oh mon dieu, la chaleur...(mes vacances au royaume-uni!)

It is so hot. Holy crap. I'm sitting here on my daddy's couch after a lovely swim, watching SportsCenter and waiting for the World Cup game of Netherlands and Uruguay to start (omgz I'm stoked). I figured this is as good a time as any to continue...


So the last time I wrote was when my father came to visit. I'm actually going to go back slightly further and touch on my week off--especially because it allows me to think of cooler times. I mean like temperature-wise. Excellent.


So. I caught my flight from Marseille to Birmingham, from where I took a bus to London. This all went pretty smoothly--well, for me. Granted, I thought I was going to miss my flight and then had to walk around Birmingham at night trying to find the bus station then forgot that England isn't the same time zone as France so was freaking out about missing my bus too...but yeah, that's my definition of "smooth"--and I met up with the lovely Isa St. Clair, who was studying at BADA for the fall (check out her blog from her semester in Londres! http://poggiolondon.blogspot.com/ ) at the Edgware tube station, right near her flat.


We caught up and had excellent lovin' times, then Sunday we had a lovely time wandering around London, hitting up TopShop (obv necessary...come on, it's London!), admiring the Tudors (&Billy Shakes, duh) at the National Portrait Gallery, devouring fish and chips and bangers and mash (teehee...see below) at a sweet-awesome pub with cider/beer on the side, etc. You know, the usual.

Monday I was due to fly out to Dublin where I'd stay in a hostel in the city and just generally be Irish. Yeah so that didn't really work out so well...I planned to buy my ferry-train ticket from Dublin to Edinburgh at Victoria Station before I went out to Gatwick, but that took so long and the man at the window clearly had no idea what was going on (fricken websites that tell me things are possible--LIARS) and I didn't get to the airport until about 1/2 hour before my flight was supposed to leave and I didn't have any way of leaving Dublin even if I made the flight, so I decided to just go back to Isa's then take the train directly to Edinburgh from Londres. Much better decision in the end, I think. I'll obvi get to Dublin sometime, it just wasn't in the cards for October.

So instead of the rainy, cold couple of days (yet how wonderful does that sound right now...) in Dublin, I got to hang out with Iz-dogg for longer. Tuesday night, the night before my train to Edinburgh to meet up with the incomparable Tarra Martin, we two Williamstownies went to a wonderful pub that also serves thai food (apparently this is a thing in London...thai food in pubs...who would've thought? Not that I'm complaining, of course), then stopped in the bar around the corner from her flat. What's amazing about my friendship with Isa (one of the many things, really), is that we have known each other pretty much our entire lives, but we manage to still have an incredible connection that has evolved so much--there aren't many people who can keep up with my Shakespeare nerd-osity, but Miss St.Clair is the one who even manages to surpass me...sometimes ;) But seriously, I'm so glad we had this time together, she's a wonderful person and friend. Love you Isa!!

That Wednesday, I went to Hogwarts. Not really. But I DID take a train from Kings Cross Station to Scotland...so basically I'm a wizard. Except I went to Edinburgh. The conductor must have gotten confused. Also I have this horrible fear every time I'm on a train--or really any sort of public transportation..thanks Williamstown--that I'm on the wrong one, or going the wrong direction, or something. Luckily I was in fact on my way to Tarra's loving arms. She met me at the train station and walked me back to her flat, and I got to see the Old City, which is definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was my first time in Scotland (my homeland--okay, secondary! Erin go bragh and all that), and it felt incredible. I was surprised by the connection I felt to this city--not only is it absolutely gorgeous, but the history is palpable.

She made us a wonderful dinner of pasta, after which I met up with Mindi and Terrence (from AUCP) for a grand reunion. We also hung out the next day, again with fish and chips involved (gimme a break, it's the UK...also Mme Motte isn't big on cooking the fried deliciousness, which I'm totally cool with...but still...mmmmm), and I feel like we did something else that afternoon? I forget. Oh right we hiked! So it was Terrence's 21st birthday, so I met the two of them halfway up Prince Albert's Seat (I think that's what it's called...), then as we came down, it started raining. Obv, because it's Scotland. But all was well because GUESS WHAT THERE WAS A BAGPIPER I LOVE SCOTLAND


Umm yeah so that's awesome. Tarra was feeling under the weather (pun?), so that night I went out with my AUCPers--Joy had arrived at this point! Apparently I'm not the only one with lots o' travel woes--and we had a rollicking good time. Srsly. Santa was involved. And the first devil of the weekend...

