Meanwhile, on planet Earth...

Today I did indeed get my passport renewed. It took forever tho because they "lost" my stuff and the lady "found" it an hour and a half after I paid for it...I didn't know how long it was supposed to take so I just sat there...

and they didn't let me bring in my gameboy so I REALLY just sat there.

There were some spoiled-sounding kids on a trip to France-Greece-Turkey-Russia.

I can't seem to find that book...altho I have only tried two places.

I had so-so pasta for lunch from a convenient take-out place and now proceed to grab a cookie on my way home...

Technically I should clean but I might take a nap...I'm kinda tired.

i'm growing my hair out

you heard it here first ladies and gentlemen...my hair WILL get longer because it WILL not be cut. how many of you out there have pleaded with me on this exact issue? how many of you are intrigued with the final results? how many of you think this won't last a week? (you may be right but we'll have to see)

yeah so i didn't get my hair cut

we had dinner at a groovy japanese restaurant where i had the best fried rice in the universe and then we played video games an watched the french equivalent of the oscars

it was much fun

i guess i figure that now that the whole world knows about it i am forced into creating results

yes!!

kinda like the results with getting passports renewed and cleaning your house

(dang!)

all shall be accomplished in the hopefully pleasant and productive week of VACATION

ah yes...vacation...a time to read hundreds of pages of a book steve said he hated (see last entry's comments) and in FRENCH no less...but you know i could buy the french one for citing puroses and read a copy in english...that IS an option and let's face it i AM behind hmm...

*ahem*

a time to get the dust off one's floor...

a time to watch MORE anime

a time to reciprocate on dinner

a time ABOVE ALL...to...uhm...not go to school

but if i didn't already explain this i DO have to go to school to do worksheets in the library *cry* i really don't want to...i have this feeling it will be impossible and also very boring....*cry*

so it goes!!!

also a time to study because holy cow I WANT TO LEARN

russian verbs! japanese grammar! french vocab!!! yes!

i should feel busier than i do lol

you have NO idea how slowly i walked yesterday to the metro and then i STILL sat there and let two or three trains go by before i was inSANELY on time

oh so it goes

greg has a cool house

and man it's RIGHT by the louvre and the area is very Japanese

there is katakana allllll over the place

sakkaa shoppu

that's how i know it's his street

also i rode a new metro line!!! 14 it's very short and hi-tech cuz it is the latest to be built...i think in the 90s...98? as if i remember...>_<

cuz today we went to go see a movie at this theater by the THIRD biggest library in the WORLD

new words i learned include: dandruff, ostrich, wig, and "i can't wait"

my bangs are in my eyes LOL

guregu ni ganbatte ageyou!!!!!

we're gonna pretend i said it right

oh yes...grow that hair...

i guess we're also gonna pretend that the entire rest of the world doesn't speak japanese

o-ho-ho-ho

*and everyone anime falls with perfect timing*

oh gosh i almost forgot to tell you about the anime i saw before i went to the metro and before i read two chapters of that SUPAH INTERESTING book on japanese education...it was a something like The Adventures of the Little Ninja Sarutobi Sasuke...i dunno...his name was Sarutobi Sasuke tho cuz there was (of course) a song that (of course) a chorus of kids would sing

boku wa shonen sarutobi sasuke o!

yes

well in this movie the main thing i wanted to say was that there are talking animals but most of the time they speak animal languages which was just annoying as heck...really scary mimi grunt grunt moo moo chibichibi noises aiiiiie

lol

AIIIIE

what to do when your friends are in Brussels

get the keys to their house and borrow their laptop :D

yes i am so happy lol because this computer is MINE for the majority of the weekend ^_^

i went to ye old FNAC yesterday because it was ALMOST on my way home and was dismayed to find they had every book Balzac had ever written in every edition EXCEPT the Folio Classique of La Cousine Bette. Dang tho it is long...to read in French anyhow...that could be difficult

So for any of you who have read The Da Vinci Code St. Sulpice is actually on my metro line (the four) at least i think it is...i haven't been there but that is what the stop is called so i would assume that...

Also i have heard tell of another book which rips the da vinci code to pieces as far as false facts are concerned...i mean apparently there are enough of them to write a book about...lol which is disconcerting considering that the book starts with a nice little "all the facts are true" message...

: /

today is anime and then dinner and a haircut

also some reading and showering and possibly but not likely some cleaning...

i think my reasoning is that since i have next week off of all my sorbonne classes i can just kind of chill and clean whenever i want hahaha

BWAH HAHAHAHA

what is silly is that i still have ONE class because one of my MICEFA courses has already started (without me...tyically) so i have to go to that...probably we will just watch a movie tho

and then i have anime to watch and Finding Neverland in the original English (because I missed it in the states and it looks sooooo good)

other than that i can settle into a nice long stint with my friendly dictionary to get through that novel

whoooo

XD

life is good

vacation

Apparently I have off of school next week. :D

Altho I have to spend probably just about every waking second of it reading Balzac because that is what I missed those first two weeks. Supposedly it is a long book...*cry* I also have some library worksheets to do and luckily the library will stay open during vacation.

Yeah I didn't get my passport thing done because I forgot to set my alarm x_x a sad thing, that, but what am i gonna do about it once it's happened...so i had lunch and went to class where i learned all the previous information from a very nice and helpful TA with cool hair.

Mmmm then I went to the MCJP to see a loose adaption of Treasure Island with talking animals!!! (I sense a theme...) also many songs (theme) and I also realized I can read the kanji for TOEI animation :D It's the same as the TOU from TOUKYOU (Tokyo) and then the EI from EIGA (movie). So it's like...Eastern movies...or something lol. It's cool. You know it's them cuz there are waves crashing on rocks and then their kanji comes up in a triangle.

After that I came here. I will find that book tonite and then probably go home and not read it in favor of The Da Vinci Code which I flatly refuse to bring on the subway. I think that is the new way to recognize tourists LOL I decided to read it because I haven't got any fiction to read at the moment. Well...that isn't in French anyhow. I just realized tho today that I'm reading something like...well counting the one I have to start, five books. That is rerooster!!!

