PS

Oh, I am going to add this to my last entry quickly since it's relative:

I have never had so many caucasian people recognize the asian in me as I have here. Well, I could be looking more like a Chan, as faces do change over time. But I don't think it's that. I will react with suprise when they ask because if someone asks at home, it's almost always someone who is either asian or eurasian or is married to one. Kind of like you have to be one to know one. When I react in such a way, they laugh and say it's obvious "evidement!" they say. My conclusion- at home, everyone is a mix of something so we're used to seeing all sorts of faces. Here, blood has not been "tainted"- not a good word, I know. So someone with "exotic" features stands out. Ha! I'm exotic. Who knew?

BONJOUR!

Well, I've really put this blog off... so many other things going on, but it's nice sometimes to take the time to write about a couple of incidents. Helps me remember them and laugh.

These past few weeks have been very nice. School is going well and I got a very warm letter from the directrice on my progress and work in my classes which made me feel good :) I've also had time to do silly things with friends. Last week we went shopping after school and then watched "Orgeille Prejuge" = Pride and Prejudice on Kathleen's computer. One night we went out for Tapas (which are so so good!) and there's been a lot of Mafia nights- strange mystery game, a little difficult to explain. Francoise was telling me last night- and this is a typical French conversation- that there has been a recent influx of Japanese people in France. She says she hopes that if anything it teaches them not to work so hard! So maybe all this playing and less work is really just me experiencing Frenchness. I'm all for that! Actually, it is true, I find myself feeling terribly guilty when I've had too much fun. So is this the fault of American "culture" and our "master narratives" or is it just crazy eccentric Lauren?

On the American culture note: When Kristen came in from Spain a few weeks ago now, Francoise was so nice to invite her to dinner! Kristen, who has been surrounded by Spanish for a few months now, still remembers some French, so we had a few simple conversations which was very pleasant. Of course we talked about the Spanish and the French (this is a country where grouping peoples doesn't seem to be taboo). Francoise commented that Kristen does not really look representative of an American. Of course, she was proud sitting there in her european scarf and black sweater. So I had to ask, well, what does an American look like? Francoise didn't understand the question so I clarified, "We are under the impression that there are no generalized features to the american face because we come from all over and we are a 'melange' of many races and cultures. It's rare that any caucasian is all English or all Scottish..." She shook her head and corrected me, "Mais oui! You see, an American is a redhead. He looks quite a lot like an Irish. He's not very thin, but not "gros" either. Average height. Fair skin. That's an American". So now, I'm in hysterics and Kristen is look back and forth between Francoise and myself to make sure she is really hearing this correctly. I kind of repeat that we are not all Irish! Francoise says "well no, but you see, your parents were already born in American. You were too. Your kids will be too. Little by little the features in your family will be American." So pretty much, my kids will be redheads.
Gotta love the French!

Yesterday I saw a movie because there is nothing else to do on a Sunday (and by the way, when you're desperate for that one perfect bite of after-meal chocolate on a Sunday, don't bet on finding it! grr). So yes, movie: "Ce soir, je dors chez toi". Romantic commedie and tres americain, meaning, no real depth but a lot of light humor and in the end the guy gets the girl and all is well. No, not French at all actually. But of course, it was in French and took place in Paris. In one seen, the girl is mad at the guy and she flies to New York. Of course he follows her and catches her with an American man and guess what he looks like: Yup! Redhead! Medium build. Freckles. Clueless.
That's who we are :p

Okay, that's a wrap (wrap or rap? the first makes more sense). I will write about my Yeti experience later if I get a chance. Now it's school time. A quick note- the winds are absolutely shockingly violent here. Really, the sound of the wind drowns out the trains at night. Crazy! Sort of fun, but it's getting old. I guess it makes for a cheap treadmill though, I can just go outside and try jogging- i won't get anywhere if I face against the current.

Thanks for Reading. I'll be home soon.
xo, Lauren

Home sweet home

Hello all!

