Danny's life in France

2004-07-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

geez...what? 2 or 3 weeks since my last posting?? well, needless to say that i'm on vacation. so i got up that saturday morning and LUGGED my luggage to the train station to go to miramas. you wanna talk about somethign that will make your back HURT like a mother for a week. yeah. each bag of mine (4 of 'em total) are stuffed to the rafters. my suitcase probably has to be hovering around 70lbs. it's really a mess. but hopefully i'll make it. christian was at the quai when my train pulled in so that made it easier. it was only the change of trains in marseille that really hurt. while at their house i did really absolutely nothing. went to the movies once and saw 'the day after tomorrow'. ummm...just hung out, really. ate a lot of really good food. it wasn't too hot like what it was a month ago in the south but it was still kinda warm. i read a good book that andy left when she was here back in april. ummm...then came the day that i took the tgv up to paris. yet another horrible trip. but anne-caroline was at the train station to get me when i get to paris. we still had to take the metro but it was a lot easier with two carrying all that luggage. i stayed the night at her place and then took the tgv out to brittany (st. brieuc more precisely) last friday, the 25th. i stayed with laurent and nanou. all we did was laugh and joke around. they're so fun! laurent and i went to the beach a lot in the afternoons since he's off work. he had an annuerism (?) and he's one of the few lucky ones that survive with no damage. here, the weather isn't so hot. it's about 60's everyday with about an hour a day of sunshine. anyway...i've since changed families. i'm at another host family's house from 4 years ago. then on sunday i'm going to the last host family that i had 4 years ago, the josse's. sylvie's in paris until saturday so i'll probably go there on sunday. then it's dinner with the program profs (program i did 4 years ago here in st. brieuc). i'm going to try to see if jacqueline danner, the director, will let me be a prof next summer. we'll see. then it's back to paris on thursday morning. tgv leaves at 6am!! isabelle's flying up from aix and we're going to hang out in paris that day then she's going to go with me to the airport on thursday to say bye. then it's home!! well, there it is, my program for the next week in case i don't post before coming back home. see you in a week, y'all!!

2004-06-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

well, here it is folks...my last post from the good old dorm (cuques) computer lab. it's finally here. i started off my day by having someone come by and make sure that i hadn't destroyed anything throughout the year. then...more packing, then i took a bunch of stuff to the office for next year's students (forks, plates, vase, just a bunch of crap). i made several round trips today in the sweltering heat. yeah, not fun. then it was back home one final time to shower and then to head to marion's for 'aperitif.' so after sitting visiting with her a bit this evening, i headed home after a LONG detour because the shortcut that i always take had the gates shut. ended up taking me a half hour to get home instead of 10 minutes. i then went to a movie with isabelle (2 sisters/2 soeurs) and then off to have one final drink. so, i'm exhausted. i'm going to go upstairs and spend one last and final night in my dorm room - i'm leaving at 9am tomorrow morning for miramas.

2004-06-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

i got up this morning and went trapsing through aix taking pictures and video-taping the city of aix with jessie. then it was off to see about cancelling my renters insurance, then to quick (france's version of mcdonalds) to get a coke with jessie, ankica and tim. then...it was back home to take a nap, shower and then head out the door to go have dinner with isabelle. now that i'm back from dinner, i've spent the rest of my evening packing. my room is BARE!! it's sooooooooooooooooo upsetting. i just can't believe that i'm leaving already. it's going to be really, really, really hard. anyway, just fyi, i'm leaving on saturday so my internet access will be more and more limited. so i probably won't be able to post everyday as i like (or don't like) to.

2004-06-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

i got up this morning to go take my renaissance lit oral final exam. it went really well, i think. then it was into town to have lunch with marion, get coffee with feral from the office to talk about my year abroad, grocery store for wine, home for a nap, then a party! that has been my day. it was behind the restaurant here at the dorms and soooooooooooooo many people ended up showing up!!! so yeah...that's been my day. later, all, i'm off to bed.

