Tales of bitter cold, horror, and woe

Okay, the title came out a bit more gloomy than I thought it would. It's supposed to be silly :-).

This week I'll go in chronological order again. The weekend before last I took my first practice GRE test. I think I did all right for going in blind, and I need to try to take another one sometime this week. To celebrate its completion, I went into Paris and had another meal at Breakfast in America with a few friends. We then contemplated what to do, and finally decided to start heading to Montparnasse to see about watching a film. On the way there we stopped off at Place de la Concorde to see the Christmas lights on the Champs Elysées. I had totally forgotten that someone told me that there was a Ferris Wheel set up there for Christmas, and we decided to ride on it. There was a beautiful view down the Champs Elysées, of the Eiffel Tower, of Notre Dame, and Sacré Coeur. It was also a very smooth ride - I couldn't even tell half of the time while it was moving.


Last Thursday nearly all of the stagiaires on our floor went to Strasbourg. We had a few casualties along the way - one girl made the mature decision to stay behind since she would not have enough money for anything else if she went, and two other decided to leave early. One of the people who left earlier decided to change his ticket since he had made plans for Saturday night, and the other girl, Mandira, decided to leave early for completely different reasons. I actually rode on the train with Mandira and Anna on the way to Strasbourg. When the man who checks the tickets got on the train, I noticed him and pointed out how he was the idyllic version of a train conductor - an older gentleman with round glasses, the 'train conductor' hat, white hair, and a mustache. When he got to where we were sitting, he took all of our tickets. He barely glanced at Anna's ticket or mine, but with Mandira he really looked at it. We were all traveling on a 'young traveler's discount card (carte 12-25),' and Mandira just turned 26. Her card was valid until March, but it is only supposed to be for travelers under 25 years of age. He was asking her for proof of identity, but all she had were her ID cards from schools. He eventually took her to a more private area where he threatened to make her pay 150€ or he would handcuff her and take her to jail as soon as the train stopped. She paid the money, and he took her travel discount card. That just goes to show you that you can never judge a book by its cover. Once we arrived in Strasbourg, Mandira had to change her ticket to a regular fare, and the cheapest way to do that would be to leave earlier on Saturday. Luckily, the man helping her at the train station was very nice and actually gave her recommendations of things to do while in Strasbourg.


We went to Strasbourg for the Christmas market, which takes place the entire month of December. Leaving the train station offered us the first glances of what was to come - booths set up like mini-houses with everything from food to presents for sale. We wandered around there for a few minutes, and then headed off for our hotel. It took about 20 minutes to walk there, and it was pretty evident that we were in for a cold trip. I'd say it hovered around freezing the entire time we were there, and at night probably got down into the 20s or teens. We thawed out once we arrived at the hotel, and then we set off to find the first market.



The largest market was a 10-minute walk from the hotel and we went straight for the mulled wine. I tried the white wine first, but it just wasn't very satisfying. The taste was too strong, and I couldn't really make out what it was. While walking around I found a few things I wanted to go back and buy later, and a few food items to try later. Then, the rest of our little group showed up, so we headed back to the hotel to meet them and get everyone settled. We then headed back out for more fun, including finding somewhere to eat dinner. We wandered around a bit, and then decided to try to find the big cathedral (all of the restaurants that were recommended to Mandira were around there). We thought we had found it, but then we saw an even larger cathedral and realized we had been mistaken. There was another market set up around the cathedral, and all of the restaurants in the immediate vicinity were rather pricey. After a bit of searching we settled on a decent seafood restaurant. And I had spatzle! Yum...


After the restaurant, we started walking back in the general direction of the hotel. While walking, some random guy on the street asked us, "Where are you from?" We all eyed eachother, avoided him, and kept walking. He said, "O-kay..." and then some of our crew re-thought their decision to ignore him. Our group went back, introduced ourselves, then moved on. Then, two of us decided to invite him along, and we went to 'Jimmy's Pub.' If you know me, this was the moment of the trip when I was most uncomfortable. But I did play a round of darts, and I think I played it decently. I definitely don't know how to aim well, but I'm good at getting the darts on the board.


