This weekend was a mix of partying and attempting to study. Patrick invited me to go to a party on Friday at Wilson’s place. (Wilson is from Nor Cal). So Sylvana and I went, we were some of the first people to show up, despite my attempt at being “fashionably late.” But it was cool, and a lot of people actually started showing up.

It was a lot of fun, there were Americans, and ERASMUS students from Nanterre.

I drank just a little. And the next day, I had the second worst hangover of my life. I thought it would be clever to drink beer, red wine, vodka, and gin in one night. Word of advice: they don’t get along. They like to rumble. And they leave a path of destruction a day long.

I spent most of Saturday sleeping it off. Which sucked. I tried taking a shower, and that made me feel worse. And it was raining, which really didn’t make me very motivated to try to get up and go out. So sleep. I studied a bit, and then went to a party with Patrick. It was at an Austrian guy’s place, and it was really cool. The party was pretty chill. And Stefan (the Austrian guy) is into a lot of the same music I am. Which is cool, cuz it looks like we are going to go to some upcoming shows. Yay, I am excited!

Patrick and I left the party at about 3:30, and decided to walk home. I am always so amazed at how quiet the city is late at night. It’s like a ghost town.

Sunday was a ho-hum day. I did laundry, cleaned a little, read, and just relaxed. I’m glad this was a weekend I could take it easy. The only thing I really needed to accomplish was getting some studying in for my exam on Monday.

And thank god that test is over. It was ok, I really wish I had studied Balzac a bit more. But I think I kicked ass on the other parts. I will see after the new year. Now I have to write my paper for the class. Which means I have to read a book. I will be busy once Eddie leaves.

Yay, Eddie’s almost here! I can’t wait. I pick him up tomorrow, and then 10 days of insanity begins.

I always knew I was a go with the flow type of person. I am usually able to take what life throws at me, and come out on top. Surviving in France has more than proven my ability to just go with the flow.

For example: I am finally getting around to getting my residence card taken care of. Combination of waiting for paperwork and laziness, but I am finally doing it. So I go to the police headquarters in Paris to apply, which is what my rectorat told me to do, the website said to do, what everyone involved has said to do. So I get there, wait in line, and another line, and get told that I have to go to a different place, about a 30 minute trip away. So smiling, I say merci, and hop on the metro. I get to the other place, wait in line, and get told that since I am an assistant, I have to make an appointment to be seen at the headquarters where I was at in the first place. (By the way, this is the first time I had heard anything of this nature). I was able to walk out of there, smile on my face, blood pressure low. Going with the flow. Nothing is going to phase me anymore. God bless French efficiency.

In class Monday, the funniest thing happened. I was kind of embarrassed about it though. In my Literary History class, we were having a discussion about the Revolution in 68, and talking about the factors leading up to it, and its lasting impact on society. So there I was, making an intelligent statement about how the life of the generation of students in 1968 was so different that their parents lives, blah blah blah, when in the middle of my French sentence, I slipped out with “because” (in English). My brain was moving too fast I guess. At least it gave everyone a good laugh.

And my professor brought me in a huge packet about Camus. I had told him about my brother, and I think he brought me in everything he had about Camus. He is teaching again next semester, and I really hope that I can take his class. But then again, I still have to take my exam for his class, so I shouldn’t make my mind up yet. Hehehe. That’s next week. I am working on reviewing each day. I think I should be ok, but we’ll see.

And I finally gave money to the metro entertainment. As I was going home from babysitting on Tuesday, there were two guys dancing and rapping in the train. It made me smile, and laugh actually, so I felt that was worth something. They earned their Euro. Ha.

The French grading system is killing me. The University works on a 20 point grading scale. I did a paper for my writing class, I worked my ass off, had it checked by a French person. The teacher only made one correction, which was a relative pronoun I used incorrectly. And I got a 14. 14! Out of 20. In my brain, that translates to a C. But I’ve been told that a 14 is supposed to be good. So I guess I will go with it.

And Thursday I got my bed fixed! Yay!!!!!! Finally, I have my apartment back! Thank goodness, I was going insane.

