Home again, oh Bittersweet

Time: 7:12am (Pacific Time Zone)
Place: An off street from Mission

So coming home was strange. In Germany, those with US passports were put in another line. WHo knows why and that made things a lot quicker. I arrived at the gate at 8:45! Our plane boarded supposedly at 9:34 but it was closer to ten, but I was just happy that I arrived early, considering the last time we had to take bus and then walk a mile through Frankfurt airport, oi me. Anyway, then we had a plane ride and as I predicted based on the departure time I arrived in San Francisco around one and at baggage claim I was very confused because it was very big and I didn't know where my flight was because I kept seeing Lufthansa pop up and then it would leave the monitor and pop up somewhere else and my bag was heavy. But it worked out, because remember "it will be alright in the end and if it's not alright, then it's not the end"

Dog is barking. Not my dog, some other dog who lives with my dog.

Anyway, I saw my favourite street, Valencia and the buildings felt oh so small compared to the ones in Paris. This morning I woke up around 5:30am and the fog is here but knowing my neighbourhood it will just burn off around noon. I do love the colourful buildings, the fog and the way the light hits the fog but I do miss stuff from Paris, especially knowing where the food is. I must have stared at the frige for fifteen minutes before getting something to eat. It was a hamburger, I like unusual breakfast food. Oh and I wearing mismatched socks! I missed that.

Thoughts from the Tired

Time: 21h15 (Paris)
Place: A small white room with a twin bed and two small tables put together. The bed has light pink sheets and salmon colour blanket... they're trying to drive me mad but I fooled them: I'm already there.

I was writing in my journal, a normal thing if you know me and I just invented a new word. Be prepared for it may mean something else in another language so I will look it up later when I'm less tired and have better connection to the internet unlike ici. Anyway, the word I wrote was voint: which apparently means point of view. It's a Lewis Carrol type of mishap, I realize but you know, POV is like two letters from PERV.  which is three from Pervert and Voint is so quaint. I don't think it will come into use anytime soon. Maybe a hundred years after I'm dead someone else will come up with the word Voint and it will mean something horrible. Right now, let's pretend it means Point of View.

By the way, does anyone know a word for a handwritten typo?  It could be just an error but that's not inventive or fun enough for Blank Esquire, methinks.

Two Days One Post, It's a Deal!

Juillet 27
Time 16h54
Place: A street off of Montparnasse
Listening To: Linkin Park, Eagle Eye Cherry, Have a little Priest (from Sweeney Todd), Jena Lee, Lorde, Nine Lashes, and Johny Hollow! (I love Johnny Hollow)

Hier, went to Versailles but I didn't go to the garden because feet were hurting and it was too much gold for Blank Esquire. There is a famous hall way at Versailles which I dubbed Hall of Chandeliers. It's a good name for it, methinks because they put way too many chandeliers and mirrors in the hall when they built it. There was three of us and we went to look for a friend of one of the three of us near the chateau/palais then we went to look for souvenirs and I bought socks because Blank Esquire doesn't want to do laundry before leaving Paris. It would be pointless. Why would it be pointless? Because everything except the chargers, electronics, hats, nightgown, make-up, and stuff I'm mailing is packed, and my purse, shower stuff, dental stuff and Bwhahaha.

28 Juillet, 2014
Time 16h54- I have returned the horrible mistake I made on Friday, I got bags, I mailed everything that I was going to mail and I felt so free that I started humming..."Kidnap Mr Sandy Claws" from Nightmare Before Christmas, I guess when I'm truly happy, I think of Halloween. At least, I'm consistently San Franciscan even in Paris.(Halloween is our holiday, let the East Coast overdo Christmas and Thanksgiving, we have Halloween!)  I accidentally called Paris homey, because I was trying to say Home-like but alas tis what it is and I'm not seeing that store clerk again, at least not for a long while. Paris is pretty and pretty beige. New York is grey and brick, Paris is beige and Dublin is all three, but all are very cool places to visit. I will say no more than that.

Someone was trying to dissuade me, Blank Esquire from mailing stuff at the post office! I have been saying ever since I first went shopping, "I'm going to mail it," "just mail it", "I'm going to mail it." And to convince me not to do so is a fool's errand. I said I didn't trust airplanes, which isn't true. I think most of the time, you will arrive in one piece, sometimes two if you are jetlagged (your mind isn't there but your body is, which reminds me of when I first arrived in Ireland, I'll tell you about it later) and I trust that my carry-on and purse will be fine. My luggage on the other hand will be sniffed, flipped, rolled, shifted,  bumped and maybe if I'm lucky nothing will burst like moisterizer.
You never know.

