In Paris for 12 hours!

Ooh, I get to sleep in my own bed tonight! :-) My beautiful, big, lush, queen-sized bed!!! Yummm.

I posted pictures so you could see some things I saw. I just don't have time to write for a long time.

This has been one of the best vacations I've ever taken. I can't believe how it's turned out. And wouldn't you like to know?! Haha. I'll fill y'all in soon enough. Until then, let me describe what I did tonight after arriving in Paris...I got a kick out of it.

John informed me that we had a leak in the apartment and may have to call the fire department. That wasn't exactly the best welcome home present, but oh well. I can think of worse. We called our land lords in the States and asked then what they suggest we do. They were very concerned, poor things, as they're so far away and basically depending on us to keep their apartment from falling in on itself. They told us to call the pompiers (firefighters) and so we did. They cut off the water in the apartment above us, but the man was not too happy to have that done. About 20 minutes after the pompiers left, we get a phone call, and it's one of them (don't ask me which one) asking me out on a date!! Puh-leeze. I didn't understand what he was saying at first, because I thought he was asking how the leak was (...silly me) and if we had a "verre" (glass) underneath it (to catch the water falling). But he was asking me out for a verre (of something to drink). Haha!! You don't know how surprised I was- or John for that matter. We had a good laugh...I think my relationship with the pompier is doomed since he could probably be my dad, but it was sweet to ask.

Such is my life at the moment, though. It's been quite a week with men, let me just say that. I've been on top of my game. ;-) Not that I expected it. *sigh* I can't go into too much detail without writing a huge long blog, and no one wants that right now. I'm leaving the apartment in 7.5 hours...ugh. But I get to see my favorite younger-twin-sister-named-Liz in the whole wide world tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

So, check out my pictures and I'll write when I'm in Spain!!

xoxo

Last night in London!

All's well here. London weather is beautiful!

Received notice that I got a $1000 stipend for the International Plan. Basically it's just extra spending money. But I'll take it. :-)

I don't know what I'm doing my last day, but I'm excited to get home and the make my way to Spain to see Liz!!!!

Going to grab a coffee and write in my journal/read the paper. I write what I did during the day so I can write it on here when I get back!

xoxo

London, baby!

I'm in London!!!!



I had a great trip to London and am staying in an awesome hostel. Erica recommended it to me, and I couldn't be happier. It's called St. Christopher's Inn. It's a chain, which, in American-speak, means more reputable. They've coined the phrase "Beds and Bars" because their rooms are above bars. It's a brilliant idea. Thankfully, I'm on the tippy top floor, so it's not loud. Last night, after I got in, I had a sandwich and went to the bar. I watched the first half of the France v. England rugby game standing and then moved to a sitting area. And what do you know, I sit myself right next to a Frenchman. We started speaking French and we got to talking about what each of us was doing in London. He's a cook at a restaurant looking to improve his English. I'm a student/gypsy looking to forget everything French for a week. It was a great match. Lol. We spoke Franglais for the rest of the night and I think we're going to see each other again tonight. It's too bad he's a smoker, but no one's perfect.



I don't know exactly what I'll be doing today, but there will be lots of pictures, that's for sure. That is one nice thing about being alone- no one to answer to. I think tomorrow I'll be going up to Oxford to visit one of my friends from middle school who goes to U(sic)GA and is studying abroad there. ;-)

Well, I've got to go take advantage of the free breakfast they offer in the bar downstairs!

xoxo

In Ireland (which isn't the UK...but, you know...)

Everything's grand so far!

I've met loads of Irish and there's a rugby game tomorrow against the Scots so there are a lot of kilted men around. :-)

Going to the Guinness Factory today...there's a great view at the top where the bar is, so I'll get some good pictures. The weather isn't that bad today, and yesterday it was just chilly and SO windy.

I've had a really great time and will expand later. I didn't know I'd have a computer today, so I wanted to write a quick note.

xoxo

Off to the UK!

I don't have time to write too much right now. I was able to get my fingerprints and sent off my application. That's such a relief.

To celebrate, I went shopping at H&M and bought things I didn't need. :-)

Erica and I already have our first trip planned and booked- Vienna, Austria from March 7-10. I can't wait!

I'm meeting Ciara in Ireland tomorrow where she lives: Castleblaney and then we're going to Dublin the next day.

I'll try to get on a little way through and let you know how the trip's going.

I think I'm going to miss Paris.

If you'd like a postcard from Ireland or England, post your address (or e-mail it to me : gth789q@mail.gatech.edu) and I'll try to get one out to you!

xoxo

Really?! President's Day?!?!

I didn't know that was today. I'm completely dumb.

I have this packet to fill out for my internship and it's due the 22nd of February. I got it about a week ago, but last week was exam mania, so I didn't even look at it. (I know, great idea.) So I got up this morning ready to fill out everything and turn it in before I leave for Ireland. But then everything went wrong. I'm supposed to fill out an application online but the website is down. I'm supposed to get my fingerprints but I have to get it done at the Embassy- which is closed. And I wanted to call to make an appointment, but it's closed, so no one's answering their phone. :-(

