and you're sure

So, I am just going to call this one "the Christmas entry" from the start.
(Because, well, France doesn't have Halloween or Thanksgiving, so they get into Christmas pretty early.)
Today I went to the Marais (the Jewish quarter, basically) because I had heard that it was pretty cool, but I forgot my map and thus didn't want to go very far from the metro, so I was not particularly enamored with it (although I found a super-cute store that sells notebooks and just had to get a few :P ). Claire (my roommate) agrees that I missed out by not seeing much of the backstreets, so I will have to remember to take my map and go back.
But, on to the Christmas bit. On Friday, I heard something in my class about a "Christmas market on the Champs-Elysees," and it was on the same metro line as the Marais, and... well.
I do not have a good track record with the Champs-Elysees. I've been there twice, and gotten lost both times. So, I figured, I will go and see what I see (since now I know how to get from the metro to the stores!).
I did not realize that the metro comes out into the middle of the market.
And, as such, I definitely did not expect to see this:

( and thus begins a very, very long entry )

Otherwise, good luck to those of you who are doing NaNoWriMo, as it draws to a close, and happy Thanksgiving!!
<3

It's questionable as to what season it is here sometimes.



( Sometimes... )

Otherwise, I am kind of in French rebellion mode. I spent my first month here getting used to it, then I spent about two weeks being really into it, and now I am just like, I am over this. I think that it would be almost better to have a three month program than a two month program, because I really don't know how long is going to take me to get back into it.
I mean, I enjoy talking to my host family and being here, but I am less motivated than usual to increase my knowledge of the language (grammar-wise, etc) and listen to people on the metro and immerse myself in general.
(I have not been terribly motivated to do my reading and whatnot, either, but that isn't quite so new :P .)
And for those of you who I have not told yet: next quarter is going to be astronomy (the planets! Math credit!), global environmental politics, and government and politics of Russia (guess what I am going to spend my December reading up on!). I do know what I want to do my final paper for my film class on, though. So, that is a start.

Also, I have gone through my pictures of Chartes - that city with the gothic cathedral that we went to, um, three weeks ago now? So expect those, eventually. Really :S .

<3

Three people stopped me today - two for directions and one to do a survey - so I must be doing something right?
(I mean, until I talk, because then it is clear that I am not a French person :P .)
Also, today I remembered my umbrella, my scarf, and a map. That doesn't happen often!

( came back another way )

Today I went (back) to Le Bon Marché. That I am posting those photos before those of our trip to see the gothic cathedral or the Musee d'Orsay probably says something about my priorities :P .
I have three basic categories of pictures for this store: Christmas stuff, toys, and sugar.
...
Maybe I should just call it "Things I Like" and be done with it :) .

( Christmas stuff )

( Toys )

( Sugar )

That concludes my super-long tour of my shopping trip this afternoon. I didn't buy anything, although I was tempted to.
And if you made it this far, you probably deserve some of those sugar hearts or something.
<333

and I had a dream
it blows the autumn through my head
it felt like the first day of school
but I was going to the moon instead

(Dar Williams, "End of the Summer")

So... This took me awhile :) .



( she'll lead you down the path )

We went to Versailles today. The 'castle' was alright, but the gardens are fantastic.
I am really unwilling to deal with all of my photos right now, but I will soon, and I am already voting that we just skip (most of?) the castle and go straight into the greenery.

Another list! This time, it is things that are, well, different here. Of course it is totally biased and whatnot :P .

1. Smoking is the norm - it is rude to ask people to stop smoking around you. (It is rather naive to assume that someone doesn't smoke, as well. I asked for a non-smoking home, and it is not - although they don't smoke a lot in the house - and it probably wouldn't matter anyway, because it is everywhere.) I am mostly used to it by now, but I am going to have to get some of my clothing dry-cleaned (some fabrics/items seem to adsorb the smell better than others), and it is really just a big change.

2. Dog shit. Watch where you walk.
Seriously.

3. I have discovered the joys of plastic wrap. Plastic baggies do exist here, but they are not common and they are expensive. Plastic wrap is easy to find and cheap. I pack my lunch (my mother, she is so proud) and a lot of that involves struggling with my box of plastic wrap and trying not to get it to cling to itself.
One thing that is REALLY nice is that I can buy big boxes of pastries and individually prewrap them.

4. On that subject, individually wrapped items are popular. And, stemming from that, Bonne Maman (I don't know who knows Bonne Maman. In the US I've only seen their jellies/jams.) also apparently produces a great deal of cookies and whatnot, which I am very, very pro. The ones that I tried were very French.

5. There are a lot of pigeons. Yes, I know that there are pigeons in the US. But do they have a habit of flying directly at one's head, sometimes one right after the other?
No?
I did not think so.

Ah, man, it is raining. Nargh.

8. Children are cuter here. I don't know, either.

9. Guys are shorter? This was my roommate's observation. After staring for a bit I have concluded that she seems to be on to something. Beyond that, however, I think that people just look more mature for their ages here. (It may have something to do with the clothing, I don't know.)