Speaking of "reroosterulous"...I have mandated a spelling change to ease pronunciation. You can drop the first u and just say "reroosterlous" Sadly I can't remember the linguistics term for this phenomenon...*failure* Anyhow that is the newest word from me, so anyone who wants to be cool and use my slang should do so. When I get back to MKE I want to hear everyone saying it!! lol No one will even remember it's questionable origins!

I need to go home and eat chicken...and buy stuff to clean my horribly messy house with.

Oh yes. Other news is I am finally going to get a haircut!! I don't know what kind yet because it is Greg who will do it, and from his English vocab he chose "annihilate" to express the activity; so, I'm a bit scared. hehehe *victory* no sweat XD

*scratches back of head*

I think that's all...it's going to be weird to be on vacation. I'll have to think of something fun to do while I'm not reading...

tchao!

"In the early morning..."

I was awake instead of STUDYING and or SLEEPING lol

Yesterday that movie was super, albeit a little strange. Nordic people fighting monster and ice mammoth with large newly forged sword. Also featuring talking woodland creatures and sparkly- eyed ancestors of chibi children. Our hero, the boy who wears but a tunic, manages to save our singing sister of the monster who is under his evil power via the seemingly obligatory magic amulet. Yeah but really it was good...nice music too...

So THEN just read this and tell me how silly I am...I told Grég to meet me at the MCJP but overlooked the fact that, of course, the doors would be locked and we would only allowed to be let OUT. I realized this too late to do much else than hope he would be somewhere anyhow and count on my blue glasses to catalyze recognition, which he was and they did. So all ended up well. Incredibly well! He's super groovy. We discussed in French-English-French over his apple juice and my coffee. Turns out he actually works right near where I live. He was already going at it when I got on the métro this morning. x_x

But yeah I stayed up till about three am last night??? Why??? Certainly not to review for my Russian quiz hahaha. It was fun tho. I jammed with Emanuel and Dan and Kia and Glenda and who else...ohhhh Emily and Chris etc. They have an anime channel on their cable which makes me a bit jealous. Luckily I can go watch Japanese puppetry from the sixties for FREE tonite!!!! SO HA lol XD No I really am...I invited Grég because after all it is free...but haven't heard back yet.

This morning I had Russian and it went fairly well. She asked some questions about the story I worked on and I answered decently for the most part. Unfortunately the more technical bits of giving dates eluded me. It's nice tho because you get sort of a private lesson through your headset...

Unfortunately because I am stupid I left the photos for my new passport at home and had to go take a nap and shower before leaving again. Err....yeah so tomorrow I will finally accomplish that...hopefully. Really it was more the post office thing...I need an envelope and to get one of those you generally need a post office which I didn't have. Then there was also a line. I at least know where the place is.

Place de la Concorde is sparse.

In other news though I found a Japanese pastry shop where I am going to go after the passport place tomorrow...and oh I coined a word in French that is equivalent to "passport place": "passeporterie" It was a joke and it worked. I got a real live French person to laugh at a joke I made. It was sublime. TECHNICALLY it's not morphologically sound because if that were the case a "boulangerie" would be a "painerie" and that would just be wrong...but it was understood so apparently CA MARCHE

Uhm...ah yes it is nice to say "uhm" It is much prettier written than "euh" which is what you have to say in French. Another thing, which Emily and Emanuel like to make fun of, is the way people say "bah-oui" or "baaaah-non" Really the length of the "bah" isn't the point. The point is that it's there and it means they are making up their mind...or maybe they just feel like saying something...kinda like "mmm yeah" in English.

One thing I meant to comment on the other day was the enforcement of classroom order. In my small Russian grammar class I dunno if it's just that prof but she takes like five minutes to scold something that most of us weren't even aware was occuring. In other words it's kinda overkill sometimes. In big lectures tho it is just the opposite. Everyone talks and whatever they want. The profs have a mic and just kinda plow on and on, unless everyone starts shuffling at once when someone is trying to ask a question.

Hmm and people go to the supermarket with canvas bags on wheels...

There those were some interesting cultural observations for you.

I gave a dude a euro and ten cents in the subway today cuz he was jammin' away on a marimba. It was so good. Some people are mediocre but some people are really great. There is this one guy who plays the violin pretty scratchily but has an interesting singing voice. Yesterday tho, topped EVERYTHING because dude was in the subway with an electric guitar singing in a reroosterulous French accent. Well, it was only goofy because he was singing Pink Floyd's Shine on you Crazy Diamond..."come on you seen-airs" Also his singing voice was not that great. Then there was the fact that his guitar riffs weren't really in time for the most part either...I wonder if his hair was a wig...

Well ok I think I've gone on long enough for the time being...

Have happy, will travel...

("the ooooone youuuuuu loooooove")

A more interesting day than yesterday

yeah cuz yesterday i went to SCHOOl and just kinda STAYED THERE allllll dayyyy longggg...it was evil. lol I found some other classes I was thinking about taking and waited for them to start (for like two hours) and then sat through them (another two hours) and then decided I didn't want to take them (about half a second). One super interesting thing did occur tho and it is this:

Shinichi e-mailed me the e-mail of this French dude who wants to meet me. This is incredibly hardcore. The language exchange has come to me lol. So so so I e-mailed him back and told him to give me a call and then last night RIGHT as I had walked in the door I found a message on my phone only no one said anything in it. I called back and was talking to the dude and ONLY realized it was Chris when he said, "k i'll meet you in the lobby in ten minutes" ohhhh i felt so dumb XD

Anyhow I am going to the MCJP (Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris) to finally check out the library some more and see a movie (Horus, Prince of the Sun). I proposed that Grég could perhaps meet me there so hopefully that will work. I don't know anywhere cool to go LOL.

Oh I quit the translation class too. That's the other thing I did. lol It was going to ruin my life; I could feel it. Wayyyy too hard. Maybe in another year or two. hehehe

Still need a haircut...maybe I will do it after I go to the passport place tomorrow (yeah cuz i still have to do that too)

everything is slooooowwwww here lol i can't seem to accomplish anything rapidly...maybe that is always the case tho....maybe it is me...yeah probably

Oh I finished listening to the Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy this morning. I was sad...and also confused...they really leave you hanging.

I need a snack so I'm off!! Probably I should go home before I go to the MCJP but I really don't want to...