Thanks for reading this! I have to admit: I'm not feeling well at all, and really not in the mood to write about my travels. I hope I get around to it though because it will be a good way to remember what I did and saw. Anyways, I'll list some of the cities I visited during my 12 days of adventure:

Nice
Toulon
Rome
Sorrento
Capri
AnnaCapri
Tuscany region
Florence
Cinqua Terra
La Spezia
Milan
Sirmione
Verona
Venice
Arezzo

! a lot! also, I will just spend a moment complaining about how difficult it is to get one country away (I mean, a much shorter distances than SF to Austin! but what trouble!)
I took a bus to the train station, the train to Nice, a bus from the Nice station to the airport, a shuttle from terminal 1 to terminal 2, a shuttle from terminal 2a to terminal 2b, security blah blah, a shuttle once at my gate to my plane out in the middle of a field (small plane- a little creepy but Alitalia, good airline) then switched planes in Milan (running frantically to gate), finally arriving in Rome, waiting 45 minutes for my bag, begging to have them stamp my passport, but no one would do it, and finally a train into town and a taxi to the hostel! So I left at 9ish and arrived around 11! Then I had to reverse it all to return. Aiya!

But it was a good experience to do it all- and I'm glad I did it alone in the end. It's scary to be a female traveling alone, but I think I did the best I could do at taking precautions and I'm grateful it all worked out.

Italy was not France. It did not feel like home to me- but of course, I was only in cities for short periods of time, on the bus a lot, and I don't speak Italian (although, yes, I can practically read it because of its ressemblence to French). But all in all, it was so so nice to come back on Wednesday to my "home" in France. Francoise was out, so I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and got in my pajamas and was very grateful to be able to relax after all the traveling.

I do hope to write more about the cities I visited and the things I saw.

I'm missing normaly a lot right now. I guess because I don't feel good, it's starting to feel like a long time since I've been with friends and family from home. Thank god for the people at IAU- I'd be lost if I was just going to the U of Avignon! I've known a lot of people who have picked up and moved to foreign countries permanently or indefinately, and I give them so so much credit. How daunting!

Okay, I'm off.
Love you all!

Bonjourno!

I don't even know how to spell that! I'm off to Italy today- well, actually, I'm off to Nice first and then Nice to Milan, Milan to Rome! It will be a long and challenging day getting to Rome, but once I'm there I'm sure to have some amazing experiences. I wish that I could write more- so many things have been going on over here, but I have to get ready- I have an early train.

I finished Midterms on Thursday and I felt so accomplished but also rather lonely for my friends and family at home. I love you all.

Arrivederci- I will be back Wednesday November 7th
PS- we change time this Sunday the 28th.

un mois

Good morning!

This is the end of my 5th week in France, and it is beginning to feel like a very long time. I enjoyed my weekend in Paris, but I have to admit, it was a very wonderful feeling to come back "home" after a few sleepless nights to "my room". I realized how comfortable I have become here.

I traveled by TGV to Paris on Friday evening with 7 classmates- you probably recognize them from the 956 pictures I took- ha! We stayed in a hostel which was everything a hostel should be: dim, poorly insullated, creaky, and questionably sanitary. I was surprised however that this was not a youth hostel, but one open to anyone. We were the youngests guests there, and I had to feel sorry for the older generations climbing into shaky metal bunkbeds. I won't be doing that at that age! I will say however that the hostel was not cheap- 20 euro/night- the motel 6 would have costed less, and the quality would have been 5-star in comparison. Oh well, we got "free" breakfast of bread and hard boiled eggs each morning and I confiscated an extra roll to snack on later.

It was nice to leave the planning up to someone else this time. Kathleen (tall, reddish hair), was in Paris for a week before the semester began and thus, is very familiar with it. She led us around to Montmatre, the Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, Sorbonne, St. Chapelle, Jardin de Luxembourg/Tuilleries, Louvre etc. all the stuff you're supposed to do in Paris. We also saw the catacombs which was quite disturbing. 6 million-something dead bodies were moved to these underground tunnels and arranged in artistic patterns and piles. Eeek. But interesting I suppose.

Paris was expensive! We did not even enter a museum. It was 8 euro to go up Notre Dame, 8 for the ferriswheel, 11 for a ride down the Seine, 2 for each metro ticket (although we bought day passes) and let's not forget about those 6 euro sandwhiches! We stayed out of the museums with the instinct that we'd be back with our families or on other excursions- mainly a way to save money. But it was sure worth it! The Eiffel Tower is so beautiful during the day or night and I enjoyed our picnic on the Champs de Mars. I also enjoyed 3 ice-cream cones that weekend. I figure if you're going to eat ice-cream which costs 4euro, might as well do it under the Eiffel Tower.