I've looked into changing my ticket to go to Ireland, because there is nothing I can do today. I feel so horrible about my lack of motivation to get it done earlier, but this is the price I will pay I suppose. In the grand scheme of things, it's just one more thing to do, but I'll be a better person because of it. Well, that's what I'm going to tell myself. Plus, if you've got to be stuck somewhere for an extra day, is Paris really that bad of a place to be? No, not really. I actually commented the other day on how I wanted a few days to relax in Paris because the weather was so nice, so maybe it was meant to be! :-)

xoxo

Henri's Gone! :-(

Today was Henri's last day in Paris so we met up with him and Erica at Le Marais (the Jewish and Gay Quarter) and had falafel at the most famous falafel place: L'As du Falafel. I'd never had it before and it was actually quite good! I was impressed. My taste buds went crazy. Falafel is fried chick peas in balls put in a pita with cabbage, red lettuce, tomatoes, and fried eggplant topped with a white sesame sauce. I'd never had eggplant, either and enjoyed it. Yay for trying new things! I've added pictures of us in the Luxembourg Gardens (where the Senate is) and on the Seine. I'll miss Henri a lot, but Erica and I are gonna be travel buddies- we're already planning to go somewhere in March! :-)

Friday I woke up and went to work at 9am and got ready for a long day. For some reason, Isabelle wasn't as sympa as usual...always double-checking my work...I guess that's normal in an office, but I got the feeling that she didn't think I was doing something right. *sigh* I met this really sweet French girl with whom I helped stuff folders for the Spring Orientation for hours. We had so much fun talking about the views of Sarkozy-Bruni love affair. (A little background: the French president divorced his wife a few months after taking office...and now he's remarried to this model/singer, Carla Bruni...his popularity in France is suffering because they think he's not focusing on the state, but in America he's ballin' because he's married to this younger girl.) So, we talked about all that and it was so cool actually getting along with a French girl and speaking French with her. That evening we had Henri and Erica (and of course Hal) over and played the Wii until late into the night and watched "Billy Madison."

Yesterday we didn't do much but stocked up at the grocery store so that we wouldn't starve Sunday. Finally- we learn! Haha. For dinner we made potato skins again and then called a bunch of people to see if we wanted to celebrate Henri's last night in Paris. A bunch of people met at the bar (Hal, John, me, Vé (Middlebury girl), Patty and Chuck (Franco-Americans we met), and my new friend Josh (who I met at work Wednesday))...yeah, Henri didn't make it to his own going away party. Lol. It was okay, we knew he'd been busy packing and moving out, but it was so funny we all had a great time and celebrated his time here, but he wasn't even there! Haha. Josh and Vé went home and Chuck and Patty continued the party chez nous. We Wii'd and they loved it. They pronounce Wii like the letter "Y". Interesting. But they were fun and I'm glad we met.

Tomorrow I'm finally going to a movie (well, I think...it's not 100%)! John and Hal are going to watch Death Match 4 (aka Rambo) tonight, though. John informed me that he read a statistic that every minute 2.95 people die. That's a lot of dying. Instead I'm going to see "Sleuth." (Sorry, Ry.) It's with Michael Caine and Jude Law. It's a remake of the 1972 Oscar Winner in which Michael Caine played the part Jude Law now has. I'm really excited because it's such a clever movie. Ryan and I happened upon it last year on the TV and fell in love with it. Then we heard a remake was coming out, but unfortunately it didn't make it to the big screen in the ATL. So, I get to see it here! I don't think it will be awesome, but, come on, Jude Law?! Also, the director is Kenneth Branagh- who played Hamlet in the movie...Hamlet. He was my favorite Hamlet- and he's quite a looker. So, I'm excited- so many firsts today!

I leave for Dublin Tuesday morning. :-)

xoxo

P.S. Keep those prayers coming for the Provow family! Thanks!

Disneyland Paris!

Last night there were a few of us that went to a good sangria bar. It played a lot of old 70's American music. It was fun and I got to know a bunch of people that I'd not met before.

This morning I woke up and got ready for Disneyland! I got flowers delivered to me this morning- red roses from Ryan. So very nice of him- and completely unexpected! The delivery guy loved my shocked expression. Lol.

Hal, John, and I met Russ at the train station and were on our way! the boys had fun talking about France and asking him if he'd ever heard of really American things- for example, he'd sort of forgotten what Pop-Tarts were, Easy Mac, and he completely missed the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" commercials!! Unbelievable!

Disneyland was so fun- we rode Space Mountain 3 times! It's the fastest out of all the Space Mountains! We ate at all these fun restaurants in the different sections- Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Discoveryland, and Mainstreet, USA! At 3pm, we saw Russ and his band at the Cowboy Barn in Frontierland. It was fun to hear that Southern Country/Folk music- I didn't realize I'd missed it. Hanging out with John and Hal was fun because they're funny boys. It was one of the only times we'd done something outside of school completely. I'm so thankful I've met Russ- I'll definitely be going to Disney a lot more.

I'll put some pictures up- suffice it to say, this Valentine's Day was pretty cool.

Also, please keep my dad's side of the family in your prayers.

xoxo

Fini!!! /Finished!!!

I finished my last exam today. It went really well, I think. I had a lot of terms memorized and spat them out, and tried to make them fit the question, just to show the professor that I really had studied. It was a bit hard because there were only 2 questions and we just chose one, so if we had focused on one thing, that would have been bad. But I think I did all right.

I went to work afterwards where I began meeting some new North Americans here for the Spring Semester. Poor things. They looked really frazzled. I'm sure I looked that and worse. One girl was trying to get access to her e-mail and didn't know what was wrong with her account so we spent about 20 minutes calling people and wondering what it could be when all of the sudden, I asked her if she'd actually even activated the account. She hadn't. She'd gone to help desk after help desk, poor thing, and no wonder no one could help her- because there was nothing wrong! Another boy came in and his housing fell through last moment so Matthew and I were trying to help him figure out where to live. I met his mom, too. He goes to UNC, so, ACC rivals!!! Lol. Anyway, I think we'll be hanging out this next semester. I've also been talking to French students about their study abroad applications to the University of California. They have so many questions and I'm glad I'm there because no one else knew much about how school and registration works in the States.

