Danny's life in France

2004-07-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

geez...what? 2 or 3 weeks since my last posting?? well, needless to say that i'm on vacation. so i got up that saturday morning and LUGGED my luggage to the train station to go to miramas. you wanna talk about somethign that will make your back HURT like a mother for a week. yeah. each bag of mine (4 of 'em total) are stuffed to the rafters. my suitcase probably has to be hovering around 70lbs. it's really a mess. but hopefully i'll make it. christian was at the quai when my train pulled in so that made it easier. it was only the change of trains in marseille that really hurt. while at their house i did really absolutely nothing. went to the movies once and saw 'the day after tomorrow'. ummm...just hung out, really. ate a lot of really good food. it wasn't too hot like what it was a month ago in the south but it was still kinda warm. i read a good book that andy left when she was here back in april. ummm...then came the day that i took the tgv up to paris. yet another horrible trip. but anne-caroline was at the train station to get me when i get to paris. we still had to take the metro but it was a lot easier with two carrying all that luggage. i stayed the night at her place and then took the tgv out to brittany (st. brieuc more precisely) last friday, the 25th. i stayed with laurent and nanou. all we did was laugh and joke around. they're so fun! laurent and i went to the beach a lot in the afternoons since he's off work. he had an annuerism (?) and he's one of the few lucky ones that survive with no damage. here, the weather isn't so hot. it's about 60's everyday with about an hour a day of sunshine. anyway...i've since changed families. i'm at another host family's house from 4 years ago. then on sunday i'm going to the last host family that i had 4 years ago, the josse's. sylvie's in paris until saturday so i'll probably go there on sunday. then it's dinner with the program profs (program i did 4 years ago here in st. brieuc). i'm going to try to see if jacqueline danner, the director, will let me be a prof next summer. we'll see. then it's back to paris on thursday morning. tgv leaves at 6am!! isabelle's flying up from aix and we're going to hang out in paris that day then she's going to go with me to the airport on thursday to say bye. then it's home!! well, there it is, my program for the next week in case i don't post before coming back home. see you in a week, y'all!!

2004-06-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

well, here it is folks...my last post from the good old dorm (cuques) computer lab. it's finally here. i started off my day by having someone come by and make sure that i hadn't destroyed anything throughout the year. then...more packing, then i took a bunch of stuff to the office for next year's students (forks, plates, vase, just a bunch of crap). i made several round trips today in the sweltering heat. yeah, not fun. then it was back home one final time to shower and then to head to marion's for 'aperitif.' so after sitting visiting with her a bit this evening, i headed home after a LONG detour because the shortcut that i always take had the gates shut. ended up taking me a half hour to get home instead of 10 minutes. i then went to a movie with isabelle (2 sisters/2 soeurs) and then off to have one final drink. so, i'm exhausted. i'm going to go upstairs and spend one last and final night in my dorm room - i'm leaving at 9am tomorrow morning for miramas.

2004-06-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

i got up this morning and went trapsing through aix taking pictures and video-taping the city of aix with jessie. then it was off to see about cancelling my renters insurance, then to quick (france's version of mcdonalds) to get a coke with jessie, ankica and tim. then...it was back home to take a nap, shower and then head out the door to go have dinner with isabelle. now that i'm back from dinner, i've spent the rest of my evening packing. my room is BARE!! it's sooooooooooooooooo upsetting. i just can't believe that i'm leaving already. it's going to be really, really, really hard. anyway, just fyi, i'm leaving on saturday so my internet access will be more and more limited. so i probably won't be able to post everyday as i like (or don't like) to.

2004-06-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

i got up this morning to go take my renaissance lit oral final exam. it went really well, i think. then it was into town to have lunch with marion, get coffee with feral from the office to talk about my year abroad, grocery store for wine, home for a nap, then a party! that has been my day. it was behind the restaurant here at the dorms and soooooooooooooo many people ended up showing up!!! so yeah...that's been my day. later, all, i'm off to bed.

2004-06-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

i spent the majority of my day...PACKING! can you believe that its here - my departure??? i certainly cant. but i do know one thing - i have absolutely no idea how im going to get all that stuff in my suitcases. but my rooms depressing now. everythings off the walls, suitcases are everywhere, just a mess. so i guess im going to go back upstairs and do some more packing. i have my FINAL final exam tomorrow at 9:30. hopefully itll go well...

2004-06-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

i rolled out of bed early this morning to go take yet another in-class dissertation. yeah. i didn't do too poorly, but it wasn't fabulous, either. see, we had to comment on a text that talked about something specific covered in class. since it was something specific and not a broader topic (like exams are in the states), there really wasn't all that much to say. that's why i say you can know basically 99.9% of course material and still fail the course here in france. i didn't fail, but, well, we'll see. after the exam, i came home and decided to get myself out of a mess...literally! i cleaned my room. so after a thorough cleaning, i took a shower and headed into town to get a train ticket to go to miramas for saturday morning. then it was back to the dorm to cook dinner with jessie then back again to town to go out and have a drink with stevie and marion. it turned into marion taking us out to dinner. i had a good time. back at stevie's, i gave her a BIG good-bye hug since she's leaving to go back to the states tomorrow. it's so sad. i just can't believe that it here!! the end of the year! i never thought i'd see this day come, but at the same time, it's upsetting to be leaving. i mean, stevie lives in indy so i'll see her when i get home, but still. however, when i went to bed last night, i couldn't hardly sleep. i was sick at my stomach. it wasn't the fact that i was leaving aix/going home which i have mixed feelings about (not wanting to leave my new-found life, friends, etc but really wanting to get back home to see everyone, blah blah blah) but i was sick because things are going to change...yet again. it's human nature to not like change and here things are going to change yet again...BIGTIME. i'm going to be leaving the new-found life, friends to go home. anyway, just the whole mental soap opera slash drama of studying abroad. but nobody said study abroad was going to be easy. anyways, in other news, the weather has taken a turn for the...wetter and cooler! it's been raining today with (and get this)...THUNDER!!! whoa!! there's a first. but it's kinda chilly outside. for once when the french weather forecasts call for rain, it finally rained!! ok, i'm going to go. nite.

2004-06-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

today i ended up getting out of bed at 12:30. it was nice to sleep in. i bummed around my place for a bit and then cleaned up to head into town to a study session with kirsten. we've got another big exam tomorrow, but i'm not really worried about that one, either. so now that we've finished going over our notes, i think i'm going to go upstairs and relax before our exam tomorrow morning. yet another long in-class dissertation. only this time it's 3 hours long instead of 4!

2004-06-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

well, the party last night was craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. i get there and start off by having a glass of wine and just chillin', talkin' to people. then more and more people started to show up. then marion got there with a bottle of tequila. she showed me this thing called a 'tequila sunrise.' it was soooooooo cool! what you do is you put some salt on your hand, put a shot of teq. in a glass and an equal amount of schweppes. you lick the salt, place your hand firmly over the top of the glas, slam the glass 3x on the table to mix it all up (it makes nothing but foam) and then slam the drink. wow! a powerful drink and a good one at that, too. you're supposed to eat a lime afterwards, but we didn't have any. but i'd say that there were like...40-50 people at this party. then random people started to come up to the apt...people we didn't even know. the party kinda got out of hand. LOUD, man was it loud! anyway, i got to bed late and then up at 630 this morning to head back to isabelle's mom's place with her to finish weeding her garden. back in aix, i came home, played around on the internet in the computer lab, went back into town to burn some cd's off of caitlin's computer and then now just got back. the weather outside is nice. there's a FAST, cool wind blowing but it feels good after 95+ degree days. it's a litteral differenc between night and day. and if just by chance any of you follow the weather over here, you might as well quit now. it'll say it's a nice, sunny 75 degrees when it's anything but. sunny, yeah, but you can usually add...20 or 30 degrees to what it says online. french weather forecasts are UNPRECIDENTLY unreliable. it's amazing to know that people even tune into the weather forecasts to see what's going to go on!! sheez! now that it's after midnight, i think it might be prudent of me to go to bed.

2004-06-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

today i got up and headed into town with ranya and her friend who is here from the states. we first of all started out by eating lunch at the dorm cafeteria (which was a first since fall) and then they wanted to go to a travel agency to find anything last minute. and they did - $400 for 7 nights 8 days all inclusive resort on an island in tunisia in northern africa, air included. i was sick that i couldn't go because of exams (i would have charged it if i would have had the time). but there was a problem - darcy, her friend, was leaving before the chartered trip got back. the charter plane only makes one round trip so she would have been stuck. anyway, they found the same thing but in spain. they're leaving tomorrow morning. i then went to my back to collect the money that i had in my account when i closed it. the woman informed me that i had to come before 4:15 because the cash drawrs were closed. i mean, it's a BANK!!!!! what bank in their right mind closes its cash flow before the bank closes itself?!?!?!?! i hate crédit lyonnais. boy was i pissed. and i told the teller, too. anyway, now i'm about to go to an end of the year party above the bureau. i just realized something - i'm leaving aix next saturday!!!!!!!!!!! where has it gone???? i used to hate aix when i was going through some SERIOUS culture shock but now, i don't want to leave!! it's going to be hard. people on the program are dropping like flies (leaving to go back to the states, that is). i can't believe its here. but i'm taking the train to miramas next saturday and will be at elyane and christian's until thursday. thursday i'm taking the TGV up to paris and staying with anne-caroline over night because i'm going to leave the majority of my stuff there. then the 25th i'm just taking a small bag to go out and see my host families (another TGV trip) and will be there until the 8th of july. the 8th i'm coming back to paris, staying yet again at anne-caroline's and flying out of paris on the 9th. so yeah...and the weather - one word: HOT!!! but now it's clouding up like it wants to rain, which would be a first in like...a month of sundays. it's actually kinda cool out - feels good. oh, and get this - guess where i went for dinner last night. yeup...frieda's!! can you believe it? she personally invited me to come over with another group of students and eat. so i went. she was nice last night. but the usual bitching about the program, Mme Féral (the french woman who is the on-site director), etc. too much for me because i just so happen to personally like jeanine (féral). oh well. the food was good and yeah. as for the company - eeeeeeeeeeeeeh, that left quite a bit to be desired. but i came home and read theonion.com for the first time in quite a long time. HILARIOUS! ok, i'm going to go back upstairs and put on some pants then head to the party. later, folks.

2004-06-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!!!!! yes folks, one month from today i'll be hearing 'ladies and gentlemen, welcome to indianapolis.' so, to mark this one month countdown date, justin and i went to cassis today to go to the beach. the train station is about 2 miles from the beach so we had quite a bit of walking to do in the sweltering heat. no, i didn't go there to celebrate the one month mark, but we went to celebrate the worst of our exams being over, the renaissance lit final that we took yesterday. anyway, the weather was hot, the water was excellent and we had a good time. back in aix, i showered and headed to the office library to study. i've got an oral exam in the morning. haven't really studied but i think i'll do fine. it's going to be kinda laid-back, i think. so we'll see. that's about it for today. nite!

2004-06-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

yesterday i spent basically the entire day studying for my renaissance lit final that i had this morning. ummmm... then this morning came the big day. it was a 4 hour written dissertation in class from 9a-1p. i knew exactly what to study since the prof had given us pointers for studying. when i got to the test, i read teh question and spent the next 3 hours writing nonstop! man were my fingers sore at the end of it. i then came home and tried to take a nap (2 hours worth) before heading back into town. i went to credit lyonnais to close my bank account and then headed to the bureau to hang out with the people that live in the apt there. then justin and i went out for a drink and saw stevie walking past while sitting there. she joined us and then it was off to monoprix to buy something for dinner. stevie and i had quiche and potato wedges. yum. we studied some and then talked about people on the program. i was invited to frieda's for dinner tonight but declined because frankly, i wouldn't have been able to put up with her. sure, i would have gone to eat free food and drink free wine, but 'merde.' you say 'merde' when you've had enough of someone/something. it literally means 'shit' but it's in a stronger sense when you say it when you've had enough of something. anyway, justin and i are going to this GREAT beach tomorrow. i've never been there but from the pictures i've seen it's really pretty. so i guess that's where i'll leave it at for tonight. later, all.

2004-06-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

i got up today and headed to the program office's library to study for my huge renaissance lit exam that's on tuesday. then it was off to the park this evening to play capture the flag, semester girls vs. year long students. well, after a while nobody was getting anywhere. oh, and there were 10 of them and only 6 of us. so we decided to change flags (all white) so it'd be easier to see in the dark. well, leah cheated and watched us hide our flag. 5 minutes later, they found ours and ran back over to the other side. but caitlin (on our side) had gotten their flag LEGITIMATELY and almost made it back across the boundry. anyway, after that we tried playing a game of hide and go seek in the dark in the park (the same park where we were at last night) but we were all tired and wanted to go home. we got home around midnight and now it's shower time. tomorrow i've got to be up early to go do some more studying.

2004-06-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

again again, nothing going on here. i'm just studying like a mofo and just hoping that i'll do well on my exams. last night i went to bed at 430am and was out of bed at 745am. i was studying, not partying, mind you. i went to isabelle's mom's (with isabelle) to weed her rose garden. it got so hot that we had to quit. it was 104°F today!!!!!! i came back, showered, and took a 2 hour nap when i was hoping for a longer one. then stevie called and wanted to know if i wanted to meet up with the rest of the bunch to sit in the park after dark and hang out. so i went. and got drunk. they had brought wine and we drank and rolled down the hill. it was a lot of fun. and it's sooooooooo nice outside! well, after a day of 100 degree temps, it's understandable. after going back to stevie's place for more drinks and chilli concarne, i'm back to go to bed. kirstin and i have a renaissance lit study session tomorrow at noon to do. so let's just hope that i'll be able to make it. ...