The next morning we got up bright and early and just searched around some more of the markets. We also went into the large cathedral. There was talk of going up one of the spires, but when we initially went it was closed for 15 minutes, and when we went on Saturday the lines were super long. After the cathedral, we walked over to a patisserie chain, Brioche Durée, and then walked into another market by the huge Christmas tree, le Grand Sâpin. Once there, I realized I had forgotten my umbrella at the patisserie. When I returned, the people at the table obviously didn't speak French. I should have switched over to English at least, but I think they were German. Luckily the people at the table behind them had already snagged my umbrella, and they were nice enough to return it. I honestly wouldn't have thought to ask them, and I was very grateful. We then walked over to the main market where I bought some gingerbread cookies with icing on them. Definitely not bad! We then just did some more market shopping. Luckily I decided to purchase the bulk of my items on Friday since Saturday was absolute madness. We also stopped at a little patisserie for some coffee, and while there I saw one of the liveliest sellers of le vin chaud there. He had a long beard and actually looked like Santa Claus.

While walking around, Sarah, Anna, and I saw a large horse-drawn buggy with Santa in it. He got out and starting telling us all how we had to take a ride with him, and we just said no. He insisted, and then we asked if it was free, then he let us move on.

After returning to the hotel to drop off purchases and thaw out, we headed off to La Petite France, a section of Strasbourg. It is full of colorful buildings, and I was a bit confused on why it was called 'little France' since it was definitely more of a 'little Germany' architecture-wise. But it was beautiful, and after walking around for quite a while we settled on a restaurant called 'Le Thomasien.' I had one of the regional dishes called 'tarte flambée' for dinner with onion soup. The tarte is very similar to a thin crust pizza with ham, cream, onions, and cheese. Delicious.


After the restaurant, we decided to try out one of the historical sites in Strasbourg - the covered bridge, Barrage Vauban. During the day it is a tourist destination with a terrace on the roof to see a beautiful view of the city, and old sculptures stored on the first level. Walking towards it, there were lights on inside, and once we got there, the door was open. However, there were no lights on immediately within the doorway. For some reason we still decided to go in, which is possibly the worst decision I think I have ever made. Walking arm and arm, someone decided to start running and screaming as soon as we got in. My purse got stuck on the door handle, and the force broke the strap, causing my purse to fall to the ground. I got out of the arm lock and went back for my purse. As I was inspecting the damage, Becca stayed about 10 feet in front of me, and everyone else continued running down the corridor for the fun of it. Becca was telling me to come on, and then her voice got panicked and she shouted "Whitney, run!" Right after she said that, I heard a male voice that from what I remember yelled a menacing "Hey!" and then I definitely grabbed my bag and ran as well. Now, I'm thinking, according to Horror Movies 101, you should never run into a confined space when you are scared, you should always go back out into the open (but if I had done that I would have been alone). Becca saw the man coming down the stairs I ran with the others to the other end of the bridge, and upon arriving there we found that the other door was locked. So, the first door should NOT have been open in the first place. After Becca and I explained what happened at the other end of the bridge, we all went back to the door together. It was rather creepy since there are statues all along the sides inside of the bridge. Ben actually jumped due to a pigeon :-). When we returned to the first door, we found that it was closed. When I was messing with my purse, the door was definitely open and not even hovering to close. The only solution is that the man closed the door, whether to freak us out or he was running away from us I do not know. We all had our mini-flashlights out, walking through in a huddle reminiscent of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion visiting the Wizard of Oz. No one was coming down the stairs, and as soon as we got out we walked as quickly as possible. While walking away, we were a little paranoid about whether the guy would be following us, and went back to a populated area. Mandira says that she thinks she saw a mattress propped up against a wall, so my theory is that the guys was homeless or doing drugs... Once safe, insanity ensued, and we all went into shock, giggling to death. But I have definitely learned my lesson. After the bridge incident, I did not have a purse that could easily be carried around anymore. So, Becca gave me my 'Secret Santa' gift that we were supposed to exchange today, Monday, and it turned out to be a purse! It was a real life saver. Anna had a small bag I could have borrowed as well, but it was nice to use something that was mine. Following the gift we all went back to Sarah and Mandira's hotel and had a cup of tea to calm down.


Saturday. We started out in the morning by going by the European Parliament. All of the buildings are very modern. We also stopped at a little café there, again to warm up.

We then headed back to the cathedral to try to go up, but this time there was a huge line. Plus, the markets were so busy! There was hardly room to stand, let alone walk. I didn't see anything happen, but there were emergency workers wandering the market the entire time, which I thought was a wonderful security precaution.


