us in french what all the pieces were called and the vocabulary of the game in french was...AMAZING!

Beaucoup du Vin

Official wine hangover this morning. Played "never have i ever" with a bunch of Frenchies, Buffalo, and what else? 1-2-3-Floor. Merci bien pour la bon soiree, Samira and Enyi. We are the Three Musketeers.

Le Chess?

Today I search for beautiful chess sets (for myself and my brother) in the 5th and 6th. I love that I can search for specialty boutique stores and over 20 will come up in Paris; that I can walk down Rue Trousseau and pass a store that only sells curtain rods...Ah yes.

Here's some photos from the hotel we're staying at until Sunday (when we get taxi-ed out to our respective Madames). For me, that means off to the 16th/17th of Neuilly sur Seine.

Sacred Heart

Montmartre today. It was like I could taste wishes and the more dank grit of tourists in the air. I'll finally be developing my first canister of film today or tomorrow...

Last night was officially the best night in Paris as of now. Hugo, Matthieu...Pastise...?! A thievery, a generous barman, more drinks at The Bottle Shop. 

BTW My Madame lives in Neuilly! I'll be off the same Metro stop as Samira and Enyi! I have three host brothers between the ages of 24-33 and the youngest still lives at home while he finishes university for Mathematiques. I can't wait to be displaced again, get my feathers ruffled once more. 

Hacking the unsecured THOMSON wifi in our hotel room with Lauren while listening to: Nat King Cole's "L.O.V.E." but the French version. Genial!

The days walk by like strangers as hours last days and the metro blurs cantankerous odors with the surreality of motion. Some day or two ago, a particularly pleasant moment was spent with Samira and Lauren. We happened upon the Jardins des Tuileries in the 1st. Awash with the glow of a successful adventure on Rivoli, we collapsed into chairs placed neatly around the central fountain. It had a lovely view of the Louvre and well-kept surrounding nature. 

Le Cimitiere du Montparnasse

Saw Le Musee du Vin, Les Jardins Ranalegh, Marche du Passy, La Maison du Baltzac, Cafe Select in Montparnasse, Trocadero, and the tomb stone of Baudelaire yesterday. Spent the night with two French friends, Sego and Hugo. The 16th is swanky chic. Tired.

Hipster Heaven

Last night, Samira and I somehow pushed past utter exhaustion to go out to a bar we'd always passed near the hotel. It was always busy, but most especially at night. The crowd always looked bohemian and hipster-like...I felt like a mole for Los Angeles, eager to report back my findings. We casually rolled up, a gang of seven Americans. So subtle. Dressed in our least offensive outfits, tres chic black and black on black? We shyly squeezed between groups of young french people. Each and every one of them a gorgeous eye-catching character, fetching in natural beauty and grunge ease. Oh to be French. I had a glass of white wine and the rest of the group got beer or Mojitos because it seemed to be the bar's specialty, seeing as most everyone there had one in their slender hands. I watched the gazelle bar woman expertly crush up mint. Samira's Mojito was excellent. The stimulating smells of mint, body odors and hints of perfumes made for an exciting environment for the sense. The bar was dimly lit, with a tight fitting crowd of young French. The men's hair were varying lengths, but none a conventional cut. Everything seemed to fit into a perfectly logical puzzle, wavy hair following its natural course, long straight hair allowed to veil an oval face, creamy skin of varying skin tones...Denim, stripes, jean jackets, all carefully thrown on in a "I barely tried" kind of way. None of the women featured traditional American beauty: blonde hair, bird-like face with delicate features and eyes. Non non. These French women sported unique looks, both in facial build and style. I sipped my glass of wine and rubbed my eyes (super dry by now from the thick layer of smoke that seemed to turn the bar into a hazy dream of carcinogen hell for the eyeballs). J'etais contente. 

Le Metro

It's utterly wonderful weather right now in Paris. Alas, I cannot say the same for what lies beneath the streets. The minute you skip down the steps into the underground, the bowels of the carefully cobblestone-d Paris, a massive gust of sweltering, oppressive heat steals your breath away. Your mouth goes dry. The glasses of water you had only just savored seem sapped in only a seconds time. The ebb and flow of anonymous floating eyes and harried faces bustle around at varying paces. C'est le secret terrible de Paris: that the Metro is a terrible necessity that turns fond memories of winking sun and "le chaleur" into a sinking stone and afterthought. Faces dull in their attempts to avoid eye contact and awkward or unwanted attention. The one upside that brings a toothy grin to my face is the music that seems to waft around the corners of the tunnels. Small makeshift bands of harmonizing old men, violinists, dancers and singers emanate "la vie boheme." From one tunnel to the next during a "connexion" I slow for only a moment as the drumming notes of what looks like eight harmonizing men spirals upward only to reverberate in a pleasing manner on the muted ivory tiles. For the first time all day, I make eye contact with a singer, beam at him my gratitude and also my regret that I don't have time to drop any Euros in the felt hat. Some stop and rifle through wallets; but I linger for only a moment and continue on.