2004-06-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

i spent the majority of my day...PACKING! can you believe that its here - my departure??? i certainly cant. but i do know one thing - i have absolutely no idea how im going to get all that stuff in my suitcases. but my rooms depressing now. everythings off the walls, suitcases are everywhere, just a mess. so i guess im going to go back upstairs and do some more packing. i have my FINAL final exam tomorrow at 9:30. hopefully itll go well...

2004-06-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

i rolled out of bed early this morning to go take yet another in-class dissertation. yeah. i didn't do too poorly, but it wasn't fabulous, either. see, we had to comment on a text that talked about something specific covered in class. since it was something specific and not a broader topic (like exams are in the states), there really wasn't all that much to say. that's why i say you can know basically 99.9% of course material and still fail the course here in france. i didn't fail, but, well, we'll see. after the exam, i came home and decided to get myself out of a mess...literally! i cleaned my room. so after a thorough cleaning, i took a shower and headed into town to get a train ticket to go to miramas for saturday morning. then it was back to the dorm to cook dinner with jessie then back again to town to go out and have a drink with stevie and marion. it turned into marion taking us out to dinner. i had a good time. back at stevie's, i gave her a BIG good-bye hug since she's leaving to go back to the states tomorrow. it's so sad. i just can't believe that it here!! the end of the year! i never thought i'd see this day come, but at the same time, it's upsetting to be leaving. i mean, stevie lives in indy so i'll see her when i get home, but still. however, when i went to bed last night, i couldn't hardly sleep. i was sick at my stomach. it wasn't the fact that i was leaving aix/going home which i have mixed feelings about (not wanting to leave my new-found life, friends, etc but really wanting to get back home to see everyone, blah blah blah) but i was sick because things are going to change...yet again. it's human nature to not like change and here things are going to change yet again...BIGTIME. i'm going to be leaving the new-found life, friends to go home. anyway, just the whole mental soap opera slash drama of studying abroad. but nobody said study abroad was going to be easy. anyways, in other news, the weather has taken a turn for the...wetter and cooler! it's been raining today with (and get this)...THUNDER!!! whoa!! there's a first. but it's kinda chilly outside. for once when the french weather forecasts call for rain, it finally rained!! ok, i'm going to go. nite.

2004-06-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

today i ended up getting out of bed at 12:30. it was nice to sleep in. i bummed around my place for a bit and then cleaned up to head into town to a study session with kirsten. we've got another big exam tomorrow, but i'm not really worried about that one, either. so now that we've finished going over our notes, i think i'm going to go upstairs and relax before our exam tomorrow morning. yet another long in-class dissertation. only this time it's 3 hours long instead of 4!

2004-06-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

well, the party last night was craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. i get there and start off by having a glass of wine and just chillin', talkin' to people. then more and more people started to show up. then marion got there with a bottle of tequila. she showed me this thing called a 'tequila sunrise.' it was soooooooo cool! what you do is you put some salt on your hand, put a shot of teq. in a glass and an equal amount of schweppes. you lick the salt, place your hand firmly over the top of the glas, slam the glass 3x on the table to mix it all up (it makes nothing but foam) and then slam the drink. wow! a powerful drink and a good one at that, too. you're supposed to eat a lime afterwards, but we didn't have any. but i'd say that there were like...40-50 people at this party. then random people started to come up to the apt...people we didn't even know. the party kinda got out of hand. LOUD, man was it loud! anyway, i got to bed late and then up at 630 this morning to head back to isabelle's mom's place with her to finish weeding her garden. back in aix, i came home, played around on the internet in the computer lab, went back into town to burn some cd's off of caitlin's computer and then now just got back. the weather outside is nice. there's a FAST, cool wind blowing but it feels good after 95+ degree days. it's a litteral differenc between night and day. and if just by chance any of you follow the weather over here, you might as well quit now. it'll say it's a nice, sunny 75 degrees when it's anything but. sunny, yeah, but you can usually add...20 or 30 degrees to what it says online. french weather forecasts are UNPRECIDENTLY unreliable. it's amazing to know that people even tune into the weather forecasts to see what's going to go on!! sheez! now that it's after midnight, i think it might be prudent of me to go to bed.

