Homework, stress, and Parc Monceau

Hello friends and family,
Well, here I am back at Parc Monceau again, ready and willing to bring you another update in the life of this Parisian vagabond. And that is indeed what I have been lately–wandering through the life I have created for myself here without much direction, save the occasional homework assignment. All that is changing, however–as finals approach, I have been bombarded with more homework than I have had throughout the entire semester. Here is a list of what I am required to do this week:

• Study for literature test tomorrow
• Take literature test
• Meet with presentation partner on Tuesday
• Begin writing dissertation for writing class
• Meet with group for presentation for literature class on June 8
• Write paper on France’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for my international relations class
• Give a presentation (with aforementioned presentation partner) on Friday.

Truthfully, the sheer number of things is not so daunting, but it is the weight that each carries that has me concerned for my sanity this week. If I become paranoid and begin screaming about Marguerite Duras’ secret involvement in the Israeli Knesset, please call the appropriate authorities.

Other than homework stress and relying on Parc Monceau for access to the internet, life has been pretty good. I am leaving for London in 2 weeks, and the friend with whom I am sharing a hotel has been very good with communication and planning where we will meet and when. The actual Vivien Leigh/Laurence Olivier weekend begins two days after we arrive, but the organizer of the weekend (our friend Kendra) wants us to go on a practice London tour with her, so that she will be prepared to lead the full group when they arrive. I have been to London once before, but my time there spanned less than 24 hours, so I’m looking forward to getting to know the city.

There is not really too much new to report other than what I have just covered, so I guess I’ll sign off before my computer does it for me.

Talk to you soon!

Busy day today.

Hello friends and family,
I cannot currently see what I am writing, I have decided to exprriment with posting from my Blackberry, and I’m not sure you can see this. I am going to post this to see if it shows up. See you (and hopefully my words) in a minute!

EDIT: Resounding success. I can now see my words, and you can, too.

Moving right along–my day today was filled to the brim with various obligatory tasks, including getting up (not so much of a problem, as my sleep schedule has been off recently and I awoke naturally this morning at 5:30), getting dressed (more of a problem), and spending a grueling 3 hours in International Relations class learning about water crises and border disputes in Sudan. Not your typical Friday morning coffee talk, but we did hear a presentation about the pros and cons of Turkey entering the European Union, which was rather interesting. It seems that the population of Turkey itself is split about half and half regarding whether it should be admitted into the European Union, which is not something I would have expected. As the euro is so strong and the lira so weak (when I was in Turkey a few years ago it cost several thousand lira to buy a bracelet) one would think that the population would want to join a stronger economy, but apparently there are other things that take priority in terms of the country’s development in the eyes of the people. Interesting stuff.

After class I headed out to the Cafe St. Placide to meet some classmates of mine for a literature study group, as we have a test on Monday. They had already been there for an hour when I got there but apparently not much got done (this seems to be a recurring theme here in Paris), so we ordered some lunch (a camambert sandwich for me) and got down to business. We studied George Perec, one of the leaders of a movement called Oulipo that views writing as a game to be played with your reader, who wrote a book called La Disparition (The Disappearance), which completely devoid of the letter “e,” the most common vowel in French. His next book was called “La Revenance” (The Return”) which contained no vowels BUT the letter “e.” The dedication in his next book, “W, ou le souvenir d’enfance” (W, or Childhood. Memory) is dedicated “Pour E.” What that is generally taken to mean is a game with the pronunciation of the letter “e.” In French, the word for “them” is pronounced exactly the same way as the letter “e,” and as Perec’s parents died in the Holocaust, his writings are seen as tributes to “them,” his parents. This is the kind of thing I love with literature. Everyone thinks I’m insane for being so into literature analysis, but isn’t this analysis of his work amazing? I seriously get chills.

*Nerd alert over.*

After we finished our lunch we were promptly kicked out by the waiter who said he needed our table for lunch (didn’t we just eat lunch?) It was rather strange, but we took this as an opportunity to go sit in the sun while we finished our study session. We found a nice spot in the courtyard of our school where we finished studying Perec and went on to studying Marguerite Duras, whose book “La douleur was assigned for spring break, but was not read by anyone until after our return to school. It’s a pretty depressing book–Marguerite Duras is SO easy to read and her sentences so short that it’s almost painful to get through 200 pages of her. Maybe that’s why the book is called “La douleur” (Pain). At any rate, it’s all about different kinds of pain and torture during WWII, and a real commentary on the ambiguity of war in differentiating good and evil. Even with that interesting theme, we soon tired of Duras and spent the rest of the time talking politics, which was great fun.