2004-06-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

well, nothing big going on here. it's hotter than hell and i'm about to go nuts worrying over my exams. i start on tuesday and i'm screwed for this one!! oh well. i'll study and pull through somehow. ummmm...yeah, that's about it. nothing big. can't think of anything. maybe something interesting will come up within the next few days. oh! i went out and bought michael moore's STUPID WHITE MEN. a HIGHLY recommended read - he talks about the stupidity of our governmental officials and how bush STOLE the elections of 2000. and be sure to go see his film 'farenheit 9/11!!!!!!' it's set for release on june 25. rest assured that as soon as i get home i'm going to see it (providing it doesn't come out here in europe sooner).

2004-05-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

isabelle thought it was about time that i cut my hair. so she made me meet her at 9am yesterday morning to take me to the place where she gets her hair cut. and, well, i got my hair cut. after that, she and i went out for breakfast (coffee and croissant). i then went back home and slept, read, slept, read, all this in the midst of a HOT day. today, i got up and ranya and i made maccaroni and cheese and cream of wheat for breakfast. then it was more homework time. then ankica, ranya and i all went to snacksomos for some dinner. on the way there, ranya had a run-in with someone whose umbrella she lost 6 months ago. see, the thing is, the umbrella wasn't his in the first place...it was his friend's! he had borrowed it from him. when ranya told the guy that she had lost it, he told her no big deal. now, 6 months later, he wants it back because he says his friend wants it back. ranya called the friend and he told her that it was no big deal - they weren't friends anymore. however, the guy that she got it off of says that his friend needs it back. what a tool. and what's even worse - he told ranya that he wanted the umbrella back PRONTO and it's a longchamp umbrella - at nearly $70!! what a prick this guy is. so ankica and i stook up for ranya and just told him to go...well, yeah. and in other news, i've been watching the wicked weather back home. even though there are lots of tornados, be thankful!! i miss them - we don't have them here. but on july 9 i'll be home, thank goodness...

2004-05-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

yesterday i got up and i don't remember what else. but i DO remember that i went to sit down at a café to have a drink and read some for frieda's class when all of the sudden i realized that i had left without my wallet. that means no money. i was 55 cents short. the guy wasn't too happy when i told him that that was all i had and that i would have to bring him the rest later. i mean, it's not like i do it to him (or in general) all the time. so i ran home, changed into some jeans because the wind had kinda picked up and i knew that isabelle and i would be sitting outside somewhere having dinner, and then came back into town to give the waiter his money. he seemed a bit surprised that i came back. isabelle and i then went to Fly, a Lowes slash Office Max Furniture store and picked out a desk for her computer. after going to dinner, i went home and got up at 7am this morning to be at her place bright and early to go get the desk. since she doesn't have a car nor a drivers license, i drove the delivery truck (they rent one out). man was i nervous since it was a big vehicle!! but we got it all inside ok, the rental truck back ok, and then spent the next 6-7 hours putting the damned thing together! but at least it's up now. now that i'm back home, i took a shower and am getting ready to go to jackie's and sara's for some drinks (not too many, though) since jackie is going back to indiana TOMORROW!! how lucky is she?!?

2004-05-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday i slept in, got up, showered and then went into town. stevie and i went to have a drink to catch up a bit since we hadn't seen each other for quite sometime. we realized how much work we have left to do here in france AND to prepare for law school. i had a splitting headache for the rest of the evening. however, it was a nice day. summer is definitely here. but i miss good old indiana thunderstorms. you all might be saying how much you hate 'em but believe me, you'd miss them if you spent a year away from home! today, i got up and got a call from kristin asking if i wanted to go to the beach in marseille. so i went. it was her, me, gena, justin, stevie's mom and one of stevie's friends from indiana that's here visiting. it was kinda cool. i mean, the sun was out but on the beach there was a bit of a breeze. it was still nice, though. i went into the water twice. it was so clear! the beach had a nice steep drop off and you were almost immediately over your head, but you could see down to the bottom where the sand was. that way you could see what was right underneath you. after coming back, i ran home to shower and then went to our end of the year dinner for the program. blah blah blah. we all pitched in 5 euros to get our secretary, our on-site director, jeanine feral and frieda (the resident director) gifts. liz suggested we get them all gift certifficates to the spa here in aix. i didn't want my name going on anything to frieda, but i did anyway, just for the group's sake. and i finally figured out why she doesn't like me. i'm too french!! frienda, who studied in paris and is basically french, doesn't like the french language or the culture!! then why the F is she teaching french, then? it makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever. anyway, i found out that the bitch doesn't like me because i have too many french mannerisms. well, tough shit. she's going to dock my grade for being in france and speaking as they do and acting as they do (in some aspects). well, piss on her. she's going to get an earful just as soon as i get my final grade from her so she can't give me a bad grade for telling her just how unprofessional she really is. whew. on that note, i'm going to bed.

2004-05-24T02:40:00.000-07:00

so i got up wednesday morning and left for cannes. cody and i were on the same train and with the same host family, too. when we got there we went and had a drink while we waited for the others to get to cannes. once we found our host families, we set off for the houses to get all settled in. then all of the students got together to watch a movie on the beach. they showed low-class movies to the low-class people. then for the next two days i was on the beach with jessie, rachael and cody. it was soooooooooooooo nice!! we even went out to this little island (had to take a boat out there with a glass bottom in it). but there were TONS of jellyfish swiming around everywhere. i tried to snorkel, but couldn't really get into it. however, i did buy the material to snorkel because it was $9! can't beat that!! i didn't really see any famous people. i did, however, see lots of rich hotels, the famous red carpet, TONS of luxury boats and cars, etc. oh, get this! so caitlin and erin got a flyer on the street to go to the screening of a film called 'suicide trip.' so we went. they warned us that the film wasn't done yet but they wanted to bring it to cannes to get young people's opinions. it talks about 3 young guys who had rough times in society and did a bunch of drugs. well, you can just imagine where the story goes from there. but it talks about all the youth violence in the US. they then had us take notes as we watched it, fill out a questionnaire and then they video taped our reactions to the movie. they even fed us and gave us t-shirts, too! it was really cool. and it was at the hilton, one of the more upper-scale hotels in cannes. but the thing about the cannes film festival is that it used to be a time where the stars would come out and interact with and appreciate their fans. not anymore. the stars stay hidden and hidden well. so they suck their fans for the money and fame and glory but don't really come out and thank them. celebrities are just asses. that's what i learned this past week. hence the reason i didn't care to go see any of their films, even though i DID have a badge to get me into certain events. i preferred to spend it on the beach. and we couldn't have asked for better beach weather. anyway, in other news, isabelle had a big picnic at her mom's yesterday. so we went there and ate TONS of good food, drank and just had an overall good time. i ended up staying the night and coming home this morning. i had a REALLY REALLY good time. cedric and jean-claude were so drink that they just jumped onto the wall of the house (outside) and started climbing it! for no particular reason!! jean-claude got up so high that we had to go get a ladder to get him down. isabelle and i just sat behind and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. now that i'm back, i just took a shower, unpacked and am now writing this long post to my website. i think i'm going to go take a nap since isabelle and i didn't sleep much last night - we sat up most of the night reformatting jean-claude hard drive on his computer. it was a long process but it's finally done. and he's got windows xp now. ok, i'm going now.

2004-05-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

ok, well, i can't remember where i last left off, so i'll just start with some interesting things that have gone on. oh yeah, by the way, our internet is back up. we never thought he'd get it back up because the dude's out of money and was probably going to screw us all if we hadn't have said something. but last weekend we went to cannes for the day (the cannes film festival). that was really cool. but just way too many people. and the night before we all went out to a bar and just had a drink and danced to CCR. an american classic rock group. good times. ummm...all of my classes are over now. today was the last day. but i skipped classes today to do laundry and stuff to prepare for yet another trip to cannes. see, last weekend it was through the program - we didn't have to pay for it. well, we did but indirectly. tomorrow i'm leaving to spend 5 days in cannes rubbing elbows with the stars as we all will have badges to get into everything. the weather here in the south of france is finally back to what it should be - HOT!!! so i'll be spending quite a bit of time at the beach. ranya, avery, kirstin and i made mexican food tonight. it was reeaaaaaaaaaalllllllyyyyy good. little tastes of home. aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd...there was a bomb in town at 330 this morning. windows busted out EVERYWHERE. don't know who did it and why. but yeah, a bomb here in small pee-dunk aix-en-provence. isn't that crazy?!?!? ok, i need to go upstairs and pack and go to bed. but now that internet is back up i'll be able to post on a daily basis again. well, not until sunday, though, since i'm going to be gone. oh, yeah, i'm leaving aix on the 24th of june. i reserved my tgv (bullet train) tickets the other day. HALLELUJAH!! i can't wait to come home. i'm having a GREAT time in france but enough's enough. i wanna go home. so with all of this in mind, nite, y'all!!

2004-05-10T04:24:00.000-07:00

where to begin? the reason i havent posted since i left to go on break is for the fact that internet at my place has been down since i got back from break. the crooked guy running the joint said that someone tapped into his system and ordered 1500€ worth of products off of the internet. hes been saying for a week now that it should be back up and running any day because wanadoo, the isp, had to change his code. ha. the guy is so crooked that hes probably got absolutely no plans whatsoever to open the labs back up and just pocket our money for internet that we should be able to use for the next two months. were all pretty pissed about it. but oh well. well just have to wait and see. in other news, the thursday night before break i went to stevie's to watch movies to stay up all night since i had to be checked in for my flight at 605am. on the flight up to paris to meet my grandparents, it was SO INCREDIBLY turbulent and what was even worse was the fact that there was this LOUD, LOW-PITCHED grinding noise that came from the engine. i was so scared i almost filled up the in-flight burp bag!!! anyway, we landed safely and so did my grandparents. we spent a week in paris and then took the train down here to provence for a week. the weather in paris wasnt good at all. it was mostly cloudy, windy and rainy, not to mention cool. but at least we were able to see almost everything in paris. then we took the train to provence. going from the bullet train station in aix to miramas (elyane and christians house) we got lost. i had never driven in france before and what was even worse was that it was at night. i had to call elyane because somehow i ended us up at the marseille airport. she gave us directions, though. good thing i had my cell phone. in the south, we went to camargue, a place with wild horses, pink flamingos, etc. we also went into the alpilles, small hills outside of marseille. we just drove through there and enjoyed the scenery. the weather down here was great, though. then christian took us to marseille. i found some really cool beaches there so i think a couple of us are going there this friday because the weathers supposed to be nice. ummm...yeah, it was really good seeing papa and andy again. then we took the train back up to paris the night before they flew home. when they left for the airport, i got a bit homesick because i had a piece of home, something familiar and it was gone. oh well...two months more and ill be home. after they left, i went to see roman in italy. i had fun, but was exhausted from the past two weeks of break. we didnt do much, but still had fun. then that sunday i got up at six to start the trip home. three hour train ride to milan, get from train station to airport and then from there it was a good 8 hours or so. i flew from milan to marseille via paris with a 6 hour layover in paris. anyway, now that im back, ive spent the ENTIRE week at the office writing papers. now that theyre pretty much finished, im just chillin'. ummmm...went back to the hospital for a TB test. negative, of course. what else...nothing, really. just a bunch of little things but too numerous to put in one days post. but were all going to attack souheil (the crooked internet guy) if he doesnt get the internet back up and running shortly because honestly, how long does it take for wanadoo to change his 'code?' not that long. so we all think hes fibbing to us. anyway, ill post again sometime...soon, hopefully. but ive still got my cell if anyone needs to get ahold of me here in france...later

2004-04-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

after going to eat with isabelle last night, i went to stevie's place for her 21st birthday party. they were playing cards and drinking mixed-drinks made in the blender. i left to come back home and was in bed at 3. i decided to skip my 930 class this morning to sleep because i'm staying up all night tonight so i won't miss my 445am shuttle to the airport in the morning. i'm going over to stevie's at midnight to watch movies. she's going to stay up with me. other than that, today i got up, went to isabelle's and then went for a coffee. then it was off to frieda's class but we ended up watching a movie called 'la haine' (hate) because she's gone to the US for a while. hallelujah. but the movie was about a bunch of thugs and thieves. too much slang for me to be able to understand anything. then it was back to isabelle's to use her computer to register for my classes for next semester. only 1 was full, so i got pretty much most of what i wanted. nothing but criminal justice next semester, so i'm happy about that. and then 2nd semester i'll only have 3 classes to take! woohoo! i then went with her to get a new chair for her desk and carried it back to her apt for her. we all then sat down and put it together. she took us out for a drink (her friend, johann, is down from paris). now that i'm back, i'm going to do a bit of last minute packing, shower and then head out the door for stevie's. i probably won't be posting for the next two weeks (may 3, probably) because i'm going to have limited internet access. but i'll try to put the major events of my 2 week break on here when i get back to aix. bye!

2004-04-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

it seems that i'm getting into a habit of only posting every other day. so, for yesterday's news, i skipped my 4 hour long rennaissance lit class to read a book for my arabic world class that's due the week after break. i did get quite a bit done, surprisingly...then i showered and headed off to town to read in our office's library. after that damned arabic world class, i came back home, ate and went to bed. today, i got up and went to my french history class. the prof arrived 15 mins late...we all were hoping he wouldn't show up at all! anyway, i then went and had coffee with isabelle and then she had me go with her to get a new rug for her living room floor. she needed me to carry it back for her. now that i'm back home, i did some laundry by hand in my toilet slash bidet, showered and am getting ready to go out to dinner with isabelle. so, with that in mind ladies and gentlemen, talk to all y'all later.

2004-04-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

yesterday i didn't do anything. i didn't even change out of my pjamas! i slept until 3 (recovering from the spanish festival the day before in arles). but i did get the majority of my packing done for break. i leave friday morning on the 445am shuttle to the airport. i don't even think i'm going to go to bed thursday night. anyway, today, caitlin, joel, kirstin and i all went to climb this mountain outside of aix, sainte victoire. we had to be on a bus at 745am this morning. it was kinda chilly when we were first starting out, but after a while it warmed up. it took us 3 hours to get to the top and only an hour and a half to get down. it was a lot of fun, though. there's a chapel at the top and so we all had lunch up there (no, there's no restaurant, we brought our own eats). after we got back to aix, we went out for coffee since we all are so tired. i then came back and showered. i think i'm going to turn in early tonight.