2004-06-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

today i got up and headed into town with ranya and her friend who is here from the states. we first of all started out by eating lunch at the dorm cafeteria (which was a first since fall) and then they wanted to go to a travel agency to find anything last minute. and they did - $400 for 7 nights 8 days all inclusive resort on an island in tunisia in northern africa, air included. i was sick that i couldn't go because of exams (i would have charged it if i would have had the time). but there was a problem - darcy, her friend, was leaving before the chartered trip got back. the charter plane only makes one round trip so she would have been stuck. anyway, they found the same thing but in spain. they're leaving tomorrow morning. i then went to my back to collect the money that i had in my account when i closed it. the woman informed me that i had to come before 4:15 because the cash drawrs were closed. i mean, it's a BANK!!!!! what bank in their right mind closes its cash flow before the bank closes itself?!?!?!?! i hate crédit lyonnais. boy was i pissed. and i told the teller, too. anyway, now i'm about to go to an end of the year party above the bureau. i just realized something - i'm leaving aix next saturday!!!!!!!!!!! where has it gone???? i used to hate aix when i was going through some SERIOUS culture shock but now, i don't want to leave!! it's going to be hard. people on the program are dropping like flies (leaving to go back to the states, that is). i can't believe its here. but i'm taking the train to miramas next saturday and will be at elyane and christian's until thursday. thursday i'm taking the TGV up to paris and staying with anne-caroline over night because i'm going to leave the majority of my stuff there. then the 25th i'm just taking a small bag to go out and see my host families (another TGV trip) and will be there until the 8th of july. the 8th i'm coming back to paris, staying yet again at anne-caroline's and flying out of paris on the 9th. so yeah...and the weather - one word: HOT!!! but now it's clouding up like it wants to rain, which would be a first in like...a month of sundays. it's actually kinda cool out - feels good. oh, and get this - guess where i went for dinner last night. yeup...frieda's!! can you believe it? she personally invited me to come over with another group of students and eat. so i went. she was nice last night. but the usual bitching about the program, Mme Féral (the french woman who is the on-site director), etc. too much for me because i just so happen to personally like jeanine (féral). oh well. the food was good and yeah. as for the company - eeeeeeeeeeeeeh, that left quite a bit to be desired. but i came home and read theonion.com for the first time in quite a long time. HILARIOUS! ok, i'm going to go back upstairs and put on some pants then head to the party. later, folks.

2004-06-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!!!!! yes folks, one month from today i'll be hearing 'ladies and gentlemen, welcome to indianapolis.' so, to mark this one month countdown date, justin and i went to cassis today to go to the beach. the train station is about 2 miles from the beach so we had quite a bit of walking to do in the sweltering heat. no, i didn't go there to celebrate the one month mark, but we went to celebrate the worst of our exams being over, the renaissance lit final that we took yesterday. anyway, the weather was hot, the water was excellent and we had a good time. back in aix, i showered and headed to the office library to study. i've got an oral exam in the morning. haven't really studied but i think i'll do fine. it's going to be kinda laid-back, i think. so we'll see. that's about it for today. nite!

2004-06-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

yesterday i spent basically the entire day studying for my renaissance lit final that i had this morning. ummmm... then this morning came the big day. it was a 4 hour written dissertation in class from 9a-1p. i knew exactly what to study since the prof had given us pointers for studying. when i got to the test, i read teh question and spent the next 3 hours writing nonstop! man were my fingers sore at the end of it. i then came home and tried to take a nap (2 hours worth) before heading back into town. i went to credit lyonnais to close my bank account and then headed to the bureau to hang out with the people that live in the apt there. then justin and i went out for a drink and saw stevie walking past while sitting there. she joined us and then it was off to monoprix to buy something for dinner. stevie and i had quiche and potato wedges. yum. we studied some and then talked about people on the program. i was invited to frieda's for dinner tonight but declined because frankly, i wouldn't have been able to put up with her. sure, i would have gone to eat free food and drink free wine, but 'merde.' you say 'merde' when you've had enough of someone/something. it literally means 'shit' but it's in a stronger sense when you say it when you've had enough of something. anyway, justin and i are going to this GREAT beach tomorrow. i've never been there but from the pictures i've seen it's really pretty. so i guess that's where i'll leave it at for tonight. later, all.