OH it snowed....a couple times too. It feels all springy today but still cold. It has been colder lately...and SNOWY o_o lol There is grimy slush everywhere now...and it's pretty silly watching all the heeled ladies slip around...you'd think with the pile of shoes they probably have in their closets they couldn't be prepared with a winter weather pair...

So it goes...

chinga chinga chooka chooka chinga chao

tick-ticka ticka tooka tooka ticka tao

lol

i've been listening to a bit much justin timberlake i THINK (if you know what song is in my head then you too have been listening quite a lot...maybe even more than me)

ah yes WELL the 18th that was quite a while ago wasn't it...

since then many happy and not so happy things have occured...does it have two rs...x_x

PATIENCE (*snicker*) i shall relate!! XD

sooooo friday night we had delicious curry and subsequently ended up at the louvre with ice cream inbetween...yes MORE ice cream...i've instituted a ban lol for at least a couple weeks. We almost skipped the louvre in favor of a movie but as it turned out we did both. We were only able to spend about a half hour at the museum cuz it was closing and then we walked back to the movie theater. Not everyone went because it was Friday so student discounts were not applicable. Emanuel was going to see a Spanish movie but oddly enough we ran into a group of people we know going to see Constantine so they saw that. I kept meaning to say that there were a couple girls in our group who were lucky enough to stumble upon the Paris premiere and SEE Keanu in all his...Keanuness? that should be a word...it's pretty...and where did he get his name?? i wonder how many people wish they were named Keanu...

I saw Le Fil de la Vie which I thought was a rather crumby translation for "Strings" Something more literal would've been more appropriate...but then what do I know. Anyhow it was a Danish Swedish UK Norwegian movie with all puppets in English (here with French subs ne). Not only was it done completely with marionettes BUT it was also ABOUT them. Basically they invented this whole culture (well two really...it's this war between the somebodys and the whatserfaces) based on the strings and whatnot...if you think about it too hard it might seem lame. I'm sure there are many people who wouldn't be interested at all. I thought it was interesting and it afforded some cool imagery...however to my dismay the last ten seconds or so pretty much destroy the whole thing...which is sad. If they would just cut it before that it would be decidedly better. You won't find any spoilers here tho...

ah yes and saturday i didn't go to chinatown...i tried to come update but the netcafé was closed. Then I hopped on the metro and went down to the Eiffel Tower-- to find the japanese cultural center which...that isn't what it's called...for some reason the actual title always eludes me. It was funny tho cuz when I got off the metro I just started walking to try to find the street and suddenly I saw Japanese things in the window and I realized I had wandered to the main entrance of the building. So it's conveniently RIGHT there.

This place is seriously my favorite place I've been here so far. The building is really nice and their bathrooms are nice. You can see out the elevators to the city XD..except when you go into the basement heh which is where the cinema is. Wow so it's really great. Did I already go nuts about the 50s and 60s anime fest they are doing? I really forgot o_o but I saw Le Chat Botté which is probably Puss in Boots in English (as opposed to the booted cat LOL). I guess one could describe this as zany. The basic plot is that Pero the swashbuckling cat is on the run from three other cats because he saved some mice once. He runs into Pierre who has mean brothers. Then he helps Pierre battle an evil sorcerer and save/marry the princess. It has a really insane theme song. I should try to find/learn the words. It talks about how he is always on his own in the end...a lonely cat after he helps the lovers get together. It doesn't SOUND sad tho...it sound manic LOL XD

The other wonderful thing about this place is their library. They actually have a lot of books in English and every book in there is either in Japanese or about Japan. Unfortunately you can't take out books without paying the fee to be a member of the club but they have nice tables with lamps and everything so it's inviting to people who want to spend all afternoon reading.

Saturday night I went for a walk with Emanuel and Emily. Something I have hitherto refrained from remarking upon is that these two BICKER like NO OTHERS. lol It's really bad. If they are together you KNOW they will be fighting about SOMETHING. They really like to be right, which is something I can understand, but their methods are winding and wearying. Everyone else just kind of has to stand by UNLESS you get involved...which I find myself doing but only to a certain extent. I think to take sides with either one would be a grave error, provoking an endless debate that would more likely than not just waste everyones time. As an example...the beginning of the evening was a debate about how many gloves Emanuel has lost since he's been here...first there was the confusion about pairs vs. single gloves and then an account of each losing to prove it but they were still at odds. I said, "You guys you do realize you're arguing about gloves right?" "I know I'm just trying to exPLAIN to him..." says Emily. Make no mistake I love these guys a lot but they are certainly a little nuts XD

On the way we stopped at this place for crepes and I'm so glad Emanuel and I decided to split one because they were the most gigantic crepes I have EVER seen in my LIFE. We got Nutella banana. Nutella, for those unexposed to its brilliance, is a chocolate hazelnut spread not entirely unlike peanut butter. It's a little more soupy than peanut butter...and more desserty. It goes well with banana on crepes.

Sunday was for the most part devoted to my homework altho I did do some laundry AND socialize a bit at the French toast party (where i ate little because it was unanticipated so lunch had already occured). It was a very loud party in Emanuel and Emily's at about...1 or 2 in the afternoon LOL. I left tho to go get into the homework which was a good thing cuz it took a really long time to do what I had planned to accomplish. Then I had to go to bed so I would wake up for this morning.

I went to the intro lit class this morning and disturbingly enough was lectured for an hour about what exactly the internet is...

*cough*

I think she realized that we all knew but felt the need to remind us...

cuz we surely didn't know what a search engine is...?

No worries. I don't think it is a class for computer illiterates. She wanted to show us some sites to help us research literature. So that was an admirable goal anyhow. I actually did learn some things too...like http is the protocol. HA. as opposted to ftp or some other things. Too bad she didn't elucidate protocol a bit more...that would've been more interesting than learning the three types of addresses there are online. (No really...an e-mail? a website? Wait this is too hard...)

