Danny's life in France

today i got up and went with lauren to the artisan's market. after that, i came back to my place and did some laundry. since i do most of my laundry by hand, it takes me quite a bit of time to get it done. now i think i'm going to cook something to eat and probably read a bit before i go to bed tonight. nothing big today...besides the rain and the wind...

work today? ha - i think not. so today consisted of me sleeping through my alarm and ankica's text. i was supposed to get up at 8am to go with ankica, jessie, and patrick to the market. however after getting up at 11:30, i saw patty in the computer lab. he said that he overslept, too. well, considering we both didn't go to bed until 2 and we both had a bit too much to drink last night, too. anyway, i got dressed/showered/stuff and headed off to monoprix to buy plates, cups, cutlery, etc. for the BIG dinner that was being cooked. on my way to monoprix, i stumbled upon the artisan's market. i think it was tomorrow, but evidently it's both today and tomorrow. so lauren and i are going to get up tomorrow morning and go to it. so, now to the REAL thanksgiving dinner that i just came from. it started at 2 and went all the way to around 6. usually only french meals with french people last that long. but anne, shana and erin - they cooked this HUGE meal. and it was a LOT of really good food!!!! i cannot describe it all to you. it was all homemade, too. there was chicken (not turkey), mashed potatoes (the best!!!!!) homemade gravy, homemade stuffing, pies, ice cream, jello, green beans with almonds in them, corn, wine, cider, champagne, and all the good company you could ask for!!!! it was just the best!!! now that i'm back i think i'm going to go upstairs for a nap...

today i slept in. woohoo!! then i got up and went to the office to talk to our resident director about our trip to africa. she wants to take a group of students down into senegal, ivory coast, liberia, etc. which i think will be really neat!! i then headed to a travel agency that works with sta travel (where i bought my plane ticket in the us) to inquire about changing the date that i come back to the us in july. i'm thinking somewhere around the 23rd. i'm gonna wanna stay a while after the program ends to say good-bye to everyone. then i went back to the office to work with frieda on our trip. i did a bit of research online for her and gave her the prices for plane tickets that i found online. then...i came back to my place and started the ever-arduous task of cleaning my room. i've got a pile of laundry like you wouldn't believe that's stacked up in the corner of my room. tomorrow i HAVE to do laundry. and...then i went to casino (grocery store) to get some stuff for tonight. i just cooked this HUGE meal. see the thing is that i don't know how to measure food. by that i mean i can't judge how much i should cook just for me. well, like always, i cooked too much. however, this time i ate all of it!! isn't that awful!?!? but it was good and that's all that counts... now that i've cleaned up/done the dishes, i'm about to go to jessies room - she's having a bit of a soiree for my birthday that's on tuesday. I'LL BE 21!!!!!!!! well, like that's anything big here in europe, though...

ok, so let me tell you about my day. it all started off with me rolling out of bed at 8am to head to class. mind you that someone came into my class yesterday to tell us that the university's students were going to be on strike today. well well well...i get to the fac (university) this morning and nearly all of the blessed doors were blocked with some sort of chair/table combination. i finally found a door that was open and then i had to fight through a crowd of people to finally let me inside of the building. well, we all waited and waited for the prof to show up. after 15 mins (he's never late) we all just left. so i came back to the dorms and took a shower and a nap. i woke up in just enough time to leave for my next class. and...well, after two torturing hours of political theory (during which during the 5 minute break we get half way through my dad had the luck of catching me while i had my phone on to check my messages), i left the political science institute to find that the only road that i know how to take home was completely blocked off. police were everywhere with their shields and tear gas guns in hand. there was some kind of protest going on (i think it was the university's students) because there was a french got't bigwig that was speaking somewhere in the city. so...after that i finally made it home. after getting home i called my grandparents and my mom. it just made my mouth water hearing about all of the food that was being cooked. and to be all honest, today didn't even feel at all like it was thanksgiving. and...so i took a shower and headed out the door to the restaurant. just as we got to the restaurant, my dad called and i got to talk to everyone who was at my grandparents'. that was really good. so then it was into the restaurant to eat a french thanksgiving meal. well, thanksgiving doesn't exist here in france. but evidently the program director explained to the restaurant manager what it was and what we ate and voila! the restaurant was closed and it was only our program that was there. we started off with appetizers which consisted of finger meats, raw vegetables, and...something else. then it came time for the turkey (HUGE leg i hate), mashed potatoes and 'stuffing,' or what they call stuffing. it was good, but nothing like home's stuffing. and for desert it was 'pumpkin pie.' well, in all actuality it was a cheese cake (no, a cake with cheese in it, not cheesecake) with pumpkin pieces in it. it was absolutely NASTY!! but the restaurant gets an 'A' for the effort. and for drink we ordered beaujoulais nouveau 2003 (a wine called 'new 2003 beaujoulais'). it was really good!!!!! usually the newer the wine is, the nastier it is. but something that they do makes it really good!! and it's a big hit here in france!! people love it! and...well, after that everyone went to this party at one of the people on our program's apt. i stayed for a bit, but then i decided to walk home. too many people and seeing as how i wasn't going to get drunk, i just left. soo...all in all, that was my day. but my 21st birthday is on tuesday!!!!! woohoo!!