FNAC and St. Germain

Last night I conked out around 19:30 and then woke up around midnight and then again at 2:30. After an unexpectedly long 12+ hour fast since dinner, my stomach raged at me upon waking and I scurried downstairs to the lobby to look for some hot water for the oatmeal I'd bought the day before. I discovered the most amazing European continental breakfast nestled into a well-lit nook around the corner and was pleased to discover that the USC program included breakfast in our accommodations! I very nearly abandoned my roommate Samira for the tasty spread, but managed to regain self-control and ran back up to the third floor to tell her about it. She quickly pulled on clothes and sandals and then we hurried downstairs to reap the rewards of an early wake-up: food aplenty and a quiet breakfast, marred only by the trickling arrival of other people. After stuffing myself with croissant, marble cake, bon maman preserves on baguette and the freshest of yogurts, Samira and I waited it out in our room until 9:45. At 9:45 we were to meet in the lobby with the other 12 people in our program to go to the Accent Center and get briefed on our semester itineraries, excursions, the logistics of the program including transportation, money, safety, etc, and finally a baguette sandwich lunch. After the lunch, I was itching to use our first carnet of Metro tickets, so Samira and I headed back to the hotel where we prepared our things and then headed out! I returned something to the local Monoprix (which was much more difficult than expected, seeing as I'd only just purchased the thing the day before...) and then we hit the Metro for Chatelet, where the FNAC was located inside a semi-indoor mall. Last night I had asked the front desk where I could find and buy a Paris Pratique guide, the small pocket Paris guide that all the Parisian natives use as a reference guide to all modes of transportation along with detailed maps of each "arrondissement." It took some walking around and asking directions of strangers, but we eventually made it to the FNAC! The FNAC was the most interesting fusion of medias: a Barnes and Noble, Brookstone, Apple store, Lou's Records and library all-in-one! I picked up my Paris Pratique and then we walked around the mall. After the FNAC adventure, we enjoyed the Chatelet square with an immense fountain and then hit the Metro again, this time headed for St. Germain! We walked around the area people-watching and finally settled at a small cafe for espresso and Syrah Rose. During the whole outing I was exceedingly pleased with how my decent French improved (probably out of necessity) and managed to dredge up all kinds of vocabulary previously thought derelict. I brushed the dust off the old neurons and soaked it up! For now, I'm sitting on the bed and blogging before 19:00, when we're all supposed to meet in the lobby to go out to dinner together (again comped by the program)! More later...!

First Day in Paris

So tired I'm about to totter over...! More later after I've slept off the jet lag. Les rues are outrageously vintage and beautiful. I'll be posting pictures soon, I swear! Already ate some spinach quiche that had cheese in it and predictably, made me sick. Oh well, just gotta live it up with the French cuisine while I'm still ticking! It's 19:32pm here, super pooped, sleepy time.

Safe Arrival

Bonjour de paris! I arrived at 6:45am in Paris after a long two flight connection through Montreal. I don't feel jet lagged quite yet, but I won't underestimate the probable onset of physical incapacitation. I'm waiting in the airport now with three other students in the program: Zack, Enyi and Christianne. Just wanted to send my good will and let everyone know I arrived safe and sound, none worse for wear! I'll soon be getting a phone and SIM card, and after being settled into the hotel rooms where we'll be staying during orientation, I'll promtply sign on to AIM/Skype/Gchat! Talk to you all soon, -B

Lomo Onsite Int'l

Looks like I can stop in here in Paris at a Lomo Gallery Store!

My Lomo Comes Tomorrow!

Finally, it's here! Thanks to the handy tracking code UPS sent me, I've waited with bated breath for my new Natura Classica camera!









I can't wait to start shooting! I'll be driving up to LA tonight to make my Visa appointment at 9:30am tomorrow morning in Westwood...wa wa wa...Unfortunately I'm missing one KEY document that is part of the lengthy and exhausting application: my original letter of acceptance to the Sorbonne. I accidentally sent my original to CampusFrance instead of a copy, failing to save the original for my Visa app. I hope I don't have to deal with this after already getting to Paris...blarg!

While Watching CSI...

Tying up loose ends in the final week before I leave! My mom and I just hit Costco and Target, I have an eye appointment later today at 4:30 (for contacts and eyeglasses), and my Visa appointment is early tomorrow morning at the Los Angeles French Consulate...Wild...! Hope to see you in LA.