I can't believe I'm still here. There is quite a bit of translation to be done at home. I guess I just wrote you the weekend omnibus. That probably should've been the title but I couldn't resist the crazy rhythm. XD

Tomorrow may hold for you another installment...that is if it doesn't hold too many Japanese library books for ME. hehehe *two-fingered victory* Justice and peace!! XD nyaa!

i miss japanese

I'm depressed today so I went shopping at FNAC. They have books and music and video games and everything there. I found a book in English (because I wanted something to just read for fun) by Peter Carey about him and his son in Japan. It's really good so far. I also found a Japanese culture center in Paris that is showing anime movies almost every night so I'm going to go. Maybe I can meet someone who knows of a club I can go to...

I also returned library books, went to MICEFA (I'm taking lit/cinema and paris history...so I'm ALMOST running at fulltime now. Need one or two more classes...) and had lunch. Tonite Emanuel, Emily, and I are cooking curry. They are going to the Louvre but I'm going to see an anime about something that is ghostly and floating...i dunno that word...i should look it up lol Watching anime with French subtitles is a good vocab source if you take notes XD

I'm not really in the mood to study. I've been kinda slacking cuz I'm in such a lousy mood. Yesterday I finally went and saw Kié La Petite Peste...it's an anime from the 80s, very nostalgic. Quite a crazy movie as well. It's about a little girl who has a dad who gambles all the time and is a tough guy who beats up yakuza lol and her mom left but they end up back together. Anyhow the girl is pretty tough too and works at a bar and she's really little and hits boys who tease her with planks of wood lol. The really strange part though is this subplot about these cats. She has a cat and one of the yakuza guys has a cat. They are both very buff and they end up fighting and it's a big contest but the little girl's cat wins. The weird part is how big a part of the plot the cat's testicles are o_o (or that they are even there at all) because see...the tough cat Antonio looses one in this fight and then he gets killed by a dog later and aiie it's just bizarre and too complicated to explain because the son of Antonio (Antonio Jr) shows up and wants to fight the little girl's cat and they exhume the severed testicle (which has been dipped in gold or something and buried in a box in the cemetary o_o) to witness his revenge. It's really strange. It probably sounds more strange if you haven't seen the movie lol. Anyhow it was really cute and silly. It's especially cool because it's so oldschool. The music, the animation...*cry* I'm really excited to go see more tonite, especially since it's so much cheaper!!

Anyhow after the move I went home and ate with Dan and then we went out for ice cream (FINALLY) I had pistachio, macadamia nut crunch, and that crazy banana flavor, a scoop of each. Then I went home and listened to The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy for an hour, got insanely tired while playing Fire Emblem, and went to bed.

Hopefully next week will go better, altho I think this net café will be closed. Maybe that's ok because I spend too much time (read: money) here anyhow.

The other thing that is cool about that Peter Carey book is that it's like a travelogue too so maybe it will give me ideas of things to talk about in here. I should try to make it more exciting.

how to make me mad

throw the noodles into the sinkful of dirty dishes

yeah so i had to cook TWICE last night before i went out to speak french and japanese because while i was draining the noodles they all spilled...*cry*

i split some ice cream with a japanese girl mariko. there was also this guy shinichi and we all talked. mostly in french. it was fun. i gave her my e-mail and phone so maybe we'll hang out sometime...

this morning i woke up semi-early for an 8 o'clock class...i still am not sure exactly what i was supposed to be doing. I've never been in a language lab before. So I listened to the tape for like an hour. I guess for next week I have to make sure I know the text cuz she's gonna quiz me.

i saw a black cat on my way o_o

hmmmmmmmm i dunno...it seems like there was more going on than that...

*chatting...*

maybe dan and i will have ice cream tonite...if sergey isn't coming over to study...i dunno if i want to do that tonite...x_x hum...

*goes to look up movie times*

personal advancement day

hmm...is that a valid excuse for sleeping till nine and not leaving my room until 1:30? last night i didn't get to have dinner until 9:30 so i stayed up late. the guacamole i made was not bad...altho i've only had guacamole about twice in my life so maybe i shouldn't judge. one thing that particularly erked me about the shopping process was that i couldn't seem to find REGULAR tortilla chips. They were all chili flavored. Granted, these were actually pretty good. I don't usually go for chips...but these were ok. Anyhow I also made beans and rice which.

This is AFTER I got my box from Mom, which roxxored. XD My favorite shirt is now back in my closet and on a HANGER o_o It's really amazing how a couple bent plastic things can brighten up a day. There was also much food including mac 'n cheese which a person just shoudn't have to live without. Peanut butter was there which was good but I have to go find something to put it on now. XD Rumor has it the pb here is rubbish, so I'm glad to have the American stuff.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for including candy and the cute bear. :D He's super cute and sits on the shelf by my desk.

So today is kind of a planning day. I think my other excuse besides personal advancement is that many babysitting jobs want someone all day on Wednesday, so it would be counter-productive to have classes today anyhow...hehe. Not that I really want a day job x_x but it's an excuse nonetheless. ha

I read about some Dominican's and then studied some nihongo. Almost done with the review and then I get to start on the new stuff. I'm actually kind of glad about the lag because if I have any questions I can e-mail jashukun and say, "Hey you did this a two weeks ago so tell me how."

the PLANNING part comes in now because I'm gonna take a moment to find the Russian book I need to buy for my class and see if I can glean any other slivers of info off the Sorbonne website (which is doubtful). I'm also going to e-mail MICEFA and see if they will let me take two of their classes instead of just one. Then I'll have at least Russian which is six hous so should be six credits, and two French courses which are three a piece. If I can get something some other things that would be good but three subjets will cover fulltime enrollment at least. I might look into doing some sort of independant study. I wonder if you can do that from overseas. That guy who wrote the history of the color blue wrote some other really interesting books as well. Maybe I could get some credit for reading and...yeah...what would I write lol good question...ANYHOW I CAN DREAM CAN'T I??? lol XD

Tonite I want to go out for ice cream since it got too late last night. I ACTUALLY WILL TOO. lol I'm going to try to invite Dan but if he's not home or Chris is not around or no one I know is around I will go by myself. This will occur after Japanese night at the Falstaff, to which I am looking forward. (haha can you say that o_o it sounds happah)

no news on french conversation buddies...

no news on much of anything else...