Since we decided against the cathedral, our little group split up for a while. Anna, Becca, and I went on a boat tour around Strasbourg. It was a beautiful trip and very informational. It is amazing just how much the city has changed in the last 100 years. For example, there was a very industrialized area with a shopping mall and everything that used to be the sight of a huge synagogue in Strasbourg. It was destroyed during World War II. That is just one of many examples of how things have changed the city, and most of it was during WWII. After the boat trip, Mandira and Ben headed back to Paris and the rest of us grabbed lunch. We then walked back down around La Petite France to see it in the daylight (the sun was actually out!), and it was quite a sight. We just wandered around and walked through a few other markets and into random stores. We then headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and head off for the train station. Luckily there were no problems on the way back, other than the cab driver had no clue where he was going and didn't want to own up to it.


Sunday I relaxed a bit. This morning Anna and I went to the Préfecture to further the process of obtaining the carte de séjour. It's so long and tedious... but that's a discussion for another day.

This evening we did our Secret Santa exchange with Anna's tree Ferdinand IV.


That's my up-to-date update!

I need to update more often...

Encore, Il y a beaucoup de choses à raconter...

I think I'll go backwards this time, with the most recent thing first. So, here we go!

Thanksgiving was an interesting event. One of the MBA students, Sean, rented out the kitchen of what is affectionately known as the escargot, which is actually the campus chapel. The reason it has this name is because it is actually shaped a bit like a snail. It is circular, and all of the hallways inside of it even go in circles. I showed up in the afternoon to make some yummy mashed potatoes. You can't go wrong with those, right? While I was making the mashed potatoes, Sean was working on his 15lb turkey (which didn't exactly fit in the oven), and Anna was making a homemade pumpkin pie straight from the pumpkin. After I was finished, I left for a little bit. When I came back, there were a ton of people cooking. I would say that at least 10-15 people made different dishes for the meal, and then 20-25 people ate it. It was a different celebration from what I am used to, but it was still a good experience.

I have also visited the Chinese quarter in Paris. It was not as spectacular as the Chinatown of San Francisco, nor the one in New York, but it was still good on its own regard. There is a nice supermarket not far from the metro station we entered at, and I know I will be returning there. They had a lot of different products crammed into a tight space, and it was all at a very reasonable price. I was finally able to buy some sesame oil to properly make fried rice, and they had a whole aisle of different types of noodle soups. We also walked around in a couple of clothing stores and gift shops. There was one store that was full of kitchenware - beautiful dishes, tea sets, and they also had a large selection of items to be used in a kitchen. We ended our time in the Chinese quarter by visiting a restaurant. Yummy chinese food ;-). We then headed to the Eiffel tower to see it at night, and I was actually able to take a few decent pictures!

Becca, Sarah, Anna, another Becca, and I went to Eurodisney a couple of weeks ago. The parks were decorated for Christmas, and it was beautiful. It was also absolutely packed. We made it on to 9 or 10 rides, and each ride had a wait that was somewhere between 30 and 80 minutes. Even with the fast pass there was still a long wait a lot of the time. All of the rides were actually the same as what can be found in Disney World, with the only difference being that the majority of the actually ride is indoors due to the climate. A good example of this is the Rockin' Roller Coaster which was completely inside, but at Disney World a good portion is oudoors. I also indulged in buying a few more of the collectible pins, in this case Wall-E pins and Eurodisney pins :-). Another interesting difference was the type of food that was offered. In the cafeterias, they had croque monsieur and different French sandwiches. Without a doubt, in the US this would be chicken strips and hamburgers. Also, the food carts served things like crepes, and in the US they would serve funnel cake. Can you tell which one is healthier? But continuing on... We stayed till closing time, and were able to see some of the fireworks. Gorgeous! Then, it took us over 2 hours to get back to Jouy. We didn't even catch the last train out of the park, but we were rushing to catch the last train heading to Jouy.

For Armistice Day, Anna, Sarah, and I went to Chartres. It's a small town about an hour out from Versailles, but definitely worth visiting for a day. The main sight in town is the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres. We spent a bit of time there, and climbed up one of the towers. It provided a nice view of the city, and an opportunity to take fun photos. Then we walked down to the old city. It was absolutely gorgeous. While we were walking about, it started raining just a little bit. All of a sudden, there was a rainbow! The first one I've seen here, I believe. Most of the time it's just too cloudy to see anything but clouds. Before leaving Chartres, we decided that we wanted to have crepes. However, all of those restaurants that we had seen open all day long closed! It was due to Armistice Day, I am sure, and we continued to walk around until we found a slightly over-priced restaurant/pub to sit down in and have the crepes.