2004-06-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

i got up today and headed to the program office's library to study for my huge renaissance lit exam that's on tuesday. then it was off to the park this evening to play capture the flag, semester girls vs. year long students. well, after a while nobody was getting anywhere. oh, and there were 10 of them and only 6 of us. so we decided to change flags (all white) so it'd be easier to see in the dark. well, leah cheated and watched us hide our flag. 5 minutes later, they found ours and ran back over to the other side. but caitlin (on our side) had gotten their flag LEGITIMATELY and almost made it back across the boundry. anyway, after that we tried playing a game of hide and go seek in the dark in the park (the same park where we were at last night) but we were all tired and wanted to go home. we got home around midnight and now it's shower time. tomorrow i've got to be up early to go do some more studying.

2004-06-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

again again, nothing going on here. i'm just studying like a mofo and just hoping that i'll do well on my exams. last night i went to bed at 430am and was out of bed at 745am. i was studying, not partying, mind you. i went to isabelle's mom's (with isabelle) to weed her rose garden. it got so hot that we had to quit. it was 104°F today!!!!!! i came back, showered, and took a 2 hour nap when i was hoping for a longer one. then stevie called and wanted to know if i wanted to meet up with the rest of the bunch to sit in the park after dark and hang out. so i went. and got drunk. they had brought wine and we drank and rolled down the hill. it was a lot of fun. and it's sooooooooo nice outside! well, after a day of 100 degree temps, it's understandable. after going back to stevie's place for more drinks and chilli concarne, i'm back to go to bed. kirstin and i have a renaissance lit study session tomorrow at noon to do. so let's just hope that i'll be able to make it. ...

2004-06-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

well, nothing big going on here. it's hotter than hell and i'm about to go nuts worrying over my exams. i start on tuesday and i'm screwed for this one!! oh well. i'll study and pull through somehow. ummmm...yeah, that's about it. nothing big. can't think of anything. maybe something interesting will come up within the next few days. oh! i went out and bought michael moore's STUPID WHITE MEN. a HIGHLY recommended read - he talks about the stupidity of our governmental officials and how bush STOLE the elections of 2000. and be sure to go see his film 'farenheit 9/11!!!!!!' it's set for release on june 25. rest assured that as soon as i get home i'm going to see it (providing it doesn't come out here in europe sooner).

2004-05-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

isabelle thought it was about time that i cut my hair. so she made me meet her at 9am yesterday morning to take me to the place where she gets her hair cut. and, well, i got my hair cut. after that, she and i went out for breakfast (coffee and croissant). i then went back home and slept, read, slept, read, all this in the midst of a HOT day. today, i got up and ranya and i made maccaroni and cheese and cream of wheat for breakfast. then it was more homework time. then ankica, ranya and i all went to snacksomos for some dinner. on the way there, ranya had a run-in with someone whose umbrella she lost 6 months ago. see, the thing is, the umbrella wasn't his in the first place...it was his friend's! he had borrowed it from him. when ranya told the guy that she had lost it, he told her no big deal. now, 6 months later, he wants it back because he says his friend wants it back. ranya called the friend and he told her that it was no big deal - they weren't friends anymore. however, the guy that she got it off of says that his friend needs it back. what a tool. and what's even worse - he told ranya that he wanted the umbrella back PRONTO and it's a longchamp umbrella - at nearly $70!! what a prick this guy is. so ankica and i stook up for ranya and just told him to go...well, yeah. and in other news, i've been watching the wicked weather back home. even though there are lots of tornados, be thankful!! i miss them - we don't have them here. but on july 9 i'll be home, thank goodness...