that's ok i should leave anyways XD

highly uneventful

with the possible exception of going to class this morning

i really don't get the system here at all. there is sooo much translation even for first years. translation is for people who KNOW WORDS ALREADY

altho they seem to be pretty smart

the same people in the translation course i went to were also in the grammar course i went to which...was just starting aspect which is something i know a fair bit about. altho they are eons ahead in terms of verb conjugation cuz i'm really bad at that. they teach it very different here as well o_o

you know there are also tons of russians in the classes

which makes it even more difficult

actually tho both of my teachers were really nice. the first one seemed very confused as to why i was there (uhm...to study russian? 6_6) the translation class lady was reallllly nice and understanding. she said if i wanted to translate in english i could start out doing that and she kept saying how i wandered in on a really difficult day and that it usually isn't so hard. it's so crazy tho. they just sit there and read this article and somehow everyone knows all the words even when they are things like "suspension" and "delays" and stuff. they were reading about something about recruitment of students in the army...i dunno. but no one uses a dictionary or anything they all just go to it and i just kinda sat there. she said to work on it at home and see how it goes...i wonder if i really have to take this class. technically i could probably just do the first part and the lab and not do the translation course. but i guess i will go back and see how it goes.

i seemed to find some lit courses today but i didn't go because they weren't labelled as to what they are. i dunno how anyone studies abroad here...at least at the sorbonne. the other schools seem a lot more compatible with our system...they have class with TITLES and things. it's just hard because you only do your major here and so there are courses you take if you are that and that is all you do and other people don't do it. iiiii dunno...it kinda just bites. maybe it's not too late to change schools but i really need the russian...i dunno...chris is taking like three film courses including one on hitchcock and emanuel has a really awesome french as a foreign language phonetiques course which i would LOVE to do. i dunno i haven't even really started school and i already hate it.

i'm trying to find a french language exchange partner since i had good luck with russian and even japanese. tomorrow SHOULD be japanese night...

what can i do tonite...technically i should study like sixteen different things but...hmmm...i think i will also go out for ice cream because expensive ice cream (when worth it) is a joy that should be available to all.

le week-end

ah ha yes...well i did end up going to a russian class finally for FOUR and a HALF HOURS...it was rather interesting but over my head. first they corrected a translation (russian to french) for two hours with a seriously cute and nice guy teacher. This was reallllly funny cuz alllll the kids in the class were girls except one. They were all giving him a hard time and he kept complaining he had no authority. They said it's cuz he smiles too much hahaha

then for the rest of the time there was some reading and grammar. it was LONG but we got two or three breaks

today my job is to try to find other departments so i can find history/lit/translation classes

tomorrow i can go to the other russian class and hopefully that will work out better cuz i HAVE to take SOMETHING

oh i should check for babysitter ads tooooo...

cuz i need a job

friday night i went to a club...or was that thursday...did i talk about the club already? no so it must've been friday. la loco...it was big and crazy but there were too many people so we ended up leaving early of course we didn't GET there until almost 1 am so you can decide what early was lol

it was FREE except coat check...so that's what counts i guess

most of the weekend i spent studying/reading. still chipping away at the history of the color blue and my japanese textbook AND my russian textbook AND soon enough more books lol...i made decidedly more headway in the history of the dominican republic (cuz it's in english hehehe) emanuel let me borrow that...i think i'm going to start learning spanish again since he said he would help. this is probably not the greatest plan lol but i REALLY miss spanish...dan was joking that maybe i will get to russia not knowing french but knowing spanish but i told him if that were true i dunno if i would really mind lol as long as i learn SOMETHING...i am learning some french things tho...from reading this history book it's very good...learn some nice segway things and such.

Another thing I did was go to a language expo with lots of books. There I found a French vocab book with lots of very specific words. I almost typed spécifique...maybe that's a good sign.

I had one dinner night with emanuel and emily and one with chris and dan. i think we all eat too much here cuz sometimes we are just very good cooks LOL

altho i need a real couscous recipe

the couscous i have tho is really nice cuz it comes in little sacks that you boil for a minute and a half and then drain...super super easy and fast

i bought curry paste BWAH HAHAHAHA

hehe

oh my new address is A1012 (instead of B407; for those of you who have the old one everything else is the same...anyone looking to send me things who doesn't have the other half can e-mail)

mmmm news...i should be going i think...

happy valentine's day XD

ding

ah yes well apparently i am meant to just ARRIVE at class and say bonjour blah blah and take it...so tomorrow i will show up for four hours of russian which may be terribly difficult but i'll be there anyhow and will say bonjour blah blah and see what happens...

tonite i'm studying with sergey

last night i TRIED to go see a movie and ran around to the two theaters i know of but neither had the flick of choice

i did all my laundry yesterday but i never fail to forget at least one thing (note: it is really hard to understand french people...esp when there are 4 laundry machines going in the background...which was more like the foreground...cuz they were uberloud)

this morning i reviewed some things...

i dunno i guess i haven't gotten much done today

for some reason i thought today was friday so i waited for like an hour for class to start and then realized it was thursday so i left

i should go to micefa today but i don't really have to...

hum

i was so ready for class today that i have become extremely unmotivated with all this unexpected time...i dunno why i thought it was friday

i tried to buy blackberry yogurt but she thought i said plain...

which was utterly disappointing

and also gross...never eat plain yogurt

also at lunch today they had raspberry yogurt but only FLAVORED raspberrily...what is the point of that exactl? they can't just chuck some fruit in? it was weird cuz they didn't even color it pink lol

one thing that is interesting is that here paper isn't lined it's gridded...usually anyhow. I think you can also fine lined paper but for school you use basically graph paper.

they also have a very specific way to turn in even just normal homework...which will annoy the heck out of me...formats do that ne

anyhow that's all i can think of so XD

wednesday's getting better

well today is wednesday. to begin with i think my alarm clock is broken. well, at least the radio part. abruptly this morning it decided it didn't want to turn off and then i unplugged it and reset it but ever since then it has been quite fuzzy. disappointing.

i showered to dashboard confessional.

my time is running out. last night i discovered that chris and dan are going to have netphonecable in their room. i'm thinking about proposing a three-way split cuz then i wouldn't have to poke around this café, which is kinda sad cuz i like it here but then you know...expensive blah blah blah.

the problem with russian turned out to be that the classes are yearlong so you can't come in halfway altho micefa is getting me a letter so hopefully it will work out. i have yet to figure out any other classes tho. things are very slow and inefficient...actually it's probably just me. no it's definitely a combination because they could seriously just throw the schedule on the website. i mean why not? heck! lol but noooooooo they hide it in the dept hallways or something. i have no idea. it's annoying tho.