I also went to an election watch party the night of the election. That was absolute madness, I'll tell you. Doors opened at midnight, and we got there around that time. The line was absolutely crazy (the French seemed to like to shove their way to the front of a line) and at one point they stopped letting anyone in. To try to stop the madness, the organizers decided to try to let people in alphabetically, which did not really work. One of the main problems was that they were expecting 3-400 people, and I think over 1000 sent in an RSVP. Then, probably double that amount showed up at the door, so there were people who had not RSVPed mixed in with those who had, and they were shoving to the front. So, long story short, we didn't get inside until 2 or 2:30. It was a bit crazy inside, too, only enough room to stand. When a state for Obama would come in, people would cheer and dance, but when it was for McCain the boos were absolutely deafening. I left around 3:30, and even our cab driver was listening to election news on the radio.


We also went to both Ste. Chapelle, and Musée d'Orangerie. Ste. Chapelle is near Notre Dame, and it was gorgeous. There were some wonderful stained glass windows, and they all depicted stories from the bible. Then, Musée d'Orangerie has the water lily collection of Monet. These pictures were soooo long across the walls. We had some fun taking pictures by the paintings.


That's it for now, I'll say. Now I need to try to figure out what to do with myself next year, and practice to take the GRE!

The Great Flood and a Happy Birthday

It’s been a few weeks since I updated, again, and there has been a lot that has happened. First things first, I suppose.

Just two weeks ago, the building that I lived in experienced a great flood, so I am very lucky that I live on the side of the building that I do. Long story short, a guy on the 4th floor who was really out of it took a shower, passed out, and didn’t turn the shower off. The building also tilts a bit to the other side, so at least 4 rooms on every floor of the building were effected by the water. My friends down the hallway had one heck of a time – one of the girls had her laptop on a desk where the water was flowing down the wall, and her laptop was full of water, and another one had a soaking mattress, and nearly all of them had soaking wet floors. Another friend also thought he was locked into a party that night, so he climbed a barbed wire fence and had a bit taken out of his hand. Yup, this place is full of good stories.

A couple of days later I also went into Paris with some friends. I went in earlier than everyone else, and wandered around all day. I started at Notre Dame, and walked to the yarn store at Les Halles. I realized then that making a blanket might be more expensive than I would like, so I am currently looking for online purchasing alternatives. After that, I walked to the Louvre and just people watched out by the pyramids. I then slowly made my way back to Notre Dame, with a stop by a Starbucks. It was pretty good, but I accidentally got the Caramel Frappuccino without coffee, so I need to avoid that mistake in the future. I also went into a couple of bookstores and browsed, and I found this one store that was selling books for 20 cents apiece! I probably should have stocked up, but I decided to only buy one book. It’s about a cat named Missouri ☺. I went back to Notre Dame, and there was something happening – either a drill or they found a package… Anyways, there were police everywhere with shields and guns (and gasmasks) blocking off the area in front of the cathedral and as I was approaching there was the sound of an explosion. All of the pigeons flew into the air, and a couple of minutes later the police were taking down all of the barriers. I then met up with Mandira, Ayoola, Sarah, and Ben for dinner. We then went on a little walk around the Mairee and the Hotel de Ville.

But, the biggest adventure was my trip to Dublin. I hadn’t realized how much I missed being in an English speaking country. Yes, I love France, but not having to make too much of an effort to be understood was a definite plus. Hopefully someday it’ll be that way for French, too.

I arrived in Dublin and I immediately saw a sign for something called the Dublin Pass. I went to the tourist area to ask about it, and they were all incredibly friendly. A couple of the women were teasing eachother and joking around in Irish, and there was another man working there who kept rolling his eyes at them. It just seemed like a fun place. I then buy the pass (which allows free entry to many attractions in Dublin) and take a bus shuttle to the center of the city. I was told to get off the bus, and my hotel was supposed to be right there. Well, there were a lot more little streets in the actual city than what showed up on the map. I ended up thinking I was lost, so I asked a man and a woman working a flower booth for directions. They were also friendly, and it turned out that I was going in the right direction. I kept walking, and I found my hotel. I absolutely loved my room. I had a bathtub, a double size bed, a television, an easy chair… everything I’ve been missing in France. I set my stuff down and decided to go for a walk. I ended up in the shopping district. I bought myself a pair of shoes, dinner, some fudge, and tickets to go see Swan Lake the following evening. On my way back to the hotel I came across a pharmacy and found some bath salts. It was wonderful.