Ma Semaine En Ville

Monday was a weird day because, I knew it was the beginning of the week because in my mind, Monday is the first day of the week and yet I felt this incredible sorrow because I knew it was time to go home and I would miss the people I saw and talk to every day. You can say, "oh I'll Facebook you" or "oh I'll email you" but it's not the same. It would never be the same. It reminded me of a poem I wrote the first week I was here. I will share on Facebook aussi.

Ma Semaine en Ville

Stone  buildings of frozen cream
Cobble stone streets made from criss-crossed dreams
Bouncing umbrellas or powerful lunettes
Sandwiches with chicken in baguettes
Old history nods her head at thee
While being overrun with modern technology.
Critics are there, here, left and right
But the splendor of the beauty of the night
Is without contest of anything I've ever seen
And when you leave the city, "everything's so fucking green."*

Great authors and painters gathered here, to this very place
Inspiration not only comes to you, it hits you in the face
One day in the future I will return but perhaps at a slower pace.

I may choke on the smoke but
Who can breathe in such a beautiful town?
I shall not be too taken in, for want of pickpockets
So my admiration shall be quickly boxed and I will lock it**

Days go by too quickly
And there's still too much to see
I can't sit and wait patiently
I must go out and see everytheen!***

Fin.


*"Everything's so fucking green" is a reference from a British movie called, Death at A Funeral. And so, in Ireland (2011), I found myself saying it many times and when we went onto the bus the first time for the first weekend, not the three day one but the one before, mais I don't remember, I wrote this poem on the bus and I could see was: green, house, green, wall with grattifi, green, oh look a pedestrian bridge, green, green, green so I thought it was fitting.

**I know Pickpocket and lock didn't rhyme so I added it and what I truly wanted to say was, that here in Paris, it's a city but it has many pickpocket and I knew this because of the French film, Pickpocket about this man and he has a girlfriend, la, la, la, eh, eh, eh. but anyway, when you see something like, a beautiful dog (je ne sais pas pourquoi je went straight to chien but oh well), or you're at a monument taking photos, you have to be weary of everyone around you so you go "Ooh" and then walk quickly. "Ooh" and snap a quick picture and leave quickly. I mean some areas have less pickpockets than others, like anywhere.

***THere is no way to make Patiently and Everything rhyme. So, I use kind of an odd spelling here to make what is known as a slant rhyme and if you don't know what a slant rhyme is, I suggest... I don't want to be mean so I shall spare the snippiness for now but if you don't know what it is, ask your teacher or go to Wikipedia and look up "half rhymes" it should be there. Ouais, j'aime Wikipedia.

Catching you Up de Meaux et le Week-end

Time: 1:15 pm
Place: In a spot of worriment.

Pardonnez-moi, s'il vous plaît, j'ai être très, très occupé. I am not joking. I have a test today (about Paris), a presentation tomorrow (in French about San Francisco), and a final on Friday (about and in French). Aussi, je suis allé à Meaux oú il y a un musée, basically in the middle of nowhere and it's oddly shaped you can walk under this area where there are giant holes when you look up et  there's a map on the ground that you can see roads in. When you come up the road to cette zone, you can hear marching sounds and horses. Le Musée est pour le Première Guerre mondiale, so everything is about it. I took only trois photos but that is okay parce que je  veux retourner au musée, parce que moins de deux heures n'est pas assez de temps. Also we had a grand dinner in Meaux and then we watched this beautiful, exquisite show with about four hundred volunteers in the pouring rain. Oh I had to buy a poncho because my silly raincoat didn't have a hood and people behind me kept rearranging it which was very frustrating but even though it was raining, I still enjoyed the show. Maybe I'll see another at Meaux?

Sunday, I went to a restaurant called Cafe du Commerce because it's on Rue du Commerce... that was a nice salade with lettuce, fried goat cheese, tomates then I had fish, which was so lovely and then creme bulee for dessert. Heavenly, simply heavenly. But both samedi and dimache dinners were very loud so on  Monday, I found myself yelling at everyone, although I didn't mean to.  Then lundi, I witnessed someone making a flan cake. It was coffee flavoured flan and chocolate cake with butterscotch syrup. Delicious. we also had gnocci and debated how to pronounce it. I also discovered that I like sausages from Alsace! Aussi, I like viennoise de chocolat and today I had two mini pain du chocolat from Secco although they said it was viennoise but unlike the ones at Paul, they weren't skinny but look like mini pain du chocolat. Je ne sais pas.