2004-04-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

where do i begin?? let's start with friday, a rather productive day. i got up, went with caitlin to get train tickets to arles for yesterday, saturday, went to the grocery store, came back did laundry and cleaned my room. nothing exciting but the essencials. yesterday, well, that's another story of its own. so we got up (me, justin, erin, caitlin) and were on an 813am train to arles. see, every year this is this spanish festival called 'la feria d'arles' (don't ask me what that translates to). so we get there and they had blocked off some of the streets to let the bulls out of their pin to chase people through the streets (it's the tradition). it was really cool!!! what was even cooler was when the bull broke through the metal fence and started running after spectators!!!! you want to talk about some action!! everyone started screaming and the rumble of people running away to hide in cafes and stuff. it was great!!! you would have thought that someone had opened fire in a group of people the way people were screaming and running! it was awesome!! then we went to get some coffee because none of us slept worth anything the night before. now it was off to see the bulls chase horses down the street. well, what happens was there were horses on all sides of the bull (except from behind). the horses run, blocking the bull's view. if a bull see's something running, it's gonna keep running. then once the 'possy' passes a certain line, people run after the bull to try to bring it to the ground. well, every now and then a bull would get loose and we'd all go running for our lives, sometimes 15 people jumping up to safety on top of a car! it was the best thing i've done in a long time!!!!! i've got video tape of most of it. we ate pizza for lunch. and then we saw then dragging away a bull that had lost a bull fight. yeah, you wanna talk about something that turns your stomach. this festival is really nothing but cruelty to animals. they're not tortured, but it's not really nice, either. especially the bull fights!! so since we're all animal lovers and had already spent money on tickets for the bull fight, we all decided to get drunk so it wouldn't bother us as much. and drunk we got. i ended up talking to my mom for a half hour while plastered. i don't remember who else i called. anyway. then the time for the fight to begin. after them going through 3 or 4 bulls, we called it quits. what they do is wave that little flag and the bull comes running. well, after a while, he throws a sword into its back! and then it falls on the ground after a while and people cheer! it's horrible!!! if i'd have known what exactly this 'spanish festival' was, i wouldn't have gone. but it's tradition here in the south of france and a cultural experience. then we went to eat and then back to the train station to come home. we left at 7am and got home at like midnight. what a day.

2004-04-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

wednesday, i slept through my french history class. i just didn't feel like going. then i headed to isabelle's place - she went with me to the hospital for a check-up xray of that spot in my lung. it's still the same size, so still no reason to worry. man, was i relieved! anyway, i went to a meeting at our office, just sort of an approaching-the-end-of-the-year-and-want-to-have-a-meeting meeting. just administrative stuff. nothing interesting. then it was home to read 2/3 of a book that caitlin and had to give an presentation on today in frieda's class. we worked until 2am, wishing at 1am that we were in the states so we could send out for pizza. today, i got up at 11 (my other french history class was cancelled today) and finished my part of the presentation. then the big moment came - the presentation. it went rather well, i think. i came home after going to the office of tourism checking on shuttle schedules for monday - we're thinking of going to "climb" this mountain that's right outside of our town. it's nothing dangerous...just a paved road to the top and there's a great view up there. i took a nap once i got home and then fixed this HUGE pot of maccaroni and cheese. then caitlin called and i met up with her, justin and erin for a drink. now that i'm back, i'm going to bed. nite folks!

2004-04-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

yesterday nothing really interesting happened. i went to my last written expression class. she says that we've got another but if she makes us come, i'm not going. i've only missed one and we're allowed two absences. but the point is that this woman is just flat out dumb. she can't count how many classes we've actually had. she said that she thought we got 2 weeks break in february. but we all told her that we only got one (when we really did get two). we all said that because the class is just utterly pointless - we've all bitched at the administration about how worthless this class and teacher really are. she said that she's going to leave a note with the building's secretary as to if we are going to have to meet again. well, tough. nobody ever goes to that office anyway. she's just insane. in other news, we had a surprise birthday party for justin last night. his new digital camera had gotten stolen a month or so back. so some of us chipped in and bought him a new one. you should have seen his face when he walked through the door and we all screamed 'surprise!' it was too funny. and then there were rootbeer floats, but i didn't have time to stay for that. too much work to do before break and not enough time to get it done in. today, i again survived another tuesday. 2 hours of rennaissance lit this morning, 2 more hours of it this afternoon and finally my arabic world class tonight. after so many hours of classes in one day, you just have had enough. i got so tired of classes earlier this afternoon that i resorted to picking the grud out of my watchband with my pen cap! how sad is that. and now, it's time to do some more homework because i've got an oral presentation to do in frieda's class on thursday with caitlin - i haven't finished the book, caitlin has. we'll see what frieda has to say about my presentation. if she says anything, i'm going to go off. i don't care if my grade is at stake or not. she's, well, like i told caitlin, i'm going to wait until i'm back on US territory before i go off about frieda. on a much lighter note, i'm off to read. ladies and gentlemen, bonsoir.

2004-04-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

i rolled out of bed this morning with just enough time to take a shower, eat a bowl of cereal, check my email and head out for the bus terminal. well, not like greyhound, but a place where regional busses park. isabelle, some of her asian students and i all went to marseille for a wine and cheese tasting today. it only cost 5euros to get in and you could sample all kinds of wines. and these aren't cheap ones - they're GOOD and EXPENSIVE ones. you're given a small wine tasting glass when you go in so you have something for them to pour you a 'petit fond' or a little smidgen. after several 'petit fonds' you're feeling pretty good. and the best part about it - it's nothing but adults there who are wanting to taste these expensive wines to try to buy a good bottle (or six). i pretended like i was seriously interested but ended up saying that it just didn't settle right in my mouth. HA! anyway. i then split up and went to the port of marseille to go to mcdonalds. yum. then it was back to aix. that's about it. and by the way - I'M COMING HOME JULY 9!!!! my mom got my ticket last night. i'm coming home earlier than expected. so y'all better be at the airport at 11pm to greet me getting off of american flight 514 from dallas at 1102pm!! oops...i guess i put that in yesterday's entry.

2004-04-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

so yesterday, friday, i got up, worked and then decided it was time to take a shower. after showering, i worked some more and make a bit of headway in my reading. isabelle and i were going to have dinner last night so i went to casino (grocery) to get some stuff. i made stuffed green peppers (rice, turkey and cheese on the inside). today, i worked again and...then catherine and i decided we wanted to try to make gravy and put it over wheat bread (yeah, we're poor). but the gravy didn't quite turn out. however, i ate it anyway! and then i did a major cleaning of my room. you should have see the pile of dirt when i swept my floor! sheeze! then i talked to my family on the phone. my mom just changed my flight - i'm coming home on july 9 instead of the 23rd. i'm happy about that. i'm ready to get out of here! well, dont' get me wrong - i'm having fun, but trop c'est trop! enough's enough! anyway...that about takes care of it for today, y'all.

2004-04-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

i actually had time to shower before my 9:30am this morning! anyway, after my other french history class this morning, i went to the university cafeteria to get a 'poulet mayo' (chicken and mayonnaise) sandwich. they're so good! then it was off to frieda's african fem. lit course. i actually went off in that class last week because she makes me feel like a fool and i sorta called her on it. so she called me into her office today to talk to me about it. i wasn't in trouble or anything (she's FAR from a position to be reprimanding me - i pay her damned salary!). but i just told her, well...i told her that i think i understand what i'm reading but her class says otherwise when we discuss texts in class. one day before the end of the program i'm going to tell her what exactly is on my mind. *sigh* only in a perfect world. onto other things - i came home, took a nap and now i'm typing this. there's something wrong with this picture - i nap everyday but yet i'm behind on my reading. oh well. "why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" is my philosophy...

2004-03-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

today - french history class, home, read, nap, eat spaghetti, internet and more reading. interesting, eh? that's about it for today. except for tonight's rain. it hasn't rained in months. sorry for not being longer - today was pretty uneventful. maybe there'll be something more interesting tomorrow...but don't hold your breath.

2004-03-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

today - first of all, if you're not walking around with bricks chained to your ankles, the wind will more than likely blow you away. fortunately i've got my heavy backpack to keep me safe. anywayz...'dun dun dun...another one bites the dust.' yeup...another tuesday completed. 8 hours! each time i think about it about makes me nautious. oh well. classes all day. i almost skipped the 2nd half of my first class this afternoon, but i thought i'd better not. and then i had my damned arabic world class. that class sucks! but my book arrived that i have to write a paper on for that class. it looks pretty interesting. sexuality in the arabic world. so we'll see. now that i'm back, it's more homework time - i have 2 and a half weeks before i leave for break and TONS to do! again, like january (or maybe it was december) but if i disappear for a while, think nothing of it. i've simply gone into hiding. but i've still got my cell, though... bisous a tout le monde.

2004-03-29T07:28:00.000-08:00

ok, so where do i start?...friday night isabelle and i went out to eat. then 15 minutes after i fell alseep i had to get up to take the train to paris. at the train station i saw liza, a girl on our program. apparently a TON of students from my program were in paris this weekend. i saw one of them randomly on saturday afternoon. anyway, on the tgv, i thought that this young couple were terrorists because they had their hand pda's and were sending messages back and forth and giving each other wierd looks. i went to liza's car and started flipping out. but we made it to paris okay. upon arriving in paris, samuel, a guy who came to all of the iu french events last year until february 2003 when he left, was there to meet me. we went back to his place, watched 'urban legends', went to meet my host brother, thibault, from 4 years ago for a drink, went samuel's boss' place to watch the world final rugby ternament (france won, of course). then it was off to the hard rock cafe at midnight for a private party with an open bar. samuel had gotten me a ticket. so we stayed until 5am. then we sat at a cafe drinking coffee waiting on 540am to roll around so we could take the first metro. there was a taxi line utterly a mile and a half long. so we just decided to save our money, not be like those schmuks standing out in the cold waiting for a taxi that would never arrive for the next 40 minutes. the sun was coming up and the birds were cherping and we're drinking coffee to be able to stay awake. i slept for like an hour then had to be at the train station to get linda at 9am. her train was 2 hours late - 2 more hours i could have stayed in bed!!!!! she finally arrived. we hung out a bit in the train station and then she left telling me that we'd get together today because she just wanted to go back to her friend's house and take a shower (she was on a train all night coming from germany). i then went to pizza hut with joe and erin (americans). after that i called samuel and met him back at his place (he had gone to play soccer). we watched a movie, left to go to la defense, area where he works, back to his area of town to eat and then watched 'l'auberge espagnole.' it's a good move. zzzzzzzzzzzz. after sleeping better last night, i got up, left, went to la defense to give samuel his key (he left at 8 this morning) and called linda, my friend who came in from germany yesterday. she wasn't going to be able to come into paris until around the time my train left. i told her that i was going to go ahead and go back to aix. to change my train ticket would have cost me like 51 euros and a plane ticket was 49. so i took air france. i bought the ticket like an hour and a half before the plane left. you should have seen me running through the metro system in paris trying to get to the airport in time!! it was crazy! but this time around, no flipping out on the plane on the descent. now that i'm back, i'm going to shower and take a nap. and do some homework somewhere along time line...

2004-03-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

yesterday, i got up and went to my french history class, as i do every wednesday. the wind here has been something awful!! it's this cold arctic wind that comes down from the alps and blows at like 50+mph. so walking anywhere is a bitch. then i went to snacksomos to get something to eat and then to monoprix to get something to drink. guess what i found at monoprix. V8!!!! needless to say i bought a bottle. so i then went to the bureau to eat and drink and then headed off to post office to mail off my absentee ballot for the indiana primaries. my lease for sterling university was sent off yesterday, too. then it was off to go grocery shopping. after that, i took a nap, read some and then went to bed. today - not as much wind and kinda sunny. however tonight i see a lot of clouds coming in. but who cares - i'm in paris this weekend. oh, that's another thing. they found yet another bomb on a train track somewhere here in france and here i am taking the tgv bullet train to paris this weekend. guess i won't have any fingernails left by the time my tgv pulls into paris gare de lyon. back to today, i went to my 9:30 after not sleeping hardly any at all last night. i contemplated going but i decided it was for the best. then it was frieda's course, french african fem. lit. i can't stand frieda anymore. well, that's a story for another day. remind me to tell you all why in person. then it was back home for laundry. good times. now that my laundry is hanging up in my room to dry, i'm going to go take a shower since i didn't have time to take one this morning and...perhaps read some, perhaps take a nap. either way, at 9:30 i'm going to have a drink with melissa. lata...

2004-03-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

today - i got up and left the place only to walk to class in the blustering arctic cold wind. but at least i can say i survived yet another tuesday. it seems like every time i turn around i'm saying, man, tomorrow i've got 8 hours of class. during my lunch break i went and got pictures the pictures from a roll of film that i had dropped off yesterday. and then...i went to the office to print off some travel documents that i had saved onto a disc. then it was back to class, then to yet another class, the ever-dreaded arabic world one. that class BLOWS!! and we have a dissertation over a book to do before break. and all of the books that interest me - they're either out of print or over $200!!! it's insane! i'm so pissed. but marion who had ridden her bike to class, gave me a lift half-way home on the back of her bike. it was so funny - the two of us riding through town screaming each time we'd hit a hump because we were basically sharing a seat. but it was fun. now i'm home and...gonna go to bed. GOODNITE

2004-03-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

saturday - we went on an excursion with the program. the program paid for it. well, we paid for it, but indirectly. it was just a bit much. we're rushed rushed around and don't really have time to sit back and enjoy anything. and besides, we just went and visited a bunch of old buildings and an old church and stuff. nothing interesting. i was still way too tired to think from the trip to nice. sunday - i got up, ran, talked to my family in indiana, gave my room a thorough cleaning and then tried to figure out this new program that iu is using for registering for classes. i might have already said this, but the new software is called 'peoplesoft.' and since we, the university, has got a software deal with microsoft (ex: windowsXP for $5 instead of $200), microsoft probably told iu that if we want to keep our agreement with them that we had to switch over to their version of what we were using before. and i've had nothing but problems accessing it here in france. so i worked with it a bit and still nothing came up. and i started a bit on some homework, too. today - got up, ran some errands, got a haircut and went to class. now that i'm back - eat and homework!