10. French women do not wear a lot of make-up. Make-up is expensive here - really expensive. Some women wear eyeliner or lipstick, but there is a lot less over the top color (which is not helping my own case. Hmm.)

11. I knew this already, but Paris drivers are not hot on stopping for pedestrians. Every time someone stops for me, it makes me kind of nervous. Usually they do not stop - it is a cross the road at your own risk sort of thing.

12. Except that crossing the street illegally is rampant. I do it, too. There are a ton of one-way streets here, which makes it really easy, and usually you have a pretty good view of whether someone is coming or not.

13. Also, a lot of the time there are more cars parked on the side of the street than actually driving in the street, at least where I live. Sometimes they even partially block crosswalks.

This list is kind of getting out of control o.o .
There were other things, but suddenly I have forgotten them, and I need to get to class anyway. Next time, next time.

EDIT: Okay, I forgot a big one. That I forgot it just shows how used to it I am, now.

14. Refrigeration is iffy. Leftovers do not necessarily go in the fridge. Heck, they don't necessarily get covered (with plastic wrap :P ) before they spend the night out on the counter.
And, yeah, it is kind of weird to see last night's salad or meat sitting on top of the stove (it is a small kitchen), but I think that in American we... well, not over-refrigerate... maybe don't give foods credit for their staying power.
A few days ago I had cheese-filled pastries for breakfast which had been sitting out on the counter all night. Once something is there, it is fair game.

And... yep. Okay, I really need to go to class! :P

Today I went to the Louvre and, by the time that I had gotten my ticket, I realized that all I really wanted to do was see Winged Victory.
Nine euros is a lot of money to see one statue, yet...



( winged victory + others )

I also took a stroll up the Champs Elysees... once I found it. I don't know; I just don't have a good track record with not getting lost in that area. By that time, though, I was just about ready to go home. I visited the big bookstore - I didn't find anything - and then I did.
Tomorrow... I am not sure. Grocery shopping and the post office, probably.
<3's.

A list! I am pro lists.

1. Laundry day here is like Christmas. The French do not terribly believe in dryers, and my host family has a set-up wherein the vast majority of wet clothing is hung above/around the bathtub. I do not have a lot of clothing, and am not so hot on rewearing most things, which means that laundry day practically makes me do a little dance and then wander around, staring up at the ceiling to see what of mine was washed, with my mouth open.
So far, I don't think that my host family has seen me doing this. At least, I hope not.

2.I do not get the scarf thing. Or, well, that is not totally true. I get it. They are warm and pretty and can be worn in many different ways. I just don't get how to wear them when they are looped around the neck (so, fold the scarf in half, put the loop over one shoulder and the ends over the other, and put the ends through the loop) - which side does the loop go on? Is there a secret code to this? Is it gender specific?
I spend far too much time observing people on subways to see how which side they have their loop on.

3. It is cold. It just is. Luckily, the girl who was here before us(?) left behind three bags of clothing and I claimed her gloves. My roommate may have gotten the actual clothing, but I am the one who got warmer hands out of it.

4. I have finally discovered the difference in usage between "bien" and "bon(ne)(s)." The first is an adverb and the second is an adjective. Why did I never internalize this?

5. My host brother talks amazingly fast. Like, I don't know when he has time to breathe fast. This means that I don't get a lot of what he says, but he also does voices and hand gestures, so I am also constantly snickering. Dinners are weirder now that my roommate is off visiting England (she is the one who talks; I am the one who listens).

6. I actually have a list of places to go this weekend or, at least, in the near future. (This is only partially related to how I spend a lot of my Critical Theory class today jotting down a Christmas card list and gift and ideas above my notes. Considering that I usually draw hearts - bad hearts :P - this may be a step forward. Spring quarter I did a lovely drawing of the plot of "We." It is hard to do that for Aristotle's Poetics and whatnot, though.)
Otherwise, I did not make it to the Louvre last Monday because I was doing reading for class. I am starting to become disillusioned with all this reading, particularly considering that we are several days behind in talking about it for my New Wave film class (and when you only have two days a week, this is sketchy) and that the most interesting Lit Crit talk that we have had so far was on something that we had not read about, since he generally just commentates on and explains the reading.
Hmm.

7. I am sure that there is more, but... It will come when I have more pictures? :P

Hmm. I am really not sure how to describe today, except that it was cold, and full of togetherness, and that I should have bought more postcards. We went to the Chateau de Fontainebleau, which my prof had described as a 'castle.'
It is not a castle. It is a weekend castle, which means that it is smaller and whatnot, except... well. From the inside...
I think that I will just let my pictures speak for themselves. Some of them are not the best, in part because my camera just does not do color all that well, but in person it is overwhelming. I had a difficult time picking out which pictures to post, honestly, because there is just so much.



