My life, and my list

Hello all!

I know it's been a while since I updated... Sorry about that. Everything is still going great here- it's even warming up a bit! (I never thought I'd be so excited about it being 56 degrees outside). So since it would probably be horribly tedious to subject you to a full rundown of my activites over half a month, some more scattered reflections...

Mom and the boys came! They spent a week here, which was awesome. So I got to run around and show them all my favorite spots, big sights, etc. And translated a lot of menus for Andrew, along with introducing him to chevre chaud (hot goat cheese) and of course the French MacDo. My host mom also hosted a lovely dinner for our families. Haha ever since she and Aline have been arguing over whether I look more like Adam or Andrew- my host mom says Andrew but Aline says Adam. It was so nice to have them here, and I hope they had fun!

Speaking of my host family, I finally feel like I've really adjusted to living with them, and vice-versa. I know it sounds crazy, because it took me until just about the halfway point of the semester to really feel comfortable, but coming into another family's life has proven to be so much more of a challenge than I thought it would be. And for their part, I know that they've hosted so many American girls with such vastly different personalities that it must be equally challenging to re-adjust every semester, and to figure out what this one's going to be like. We're perhaps not the best match there has ever been, and I've certainly struggled more than I ever expected I would, but I really think that that has made the experience all the more rewarding- I've really put in an effort, and I'm so very glad I did, because I learned a lot. And will still learn more, I'm sure. My host parents have taught me so much, often without me realizing it, and I've come to really enjoy their company. And I absolutely adore my host sisters- they are so fun, and endlessly patient with me, and the more I spend time with them the more I realize how lucky I am to be in a family with kids. They've gotten hooked on the French DVD version of Friends, and I watched a couple episodes with them today. It's really interesting, because there's so much humor in the show that is really inherent to American culture- sometimes the simplest jokes don't come across in the French subtitles, or even on the screen, because they're so conditioned by the American milieu. The girls still love it though- they like Rachel the best, then Joey and Chandler.

My language is definitely progressing as well. I think I will always lack some confidence in speaking, but I know that my speech is much better now. My reading has never really been a problem, so where I really see a huge difference is in my oral comprehension. Which, of course, makes sense- I have class entirely in French everyday, sometimes with my outside course professors who don't slow down their speech at all. Still, I hadn't really registered it until this past week, when I went to see a French film currently in theaters- which meant that subtitles weren't an option. I watch a lot of French films at home, but always with subtitles, and although I'm listening to the French I have the little cheat sheet at the bottom. So I went into the film thinking OK, well I'll just do the best I can, and I'll probably miss a lot, because any time at home I'd tried to watch a French movie without subtitles I hadn't really understood everything. But, to my surprise, I was just fine- sure, maybe I listened a little more "actively" than I would in English, but I was able to enjoy the movie just as I would in the US, and understood it just fine. So that was a major victory. Then today I went to see another French movie, Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis- which is very much the little movie that could in France. It's a little, low budget comedy that's a HUGE phenomenon- approximately 20% of the French population has seen it. And I LOVED it- it's absolutely hilarious. A lot of the dialogue is in the Ch'tis dialect, which they speak in the north, which made it a little tougher, but I still got just about all the jokes, and enjoyed it immensely. I don't know how well it will translate to English, but I'm sure it will eventually be out in America- and you should all go see it! The title would be something along the lines of Welcome to the Home of the Ch'tis, and it's very very charming.

In other news, my ten-day Morocco trip is coming up soon! We leave the 17th, so in about a week and a half. I'm so excited! We had our final meeting, to learn about what to bring, cultural norms, safety, money, and other such practical stuff. For instance, we're supposed to try to trick the French pharmacists out of various prescription medicines, one of which contains opium, for when (apparently not if) our tummies get upset. In much much better news, the diram is 11 to the euro- which means that the average meal of 30-40 diram will cost about or under 3 euro. Finally a favorable currency rate! We also learned about clothing and such- although it's far from fundamentalist, it's a Muslim country so we do have to keep our shoulders and knees covered. But, happily, it's going to be nice and warm- my first t-shirt in months! Then we had a little preview dinner at a Moroccan restaurant, which was very very yummy. I really can't wait- it should be great! (Oops didn't mean to rhyme. My apologies.)