2004-03-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

where to begin? lots to tell... so wednesday, st. patrick's day, i got up, put on something green and left for my history class. no coke machine spitting out free cokes this week. then, i don't remember what i did but i got a call from stevie wanting to know if i wanted to go out to an irish pub since it was st. patty's day. and we did. so i got to their place at like 9, had some beers and then set out for some pubs. but this one pub wouldn't let us in because some of us were already drunk. the bouncer said no. anyway, we all just wondered around town for a bit before heading back home. but we had a good time at stevie's, though. then yesterday, i got up and went to my 9:30 history class, skipping out after only half of it (at the break - 3 hour class) because the 2nd part of the class is students giving presentations. blah blah blah. nothing interesting and they go so fast. so why waste my time if i'm jsut going to sit there counting the strands of hair on the person's head in front of me? so i went to grab a bite to eat, went to the travel agency to reserve the rental car for when my family comes in april. then i went to my african fem. lit. class. i saw kristin afterwards who was heading off to nice (nice and sunny nice - ha ha) to see one of their friends off who had came in from indiana for spring break. see, his dad is a pilot for delta so he gets free flights whenever he wants...and almost always first class!! he's so lucky! but since he was flying out at 10am this morning and couldn't get to nice from aix early enough today, they were going to go to nice and stay the night (marcus, their friend, doesn't speak french). so it was literally a LAST MINUTE thing. i found out like an hour and a half before leaving (and i had an hour's travel time between their place and mine and back). so i RAN home, showered since i hadn't showered in two days, threw pj's, tooth brush, tooth paste and deoderant into my backpack and headed out the door for nice. the bus ride was cool - a double-decker. we got to nice last night, checked into the hotel, went to grab a bite to eat and then went walking on the beach. it was sooooooooooo nice out! we also sat in this garden in the middle of town and just chatted. lots of cool multi-colored flowers and stuff, too. the weather was like summertime! then we went back to the hotel, chatted some more and then went to bed. stevie took marcus to the airport this morning while kristin and i slept in. stevie came back and then we checked out of the hotel, went to get breakfast and then went shopping. hang on - THEY, the girls, went shopping. i just sat outside on a bench. and we just walked around town for a bit just seeing the sites. sat on the beach a lot, too. the water there was gorgeous!! and the town is really clean...and rich! lots of rich people live there. anyway, now that we're back, i'm going to shower and go to bed since our program is taking us on an excursion tomorrow. gonna run. later.

2004-03-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

walking to class this morning at 9:30 i was already hot. coming back home at noon, i showered and put on shorts. i decided to skip the 2nd half of the class (it meets twice per day for two hours each time) to clean my room. and i did a pretty thorough cleaning! then it was time to head into town for my arab world class. after that, i got a text from isabelle while i was in class wanting to know if i wanted to go out for a drink. so we did. and then we went out to eat. then sylvie wanted to meet up with some of her friends for tea at 'the chez toi' (tea at your place). now i'm back and needing to pee like you wouldn't believe.

2004-03-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

allow me to share with you a little theory that i share with my european counterparts. so, if you'll notice, saddam hussein was found nearly 1 year before the presidential elections. well, if you've been following the news lately, us forces are getting closer to finding bin laden. mind you the us military issued a statement right after the first of the year saying that they 'are confident they'll find bin laden in 2004.' the elections are in november. so that gives them plenty of time to yank him out before that day in november. i'll bet you pounds to pennies that they're gonna yank him out before the elections. and mind you i was just on one of indy's news websites. there was a poll - do you think we'll ever find bin laden? and the majority seems to have their heads in the right place - yes, but not until closer to the presidential elections. maybe the american people isn't as dumb as i thought... anyway, moving on. so i got up on friday, did laundry and walked out the door for miramas. no wait - laundry was thursday night. never mind. i got up, packed and then headed out the door. got to miramas and just hung out with christian until elyane got home. elyane came home and then left to go to a meeting. chris and i just sat around the house. when she got back we ate and then watched a bit of tv. bed. saturday i got up and hung around the house a bit with the two. then we went to see this retarded fish exposition (fish made out of wood with a worded description of the fish filled with punns - absolutely to die for - really. utterly retarded.) but seeing as how elyane deals with the town's culture, she thought it was hilarious and is going to go an exposition for the guy. then that night we were invited to someone's house for dinner. and it was one of those dinners that starts at 7 and ends at 1am. they were some really cool people. sunday - hung around the house except for when we went to the movies to see 'lost in translation.' it was an okay movie - nothing i'd pay $7.50 to see again. then yohann and mickael came over to eat last night. they left and then bed. today - i got up to a BRIGHT sun! mind you the weather was overcast all weekend long - not too warm, either. i ate breakfast and then chris drove me to the train station. i hate taking the train now because of what happened in madrid on thursday. but oh well. getting back to aix i went for a run. it got up to 21 today! that's like...72/73!!! it was soooooooooooo nice! it was almost to the point where you start to feel hot and start to sweat. mmmmmm...summer days are a comin'. after the run, it was shower and then class. what a retarded class that one is. written expression, as usual on mondays. but just a few more weeks of it and then i'll take that folder and throw it just as far as humanly possibly. we (stevie, kristen, caitlin and i) all skipped class early to go see this new movie - nowhere in africa. it was ok, i guess. 'bout a jewish family who migrates to kenya to escape the holocaust. we ended up meeting up with one of their friends, marcus, who just flew in from indiana. he's on spring break and seeing as how his dad is a pilot at delta, he gets free and unlimited flights. lucky bastard! anyway, i'm going to go upstairs and go to bed now. that's it for tonight.

2004-03-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

today: alarm went off at 7:30 and snoozed until 9. for some reason i thought to myself at 8:50 that i had another hour and ten minutes before my class started. at 9am, i jumped out of bed and started my day because i realized that it started at 9:30. so for 2 hours i listened to the evolution of school, litteracy rates, etc in france in the 15 and 1600s france. then we had a 15 minute break then there was going to be an oral presentation by a classmate. well, kirstin and i had our wits about us. we packed our shit up and left. haha. anyway, i got back, saw jessie, and decided we'd go for a run. but that's when i found out about this morning's bombings in madrid, spain. i'm really upset about that. if you've seen pictures of the trains that were bombed, you'd know what i'm talking about. over 200 dead and 1200 wounded! can you imagine! walking back from our run, we all realized that we can't escape terrorism ANYWHERE in the world. well, maybe if we hid underneath a rock in some river somewhere in BFE. and i'm taking the train tomorrow to miramas. granted, the trains this morning were spanish suburban commuter trains. i'm not taking that. the terrorists are interested in the 'big lines' such as the tgv and stuff. speaking of which, last week they had to shut down france's rail system and walk 20000 miles of track by foot because sncf (railroad company) found out that some terrorist group had put bombs on the tracks. they found only one that wasn't wired to detonate. oh well. anyway, after the run i showered, ate, did laundry, went out to eat and have a drink with isabelle. we just talked as usual (politics, mainly). she's such an interesting person. i can't wait for her to come visit bloomington. anyway, i'm going to go to bed now...

2004-03-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

i got up today to go to my french history class. while waiting, someone came in and said that if you pushed a button on the coke machine down the hall, it'd just spit out drinks for free. unfortunately, all it would spit out were diet cokes. so we all sat there waiting on the prof with diet cokes. well, he never showed up. so i went to the train station to get my train tickets for this weekend (miramas) and for the weekend of march 27th (paris). a girl that i worked with this summer in minnesota is in europe visiting people. so i'm going up there to see nicolette. and...then patrick came over to get his stuff (he left a bag of stuff in my room while he was galivanting around europe). he's leaving to go back to australia next wednesday. it's sad! we all are sad to see him go. then i took a nap, checked my email, cleaned my room and now i'm getting ready to go to bed. tomorrow's my early day - first class at 9:30.

2004-03-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

i surprised myself today. i actually got out of bed at 9am for my 10am class. it was, of course, the renaissance lit class...nothing too interesting. then at noon i came back to my place and fixed a nice salad and checked my email. then i was in class from 3-5. upon coming home at 5, i decided to take a nap. and i did! until just now - 9:30! but dont worry...i've got PLENTY to keep me busy (readings, etc).

2004-03-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

well, saturday and sunday, you guessed it - nothing. i spent basically the entire weekend in bed sleeping away. and today, monday, i went into town with lauren so she could get some new things - her backpack was stolen while she was in london. and...jordan called me this afternoon from the states. that was cool because i hadn't talked to him in a while. and...what else...i had the dumb written expression class tonight. that class just blows. oh, as for the apartment for next year (well, august). evidently the 650/mo apt was in a ghetto part of town. palmer's parents didn't like it and basically told him that he had to choose otherwise. i'm glad that they found that out. now we've all given our thumbs up to live at sterling university. it's reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally nice!!! www.sterlinghousing.com if you'd like to check it out. and finally, sylvie came over with her computer just a bit ago so i could go over her resume and cover letter that she's going to be sending off to england. that's about it for today. oh! i bought the 'big fish' soundtrack. lots of good music!! later.

2004-03-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

yesterday, thursday, i skipped my classes. just for shits and giggles. well, i had the intention of cleaning my room, but didn't. last night i went to stevie's and justin's. we watched 'the big lebowski' while drinking white russians. good times, lemme tell ya. marion came over, too (the french girl that we did our presentation with). today i got up and went to help ranya with a huge package she received. but when i got to the office she was already gone. she had called me to tell me not to bother but i didn't hear the phone and was within minutes of the office. when she called me she asked what i was doing. i told her that i was naked and eating my breakfast. which was the truth! then i went to the travel agency to rent the car for when my family comes in april only to find out that i can't rent for another 10 days or so. the high tour season prices haven't been published yet. and...then i went to the grocery store and came back with only 30 minutes to clean my room. and i did it! spick and span! i went to isabelle's to eat supper and then we went to see 'big fish.' such a good movie!! now that i'm back i'm going to go to bed (not before eating a snack 'cause i can 'cause i went to the grocery today...) OH! we found a place to live in bloomington for next year. $650 divided 3 ways - that's definitely doable!!!!! don't you think? and the news keeps getting better and better - i got an email from CNN breaking news - they're going to can martha stewart!!!

2004-03-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

yesterday, tuesday, patrick called me. he was back from his european extravaganza. he's going back to australia on the 17th. since he was in aix, we went to get something to eat. i had to leave a bit early to go get together with stevie to go over our notes and stuff. then the big moment came - THE PRESENTATION. i don't think i had ever been so scared shitless in my entire life. but marion stevie and i did it. i told myself i wasn't going to read word for word what i had written but thats basically what i did. well, more than i had wanted. i still made good eye contact and made it would like i wasn't reading. but at times i got going too fast and people had to tell me to slow down. see the thing is i would have died without stevie and marion. they're political science majors and i'm not. and even though i did my own research, i would have flopped the presentation because i didn't know anything! even after doing research! but it was on a topic that i don't care about - human rights in the maghreb (arabic states - tunisia, morocco, algeria). i mean, it's not that i don't care, but the subject (maghreb in general) is so deep that it's just mind-boggling and i don't know where to begin. also, this is a 'workshop,' i guess you can call it. the idea of that here in france is you have to have taken the course before you can take the workshop because you apply what you learned in the course in the workshop. well, needless to say, they failed to tell us that when we were registering for courses at the beginning of the year and voila. we're stuck in it. it's basically people who come from these countries and VERY educated students in this area who dominate the class discussions. that leaves those who have absolutely no background whatsoever in the dark. oh well...i don't care. we did fine and the class is almost over (in a month or so). after that, the 3 of us went out for a drink to celebrate. then isabelle and i went out for pizza and some drinks. we just talked and talked about whatever in general. she's such a good person - i love her to death! and...then today, i did absolutely nothing (besides watching more episodes of the simpsons on matt's laptop that he let me borrow). then i showered and went to see a movie called 'big fish.' YOU HAVE TO SEE IT!!!!!!! it's an american film and it just came out here in france. it may already be out in the states or already have been out for quite sometime. but this movie is a MUST SEE!!!!! i think i'm going to go back friday night with isabelle so she can see it. there are no words to describe it. i didn't cry, but almost all of the girls were in tears after the lights came back on in the theater. ok...that's enough for tonight. later, all...

2004-03-02T04:49:00.000-08:00

hey guys. sorry for not posting. but as you know, i was in london gone to london from 3am thursday morning to 11pm saturday night. then i got up at 9am both sunday and monday and worked until wee hours of the morning on this blasted oral presentation that we've got tonight at 6. for example, i worked from 9am until 4am on it yesterday, monday. how insane is that? and since i've got nothing but classes on tuesdays, i'm skipping them all to rest up and regroup before the exposé tonight. i slept until 1!! boy didn't that feel good! but i'll be back either later on tonight or sometime tomorrow with how the presentation went. now, to dive into london details. our flight left at 7am and 2 hours later we landed at 8am (1 hour time difference). i'm not going to go into details in chronological order, but i'll say all that we went to do and see. we went to the london dongeon (where they talked about torture, death, etc in middle ages london - it was good because they did their best to recreate it but they put a humor twist on it by talking to the spectators as we went through...yeah, there were actors in there). we went to the tower of london which is basically a fortified city, walled city of old london. we got to see all of the royalty's jewelry. wow!!!!!!! i couldn't take pictures or film any of it, but i did buy a couple of postcards with the royal crowns on it. YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT MONEY!!! it's insane!!!! all of the royal china (gold), jewelery, etc that i saw stretches into the BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS of dollars!! it's insane!! and we went to see the broadway production "stomp." it was really good. they just take brooms, trash cans, match boxes, whatever and make rhythmic music with it. it's all percussion. it was really good. ummm...what else...i went to the imperial war museum where there was exhibitions on crimes against humanity (genocide) and an exhibition on the holocaust. both were very moving. ummm...isabelle and i went pretty often to have a drink just to sit down and rest. so we spent quite a lot of time in pubs. oh, of course we went to westminster abbey (church who basically worships england's dead kings and queens) and big ben, the big clock tower that london's so known for. ummm...what else...i think that's about it. but just imagine this - you're in london and you look at the prices of things. they're what things would cost in the US (a meal for 6.95, a t shirt for 8, etc - everything costs the same as it would in the US, or as it appears). so you take the amount on the price tag...AND DOUBLE IT!!!! that's how much it is in US dollars!!! so i am completely broke now. but i'll survive. just be careful if you are ever in london not to spend too much money. oh well...at least i can say that i've been to london. now, i'm going upstairs to clean a bit, shower, and go over my notes for te presentation tonight. wish me luck...

