lundi, janvier 31

waffles, chocolate, and cheap beer....oh my...
This past weekend I traveled to Brussels...the best part was the food. I have to say out of all of the countries that I have been to, I think flemish food tops them all. I ate a superb chicken , a coupla waffles and a beer stew always accompanied by a belguim brewed beer. and the chocolate...I bought truffels, and seashells and bars of white and milk chocolate. yumm...i think im chocolated out. which is good, Im actually trying to give away the junk food my mom sent me. Im not complaining, I love it when mom sends me food, but they are like the snack bars with chocolate, and I just can not bring myself to have anymore. plus my taste buds were spoiled and now will only settle for the absolute best. oh speaking of, I burnt my taste buds two nights ago drinking tea, and i could not taste the jelly on my toast today-i felt like something was there, but no taste. I thought I would just share that phenomenon with you. Back to Brussels, we went to Bruge, which is a quiet, canaled town an hour west of brussels. I like Bruge. More than Brussels I think. There is just something about that place. We were walking on curved streets looking for a pavillion and could not locate ourselves or the pavillion. During this momment I had a deep thought, "this is the ecsense of europe," I said. It was everything that I thought it would be. not too turisty, just lost on curved, cobbled streets bordered by old flemish baroqued fascades...a map in hand, camera in the other, asking for directions.....

dimanche, janvier 23

lectures, films, and bars oh my!
Going to Paris frequently...for class, for individual interest...this semester there is a lecture series that was set up between all of the study abroad arch programs: columbia, rice university, georgia tech and us. So I get to go to these lectures with other american students doing the same damn thing as I am in this foriegn country. Maybe ill make new friends, im tired of the ones i have here (j/k). My crazy professor likes to drag us around paris and look at all of the housing projects, good thing I like to look at them too. I really am interested in housing in the city, depending on how my interest grows this semester, I may consider it being an area of specific studies. I saw this film on Friday...with a room full of frenchies, it was about the suburban sprawl in America and the depleation of oil. Many "experts" say that we are doomed in a few years because of how we waste oil, and do not live conservatively and we drive everywhere...which is all true, but can you imagine it, the end of america because of no oil??? possibly, most of us are too ignorant to really ponder it tho. Im sure the discussion from the french after the film would have been interesting, however I couldnt understand it, so I left.
Friday night I walked around the wet, winding streets of the latin quarter with three friends, trying to seek shelter and beer in a somewhat cool atmosphere. We gave it three attempts and on the third we found ourselves inside a canadian bar, they spoke english there, that was a relief...and football was on the tv screens. i dont like football, but it reminded me of home which I liked. So I enjoyed myself in my american get away off of a cobbled narrow street in the heart of medieval paris.

lundi, janvier 17

monday, bloody monday
I have trouble waking up....especially if I dont go to sleep till 6am. I woke up today wishing I could start the whole day over because I woke up way too late. I was to be in class and presenting in 5 minutes. I grabbed my sh*t and ran out the door, in front of the chateau and into the computer lab to print up my page of presentation, I got there in a sweaty state only to find that I did not save the damn file on my USB drive! so I ran in front of the chateau two more times got back to school and fought with the slow lame computers...I finally made it to class, 40 minutes late and made my group present last and get ripped on a good critique. It doesnt end there, we broke for lunch and I ate a slice of bread and crashed, I woke up to a text message from nathan, "r u coming, its 230" god damn me, i did it again....oh how i hated myself as I ran in front of the chateau for the fourth time that day. Ironic how I accidentally decided to listen to 12 rods, glad that its over as I started typing in this entry...very fitting.

vendredi, janvier 14

Sale!
For some reason, Paris never has anything on sale. Everything is way expensive and I am too cheap to go on a shopping spree. but today Paris is holding its largest sale ever! and its only a one time a year thing! The sidewalks and streets of rue die rivoli were packed. I could not breathe in foot locker and I got a headache in some other store. but I still took advantage of it and I bought new shoes, because you know the other one were wearing down so... I also bought a new scarf, but that was not on sale. I like the scarf a lot tho, I wear it all the time, I look more french than the french...no not really but I could be mistaken for one, that is until I speak....still frustrated with the whole communication thing.

mardi, janvier 11

French Friends!
It is quite odd to have a party on a monday evening, but an american friend and I were invited to a french party. It was to be a home warming type of thing because the girl we knew from studio bought a new apartment. At times I felt very awkward and out of place with the frenchies...it is still hard to communicate with them. language barriers, and because of it they think i am snobby and I do not want to talk to them...but I do and I tried but I just feel dumb because they do not know what I am saying and neither do I. I have a few friends who speak english to me, the ones who are the most comfortable have either lived in the states for some time or they are not from France themselves. Overall, the party went well, I met some new people and yes I did the kissy kissy thing. I do it like a pro now. I

lundi, janvier 3

Happy New Year!
Started off the evening of festivities by cooking over at a friends house. chicken crepes...so what if its not a grand meal, its all we had, we had our pre fix of champagne tho. Now I never opened a bottle of Champagne before, and I did not know about the top popping off, hitting the ceiling and the volcanic eruption of champaign over flowing the bottle. But now I know. Oh and the night progressed by a little social drinking and ouderve (sp?) party at a colleugue's apartement. A large group travelled to Paris to the eiffel tower. It was all lit up so pretty in gold. and at midnight it sparkled white and a few unpowerful fireworks were displayed. We later heard the more grand were at Arc de Triomphe. oh well now I know. Earlier that day I walked through the exit of the Invalides and pretended I did not hear the ticket taker shout, "madmoiselle!" I exactly knew what I was doing, I just felt to cheap to fork over the 5 euro thay were charging for the 10 minutes that I was going to spend inside the church. So i quickly took a pic of the cieling, of napoloen's tomb and the shiny glowing altar. After retrieving another employee to work his spot the man in uniform found me and asked for my ticket. I replied with a confused look on my face, "je ne compron pas, parlez-vous anglais?" He kept rambling on about a ticket and escorted me out...I knew it would end that way, I think I've done this before, but I cant remember when or where. Funny how I will pay whatever I pay for alcoholic beverages...and wont fork over a dime when it comes to entering historical monuments-hey Im a typical college student and I dont like to follow rules.