Today, One of my classmates said that French was difficile and that I was good in it. I corrected her by saying, "no, I can read and write French but I can't listen and speak it." Which is why I'm taking this class which I may be doing not as well as I wanted... mais c'est la vie, I suppose. Also, I'm wearing a night shirt because I got tired of the buttons on my plaid shirt. I will eat more sausages but I will make my noodle soup with leeks, potatoes and mushrooms and add them in after I cook the soup. Or I will do it on Wednesday when I feel horrible after my presentation. Oh and apparently thyme tea is good for your throat according to the sister.

I will have to do more laundry when I get to San Francisco. Je ne veux pas.

Boxes and Bottles

Today, I opted out of walking around for four hours in 92 degree heat plus humidity which is too hot for corsets. What? Why? Because your Blank Esquire should be kept between 57 and 67 degrees for ideal serving. Today, not much happened. I also opted out of Rodin which has ice cream in the gardens. So you should go if you're trapped in Paris during the heat storm. Tomorrow according to the pretty yellow map of France that shows on the news, it's going to rain with thunder and lightning! ...and be 82 degrees. I'm going into a hole if I didn't have to go to Meaux tomorrow.

Laundry takes about 2:04 0r 2:08 hours, so I was very unhappy last night. I went to bed very late. Of course, going to bed to bed at 11:20 pm here is like going to bed at 2:20pm in California but still it's late when you have a test the next day. Speaking of the test today, I think the oral portion sucked and ecrivez and grammaire weren't bad. Today, I apparently wasn't being very clear because I got three pizzas instead of two which was what I wanted. I wanted two but she didn't understand me or I wasn't being clear so I gave up and agreed. SOmetimes the battle of comprehension isn't worth it.

Oh I stole a box today, it wasn't marked but it's stolen. You may think it's very weird to say "I stole a box" it's better than saying "I stole a tub" but I digress. In the dorm, you are supposed to have a box with your room number on it and a black key for the cupboard. It's truly brilliant because the box is for the fridge and you can put in fromage, lait, jus des fruits, saucisses, legumes, etc. in your box and it's yours and someone else can put in what they want so the fridge is nothing but boxes and bottles... and until today, my plastic bag. Because I didn't want to whinge but on the first day, I noticed I had no box. Now, apparently you can steal a box from someone else or an unmarked box or you can whinge or use a plastic bag like how I was because not everyone has a box but everyone has a cupboard. Je ne sais pas pourquoi. Perhaps it's because people with my room number were bad so they had their box taken away or perhaps they broke it? That's the only things that could possibly make sense. I did see a broken box but it was for 217. I don't know them. First rule of any fridge in a place that has more than two families or from different families, stuff gets moved around. No one says this but you should know I put my bag on third shelf from the top and it ends up in the second or the fourth from the top. I keep forgetting this but things will get rearranged and to think that everything has it's place in the fridge is selfish and probably will cause you to become isolated here and you don't want to feel isolated in Paris. No. Never.

Aussi, the Parisians get freaked out (they hate it)  with loud volume of noise on their buses and Americans talk loudly especially when excited or just normal. Yes your normal speaking voice is too loud, bwhahahaha. It's a bad thing when we ride in groups and there's always someone shushing them and it makes me feel like I'm on a class trip with a bunch of 17 year olds. I feel like I should act like I'm disgusted with the noise and shake my head at them but usually, I just stare out the window.
-

Laundry and Pronunciation of "Est"

Time: 10:34pm or 22h34 or about 10h et demi du soir or 2234 hours, yeah there are many ways to tell time. Too many.

A note about laundry, I have to buy two tokens for five euros every time I want to do laundry. Also, I went out to buy laundry detergent because it's not provided. Also, there's a certain way one has to do the laundry otherwise the token will be eaten and the only way to know this is to ask a nun who only speaks French. Luckily, I knew the word "to wash" is laver and now I think the word to dry is "sechager" but I'm not sure. Anyway, 1, put press the unlock button and put clothes in. 2, Close the door and put in soap. 3, turn the dial to the setting you want. 4, put token in. 5, press start. That's the washing machine. THe dryer is a bit more strange yet easier. 1, press unlock button, otherwise one cannot open it no matter how much one tirez (pull). 2, put clothes in. 3, close door and set it to the right number A is for colours and I have no fricking clue what B is for. You would think it would say, "blancs" or  Non-colours but it says something entirely different and I don't feel like writing it down. 4, put token in. 5, press start.