Now that we're into April, we're all acutely aware of just how little time we have left, and how fast it's going to go by. Yes, we're here 'til May 15- but 10 days of that (2 weekends) is Spring Break, one long weekend will be spent elsewhere, and of course one week will be finals. Which leaves just this weekend and then two more to be actually spent in Paris- we of course have class during the week. Being properly horrified by this fact, a number of us made lists of what we still want to do in Paris- knowing that we won't get all the way through. The past two weekends my friend Chelsea and I have been singlemindedly pursuing our lists, and making fairly decent progress. So, here's my list in all it's glory, with the bold items being those that we squeezed in the past two weekends:

-Picnic on the champs du mars
-Explore the Bois de Boulogne
-See Napoleon's tomb at Invalides
-On a miserably cold and rainy day we fought our way to Invalides to see Napoleon's tomb and the various museum exhibits there. We even got in for free with our art history student cards- even thought we saw very little art history (although we saw a whole lot of armor).
-Eat at El Rancho
-Wandering around our very well-off, chic quartier one day the Jennas and I found a deliciously tacky, neon-blinking restaurant called El Rancho that promised to be the best Tex Mex in Paris. So, naturally, we made up our minds to go back, particularly seeing that they had chevre (goat cheese) taquitos and quesadillas. We went last night, and particularly enjoyed the "Mexican vocabulary" page and the fact that coleslaw, onion rings, and tabouli were all on the menu. Phenomenal.
-Go to the top of the Eiffel Tour
-Go to the top of Notre Dame
-See Sainte Chapelle on a sunny day
-Explore the jardin du luxembourg
-Walk down rue mouffetard
-An old, clustered, and windy market street that's great fun. We bought a 1 euro box of slightly suspect strawberries and had a hilarious time standing in the street picking through the mushy ones and eating around certain others. We also intend to return to make us of...
-The underground bowling alley on rue mouffetard
-Galeries Lafayette
-Ginormous French shopping arcade with a beautiful domed roof housing all of the haute couture you could ever want. Chelsea and I wandered, ogling some of the odder styles, and here's a quote from her that pretty much somes up the galeries lafayette: "This coat is 7,490 euros. I touched it."
-Canal St Martin
-A still-working canal in the northern corner of the city. It was so lovely and peaceful- you almost forget you're in Paris. Lots of pedestrian bridges and such- a very nice place to walk.
-See the Marie Antoinette expo at the Grand Palais
-Go back to our favorite place ever, the Pompidou
-Musee Rodin
-Musee de l'Orangerie
-Musee Marmottan
-Tiny little museum in my quartier that houses Monet's private collection in his possession when he died. Not crowded and much more peaceful than the big museums.
-Paris en couleur
-Photography exposition at l'Hotel de Ville with color photographs of Paris from the 1900s on. Absolutely phenomenal- it made me never want to leave the city. It also made us want to be the glamorous ladies in the pics from 1914- until we realized that that was during WWI. Tres bien fait!
-Flaner a Montmarte
-We'd all been to Montmartre and done the touristy stuff (saw the Moulin Rouge, went up Sacre Coeur, etc.) but we really wanted to go and just feel the area, wandering and exploring (in French, flaner). It's a very cool section of Paris, up on a hill, with a history of harboring bohemian artists and such. It has a very village feel, and so much character, and it was so nice to spend the day (which was beautiful) outside.
-See DISCO, a French film that just came out
-Go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe
-Musee Carnavalet
-Go to an opera and a ballet
-Enjoy coffee in an outdoor cafe
-Explore the Catacombs
-See the chateau at Fontainebleau
-See the Chartres cathedral
-Visit Victor Hugo's house
-Visit Balzac's house
-Visit Parisian Chinatown
-Explore Parc Monceau
-See the chateau de Vincennes
-See the tombs at the Basilique Saint-Denis
-See the tombs at the Pantheon
-Visit Saint Sulpice
-Hang out with Thibault (Colin's host brother)
-Go to a farmer's market
-Finish the Harold Bloom book I started at Shakespeare and Co
-See Bienvenue chez les ch'tis and Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
-The two French movies I saw recently. The second stars Kristen Scott Thomas, who is much beloved by the French as she has lived here for most of her life.
-Drink hot chocolate at Angelina's
-Ride the VeLibs
-Explore the parc des buttes-chaumont
-We actually stumbled upon this and then added it to the list retrospectively so we could cross it off. This is an amazing park hidden up in the northern part of Paris- peaceful and not tourist-filled, with Parisians all over the hills enjoying the sun. It's stunningly beautiful, with waterfalls, a lake, and an incredible cliff topped by a temple. Phenomenal find.
-See a show at the Comedie Francaise

And that's my list!!! I know, it's crazy- the written version even has a star-rating system and little weather icons indicating what kind of day would be best. We're booking through it though- all that bold is in just two weekends.

So that's what's been happening... Coming up, Morocco of course, and various other adventures in Paris. Two of my friends and I just finished booking our May long weekend trip- we're spending two days in Amsterdam and then a third day in Brussels. And I am DETERMINED to see a ballet and an opera soon. And of course whatever else comes up!

Bref, je vous souhaite bien, et je vous embrasse! Gros bisous!

(I wish you all well and send my best! Much love!)