Okay that's all I'm going to write for now, the game's starting pretty soon. If you actually read this (really it's for my benefit, so I can remember all that happened!!), respect. Thanks! and I love you.

A plus

je reviens

Okay. So. I've decided to finish this. I have never been able to stick with journals or anything, so it's completely unsurprising that I left you guys (aka my parents and Sara...) hanging just over halfway through the semester. I apologize. Really though, I was having too much fun taking advantage of (profiter bien!!) my last month in France that I could hardly take the time to write about it.

And yet. Now that it is the end of my first semester back in Williamstown, US of A, and I should be writing my final papers, I have decided to try and make it to the end.

Except not right now. But I just want to prepare you all for my imminent updates that will be filled with family, cheese, friends, spontaneous dance parties, and something that was beginning to resemble something that might have been on its way to love. Maybe.

See? Now you're intrigued. :)

melange des mondes

So, my daddy's here. This is a photo of us at the American Center. I don't really have the time to write much, but I'll just say it is extremely bizarre to have my two worlds meeting like this. Not bad, of course, just like...odd.

Today is Armistice Day for France (Veteran's Day for USA), so we're going to go explore the city and see what's open on this grand holiday. A bientot!

ah, non, c'est un peu court...

Je me souviens. So I can't remember if I had said that I wanted to be Antigone in the final performance for my theatre class, but we got our parts this week. And no, I am not Antigone. Instead, naturally, I am...





Cyrano de Bergerac.



Interessant. You know, in my opinion, it's a logical jump between the two. That was sarcasm. The weirdest part was that after I said I'd like to play Antigone, my professor said, "you know, I never thought of you for Antigone. Not at all." I was like um...okay??? But you thought of me for Cyrano?! Honestly, I'm just really not sure how to take it. I suppose it could be a compliment, but it just seems so odd. In my view of myself, I see Antigone as a pretty logical part for me, but the fact that he didn't even once think of that for me just kind of boggles my mind.

Anyway. I was really upset at first, mostly about not getting to be Antigone, but I think it'll be great. I've always wanted a huge nose. Not.

Off to pack!

partiels, shmartiels

This picture has literally nothing to do with this week, but it reminds me of less stressful times. And it's pretty. That's Liz and I at the amphitheatre at Arles. It was so cool. They still have like big events there. It's crazy.

Anyway. This week was midterms (=partiels), and it was extremely exhausting. Something that was a little strange was that although I didn't really study much/enough for I feel like any of my exams, they all seemed rather okay. There were always a couple of things I just did not know, or forgot, or something, but it was kind of amazing. Because if I study like I did this week for an exam at Williams, guaranteed I'll get like a C. But here, I get the impression that I didn't do too bad. And really, I only need to pass my classes, I don't actually have to do well. Nice.

But yes. A long week. A long, rainy week where the Yankees failed to close out the ALCS twice. Dammit.

MY VACATION HAS STARTED. ALSO I JUST ACCIDENTALLY PLURALIZED (is this a word?!) VACATION BECAUSE IN FRENCH VACATION=VACANCES AND IT IS PLURAL. GAH.

Anyway. Here's my itinerary for the next week-ish:

Tomorrow (Saturday-samedi), 24 October
Arrive in London (after flying to Birmingham then taking a bus from there) around 11pm (which sucks...), where I meet up with the lovely Isa St. Clair. I'll spend the next day and a half-ish with her (totally wish it were more, but I want to go too many places...).

Monday (lundi) 26 October
Fly to Dublin, get in around 3pm (I think?), find my hostel, and explore my homeland. Or, well, the capital. I am stoked. It's been so long since I was last in Ireland, and it'll be the first time that I'm there alone. I don't even know what to expect, but I cannot wait.

Wednesday (mercredi) 28 October
Take a ferry and a coach to Edinburgh. Theoretically. The fricken website, for some stupid reason, won't accept my card or my mom's, so I'm thinking it's just a matter of like international incompatibility. Kind of like what we talked about in French Cultural Patterns--how pretty much a "heterocultural" relationship just won't work, because you'll never understand fully the other. Kind of depressing, I think.
Anyway. I'll be staying with the glorious Tarra Martin in her flat in Edinburgh, and then Mindi, Joy, and Terrence from AUCP will be there also and we'll have a GRANDE FETE for Terrence's TWENTY-FIRST!! Wooo. I'm excited. Also, it'll be my first time in my secondary homeland. I'm not as Scottish (ecossaise!) as I am Irish (irlandaise), but it'll be super cool anyway.

