p-e-o-p-l-e- i-n- t-h-e- c-i-t-y

I put up six new albums on my Picasa, featuring Madrid, Barcelona, Prague, Amsterdam, Amanda's Visit to Paris, and Florence. I only put up about half of the pictures I had, but there are still a lot. A lot a lot. If you would like to see them, I will remind you that once in an album, there is an option in the upper right hand corner to view the thumbnails large, so you don't have to look at all the pictures individually. Enjoy my loves, because I certainly did. Flickr highlights, stories, and videos to come.

Otherwise, life continues to be wonderful in all aspects (hence the lack of posts, perhaps...), even with the lack of sun in Paris and three very large papers looming ahead of me. Today I gave a presentation in French class about aquariums. (Jellyfish are called le médusa). I also went and saw my first movie in French sans subtitles (except for Amelie, which doesn't count because by the time I saw it without subtitles I had memorized it anyway). It was called Paris and it was quite good (if not a tad indulgent), so if you can find it with subtitles, do so.

The Sprout and the Bean

"My dear ones, you can't imagine how beautiful it is here. Already early in the morning I lie on a towel in the sand, which is like foam. I could drift along as if I were on a raft. But I quickly became aware that this would reduce my life, namely, to an ink-blue bar, a line, nothing. I immediately looked for a job. I watch the sea and count the soiling of its horizon."
--from an exhibit at the contemporary art museum in barcelona

So I'm back from break and it was wonderful. I'd like to reflect and tell you something a little meaningful/interesting about the places I went instead of a frenzy of bullets; this may take some time. What I can tell you now was that it was amazing/lovely/insert other adjectives and that the whole break really re-invigorated me in regard to Paris, if that's even possible. I'm also excited to plan more trips for the copious time off I have in May. I'm looking at Venice, Berlin, Budapest, Istanbul, and Greece.

My camera got wet and is currently not turning on but I'm crossing my fingers for its recovery. My memory card should be fine, but the long and short of the story is no pictures for now (and probably far too many later).

News for now: On the bus back from Amsterdam to Paris I met two American students who are currently traveling and whose plans for lodging in Paris had fallen through. I took 'em home, they did my dishes, and they're staying until Friday! Cheers to new friends and free couches to sleep on.

I Get the News I Need From the Weather Report

Madrid: 69°
Barcelona: 62°
Prague: 48°
Amsterdam: 50°

See you in two weeks.

WWI Cemetery

WWI Cemetery, originally uploaded by Rocketships, Jellyfish.

This past weekend I went on a study trip with my Paris at War class to WWI sites in Northern France. It was a little tiring, very depressing, but very cool. The countryside is beautiful. Some highlights were the cathedrals at Laon and Reims (two small towns in France), seeing the trenches from the battle of the Sommes, the "Cavern of the Dragon" (a stone quarry where soldiers lived directly under the battlefield), and the American Cemetery (pictured here). Lowlights: the small town of Albert selling me three rolls of exposed film for 12euro and me not realizing it until we got on the bus. I'm still not really over it. Pictures at Picasa and slowly editing some for Flickr.

Also, here's a video from winter break of my cousin Keana. She is two and can probably vuvuzela better than you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmZPCKzbZk

I have bedbugs and an 8 page paper to write but otherwise life is grand. I'm almost done applying for internships, midterms are almost over, and spring break is coming up. After that it's going to be Spring!, sun, museums, meandering, picture taking, writing, reading, visitors!, trips, macaron binging, etc.

Love and things.

T-Shirt Folding, Xhosa, Cheese

Random update-- I do a t-shirt folding demo as requested by Claire/Meg, Kat sends a package, I break out some Xhosa, talk about cheese... Miss you guys. Midterms/papers are killing me.

Paris Metro

Paris Metro, originally uploaded by Rocketships, Jellyfish.

My favorite photo taken since being here.

Daft Punk is Playing at My House

Today I was walking around Montparnasse and stopped to get a caramel crepe, which was delicious. However when I went to throw the wrapper away I looked down and saw that I had caramel ALL OVER ME. My coat, my scarf, my jeans, my shoes... It literally looked like someone had taken a squeeze bottle of caramel and squirted it at me. I'm such a dope.

Also today my light went out in my room and neither I nor my landlord could seem to fix it. The whole event was pretty comical-- my sweet old landlord climbing up my rickety ladder to reach the light, me standing below, holding the ladder steady and handing him various different bulbs and flipping the switch on and off while he emitted various curses in French and English. The best part was when he would fiddle with it and say "Et voila! Switch it on!" and I would switch it and we would both stare at the bulb as nothing happened and he would say "Merde! Son of a bitch. Ok," and keep futzing. Verdict: still no light in Talisa's apartment.

On Friday night I went with friends Lindsey and JingJing to a jazz club below this bar in the Latin Quarter called Guillotine (yes, they had one!). The jazz club downstairs used to be a dungeon (!) and there were big stone walls and iron bars and yeah... pretty neat.