an entry I meant to post last tuesday:
Bad word, bad word, bad word.
This really hasn’t been my week. I’m not feeling any better – in fact, I’m feeling worse in some ways, so I went to the doctor today only to shell out 40 euros for “well, you don’t have strep throat… sounds viral to me. Rest up, here’s a sudophed prescription for the congestion and codeine for the throat pain. Come back in a week if it’s still bad.” If I have pneumonia, that is not at all helpful advice. I asked her if there was any way for her to test whether it was viral or bacterial, and she said that *she* couldn’t, she supposes she could refer me to a lab but she’s not sure if it would be worth the trouble, and anyway, once you hit 20 you’re pretty much done getting bacterial infections.
French doctors are useless.
I had an art history midterm this morning. I felt really, really prepared for it and I wanted to get it over with, so I called Estelle, my professor/the director of the program, to see if she would have a problem with me coming in to take it. She said no, but she was going to relegate me to the back corner in any case. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have come in: on the way to school, I went through subsequent phases of nausea, dizziness, and feeling very sorry for myself, only to finally break the fever as I was walking into the building (read: schmitzing like a pig). I don’t think I bombed the midterm, but I don’t think I rocked it either. It’s hard to think in French.
The worst part of my week so far is that I dropped my computer and now the airport hardware is no longer registering. This is disastrous. It didn’t drop that far – it just slid off my lap, and everything else appears to be totally fine, but it insists that there’s no airport card, when I know for sure that there is (I can see it!!). Ironically enough, MacHelp doesn’t tell you how to take out the airport card – it says that in order to learn how to do that, you have to go to apple.com. Do you think I would need to reinstall my airport card if I had internet access?? Of course, I would look up directions on Chloe’s computer but considering my condition, she doesn’t want me touching her computer with a ten foot pole. So here I am writing a blog entry on Microsoft word.
That said, if you need to contact me with anything urgent in the next few days, buy some skype credit or use an international calling card and call my Paris cell phone: 33 6 86 38 47 51. In my quarantined state, I’d appreciate any and all forms of company!!
UPDATES:
I'm feeling much better but I still have no internet on my own computer. I borrowed a computer from the Center to use, which gets wifi but not at my house, so I have to trek to McDonals every time I want to use it... barf. In other news, though, Sara and I saw Charlie Wilson's War on Friday night and loved it, I turned in my URP grant proposal which might give me money to stay at Stanford and research over the summer, and I also finished my final French exposé, to be delievered tomorrow. Whew! RA interview followed by "girls night" at Natalie's apartment tonight - I'm looking forward to it! Wish me luck on my expose tomorrow...
dimanche 2 mars 2008
dimanche 24 février 2008
you give me fever
Unfortunately, the only adventures I've been having this weekend have been riding the rollercoaster of a fever which I came down with at 4 AM on Saturday morning. Case of the serious blahs - fever, aches, chills, and an awesome cough to boot. I don't think I have a cold because I'm having no sinus issues, and though it doesn't seem all that serious, it hasn't gotten any better yet. I hope that I wake up tomorrow morning feeling better!
Well, I guess my previous statement about no adventures is somewhat of a lie: I managed to scrape myself out of bed to have lunch with my language partner, Chloe, and her language partner on Saturday. I wasn't feeling all that hungry, so I had onion soup and escargot (my first escargot since I've been here - they were so yummy). I think that the French boys thought I was either anorexic or just a really eccentric eater. The lunch was really nice overall - Chloe had beef fondue (the kind where you get pieces of raw meat to fry in the pot of boiling oil, then you dip it in a variety of dipping sauces. Quite a process).
I have had the biggest, weirdest hankering for McDonalds soft serve - I've had 2 cones in the last 2 days. Soup and soft serve and escargot. Maybe I am an eccentric eater...