But that’s a funny story. When the first guy came out to look at my bed to see what they were going to do about it, he came at 7:45. I didn’t think French people got up that early, let alone work at 7:45. I was still asleep. So this morning, I woke up at 7:30, prepared for an early morning bed change. Nope, they didn’t show up until 10. Figures.

And I had a fan club. In my PJs, with my hair up, not at my peak. I am scared to think of what would have happened if I had actually even looked half way decent. They were asking me all sorts of questions, and one asked me if I lived alone, and I said yes, and then they asked me if I was scared. I told them I had nothing to be scared of (but actually, I never closed my door, hoping the painters outside would run to my rescue if something happened.). One of the guys ended up asking if he could call me, and then showed me my phone number on the work order. Out of my mind, I said sure, and then he gave me his number. Thank god caller ID will warn me. I just hope I am with a guy when he calls, and have the guy answer my phone. Ha.

And then I embarked on my little adventure with the whole police thing. And as I was walking back to the metro from the second place, some guy in a delivery van pulled next to me and started hitting on me. I pulled the “I’m sorry, I don’t speak French” card. He then started to try to give me his number, in French. I smiled, shook my head, and said “no thank you”.

French guys actually are silly. I prefer creativity to creepiness.

I am feeling better. There has been this lingering cold, and lack of energy. But it’s on its way out. Hooray!

I finally fell victim to a French metro strike. It happened Friday, when I was supposed to be coming home from work. Bah. It was friggin cold, there was a cold wind blowing, and I was mad. I had to wait for almost an hour in order to catch a train into Paris. Thank goodness it wasn’t raining.

Because now the weather doesn’t care about me. It likes to rain. It does show a little compassion, and I do get some sunshine every now and then. Which I appreciate, I have learned there is a huge psychological factor that the sun plays.

On Saturday the weather forecast said rain all day, and snow in the night. Except there were no clouds to be seen on Saturday. But it was cold. Cold enough to snow had there been clouds it felt.

Sylvana and I decided we were gonna go shopping again, I really wanted to try to find another jacket or two, and some more warm clothes. And I wanted to go to the sports store and get some free weights. I have lost almost all of the muscle tone in my arms that I worked so hard for. I really want it back.

Because of all the fun stuff that goes along with having roommates, Sylvana is going to move out of the apartment she shares with Amanda. So I went with Sylvana in the morning to go look at an apartment that is owned by one of the teachers at a school where she is teaching. The teacher was super nice, and took us to a café afterwards.

Then we were off to shop. We went to Le Forum des Halles. It’s interesting to note that Zola once referred to Les Halles as the belly of Paris. It’s now a giant shopping mall. I won’t bore you with history, but Les Halles has been a shopping center in Paris since the 12th century. Wow.

In the mall, there were some Christmas characters dressed up and just wandering around. There was a giant teddy bear, and so I asked if I could take a picture. While we were taking the picture, Pere Noel came over and tried to get in the action. He was really interested in knowing if I was on the “naughty” list. It was quite funny.

Sunday was my homework/ lesson plan/ continue to recover day. Not a fun day.

And we have now decided that Paris contains “Asianese” food stores. I thought I ate Vietnamese food one night, and then we went to a Japanese restaurant, and had the same food there. Chinese food too. So it’s Asianese. The only real Chinese food restaurants are in the Chinese quarter, and those are some real fucking Chinese places.

My brother is coming in 9 days. I can’t wait. It is going to be so fun.

So yeah, some of you have noticed the stunning lack of bloggage. Sorry. I’ve actually been pretty sick. It sucks. I’ve been suffering from a complete lack of energy, and actually any sort of will to do anything. But I’m getting better. So here is a really long blog. Most of it was written before I was sick… and I promise more bloggage as I feel better.


When the weather doesn’t want to cooperate with me, it has a sick sense of humor. Sometimes it laughs in my face.

As a part of my teaching, I have the children keep notebooks with the things that they have learned. Last week, I collected them so I can look at them, and correct any mistakes the children have made. So one day I had two classes worth of notebooks in shopping bags. They weren’t light. And it decided to rain. Not only was it rainy, but it was also very windy.