Then I came home (John was asleep, of course) and watched the movie Atonement. It was a beautiful movie. Just...breathtaking. But the most wonderful thing of all was that I looked up the translation for the movie in French and it's called "Reviens-Moi" or "Come Back to Me"- one of the lines in the movie. It gives the movie a more romantic sense than a repentanceful (?) one. But, wow...it made me fall in love with the French language all over again. You should all see it.

Tonight is a celebration for being done with exams!!! So, I'm gonna go. Ireland/England/Spain in 1 week!!!!!!!!

xoxo

Countdown to Freedom: 2 days!

A weekend of bliss in P-A-R-I-S!

Friday night John, Hal, Henri, Erica and I went to the bar we've been frequenting and the bartender recognized me. Nice. I feel like its my "spot" now. I can't remember the name of the bar, it's like Tropical bar or Island bar, or something like that, but I'll always call it the Three-E-Beer-Bar.

Saturday we met up with Paul and Vay (who I think I told you about- Paul is from Johns Hopkins and Vay is from Middlebury) and went to the bar across the street from TEBB. It was a more relaxed atmosphere and would have been really nice if I was in the relaxed mood. But I wasn't. For some reason I was hyper-hyper. (In French, they say "hyper" like we say "super." ie. Your dress is super cute! = Your dress is hyper cute! or I'm going to the supermarket. = I'm going to the hypermarket. And they pronounce it really funny- "eee-pear"- so basically I said I was super hyper, but made a joke and said hyper hyper...I think my caffeine is kicking in.) Because of my extra energy, we moved to the TEBB. Sadly Vay and Paul had to leave so it was just the usual threesome. I tried out this new perfume that night and before I could even order my beer I was being chatted up by a COD (Creepy Old Dude). Then I ordered and 2 more CODs started talking to me. Finally I was able to get away and when I turned around Hal and John were looking at me incredulously- like, how in the world does she do that? For some reason I always am able to strike up convos with the creepiest and oldest of the CODs. Oh well, can't say I mind the attention. It doesn't hurt anything, right? Lol. Well, story's not over. I go to the bathroom (being conversation with man in line) and as I'm exiting the bathroom ANOTHER (thankfully, much younger) guy starts talking to me in English. Turns out, he's half-American, half-French. And he and his brother are sitting right next to us at the bar. (They sort of look like Ron and Harry from Harry Potter, so I kept calling them that before I knew their names. Their real names are Charles and Patrick. Of course, this means I call them Chuck and Patty.) So we all strike up a conversation and a little bit later, (sans-John) trudge up to their apartment. They're very nice boys and it's interesting to see how they live. They live on the top floor of a building where you can see the Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. Amazing. Well, we definitely stayed wayyy too late and realized it around 3am. Usually, I don't tell funny anecdotes on this journal about when I am inebriated, but this really was humorous so I have to share. Plus, it's more about sheer stupidity than inebriated-induced-stupidity. Hal and I leave their apartment and know that we can't take the metro as it's too late. So, we look on a map and then have the brilliant idea to just follow a metro line home. This means we would walk the above ground the path that the metro takes underground. This is all fine and dandy when 1) you know where you are to begin with 2) you actually know which metro you want, and 3) you realize that there are more than one metro line that crosses paths. Because of all these things we didn't know/realize, every time we came across an entrance to a metro, we were certain we were going the right way. Like, every time. It didn't matter any more which direction or line it was. It had to be the correct way. Needless to say, it wasn't. Once we realized we'd been going Northwest instead of Southeast, we found a taxi and took it home. Haha. I am so thankful I had someone with me. It made for a good story, at least. We just laughed and laughed the whole way home when we realized what dummies we were being. (Just to let you know, I wouldn't have gone traipsing around Paris late at night by myself anyway, much less in the state I was in.)

On another note, I should be studying. But, the weather is beautiful here- making it hard to study because all I want to do is be outside. I wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt today. That was it. I can't believe a few weeks ago I was wearing 2 long sleeved shirts, 2 jackets, a hat, mittens, a scarf, and 2 pairs of pants (yeah, a few times I actually did) and usually needed an umbrella. No longer! Spring has come early to Paris! And of course I'm going to Ireland and England for holiday. Not exactly the Sunshine Capitals of the World. At least I know how to handle it.

I'm missing Georgia and Florida a lot. More specifically, Georgia Tech and the beach. I absolutely love it over here, but you can't exactly lay out on the grass/sand and blast music while downing cold ones. It's not that warm yet, and I'm not sure it would be accepted. I suppose summer is what I'm nostalgic for, which is strange because last summer was the first time I'd ever had a summer that wasn't at the beach- it was at Tech. But it was one of my happiest summers ever. Overall, that is. Don't get me wrong, I did go through some sh!t. But living at a fraternity was the coolest. Way too much fun. I miss the sand and water though, a lot. I think a trip to the south of France is in order. I listen to the song "Georgia" by Ludacris (a rapper from ATL) a lot and it makes me proud to be from there.