well, france certainly is the country of strikes. to start my day off, during my class this afternoon a group of 3 students knocks on the door and asks the prof. if they could have 3 mins of his time to talk to us. the prof, thinking he would say no, get out, said in a joking manner that they could have 4 if they liked. but the students here in france at universities are striking tomorrow because they want a more equal education. don't ask me what's going on - the guy (student) talked like 100 miles a minute. but there is a group of students sleeping in the hallways of the building tonight and are going to block the faculty parking lot tomorrow morning. i have a 10am tomorrow morning - i think i'm going to go ahead and go just in case. but it'll probably be cancelled or they'll have blocked the entrance to the building. who knows that tomorrow morning will bring. other news - my plant is dead, i'm waaaaay behind in my reading, and...that's about it. but who cares - tomorrow's the big thanksgiving dinner!! well, the french way...

yesterday after posting our internet was shut down. come to find out, it was the wanadoo (internet server) in marseille that was overrun with spam. so i was forced to go back up to my room and actually...do something, not just sit around. so i cleaned a bit, read, took a nap, visited patrick/patty/whatever you wanna call him and jessie. ummm...yeah, i got a bit of reading done, but not as much as i would like to have gotten done. then i finally went to bed after staying up until nearly 1 playing cards in patty's room with him and kiki. today, i got up and worked on a composition that i had to turn in tonight. after that, i showered and headed into town to meet up with lauren to eat at that greek sandwich place, snacksomos. what a good meal it was!! then it was off to the program office to sit in the library and read a bit more. well, i saw all of the travel guides that were there in the library and needless to say i wasn't reading what i was supposed to! ummm...i then headed off to a cafe to get a cafe-au-lait and to read a bit more (for my classes). then it came time to head to my class at 5:30. what a waste this class is! she treats us all like we're in first year french. but oh well. OH!!! i woke up this morning to the sound of something that music to my ears - a thunderstorm!! that was my first time hearing thunder since my arrival here in france! i really miss indiana thunderstorms. and the weather here is still unusually warm. maybe this is all the colder it gets here in the south of france. now, i think i'm going to go upstairs and fix a bite to eat and...who knows. sleep, perhaps??

after getting up yesterday and heading to the atm that wasn't working, i called my host families in st. brieuc. they all can't wait for me to get there next month. i then called lauren who was in marseille. she wanted me to meet up with her. so i went to marseille and hung out with her for a bit. we didn't really do anything special. we just walked around the port and a bit east of there, too. the little nativity scene figurine craft booths are starting to be set up, too. but they're really expensive, though. after that i went to a mall called 'centre bourse' and walked around for a bit. i came back home and patty fixed fried rice. it was sooooooo good!! i think i might make some tonight. then today i got up and decided to go with patty to the artisan's market here in town. i went about a month and a half ago on a sunday thinking that it would be there today, too. well, it is only certain weeks and the next one is next weekend. so we just came back here and...that's it so far today.