Now, with the washing machine, it tells you how long it's going to wash for, so you're like "oh 50 minutes I can check my email and go on facebook, study for that silly midterm tomorrow" but with the dryer, one doesn't know if it's half  an hour, an hour, fifty minutes, forty-five minutes or what. I'm guessing it takes an hour but I wasn't there when I did laundry the first time. WHen I went upstairs, someone had taken it out and because I had to leave for something, maybe a Civilization class or some musuem visit or maybe it was to walk the Quartier Latin, je ne sais pas.

Aussi, I keep forgetting to say s'il vous plait which was my favorite phrase. It means please but the way it sounds is so lovely. Also, people keep say "est" Il est, instead of Il "eh" and when we're in the same class, I have no idea who's right. I mean I have had maybe four or five teachers and they all said, "Il eh" not Il esst. ALthough, I think it's the Scottish guy who tends to say Il esst, je ne sais pas and my teacher doesn't correct it so I really get more confused if that's right or not. I was talking about laundry and I end up on "Il est", this is why I should not teach because it would be very hard to keep up with me. I say teaching because of the conversation I had briefly in the cafe at Monet's house's area. Someone asked if I would teach and I was clear on that I wouldn't. I mean I can guide people and help them understand things in a different way but not teach. Those who are gifted with the calling should do it and at the moment I feel like I am not one of them. I may change my mind. Nothing's set in stone yet. Although the internet is the new stone. People, be careful what you say.

Notice that I don't tell any rumours in this, just pure opinion of what happened. I can't say facts because I'm human and can't be completely objective. Humans who can be, aren't. Sorry if that offends your world view and I'm only saying sorry out of politeness. I may be more snippy between now and Saturday.

Musée d'Orsay et d'autres choses

Time : 18h48
Place: A little street off of Montparnasse

Anyway, what was it, yesterday? We went to the beige building that SF city hall is modelled after only city hall is more white. At least in my mind it is. I'm struggling to remember San Francisco and I have to do a presentation on it on lundi, from memory in French. I can barely remember how describe where the creperie is never mind talk about my city. Oh well, it should be interesting. Ouais, tres interessant. Inside the building, lies the big tomb of Napoleon. Apparently, his family thought he should get a big tomb. Besides the size, the ceiling, the statues around it and the hole in the floor above, it was unimpressive. Yes, Blank Esquire was not impressed by Napoleon's coffin, 'tis true. 

We had a test that day and we're getting another test tomorrow. I want to whinge and complain but alas, who am I going to complain to? Today, we practiced the snoring, back of the throat noise to say "tr" so yeah it was like fifteen minutes of fourteen people trying to pronounce "tr" because of tres, treize, trois, and trente. I was going to do it when I asked for my key but err...non. It didn't happen. 

Also yesterday I had my first encounter with the post office of France. The first one I went into was intimidating and the second one was better and more helpful. I shall go to the second one à côte de la rue de Condé. Ha-ha!

Today, I went to class and then got lunch while waiting fifteen minutes for the 58 bus or le numero quinante-huit bus. THen we went to Musée d'Orsay. Now, if you're like me and you love Manet, Monet, Van Gough, Renoir, Delachoix, Marisot and love little facts on how they built Le Eiffel Tour, then it's a lovely museum. It used to be a train station and was acutally Gare D'Orsay because in Paris there were hundreds of stations that were owned by private companies so every company had it's own station and in Gare d'Orsay's case it's own hotel. But unfortunately for the Gare d'Orsay it could not stand the test of time because trains were getting longer and longer and they didn't fit in the station so oh well. It was later turned into a museum at some point and then an Italian architect wanted to make it look like there are trains inside so you can see on either side a sort of train like shape to the exterior of the galleries where the paintings and scultures are held. WHen you go to a certain point there are escalators hidden in the museum, I say hidden because you have to go way in the back to find them. Unfortunately for tourists and fortunately for the paintings, no cameras, no pictures are allowed. However upstairs by the the clock facing outside towards the Ferris wheel, you can take pictures of the outside. I took two. It's sort of Monet House, you can't take pictures of the inside when inside but nothing is stopping you from taking pictures of the outside from the inside. So no pictures of the inside of the museum from me. There are a few brave folks who did sneak some pictures but usually I try to not to get caught doing things here because even Blank Esquire doesn't want to get lectured in French by an angry French guard. There are pictures everywhere so if you don't understand French, you should know what the picture means... unless you come from somewhere odd where no means yes, then maybe you have an excuse.

