the rundown

Ok, so I thought about posting a monster monster blog about everything that's happened to me since being in Paris, but then I decided I didn't want to write a 20 page post. If you want that information, you'll have to skype me bitches!

But I do want to use this blog to somewhat capture my travels nad experiences here abroad, so i'm going to do a short rundown. day by day, highlight and lowlights. A lot of it will have to do with food, well, because i'm a foodie and an incredibly picky eater. Some of it will have to do with how I'm adjusting and feeling about everything. The rest will me about France itself, M&M (hostparents), girls on my program, and other random crap that pops into my head.

So, I'll start at the beginning. Maybe you should go make a cup of tea or grab a snack before diving into this, though. mmm, tea.

January 19th:
I left home! I flew 3 zillion miles and was on a plane for the better part of 24 hours, at least when you factor in the time difference. I left home on the morning of the 19th, and got to Paris on the morning of the 20th, exhausted, disheveled, hungry, and leg crampy. My first flight was from LA to Houston, and was only about 3 hours. I was sandwiched in between a bunch of people though and I had no room. Do you know, I almost always spell sandwich wrong? If I'm typing it it's ok because I can backspace, but if I'm writing it out, then my fate is sealed and everyone will know I can't spell sandwich. I always spell it with an h, sandwhich. It looks better to me that way. My flight from Houston to France was literally right across the terminal from where I got off the LA flight, so I only had to walk like 20 feet to get to my new gate, dragging my heavy bags of crap. I bought a mediocre coffee because the line at starbucks was mondo long, so I went to some little kiosk instead. Flight to Paris was long, but I had to whole row to myself because apparently not a lot of texans wanted to fly to france that day, the flight was only 1/3 full. watched tv on my own little screen, had vegetarian meals which werent awful, and slept, but being on a plane for about 10 hours is always difficult. i was a little cranky by the time we landed at charles de gaulle.

january 20th: I got off the plane with my heavy as lumber carryons, and had to go up what i thought was an escalator to get to baggage claim. Turns out its not an escalator, but a moving sidewalk that went steeply up and down hill like 3 times before i got off. WEIRD!!! I almost fell like 4 times because it was tricky to balance with 2 heavy carryons and my brain was turned off after the flight. Finally I made it to baggage claim and was delighted to see that the luggage carts are free in france, unlike at LAX where they're about 25 or 50 cents, because i didn't have any french monnaie yet and wouldn't have been able to furnish any coins. Got my giant heavy stupid bags onto little rickety cart, and asked directions from someone to terminal 2c, which it turned out was a)nowhere near where I was, b)so far that I would need to get on a little tram thingy to get there, and c)ginormously huge, and also, a train station as well. SO, I made it on to the trammy thing after I found it, which took a while, and had to have some random dude help me drag my GIANT bag onto the shuttle because it was not cooperating. Made it to terminal 2C, found another luggage cart, and tried to figure out where we were supposed to meet Mme Suraqui, the director at noon. it was only like 9:30 am at this point, so I was worried I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to go, but then I spotted Carolyn and went over where she was standing with some other APA girls. Yay! As we waited more girls came and joined up with us and our little circle of exhausted zombie americans lost in strange land widened. I met taylor, who has now become one of my best friends here, and a whole bunch of other fun girls on my program.
we waited around some more and then Mme Suraqui, Francis, and Blandine came and met up with us. Mme Suraqui and Francis are co-directors, but Mme Suraqui is the real brains behind the operation. Blandine is her assistant, and she has the best name in the history of the world; Blandine Corne. Mme Suraqui has so much personality! She's like the amazing, slightly batty, super outgoing and accomplished and stylish aunt I never had! We all piled our crap onto a chartered bus, (Francis had to help me with one of my bags, I was so embarrassed. he's not bad to look at, but he's all shy and quiet. and married.) we were all dead tired, and the drive in to Paris was pretty dim since it was foggy and raining and gross out. After arriving at the FIAP, the hostel where we were staying for the first couple of days, we had a quick informational meeting by someone who worked there (don't lose your keys, don't waste water, there is the restaurant, there is the smoking area, don't smoke inside blablabla) and then a quick meeting with Mme Suraqui about the next few days. We broke up into groups for rooming for the next few days, and I roomed with Carolyn, Taylor and Shelby, a cute fun little tiny girl from GW with very nice bangs. Carolyn and I took showers while Shelby and Taylor went downstairs to use the internet, free wifi in the lobby, and man, those were weird showers. You had to keep pressing the faucet because the shower would only stay on for about a minute. Then Carolyn and I went to the lobby and interneted for a while, but we were exhausted. I just emailed mom and dad, told them I was alive, checked facebook and went back upstairs.