so yesterday, friday, was a pretty interesting day. so...i got up and went to register for my exams at the political science institute. then i went to have my watch fixed (it fell on the floor the night before in the laundromat because one of the links on the band broke). and then i went to the hospital to pick up the entire packet that the radiologist there had prepared for my doctor back home. it's a good thing my doctor back home is canadian because this dossier is all in french. and...so after that, i got back home and patty was asking people to go to the grocery store with him. and i went. i got back in just enough time to change clothes, brush my teeth, etc. before we had to head to the dinner. we got to the hotel and was it a nice one!!! there were only five of us even though there are more iu students on this program, but still. we had such a great time!!!! it was so good to be with hoosiers again; and to hear the indiana accent!! it felt really good. and the dinner was paid for. however i don't know what it is with the french but they tend to like to eat fatty meats...and eat the fat, too!! gross!! but the wine was good, too. but we just talked about anything and everything in general. there was one woman i sat next to who talked a lot about how her family is rich. her husband is the senior vice president of 'an oil company' and her sons, well, they were in fraternities at iu, have graduated and have EXCELLENT jobs, the girls are all crazy over then because they're handsome, etc. one of those very self-centered rich southern women. but she was nice. she gave all us students hugs at the end because in france they don't do it. and we all got little pins to put on our jackets - it's one us flag and the other the iu flag. all in all, the dinner was fun. now we just have to wait and see what the french call a good thanksgiving dinner on thursday...

yum yum yum...what happened today?? i got up and went to my photography class (don't worry - i had to pick a class at the last minute and i just chose this blow-off photography class). we looked at NASTY images of like...war photography and atrocities and stuff. like dead decapitated people. it was really gross. then i came back to eat (yeah, ha ha, funny i could eat after that class). then i went to my political theory class. i'm always traumatized after 2 hours of political theory. ummm...i then came back and did some laundry and...now i'm hanging out on the computer. short...and sweet, tongiht.

today consisted of getting up (as always) and going to the most dreaded class ever. after that, i went into town to check my mail at the program office and then went grocery shopping. jessie and i just cooked this awesome meal!!! it was spaghetti, of course, but still...it was really good. we just sat there and ate and laughed. good times. i just now did the dishes and...might read a bit before going to bed.

so what did today bring??...my mom sent me pictures of my cats that i miss terribly back home. and...lemme see. so i over slept and was 5 mins late for my first class that was at 11:30 this morning. and what's worse was today was the first day of the class! after that, i came back home and organized a bit of my room (while skipping a class). after that, i went into town to run some errands. i had to go to a library and read (well, i only leafed through it) a book on-site for my class that i had tonight. then i went and had a cafe au lait at a cafe while doing a bit more reading. after that, i went to the class that ended up keeping us nearly a half hour over. ummm...then it was back home to start cleaning my room. nothing big today (except the pictures!!).

so where did i last leave off? oh, yes...so saturday i got up early to head to the train station to go to miramas. when i got there, elyane was at the station to pick me up. after eating, we went to this small town called salon-de-provence. we just walked around and visited some of the city. after that, we came back to miramas and went to see movie called 'tais-toi' or 'shut-up.' it was really funny!! and...yesterday, sunday, we got up and went and had a 4 hour dinner at the neighbor's house. ummm...nothing really interesting after that. then this morning i got up and am just now arriving back in aix. but!!! i had to go to the bathroom when i was on the train. guess where the toilet lead!! yeah!!! the train tracks!! how gross is that?!?!?

after last night's nap, i got up, fooled around in the computer lab, and went back to bed. nothing interesting. today, i got up waiting for monique's call (the woman i give english lessons to). she called and said she couldn't make it today. so i went into town and met up with lauren. we just went window shopping and stuff. we ate a snacksomos look-alike, wannabe. snacksomos - that GREAT greek sandwich place. then we met up with our prof. from the class we took once we first got here - the class before all of the french classes started. the class to get our french skills up to snuff. we all met at the red clover, a bar. i had yet another monaco (beer, sprite, grenadine (??) ). after that, i went and got the REAL snacksomos and came home to eat it. now i'm gonna pack for my weekend in miramas. more postings to come on monday...