Anyway, probably should go back to studying. Tonight I'm making one of my favorite meals for dinner that my family makes at home a lot because its oh, so good. It's shrimp and spinach sauteed in garlic and butter, with a white wine cream sauce, and all that mixed with pasta (tonight is bowtie). I'm sure it's pretty good for you, too. Yum-O! Oh, the days when I could wake up with my daddy early in the morning and catch a snapper and bring it home and my mom would grill it up for lunch that same day...*sigh* But I'm here...which, if you gotta be somewhere, isn't too bad. :-)

I've been here over 5 months and I'm SO glad I won't be leaving for another 6. I'm ready for it!!!

xoxo

Countdown to Freedom: 5 Days!!

I'm running on 5 hours of sleep these past 48+ hours. I'm completely exhausted, drained, and don't want to look at another book/article/anything for a long time. But-that's not gonna happen.

I'm past the point of tired so here I am at work...staring blankly ahead of me, trying to keep a low profile in case I fall asleep, and unpacking Matthew's boxes. I suppose it's okay, since I did pack them. Lol. We're in our new office, and while it's newer, it's definitely smaller- with less privacy. Sadly, I'm staring at cabinets instead of the Sacre Coeur. That was way cool. I know I say it all the tiem, but come on!!! I've got an assigned desk here, too. (I do have the only huge monitor though, all the cool people get flat screens.) But this time, it's right in the line of fire of everyone that passes by (making it hard to fall asleep), so they all ask me their question first- and I always point to someone about 10 feet away from me. *sigh* I guess my directions will improve in French.

These past two days have been discouraging. I've felt like this semester dragged on and on and then- hop!- all of a sudden, exams. I've learned my lesson about having company this close to exams, but too late, I'm afraid. So if any of you were planning on coming in late May- any time in June, I'm gonna have to say no. (Buzzetts- late April/early May is still fine.) I'm really sorry, but with school ending, exams, AND working 40 hours a week at the Embassy, June's gonna be a blur.

I've been speaking with more and more students about their transfer policy between SciencesPo and their host university and I'm finding that Georgia Tech has one of the worst ones. This is very, very bad. (Eric- for you- this is v., v., bad. ;-)) First, let me say that the only grades that count for me are towards my scholarship and not my Gerogia Tech transcript- but I still want to keep my scholarship. I'm going to try to explain to you how grading works at SP so maybe you can understand my frustration. Maybe I've done this before, but it doesn't hurt to put it on there again in case someone new is checking out the old blog. Grading is done out of 20, but the French think (honestly) that it's ridiculous to give higher than a 16 because that means you really know your stuff, and only having studied the topic for one semester does not make you an expert like the professor who has made his career out of knowing this topic (and yet I've heard stories of professors taking their own exams and not giving themselves 20s). So, in reality, you get graded out of 20 but the highest you could get is a 16. A 10/20 is passing. Alors, you have 10=(barely) passing - 16=extraordinary. In between, though, is the problem. There is no defined letter grade for 11-15. This is because AFTER the professors grade you, SciencesPo takes all the grades in the class and curves them like so: A= top 10% B=next 25% C=next 30% D=next 25% F=last 10%. For a class of 30 students, this means 3 will get As. And 3 people have to fail. To me, I don't think that's right. Why must a student fail to keep up with the curve? I don't think I should be competing against other students for my grades, beacuse then it's not how much of the material I know, I just need to make sure I know more than them. Which is absurd. I wonder if any classes have ever revolted and just refused to do work. I wonder what the grades were. Because someone had to get an A. So that is how grades are given out at SP. Which means, when I get grades, they basically mean nothing, because it's not just my grade that matters- it's everyone's grade that will affect my grade. Now, Georgia Tech's grading system (for my scholarship) allows for each grade we receive to be bumped up a letter. (A 'B' becomes an 'A', a 'C' becomes a 'B', etc.) But that's nothing compared to other schools. Johns Hopkins- which I consider a pretty good school, but I don't know much about it- doesn't take students grades as what SciencesPo gives them. If students get a 12/20- no matter what class, what assignment, whatever- it's an A-. So anything better than a 12 is an A. But that means that from a 10 to an 11 covers the D to B grades, respectively. Because below a 10 is failing. C'est incroyable, ça! Even UGA, which is in the same state and university system as me has an easier transfer policy- all they have to do is pass- get a 10. Okay, enough ranting.

Suffice it to say, I've learned a lot this semester, and know I was too fascinated with the twinkling lights or figuring out which boulangerie (bakery) is better (and I know that's not a great excuse, but you don't understand how much I LOVE THIS CITY! And when I grow up, what am I going to want to remember- being stuck in the books or seeing the city in all it's splendor?). Next semester I'll be working hard to maintain/get back my scholarship. :-( But I know I can do it. This school is just NOT like Tech at all with cushioned grades and helpful professors. I know I did my best this semester with what I was given, and I'm only that much more seasoned for the next one.

