OK, so the holiday season is upon us and well, what ever happened to autumn? (I just had a real break in trying to figure out how to spell autumn…thank goodness for spell check!) Anyway, here is a brief… at least that is what I am saying now… overview of the last few months. In order to figure out where exactly I left off in the last blog I had to read it and suffice it to say things have changed. I am now taking the initiative to enjoy Paris.
I quit my au pair ship and now have a great studio by the Arc de Triomphe. (and if you are a Google Earth fan, check out rue Lauriston). I love where I live. My land lady is pretty awesome and I have a great Canadian neighbor. Come to think of it, maybe she is the reason I love it so much… a Canadian neighbor just like in the States. Geography jokes aside, my place is about 20sq. meters and clean and new and well-equipped. I fell in love with it right away. Here is a little story about that. The first time I went for a visit, I went up to my landlady’s apartment on the 5th floor by elevator and then through her apartment we went to the service stairs to go up to the studio. I fell in love. The second time was the same. Then, I got the apartment (whoo breath of fresh air) and finally moved. I took my huge bag (for trip one) and realized how long 6 flights of stairs can be. That is right, 6th floor French (7th American) without an elevator. Thigh master anyone? Boy, after those three trips I was pretty happy to be at home. I slept like a baby and it was great.
Between quitting my au pair ship and moving I had about a month of good times. First, The MICEFA, being the awesome organizations it is, arranged a trip to Mont St. Michel in Bretagne (the west). We went early on a Saturday morning and spent the afternoon there. Wait a second, I have not told you about the strikes. Well, I guess I am striking against the fluidity of my writing, but I must make my blogs as organized as my thoughts. So the French aren’t so keen on change we all knew it, we all accepted it, some things just don’t change. Oh, but they do. There is this new president of France (no, France is not a monarchy) named Nicolas, say it with me, nee koh ah, Sarkozy, the latest conservative French president. He is trying to cut back certain benefits for transportation workers and it isn’t going so well. What I mean by that is, for a few days they stopped working and well, it became rather difficult to get around. Don’t worry, it was over in the blink of an eye. OK, so that’s out of the way now. Back to France’s up-side. So, Mont St. Michel is this crazy town in the ocean. Yep, I may be making lots of grammatical mistakes, but I mean “in” the ocean. Apparently you can only go when the tide is low. Well, it is a beautiful town that kind of looks like a big seashell on its end from afar. There is a quaint little town and as you continue up the street, you come upon a huge abbey. I am not a very poetic writer, so I am not going to try and explain. For those of you living vicariously through me, try and see it for yourself. It is amazing.
Then, I was invited very graciously to visit Grenoble over the Toussaint holiday. That is right, I barely knew what classes I was going to take and we already had a week of vacation. I took the TGV (high speed train) down to Lyon and then a regular, but still very cool, train into Grenoble. It is a really neat town with a nice atmosphere. The people I stayed with showed me a bit of their city and it quite adorable. One of the coolest parts was the balls that you can take up to the top of one of the mountains and have a look at the city from above. We went up to the bastille, which seemed like some kind of medieval fortification, and it was pretty chilly, but amazingly beautiful. Leaves… they are just so cool the way they can change color like that. Another neat thing was the street lined with pizzerias. I mean lined, at least 15 one next to the other. Cough, mafia? Cough. (Oh, my goodness, I just spelled cough wrong). I definitely recommend this town as a place to see. I really felt like I was in France and that was nice.
Since then, I have moved and oh yeah, there was another strike. I can’t remember how long it lasted, but it seemed like forever. I think 10 days or something like that. Hmm, I just thought of something to add, but I forgot. Oh yeah, another MICEFA trip, this time to Normandy. I really enjoyed the trip. We went to the American cemetery and to Omaha Beach. It was really moving. I want to put the two impressions out there, but if you know how concessives work, then hopefully you be able to tell which one of them was mine. Some people may say that Americans always overdo things and that the monument built for the cemetery is too gaudy and expensive, it is important to also let yourself be awed. The monument and the cemetery itself are extremely well taken care of and utter works of art. OK, so it is quiz time: how did I feel? Yep, (or maybe nope, but probably yep) I thought it was an amazing place well worth the money (most likely because I don’t work and don’t understand the value of taxpayer dollars). It is big, but not intrusive. Somber is what comes to mind. Nothing too extravagant and nothing that was not deserved. So, it was an amazing day and while I have been a proud American for about 4 years now, I am only more honored to be American than ever. I hope somewhere someone reads this out loud in front of a big American flag in the background. So, the bus ride home was cool and we made it to the MICEFA office alright. It must have been kind of late though because I wasn’t able to take the metro home. I forgot it was during the strike, so on a not so warm night I got to walk all the way home. I just realized that this was before I moved, so I must have messed up the chronology there. My bad. I moved just after the end of the strike.
Oh, and while this doesn’t affect me because I am in a private school, a few of the public schools in Paris were also striking. I know that it affected quite a few people, but it seems that after about a month of striking things are settling down a bit… right in time for the winter holidays. A little note about University here, most of the universities don’t finish until the end of January, mine included. So, while you enjoy your holidays, think about those of us studying for finals. Just kidding, it is not a big deal; I certainly won’t be studying on Christmas day (being semi-Catholic I am allowed to say that). So yeah, that is that.
Oh, you want to know what I am up to now? I am actually in Chamonix visiting some family friends. Go ahead, Google earth it, it is in the Alps near the highest summit in Europe, Mont Blanc. I took the very uncool night train (actually it was pretty cool, but not exactly a good night’s sleep) and got here yesterday morning. It is so beautiful everything is covered in snow. And it is a different snow than that of Pennsylvania and California. It is very sticky… I mean it really holds together. Oh and it is very cold. I am not sure in Fahrenheit, but below 32 for sure. Paris isn’t exactly warm either, so it wasn’t too bad of a change, but still, it is cold. I really enjoy visiting with French people, I get to see how they live and the culture. Living in Paris, I live a very American life. I cook the same way I cook in the States, I hear and speak English all the time. I am really enjoying a little vacation in France. I didn’t know this when coming down, but apparently I am going to Switzerland for Christmas to visit my family friend’s family. It should me interesting. OK, so I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. I wish you all a happy holiday and above all, a great New Year! Alright 2008! I am pretty sure that there will not be a blog before then, but maybe. We’ll see.
-Kathy
PS, I will post pictures later.