Just imagine trying to figure out how to manage two shopping bags that combined probably weighed about 20 to 25 pounds, and an umbrella. My arms felt like they were going to fall off.

Of course on the days I don’t have to walk so far or don’t have a billion pounds of notebooks to carry, it is not rainy.

Like I said, sick sense of humor.

But it is cold. Under 10 degrees during the day. Which is 50 for you in America land. And in the mornings, it’s about 1 or 2. Yeah, nice.

The sunrise thing still trips me out too. Even with daylight savings time, the sun doesn’t rise until after 8:00. Imagine if the French didn’t believe in daylight savings time… It makes getting up and going in the mornings much harder. I’m used to sunlight.

Thanksgiving was cool. MICEFA hosted a little get together for the American students. It was nice, they bought us a drink, and we brought snacks. Sylvana and I contributed Rice Krispie squares. And then afterwards, Michael, a student from Humboldt, had a get together at his place. It was nice, we had sliced turkey and cheese. Behold my Thanksgiving feast.

I’d just like to say that working hungover sucks.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, I went out with a group of people from California, most of them from up north. But one girl was from Upland. It’s strange how small this world really is.

We stayed out kind of late, and ended up walking home. The metros had opened, but we were going to have to wait 30 minutes for the first train. Or take a 20 minute walk. Some of the people I went out with live in the same area, so that worked out nice. We walked along the Seine. We were some of the only people around in the city.

Sylvana’s cousin was coming into Paris from Dublin for the weekend, so we went to meet up with him at a train station. We were talking about Ireland, and I really started getting jealous. I loved Ireland. And now we are all committed to the fact that we are going to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day. Yay! I am sooooooo excited.

Saturday night I went to a French party, hosted by Alex’s cousin, Merlin. Lots of French wine and desserts. Mmmmmm. And it was awesome, because I was holding actual conversations in French. While not sober. I really felt like I can cut it now. Ha.

On Sunday, Amanda and I decided to experiment with doing our hair ourselves. We actually only ended up having enough time to do her hair. I was quite scared. We both want to do highlights, so Amanda got a kit from Tati (a local store) that had a cap. She put it on, and we couldn’t get it to work. So we decided to give it a go with the foils. I had never done foils in anyone’s hair (and the only time I ever bleached my own hair had me in tears). I was really scared, but Amanda was gung-ho. I figured it was either going to turn out good, or Amanda was going to never want to talk to me again.

I was nervous all the way until she came out of the shower, and told me how happy she was with it. And it looked pretty good, if I do say so myself. I think I am going to try a different store to get a highlighting kit, maybe I will do it this week. Or just wait and pay for someone to do it. I am a little scared. We’ll see.

Afterwards we were going to get crepes, but that ended up not working out, and we went to an English Pub kind of near my area. It was nice, but I left early, I had to get back home and actually do a little homework, and get my lessons prepared for the week. Sometimes it really sucks being responsible.

And since we are on the subject of working, I love the efficiency of French companies. Over two weeks ago, I signed up for the internet at my apartment. I went to the store, got everything done, got the wireless modem, and they told me that I would have internet within the week. So I waited a week, and nothing. But it’s France, so I just went with it. But by the second week, I was really annoyed. So I went to the FranceTelecom store, and they said their computers showed my line was activated, so they told me I had to call customer service. That was fun. I waited on hold forever, and when I would talk to someone, they told me that I had to call a different number and talk with someone else. Finally after an hour and a half of this, I went to the guy who had helped me set up the account, and told him that I had been on hold, and the only thing I figured out was my account was blocked, and then ended up lost in their voicemail system. So he called someone else, and found out that there was a problem with the girl before me. A week later, I had internet.

And then I just got sick. It started slow, and then kicked my ass. I have gone to work, school, and slept. Last weekend, when it was really bad, Sylvana brought me soup like a good friend should. Luckily, she didn’t seem to catch what I had. Knock on wood.

More soon. I will try to be more interesting again.