For which I CANNOT WAIT! I haven't written about my classes yet because it was so far away, but seeing as how everyone is lunching now and I'm now here just to have a presence in the office, I've got the time. (Did I mention I love my job?) So...here goes (with tentative work schedule):
Monday: Work 11am-2pm; The World of Wine in France 2:45-4:45pm
Tuesday: Work 11am-2pm; Histoire de Paris (History of Paris) 2:45-4:45pm
Wednesday: Français (French language class) 12:30-2:30pm; Work 2:30-5:30pm
Thursday: Work 11am-5pm; Spainish Government: From Franco to Zapatero 5-7pm
Friday: Trans-Atlantic Economic Debates 10:15am-12:15pm; Français 12:30-2:30pm
I really don't want to work on Friday in case I want to go somewhere for the weekend- plus it's the only day I have 2 classes in a row, so I don't see myself having the energy to work. (Ha! That sounds so French...poor little me- 4 hours of class and then I'm down for the count. Lol.) Anyway, I'm sure you can see why I'm excited about this semester: it gives me a little more of a defined schedule as opposed to just class 3 days a week. For some reason, I just couldn't make myself as productive as I wanted during my time off. I think it's because of how well I work under stress. Like my room- I can tell when I'm not stressed because I laisse my clothes everywhere. But when I'm stressed, everything has to be neat and tidy. Okay, so why I'm excited about classes- I certainly am digressing a lot; oh, there I go again- is because I'm taking a lot of electives that interest me instead of major classes that, while they interest me, I know I have to take them, so it takes the fun out of learning. I chose my wine class for the obvious reason- I'm in France and I like wine. It was so hard to get that class approved though because 1) Tech would never have a class on wine, so they didn't know if it was rigorous enough- then I showed them the syllabus, 2) In the States, I'm underage, and there are definitely gonna be some trips to wineries. :-) I'm taking the history of Paris in French, which I'm really excited about. My first real French class- and it's about Paris!! My one true love...lol. I'm excited. Then, I have French, and I'm hoping that I have just as interesting of a professor, but one a little bit kinder grade-wise and with a better curriculum so my French doesn't get progressively worse instead of better. My Spanish class will be interesting because 1) Liz will have studied abroad there, 2) Their elections are coming up, 3) I don't know anything about Spanish government. Then, I've got my Economics elective. I'm not really sure how that's gonna be, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be the one I like the least and have to work at the most. Normally, it wouldn't be so bad, but when you compare it to learning about wine...yeah, you understand.

Wow, so this post is really long. I didn't mean for it to be...it's just that my low-profile keeping is actually working and this is the only thing that's keeping me awake! Lol. One more hour, and then I can sleep the night away....swizz. I think people are going to the bar that has 3e pints for Curtis' birthday and a semi-going away party for Henri...I hope I'm up from my nap in time!

The weather has been wonderful here and it just makes getting up from my comfy bed that much more tolerable. That rainy season was just the worst!! Didn't help my attitutde, either. Don't know if y'all could tell. Okay...signing off!!

Bises

P.S. Check out my Daddy's website!! He'll take you deep-sea fishing!! www.graytonbeachcharters.com

Countdown to freedom: 7 days!

I've just been studying my little bee-hind off. (Get it? Cuz I'm a Yellow Jacket?!?) ...Yeah, I think I've been cooped up for a bit too long. Well, I've gone out at least once a day just because *sometimes* the weather is nice (warm and sunny!) and I need my Vitamin K. It's really turning into Spring here...I love it!

Roth is the best guest ever. At night before bed I would give him tips on where to go during the day, and then the next day, he would go do it. Then, he'd come home after dark and we'd do the same thing. I felt bad that I couldn't go with him places, but he's very self-sufficient, which is nice since I've got work up to my chin. He's a sweet guy so I'm glad I got to meet him. He leaves tomorrow morning for London and then heads home to America. Lucky duck. ;-)

Today my French bank called me and said, "You've over drafted. Please come fix this and give us money. We close in 45 minutes. Thank you." Well, little did I know, I haven't been paid for work yet, otherwise I wouldn't have over drafted. :-( So I had to ruuuuun as fast as I could especially since we live, oh, 35 minutes away and I was lookin' oh-so-fine in my pajamas before she'd called. *sigh* But I got it fixed and now have a positive balance. Phew!

I got my package from the Embassy yesterday. It says my position is "contingent upon [my] successfully obtaining a security clearance." These internships are 10 weeks long for 40 hours a week. (Since the French work week is 35 hours a week, I wonder a) how many French people work at the embassy, b) how many hours a week the French embassy in the US works and c) if they work 40 hours a week, how they cope.) However, I've got to get all this paperwork filled out and signed AND back to their office by February 22nd. Sadly, I've got exams Thursday and Friday (and the next Wednesday), so I don't see a whole lot getting done outside of filling paperwork out until after my exam Wednesday the 13th. Yikes. I'll be overnighting this baby, it seems.

My friend Curtis' birthday is tomorrow (Thursday) so as my gift to him, I'm taking him to Disneyland Paris with me and John for free. He's really excited about it. It'll be sometime after exams but before I go on holiday. For which I'm dying. I cannot wait. It's gonna be zoppity (which means it's gonna be off the chain, which means it's gonna be cool).

Well, this was a lovely break, but I've got 2 exams in less than 48 hours! Wish me chance/luck!

xoxo

P.S. I hope none of you were affected in any way with the horrible weather in the U.S. Georgia Tech sent a weather alert out in case it blows through Atlanta. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those families.

Permission to freak out now!

I'm having a slight mental crisis over here. Please pray for me, if you would. For peace of mind, for strength, confidence, and strong willpower. It's going to be a hard week.

The game was great. One of my friends from Georgia State who is studying abroad came over with some of his friends. I don't think I'd seen him since freshman year and it was a lot of fun. We watched the game, but I was more excited about the commercials. I think we all had a special appreciation for the Bud Light Cheese and Wine Party one. If you haven't seen it, here's the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BxPMY2HF0O0 It's clever.