French Ms look like Russian Ps.

sort of

Today another Japanese movie comes out. I can't remember if I mentioned that already. I'm going to go see it later...which...I should really be going because I have to get this letter and then probably go to the dept and see if they'll take it and then i should really get up to some laundry.

i didn't wear a coat today...

*feels the jealousy from wisconsin radiate*

well you know it was pretty nice out so i decided to go without. it was either a coat or a sweatshirt and the shirt i have on isn't exciting so i figured i'd rather wear a sweatshirt all day than a coat...understand that those of you who can lol i dunno if it made sense or not

@_@

i'm leaving lol

failure

to do many things yesterday.

For instance, after I managed to locate the slavic studies dept and get up the courage to knock on the door and then ten minutes later to get up the courage to knock on the door AND go in (which i found out is what you do rather than someone answer it) the secretary told me that i couldn't register for russian until next year. This was about the last straw because the only reason i was able to come to France in the first place is because I made sure I would be able to take Russian so I wouldn't fall behind. I hope she was lying v_v

After that I talk a rather uninteresting walk through the 17th district and ended up near the very outskirts so I found a métro station to head home. Before I left tho I decided to grab a panini. In this instance, my French utterly failed me. For some reason I convinced myself that ground (or shreaded, i'm not sure which) meat was chicken. I SAW the sign for chicken but said no this other thing is what i want. YEAH RIGHT. It was nasty.

Then I went shopping heh. I was not having a good day. What I learned though, is that having music coming through speakers in the room is much more cheerful (literally) than having it come through headphones. It's also less of a headache. Not to mention that it lets you sing to something in the shower in the morning.

The mall was pretty interesting. I was going to get ice cream but I didn't. I got enough stuff other stuff, like an adaptor that works. That first one I got was seriously fake or something. lol x_x My luck with electronic devices is not so hot.

I also bought a copy of The Economist which I actually have been meaning to do for months and months, eons really. I can't say I understand everything in it, but I understand SOME of it (hehehe!! *justice-filled laugh triumphs over former doubt of intelligence*) Technically I'd really like a subscription because it seems to me with these things that maybe you understand more the more you read...WHICH interestingly enough seemed to be the point of their slogan on the please-subcribe-to-us cards. "The more you read, the better it gets." Really though it's the better I get because hopefully I will gain some useful knowledge. I dunno. It seems like you have to know an awful lot before you even start trying to understand the news, like history, economics, poli-sci. I don't know very much about anything really. It's like Sergey was telling me what the stupidest of the stupid (stupid is his word heh) people in Russia have to know and I was like...hmm...kinda wish I knew what he was talking about...This is an ongoing crisis. It's depressing to be smart enough to know you don't know much about anything but not quite smart enough to know how to proceed from there. If I could find some good books I would read them, however now I am faced with the reality of almost exclusively French books. At the library I have been to the only English books they had looked like things that people bought for the plane on the way over and then donated...which...there are some good things. I dunno. I probably exaggerrate. haha...did I spell that wrong?

I should probably be getting on my way to la grande sorbonne to see if i can locate that magic wall. I'm beginning to think it's an urban myth...

I should go to MICEFA and see if they can get that slavic studie secretary to admit she was lying. lol If I can't take Russian I'm going to be in deep trouble. Well...not really. I'll just have to do an independent study which actually wouldn't be all that independent because Sergey and I are meeting twice a week for precisely such purposes as correcting homework and learning useful words like "alien" for me and "terribly" (in the sense of "very") for him...i also taught him "goofy" which is now MORE than just the name of a certain funny-looking Disney character.

He also taught me "fork" but I'll have to review...

Hmmmmmm...

You know it may technically be EASIER to just do an independent study. The only problem is that I was excited about having that class because it would be probably with almost entirely French students. I dunno.

*cry*

So it goes.

Today I got up later than I usually. Hopefully that will thwart the annoying and quite unneccessary late-afternoon nap. I'm really annoyed by that, but I just tend to run out of motivation by 3 or 4. *sigh* I think tonite I will go see a movie after I study a bunch. Gosh it's tuesday. I'm behind in my studying, due to the fact that I'm reading too much. Oh well.

here's to the magic wall *clink*

Crickety

That is the name of my cell phone ring. I miss my old one, but it's nice to have a phone number again. Now I can text people to meet up and stuff. I probably should've gotten a better phone, but oh well.

This is going to be short and not that interesting.

Saturday night was the wine tasting which was not at all what I miscomprehended it to be. I showered and tried to look halfway decent and ate dinner in the subway while trying not to be late and rushed around getting lost etc for five minutes of trying three kinds of wine with a nice lady who I had never met before. It was in a store and I was the only one there. I dunno. It was ok I guess. I liked the dry one best. I don't even know what the means. x_x

Then since it was free and I had been planning to spend five euros on it cuz that's what they told us it cost, I went to this ice cream café and spent too much on a scoop of ridiculously good bananacaramelcookie ice cream.

Then I went home and went to bed cuz I was in a crummy mood about everything.

Sunday was mostly uneventful. I saw Dan and Chris and then Sergey came over in the evening and we did our study + chinese deal.

I've also been reading some more, but nothing I like as much as The Palace Thief or Hemingway.

I dunno if I discussed on here yet or not but the way to register for classes is to go to them and the only way to know which ones to go to is to find the magic wall where they are all supposedly posted. It seems easy enough but it is not. I have this feeling there is not one wall, but many. I also have this feeling that I do not know where to find any of them. I should go look tho.

loud french boys (a very happy entry)

they are always here playing bloody shooting games and swearing...they're pretty young too o_o

i only called the entry " loud french boys" for effect...it's not really about them

;p

sooooooo after i left here yesterday i proceeded to the micefa but on the way i stopped at the library and got a card. luckily the librarian guy was super nice and smiley and understood what i meant when i spoke french even if i didn't know how to finish my sentence :D he'd just throw in the future or conditional or whatever tense/mood for me lol then i took out the only hemingway they had which was "The Old Man and the Sea" which i read all the way through last night. :D Yeah I got five books out and am partway through the third. 350+ pages in the 24 hours. I am a banshee!!!! XD I should really study something tho instead of reading all the time. What else did I read tho? "The Palace Thief" was realllllly good. A collection of four shortish stories. The second was my favorite I think but they were all good. loo loo So yeah I guess everyone knows what I did till 1:30 in the morning LOL

I'm used to getting up at 7:30 that it felt weird to stay in bed past 9 but I did anyways and had a happy dream too. My plan for the day was to go to Chinatown and then come here and then go grocery/flea market shopping and THEN go shower and get read to go taste wine.