THere's another thing that annoys me, in French museums when you are part of a big group, you get separated by age. It keeps happening and it's really annoying because all the fun people [in this group] are apparently older than me...grumble, grumble mais c'est la vie.

Anyway, in Musée d'Orsay, there's a room that if you don't like sculptures or paintings, you have to see. It's called Salle des Fêtes. It's very beautiful, with pillars that look like marble, sculptures of naked angels, painted ceilings, gold leaf on the ceilings and walls, wooden floors, crystal chandeliers, glass flower lights and it's the nicest room I have ever seen in my time here so far.

On Fête Nationale

Yesterday, we came back around 16h30ish but I stayed in my room, writing emails and my story. I'm fascinated with my new character Spenzre. Anyway, I found this cool little restaurant but unfortunately even though the prices agreed with my wallet, I wasn't particularly fond of the type of food. It was okay. It wasn't like the amazing burger I had with hot sauce in Tours or the lunch at L'Orangerie de Chenonceau, which I highly recommend. The lady was like you speak anglais, English, anglais?
 "Oui"
"Are you arab?"
"Non"
THen I ate and watched an autopsy of a lion and then they showed a lion pooping and they compared poop sizes, it was some nature show. THen I paid and she was like, "where are you from? Africa?"
 "No."
"Jamaica?"
"No."
"Where are you from then?"
"America."
"Oh America."
I left a little after that because who knew what questions would come after that. I knew she would never guessed that she was looking at a half-Austrian! I do have some African blood and some native American blood, some Irish, Italian, French on my mother's side but it is indeed easier to say half Austrian. WHen people look at me, they see my nose shape isn't exactly typical of what they think black noses should look like. Then I could easily have Ethiopian or French eyes, so when they look at me, it's like they want to write me off as one thing but bwhahaha, they can't.

Today, I took the bus all over I took the 96, 86, 46 until I relented and took the metro to Notre Dame where some lady came up to me and wanted me to sign some paper and I tried to refuse but she was persistent but I was saved by a man, I know why would Blank Esquire need a man to save the day but I was glad for him and he told her "no, no," then he said some thing else but I didn't quite catch it and I didn't really get a good look of him except for his skin colour, strange I know, and she was forced to move across the street and I went as far away as I could. I found two items I was searching for and I will try my hand at the post office tomorrow. We shall see how they are. I know how to order food and pay for stuff I need but none of my classes I ever took ever covered the post office. I mean that should be as important as talking about foot-Americain or skiing, if not more important. I also gave a woman an euro because she had a cat, I told her, "pour chat" and she nodded. Today is Fête National or as the someone English-speaking called it Bastille Day. Everyone was expecting things to be closed, like Sundays but while I was on the bus doing my own tour, I noticed not everything was closed. Some pharmacies are open and some Monoprix but not the one near our dorm, wouldn't that be nice but I bought two pizzas earlier. I didn't take a picture of it, since my camera, the dramatic thing, is charging.

Little Monster keeps wanting to update Facebook and Imp wants to update everything but no data so I try but they are sad. I'm thinking of calling my camera after a character from a Moliere play... and I have no idea what to call my tablet... I name things, it's easier to yell at something with a name. I can say, "Dancer did something" or "Dancer don't do that" easily but saying "dog don't do that." is harder. Maybe I'm a bit strange but if you haven't figured that out yet, you can't complain.

Oh yeah and the rain is gone, and it has decided to be sunny. Damn it all! What can I do? Oh I freaked myself out with money but when I counted how much I have, I relaxed.

Finished Loches

Made it back to the bus! I didn't miss it, I hate these tight schedules, we have no time to do anything except the damned tours and Loches is a nice town that deserves more exploration. Bwhahaha, found an item impossible to find in Paris! Anyway, Loches is called that beacause it's named after a fish in the River Noir, Loir? You know the longest river in Paris. I hear it so I have no idea how's its spelled. Anyway it has a 'S' because it's named after six Loches so therefore Loches (lush). I was looking for lochs. ANyway, we have lunch today but we're on our own for dinner, like yesterday. It's so lovely... In Loches, there are hills and guess due to all the walking we do, I was able to speed walk up the hills. So that's all. I'll keep you posted later. À demain, maybe we'll see what happens.

Catching You Up From Tours

Oh why me! I thought we were supposed to eat breakfast at 7h00 not get up at 7h. So, I woke up at 6h30, got up 6h32 after unsuccessfully trying to get more sleep. Took a fast shower, ate breakfast at 7h and no one except for one of the professors was down stairs. We have two hotels and it's a bit of a walk between them. I talked to someone until 8h30 or thereabouts and now we're heading to Chenonceau, another castle or is it Tours? I need the schedule.