The following morning I set out with the plan to see Dublin Castle. On my way trying to find it, I accidentally walked too far (the castle is set in from the street) and ended up by Christ Church. I decided to turn around, and stopped for breakfast (French toast and a mocha cappuccino). I then continued walking and found the castle. There really isn’t much ‘castle’ left to the building – it blew up when a fire got into the gunpowder tower. The majority of it was rebuilt in an 18th century style, and the one original tower is under renovation since it is starting to fall in, so the only part tourists get to see is the new part. It was very interesting, though. And they did take us into the remains of the gunpowder tower where there is still water that comes from the same source that made the moat.

After the castle I first walked out to the garden area. There was a cat near the bench I decided to sit on, and she started walking around me. I decided to pat her head, and the next thing I know she has jumped onto my lap and is refusing to move. I thought she wanted food, but when I picked her up off of me and stood up so that there was no lap for her to sit on, I saw that she was well taken care of in the food department. It looked like she had fresh milk and chopped up steak. I patted her one last time, and then continued my journey.

I walked back up to Christ Church and walk through. The weirdest thing inside was that while they were cleaning out old pipes, they found a mummified cat chasing a mummified mouse. They had the remains on display in the crypt. Ick, right? As I was leaving, the choir was starting to sing, and it just made the cathedral really peaceful.

After I left, I thought I would try to find St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It didn’t look very far away on the map, but when you walk in circles that can be quite a long ways. First, I started walking down the road I thought led to the cathedral. That road took me down to the river, which was gorgeous, but it wasn’t the cathedral. I consulted my map, and decided a new path to go back. I ended up doing this many times. I did get to see the yard of another church while on my journey, but I could not find St. Patrick’s.

Finally, I decided to just take a taxi. I started walking the opposite direction down the original street I walked down, and the first couple of cabs already have passengers. As I get to the top of the hill, I see the cathedral on the other side. And now, looking at other maps, it does look like my map was slightly mislabled, or at least the roads were in the wrong order (or I completely screwed up on reading it). But, I did find it, and I walked through the cathedral. It seemed a bit larger than Christ Church, and it was grander. There was also a park outside where I decided to sit down for a little bit that was lovely. I saw clouds starting to come in, so I hailed a taxi and went back to my hotel until Swan Lake.

I had never been to a ballet before. It was good, not as boring as I thought it might end up being. But some of the most amusing parts had nothing to do with the actual show. Everyone in the theater was very dressed up for the ballet. I had not anticipated this, and had arrived in jeans. There were a few others in jeans as well, and I think that was how one could distinguish them as the tourists. Then, the theater was selling concessions in the theater during the intermissions – sort of baseball style. No cracker jacks, though, but ice cream, water, and candy. There were also booths outside to buy other drinks and snacks. And then, the lady sitting next to me was very into the ballet. Her enjoyment made me appreciate it more. I’d also like to know how often this happens – one of the ballerinas fell during the performance. There was a cry of ‘Oh!’ that came from the audience, and she jumped right back up and continued dancing. It’s good she wasn’t hurt!

The next day in Dublin, I went to Malahide Castle. Malahide is about 30 minutes north of Dublin by train. When I arrived in Malahide, I looked at the town map and worked out the route to get to the castle. I started walking, and walking, and walking, and walking. I had seen pointers to the castle along my walk, but at one point the somewhat residential setting turned into country, and there were no more roads off of the main road. I saw a sign for a guesthouse, and I decided to go ask if I was walking in the right direction. The person I asked came out and looked like he worked there, but it turned out he was just a guest. He was able to help me out, and it turned out that I was only another 5 minutes from my destination. When I arrived at the castle, I obtained the tickets to go on the tour, and waited about 5 minutes. This tour was one of the oddest I’ve ever been on – a tour guide comes into the room to tell you that the tour is unaccompanied, and that there are speakers in every room. So, you listen to a recording in every room and then move on, and they press the play button for the next room. This worked all right, up to a point. Then there was a room where they said to take as much time as you want, and then go on to the next room. The problem was that they started the tape when the first person reached the second room, so half of the tape wasn’t heard by half of the people. Then, if a person had a question, there was no one to ask. But other than the actual tour, going through a castle is always fun. Unfortunately, the last inheritor of the castle had to sell it to pay the inheritance taxes on the property, but that does mean that it is owned by the Irish government now and anyone can visit. Walking back out was a lot easier than walking in. Apparently there were paths through the forest that would have gotten me to the castle in a quarter of the time I spent. And, walking out of the castle, there are some magnificent ruins from an old church, and the forest was lovely.