I'm now reading and trying to help Liz figure out her trips. Poor thing. Helpless without me. ;-) I'm kidding. She's doing well, but I just know a few tricks to get cheaper tickets and things.

Speaking of, I've finished booking my trips for my in-between-semesters-break. I'm way excited about them. This is what it looks like:
February 14th-19th- Chill in Paris, thinking about doing some cool things, like go to Disneyland
February 19th- Fly from Paris to Dublin
February 19th-23rd- Enjoy Ireland with Irish friend, Ciara
February 23rd- Fly from Dublin to London/Heathrow
February 23rd-27th- Enjoy England (hopefully with John...but I still don't know)
February 27th- Chunnel from London/St.Pancras to Paris
February 28th- Fly from Paris to Madrid, bus from Madrid to Salamanca
February 28th-March 2nd- Enjoy Spain with Liz
March 2nd- Bus from Salamanca to Madrid, fly from Madrid to Paris
March 3rd- FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
Would love it if any of you could join me!!! :-)

AND I found out the other day that my brother is coming to see me for Spring Break!! He had a choice between snowskiing in Colorado or Paris. I think he chose wisely.

Going to grab some food.

xoxo

P.S. Henri says Steph is awesome possums.

Superbowl Sunday just isn't the same in France, but we're doing our best.

This is how we're going to cheer on the Pats and/or Giants (I root for the winner)- beer, potato skins, 7-layer bean dip, chips and dip, mac'n'cheese, and hot dogs. Unfortunately, some people we'd really wanted to come can't because of finals. :-( But Henri is here! So that's good. We haven't seen him in a while and he's leaving soon. Anyway, Roth, a friend of a sorority sister arrived here tonight. He'll be here for a few days exploring Paris. He just finished backpacking through Eastern Europe...like, all of it. He just rattled of a ton of countries names and completely impressed us. He's a nice boy so it will be fun to get to know him.

It's "Dead Week" here at SciencesPo, which means there are no classes and we're just supposed to study the week before and get ready for them. No one does. Probably it's a good idea, though.

After Christy left, I went to work and finally took the picture of the Sacre Coeur for my memories. Matthew didn't even KNOW that you could see it from there! Ha! I've been saying that for a long time. I was glad I could point it out to him before we moved offices. We're moving on Wednesday. I'm not really sure why, but we don't have a choice and it's definitely not as good. No one has their own office- its just a big room with tiny dividers so you can't copy off of someone else's papers or TPS reports. ;-) I'm excited for a change, but I'll miss the office location. It was right on St-Germain-des-Pres which is an amazingly rich area. That night, I went to this bar that Hal and John had been telling me about that has 3E beers. It was a lot of fun! They have free french fries every night except Friday when they give out free chicken legs and couscous. Loves it. We didn't stay too long though because the metros close at around midnight during the week. But it was still fun and I talked to this really nice guy from Johns Hopkins most of the time. It was quite funny because about half way through our conversation, we felt like we were excluding everyone else in the group, but then we looked around and everyone was engrossed in their own conversation. But it was so strange- it was always one girl and one boy talking, no one else, and never 2 girls or 2 boys. Haha! But we were all sitting around the same table. Too funny.

Thursday, I got called into work. Marie has been planning a symposium on Age and Handicap Discrimination for months and it was Friday. She needed a lot of help, she said, so I went in. All I did was watch a short clip on a very interesting woman, Martha Minow, who spoke about discrimination in English. My task was to type out what she said so that Marie could translate it into French. It took me less than an hour to transcribe her speech. So, I asked everyone if there was anything I could do. This is usually their answer, "Oh, yes, I've got so much I can have you do. Give me a few minutes to figure out what I can have you do." And then they usually don't come back and get me. That happened again. So finally 3 hours later, I got permission to leave. It's sad, but I guess I made money. It made me feel so useless, but if they wanted to keep me there, I won't complain. I worked on school stuff a bit Thursday night and had to go to bed early because the symposium was going to start early.

I woke up early and was afraid I was going to be late because my metro stopped mid-route. But then I realized I was in France and nothing starts on time. I was still early, but I was right. It started a half-hour late. It was supposed to start at 9:15am and people were still showing up at 11:30am. I guess they had things to do earlier. Some of them had to go to work for a while, I know. Anyway, the symposium was really neat and I learned a lot. SciencesPo is the first university to be fully wheelchair accessible. It seems crazy to think that, but not even most metro stations are wheelchair accessible. But this was for blind, deaf, and paralyzed people, so "representatives" from all walks of life told their story. It was eye-opening. Also it was really neat to understand all the French. I feel more and more bilingual everyday. It's amazing. I went to lunch with some of the girls from work (a first!) and held my own in the conversation. I was so proud. It was a lot of fun. I'd peg them all in their 20s, so that was kind of cool. They all spoke English, too, but we spoke French the whole time. :-D After the last bit of the symposium started, I was able to leave and so I finally indulged myself and went shopping at H&M. Oh man! It was AWESOME! I had a lot of fun and got some real cute stuff. After, I went home and rested. We had plans to go out to the same bar as on Wednesday and I was excited to try the couscous. Sadly, John didn't want to join this time so it was just me, Hal, Paul from JH, and his friend, Vay. Vay's American but has the coolest accent because she speaks Spanish, too, because her parents taught her it when she was younger. After a while at the bar, we came back to the apartment and played Wii. It had been a long day so I went to bed kinda early.