I dunno what to wear to that. I was thinking about dressing up but my sweater is very creased and will probably not look good. Maybe I should try to do some laundry cuz then I could wear flares lol

Oh oh oh but in Chinatown it was very cool. I went out to this restaurant which turned out to be a very good if totally random pick. I had Pho which is Vietnamese soup annnnd it was great. Xav told me about it and I have always wanted to have some. Hahaha so I did and yay yay yay. I should make Chinatown a habit because for such a tasty and filling meal out it was not very expensive at all. I also picked up some things at a grocery store. I should learn how to cook real Asian food so when I go shopping I can buy more than just intant noodles and rice and dried fruit. haha. I did get koala cookies too hehehe. In France they have something like Pocky called Mikado. I should try some to see how much like Pocky it really is. Anyhow after lunch I walked for a ways and found a bakery where I had a bun with red bean paste and egg yolk which is such a great thing to have. :D Everybody should have one :D

Wellll I should get going probably because there are always more things to do. XD

I dunno if I forgot something. Maybe I did but I can't think of it now...

Oh you know grocery stores here are very tight and small. I dunno if it's like that in all big cities but here the aisles are tiny and twisty and everything is squished together heh.

Everything in Paris is tiny tho. Except maybe the Louvre. I haven't been yet this time around. I think it's free tomorrow cuz it's the first sunday of the month. Maybe I will go then. It depends.

...

jamamas

Eventually my brain will have 4+ switches that will each correspond to a language. Right now my brain has a puddle into which my thoughts dive and set about backstroking.

Actually I'm not supposed to be here right now typing this, because I need to decide which school I'm going to or finagle about getting into both because the classes for the two of them start on Monday.

This last fact is nice because it means I can probably forget about the orientation class which is still annoying (altho occasionally insightful). If we did more grammar I would probably enjoy it more. I could do grammar all day...even though I'm supposed to know it all already. You know, so is everyone else, so I don't feel so bad. Wait...yes I do...

So it goes.

LAST night was super wonderful as Sergey made the latest of his grand appearances at my place. He also said my studio is a sweet deal. First we spoke a lot of English and then we did some Russian and then we went out at 10 (which is far too late) for Chinese (food). I learned some RIDICULOUSLY useful expressions from him. I can't translit worth even a penny (which is less than a centime...and the centimes...they are pitiful) so I can't really tell you what I learned. I need to study more anyhow lol.

Boy, I have to leave. There is so much to do. I spend a lot of time on the métro; I wish I had more books to read...

the smile which radiates

haha the plastic peeled off the burner with only the slightest difficulty (i win)

and thus this morning my breakfast was prepared all at the same time instead of eggs and then milk for the crazy Benco hot-chocolate...if you eat your croissant while you cook the eggs you save time :D

i read hemingway on the métro

in fact i believe that book is beginning to impede my studies LOL i always want to be reading instead of doing homework...

last night was quite exciting. i finished my worksheets and then went out to the café where i sat timidly for probably ten minutes until the arrival of a japanese girl prompted the two initial club members to turn around and then we all got on fine. i was the first american they've ever had. this is definitely going to be a habit...maybe not the mussels...i think mussels..."moules"...tho they were tasty...and really if you split a bowl it's not so expensive at all...you have to crack the shells and then spoon the little...thing...out lol it's actually quite messy but they give you little hand towels. so so so tho we spoke a LOT of French and also some japanese. i think next time we will do more japanese. it's nice because either way i am learning XD we talked about lit and movies and music and all sorts of things...school...and i was invited to a wine tasting on saturday which should be super cool. white wine from all different parts of france. apparently the guy putting it on really knows his stuff and so will educate us all (or at least me)

hmmm class today was ok...we discussed various grammar points...and some street slang...you know this class is very much like the class i just took...and it's silly because i really won't be able to keep going once actual classes start anyhow...maybe i should just quit...i could get more done with-out it i think

you know i kinda wish i had a big thick english dictionary in addition to my bilingual french one...

oh but class...yes it was long...she kept us twenty minutes over...she may have been a bit late in starting but i don't think it's fair to keep us after even if she WAS 20 whole minutes late which she wasn't

then i had lunch at the crous student restaurant for cheap cheap and was thoroughly disappointed to find NOT the promised mexican food but only what was there the other day and some pork or something...i dunno...it's exciting enough to be full for less than three euros i guess haha

this afternoon instead of doing my district project i will take advantage of the time given and do nothing except maybe read some hemingway, study some russian and japanese, go to my academic interview, and meet up with sergey (which i hope will be fun and educational for the both of us)

technically i think i could go out salsa dancing tonite but i feel like i should study...

i might see the library too altho i think will save it for tomorrow when i do the rest of the district stuff

district is a nice word...i think i even like it better than the french "arrondissement"

gosh i should leave...by the time i get home i'm going to have to leave again...but then i guess that means more time in the métro with my book so it's not so bad XD

plasticky

yeah...i tried cooking last night and wrecked one of my burners x_x i think today i will try to heat it up and scrape it off with the handle of my wooden spoon or something...stupid butter container...