then we napped, yes yes, we napped and it was glorious.

then we got up, went to dinner at the FIAP restaurant/cafeteria which was interesting. We had meal tickets from Mme Suraqui that entitled us to an entree (which is a starter/appetizer in French, not a main course) a plat principal (that's the main course) and a dessert and a drink. So I had a little salad from the salad bar, which was pretty blegghhh and tired, but did have beets, a piece of weird french pizza (it had a ton of herbs, a giant chunk of brie, and olives with pits on it), and a peach yogurt for dessert. It was so-so, all in all.
then we walked around FIAP a bit, then hung out in the room, all telling stories and getting to know Taylor and Shelby better. then we all fucking passed out because we were exhausted and jetlagged and we were in France!

so this is turning into a wayyyyyy longer rundown than i anticipated, but i might not remember each day in such great detail so hopefully it won't take me too long to finish this rundown and catch up to the present. it'll have to wait for another post though, because a) i wouldn't want any of my reader(s), all 3 or 4 of them, to have to read a novella of my life all at once. what if they had to pee? nonono, it's important to break shit up and take time to stretch. and b)we're eating dinner soon and I'm hungry. please let it not be eggs tonight, please please please.

i've been off the airwaves for too long! i didn't have internet at all since my last post and it was driving me crazy because i wanted to blog about all that i was experiencing, especially since i havent written in my actual journal since like day 4 or 5, and i felt like i was cut off from my connection to the outside world! but now i have internet yayyyyyy

but i dont want to spend like lushi2y98y29889ur hours right now posting all about everything cause im tired.

highlights:

eaten eggs twice since in france (not by choice)
cheese crepes om nom nom
macarons om nom nom
l'orchestre de paris is amazing/slightly crazy orchestra
i love the metro and the busses but i despise the RER
everyone on my program is nice and fun and great and i love being here
im exhausted toutes les temps
franglais is superior to both english and french, that is to say, i speak fringlish now more than either of the separate languages.
did i mention i ate eggs? twice? blegh.
host fam is so nice! their names are Monique and Maurice, an older (not much) retired couple probs in their early 60s. tres french adn adorable and Monique is a pretty good cook.
my room is TINY (hello again charles commons size living space) but it works and im glad im in the city and not in the burbs.

i love paris! i miss the us! i miss my friends and family! im overtired! i love cheese!

a bientot!

So Much So Much So Much!

AAAHHHH it's been a very busy first few days! I will post a much longer, fun and detailed post about these last few days since my arrival in France later tonight once I'm moved in to my host family's apartment, but for now I am far too exhausted and braindead to go into details. There's just so much!

key points:
-paris is beautiful, the architecture is delightful
- long meetings where we get three zillion handouts and maps and metro maps and brochures aren't fun
- hostel showers are weird
- new friends are really fun and amazing
- eating habits are pretty different here, still adjusting
- "un cafe" in French is really an espresso
- petit pain a l'orange = a revelation of yumminess
- french croissants really are that much better
- hostel milk is weird
- Parisian metro, not as hard to master as I thought, basically the same as DC's
- French wine really is that much better
- I ate goat cheese and liked it. this is huge. i normally hate goat cheese but this was very mild and had dried fruit in it so it was kind of sweet and oh so creamy.
- i tried creme brulee, it was alright. i didn't gag at eating custard, but i wouldn't order it again.
- everyone in France is so fucking chic, everyone wears boots, so many boys are attractive
- but there are no boys on my program
- but there are some amazing and really fun girls.

IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS SEMESTER!!!
IM SO EXCITED TO NAP!!!! i need to sleep. fuck you, decalage horaire.

Bonjour Paris!

I have arrived! I am dead tired, but soooo glad to be here. Woke up on Tuesday the 19th at 4:45 am, left the house by 6:30ish, 9 am flight to Houston, connection out of Houston departed at 3:30 pm Houston time, then the longest flight of my lifeeeeeee, then arrived in Paris around 8am today! Met up with the girls from the group, more adding on as they arrived and made their way to the elusive terminal 2C, which required moving sidewalks that went up and down hills like an escalator but flat and locating and taking a little train thing to the other terminal concourse. Quite an adventure with my two GINORMOUS, SUPER HEAVY bags, and my two clunky carry-ons also. Then we all were greeted by the directors and assistant director of the program, and piled into a chartered bus to the FIAP, the international hostel/youth village where we're staying until friday. After a strange shower experience (extreme water pressure!) and attempting unsuccessfully to get my power adaptors to work in the french outlets (literally a round peg,square hole, square hole, round peg situation), I went down to the lobby to take advantage of the 30 min of free wifi. Time's almost up, but everything about the program so far is awesome, the girls seem nice, Carolyn is here, all girls so no boys to impress, Paris is GORGEOUS, and the two other girls in me and Carolyn's room here seem really cool, fun, and interesting. Can't wait to get to know them better!

It still doesn't feel real, but I'm exhausted, and maybe after a nap it will start to. I can't wait for the real adventure to start!

A bientot!

Tomorrow....

I leave tomorrow! My flight is at 9:00 am from LAX to Houston, Texas, then from Houston straight to Paris! I arrive in Paris at 8 am on the 20th! I am SO EXCITED and so completely terrified! I still have a lot of packing and getting ready to do, but so far, so good. I overslept today because I stayed up SUPER LATE into la nuit last night transfering files from my old crappy laptop to the shiny new awesome one I bought at Black Friday sales after thanksgiving. I still have yet to set up the new ipod because I had to wait until all my music was on my new laptop, which only just finally happened last night. I'm going to go eat, shower, then bring my laptop into this room of my house (the only one with internet), and attempt to download itunes and set up my ipod and all that jazz. While it's downloading and doing its computer thing, I will put all the piles of clothes into my suitcase and finish packing. Hopefully.

I watched a french movie last night while I was packing and transferring files and I felt better about my understanding of the language than I expected, but it was also a movie I'd seen before. Many times. In fact, it's one of my absolute favorite movies ever, it's called Jeux des Enfants in French but in English it's Love Me If You Dare. I like the French title much much more, but they both work well for the script and the acting is sooo great! Not to mention the music, the entire soundtrack is different versions of la vie en rose, and the cinematography and special effects are incredibly artistic, touching, funny, weird, and basically, unlike any other movie. I think the director also did Pan's Labyrinth (why is that word so hard to spell?) but I may be lying, and I've never seen that movie so I don't know.

I'm getting funny emails from Parismus, the Sorbonne student organization, inviting me to outings and get-togethers. In fact, if I sent a 5 euro cheque to some gastronomer, I can come to their truffle eating party! La truffe! I can't decide whether that's awesome or super odd, maybe a bit of both. I don't know whether I'll be attending this truffle-fest, but the group will be a good way to meet people I hope. And make friends with the real-live-native-french! Along with all the Americans and whatever other nationalities will be on my program, I definitely want to make friends with some native French students so my experience isn't completely touristy and cliche of "an American in Paris." Wow it is raining so hard here! In LA! Rarely ever does it rain, and very very rarely for more than one day in a row, but here we are on the second of six predicted days of rain and it's floodingggg out there! My pool might just spill over. I always forget that LA is not just a desert, because that's how it feels usually, but also on the outer borders of a tropical region and near a mountain range --- makes for some funky weather! Well, bring on the rain, we could certainly use it! Take that California drought!

Ok I need to go caffeinate myself now, and eat challah toast.