( castles and colors. )

Almost all of the walls, the floors, the ceilings... all decorated. It is kind of crazy, but cool to look at.
Afterward we went out to lunch as a group and then had the option of going on a hike. I bowed out because it was cold and windy and because there was just a little too much togetherness going on.
And now there is homework and whatnot to do.
<3's ~

Today I was lying in bed, working on my thirty-one page reading for my cinema class, and I thought to myself, I did not come to France to read in English.
So I went to St. Michel instead.

I feel like I am trying to make a life here.



I do not really do touristy things, although I take touristy pictures; I go to class and to the supermarket and to the bakery, I wander around the city (between classes yesterday, I accidentally ended up at the Seine), and I stay in.
I have fallen in love with the metro. It is one of my favorite things here, definitely; I love the posters and the advertisements, I enjoy going from one place to the other underground, I like having a pass so that I don't have to buy a ticket every time.



It's strange to come home to this neighborhood -- the other parts of the city that I have gone to are all so alive, overflowing with people, and then I get back here and it's calm and still. We're surrounded by apartments, schools, and hospitals.
This is a good place to be, I think.



These pictures were taken between the apartment and Carrefour, which is kind of like a cross between a Walmart and a Costco, atmosphere-wise. (I will not be going on a Saturday again. It was super, super hectic. I was amazed at how much stuff some of these people were buying.)
Little grocery carrier things with wheels are VERY popular here. I felt kind of out of place, and ended up snagging a bag in the frozen food section (a nice bag! Dual-layered! It was only 00,10 euros, too, which worked for me). This ended up being a really good choice, because they don't have bags at the checkouts there - it is strictly a bring your own situation. Good to know.
And... yes.

As for classes, that is an interesting situation. I described it to a friend a few days ago as being like elementary school (in that you see the same people in every class and go on field trips and whatnot together), except with more alcohol and caffeine involved.
I have class for an hour and 45 minutes or so on Wednesday and Friday mornings, and then have it from again from 1:30 until it's done. (So far, that has been at about 6:00-6:30.) That part is kind of painful, and not very interactive. It involves a lot of movies and lecturing.
On Thursdays we go on field trips. I have pictures of all this, but they are even more touristy than usual :P . Perhaps more later!

It rained in Paris today.

So, I am in Paris now, with my host family and my roommate. I got in early last morning (on French time; late Friday night on Washington time), and... Well. Let's start out by just saying that metros, which are full of staircases, and suitcases don't exactly mix, shall we? :P
Otherwise, it is kind of a "Well, now I'm here, so I have to buck up and do this" sort of situation. Not in a bad way, though.
I was dead on my feet all of yesterday, so -- today! Today C (roommate) and I started out by going to a marche (an outdoor market). I had been to a small one in Foix, but it wasn't hardly anything compared to this one, which was huge and extremely crowded. Claustrophobic.



But it was fun! All the produce looks fresher; it might be France, it might be the being outside, I don't know. I did notice yesterday that some of the supermarkets label where their produce is from though (not on the tags, on signs) and that a lot of it is from France.
There was a lot of fruit, meat (bacon! Rabbit! Tongue! Brains! Snail! You had all of your bases covered), cheese (which C really enjoyed) and flowers, as well as things like clothing and jewelry. The food areas were definitely the most crowded, though.
It was only a short walk from the apartment of the family that we're staying with. Speaking of that --



This is a view from one of the windows. It is a beautiful apartment in a beautiful area; the only thing that I'd really like to change is for there to be light on the stairs. (We're on the 7th floor and C and I have not figured out how to make the stairs light up yet, supposing that that is possible.)



Our host mother is kind of a professional host mother -- she's had a lot of students from several countries -- but she's really nice, and so is the son that we see relatively often. The apartment is rectangular rather than squarish; our bedroom is at the end of an extremely long hallway with uneven, creaky floors. There is a lot of charm here.
(Although, I wouldn't want to be tall, like C, and use that shower! And I need to remember to be even more of a tourist and take pictures of the details in the architecture around here, because if there are somethings that says that I am not in the states anymore, that is definitely on the list.)
I am having a hell of a time with the time change, although not in the sense that I'm jetlagged. I just have no idea what time it is unless I'm in front of a clock (and I have issues converting between times).

After the marche, we met up with some other girls from our group at the Louvre -- the first Sunday of each month has free admission -- but it was crowded and C had to go and up with someone else. I didn't feel like staying, so I took the metro home alone. (Are you proud of me? You should be proud of me :P .)
The metro really is better than buses, although you see less, scenery-wise. I am very fond of my little map and have underlined the stations that I will be using regularly.



And... yes. That is what I have done today. I might go out again to find something to eat, but we only have one key between us, and C is currently out and about. Hmm.
We have orientation tomorrow, and then class Wednesday, and I don't know how to fill the time in-between. That's probably not a good thing to say :P . I will find something!
(Probably something tourist-y!)



<3's, darlings.