I've also managed to write most of my URP grant proposal for my honors thesis so that I can get paid to stay at Stanford over the summer and do research if the Gap internship doesn't work out. I still have my fingers crossed about the Gap (should hear any day now), but this doesn't seem like a bad option either. I'll send the grant proposal draft to my thesis advisor tomorrow - hopefully it makes sense.
Midterm in my art history class this week, final exposé in my French class next week, Berlin that weekend, final exam in my WWII class, final art history paper (2-4 pages, no big deal), then I'm done with the quarter! Hard to believe. I'm trying to make a list of all the things I want to do with my parents, but so far, it's composed of going to my favorite restaurants and cafes and park-hopping. I hope they're hungry!
Off to finish this grant proposal, then maybe I'll download another episode of Project Runway... guilty pleasure, not so guilty when you're sick!
Well, I guess my previous statement about no adventures is somewhat of a lie: I managed to scrape myself out of bed to have lunch with my language partner, Chloe, and her language partner on Saturday. I wasn't feeling all that hungry, so I had onion soup and escargot (my first escargot since I've been here - they were so yummy). I think that the French boys thought I was either anorexic or just a really eccentric eater. The lunch was really nice overall - Chloe had beef fondue (the kind where you get pieces of raw meat to fry in the pot of boiling oil, then you dip it in a variety of dipping sauces. Quite a process).
I have had the biggest, weirdest hankering for McDonalds soft serve - I've had 2 cones in the last 2 days. Soup and soft serve and escargot. Maybe I am an eccentric eater...
I've also managed to write most of my URP grant proposal for my honors thesis so that I can get paid to stay at Stanford over the summer and do research if the Gap internship doesn't work out. I still have my fingers crossed about the Gap (should hear any day now), but this doesn't seem like a bad option either. I'll send the grant proposal draft to my thesis advisor tomorrow - hopefully it makes sense.
Midterm in my art history class this week, final exposé in my French class next week, Berlin that weekend, final exam in my WWII class, final art history paper (2-4 pages, no big deal), then I'm done with the quarter! Hard to believe. I'm trying to make a list of all the things I want to do with my parents, but so far, it's composed of going to my favorite restaurants and cafes and park-hopping. I hope they're hungry!
Off to finish this grant proposal, then maybe I'll download another episode of Project Runway... guilty pleasure, not so guilty when you're sick!
jeudi 21 février 2008
don't tell the spanish, but I prefer the flan in france...
We came, we saw, we conquered! Well, at least we got there. We had an uneventful flight to Madrid on Saturday afternoon, arrived around 5, and wandered around until we found our hostel (conveniently located in the dead center of the city). The first hostel we stayed in was incredibly nice, for a hostel - only shared a room with 2 other people, got clean linens upon arrival, private bathroom, and unlimited continental breakfast. (The second hostel we stayed in on Sunday night actually got better reviews on hostelworld.com but was much worse in my opinion. No private bathrooms, iffy sheets, noisy room, etc - not worth the 5 euros we saved by switching. I think if we had been looking to meet other young people, it would've been the better of the two, but that wasn't our priority. Hmm, tangent. ANYway...)
Spanish people are late to bed, late to rise, and late to eat, so in an attempt to adapt to Spanish culture, we didn't end up eating till about 10. We met up with Jacobi for dinner - one of our friends from Stanford who is currently studying abroad in Spain - but by that point we were all pretty starved - perhaps dinner at 10 was a little ambitious for our first day. The paella, however, was totally worth the wait!
That night, we got into a discotheque around 2 AM (the Spanish way! Get into the club as the metro closes, get out when it opens) and danced our feet off in 3-story club that looks like a renovated 17th century palace, appropriately called "Palazzio". We didn't get out until about 6, and of course didn't even consider going home before getting churros and chocolate (rather disgusting at 6 AM on no sleep in my opinion, but Jacobi insisted they were the way to go).
Sunday, Chloe and I went off on our own to the flea market and to a beautiful park in the middle of Madrid with some of her best friends from high school. By 5, I was falling on my face I was so tired, so I went back for a siesta until about 8, at which point we all met up and went out for tapas and a flamenco show. Olé olé!