: /

luckily i am ok at eggs so i do that in the morning

so class started at the normal time today which is 9:30

on TSF some guy singing in French was on to wake me up

i thought i left early but apparently i was right on time o_o

still hard to judge -_-

she assigned us THREE worksheets and i still have to visit my district and make note of things...i guess i will do that...when...see i have no idea...i have things to do today and things to do tomorrow...i guess she said it will be ok to do it for monday so i may take her up on that...she knows we are busy...

anyhow also we are supposed to keep a vocab notebook almost like in the class i took last semester...in fact i think i will copy them out of my e-mail account into my book...

most of the class today was concerned with the métro and trains and then the housing problem in Paris...i feel pretty dumb in class most of the time...some people are way better than me at this stuff...at least talking...i dunno x_x the lady corrects us like a banshee tho...

métro stop is a "station" so it really is that simple...this is a word that has been bugging me ever since i got here...il y a deux stations qui reste...

man i have a lot of dictionary work to do...i take notes in class but before i add words to my list i want to make sure i have a precise definition and any important alternatives included as well...aiiiie

plus i would like to continue reading the history of the color bleu...which means more words...

you know i wasn't going to write them down out of that book but maybe i should...iiiii dunno...it seems to go faster when you just look them up and mark them

any word with three marks gets learned ASAP...

of course many times if it comes up a lot you don't need to look it up that many times

and if you write it down sometimes you don't have to either...

i dunno

i had a system and now they are imposing...oh well

i still don't have a cell phone...this is unfortunate

oh the other crummy thing about yesterday was that i found an adaptor for the gboy but it didn't work which i really don't understand...because it was specifically a continental adaptor and really looked like it should fit...soooo it goes

i'm very excited about speaking japanese tonite...i dunno if i'll really get to or not...i wonder a) if anyone will show up b) if anyone will decide i'm worth talking to c) if i will understand anything anyone says (in japanese OR french)

anyhow i'm off to do homework and things such as that

i should probably do the dishes too v_v

i need to study more...

and i can't believe it's already almost quarter to two o_o

Homework

Bleck. Class was ok but this is how the homework will be I'm not going to like it. I'm not so into the go run around your district and find out things sort of studying. I was looking forward to settling into my desk...

Bleck. Assignments like this just don't really seem to teach us much and feel very fake to do. I have to go get a cell phone. That's where I'm headed now. I get to see Sergey I think on Thursday which will be supah. It's been a while o_o

So today so far...I wrote that other blog. I didn't talk at all about the tour. It was long and in French and semi-interesting. She was really enthusiastic about the turkish baths. I dunno...mostly I was starving.

After that we went to the a student restaurant which is definitely the place to eat. Students get a appetizer, entrée, and dessert for 2.65 euros. It's funny cuz in French entrée is the appetizer...and then plat is the main dish (like plate sort of...)...

What did we do in class today? Well it wasn't all that exciting. It was also three hours with a fifteen minute break about halfway. It seems like most classes meet once a week for two or three hours rather than spreading it out which is awful. It makes me think of the psychology class of flaming death that i took last year. *cry*

Apparently we're going to be discussing the history of Paris and then libraries and things like that as well as current issues in politics and French life and whatnot.

I think lots of us are depressed.

I dunno if I'm depressed but I don't really have any desire to see or do anything...which makes this homework assignment really obnoxious. The other thing is that my friends in the residence (hence in my district) aren't in my class so they don't have the assignment and i doubt i will be able to get anyone to come with me. i sure don't like being dragged with other people...

which is one thing I've started to just avoid: the gaggle. We've been here for almost two or three weeks or something right? So I don't understand why we all have to go to lunch TOGETHER or grocery shop TOGETHER. I mean it's one thing to invite a friend out but entirely another to be all groupie. I dunno...maybe I just am depressed lol Like just now this girl was talking and i was telling dan what i was doing and she was saying, "blah blah blah well, they don't want to wait" ah-HA the RULE that i now work even harder to adhere to!!!! DO NOT WAIT!!!! You just get bored and waste time and also end up in a gaggle.

anyhow...tonite cell phone, bottle/can opener, rice, red beans, an adaptor, and a mini-tape recorder. these have been the goals for HOW many days now?? tooooo many...

then i'm going to go back to my room and read the OTHER homework we have, do some Russian and Japanese, some french, i dunno...

i kinda wanted chinese food for dinner but i feel dumb eating rice for dinner when i had it for lunch...but then my breaktime snack was just bread so i don't really want to go home and make a sandwich...

*sigh*

i'd like to find the a library too right away but i think i'll save it for later as i'm reading two books already...and besides i'll probably have to include it in my report on the district sooooooo oh well

tomorrow i dunno if i mentioned this already but i'm going to a japanese restaurant cuz they have a japanese-french conversation night so that should be interesting...gonna try to drag a couple friends but i dunno if they'll want to go or not...as much as being in a gaggle is no fun...it is also no fun to always be by yourself...i dunno

and Thursday is Sergey, I said that

and Friday that lame assignment is due.

TERRRRRIFIC

also they have planned some cultural activities for us that i may or may not go to...depends on my schedule and like i said i really don't feel like doing anything anyhow...

mostly i just want school to start and to hopefully meet some french people...i should try to find an anime club

Beyond the Sea

That's the song I woke up to on TSF this morning. I love that station!!! It's funny tho cuz that's where I got my blog title...through some nonchalant minimization. XD

So hahaha I heard this song on the radio I think last night or maybe this morning and the chorus was something about "workin' for the Yankee dollar" hahaha our poor dollar : /

I borrowed Across the River and into the Trees from Emily since I finished A Wild Sheep Chase. I can't wait till their book club finishes Emma so I can join in for the next read.

What else...o i buy milk in a nice little liter box. It says VIVA on it and looks really...foreign lol. The cap is blue and it has a little swirly on it so when you twist it off it looks c-c-crazy @_@

Last night I first went for wine and cheese at this MICEFA lady's house. It was nice altho I have no cocktail party skills to speak of. I drank orange juice and snacked. There was some good cheese and I talked to some people. I talked up MKE to a French girl...err maybe Spanish...who was thinking about studying abroad there. There was also this older lady on the program, a writer, who I was talking to when she spilled her wine alllll over. O man that was bad cuz it got on the fabric on the wall and this is a super spiffy nice apt...she spent the whole rest of the evening dabbing at it with Perrier and some powdery thing.

After that I went home and did laundry and learned the word récupérer (to get back). To my English ears it sounded too much like recuperate. I had to come back later to "get back" my clothes cuz the a lady came to lock the room so no one else would start to do laundry. (It was closing time.)

Aiiie I have to go. I have the first intensive French session today and cannot be late!!!!