I then went back home to get my computer, which I took to Parc Monceau for internet use. I got a little overrezealous with the “Listen to Youtube” site (whrere you can rip audio from youtube videos and save them as mp3s) that my computer ran out of battery and I had to come home to recharge it. Thus, I didn’t get a chance to upload.a post from the computer, deeming my Blackberry necessary for posting. I must say though, I don’t think I’m going to do this Blackberry posting thing again, my fingers feel like they’re about to fall off. Before they do, I will sign off and say have a marvelous day! Talk to you tomorrow!

I’m back!

Well folks, after 2 months of setbacks, computer problems, and mounting pressure to write another post (Dad), you are witnessing the return of the prodigal daughter. You may notice that my posts will heretofore be rather short, as I am reliant on the limited capacity of my computer battery here at Parc Monceau, but I am committed to not only recounting my increasingly mundane adventures here in Paris, but also confirming the continuation of my existence (I haven’t died. I can assure you).

Two months is a long time, how shall I begin to sum up my life here since my last post? My mother came to visit me in mid-April, which was a resounding success. She and her friend Kim rented a small apartment near the Bastille, which was owned by a young Frenchman named Tony (with whom we had many irritated phone conversations regarding–you guessed it–the internet) and functioned as my home base as well  for the duration of their stay. We did lots of touristy things, which was great for me because as a full-fledged resident of Paris, complete with errands to run and schoolwork to do, my opportunities for exploring are slim to none. We ventured down to Versailles (magnificent) and Giverny (quaintly magnificent), and generally enjoyed being in Paris together. I realized how much I had really, really missed my mom. I didn’t want her to leave. But eventually she did have to go, and I resumed my life as normal.

My schoolwork has been centered on presentations, of which I gave the first this past Monday. I was concerned that my partner for the presentation wouldn’t come through (she sent me an email saying she had to go back to the US for some reason, then put off our meeting) but in the end she did indeed come through and I think we did very well. The project was on a very interesting French novel called Apocalypse Bébé, which, sadly, I’m positive will not be translated into English. It won the Prix Renaudot this past year (one of France’s highest literary honors), and it is a marvelous book, a “Da Vinci Code”-esque story set in Paris and Barcelona, complete with a compelling twist at the end. In case it is someday translated into English, I will not give away the ending, because I highly recommend reading it.

My computer battery is dying, so I will finish by saying that as you may have gathered by my reference to Parc Monceau at the beginning of this post, I have given up all hope of ever getting internet in my apartment and have found a free internet hotspot here at Parc Monceau, which beats spending exorbitant amounts of money in the internet cafe. It has been difficult but I have gotten to know the park rather well, and they have good ice cream. It’s a give and take.

I am going to try to post again tomorrow, so stay tuned, and I’m sorry for staying away for so long! Until next time!

Well this is awkward.

I haven’t posted in over a week.

I guess my life hasn’t been interesting enough to merit any witty posts. School and dealing with the internet have taken up the majority of my time and energy, and I have become so frustrated (by the way, the French word for “frustrated” is “énervé“, which just SOUNDS the way frustration feels, doesn’t it??) with the whole internet situation that I just cancelled it today. I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Ironically, cancelling my internet was the easiest thing I’ve ever done in France. So for the rest of my time here I will be here at the internet cafe hanging out with my favorite Kazakh cashier and watching Hungarian communist cartoons (Really.)

I considered dropping one of my classes at school, but decided against it because I need the credits if I’m going to graduate at the end of the summer. Despite all these setbacks, and the fact that NOTHING is easy in this country, I have a feeling I’m going to end up back here after I graduate. I got upset the other day thinking about how I’m going to have to leave in June–this has become my second home, and I love it for all its idiosyncracies. We’ll see how I feel after the summer, but I really love it here.

I have a study group this evening to study for a test on Monday. That should be interesting.

Talk soon!

FOREVER SINCE LAST BLOG POST

Hello friends and family,

My goodness, it feels like an eternity since I last posted! I think I have simply been on a “meeting Olivia de Havilland” high since March 22, and hence have neglected my posting duties. I greatly apologize for the inconvenience, and confirm once again that I am indeed alive and well, if a little bit obsessed with Olivia de Havilland.

By the way, I password-protected that blog so that it wouldn’t show up in a google search and cheapen my experience. If you would like to read it, please do contact me, and I will be glad to give you the password! There’s nothing secret or otherwise classified in there, I just don’t want random people taking advantage of this very special occasion for me.

Anyway, on to what I have been up to for the past few days.