Once I got back into Dublin, I decided to go to the Bram Stoker Dracula Experience. The pamphlet did a good job selling it to me – Bram Stoker’s life, his inspirations for Dracula, and kid friendly. The most entertaining part was watching the people in front of me get scared to death. It was set up like a haunted house, but there were only scenes from the book that were depicted. So, once you get to the next scene in the book, the scene ‘turns on’ and the Dracula bat started to flap his wings or something. I am scared to death of haunted houses, and this one really seemed like it was nothing.

When I left, I hailed another taxi. The driver insisted on telling me about the ‘hidden history’ in Dublin, and that was quite interesting. He pointed out a pub where Michael Collins would meet with his men and tell them who to assassinate. Creepy. He was extremely influential in the Irish was for independence, though. The driver also told me a lot of other places I should visit, and when he dropped me off he insisted on kissing my hand.

Jump ahead to the next day, and it’s my birthday! I flew back to France, and met up with everyone in town to have a lunch of falafel. We then walked around, and got Starbucks, and then went back to Jouy. By this time it was about 6 or later, so I decided to at least start on the tortilla soup I was making for everyone. That was when I realized that I did not have a can opener yet. Thankfully, Mandira has a lot of contacts, and was able to find one for me! Disaster averted. I made the soup (which was delicious, thank you mommy!) and they all gave me a nice French coffee maker ☺. My mom sent me popcorn, and my brother sent me a hard drive loaded with TV shows. Thanks everyone! The group here also got me a birthday cake that was really good and really rich – I think it was some kind of chocolate mousse. Yum.

The next morning I woke up with a really bad earache (I’d been fighting a cold for 3-4 weeks) and I decided to go to the infirmary. Since my complaint was about my ear, the nurse said I had to go to a doctor. I went that same day, and was put on antibiotics. I guess I really didn’t start feeling better until Friday, and I am slowly feeling better slowly. Hopefully it will be completely gone soon.

That’s my life update in a large nutshell. Work is still going well… I think I’m going to try to do laundry in Versailles this week (laundry on campus really annoys me) and other than that I have no big plans on the horizon. Stay well, and I’ll write again soon!

Three weeks notice

I arrived here in Jouy en Josas just three weeks ago. At times it has felt like the time has flown, and at others it just seems to drag by.


Campus is spacious, and there are a lot of trees. It is located at the top of a hill, and it is a bit of a hike to make it back down into the village. I think it might get a bit dangerous to go down the hill when ice arrives as it can be quite slick at times. The majority of the buildings on campus are dorm rooms. They are small, seventies-style buildings. The rooms are fairly large. I share an apartment with another lectrice, Anna. We each have our own bedroom, but if I want to go to the bathroom I have to go through her room, and if she wants to go to the kitchen or leave the apartment she has to come through my room. It’s a shotgun setup, but it is working out well right now. My mom also sent me a better quilt than the one that was provided, so now I am starting to feel like this place is more like home. Not to mention my new Halloween decorations :-).


There is really not much in Jouy, but there is more than there is on campus. There are two grocery stores, two boulangeries, a tabac, a librarie/papeterie, a post office, train station, and several restaurants. I've only tried the pizza place, but it was fairly good. I'd say it takes 15-25 minutes to make it all the way down to the train station, and then climbing back up the hill is not very fun. Luckily there are several busses that go up to the campus, but they are few and far between.

My job is going well so far. I'm really not working many hours per week, but it is a bit difficult to be around all of the time. Since it is the beginning of the semester, there are a lot of last-minute things that need to be done, so if I originally have an afternoon off I might find out that morning that I need to help give a TOEIC exam or something else of that nature. But, my job basically consists of correcting English CVs, helping with the language resource center, and being generally on call to help with classes (if a teacher is sick or if they want us to do a presentation about American universities or other things).

I've been to Versailles a few times. A couple of times for the carte de sejour with Anna, a couple of times for fun. The carte de sejour visit was not too difficult, they just refused to give it to us the first time we went because the school was meant to do the paperwork for us. However, since I am not a real student (and not a real employee) the school will not do any of the paperwork. So, I had to go back the next day with a letter from the school basically saying that I was not a student and they would not prepare the carte de sejour for me. After that, it literally took the person working at the desk 2 minutes to fill out the paperwork. Now I need to return in December to continue the process.