Anyway, it rained on us, heavily yesterday during our walk, I didn't have my raincoat although I wished I did because my umbrella wasn't very helpful and at the end of the walk, a man in short neon pink shorts and some sort of strap offered a black whip to us and told us to whip him to save his life. So one of the professors took the black whip and whipped him harder. THen a man in black pants and black leather jacket snatched the whip from our guide/professor and said, 'you're doing it wrong" and whipped the man harder. IT was so funny, I almost forgot it was raining and I was getting soaked. He thanked us and said we saved his life and then he went off with some other guy in a pink neon shirt.
 And last night, I saw a very old episode of the Japonais anime, One Piece. It made me happy to see it even though it was in French and it was part of a story arch I didn't like so much. Usually on the weekends, I read the online manga but not here. Sadness.

Oh yeah, it also had thunder and lightning, one of my friends didn't like that and I tried to comfort her but who knows if she was comforted. I love the breakfast at the hotel: I had tea, three cups of water, two cups of orange juice, cheese! (imagine a choir of angels singing) and ham.

Heading To Loire Valley

Alright, so we're on the highway heading towards Loire Valley and all I see is green and cars and telephone wires and graffiti and sometimes a glimpse of a small town or an industrial building but it's boring on the bus. I think I ate too quickly at breakfast, since around 9:58 my stomach is starting to hurt. I envy the other people on the bus who can take a nap, I can't. I'm wide awake since I took my medicine at 8:28. Too awake. I wore my comfortable shirt that's vaguely African with lots of colour, mum always said she likes it. People on the bus say it's 50% chance of rain and I'm looking at the clouds looming over us and I say more like 80% chance in the afternoon. I like cold, not rain. I mean if I'm inside, no problem but usually it's a battle. SOme people keep complaining because some people are from L.A. and they think it's supposed to warm in the summer. Oh silly people.

Greenery, endless greenery, I guess that's why it rains so much. I have a lot of homework to do since I'm skipping class to go on this trip. It's not my fault. THey made me come. I might have to ask someone in my class to study with me. Daunting. The bus thermometre claims that's it's 16 degrees. Ever since last weekend when it said it was 85, I've been wary of it's accuracy.

As we approach, you see fields of gold wheat but only glimpses like it's teasing us and the sky is becoming better for the L.A. people. I only took two books on this trip. I was like, "I won't need books in Paris, I'll be too busy" Ha, next time I'm taking more books and I will pay for the extra weight just so I don't have to go to the end.

Thoughts Away from Chateau de Chambord

Time: 15h12
Place: Damned Bus of Boredom

We went to the castle where they have a staircase designed by Leonardo Da Vinci and it's where Moliere and Lully entertained. It's called chateau de Chambord and I took lots of pictures but I think I lost the pictures of the Goya paintings I took at the Louvre. Oh well, I suppose I need more memory. I need more cough medicine, I'm running out. I can't get it because it's in my luggage. I wish to take a picture of the road because it's beautiful leaving the castle grounds but alas it wasn't meant to be. I refuse to adopt the French accent. It's not that I don't like it, it's that I'm not French. Maybe in my next life.

Every time I hear a beeping like a battery is dying, it reminds me of my phone but I didn't bring it since it would be useless! I also didn't bring my tablet.

There's a small town, we're passing through and it reminds me of an English town and the small towns in the area compete to be the most beautiful. If the French aren't elves...

The wheat fields are fun to look at because they are miles of gold and then there will be a field of green right next to it, so I count the seconds before it becomes gold or green again. Yes, Blank Esquire is bored. The towns have very narrow streets, like how medieval Paris used to be like.

Mostly On Public Transportation and Other THings

Alright, Monday we saw Sainte Chapelle which is a church that looks like a reliquary and inside it's called little gem because of all of the colours and stain glass and gold. It is truly beautiful but to get inside you have to go through a government building and be extremely quiet. Not American quiet, Irish/French quiet which means silence basically. Then we saw the Notre Dame and my group didn't have time to go inside the great building because we had to hurry to the opera. I didn't have any camera on me so I couldn't take a picture of it but I wasn't impressed with the opera house, Opera de la Bastille to be exact. It was beige marble and I've seen beige marble. It looked very modern though so if you like that sort of thing, take a picture when you go. However the sets and the costumes of the opera we saw were so detailed and wonderful that I wanted to buy a DVD after the final act because I didn't get one during the intermission, but alas. It was after ten and everything was closed, c'est la vie.