I went to sleep very late on Thursday night, having been up talking to a friend on skype, and unfortunately spent yesterday morning at class. We had a rather dull substitute teacher, who kept explaining the same concept over and over again–then we watched a movie based on that concept, then he reinforced it by saying it again. I got intensely bored and felt like I was going to jump out of my skin, and when the class ended I realized that I had doodled far too many drawings of Melanie Hamilton in my notebook and the Ukrainian girl next to me was giving me glares for not paying attention. Oh well, what was I supposed to do? I understood what he was saying, and he just kept on saying it. Scintillating.

After that class I decided that I needed a break. I went down to the Pont Neuf and browsed through some of the street vendors there, then came to the conclusion that I had no money to spare and went home. Upon realizing that my dinner options were scarce to say the least, I used that money I couldn’t spare and bought things for dinner, which included veggie dogs and hamburger buns (have you ever tried looking for hot dog buns in Paris? They can’t be found). I came home and prepared a very American dinner (I’m still missing food from home), and the rest of the evening was relatively quiet. However, this quiet evening gave way to a very raucous internet discussion with my friends, rehashing all our old injokes from Tuesday and viewing the videos posted online by my friend Erika, who was our designated photographer for the event. We’re still very much on cloud 9.

Anyway, truthfully that’s about it. Hopefully my weekend will be more interesting.

Talk tomorrow!

Protected: Olivia.

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Getting ready for visitors

Hello friends and family!

As you may know, I am preparing to have a number of people at my house beginning on Monday evening. The Olivia de Havilland event is on Tuesday, so I invited 3 friends to stay at my apartment the night before and the night of the event. As my apartment is the whopping size of 9 meters squared, we will each have 3 meters in which to move. Cozy to say the least. I’m a tad worried that, though I have informed them as to the size of my apartment, they will somehow be upset with me for having confined them to such a miniscule living area. I know that we are going to have a blast, and I’m pretty sure that I am underestimating my friends, and it is simply my own insecurity about my situation coming through.

I talked to one of these friends on skype yesterday (following a MARVELOUS showing of “Leave Her to Heaven” at the Rue Christine, which is outlined on my new film blog! http://www.backlots.wordpress.com/) and she told me that she’s actually coming in tonight, but staying with another friend for the first two nights of her Parisian adventure. She’ll be with me on Tuesday after the event, and I have to figure out where I’m going to put her. I think that spatial restrictions may require somebody up in the bed with me, if that is comfortable, but if not, I’m going to have to work something else out. Oh, the logistics of hostessing!

Anyway, so today I decided that I should probably get ready for their arrival, and set out this morning with a to-do list in hand. I went first to the French equivalent of REI, called Decathlon, located just past the metro station Ternes on the Avenue Wagram. I needed a mattress inflater, as the inflatable mattress I bought at the same store last week is rather difficult to inflate without one. I was about to purchase a ridiculous looking aluminum monstrosity that resembled a scuba tank, simply because it was 5 euros cheaper than the small, cute, and portable one, but just as I started off for the cash register, I found a trashy looking cardboard box containing a device by which one can inflate the mattress by foot, at a cost of 5 euros flat. As I am quite used to inflating mattresses by foot, having owned one that was inflatable in no other way, I considered the device sold and headed to the cash register, where I paid my 5 euros and went on my way.

My next stop was the Monoprix, the sort of all-purpose store here in France. At the Monoprix you can find everything from shampoo and razors to socks and shirts to greeting cards and office supplies. It’s kind of like a Rite-Aid or Walgreens, I guess, and I was on my way there to pick up the cheapest possible options in terms of blankets and pillows for my guests. I found a blanket that looked like a cheap but viable option, but I couldn’t find the price. I went up to the information desk and asked how much it cost….and she turned the blanket over to reveal the price. Good eyes, Lara. Geez. I felt rather silly and got out of there as soon as possible, taking with me two blankets and two pillows (all at VERY good prices) and headed off to my next destination, which was the supermarket.

I feel that as a good hostess, I must always have plenty of food in the house. I was running low on some vital items, so I picked up the essentials and then proceeded to think about what it is that my guests would like. My friend Erika is vegan, so I had to make sure that I had enough vegetable/fruit/nut options for her. Upon realizing that I had quite a selection already at home,  I made a few vegan recipes in my mind to make sure that she wouldn’t go hungry. I was assured, but picked up a bell pepper for good measure.

I then came home, lugging my gigantic Monoprix bag up the 6 flights of stairs necessary to get to my apartment. I unloaded my things and began cleaning, which has really taken all day. You would never think that an apartment this small would take so long to clean, but…it does. I’m currently on a break.

Illy is coming in tonight and is going to call me when she gets to Paris. We’re going to hang out together tomorrow during the day, before she goes back to her friend’s house. Erika and Sara are getting in Monday afternoon.

Talk to you tomorrow!