EDIT: This ipod shiznit is taking farrrrr too long.
Also, Annie was here over the weekend, just for a day, as her mom was visiting her old high school bff in Redondo Beach and Annie tagged along to see me. It was very fun and nice to see her, as always. I'll miss that rascal when I'm abroad! Highlight of visit: we baked a blueberry and blackberry crisp/cobbler, i introduced her to Bones, we made awesome nachos, and she helped me decide what to pack. I think she's a keeper.

Exhausting/Endless Preparation

So, I leave for France next Tuesday, in 5 days. And while this fact a)has not yet sunk in, b)is terrifying, c) is exciting and awesome, it more so means that d) i need to actually pack and do everything else I need to do to get ready. Thus, mimzy and I have been running errands the last two days like our lives depended on it.

Yesterday: Epic Target Trip
i stocked up on toiletries, bought a new umbrella, bought a black purse, a light blue cardigan because mine had been eaten by moths, hair products, a tooth whitening kit (excited/scared to try this!), and so much other crap. Mimz got a bunch of stuff too, including a package of 400000 paper towel rolls and a 2 gallon jug of laundry detergent.

As we were in line paying, this cute little girl behind me was ogling the mounds and mounds of stuff we were piling onto the counter and asking me annoying questions, including "Wow! How much shampoo are you buyiinnnnggg???" Well, I was buying a lot. I figured that I don't want to spend a bunch of money in the first week just buying toiletries, though I'm perfectly aware that they sell shampoo in France. It just seems like an unnecessary cost when i can go to target where its cheap and where my mother buys it for me haha.

Then today, Mimz and I went out to lunch with our cousin Mindy, because Mindy wanted to see me before I jet off for six months. Mindy is my dad's first cousin, her mother was Aunt Freda, my great aunt, and she has 3 kids who are my favorite cousins. Two of whom are now MARRIED!!!! crazy stuff! Our families are pretty close, even though they're my second cousins, because we are the only two branches of the fam that live here in California. Everyone else is in the DC/Washington Metropolitan/suburban Maryland area, where my dad and Mindy grew up. Aunt Freda lived just 10 minutes from our house, while Mindy and her husband Gene live out in La Canada, about 45 min-1 hr drive. Aunt Freda died a few years ago, and my grandma before her, but the rest of us still all get together and recount tales about those feisty sisters (Freda and my grandma Ruth- neither one was ummm "sympathetic," they were both kinda bitches actually but in a funny lovable way.)

So after lunch where I ate a big spinach salad with tomatoes, pinenuts, and feta cheese, mimz took me to get my haircut, which only took a few minutes because my hairdresser has ADHD and does everything on hyper mode! I just cut off about an inch and got more layers, going for a bob-ish look. I think I like it, it's too poofy blow dried right now.

Post haircut we went to the electronics store where I bought a laptop lock and .... (drummmmm rooooollllll).... an IPOD! I had never had one before, and I was kinda proud to be the last of the mohicans. I didn't even have itunes, I still have to download that later. I finally caved because the shitty old mp3 player I've had since I was 16 only had 20 GB and so has been completely full since I was about 17. I needed something with much more storage, and ipod seemed to be the only option that makes anything beyond a 32 GB. So now I have a 160 GB ipod classic in black, waiting to be unwrapped installed and danced to.

After the electronics place, decorated in an Alice and Wonderland theme with giant statues of the characters and fake topiary gardens, Mimz and I went to Barnes and Noble to get a gift for my host family in France. I finally settles on a book about LA, since they say that a good gift idea is something typically representative of your homeplace or university. This book has lots of neat photographs of LA back in the day, major landmarks, famous places, and of course, our freaking huge freeways. I also got my brother a belated bday gift (he's been out of the country for a few weeks and I didn't get him anything before he left soooo) of a book of really cool, cutting edge and crazy photography. He's really into photography and is behind his big fancy camera like 99% of the time. I also bought him a pair of socks that look like dinosaurs. (he's just turned 24)

Next we went to Office Depot to get some basic school supplies for the same reason as the shampoo, just so I wouldn't have to blow money out on that kind of stuff since the euro is so strong and it's much cheaper to buy stuff here. Got some of my favorite pens, Pentel RSVP fine point ballpoint pens. I love them! Also got post-its, highlighters, index cards and a 6 pack of notebooks. Should cover all the bases pretty well.