2004-05-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

yesterday i got up and i don't remember what else. but i DO remember that i went to sit down at a café to have a drink and read some for frieda's class when all of the sudden i realized that i had left without my wallet. that means no money. i was 55 cents short. the guy wasn't too happy when i told him that that was all i had and that i would have to bring him the rest later. i mean, it's not like i do it to him (or in general) all the time. so i ran home, changed into some jeans because the wind had kinda picked up and i knew that isabelle and i would be sitting outside somewhere having dinner, and then came back into town to give the waiter his money. he seemed a bit surprised that i came back. isabelle and i then went to Fly, a Lowes slash Office Max Furniture store and picked out a desk for her computer. after going to dinner, i went home and got up at 7am this morning to be at her place bright and early to go get the desk. since she doesn't have a car nor a drivers license, i drove the delivery truck (they rent one out). man was i nervous since it was a big vehicle!! but we got it all inside ok, the rental truck back ok, and then spent the next 6-7 hours putting the damned thing together! but at least it's up now. now that i'm back home, i took a shower and am getting ready to go to jackie's and sara's for some drinks (not too many, though) since jackie is going back to indiana TOMORROW!! how lucky is she?!?

2004-05-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday i slept in, got up, showered and then went into town. stevie and i went to have a drink to catch up a bit since we hadn't seen each other for quite sometime. we realized how much work we have left to do here in france AND to prepare for law school. i had a splitting headache for the rest of the evening. however, it was a nice day. summer is definitely here. but i miss good old indiana thunderstorms. you all might be saying how much you hate 'em but believe me, you'd miss them if you spent a year away from home! today, i got up and got a call from kristin asking if i wanted to go to the beach in marseille. so i went. it was her, me, gena, justin, stevie's mom and one of stevie's friends from indiana that's here visiting. it was kinda cool. i mean, the sun was out but on the beach there was a bit of a breeze. it was still nice, though. i went into the water twice. it was so clear! the beach had a nice steep drop off and you were almost immediately over your head, but you could see down to the bottom where the sand was. that way you could see what was right underneath you. after coming back, i ran home to shower and then went to our end of the year dinner for the program. blah blah blah. we all pitched in 5 euros to get our secretary, our on-site director, jeanine feral and frieda (the resident director) gifts. liz suggested we get them all gift certifficates to the spa here in aix. i didn't want my name going on anything to frieda, but i did anyway, just for the group's sake. and i finally figured out why she doesn't like me. i'm too french!! frienda, who studied in paris and is basically french, doesn't like the french language or the culture!! then why the F is she teaching french, then? it makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever. anyway, i found out that the bitch doesn't like me because i have too many french mannerisms. well, tough shit. she's going to dock my grade for being in france and speaking as they do and acting as they do (in some aspects). well, piss on her. she's going to get an earful just as soon as i get my final grade from her so she can't give me a bad grade for telling her just how unprofessional she really is. whew. on that note, i'm going to bed.