2004-02-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

as usual, a day during a vacation week, i didn't do hardly anything. i cleaned my room, borrowed matt's computer so i could watch some simpsons eposides, went to stevie's and justin's to make dinner and did laundry. now i'm going to go upstairs and pack with perhaps some simpsons afterwards. but more to come on sunday after i get back from LONDON!!

2004-02-24T16:40:00.000-08:00

wow! i can't believe that it's been a couple of days since i last posted. so, to catch y'all up, sunday it rained buckets. still had sand from the sahara desert in it. a nasty rain. oh yeah, that's another thing. i don't think i mentioned this previously, but what looks like a muddy rain is actually sand that blew all the way thousands of miles up from the sahara and falls in our rain here. bizarre, huh? so stevie and i went to marion's place to work on our oral presentation for next tuesday. then yesterday, i went to marseille to look for books for our project. it's funny - i went to Joseph Gibert in both paris and in marseille (the biggest book store here in france and in the 2 biggest cities in france) and NOTHING! oh well. after getting back from marseille, i...went out with isabelle. we ended up going out to eat italian and talking about our trip to london. then today i got up, messed around all day by doing nothing (when i should have been reading books for our project). i went to the class in which i've got the oral presentation next week. what a bore!!!! i can't stand that class!!! oh well. after getting home, i called anne-caroline and talked to her for a bit. i then got a call from sylvie who wanted to know if i wanted to go out with her and some of her friends to a tea shop. so i went 'cause i hadn't seen her in a while and also because i haven't ever been to one. so we went. it was a lot of fun! you have to take your shoes off (as in oriental cultures) and then you sit on the ground with a table that's just knee-high. there are soooooooooo many choices of teas, too. but we all just hung out. it was me, sylvie, christoph, danny (no, not me) and chloe. and get this - we're all going to do one last weekend of ski in march. how cool is that?! i can't wait!! now that it's nearly closing time for the computer lab (2am), i'm going to go upstairs so i can get up early to get stuff done (reading, internet research, laundry, pack, last minute stuff, etc). nite!

2004-02-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

i only slept 2 and a half hours last night. i woke up at 4am to go skiing with ranya and avery. it was sure hard getting up, but it was worth it. i slept pretty much the entire trip there. once we got there, we couldn't figure out why our skis wouldn't work. we weren't able to slide like you're supposed to do. the problem was that this was a wet snow and that if we stood in one place too long snow would accumulate on the bottom of our skis, thus not letting us slide. we did a couple of bunny hills and then ranya had had enough. avery and i took the 'big-boy' ski lifts all the way up to the top and did some blue hills (green, blue, red, black diamond for the experts). it was fun and i didn't fall as much as last time. however, the snow had a yellow tint to it. and the rain here in aix all day looks like it comes from clouds of mud. but guess what it is - it's sand coming all the way from the sahara desert in africa!!! isn't that wierd?! but i had fun today, nonetheless. justin let me borrow his ski attire again today. and i had good gloves and a ski mask, too!! so snow and wind didn't bother my eyes. on the bus ride home, they showed this retarded movie that nobody watched because we all wanted to sleep. well, most of us. there was a couple that sat a couple of rows up from us that were basically doing everything but. it was disgusting. granted, i know the french are very open, but i mean, seriously. have some descency, some tact. gross. now that i'm back in aix, i showered and am getting ready to go to bed. boy will i sure sleep well tonight!

2004-02-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

a read today that a woman in england is in trouble (again) for registering her cows to vote. what is wrong with the world today?? anyway, guess what i did today. i'll give you a hint. it starts with a "N" and ends with a "G". if you guessed 'nothing,' you guessed right. i slept until noon (after going to erin's party last night because joe is here visitng from besancon), got up, showered, ate, napped, got up again, came to the computer lab to do research for our trip to monterey, ca (me and roman), went to the grocery store to get stuff for tomorrow (we're going skiing in the alps yet again), went to get justin's ski attire, ate with jena's parents who are visiting her here in france, came back, cleaned my room and am getting ready to go upstairs to go to bed. our bus leaves at 5:30am!! what am i going to do? but...i'll be back with more information tomorrow as to how the ski trip went. but during my nap today, i dreamed that i decided to go home this weekend...ON EASYJET! i was like, hey, at $20 one way and 2 hours on a plane, why not? and when i got home, i had to mow the lawn, mowing over dead ducks!! i mean, wtf is wrong with me? first of all, easyjet doesn't go to the united states. second of all, even if they did, it sure as hell isn't a 2 hour trip, and thirdly, dead ducks?! i mean, common. anyway. now that the wind is officially howling outside, i'm going to bed. more to come later.

2004-02-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

*MORE NEWS OF THE SICK AND TWISTED* so according to cnn.com, a french guy died after swallowing nearly $630 worth of coins! 12 pounds worth! what is wrong with this country? i can't wait to come home. anyway, in other news, this week really hasn't brought anything interesting. monday, i came back from paris and went to the last written expression class for 2 weeks. and tuesday was again my big day of classes. 10-7:30. yesterday i had only one class and i can't remember what i did after that. today i got up and went to my classes. it drives me nuts here in france - students talk in class and the profs don't care. so it's up to the students (usually the americans) to tell them to shut up. in the US, we don't do that. here in france, it's considered rude, but they do it anyway. so leave it up to the americans to tell them to shut up or get out because we're trying to listen and understand what the prof's saying. i've had to get nasty with people on many occasion. after my african fem. lit. class, i went to get some stuff tonight because erin's having another dinner party. she's got a friend of hers in and is inviting all of us over to eat and drink wine. so, i'll be leaving to go to her place her in a bit. tomorrow - who knows what i'll do. i'm going to sleep in, that's for sure!!

2004-02-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

so my day on saturday started by me arriving at the marseille airport in the midst of a heavy fog. upon entering the terminal, i saw that all of the flights that weren't cancelled were taking off with at least an hour delay. in any case, i finally made it up to paris and anne-caroline came to get me. we went back to her place to chill for a bit. then i got my stuff and we took the RER (suburban train) into the city. once i got to my hotel, ac told me that it was in a bad part of town. and indeed it was! but things worked out for the best. the hotel didn't have record of my reservation. so the person at the desk tried to get me a room somewhere else in the area but no luck. i told her (i mean, i lied) saying that i didn't know anything about paris and that all of my friends lived in the south of paris (when i booked a hotel in the north). i asked if i could be moved down there since she was looking for a room for me. well, she found me a room just a few streets over from where i was...but in a nice neighborhood! so i checked in there and went to my room to find out that the tv didn't work. oh well. the guy at the desk said that they'd change rooms the next day since i took their last room. ac and i then went out to go get some books for some of my classes (since the bookstores down here aren't worth two cents). after that, we went to grab a drink and then split up to go off and see other friends of ours. i went to have dinner with a friend that i worked with this summer at lac du bois, katia. she was at one of her friends' host parents' apt, who was gone skiing for the week. man o man o man o man! what an apt this was!!! these people have to have some money. after that, i went back to my hotel and read a bit before going to bed. the next day i changed rooms and then set out for neuilly, the richest part of paris. it is really pretty!! one of my goals in life is to live there. and then, i went walking around georges v, where all of the nice stores and hotels are. hotel georges v (where the movie french kiss was filmed), heremes, louis vuitton (??), etc. wow!! the prices!!!! insane!!!! i then went wandering around to find something to eat and i found myself right near notre dame in the midst of all of the greek sandwich places. but i couldn't bring myself to eat there because it wasn't good old snacksomos that we've got here in aix! after that, i went back to the hotel to watch some tv and read a bit. i ended up watching this movie, which translated from french into english is 'the negociator.' it was really good. then i decided to go to bed after talking to my dad and grandma on the phone. however, there was a loud water pipe noise coming from the bathroom. i didn't sleep a wink last night (even with my head buried under pillows and stuff). so at 5am i decided to get up, shower and get to the airport early to get on standby for an earlier flight so i could sleep in my own bed before going to my 5:30pm class. so i checked out and was going to see about getting a refund for last night. well, the guy there said it was only his 3rd night and he couldn't do anything. the woman who i needed to talk to (and who was his replacement so he could go home and sleep) was late. i sat around and waited for her to tell me that i had to go through hotels.com. so i'm going to see if i can get a free stay out of hotels.com for all of the trouble i had this weekend in the hotel dept. after getting to the airport, all i saw on the departure screens was "ANNULE" (cancelled). there are nothing but air strikes this week. ( http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/02/16/france.strike.reut/index.html ) so i was at the airport at 8:30 and saw that there was a flight leaving for marseille at 9:30 that wasn't cancelled. well, there was a long list of passengers on standby. i couldn't do it. my original flight was at 12:30. so i sat there watching all of the news media running around interviewing people about their cancelled flights and such. i ran away from them as much as i could but it seemed that every time i turned around, there was a blasted news camera pointed right at me. after finally checking in and getting on the plane, we were in the air. an hour later when we started our descent into marseille, we were still at 27,000 feet when i felt the plane go into almost a 45-degree nose dive!!! i heard the woman behind me talking to her little kids going 'weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' and i was the only schmuck on the plane who put his hands on the seatback in front of him thinking the plane was going down. i seriously thought it was!!!!! i know you all back home are laughing but i almost had to go to the restroom and clear my pants after that little ordeal. i was scared shitless!! anyway, upon arriving back in marseille, the shuttle driver (airport-aix) gave me nothing but hassles about my pre-reserved ticket (that i got on the internet). he said that you can't reserve them on the internet and i told him bullshit. it was perfectly legit but he made me pay. so i'm going to go to the train station tomorrow or sometime (i bought them on the train station's website) and get shitty with someone because i've got a couple of round trips on this shuttle already planned in the future. after getting back to aix, i took a small nap, went off to the useless written expression class and then went to see isabelle. i just stopped by to say hi but she invited me out for a drink. so for 4 hours we just sat and talked. now that i'm home I AM GOING TO BED!! nite!!

2004-02-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

nothing new and exciting today. just got up, went to get tickets for the shuttle that i'm going to take to the airport in the morning, went grocery shopping and...had a meeting with stevie and marion for our oral presentation that we've got to give the beginning of march. i have a ton of reading to do already. and unlike last semester, i'm not going to let it pile up. i'm going to stay on top of it. (well, i hope). so, i think i'm going to go upstairs and go to bed. i have to be out of bed at 9am tomorrow. grrrrr... but hey, i'm going to paris!

2004-02-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

*NEWS OF THE SICK AND TWISTED* what is it with france and news of the sick and twisted? for example, 2 days in a row cnn.com has had an article on crazy stories coming from none other but france. for example, prison guards make a female inmate give birth chained to the hospital bed/table. and (this is even more disturbing) a woman married her boyfriend...WHO'S BEEN DEAD FOR 2 YEARS!!! i mean, what is it with this country?! but i guess the US has some sick and twisted stories, too. for example, according to today's cnn.com, 'ken and barbie are splitting up.' i mean, do we really care that america's 'most beautiful couple' that just happens to be a fake one (aren't most beautiful couples' relationships fake?) is over? I DON'T THINK SO! according to the couple's "business manager" (cnn.com),

""...Barbie and Ken "feel it's time to spend some quality time -- apart."

"Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance has come to an end," said Arons, who quickly added that the duo "will remain friends."

Arons denied that there was any truth to rumors that the breakup was linked to the Cali (as in California) Girl Barbie, arriving in stores now. To better reflect her single status, Cali Barbie will wear board shorts and a bikini top, metal hoop earrings, and have a deeper tan.