the rest of tuesday - i don't remember what happened. can't be anything big, really. oh, we all went to snacksomos again, this INCREDIBLE greek-sandwich place here in aix. yesterday, i decided to skip my one and only class for the simple fact that i didn't think i could possibly stand 2 hours of mr. cottage cheese (long story). but as it turned out, lauren told me i picked the best day to miss - it was nothing but 2hrs of boring presentations. instead of going to class, i cleaned my room. and...something else but i can't remember. then last night we all went grocery shopping. and i rode the bus home without paying!! how i got away with that one i'll never know. today, i got up and ate cereal before going to my photography class. after that class, i came back, ate yet again, and headed out the door for my political theories class. i was seriously fighting sleep with my bare bands. i left half way through it when he gave us a break. i went and got my ticket to head to miramas this weekend and stopped and got a bagette. it's like 3 feet - a huge loaf of bread. and yeah...it was all gone by the time i got home. isn't that sad?? well, now i think it's time for a nap.

well, here are all of the details of my weekend in paris. so i got on the train at 8:50am and took it to paris. upon arriving in paris, justin and i went to the hotel to drop off our stuff. he cut his hand pretty badly on his razor and nearly fainted! but he was ok. and then we decided to head to a museum. well, in order to get from the subway stop to the museum, we had to walk in front of some sex shops. we had 3 prostitutes come up to us and try to pick us up!! isn't that crazy?!? after that, i met up with a counselor from the summer from lac du bois. she's in paris studying this year. and...i don't remember everything in chronological order, but we had drinks at a cafe called 'indiana,' went to the eiffel tower, went to mass sunday morning at notre dame, went to the catacombes twice (bones stacked up due to cemetary overcrowdings in the 17th and 18th centures), went to the president's house, walked along the champs elysees, rode the metro (subway) 100 times, ate at some good restaurants, some of them REALLY good, saw anne-caroline and another friend who studied abroad at my high school when i was there (vindy), and went to the famous cafe 'les 2 moulins' where amelie poulain worked at in her film (where someone took off with my scarf and gloves - i had to buy more at montmartre), visited the sacre coeur and la place du tertre a couple of times, and...yeah, just a lot of walking around. but twice this weekend traffic on the metro/RER (suburban train) was disrupted because people throw themselves in front of oncoming trains to kill themselves as the trains are pulling into the stations!!!! anne-caroline called me and told me not to take the metro that i was just about ready to get on because someone had done that at the stop where she was. and it happened on saturday night, too. it was crazy!!!! and then there was a HUGE mob of people on the other side of the metro stop and the police were with them to keep them in line. they were painting all over the advertisements because they don't like advertisements. isn't that crazy?? oh well. i got back on my train yesterday (monday) at 10:20am and sat in across from these american tourists who thought it was just AWESOME that i was spending an entire year in aix-en-provence. they were very talkative when i had every intention of sleeping the entire 3 hours, but oh well. at least they were nice. so after getting back to aix, i had to write a paper and head off to class. upon returning from class, me, lauren, liz, richard, and josh all went out to snacksomos (the famous greek restaurant here in aix) and ate, went to see american pie 3 (in french), and then went out for a drink. the bars were all crowded because today nobody has school or work. needless to say, when i finally got back to my room at about 2:30 this morning, i was asleep before my head hit the pillow. and i slept all the way until 2:24pm. that's about it here. we'll see what the rest of the day brings...

hi all. well, my cold isn't getting any better but it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. so i guess that's good. other than that, today i got up and went to my early 10am class. after that, i came home for a bite to eat and then headed back out the door for my 2pm political theories class. what a bore! now, i've come back to do some laundry so i'll have something to wear in paris this weekend. and...i think justin and i are going to go see the matrix3 tonight. so yeah...that's about it here. but no more posts here until at least monday because i'm in paris from tomorrow until monday. my train leaves at 8:50am. i'm gonna have to get up early tomorrow morning!!!! well, if you all need me, call my cell. talk to you later!!