Yesterday, we couldn't decide between taking the bus or the taxi since one member in our group is up there in years and the metro was brutal on her since we were basically running all over the metro. It's very big and confusing. I like buses and then I realize even at home I don't go on the metro unless I'm with someone. BART on the other hand I do go on. It's funny that they had to lecture the LA people who aren't used to taking public transportation because in SF, almost everyone uses Muni or BART. I mean there are as many cars as there are in Paris but I definitely didn't need a lecture. Because THe Great Blank Esquire knows how to be on public transportation and not to smile at anyone.

Monday night some guy was taking pictures and saying 'you choke, you choke" while pointing to the water bottles we were carrying. I have no idea what he meant, maybe he was trying advocate against bottled water or perhaps he was merely insane. That's one the reasons we should take the metro in groups at night: crazy people. Another thing is to sort of act like you know where you are going even if you don't and to be confident. I got lost on my second day going to class but I arrived a little late after I found the 86. The important thing was to walk and know how to use the maps on the back of the bus stop. You know those long flat escalators in airports, especially in the Frankfurt airports (it's like they couldn't put enough of them in and thank god for that otherwise we would have missed our plane for sure without them) anyway there's a few of them in the metro. Yeah.

My cough is getting better and that's because of the cough syrup. I hate cough syrup but even in France, the cough syrup is better. That overwhelmed me a bit. I don't want to be the person that says 'everything is better in France" because the metro isn't.

Today we are going to the Louvre, apparently it's very grand and so people may become lost. I know what I'm looking forward to seeing! Oh it'll be so enchanting and wonderful.

Lost in the Rain

Time: 12:12 pm (Paris)Place: An off street from Montparnasse

We indeed went to Monet's house yesterday and his gardens. The colours are so vibrant but my tablet camera couldn't capture it which made me believe technology sucks. I know. I need a camera. I have sort of given up on the phone thing. If anyone tries to call or text me, alas it cannot be. We went to the Marche on Raspail which is the only way to buy food a dimanche. I got lost and I thought about taking the metro but I didn't want to get more lost than I was. Luckily, I went to the dorm closest to the ICP and there was someone who was late to the market as well. I woke up with a cough and it's still persisting. My umbrella was completely broken so I threw it away. It was sad because I loved that umbrella. It had a cat head for a handle. So tomorrow, I will buy another. The internet is still strange and I doubt there's a way to resolve it.

 
I could've gone to mass at the Notre Dame but I wanted to rest a bit more since I woke up at 1:48 am the first time, and 7 the second. I have to eat lunch soon, otherwise I might miss the lecture. I have to take a bus to Conde. Oh, it rained longer than ten minutes today so don't let people say it only rains for ten minutes. That's true in two places I've been: Kauai and Ireland but the rain here doesn't last very long so that's good. Next time I go out I will bring my raincoat, even if the weather burns off, I will still be somewhat more prepared than I was this morning.

If I don't blog later, a demain.

Missing Jade and Cold

I think I may miscalculated when breakfast is on le week-end. Oh well. At least I have cold water. It looks like it's going to be cloudy here today but that could change easily around noon or even around 2:30 like hier. I would be happy if it were cold but I don't think summer will be, at least not here. I was looking at Jade's picture yesterday. Jade is my cat (also the cat in my icon) and I thought how I miss her and Dancer. Of course, I also miss everyone else but when you're having fun you can forget about people but not about animals, I find. Maybe being drizzled on in the morning is a mood changer. Yes, at 6:26 this morning I was drizzled on. It's not rain. I know rain. There are usually four types of rain: the kind you can dance in which is like a heavy drizzle, the kind you can walk in which is rain, the kind that pours and then the kind tempest storms are made out of. So Dance, Walk, Pouring, Tempest.
The cooing is getting on my nerves but the birds are not cooing for me, they are cooing for each other so I should get over it. The great Blank Esquire shall ignore the birds!

Oh yeah, it's strange to recieve French commericals on Youtube... it's kind of fun but it's definitely unexpected.

Quartier Latin

Today, I went to my second class at the ICP and even talked to some of my classmates. On break, I bought a fun umbrella and the sidewalk was mysteriously soaked. It mizzled and drizzled today but it was barely an excuse to open my new fun umbrella which everyone adored. I almost got lost looking for a second dorm, if I hadn't recognised two ladies I knew. We had lunch together, it was at a Chinese restaurant. So I'm thinking, "here I am in Paris, eating Chinese" but it was so flavourful. It is like everything has more flavour... so far.