This new style already has attracted a new admirer, Blaine the Australian boogie boarder."" (www.cnn.com) i mean, how pathetic!

in more interesting news, after sitting through 3 hours of cultural and social history of france this morning and yet another hour and a half of frieda's african feminin lit class, i went to the travel agency and booked 3 tickets to go skiing in the alps next weekend. last time we went we went to a ski village called vars. this time we're going to peloux or something like that. it's going to be so much fun!! ranya and avery are coming with me. and then i got a call from anne-caroline. i decided to slurge on a plane ticket for paris this weekend. so i'm leaving saturday morning to go up and see my friends in paris. samuel won't be there 'cause he's going skiing. but i'll be able to see katia and anne-caroline still. and after coming home, i just messed around in the computer lab all night doing housing research for next year, making hotel reservations for paris for this weekend, etc. and my mom just called me. 1 hour 25 minutes we talked. it's always good to talk to her. and seeing as how it's nearly 1am, i'm going to go to bed. i've got a long day tomorrow: packing, grocery store to get staples and vegetables, run, pick up tickets for the airport shuttle for saturday morning and...other things that i just can't think of. ok all, if i don't post tomorrow, i'll post monday after i get back from paris. lata!! :)

2004-02-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

i managed to survive yet another 2 hours of french history this morning. ok, the class isn't that bad, but 2 hours of history nonstop is about enough. what's even worse is 4 hours of renaissance lit on tuesdays. wanna talk about something that'll bring tears to your eyes. after class i went to a couple of travel agencies to get ski information. ranya and i wanna go skiing next weekend. she's never been and i wanna try out a new ski village. 22.50euros for transportation and ski lift! and only 10euros to rent skis for the day! so i think we're going to go get our tickets tomorrow. after that, i went to monoprix (sort of a walmart in the middle of downtown) to buy more ear plugs. my neighbors just don't seem to care about anyone. he and his girlfriend think they are the only ones that live on the floor. well, i have a surprise for him coming at the end of the year... mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha... someone told me i should pour a jar of piss underneath his door (which i don't know about that)...at this point, i'm not ruling anything out yet. but i was thinking something along the lines of putting glue in his key hole. that way when it dries he won't be able to get in! (or out for that matter!!) *i'm sitting here smiling just thinking about it* in other news, i just did a whole mess of laundry. now i'm off to casino (grocery store) to get a few things. and honestly - if anyone has any ideas as to what i should do to my neighbor - lemme know!!! :)

2004-02-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

i managed to make it through another tuesday. wait - what am i saying? it's only the 2nd tuesday of the semester. i still have another semester of tuesdays to go. oh well. ummm...nothing big to tell today (except for the grueling schedule of classes). ummm...the weather was REALLY nice again today. maybe spring is here to stay! let's hope, at least... umm...i got my cell phone bill today. that was pretty exciting. no, wait. that was yesterday. today it was bank statement day from good old crédit lyonnais. just as exciting. and tonight was leftovers for dinner. you see - just a typical day. perhaps something more exciting will happen tomorrow. but don't hold your breath. i mean, common - this is aix-en-provence we're talking about here.

2004-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

so guess what happened to me this morning. i was at the grocery store and standing in the check-out line. in my bags (here in france you can buy BIG, heavy-duty bags and reuse them. so i use them as a shopping cart, too) i had a bottle of olive oil. i got up to where i could start putting my items on the belt. well, i pulled something out of the bag that was between the bottom of the bag (which was on the floor) and the bottle of olive oil. CRACK! yeup...i looked back down in my bag and there was this HUGE pool of olive oil!!!!! so i asked for paper towels so i could wipe everything off. the guy who worked there looked at me like he couldn't believe i didn't want the items. i told him that i still wanted them but i just wanted some paper towels. after he went away, i saved what i could and secretly threw the rest of the items and the sac in the trash. i went and got new items and stood in line again. this time i was careful. other than that, i didn't really do anything big. other than my written expression class in which we all ask our dumb prof dumb questions that we already know the answers to and she answers them, nothing big. we could make such great filibustering senate members with the way we 'filibuster' that class!! anyway...i was on cnn.com today and was reading up on the grammy results. i miss life in the US!! i miss the american culture! yeah, yeah, yeah - i know you thought you'd never hear me say that. but i miss american entertainment. oh well...in 5 months i'll be getting back on the plane for good. once i'm home for a couple of months, i'll wish i was back in france. like they say, the grass is always greener over the septic tank.

2004-02-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

so i'm sitting here in the computer lab reading my weekly dose of america's best news, www.theonion.com, when guess-who comes and sits down next to me. MR. ARMPIT!! i mean, seriously!! grrrrrr... but today didn't result in much. i got up, showered, ate, read, went to see a really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY dumb movie called 'rrrrrrrrr.' it's about retarded prehistoric french people. don't ask. i fell asleep. all i know is that it was nothing but bastardization of the world's theater culture. but isabelle and i still had fun. we went out for drinks afterward. she gave me some pointers on what i should do with my life. well, i'm not going to go off on a random tangent about the career crisis i'm in, but suffice it to say that i can't decide between a career in international business or law. i think i'll end up going to law school. we'll see. so, 2 pints of beer later, i'm going to finish my readings on theonion.com and go upstairs to read. monsieurs dammes, bonsoir.

2004-02-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

so we went to several travel agencies yesterday. yeup...over $400/each for tickets to prague for next weekend. needless to say we're not going. we were thinking of going somewhere here in france on the TGV but even those tickets are expensive. so we decided on renting a car and driving up to geneva, switzerland. it's going to be so much fun!!! and today was just the best. we went to a town called antibes which is right next to nice. when i woke up at 7am this morning i saw that it looked like it was going to be a gloomy day. but it was the exact opposite! the tour bus (our program paid for the day today. well, ok, i paid for it but indirectly) pulled up at 8:30 and we were in paradise 2 hours later. the sun was out and it was soooooo warm!! it felt like middle-spring. we had lunch on the beach. and i mean we took off our socks and shoes, ate and played on the beach in the sand and went wading in the clear but freezing ocean water. it was sooooooo nice!! it seriously felt like being in florida on vacation. then we went to this nice little village called st. paul de provence. it was just a nice, quaint little french village with small streets and plenty of little shops. it was really cool. kirstin, ranya and i all got crêpes. now that we're back in aix, it's time for me to go upstairs and clean my room and...who knows. the night is still young.

2004-02-06T04:23:00.000-08:00

thursday is definitely the day of the week that i have to get up the earliest. 7:30am!! oh well. so the 4 of us who are in this history class at 9:30 didn't think we were going to get into it because there were over 70 people in it when she, the prof, was only planning on like 40. she said that she was going to have to kick some people out. i thought for sure she was going to kick all of the foreign students out since the french people seemed to be a priority. however, our 4 names were on her list. so we got in. then we had an academic meeting after class yesterday in the program library. just some reminders on things about the program. complete waste of time. oh well. then i had my african fem. lit. class. i then came back to the dorms to check my email. ranya came up to me in the computer lab and asked if i wanted to go with her to a syrian party (her dad's syrian). so i went. it was 5euros to get in but it was really cool!! well, it was cool once it started. the flyers said it started at 6. when we got there at 6, they told us it was 7. so ranya and i went and hung out at a casino that was right next door. imagine two students in jeans and t-shirts in an establishment that caters to the rich aix-en-provence citizens (which includes almost ALL of the citizens in this town). all of the security guards followed us and i'm sure every camera in the joint was pointed at us. oh well. we just went there to hang out (no, we didn't play any slot machines). then the party started. it was a lot of arabic music and special dances that go along with the music. it was really cool!! but it took them forever to bring out the chow. once they brought out the chow, we headed to a friend of ranya's who was fixing mexican. on our way out of the syrian party, we had to somehow sneak the beer out that ranya had bought to take to mexican night (alcohol is forbidden in the islamic religion). lol!!! i ended up getting suckered into sneaking it out for her. anyway, we ate some REALLY good mexican. ranya and i didn't stay too long because it was already 1 and we both were exhausted. i came back to the dorms and went to bed. after sleeping in this morning, friday, i finally went to run in this park that i had a hard time finding. anne had taken me to the entrance yesterday but it was another 10 minute walk from the sports complex entrance! and then when she took me there yesterday, she was going to go a different direction and told me how to get back to my place from there. well, what usually takes 15-20 minutes took me nearly an hour!! oh well...it felt good to run again this morning. now i'm going to go shower and head into town. erin and i are thinking of going to either besançon (france) next weekend. if we're going to go we'll get our TGV tickets in town today. if not, she said she wants to go to prague. well, i'm not sure about that. if we went to prague we'd have to fly since we're only going to be gone for the weekend. and seeing as how it's only a week away, plane tickets have to be outrageous right now. oh well...we'll see.

2004-02-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

well, today was truly a day of a different...breed. so i spent a total of six hours in class today. and it's going to be like that pretty much all semester!! but the good thing is that i still don't have any monday/friday classes and i only have one class on wednesdays and two on thursdays!! and what's even better - 3 of my 5 classes are going to end mid april. so from april to end of june, i'll only have 2 classes to mess with!! woohoo!! won't that be...dandy!? however, today was a disappointing one, too. see, if you've ever been to france (no, not europe, just france), you'll notice that the french let their dogs (wait, they WANT their dogs) to shit all over the sidewalks. so you really can't walk around looking just wherever you please. you have to walk with your head down to the sidewalk making sure you're dodging the sometimes gigantic piles of dog feces. well, i had kinda found it a nice thing and sorta bragged that i have been in france for 6 months and haven't once "marché dans la merde" (stepped in shit). well, well, well...guess what i did today. yeup...steped in a HUGE, HEAPING pile right on the sidewalk!!!!! guess what the first word to come out of my mouth was. yeah, you guessed it. "SHIT!"

2004-02-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

friday i got up, packed and headed to hang out at the office before taking the train to miramas. the train left aix 10 minutes when i had only a 17 minute layover. well, after a long stop mid-way, i got off of the train with a minute and a half before my other train left. luckily i made it. friday night at elyane and christians, we ate dinner. and again, since elyane's an elected official of the town, she gets free theatre tickets. so she took me to see some frieda woman's writings put into song. it was okay, but not my thing. then saturday i got up, ate, and then went to see the last samauri (sp??) with christian at the cinema. it was REALLY good, but kinda gory at times. i still loved it, though. saturday night we just hung around the house and didn't really do anything. sunday, we got up early and headed to some small mountains/valleys north of marseille. it was sooooooooooooooooo nice out yesterday!!!!! i'd say it got up to around 70 in the valleys where there's no wind. we walked approx. 15 miles in nearly 23,000 steps!! it was sooooo nice. and at times, i would stop and just listen to the complete and absolute silence that was there. it was almost mind-boggling to know that that kind of silence existed (aside from the occasional breeze blowing weeds). i had a good time. after coming home last night, i took a shower and we ate dinner. we all went to bed pretty early because we were so tired. today i got up and took the train to come back to aix. upon arriving back in aix, i took my stuff home, checked my email and then headed off to the program library to do some work for my written expression class. what a waste of time that class is!! stevie managed to waste an hour of the hour and a half class asking questions that everyone already knew the answers to. i am so proud of her!! nobody in that class can stand it. and instead of spending time on something that she thinks we don't know, we asked her questions on stuff that we didn't know, if you will...just to waste time. it was the best!!! afterwards, i came back home only to find out that alice had invited me to dinner in her room. she fixed some really good food and a lot of people showed up!! it was so much fun. now that dinner's over (it lasted from about 7:30p until midnight), i'm about to go upstairs because i'm still pretty drained from yesterday's walk.

2004-01-30T03:01:00.000-08:00

well, i took my wednesday test. didn't do as poorly on it as i had expected, but i didn't do as well as i should have, either. oh well. couldn't stand that class, anyway. ummm...after the exam, a bunch of us all went out to get something to eat and celebrate the end of exams. also, anne had pictures of the party on saturday night. they're too funny!! i got some of her doubles. i'm waiting on caitlin's doubles, now, since i didn't have my camera with me. in other news, I'M GOING TO SPEND A WEEK AT THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL!!!!! can you believe it?!?!? it's going to cost a pretty penny, but it's literally the opportunity of a lifetime. and a lot of my friends are going, so it's going to be a lot of fun. but it's only 136€ for 4 nights' lodging and a badge that'll get me into the festival to see the award-winning movies and such. this guy is guaranteeing us a badge. they're SO hard to come by because everyone wants one!! i don't know how he's doing it, but he's doing it. anyway, i have to wire him the 136€ sometime next week. it's going to put a dent in my bank account due to the exchange rate, but...it's going to be worth it. what else...i'm going to miramas this weekend. my train leaves at 4:17 this afternoon. i still have to pack yet. and jessie's coming to my place at 1 to take me to this park where people run. i have no idea where it's at. when it gets warmer out, i am going to start running (i would do it now, but it's too cold. and a membership to a gym club with treadmills costs over 500USD a year!). she says it's a really nice park. so she's going to show me where it's at so i'll know for when it gets warmer. well, that about takes care of everything here.

2004-01-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

*UPDATE* ok, so i just went to theonion.com, america's finest news source. here's my horoscope for this week:
Sagittarius: (Nov. 22—Dec. 21)
Your fake-sounding French accent is even more heinous considering that you grew up in the countryside around Toulon.

too funny.

2004-01-27T14:38:00.000-08:00

today - i got up and went to my african lit class...we just finished another book, one that i haven't even touched. then it was off to the student travel agency to see about a rental car for april. and it'll be cheaper than i thought!! no per day fee for underage driver, insurance is included, etc. then i went to the laundromat to do laundry. for once - everything that i have over here is clean!!!! there has ALWAYS been something dirty. after fixing this HUGE dinner for myself and ate nearly all of it, i went to go study for the photography final that's tomorrow. after a half hour i left the group study session. can't stand that class. therefore i don't really care about the final. well, ok, i'm not gonna do poorly but it won't be anything spectacular, either. and i just called the states - my grandma made it out of her knee replacement surgery ok. that's a relief!! on a side note - i go to the major indianapolis tv stations' websites everyday to get the latest dose of indiana news. i see pictures of ALL that snow!! even though it's a tropical winter over here and it's nice, man do i miss trapsing through the snow!!! yeah, call me crazy. ladies and gentlemen, i am off to bed. bonne nuit et à bientôt!!

2004-01-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

yesterday resulted inme lounging around all day in my pj's. i didn't do anything yesterday!! i dove into 'fast food nation.' YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!!!! you'll never eat fast food ever again. it's horrifying once you know what goes on behind the scenes. then today i got up and went to a meeting in the history dept so i can take history courses. then it was off to the office/library to read a bit more. then off to good ol' written expression. it's gotten so cold and rainy here!! now that i'm back from class, i'm in the computer lab - and there's a guy that sat down net to me. he smells like ONE HUGE STINKY ARMPIT!!! it's the most disgusting thing i've ever smelled in my entire life. gee, ever heard of a shower?? man!!!!