During both of those trips, I made a trip to Monoprix as well. I was able to buy a lot of the household items I needed. Monoprix is really just a great place, a bit like Wal-Mart, but a little more pricey. But they seem to have nearly everything a person might need. Too bad there's not one in Jouy :-).

I also recently had my first late night out experience in Paris. I went with a group of people, and we walked down the Champs Élysées and window-shopped. It was a nice leisurely pace, and the streets were still crowded with people.


My second trip into Paris was even better. We started out by grabbing lunch and taking it down to the river and eating by the Seine. Since Saturdays are mainly the day for weddings in France, we saw 3 different couples go by. Where we were seemed to be a popular place for wedding photos.


It was also the weekend of the Patrimoine (where people are able to go into government buildings for free), and so we went to the Palais d'Élysée, or the home of Sarcozy. I guess it is the equivalent of going on a tour of the White House, but in this case security seemed pretty minimal and anyone was allowed inside. We waited in line for 4 hours, but it is definitely worth saying I was there. And it was also so much larger than the White House! I was impressed :-).


Last Saturday I also went into Paris for the day. We went to Les Halles metro, and walked down a street until we found a boulangerie called ‘Paul.’ Apparently everyone loves that chain here. We ate lunch there and it was pretty good.

And, since we were in the area, I decided to check out the yarn store that is supposedly the place to go for yarn in Paris. It is called La Droguerie, and it does have quite a fine selection of yarn. I bought enough to make 2 scarves since I didn’t bring many with me. I plan on going back in the next week so that I can buy enough to make an afghan and have a blanket to curl up under.

After La Droguerie, I went to Montmartre with Anna, Sarah (the British lectrice) and Sarah’s friend Rebecca. I had never been to that area before, and it was quite interesting. We went to Sacré Coeur, which was beautiful. You climb this hill all the way to the top, and there are people everywhere. There were some guys break dancing right outside of the entrance to Sacré Coeur, and it just felt sort of surreal. The funniest part was after you walk through the church, and everything is so quiet and peaceful and then you get to the exit and the people right outside are break dancing to very loud music.

That evening, Anna and I continued on to meet with another American working at HEC, Mandira. Together, we all went to watch the first presidential debates at this place called CineAqua. It is located right next to the Seine, across from the Eiffel Tower, and the entrance looks like there is nothing there. However, once you go underground, the place is massive. It is a huge aquarium, but it also has a lot of movie props and movie information. There are at least two movie theaters inside this building, and they show movies throughout the month. For example, in October they are showing movies like Dracula and The Addams Family. But, for some reason, they decided to show the first presidential debates free of charge. Pretty cool, huh? And did I mention the view of the Eiffel Tower? It was gorgeous! And after nightfall, the Tower is lit up with blue lights. I have been told that this is because it is supposed to be a representation of the European Union flag since Sarcozy is the EU president right now.

I’ve also had a nasty cold the past week. It has been quite a roller coaster ride – felling like I am getting better then going way downhill again. I was way downhill yesterday, so I didn’t end up going out to Paris like I had originally planned. Last night was ‘La Nuit Blanche’ in Paris, and everything stayed open all night long and it was just supposed to be a an interesting experience. Although I missed out on it, I’m sure there will be more events in the future.

A bientôt!

The backlog

So, this is what I wrote while I was waiting for the plane to leave DC on August 9th...

As I sit here waiting to leave my ‘home’ of the past two months I am reflecting on what I have done this summer. I did not keep this travel journal going during my time here, which I may regret in the future, but every time I thought about writing my experiences down I just shied away from them. But now I am going to summarize my summer (with pictures, of course!).
My first night in DC I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I found where I would be living, and attempted to unpack my bags. My home for the summer was in a building known as Grosvenor Tower, and I shared a two-bed, two-bath apartment with three other people: Chloe, Kate and Coral. We co-existed well and on occasion went out together. I went to a couple of movies and sight-seeing with Coral, ate out with Kate, and went to a play (The Visit) with Chloe.


The first full day here The Washington Center had everyone go on a scavenger hunt with other people from their group. I’m pretty sure I walked myself to death that day, and you can still see the damage it did to my feet. Luckily, my group was among the winners so we were received gift certificates for pizza. Lesson for the day – you exercise, and you will be rewarded with junk food.