Yesterday was kind of lazy, just doing more school work and taking breaks. Hal came over and we watched Pretty Woman. He's the oddest creature. I think I'll be able to talk him into watching and enjoying The Notebook before this exchange is through. ;-) But we were all resting up for today: GAME DAY.

The game's about to start, so I'm gonna go.

xoxo

Christy's Trip

Well, I've finally mustered the strength to relive my week with Christy for you!

She arrived last Friday while I was at school. When I got home after class, I found her all snuggled down in my bed. I woke her up, got all the treats from my parents (Thanks guys!!) and a package from Michael containing pictures he'd taken during his trip. They're beautiful and hanging up on my room. Christy and I had the breakfast of champions, chocolate croissants, and then headed out. During breakfast we watched just a bit of the movie "Zoolander" and she thought it was funny. We went out to Rue Montgreuil (a pedestrians-only street in Paris) and then just walked around, letting the day take us where it might. We walked around and ended up finding the district where all the wholesale stores are for purses, jewelry, and other accessories. Some were even shops with multiples of really pretty dresses- which isn’t very common in Paris. She’d never heard that McDonald’s serves beer so I wanted to show her, but, for some reason, they were out. Imagine that. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to do that day, so we went out and visited the top of the Montparnasse building just like I'd done with Eric. But we went during the day, so I was able to get lots of good pictures. It was a beautiful day and there were even still not a lot of people. After a while up there, Christy and I went down and walked around. We found a little market of scarves and each got one- Christy's treat! They're really pretty but all that shopping sure made us thirsty. So we went to the Monoprix and grabbed a few (warm) beers. We had seen a cemetery from the top and, with Christy's strange fascination with skulls and death, we had to go. So, beers and chicken chips in hand, we headed to the graveyard. It wasn't as eerie as Pere LaChaise, but it was a lot cleaner and newer. I saw Jean Paul Sartre's grave and then we walked around some more. It turned out to have a lot of Jewish graves for some reason. We walked past the security guards, and of course, beer wasn't allowed. So, rather than do what the guards probably would have preferred, we walked out of the cemetery's boundaries, finished our beers, and walked back inside. ;-) We were on the "bad list" after that, but we behaved. There was a hearse coming in when we were leaving, which was kind of sad, but it was good to know the place is still being used and not just full of old graves. Christy and I were tired, as I suffer from sympathy-jet lag. So we went home (of course we had a beer on the way) and Christy met John. We had mac and cheese for dinner, which I think freaked out Christy because it’s not exactly “grown up” food. But she ate it. We watched a movie and went to bed early.

On Saturday we woke up with a plan in mind. We had breakfast and watched a little more of Zoolander and the were on our way. I didn't tell her what we were going to do because it involved a lot of walking, and as much as she said she liked walking, she seemed to complain an awful lot. ;-) So, we got on the metro and exited at St. Michel-Notre Dame. 3.35 miles later we were at the Eiffel Tower. I'll admit, it was a ways, but it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in France. We walked along the Seine and looked at old books and posters and I told her about the different buildings that we passed. (We also did something very secret that I can't write on here, but if you come over, I'll show you ;-)) She told me about this man, Russ, a friend of her employee's, that we could meet up with that night, too. Now, I'm always on the look out for contacts in case I'm ever in any rut, and also it's just nice to know more people. We were quite hungry after all that way, so we got a crepe at the stand next to the Eiffel Tower and got on the boat tour. Because of our long walk and late lunch, the sun was starting to set so it was pretty cold on the boat. But the tour was nice and since the weather was good, there were tons of couples making out along the Seine. It looked like the typical Spring in Paris that everyone dreams about: no clouds, (fairly) warm, slight scent of flowers, people making out everywhere. It was the first time that reminded me Valentine's Day was coming up. Contrary to everything I'd ever thought, Parisians don't care too much about that day. There isn't a red heart-shaped balloon in sight. They're more concerned with the upcoming Chinese New Year. I think I'm thankful for that, though, as I've no sweetheart at the moment. (Thank goodness?) After the boat tour, I made Christy call Russ. I ended up talking to him, though, because he was trying to make a rendez-vous point and she didn't know where he was saying. It turned out that he was very close to Nation so I told him we’d walk around a little bit more and then meet him at Nation. So we did. We went to the bar with the giraffes, but didn’t get one, just a beer. Russ was very nice. He is an American who has lived in Paris for 25 years. He is employed by Disneyland as a musician in FrontierLand and also is in a band that plays in bars and pubs. I tried to pick his brain about why he stayed so long, but he came to Paris because his brothers were here when he was younger and it seems he just never left. He said he enjoys his job here (full-time pay for less than part-time work) and just didn’t have much to go home to. He doesn’t have a French accent and admitted to not knowing the language as well as he should. I thought that was odd, but I suppose that’s what I get for assuming everyone who comes here loves everything about France, their culture, and their language, when sometimes it’s just an easier life they really want. Well, at least he made good conversation. Unfortunately, he had to leave early and, well, this is very weird, so I have to tell you, he didn’t pay for his drink. He didn’t put any money on the table or ask if we could pay for it, or anything. He just got up, said it was nice to meet us, and left. How odd! Well, Christy and I were so “weirded out” by it, we went to the bar and had another drink. Even the waiters couldn’t believe it- they laughed! It was so embarrassing. We walked home with our tails between our legs and our wallets lighter than they should have been and made dinner. Yum, pizza! We’d both been craving it, so that made it even better! John invited some people over and so we finished Zoolander. I had asked Christy if she would cut my hair, so I showered and she did so. She cut about 4 inches off!!!! I was so sad but it looks SO much better. I want a cute cut like Liz has, but I’m trying to grow it out for Locks of Love. After she cut it, we went to bed. It was late and Eric was coming the next day. John and his friends, though, were in the apartment watching movies and playing Wii until 6am. That didn’t help getting a good night sleep and Christy and I were up most of the time anyway, but, what do you do? It wasn’t something I would do if John had company, but if I hadn’t had company I probably would have been out there hanging out with them. Oh well. I don’t think it’ll happen again.