2004-01-25T07:31:00.000-08:00

well, seeing as how i only have one more exam and it's one that you can't really study for, i'm finding myself, well, bored. so nothing really exciting to update all y'all on except for yesterday. our program paid for transportation to marseille and tickets to a show called 'gumboots.' it was a south african group who danced to a band - but it wasn't actual dancing, per se. it was kind of a mix of riverdance and stomp. it was really cool. they used their hands a lot to smack their boots (rubber boots), the floor, etc. to make noise. it was really good. then last night i was invited to erin's place for dinner. she had some of her friends from high school there at her apt visiting her. we just ate dinner and drank wine and laughed. it was a lot of fun. and then nicolette, a girl with whom i worked at lac du bois this summer, called!! she's coming to europe!! other than that...yeah.

2004-01-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

geez...it sure seems like i'm getting a bit lax on posting everyday. well, to update everyone back home on the last 2 days, i did really well on my oral exam yesterday, but got a B- on the written paper for that class. oh well...who cares. i'm taking the class pass/fail so it won't hurt my GPA as long as i don't fail it. and...then i started planning classes for 2nd semester. yeup...the good old plaquettes...nothing online - only booklets of paper with half of the courses missing dates and times. so, i'm trying to figure that out now. as it looks, i'm only going to have to take 2 classes at the university because i've already got enough credits from first semester and with the program courses that i'm in - i'll be fine. but it has to be a 4-credit course. since it's so heavy on my gpa, i'm going to take it pass/fail so it won't hurt my gpa if i do poorly in it. and it's sure i won't do well... we'll see. and i learned that the monterey institute is HIGHLY selective. with my gpa going down due to grades here in france, i don't see how in the hell i'll get accepted. well, i'm still going to california when i get home to visit it. and i think roman's going to come with me. my mom's talking like she might go, too. aaaaaaaaaandddd...what else...oh!! my grandparents booked their plane tickets. they're coming for 2 weeks in april to visit me. so i booked my plane ticket on air france to fly from marseille to paris to greet them. but my flight leaves at 6:30am!! which means i have to be on the 4:45 shuttle to the airport!! remember what happened the last time i had to be somewhere to go somewhere at 6:30?? yeah...i overslept. well, that was partly because i was...yeah. anyway, jessie and i just fixed this HUGE meal. fried rice with LOTS of veggies in it, something my body doesn't get near enough of. and then i did the dishes (sheesh...) and cleaned my room. i'm soooooo bored!! i've got one more exam on wednesday, but i'm not going to stress over it. actually, to be honest, i don't care about it. i've learned that one can't worry about grades when studying abroad - it only makes things that much more stressful. save worrying about gpa's for home university time. well, that takes care of it for now. i think i'm going to go upstairs and tie into 'fast food nation.' avery let me borrow it. i've been told that after reading it you'll never want to go to another fast food joint ever again!! well, seeing as how i love good mcdonalds, we'll see. so...with that in mind...ladies and gentlemen, i'm retiring to my room for the evening. lata!!

2004-01-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

today, tuesday, there's really not much to post. i have my war novel final tomorrow but we get to choose which book we want to analyze!! seeing as how i've only read one of the four required books, that's a good thing!! something else on the good list is martha stewart's trial is getting ready to start. man, i hope they can her!! she's so mean to everyone... oh well, back to other things. ummmm...yeah...that's about it. so, i guess just check back later for more updates (and hopefully they'll be a bit more exciting!!)

2004-01-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

lots to tell you, group, tonight. so...my cold went away. actually, it didn't even get any worse. thank goodness. and for the exam that i had on thursday - well, let's just not go there. i was so nervous that i SERIOUSLY thought i was going to have a heart attack because my heart was racing so fast. and i was under so much stress because in france, your only grade for a course (in most cases) is a final exam. and the final exam doesn't cover all (or even most material, for that matter) material covered in the course. you're given at random a specific question about a specific subject covered in class and you're given 10 minutes to prepare before having to do the oral exam in front of the prof. well, mine...i was feeling somewhat confident about it, though, in spite of my nervousness. but...i was given a question on the only political theorean that i didn't really understand. crash and burn. WHO CARES?!?! because today i went skiing with some friends in the alps!!!!! we left at 6am this morning and it was a 3hr bus ride. we were about 9000 feet up at the highest peak of this mountain. it was simply...AMAZING!!!!!!! they had probably a good 10-12 feet of snow and just miles upon miles of soft powdery snow to be skied on. well, i spent more time on the ground than i did on the skis, but i don't care. the views, the fun that i had, and...just...it was just a truly awesome experience. i got some good pictures and video tape footage, as well. i'm a bit sore now and tomorrow will probably be worse, but i'm alive. and the ski lifts!!!!! talk about terrifying for someone scared to death of heights!!! but we all lived to tell our experiences. i don't regret at all spending the money i spent. it was truly worth it. so...on that note, i am going upstairs to take a hot shower and then i'm going to bed. ladies and gentlemen, goodnight.

2004-01-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

for those of you back home who are beside themselves (mostly parents and grandparents) because i haven't posted in a couple of days, suffice it to say that i'm not dead in a gutter somewhere. i'm in the middle of a sea of exams and papers...i don't even have time to (insert verb)! but i'm alive and, well, i would say doing well, but, well...yeah. i'm just studying like crazy for my political theory test that's on thursday. i am basically reteaching myself this course. it's just way too far advanced. but i think i'm doing a good job. jeff's helping me a lot. and sara, well, let's just say that i told her today just what most people on the program think of her. she just makes you feel stupid because she's sooooo brilliant, rich, gorgeous, etc. and...well, i called her on it and told her not to come to jeff and my next review session because she makes me feel like a fool. and man-o-man did i feel good afterwards!! i told her what everyone else on the program says behind her back...he he he. anyway, i'm alive, doing fine, catching yet another cold. i just got over a cold from hell and i'm getting another one. but at least i don't have any air reservations coming up soon so ruptured eardrums are even further away. but i'll be fine - i'm armed with my vitamin c and other natural healing herbs... wish me luck for my exams...

2004-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

ok group, here's the scoop since my last posting on thursday. so yesterday i got up and hung out downtown studying from time to time. then elizabeth and i went to the famous snacksomos to eat lunch. after returning to the office, i found out that we DO have to take an exam in that class. wasn't too happy about that one. oh well. then it came time for me and isabelle (prof. from the intensive course) to go out to eat. we went to this restaurant called 'juste en face' which means 'just in front.' it was funny - i didn't know where we were going to eat and she said we're going to the juste en face which is juste en face. lol!!! it was too funny. it was a good dinner. we talked and talked and talked. she's such a great person. then we went out for another drink before i went home. she says that she's tired of traveling alone so i invited her to come to london with me the end of feb. today, i got up and we went to the travel agency to get the tickets. she didn't want to travel on easyjet, a cheap airline b/c they're not reliable, she says. so get this - she's PAYING for over half of my trip!!! i mean this woman is just...amazing! but we're on british airways so we know we're in good hands. then...i studied all afternoon. all evening, and most of the night until 10pm for political theory. it's not coming at all. hopefully i won't fail my exam on thurs...

2004-01-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

i strolled out of bed this morning with 20 mins to get to my 10am class. got there and sat through his usual boring harangue, turned in the paper that i did last night, and only to find out that we DO have a final exam when he told me himself a couple of weeks ago that we DIDN'T. so we all ran to the program office and our director is supposed to be getting to the bottom of it. i then came back, showered and took a nap. after getting up, i called melissa, a girl i know from iu, who did iu honors with me in high school and is doing a semester here, to go out for a coffee. after that, i met up with jena, emily and jena's boyfriend who's visiting from the states. we went to this pub called "l'unplugged." there was an american jazz/blues/country group singing. they were really good!!! now that i'm back, i think i'm going to go to bed. nite, all...

2004-01-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

today resulted in me getting up at noon, showering, going to my war lit class (the prof showed up today unlike yesterday) and then heading to the program office to a little welcome party for the students who just arrived for the semester. i know 2 of them. then i went to get a portfolio (blank pages inside). then it was back to the office to write my portfolio that's due in my photography class tomorrow. i worked from 6 until 11:30 with a small break for pizza with some friends in the apt above the office. now...it's bedtime!!

2004-01-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

so since my posting on saturday, lemme see. sunday, i slept all day long. and i mean ALL DAY LONG. i got up only to take a shower and unpack. yeah...i kept the shades pulled all day. monday, i got up, showered, and did my homework for my class that i had monday evening. i then went into town to go to a student travel agency to get information on a ski trip we're (some students on the program and i) are trying to put together. we want to go to the alps the last weekend of the month. so we'll see what we come up with. then my monday night class sucked, as usual, with only like a third of the students showing up. then today i got up, went to my african women's lit course (which even though i HATE and LOATHE lit, i think this class is really cool - it's taught by our resident professor, the one whose house the party was at thursday before leaving for break). it's really cool. and then i came back to my place, drank a strong cup of coffee to be able to sit through my war lit class. come to find out, he, the prof, never showed up!! so we all left. then those of us who are in the class together went back to the program library to start on our papers that are due tomorrow for the class. i worked from 3:30 until 10:30 on it. well, we stopped from time to time to play around and eat. on my way to get food tonight at quick (france's version of mcdonald's), i was crapped on by a pigeon!!!!!! anyway...it's a crappy paper and i don't think i'm going to get a good grade on it, but what do i care?? i'm taking the class pass/fail...so i only have to worry about passing the class in general. now that i'm back, i'm going to go upstairs, take a shower since i didn't have time to do it this morning, and go to bed!!!

2004-01-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

so after i posted last night, yeup...i went to bed. however, i woke up every 2 hours due to jet lag (for some reason) and because my cold was bothering me. the flights back here really inflamed my cold. i slept from 9pm until 2pm this afternoon. i got up, showered and went into town to do some grocery shopping (see that mom?? it's GROCERY shopping and not just 'shopping' - LOL!!). then i went to the famous snacksomos and ate. then it was back to the dorms to put everything away. i then went back into town to my prof's house who wanted me to bring her back beef jerkey and a book. we just sat there and talked and talked about government, politics, ways of life, the future of the world, etc. in return for my bringing her things that she likes from the US, she's inviting me out to eat on friday. so that'll be fun. then i stopped by some friends' apt to talk about going skiing the end of the month. there are some REALLY cheap weekend trips to the alps through this student travel agency called 'idée nomade.' and they were in the process of eating so they fed me, which was good because i was on my way home to fix something to eat. and we just sat there and talked and talked and complained and complained yet some more about the french education system and how everything's so expensive in this city and how the iu overseas study office failed to tell us about how life really is like here, etc. it felt good to bitch a bit. and stevie's such a good person to do it with because we stand on common ground on almost everything!! now that i walked home in the freezing cold, i'm going to go upstairs and go to bed. toodles to all...(as they say in england...)

2004-01-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

ok, so since my last posting on christmas morning, there is lots to tell. first of all i got to see all of my family and most of my friends over break. that was good, but it was just waaaaay too short. i must have been on crack when i thought that 1 week was enough. nothing big happened over break - saw my 2 sets of grandparents, my mom, brother and travis, jordan, beth, christine and rachael - some really good friends. and...lemme think...i went to the doctor to have some moles removed. that was pretty exciting, lemme tell ya. and i went shopping for some new clothes because i've lost quite a bit of weight since i've been here. thus, my jeans weren't fitting properly anymore. i also brought back some beef jerkey and a book for mme marechal, my presession professor who speaks english, loves the US, and wanted me to bring her those items back from the US. and...i got to see all of my cats, which was really good. i also went to bloomington on the 26th. professor carr, a french professor, wanted me to stop by. it was good catching up with him. he's the greatest!! and then i went to rebecca's and cedric's to give them the gifts that i was transporting from france. we ate dinner and then i had to get home because at 8pm, jet lag was still pretty bad. now for the details of my return trip - a trip that wasn't exactly a pleasant one. i flew from indy to chicago with a suitcase that RIGHT on the 70lb. limit. then in chicago last night i found avery and elizabeth who were returning to france. avery was on my flight and sat next to me while elizabeth was on a different flight through brussels. there was a baby that SCREAMED for the entire 8 hours. i think he was sick. he had to have been to have screamed for that amount of time. after landing in paris (it seemed like a short flight, actually), avery and i went through customs and went to get coffee. my right ear still has not popped. since i've got a cold, my ear has got some kind of fluid build-up in it. but it's gotten better in the 12 hours that i've been on the ground now. i think by morning it should be fine. then i had like a 6 hour wait in paris at the airport before taking the tgv down to aix. i slept a bit on the train which did me some good. once getting to aix, i took the shuttle from the train station to the center of town, then a taxi from there to my place. now that i'm finally settled in (well, not unpacked) i think i'm going to shower and go to bed. more to come later on in the week...