After that, I did a bit of sightseeing on my own and a few days later I began my internship at the Department of Commerce. It was a wonderful work environment. The majority of my time was spent cataloguing documents that had been accumulating for the past 30 years. It got a little mundane at times, but it was something that had to be done; they had no idea what kind of documents were there, or how many they even had. I also had other side projects occasionally, but those normally only lasted for a day or so.


My first full weekend after I moved in, I went to see Hillary Clinton give her “I am not running for president anymore” speech. From the talk immediately after her speech I realized my primary reaction was accurate, even though I do not really get into politics very often. The tone of her speech was much different from anything she had ever done before, and she spoke more about how her success so far was a great leap forward for women’s rights. I also found it particularly funny when she would mention how her supporters could continue supporting her by voting for Obama, and then there were boos in the crowd. But it was definitely worth going to see her speak.


Another event I went to was the Campus Progress National Conference. To be honest, I really only went to hear John Edwards and Ryan Gosling speak, but I also got a lot more out of it. I went to a few panel discussions: one about the future of America in the global world (which I guess I’m going global anyway) and the other about intellectual property. Overall, this was a very interesting day. John Edwards was a very good speaker, and the panel discussion about genocide was very informative. And, since I am in DC and cannot escape politics, I guess it was appropriate that a lot of the questions for Edwards were about the upcoming election. People at the conference were very pro-Obama, and a lot of people would phrase questions starting with “When Obama is president…” rather than if. There were very few conservatives in the crowd, and only one person who, in a panel discussion, openly discussed it. It really seemed like she shot herself in the foot, though, when the Great Wall of Mexico issue was brought up. Her reasoning for supporting the border barrier was this: “If you have a pool in your back yard, and you don’t want your child to drown in it, what do you do? You put a fence around it.” There were several outraged responses in the crowd, and the matter did not get better when she continued to defend it. Gotta love politics, right?


Apart from any special events, I also found my sanctuary where I could escape to after work if I did not want to go home and did not want to walk around. It was the courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum/Portrait Gallery. It was made to look like an open courtyard, but there was a glass ceiling and it was climate controlled. There were trees that grew in the courtyard, and there were fountains that ran probably less than a centimeter of water across the ground for several feet. The kids really loved splashing around in this. One night when I went there, there was a band playing music. It was just a place I could go to relax and escape from the world.


With the Washington Center I had the opportunity to go to several different places. I went to the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the Pentagon. Each tour was very brief, but it was worth going to say I went and to know what these places are.

One weekend I went to the Arlington National Cemetery. Call me morbid, but I found it both awe-inspiring and peaceful. There are so many people buried there and you get to see the true cost of war. Also, I was able to see the final resting place of JFK, which I found quite moving, especially since I was standing next to a group of nuns. Later, watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was also interesting. As the ceremony begins, the military officer comes out and explains the rules to the crowd sitting on the stairs: turn off cell phones, no talking, be respectful, and stand up. The officer seemed to get a bit of satisfaction when he asked the crowd that had been nearly entirely seated that they had to stand for the ceremony.

My last full weekend on the East Coast I took a trip to New York. I did a hop-on/hop-off bus around the city and got to see where several places where that I had not been to before. Riding around in that city made me feel like I might live there someday. While there, I went to the Breaking Dawn Concert series, which I must say was a madhouse. Not as bad as I anticipated, for the most part, but in some ways worse. The actual concert was really enjoyable, and it is amazing how worked up some people are about this fictional series. It was fun to watch everyone and have people get into the Edward vs. Jacob argument. The bad part came when Stephenie Meyer started her autograph signing. There was no real system for us to get into a line peaceably, so we were all feeling like we were being herded like sheep. I think it took an hour and a half to two hours for me to get through the line, and I probably wasn’t even at the half-way point. So, thank you Ms. Meyer, and I hope you hand doesn’t cramp for too long. The next night I went to see the musical ‘Wicked.’ It was a very good show; I recommend it. It has a different outcome from the book and is made family friendly, but in a way I think the musical might be better than the book.

At the beginning of this, I was sitting in my apartment. Now I am at the airport waiting for my flight. I’ve said my good-byes and moved on from this place. While DC is a wonderful place, I do not see myself returning here permanently in the future. Now, after I get home, I will be preparing for my next great adventure in France. Wish me luck!