2004-05-24T02:40:00.000-07:00

so i got up wednesday morning and left for cannes. cody and i were on the same train and with the same host family, too. when we got there we went and had a drink while we waited for the others to get to cannes. once we found our host families, we set off for the houses to get all settled in. then all of the students got together to watch a movie on the beach. they showed low-class movies to the low-class people. then for the next two days i was on the beach with jessie, rachael and cody. it was soooooooooooooo nice!! we even went out to this little island (had to take a boat out there with a glass bottom in it). but there were TONS of jellyfish swiming around everywhere. i tried to snorkel, but couldn't really get into it. however, i did buy the material to snorkel because it was $9! can't beat that!! i didn't really see any famous people. i did, however, see lots of rich hotels, the famous red carpet, TONS of luxury boats and cars, etc. oh, get this! so caitlin and erin got a flyer on the street to go to the screening of a film called 'suicide trip.' so we went. they warned us that the film wasn't done yet but they wanted to bring it to cannes to get young people's opinions. it talks about 3 young guys who had rough times in society and did a bunch of drugs. well, you can just imagine where the story goes from there. but it talks about all the youth violence in the US. they then had us take notes as we watched it, fill out a questionnaire and then they video taped our reactions to the movie. they even fed us and gave us t-shirts, too! it was really cool. and it was at the hilton, one of the more upper-scale hotels in cannes. but the thing about the cannes film festival is that it used to be a time where the stars would come out and interact with and appreciate their fans. not anymore. the stars stay hidden and hidden well. so they suck their fans for the money and fame and glory but don't really come out and thank them. celebrities are just asses. that's what i learned this past week. hence the reason i didn't care to go see any of their films, even though i DID have a badge to get me into certain events. i preferred to spend it on the beach. and we couldn't have asked for better beach weather. anyway, in other news, isabelle had a big picnic at her mom's yesterday. so we went there and ate TONS of good food, drank and just had an overall good time. i ended up staying the night and coming home this morning. i had a REALLY REALLY good time. cedric and jean-claude were so drink that they just jumped onto the wall of the house (outside) and started climbing it! for no particular reason!! jean-claude got up so high that we had to go get a ladder to get him down. isabelle and i just sat behind and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. now that i'm back, i just took a shower, unpacked and am now writing this long post to my website. i think i'm going to go take a nap since isabelle and i didn't sleep much last night - we sat up most of the night reformatting jean-claude hard drive on his computer. it was a long process but it's finally done. and he's got windows xp now. ok, i'm going now.

2004-05-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

ok, well, i can't remember where i last left off, so i'll just start with some interesting things that have gone on. oh yeah, by the way, our internet is back up. we never thought he'd get it back up because the dude's out of money and was probably going to screw us all if we hadn't have said something. but last weekend we went to cannes for the day (the cannes film festival). that was really cool. but just way too many people. and the night before we all went out to a bar and just had a drink and danced to CCR. an american classic rock group. good times. ummm...all of my classes are over now. today was the last day. but i skipped classes today to do laundry and stuff to prepare for yet another trip to cannes. see, last weekend it was through the program - we didn't have to pay for it. well, we did but indirectly. tomorrow i'm leaving to spend 5 days in cannes rubbing elbows with the stars as we all will have badges to get into everything. the weather here in the south of france is finally back to what it should be - HOT!!! so i'll be spending quite a bit of time at the beach. ranya, avery, kirstin and i made mexican food tonight. it was reeaaaaaaaaaalllllllyyyyy good. little tastes of home. aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd...there was a bomb in town at 330 this morning. windows busted out EVERYWHERE. don't know who did it and why. but yeah, a bomb here in small pee-dunk aix-en-provence. isn't that crazy?!?!? ok, i need to go upstairs and pack and go to bed. but now that internet is back up i'll be able to post on a daily basis again. well, not until sunday, though, since i'm going to be gone. oh, yeah, i'm leaving aix on the 24th of june. i reserved my tgv (bullet train) tickets the other day. HALLELUJAH!! i can't wait to come home. i'm having a GREAT time in france but enough's enough. i wanna go home. so with all of this in mind, nite, y'all!!