2003-12-25T04:09:00.000-08:00

ok...so my christmas vacation so far. lemme see if i can remember everything. so on thursday of last week we were invited to frieda's, our resident director's, for a party. and a party it was !! i told everyone i couldn't stay too long because i had a 6:43am tgv to take the next morning. also, i was staying in town with some friends (the bureau) so i would be that much closer to the shuttle from the gare routiere. well, the party got a bit wilder. everyone was drunk (including me) and we all just danced and danced and danced. i finally got back to their place at 3 and went to bed. i woke up at 6:43 - when my tgv was supposed to leave. how dumb was i to go to bed for only an hour?!?!? well, i took the 8:50am and luckily there was a seat. but it cost me 30euros more to take it. i'm so retarded. so 3 hours at high speed to paris, an hour of hell dragging my heavy suitcase and carry-on bag through the parisian metro system that is not at all handicap-friendly and another 3 hours at an even higher speed from paris to st. brieuc. when i got there it was all fine and dandy. nanou was at the train station to get me. and i also saw emily, a girl who studied in st. brieuc with me 4 years ago and who is doing the same program in aix as me right now, at the train station. so when i got back to nanou and laurent's house, we just hung out. we visited laurent's mom and their neighbor, odette. one night we went to the casino - virginie won 108 after 6 or 7euros and i lost 15. oh well. then i went to the bouvier's, another one of my host families. and from the bouvier's i went to the josse's. during the day, i went into the center of twon (centre ville) to meet up with emily and roman (who did the same program 4 years ago, who is studying in italy this year and was in st. brieuc visiting his old host family). and...so then the next day i took the tgv right to the airport. from the airport the hotel shuttle came to get me. one almost sleepless night in a hotel room and my cell phone rang at 4am france time on 12-24, 10pm indiana time on the 23rd. it was my mom telling me to get out of bed and get started on the trip home. and i did...and what a trip it was!! when i checked in, i went to run my carry-on bag through the x-ray machine and the guy who is supposed to be looking at the screen wasn't looking at it!! he was...doing something else, i'm not sure what it was. but he wasn't paying any attention at all to what was in the bags!! then we were about 30-45mins late arriving in zurich from paris. and my flight from zurich to chicago was delayed 2 hours (waiting for passengers who were coming from connecting flights and the frozen water system on the plane was being fixed - can't go 9 hours on a plane without water). what a flight it was!!! coach was PACKED!! and there were only 2 people in business!! and babies just cried and cried and screamed! the legroom wasn't worth anything (wait - or lack thereof), and the whole flight for 9h25mins just sucked. just too cramped up and too many screaming children. i wasn't AT ALL impressed with swissair, which is an airline said to be one of the best. however, alcohol was free... in chicago, i cleared customs, turned my us cell phone back on and started making calls to let people know that i arrived back in the us safely. then my flight from chicago to indy was another horror. delayed at first for like 20 mins, then we board, then we find out that the pilot's chair's broken, we sit there for an hour, then we deplane and reboard another flight - arriving in indy 2 hours late. but the safety announcement by the flight attendant was really nifty, though - she made it rhyme and sound to the 'night before christmas.' now that i'm home, i wrapped gifts and went to bed. at 12:30am on christmas eve night and everyone in the house has gone to bed because they're 'tired.' ha! i spent 24 hours w/out any sleep on an airplane crossing an ocean. so everyone else went to bed and i stayed up to 'work' - to wrap gifts. oh well. now it's 6am on christmas morning, noon for my body. i'll adjust somehow... merry christmas!!

2003-12-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

so to update all y'all on what's been going on lately, well, nothing really. i finally finished my paper. i sent it to paris via email for anne-caroline to look at it. she sent it back to me, i made some changes and finally turned it in today. i hope i get a decent grade on it. and i gave my oral presentation yesterday, too. that went fairly well, too. so things are finally slowing down. well, not really, looking at all of the work that i have to turn in when i get back from chrstimas break. today, i got up at 8 to go do laundry, thinking that the laundromat would be empty. wrong. after that, i went to my classes and then the program had a christmas party/gift change for the students. i got liza candy and erin got me bart simpson and betty boop socks!! i'm definitely gonna wear the betty boop socks on the plane coming home!! now, i'm off to go upstairs to start packing since i'm leaving early on friday and i'm busy all day tomorrow. this will probably be my last post until...well, a LONG time, probably after break. i might post during break but i'm not sure though. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! EXACTLY 1 WEEK FROM NOW, THIS VERY SECOND, I WILL BE WITHIN ONE HOUR OF LANDING AT CHICAGO O'HARE!!!!!!!!!!!

2003-12-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

ok...as you can see from my last post i sort of went into hiding. i have worked 3 full days nonstop on this paper and i'm only about 75% done. but it'll get there. the only other thing i have to do is finish reading this other book and give an oral on it on tuesday. but when i get back from break it's going to be even worse - i've got 6 to turn in!! it's awful... in other news, nothing big here. just workin like a villin' covered in chocolate fillin' yo yo. last night we were invited to Mme Marechal's place, our prof from the intensive course we had to take when we first arrived here in aix. it was fun - we ate, drank wine and danced. she put on hispanic music and we all salsa'd, did the meringa, tango, etc. it was too much fun!! we didn't end up leaving until 3am this morning. then i got back and patty was wondering the halls at 3:30am looking for people who were up so he could talk to them. he slept all day so he didn't want to go to bed. so he came into my room and i finally kicked him out at 4 so i could go to bed. i woke up at noon today and went straight to the office to work on this blasted paper again. ankica and i went to quick to get a burger for supper. seriously - i've lived on bagettes and coke for the past 3 days. not healthy. oh well. who cares. then i found out that good ol' saddam hussein was captured. woooohoo!! and...yeah...that's about it from here. this week's gonna be a busy one with me living at 5am on friday morning on the bullet train, my work to turn in, another party to go to at frienda's place (she's our resident professor who's from UMich) and packing. lata.

2003-12-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

ok, this bitch is officially going into hiding. after going to my one and only class today, i realized that i literally have a ton of bricks hanging over my head and that it's about to come tumbling down on me any minute. and get this shit!!! i've got SIX papers due the week that i get back from the United States!!!!!! SIX!!! what is up with that?!?!?!? are they trying to kill us here or what?!?!? i'm fed up with it! and they're not small 2-3 page papers...they're 10 pagers. bravo la france - t'es genaile!!! putain! ok, so enough complaining. so i spent the entire night in my room reading. and will be doing so for the next 6 or 700 hours. maybe my christmas break in the us won't be a 'break,' afterall. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

2003-12-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

today didn't bring anything big but classes. i had my first class from 11:30-1:00 (for which i had to get up early and write a paper), a class from 2-4 and then my final class from 6-7:30. all except for the first are incredibly boring. and...aside from that, nothing big today. i am just now getting back from all of my classes. i think i'm going to fix something to eat and do some reading. blah.

2003-12-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

friday resulted in me sleeping in, going into town to check my mail at the office, coming back to my place to pack for my weekend in miramas and...going to the train station to go to miramas. monique cancelled again on me for english lessons so i was free most of the afternoon. my trip to miramas was quite a mess. the train from aix to marseille was packed. and as soon as i got off of the train in marseille, the train station was just flooded with people. and on top of that - i looked at the large departure board to find where my train for miramas was going to be leaving - it wasn't on there!!! but i went to the train that was supposed to leave at 17:45 - the time i was supposed to leave - and even though it was a different train number and had a different destination city, it was still going to miramas. see, it's not like an airplane - trains stop at different towns but have one main destination - the end of the line. elyane was at the train station to get me. we went back to the house and waited on christian to get home. he had gotten back from bloomington on tuesday. it was good seeing him again. we ate and just hung around the house. saturday, we got up and i read a bit for one of my classes in the morning. the afternoon - elyane and i went to salon de provence, a small city not too far from miramas. we both got gifts for our families. before going to salon, though, we went to the town square of miramas because the telethon was going on. it's only once a year and it's all over france. it's not localized where each city has one at different times throughout the year. they were in each city in france last weekend. it was really cool. there was this irish/country-western group playing music there. reminded me a bit of home. then after all that on saturday, elyane took me to the theater to see a circus. well, it wasn't exactly a kids' circus, even though there were A LOT of kids there. it was a russian group. there weren't any words but just a lot of funny acts and stuff. I HAD SO MUCH FUN!! i was so glad she took me - we were talking in the car going there that we were afraid we were going to fall asleep. she said that often when she goes to the theater she falls asleep. but seeing as how she's an "elu" - an elected official in the town - she gets free tickets left and right. so it's not like she's wasting her money. sunday, we got up and went to a sporting goods store, decathalon, to get her a golf club bag. and...then we went to see 'intolerable cuelty' (in french). it was horrible!! it's the typical american dream romance - but worse! it's way too far-fetched. but we still had fun. then their (elyane and christian) son, yohann, came over with michael. we ate dinner, he did elyane's hair, and....just nothing, really. then christian watched this HILAROUS movie on tv - a girl who is searching for her father, comes to find he's gay, and so she dresses up as a guy, meets 'his' dad, tells him he's gay, they catch up on old times, then he finds out 'he's' a girl, yada yada yada...but it was hilarous!! today - i got up and christian brought me back to aix in the car. so i got the money back on my train ticket. and...then i took a nap and then went to class. but i got an A on the test that we took last week!!!!! ummm...cleaned my room a bit and now i need to write a small composition to turn in tomorrow. whew!! now that i can't feel my fingers anymore, i'll bring more to the website tomorrow...

2003-12-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

today consisted of my alarm going off at 8am and me throwing my phone on the floor with a hard 'clack' (i use the alarm clock on my cell phone) and sleeping right through my 10am. no biggie - i didn't care. then i got up, got ready and headed out to my 2 hours of boring political theory. after that, i went to monoprix to get some printer paper. i saved a book on a disk - a book that i have to read for one of my lit courses and i found it online in english!! it ends up being 144 pages in Word, but i guess i'll somehow get it read. i should have had it read 2 months ago!! i'm sooooooooo far behind on my reading. now that i'm back, i did laundry and have all kinds of underwear, socks and jeans hanging up all over my room. i hope they're dry before tomorrow because i'm leaving for miramas for the weekend and i have no more clean underclothes!! we'll just wait and see. now that i have fixed myself something for dinner, i'm going to go back upstairs and start more readings...more to come on monday after i get back from miramas. in the meantime, i've always got my cell...

2003-12-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

so here we go...lots to tell tonight. yesterday, i got up not at all feeling 21. isn't that wierd? it's probably because i am in france celebrating my 21st. but i went to my french lit class and then had lunch at quick (france's version of mcdonalds). after that i went to another one of my lit courses (yes yes i know - i hate lit. but these are required courses for my major in french). 30 mins into the 2 hour course someone came pounding on the door and asked if we knew what was going on. of course we didn't. but they were evacuating the fac (university) due to floods that were coming. well, so we all left happier than a bunch of kids that just found out that they were on a snowday. i came back to the dorms and hung out a bit with jessie. after coming down to the computer lab, the director came in and said that they were probably going to have to shut it down (the comp lab) because there were 'tempettes' coming in. i asked him what tempettes were and he said that it was a hurricaine. i knew that wasn't true because hurricaines don't form in the med. sea. but come to find out they were really really strong storms with damaging winds and lightening. he also said that they were shutting down all public buildings. i didn't know what to do - i had a class at the IEP (political science institute) that's 45 mins away and this class - i HAVE to be there. so i called the director of our program and she didn't know anything. she called the 4 people that she knew there and called me back saying she didn't get ahold of anyone. so i then tried calling all my friends who study at the iep to see if they knew anything. of course they didn't. so i called a girl who lives not too far from there and she said that she would run to the iep to see if it was closed. meanwhile, ankica and i went ahead and left to go to this wreched class. stevie called me a few minutes later telling me that 'the sonofabitch was closed!' woooohooooooo!!! we didn't have class!! the 3 of us were extatic. all through this there is no rain, no storms, no wind no nothing, mind you. so we all met at 7:15 to head to snacksomos, where we were going to celebrate my birthday. our waiter gave us a free bottle of wine because one it was my birthday and two, i brought a lot of business for him. and we just ate the BEST sandwiches on earth and had a bunch of fun. i got a ton of cards, too. i especially liked the one i got that my cats 'signed' and sent me. that was cool. i can't wait to see my kids (cats) when i get home in less than 3 weeks!! after that, we all went to ben and jerry's for ice cream. upon our return to the dorms, jessie and patty decided to throw me a little 'after-hours party.' i didn't get to bed until 2 and would have slept through my class that was at 2 this afternoon if it weren't for my alarm!! today, after going to the same class that got cancelled 30 mins after it started, i went into town to run some errands (grocery store, went to get my mail, etc). ummmm...then i came back, cleaned a bit and fixed something to eat (which consisted of heating up a can of ravoli). 47 cents a can at Ed's!!! aside from that, the wind here is HORRIBLE!!!!! it's blowing at around 60mph!!!!! it'll blow you away if you go outside!! it's insane!!! hopefully it'll come another downpour tonight and classes will be cancelled again tomorrow... let's hope.

2003-12-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

ok, lots going on today with classes/weather. more to come later, but from what i just heard, there is a big 'tempette' or like a hurricaine (which i know isn't true because hurricaines don't form in the med. sea). but i guess there are severe storms w/ damaging winds coming so they're closing all public buildings and the internet room is going to close in a bit, too. but i'll be back with an UPDATED day maybe later on tonight or possibly tomorrow. i have a class on the other side of the city (45 mins by foot) that i should be leaving for here in a bit but...given the situation, i don't think i'm going to go. besides, i just called the director of our program, mme feral, and she called the pol. science insitute - no answer. so i don't know if that means that they're closed or nobody answered the phone. in either case, i think for my safety, i'm staying in tonight. lata!! all this on my 21st!!!!!!!!!!!

2003-12-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

now now now...lemme see about today. i have to think a bit. well, before going to bed last night, patty came by and he and i just sat and talked for a bit. then jessie came down. they didn't leave my room until nearly 2am! after getting up this morning, i worked on a useless homework assignment for my class that i had tonight. then i went to get my train ticket for this weekend...yeup...heading back to miramas. and...then i went to class where i had a test. the teacher really urked me, though. i turned something in and 3 of the questions were wrong. now granted, i didn't know what else to put in those blanks, but still. she kinda made a fool out of me in front of the class by telling me over and over and over again that they were wrong and had me redo them. i didn't know what else to put in there!! oh well. then i spent 45 minutes walking home in the POURING rain. everybit of me was just as drenched as can be. and there was thunder and lightening, too!! a first since i got to france!!! it was a misrable experience being wet and all, but at the same time, it was a truly fun experience! just being absolutely soaked to the bone and walking in the pouring rain, thunder and lightening! now that i'm back and all dried off and in dry clothes, i think i'm going to go upstairs and read a bit for my class tomorrow, MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!!

2003-11-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

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...

2003-11-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

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...

2003-11-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

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...

2003-11-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

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!!

2003-11-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

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...

2003-11-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

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??

2003-11-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-11-22T02:16:00.000-08:00

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...

2003-11-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-11-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

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.

2003-11-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

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!!).

2003-11-17T03:10:00.000-08:00

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?!?!?

2003-11-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

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...

2003-11-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

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.