Monday, we went to the Musée Reina Sofia, which is a world-renowned modern art museum. They were having a huge special exhibit of Picasso's career, and Picasso is one of my absolute favorites. Four entire floors of all of his artwork - I about died! It was like seeing my favorite band in concert. Afterwards, we ate lunch at a really neat Moroccan restaurant (sitting on the floor on pillows even!) and checked out the Stanford program's facilities before heading over to Jacobi's host family to stay the evening. Jacobi's host mom was SO incredibly nice - she let all three of us girls stay in her apartment and even cooked us dinner!! She talked to me a million miles an hour in Spanish, but she was SO warm and fuzzy that it was hard not to just smile and nod.
Overall, it was a very zen trip - I felt very little responsibility because I spoke no Spanish, and very little pressure to do anything because I didn't have many expectations. My to do list consisted of eating tapas, paella, and flan, drinking sangria, and going to the Reina Sofia, all of which I accomplished with gusto. After having been to Barcelona and Madrid, I think Barcelona was cooler, but I'm SO glad I got to see Madrid and had a really great time. Seville next?
Espagna!
Our fantastic guide Jacobi:
My favorite street performer:
Sangria!
Paella!
Spanish people are late to bed, late to rise, and late to eat, so in an attempt to adapt to Spanish culture, we didn't end up eating till about 10. We met up with Jacobi for dinner - one of our friends from Stanford who is currently studying abroad in Spain - but by that point we were all pretty starved - perhaps dinner at 10 was a little ambitious for our first day. The paella, however, was totally worth the wait!
That night, we got into a discotheque around 2 AM (the Spanish way! Get into the club as the metro closes, get out when it opens) and danced our feet off in 3-story club that looks like a renovated 17th century palace, appropriately called "Palazzio". We didn't get out until about 6, and of course didn't even consider going home before getting churros and chocolate (rather disgusting at 6 AM on no sleep in my opinion, but Jacobi insisted they were the way to go).
Sunday, Chloe and I went off on our own to the flea market and to a beautiful park in the middle of Madrid with some of her best friends from high school. By 5, I was falling on my face I was so tired, so I went back for a siesta until about 8, at which point we all met up and went out for tapas and a flamenco show. Olé olé!
Monday, we went to the Musée Reina Sofia, which is a world-renowned modern art museum. They were having a huge special exhibit of Picasso's career, and Picasso is one of my absolute favorites. Four entire floors of all of his artwork - I about died! It was like seeing my favorite band in concert. Afterwards, we ate lunch at a really neat Moroccan restaurant (sitting on the floor on pillows even!) and checked out the Stanford program's facilities before heading over to Jacobi's host family to stay the evening. Jacobi's host mom was SO incredibly nice - she let all three of us girls stay in her apartment and even cooked us dinner!! She talked to me a million miles an hour in Spanish, but she was SO warm and fuzzy that it was hard not to just smile and nod.
Overall, it was a very zen trip - I felt very little responsibility because I spoke no Spanish, and very little pressure to do anything because I didn't have many expectations. My to do list consisted of eating tapas, paella, and flan, drinking sangria, and going to the Reina Sofia, all of which I accomplished with gusto. After having been to Barcelona and Madrid, I think Barcelona was cooler, but I'm SO glad I got to see Madrid and had a really great time. Seville next?
Espagna!
Our fantastic guide Jacobi:
My favorite street performer:
Sangria!
Paella!
mercredi 20 février 2008
vendredi 15 février 2008
dude, where's my car?
I’ve had myself a very European couple of days. At this point, I was supposed to be in Madrid, drinking sangria and eating paella and going flamenco dancing – unfortunately, we showed up yesterday at the Orly airport only to find that our flight was cancelled due to air traffic controller strikes. The worst part was, we had already gotten through security, and they had already thrown away Sara’s favorite (read: expensive) hair gel that exceeded the 100 mL limit. We flirted with the security guy for a good 10 minutes before giving up on trying to rescue it, only to walk into the lobby and find our EasyJet flight to Madrid had been “ANNULEE/CANCELLED.”