2004-05-10T04:24:00.000-07:00

where to begin? the reason i havent posted since i left to go on break is for the fact that internet at my place has been down since i got back from break. the crooked guy running the joint said that someone tapped into his system and ordered 1500€ worth of products off of the internet. hes been saying for a week now that it should be back up and running any day because wanadoo, the isp, had to change his code. ha. the guy is so crooked that hes probably got absolutely no plans whatsoever to open the labs back up and just pocket our money for internet that we should be able to use for the next two months. were all pretty pissed about it. but oh well. well just have to wait and see. in other news, the thursday night before break i went to stevie's to watch movies to stay up all night since i had to be checked in for my flight at 605am. on the flight up to paris to meet my grandparents, it was SO INCREDIBLY turbulent and what was even worse was the fact that there was this LOUD, LOW-PITCHED grinding noise that came from the engine. i was so scared i almost filled up the in-flight burp bag!!! anyway, we landed safely and so did my grandparents. we spent a week in paris and then took the train down here to provence for a week. the weather in paris wasnt good at all. it was mostly cloudy, windy and rainy, not to mention cool. but at least we were able to see almost everything in paris. then we took the train to provence. going from the bullet train station in aix to miramas (elyane and christians house) we got lost. i had never driven in france before and what was even worse was that it was at night. i had to call elyane because somehow i ended us up at the marseille airport. she gave us directions, though. good thing i had my cell phone. in the south, we went to camargue, a place with wild horses, pink flamingos, etc. we also went into the alpilles, small hills outside of marseille. we just drove through there and enjoyed the scenery. the weather down here was great, though. then christian took us to marseille. i found some really cool beaches there so i think a couple of us are going there this friday because the weathers supposed to be nice. ummm...yeah, it was really good seeing papa and andy again. then we took the train back up to paris the night before they flew home. when they left for the airport, i got a bit homesick because i had a piece of home, something familiar and it was gone. oh well...two months more and ill be home. after they left, i went to see roman in italy. i had fun, but was exhausted from the past two weeks of break. we didnt do much, but still had fun. then that sunday i got up at six to start the trip home. three hour train ride to milan, get from train station to airport and then from there it was a good 8 hours or so. i flew from milan to marseille via paris with a 6 hour layover in paris. anyway, now that im back, ive spent the ENTIRE week at the office writing papers. now that theyre pretty much finished, im just chillin'. ummmm...went back to the hospital for a TB test. negative, of course. what else...nothing, really. just a bunch of little things but too numerous to put in one days post. but were all going to attack souheil (the crooked internet guy) if he doesnt get the internet back up and running shortly because honestly, how long does it take for wanadoo to change his 'code?' not that long. so we all think hes fibbing to us. anyway, ill post again sometime...soon, hopefully. but ive still got my cell if anyone needs to get ahold of me here in france...later

2004-04-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

after going to eat with isabelle last night, i went to stevie's place for her 21st birthday party. they were playing cards and drinking mixed-drinks made in the blender. i left to come back home and was in bed at 3. i decided to skip my 930 class this morning to sleep because i'm staying up all night tonight so i won't miss my 445am shuttle to the airport in the morning. i'm going over to stevie's at midnight to watch movies. she's going to stay up with me. other than that, today i got up, went to isabelle's and then went for a coffee. then it was off to frieda's class but we ended up watching a movie called 'la haine' (hate) because she's gone to the US for a while. hallelujah. but the movie was about a bunch of thugs and thieves. too much slang for me to be able to understand anything. then it was back to isabelle's to use her computer to register for my classes for next semester. only 1 was full, so i got pretty much most of what i wanted. nothing but criminal justice next semester, so i'm happy about that. and then 2nd semester i'll only have 3 classes to take! woohoo! i then went with her to get a new chair for her desk and carried it back to her apt for her. we all then sat down and put it together. she took us out for a drink (her friend, johann, is down from paris). now that i'm back, i'm going to do a bit of last minute packing, shower and then head out the door for stevie's. i probably won't be posting for the next two weeks (may 3, probably) because i'm going to have limited internet access. but i'll try to put the major events of my 2 week break on here when i get back to aix. bye!

2004-04-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

it seems that i'm getting into a habit of only posting every other day. so, for yesterday's news, i skipped my 4 hour long rennaissance lit class to read a book for my arabic world class that's due the week after break. i did get quite a bit done, surprisingly...then i showered and headed off to town to read in our office's library. after that damned arabic world class, i came back home, ate and went to bed. today, i got up and went to my french history class. the prof arrived 15 mins late...we all were hoping he wouldn't show up at all! anyway, i then went and had coffee with isabelle and then she had me go with her to get a new rug for her living room floor. she needed me to carry it back for her. now that i'm back home, i did some laundry by hand in my toilet slash bidet, showered and am getting ready to go out to dinner with isabelle. so, with that in mind ladies and gentlemen, talk to all y'all later.

