School

Hello! These three days have been wild, studying. Yesterday I finally gave my 30 min. presentation on the U.S. intervention in Bosnia to "implement a peace" in 1995, so that's over! Later I will write about a visit to the Sorbonne Observatory that hardly anyone knows is there, so check back!

This is just how it is...

Libraries

Well--I've promised to write something every day--
Today: LIBRARIES (bibliothèques)

In the Beaubourg, in the Georges Pompidou center just next to the modern art museum, there is a voice that comes on the overhead, and tells you in French to keep an eye on your stuff. But the English translation the comes on next makes it sound like the library is hiring pickpockets. The voice says pleasantly and with certainty. "Pickpockets are operating in the library. Please be aware...(etc)"

I have been to the St. Geneviève also. This is a beautiful library where you have to request a book and the staff goes and gets it for you and you pick it up twenty minutes later...

The municipal libraries are very, very small, and can be found in the "mairie" of each arrondissement. You can check out books, but you're not guaranteed to find the one you want and may have to travel to another arrondissement....

hello!!

Hi everyone. I'm back to blog-land. Even though I am in the midst of some of the weirdest studying I've ever done. It's not the hardest persay. Well maybe. But only because in France the classes have 0-2 assignments during the semester and then suddenly exams and oral presentations arrive seemingly out of the blue. It catches you off guard if you've let your attention wander elsewhere during the semester (ahem).

But here's what I'm going to do: try to write something here every day, even if it's just a sentence. So it will be interesting for you to look at it when you visit!

In a nutshell, in the past couple months, I have traveled to England, been to some great places in Paris, developed a complex relationship with the city where I both love and hate being here, enjoyed spending more time with my friends here as I get to know them better, applied for a grant to do something deliciously dynamic this summer when I come home, and am now dreaming up ways to make my last month here wonderful and fulfilling.

Thank you for your comments on my blog posts. I have posted many pictures, but not all (yet). So check them out at the link at the lower right hand corner of the page.

All the best!

Radio and sound

I am listening to some kind of bird cooing outside as the rain falls on my slanted window. I think I am quite sensitive to sound now, because of my electric piano that I bought. I doubt it actually. That was made up. But what a difference this instrument makes to me! My room is now a place of warmth and potential...

Speaking of sound, I really like listening to Living on Earth, a weekly radio show on NPR. It's very calming to listen to the radio, though it is often forgotten when we have the image-rich tv and internet available. I listen to the program online at http://www.loe.org The host, Steve Curwood, spoke at Middlebury, and the information and enthusiasm he brought to his discourse on two major environmental problems of our time, global warming and the spread of chemicals, made it fascinating. That's one of those Midd lectures that I couldn't help following up on. Try to give it a listen!

and...Dessert

There is a delicious thing called a sobre that the Zarrouatis made for my birthday (I am 21!) It's called a "sobre" because that means sober, serious, or modest. The name "sobre" in the end though does little to disguise its true identity...it's like chocolate mousse but made with butter...

Speaking of butter, the other day a café waiter made the comment that Americans love butter and put it on everything. I was shocked---the sobre a case in point, I can hardly imagine anywhere that uses more butter than in France. Not that I'm complaining...

Yay I'm writing again

Wow! I did not post anything for a long time. Much has been happening. It is hard in many respects to be abroad, and last month was the hard part. But suddenly, I am finding I finally have most things I need, including friends, routines, and a vocabulary...

Today I am going to get a piano numérique, which is a digital piano, so I'll be able to practice in my spare moments and early in the morning even though I am in an apartment building. That will make a big difference.

I am continuing to discover Paris. One thing about being in a city is I find that you can really be incredibly interested/happy and keep your face quite unnoticeable. It's funny to me to notice I'm thinking something is really cool and I normally would be smiling but instead I have an unreadable city-face. It's weird. Not to say I don't smile in Paris. haha. I smile a lot, yes, even in public. (-:

As to all the places I've been, any tourist-y stuff, please "regarde" my photo album I'm going to post later today.

tips
lovely lunch food: quiche
will post more later.