We always figured there’d be a strike sometime (this is France, after all), but I thought it would surely be the Metro or the museums or something else equally inconveniencing but less surprising. The workers and Orly have since reached an accord, however, and we were able to move our flight/plans/hostel reservations to Saturday-Tuesday instead.
Being back for an extra 2 days sounds like a long time, but you don’t really feel like you should unpack, either.
Yesterday, as the whole world knows, was Valentine’s Day, so instead of going to Spain, Sara and Chloe and I went to this patisserie called La Petite Rose, right down the street on boulevard de Courcelles, for macarons and chocolat chaud. Sara’s obsessed with the hot chocolate in Paris and she makes a point of tasting the hot chocolate whenever we go out to a café. She thought that the stuff at La Petite Rose was better than Angelina’s (!).They even asked what percentage of dark chocolate she wanted (we were unsure – 60%? 70% even 80%? She went with the 70%). I tasted some – it seemed to me that they melted a 70% dark chocolate bar into a huge mug and added a little milk, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. She also thought that the macarons were better than Laduree, but you know, I don’t think I can tell the difference. I like them because they’re light and flavorful and perfect with a cup of espresso in the afternoon.
I would post pictures but my internet is not at all cooperating. Buenos noches!
We always figured there’d be a strike sometime (this is France, after all), but I thought it would surely be the Metro or the museums or something else equally inconveniencing but less surprising. The workers and Orly have since reached an accord, however, and we were able to move our flight/plans/hostel reservations to Saturday-Tuesday instead.
Being back for an extra 2 days sounds like a long time, but you don’t really feel like you should unpack, either.
Yesterday, as the whole world knows, was Valentine’s Day, so instead of going to Spain, Sara and Chloe and I went to this patisserie called La Petite Rose, right down the street on boulevard de Courcelles, for macarons and chocolat chaud. Sara’s obsessed with the hot chocolate in Paris and she makes a point of tasting the hot chocolate whenever we go out to a café. She thought that the stuff at La Petite Rose was better than Angelina’s (!).They even asked what percentage of dark chocolate she wanted (we were unsure – 60%? 70% even 80%? She went with the 70%). I tasted some – it seemed to me that they melted a 70% dark chocolate bar into a huge mug and added a little milk, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. She also thought that the macarons were better than Laduree, but you know, I don’t think I can tell the difference. I like them because they’re light and flavorful and perfect with a cup of espresso in the afternoon.
I would post pictures but my internet is not at all cooperating. Buenos noches!
lundi 11 février 2008
... and a happy new year!
What a weekend! The first weekend of the year where all the Stanford students were in town. I met up with KATIE HUBERT on Saturday morning for breakfast in the Marais with her friends from her program - she's studying abroad in Spain, and I can't tell you how great it was to see a face from home. Her friends were also incredibly enthusiastic about Paris, which was refreshing. I gather that they're in more of a rural city in Spain, so coming to Paris was really exciting for them.
The weather has continued to hold out miraculously, so Saturday afternoon, we had a picnic, and on Sunday, we went to the Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown - apparently the biggest Chinese New Year celebration in Europe. Everything was packed - we practically walked along with the parade because we couldn't go anywhere else. We had awesome (and cheap!) food beforehand - even though I'm getting a little sick of asian food after having eaten it every day for the last week (somewhat of a fluke, but I'm not necessarily complaining). We tried to find bubble tea, but to no avail. Highly disappointed. I'll have to go back, though, just for the noodles!
Katie!
Picnic!