2004-04-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

yesterday i didn't do anything. i didn't even change out of my pjamas! i slept until 3 (recovering from the spanish festival the day before in arles). but i did get the majority of my packing done for break. i leave friday morning on the 445am shuttle to the airport. i don't even think i'm going to go to bed thursday night. anyway, today, caitlin, joel, kirstin and i all went to climb this mountain outside of aix, sainte victoire. we had to be on a bus at 745am this morning. it was kinda chilly when we were first starting out, but after a while it warmed up. it took us 3 hours to get to the top and only an hour and a half to get down. it was a lot of fun, though. there's a chapel at the top and so we all had lunch up there (no, there's no restaurant, we brought our own eats). after we got back to aix, we went out for coffee since we all are so tired. i then came back and showered. i think i'm going to turn in early tonight.

2004-04-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

where do i begin?? let's start with friday, a rather productive day. i got up, went with caitlin to get train tickets to arles for yesterday, saturday, went to the grocery store, came back did laundry and cleaned my room. nothing exciting but the essencials. yesterday, well, that's another story of its own. so we got up (me, justin, erin, caitlin) and were on an 813am train to arles. see, every year this is this spanish festival called 'la feria d'arles' (don't ask me what that translates to). so we get there and they had blocked off some of the streets to let the bulls out of their pin to chase people through the streets (it's the tradition). it was really cool!!! what was even cooler was when the bull broke through the metal fence and started running after spectators!!!! you want to talk about some action!! everyone started screaming and the rumble of people running away to hide in cafes and stuff. it was great!!! you would have thought that someone had opened fire in a group of people the way people were screaming and running! it was awesome!! then we went to get some coffee because none of us slept worth anything the night before. now it was off to see the bulls chase horses down the street. well, what happens was there were horses on all sides of the bull (except from behind). the horses run, blocking the bull's view. if a bull see's something running, it's gonna keep running. then once the 'possy' passes a certain line, people run after the bull to try to bring it to the ground. well, every now and then a bull would get loose and we'd all go running for our lives, sometimes 15 people jumping up to safety on top of a car! it was the best thing i've done in a long time!!!!! i've got video tape of most of it. we ate pizza for lunch. and then we saw then dragging away a bull that had lost a bull fight. yeah, you wanna talk about something that turns your stomach. this festival is really nothing but cruelty to animals. they're not tortured, but it's not really nice, either. especially the bull fights!! so since we're all animal lovers and had already spent money on tickets for the bull fight, we all decided to get drunk so it wouldn't bother us as much. and drunk we got. i ended up talking to my mom for a half hour while plastered. i don't remember who else i called. anyway. then the time for the fight to begin. after them going through 3 or 4 bulls, we called it quits. what they do is wave that little flag and the bull comes running. well, after a while, he throws a sword into its back! and then it falls on the ground after a while and people cheer! it's horrible!!! if i'd have known what exactly this 'spanish festival' was, i wouldn't have gone. but it's tradition here in the south of france and a cultural experience. then we went to eat and then back to the train station to come home. we left at 7am and got home at like midnight. what a day.

2004-04-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

wednesday, i slept through my french history class. i just didn't feel like going. then i headed to isabelle's place - she went with me to the hospital for a check-up xray of that spot in my lung. it's still the same size, so still no reason to worry. man, was i relieved! anyway, i went to a meeting at our office, just sort of an approaching-the-end-of-the-year-and-want-to-have-a-meeting meeting. just administrative stuff. nothing interesting. then it was home to read 2/3 of a book that caitlin and had to give an presentation on today in frieda's class. we worked until 2am, wishing at 1am that we were in the states so we could send out for pizza. today, i got up at 11 (my other french history class was cancelled today) and finished my part of the presentation. then the big moment came - the presentation. it went rather well, i think. i came home after going to the office of tourism checking on shuttle schedules for monday - we're thinking of going to "climb" this mountain that's right outside of our town. it's nothing dangerous...just a paved road to the top and there's a great view up there. i took a nap once i got home and then fixed this HUGE pot of maccaroni and cheese. then caitlin called and i met up with her, justin and erin for a drink. now that i'm back, i'm going to bed. nite folks!