Sunday we woke up, had breakfast, and went for a walk, waiting for Eric to arrive. At first I was afraid he’d forgotten his way but then I realized I’d read his arrival time wrong and anticipated it by 2 hours. Whoops. It was about time for lunch when he got here so we let him rest his bones for a bit while he told us about his trip, and then we were off to Versailles! There was one quite hilarious thing about having Christy here and then having Eric here, too. Eric’s from the Midwest and Christy’s grown up in the South. Eric seems to live by the phrase “If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all” and Christy prefers an “If you can’t say anything nice come sit by me” way of life. So, being the fine, Christian, Southern women that we are, Christy and I had something to say about EVERYONE…and Eric didn’t seem to like it that much which only egged us on more. Poor guy. I think he was more scared that someone we’d be talking about would actually understand us. Which I I love Versailles. It’s just one of the most amazing places. Full of history. I mean, you know things have happened there. It’s not like a monument- every piece of furniture, every room, everything is historical. And it’s beautiful. There was something going on at the roof of the castle, just a few floors above the hall of mirrors so there were television crews all over. Strange. We wish we had been invited, and it seemed as though no one knew what was going on, either. We’d gotten there after 3, so the ticket prices were cheaper. We walked around the gardens because the sun was still up and we didn’t know if it would be dark by the time we got out. There was an exposition going on “When Versailles was made of silver” so all the furniture and everything was all shiny (which of course, I love- I get it from my mom). We didn’t have enough time to go through all the rooms, but we hit the principle ones and then went back out to the gardens to watch the sun set. I got a great picture of the back of Versailles reflecting off one of the ponds when the sun was setting. It was gorgeous. I put it up on the slideshow so you can see it. We had to go because the gardens were closing, and it was getting cold, too. We went back to the metro and as we were coming into the center of Paris we decided to get off at the Eiffel Tower and watch it light up. Christy hadn’t seen it before so we got some good pictures of it, too. We stopped for dinner at the restaurant next to us “Marco Polo” and had a great dinner of spaghetti Bolognese and wine. When we got back we watched Ace Ventura (which always reminds me of my sister and brother because we LOVE that movie) and then Christy went to bed. Eric and I stayed up just a bit later as he was leaving the next day and we ended up falling asleep on the pull-out couch talking. He had to leave at 8am so I took him as far as Chatelet and came back and went to bed.

Since it was Monday, Christy and I didn’t have many more days together so we had a grand plan to go to Chinatown and the Champs Elysees. It was another nice day out so we walked around the Chinatown area and found a great place to get lunch. It was very cheap for 3 courses! It was only 10E each. Very nice. I had a chicken soup sort of thing, beef with onions, chocolate ice cream and hot tea. It was the first time I’d had Chinese in a while and it hit the spot! We went into a few more stores and then went to the Champs. We took some pictures and then, of course, grabbed a beer and walked up and down the avenue talking about people and things. Then we went to Gap and did some shopping, but only got a shirt. Also, we hit up Zara, a Spanish clothing company, and after trying on about 30 things, I walked out with 2. Surprise. But it was a lot of fun. Had to get sustenance for the ride home, of course. For some reason, I’m blanking on what we did that night, but once I remember I’ll amend this area.

Tuesday was Christy’s last day so we went to the Sacre Coeur because that was one thing she’d been wanting to do. She did it with Beachmama when they were there a long time ago. We walked around the artist-y area for a while and then got some snacks because we planned to go out to a nice dinner for her last night. Hal was over when we got back, but he and John were going to get kebabs. Christy and stayed at home for a bit, just chilling, and then went to this fabulous restaurant called “Hippopotamus.” It’s one of the very few chain restaurants and it’s pretty American. Unlimited sides and great steaks! It wasn’t far from our apartment so we walked. It was a nice crisp day out and it worked up our appetite. Our server was very nice and it was fun to use my French when he definitely spoke English. I thought that was thoughtful. We were there for a really long time and had a lovely meal. The food was excellent and I know I’m definitely going back there. We were on our way back when we decided to go to a bar before home. After one drink, they were closing, so we went to another one and met some sweet men who offered to give me and Christy a ride to the airport tomorrow, but I declined. They also gave me good tips on where to go for certain things and I could tell my French was definitely improving. I wouldn’t have been able to carry on the conversations that I did at the beginning of my stay here. It made me happy. It was late so we had to go, but we didn’t get much sleep and Christy left early the next morning.

That’s it for now- Christy, if I’ve forgotten something you wanted added, let me know!! I don’t know if y’all can tell how much fun I had with Christy, but we just painted the town red. It was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had, and it wasn’t even me doing the travelling! It made me miss the beach, though. But it was a lot of fun and I hope I have just as much fun with everyone who visits!

xoxo

Howdy Doody!

Christy and I had a ton of fun....so much so that it's taking me a while to recuperate.

I added some pictures of when she was here, and some when Eric was here, too.

I'll get 'round to writing that novel, but 'till then, check out the pictures!

xoxo