I love this picture, partially because of Natalie, partially because it looks like the apple juice (called Morning Pleasure: Apple Trouble!) has a mind of its own:
Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown, complete with long-life noodles:
The weather has continued to hold out miraculously, so Saturday afternoon, we had a picnic, and on Sunday, we went to the Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown - apparently the biggest Chinese New Year celebration in Europe. Everything was packed - we practically walked along with the parade because we couldn't go anywhere else. We had awesome (and cheap!) food beforehand - even though I'm getting a little sick of asian food after having eaten it every day for the last week (somewhat of a fluke, but I'm not necessarily complaining). We tried to find bubble tea, but to no avail. Highly disappointed. I'll have to go back, though, just for the noodles!
Katie!
Picnic!
I love this picture, partially because of Natalie, partially because it looks like the apple juice (called Morning Pleasure: Apple Trouble!) has a mind of its own:
Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown, complete with long-life noodles:
mardi 5 février 2008
eurydice!
Today was stunningly beautiful. It was sunny and warm - I didn't even need a jacket wandering around this afternoon. Class ended half an hour early, and I met up with my second language partner (a girl) for lunch - she was fabulously cool. We got japanese food (my fifth japanese lunch of the week - I think I'm ready to be done with it, though it was delicious) and went to Laduree for macarons. Laduree is a patisserie which is famous for its macarons - I believe they were invented there. We waited in line for half an hour to get three mini-sized pastries that were out of this world. Out of nearly twenty flavors (orange, vanilla, pistachio, chocolate, dark chocolate, praline, caramel, etc) I chose rose (tasted like it smelled), cherry-vanilla, and chestnut. The chestnut was my favorite for sure. Chestnut paste (crème de marron) is really big here, and it's so tasty - like nutella without the chocolate.
If you're lucky, I'll bring you back some... though at 1,40 per macaron, you'd better be damned appreciative.
This week was a busy week - hence no posting. I had two small papers and a mini exposé due, and spent Wednesday evening eating at the visiting professor's house with 5 other students and Thursday night at the Opéra. The meal was so great - the professor loves to cook, and I happened to be there on vegetarian night, and the meal was wonderful! Pumpkin soup, ratatouille, salad, cheese, and chocolate cake. Yummmm.
The Opera was so wonderful that it deserves its own paragraph. It was an opera-ballet of Orpheus and Eurydice choreographed by Pina Bausch, who is a well-known modern ballet choreographer and uber-feminist. They had two people per role - one as the dancer and the other the singer - and it was so, so powerful. This should give you an idea of her style - at least watch the first 30 seconds of it:
Once again, the Bings generously came through with the tickets, and everyone got dressed up in their sunday best. The Opera Garnier is the oldest opera house in Paris - very traditional, gilded, red velvet seats and all the trimmings. Who would've thought that the opera would be so enjoyable? Needless to say, I've never felt so cultured.
The Opera Garnier:
Of course Sara and Chloe aren't looking at the camera:
But I was!:
Orchestra-level seating, baby:
If you're lucky, I'll bring you back some... though at 1,40 per macaron, you'd better be damned appreciative.
This week was a busy week - hence no posting. I had two small papers and a mini exposé due, and spent Wednesday evening eating at the visiting professor's house with 5 other students and Thursday night at the Opéra. The meal was so great - the professor loves to cook, and I happened to be there on vegetarian night, and the meal was wonderful! Pumpkin soup, ratatouille, salad, cheese, and chocolate cake. Yummmm.
The Opera was so wonderful that it deserves its own paragraph. It was an opera-ballet of Orpheus and Eurydice choreographed by Pina Bausch, who is a well-known modern ballet choreographer and uber-feminist. They had two people per role - one as the dancer and the other the singer - and it was so, so powerful. This should give you an idea of her style - at least watch the first 30 seconds of it:
Once again, the Bings generously came through with the tickets, and everyone got dressed up in their sunday best. The Opera Garnier is the oldest opera house in Paris - very traditional, gilded, red velvet seats and all the trimmings. Who would've thought that the opera would be so enjoyable? Needless to say, I've never felt so cultured.
The Opera Garnier:
Of course Sara and Chloe aren't looking at the camera:
But I was!:
Orchestra-level seating, baby:
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