Leaving Paris was hard: doing it at 5 am was horrendous. We woke up in the dark and scurried out of the hostel leaving behind a few classmates who didn't have classes until evening. Unfortanately, we had not taken into consideration that the metro has fewer trains in the early morning, and we found ourselves losing 15 precious minutes waiting for our train. When we got off the metro, we ran uphill to the Gare de Lyon, and literally, the train doors closed behind us as we got on. We were fortunate to have found our train fairly quickly as when you enter these old-fashioned looking trainstations, you see about 8 trains lined up in the middle of the corridor without good indications as to where they are heading. Very surreal.

I apologize for not updating this sooner. I have been teaching English in a high school (very enlightening), meeting with my Tandem Exchange partner weekly, and planning my fall break- a trip to Italy!). Today I will see the Pont du Gard which is just outside of Nime. I will not actually go into Nimes, which I'm kind of disappointed about because I really wanted some denim from there (de-nimes!). Tonight I'll see a movie with friends and in the morning we leave for Arles to see the Amphitheater and some traveling art exhibits.

I do not have class this morning and our bus does not leave until 1 so I will go for a bike ride (yes, I bought a bike!) before we head off.

Miss you all! Thanks for reading!

Little town... it's a quiet village!

Bonsoir! I just got back from the marvelous little village of Vaison la Romaine. It's history dates back to 125 BC and the Roman invasion of Gaulois property. A castle way up on the hillside overlooks the village below. Today that village is inhabited by wealthy vactioners, but while it is freshly renovated (with satellite dishes everywhere) it maintains its very-old fashioned charm. We visited the ruins of wealthy Roman homes. I'm not sure how I feel about fake ruins... but we saw many of those. Apparently, the city wanted to make the ruins look more authentic, so they faked extra ruins. I guess it's so we could visualize what the original structures look like, but really: doesn't imitation ruin the ruins? Nonetheless, the drive to Vaison la Romaine was beautiful and so were each of the 5 sun-spent hours. The "excursion" was part of my Art/Architecture/Archeaology course so our prof was our guide and he explained the organization of the bedrooms (based on the location of the sun at given seasons) as well as how we can tell how they spent their time through artifacts.

A note on the bathrooms: Yes, the Romans did do this in the open- almost a social affair, but me, I'm not too keen on the hole in the floor deal. It was definately worth the 2 euro to track down a "vraie toillette" as we say (and all of which accompanies that).

Look Down and see the beggars at your feet.

Maybe you get that reference ;)





They're partout (everywhere) in the middle of the city. Today I was out in search of chocolate with a friend (oh, the dark chocolate is so delicious here). We ran into a very "shee-shee" tourist shop and found some lovely gourmet chocolates. We pulled the lever gently to release one or two pieces for each of us... voila! maybe 40-50 olive-shaped chocolates landed in our bags. We could not put them back and were too intimidated by the "proprietaire" to leave so we bought the 10 euro's worth of chocolates. Trying to be good, we decided we needed to distribute the chocolates to our classmates toute-de-suite= right away so as to not devour them all in one sitting. But one of many homeless men passed our way and we decided to give him the very expensive bag of candies. He was delighted.





I went dancing on the Pont d'Avignon on Sunday. There's a small price but it was free this weekend due to les Jours de Patrimoine. I don't think anyone else was very into it, but as I said, the song says, we have to dance there! I'll post a picture, but here's the history behind the bridge which, yes Ceri, does not traverse the river.





Le Pont d'Avignon is officially known as le Pont St. Benezet (accent aigu's on the first two e's of course). In the 12th century he had some sort of dream or "divine inspiration" to build a bridge which would connect this part of town to Lyon on the opposite side of the Rhone river. The Rhone at the time posed a large blockade for travelers and merchants. The bridge was mocked, but Benezet eventually convinced the townsmen to help him out. The Pont had 22 arches at its completion, but years of continual flooding eroded a majority of them. Today, it has 4 and it's really just a tourist trap. Many a japonais y visite, l'apperail a la main (et la signe de la paix aussi, super-cool ya know). There's a little placard for St. Benezet on the lower part of the bridge- he was burried there at death although I'm not sure if his body has since been excavated. All in all, it's a lovely place to take a picture and feel le Mistral in you hair.

-the other famous bridge with the 2 sets of arches of which you may be familiar (pictures in pretty much every high school french room) is called the Pont du Gaurd and I'll be seeing it on Friday with the architecture class.