Now I am completely exhausted, but I had to come home and check my email and facebook etc etc. I had an email from the Sorbonne in French! Very excited! Wooooooo! AAAHHHHH!!!!!
Then I remembered Amanda said she started a blog so I found it, read it, and was inspired to post here about my tiring days of errands and ridiculous purchases. Now I'm going to go do one of my favorite things, take a nap with my cat.

camera soon to be revived!

I just bought a new camera battery charger on amazon for my nikon for less than $5.00!!! Shipping fees were more than the product itself, but still the whole bundle was about $12, which was what most of the other sellers were asking for the charger itself anyways. I just hope it works, but the reviews were good so I guess I have nothing to worry about. Hopefully it'll work with an outlet adapter once I get to Europe.

Other news: I cannot stop sneezing today! I am allergic to everything, but today is nuts. I took my meds but still, I am like a sneezing machine! And I sneeze loudly and kinda shrilly, not a nice little lady-like sneeze but scary loud nasal eruptions. My dad refers to them as screazes because it sounds like I'm screaming, but I can't help it, it's just how I sneeze!

Things I am currently working on:
a colorful puff stitch afghan I am almost out of yarn for, so I need to visit joann's website to rectify that.

a pretty tunic/top from a british crochet magazine i picked up at Barnes and Noble. I had quite a time translating the crochet terms from British English into American English. Why there are different terms here than in England I don't know, but it is very annoying! A single crochet (American term) is a double crochet in British terminology, a double crochet (American) is a triple crochet (British), a triple/treble crochet (American) is a double-triple (British), and so on! So frustrating because the abbreviations are all the same, so when I read dc (double crochet) i have to keep in mind they really mean sc (single crochet). Gaaah!

currently reading:
My Life in France, Julia Child (thanks Mandylion!)
Madame Bovary IN FRENCH! SOOOO HARD!!!
the french/english dictionary, in attempting to read Bovary.

Hello There!

Bonjour! I'm starting this blog for a few reasons;

a. to chronicle my journey through France this upcoming semester to make sure I remember as much as possible about my study abroad experience by attempting to write down as much as possible.

b. to share my craft projects, give free instructions for projects, and link to other places with cool projects, patterns, or just great design. Viva la craft revolucion!

c. to share my cooking exploits and recipe ramblings. I follow a lot of foodblogs and I love to cook, it was only a matter of time.
(3 caveats- I am a vegetarian, I do not eat chocolate, I hate eggs. Ok, 4 caveats- I am a generally picky eater, there are a lot of things I don't like and thus you will never see in the food-related posts of this blog.) (ps. i love cheese)

d. to rant about my life and my experiences as you might expect on most personal blogs.

e. to share my views on music, art, design, and film; all great passions of my life. Along with other silly things like yarn, parmesan, shoes, family (i guess that's not that silly), my cats, and cartoons.

So, a bit more about me so you'll know who you're reading about.
My name is Sarah.
I'm a junior at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
I'm majoring in art history, double minoring in French cultural studies and the Writing Seminars (creative writing in non-Hopkins speak).
I'm from LA. I love California and I don't do well in cold/damp/frozen weather.
I drink coffee in the morning, tea at night.
I have an older brother,and two great parents along with lots of aunts and uncles, one hundred billion cousins, one old grandpa who tells ridiculous war stories that might be partly invented, and a lot of friends.
i'm a lucky girl to know so many great people and be surrounded by loving friends and family.
i must be nuts because i'm abandoning them all to go live in France for 6 months. what the hell is wrong with me? At least I'll have Carolyn on my program, Andrea and Sarah G in Paris on other programs, and Amanda and Bailey a few countries over in England.

That's all for now. We only have internet on one computer in my house since our wireless router died, (R.I.P. Wiggles), so my posting will be sparse for now as my mom and dad (mimzy and daddy-o) need the computer for real things, like work and writing, whereas I just read blogs, print crochet patterns, and facebook stalk. Also, camera is currently not working, must buy new charger, so my in depth recipe and crafting posts will have to wait until I can upload and share pics of what i'm working on.