I also went on a walk with half the group to Quartier Latin. It's small, narrow streets are fun. The first thing we saw was the Museum built to look like a Roman temple and apparently it used to be a church to honour the patron saint of Paris, Saint Genieve who drove away Attila the Hun when she was only about 17 or 16. Then we saw some other buildings, including a beautiful street and a lovely church with Saint Ursula. I took pictures and will post them later. Then we went to the centre of Quartier Latin with narrow streets and cafes. At one of the cafes we sat and drank a variety of drinks. I had apricot juice but that's not the most exotic juice I've seen here. Avocado juice wins hands down. After we drank refreshments, we went to the small church that marked the end of the Quarier Latin and also may or may not have been a place where they castrated men to keep their voices high so they could sing the high notes in choir. Women at the time weren't allowed to sing in the church. I think women should be able to do what they want, it's usually less painful for everyone.

For dinner, we had fish, it being Friday. The fish reminded me of sardines, it had a similar flavour. We watched the football game during the meal and France lost to Germany 0 to 1. Paris is suspiciously quiet, perhaps they are in mourning or perhaps they are drinking. EIther way, I'm not going outside until tomorrow.Tomorrow will be wonderful. I hope we have baguettes for breakfast like we had since we got here because I bought sun-dried tomato paste and I also had cheese from Wednesday and I will make a great open face sandwich. THen later, we go to Monet's garden in Giverny! Oh how lovely it will be to see somewhat of what he saw. It has changed a bit or at least that's what the book on gardens implied. So I must get up early to go to Monet's garden and to have my special breakfast. It's very stuffy everywhere. It is odd.

First lip Balm and Trois Sirens

Time: 2:51pm
Place: An off-street of Montparnasse

I found two places to buy a phone! The first is the very popular FNAC and the second is Orange. I also can't decide on a camera but oh well.

I had my first class at the ICP and found that I have to walk about ten flights of stairs. I will take a picture of it soon when I'm not exhausted, in class or whatevs. Aussi, I find that I am slowly remembering some French.

I had a jambon et fromage crepe today at the dorm. A french woman asked me a question about my shoes and then after I found a knife pointed to where the knives were. I later used this information to help out a fellow ESA member. There are about a hundred of us, we are a big group.

After class, I had this nagging feeling like I was forgetting something because even I, Blank Esquire have flaws. Because my lips are dry I bought lip balm during the fifteen minute break. I know this isn't the most interesting of facts, like you are going to jump up and scream, 'Mon dieu, Blank Esquire bought lip balm, what a miracle!' But it is important to know that Paris has somehow managed to be both dry and humid. It is the oddest thing. More odd than being in the warm rain of Kauai.

A note about sirens: I have noticed that sirens sound a bit different in different countries. Now I personally have only experienced three countries so I can only give you three examples. First is the American ambulance siren which seems to have no melody, justman obnoxious electronic burping of half what sounds like beep boop eee argh ahh whoo-bu-loop repeated over and over as loudly as possible.  It's like the combination of several annoying sounds mixed into a sound bite. The second is the Irish ambulance siren and it goes eee-ooh-eee-ooh-eee-ooh. Strong, confident, distinct it is. It is oddly not as loud as the American one, well it seems less loud, since I don't have anything to actually measure sound and even if I did I'm not going to Ireland this trip. Third is the Parisan siren and like the first two it is loud and goes eer-arr-eer-arr-eer-aar like somehow even the siren has a French accent. Tis very peculiar.

This is Blank Esquire, drinking lukewarm water in Paris, au revoir...

Day 2

It was a battle but I finally won over the Internet, today! Yes, Blank Esquire is victorious over the wifi... for now. Who knows what horrors tomorrow brings. Still it was a bwhahahahaha moment.

On lighter news, I was disappointed with what I thought was a ham sandwich but it was turkey ham and I misread the label. We had pate, some kind of chicken-like sausage (?), rice and mushrooms mixed with scallions woth bread. We had to take a placement test but life goes on. The disappointing sandwich was on a baguette. 

The small victory over the net was nothing compared to riding a Parisan bus alone. That oddly, felt like freedom!

We went on a wonderful boat ride and I took as many pictures as I could until the phone's battery failed the great Blank Esquire.  Also my picture was taken while we were waiting for everyone to come on board. I was complimented on it.

Earlier that day, I decided not to join the group in the walk and I went on a walk of my own. It was half exploration and half looking for a phone. I didn't find any.