i didn't fall asleep until around 4am. my throat is just killing me!!! so i slept in until around 10, got up, showered, ate breakfast, and headed off to class. after 10 mins of class, i had to get up and leave due to my coughing. my throat gets to the point to where it brings tears to my eyes when i cough because there's this HUGE prickly thing in my throat - you know - the feeling in your throat that brings tears to your eyes?? and cough drops and water don't do much for it, either. oh well...just another famous cold, a product of living in the south of france. who cares. but then i went to the hospital and gave them 395€ for the tests i had done a couple of weeks ago. after that, i came back and patrick and i went to the grocery to get some stuff - all of us are making pizzas tonight!! talk to you all later.

after getting up today and eating breakfast, i went into town to pick up the pictures that i had taken in to be developped. there are some good ones, lemme tell ya! too bad i can't figure out how to send them to people back home. after that, i went to class. then back home for a snack, then back to class yet again. i finally got back home around 8:30 and fixed a really good dinner. i've discovered something new and great here in france - cloved garlic!! i eat like a clove everyday in whatever i cook. needless to say i belch fire all the time. then i had the arduous task of cleaning up and now i'm writing this. homework tonight?? probably not... OH!!!!!! and another edition of 'the onion' just came out!!! today!!! go to www.theonion.com for the world's greatest news stories. i look forward to these all week long!!!!

so today i got up and took a shower like usual. then i went grocery shopping!! how exciting is that?! but here lately the weather's been kinda warm and sunny. it's been really nice to walk around town. after that, i stopped by caitlin's to see if she was going to take an earlier train to paris on friday. she said she was going to see if she could. well, i decided not to fly because not only do i have to pay money to get to the airport down here (around 7 euros) but i also have to pay to get from the airport in paris to the center of town (around another 8 euros). so, i got my money back on my plane ticket. i reserved a train ticket online, but each travel agency i went to in town today wanted to charge me 8 euros to print my ticket for me!! i didn't have time before my class to go down to the train station and do it for free. oh well...i'll do it tomorrow. but i'm on the same train as justin...maybe we'll be able to sit together. and...then a class started today for the first time. it's like a grammar/culture class. it sucks - the prof thinks it's french level 1 in high school all over again. who cares...i don't. now i'm back and am hungry...i think i'll go fix something to eat. talk to you all later...

so today's events consisted of sleeping until noon, stuffing my face full of chocolate, coming to the computer lab to check my email, back to sleep for another two hours, getting up and stuffing my face full of chocolate, coming to the computer lab to check my email, back to sleep for yet another two hours and getting up one final time to clean. after cleaning, lauren and kelly came over while i cooked spaghetti. we then played some crazy word games...just hung out, mostly. now i'm writing this. will tomorrow be as unproductive as today? only time will tell...

last night we all sent out for pizza and watched 'the shining.' what a horror movie that is, lemme tell ya. but it was fun hanging out with everyone and watching a 'horror' movie on halloween night. then...today i got up and called lauren to see what she was doing. she said that she wasn't doing anything so we decided to head to marseille for the day. in getting ready, dad and connie called. it was good to talk to them. so we got on the train for marseille and it took us an hour and a half to get there when it should only take 40 minutes! who knows. but in marseille we just walked around. it was really nice today!! i'd say it was in the 70s!! so we just walked around and walked around some more. then we rode the merry-go-round. we sat in one of those cups that you can turn yourself. we nearly made ourselves sick because we were spinning around so fast! it was fun. and...yeah, nothing big. we just walked around along the port and saw all kinds of boats. then we came upon this circus. we didn't go, but we went to the petting zoo. well, what they called a petting zoo. it only had goats and 2 donkies. oh well. so then we got back on the train and came back. we got back to aix around 10pm. i think i'm going to go to bed - i'm a bit tired. nite!!