Friday (vendredi) 30 October
After taking a bus from Edinburgh to Glasgow, I'll fly from Glasgow to Paris, where I'll meet up with the MAGNIFIQUE Emanuel. I suppose this is when I'll resume speaking in French (un peu), and we'll tear up the City of Lights. Yes. I am so excited. The 24 hours I had in Paris 3 years ago really didn't quite do it for me. I need more!

And finally,
Sunday (dimanche) 1 November
Take the high-speed train (TGV=train grande vitesse) from Paris Gare de Lyon back to Aix, getting here I think around 3. Or maybe 6. I forget. Whatever. I'll figure it out.

I really should get packing. And a shower would be good. It's very odd to me that I won't see most of my American Center-ites for over a week. Tristesse. But everyone is going off on some wonderful adventures, so it'll be great to come back and hear about it all. And I'm kind of jazzed to be off on my own. It's actually my first time traveling alone. I can't wait.

I'm sure I had more to say about this week. Hmm...

presque la moitie

I really can't believe that I've been here 6 weeks. That boggles my mind. I can't imagine being anywhere but here, and yet in December I'll be leaving. So weird.

Classes this week were excellent, as usual. We watched Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle for my cinema class, which was hilarious and which I could actually follow because there was hardly any dialogue. Awesome. Mon Oncle won the Oscar for best foreign film in like 1958, and the interesting thing about it is that when it was subtitled with English, they didn't even bother to put subtitles for a lot of the dialogue, because it just really didn't matter. And it still won the Oscar. I love it.

In Theatre class, we first wateched the movie version of Cyrano de Bergerac, which was so good. Gerard Depardieu is incredible. The quality of the video was pretty bad, but it in no way took away from the film itself. After, Jean-Claude gave us the script for our final performance, and it looks really cool. There are scenes from: Antigone (Anouilh), Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Moliere), Cyrano (Rostand), La Cantatrice Chauve (Ionesco), and Fin de Partie (Beckett). I REALLY want to be Antigone. It's the scene where she's talking to a guard about how she's about to die, and I WANT IT. I'm just afraid that someone else will want it too. Jean-Claude already has ideas of who he thinks should be what, but he's a) not telling us until Tuesday, and b) going to let us have input in the casting also. Eep.

Also, in my rock dance class, I solidified my friendship with a 16-year-old French girl named MaryLou (I know, right?? What the crap kind of French name is MaryLou?? Like, come on) and also may have been hit on by multiple creepy French guys. Their creepitude was somewhat lessened by the fact that they can actually dance so that's pretty cool.

Sidenote: I'm really pleased by the fact that Firefox/Blogger/whoever it is did not mark "creepitude" as spelled wrong. That seriously makes my day.

Anyway. When I got around to the instructor in the dance circle (did I explain this already? The guys stay stationary in a big circle around the room and the girls--"cavalieres"--turn so that every girl dances with every guy), he had me do a turn that we hadn't learned yet, and after I did it, he said, "impeccable! Impeccable!" It made me feel very, very good. And yeah, I'm kind of in love with him. He's approximately my height (maybe even a little shorter...), bald, is probably late 20s, has a slightly emo fashion sense, is an incredible dancer, and is SO SWEET. I can't even handle it. This week was kind of funny because there was another girl that was helping him out, and usually Virginia lets Cyril (the instructor, AKA mon amour) talk and only interjects a little bit to say something specific about what the girls have to do, but this girl was very commanding and kept cutting him off and stealing his thunder and I was personally getting pretty annoyed. MaryLou and I were laughing about the major drama that was going on, so it was good in that we bonded more. But yes. A sucessful class.

Wednesday, I went to see the new Matt Damon movie, The Informant, with my language partner, Claire. There's one cinema here where they show movies in the original version with subtitles in French, which is super awesome for us. The movie was really cool. Matt Damon is an incredible actor, and the story was surprising and interesting but not unbelievable. One of the tristesses de ma vie right now is that the movie Fame is coming to a cinema in Aix but not to the one that shows the original versions. Like, come on. How is that even possible?? I want to live forever, dammit!

Anyway. I hung out with Dave Gorleku from Williams and his friends from the Wellesley program a bunch this week, which was a total blast. It's very different for them, because they're all living in apartments or houses with just other students, as opposed to homestays. It's just a different experience from the one that everyone in my program is having. Neither is necessarily better, it's just interesting.

Okay. Time to get going on studying for Midterms. Yeah. I have like almost-real work. Not okay.
A bientot!

Joyeux anniversaire, maman!

Have a wonderful day.

More later.