Obligatory complain-about-finals post

For the non-collegiate world, it's quickly becoming the most wonderful time of the year.  For college students, however, Christmas festivities are the furthest things from our minds as the weight of put-off papers, projects, and final exams comes crashing down.  The library is packed, everyone seems grumpy, and even professors get stressed about about teaching last minute material.  I've got a week and a half until the semester is over, but in that short time I've got a test, six finals, and a short paper to write.  Yay college!  In spite of what I'm about to go through, I'm surprisingly confident.  We'll see how long it takes for me to succumb the infectious pessimism out there.  

The town of Blacksburg isn't preoccupied with exams, though, and last Friday was the grand illumination!  The giant Christmas tree across from Moe's was lit up, Christmas market took place, and there was the cutest parade.  You can tell that this is a town populated by engineers because one of the floats was a Kollmorgen truck and another was a giant solar panel.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't love it.  

All in all, the last week or two has been great!  I've met some really interesting people, I've started getting back into yoga (if you count going twice as getting back into it), and the weather has been unseasonably warm. 

Random adventures/discoveries:

- "call me maybe" is an effective last-minute-date strategy 

- I've become a pro at negotiating roundabouts via bicycle because of my trips to East Coasters

- tried venison as a meal for the first time!

- your typical gallivanting around bburg and the surrounding apartment complexes

- donned my best attempt at a Christmas Story inspired bunny suit for the ISE ambassador Christmas party

  

Don't underestimate the power of a good run

It is so easy to become complacent in college. Over the last two or three weeks, I've lived my life problem set to problem set. I spend most of my time either in the library or at my desk, and I don't have time for friends until the weekend. The excitement has faded out of the work, the challenge has been and must be met each week, and school has transformed into something resembling a job. And so I've been floating along with my head down and my hopes hidden. Those violent dreams that kept me up in August have retreated to somewhere in the back of my mind, and my focus has been on the present, the here, the now, the next assignment, the next test. I even stopped running for a two week span. And so I've been trudging along, content but not on fire.

Then two days ago, I decided to go for a run. It was absolutely terrible for the first two miles. My ankles ached, muscles rebelled, and I couldn't find my stride. And then, when my body realized that I wasn't stopping, things started to click. My gait evened out, my protesting limbs silenced, and my pandora station even got its act together. It was wonderful, so naturally I decided to lunge the length of my hall. The following day, I was more sore than I expected, but also so much happier and relaxed. The weather was dreary by the average person's standpoint, but I was loving its threatening clouds, oppressing humidity, and warm breeze. Blacksburg weather seemed to mirror my feeling that things are changing and that I need some wildness back in my life. So of course, summer child that I am, I celebrated the wild, wonderful weather by donning a skirt and letting my hair do its crazy rain-loving thing. I swirled throughout my day yesterday in a haze of daydreams and Econ, and ended my day with a run in the unseasonably warm rain.

This morning, I woke up with something closer to the fire I knew this summer. My drive is coming back, and its source is something as simple as getting outside and moving. In statics, my professor wrote an equation on the board and followed it by saying, "Don't worry about this unless you're ESM or Aerospace. The rest of you won't need as sound of a theoretical background." Two days ago, I would have been relieved to have one less thing to know. This morning, however, his comment really made me angry. Why shouldn't I learn that too? I even, for a fleeting second, contemplated switching to aero just so I could meet the challenge. After those fleeting seconds, I realized something. The fire's back.

Closing quote of the month:
Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, to doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it.
-Wilfred A. Peterson

A boire!

And I thought I'd be adjusted after two weeks of classes.  Instead of chilling and focusing on schoolwork, I have thrown myself whole-heartedly into the mix of things.  18 credits is a lot, and the coursework is very challenging but I'm still loving it!  My average homework assignment takes between 4-8 hours, so you can imagine all the free time I have on my hands.  I just don't even know what to do with it.

Okay all sarcasm aside, I've been using whatever time I can scrape out here and there to train for my TRIATHLON!  I only had about 2 and a half weeks to train, but I did the Rev 3 Half Full Olympic Distance tri in Maryland last Sunday and it was awesome!  The water temp was 67 (thank goodness for wetsuits), the air temp was 48, and it rained the whole time (thank goodness for raincoats).  This was by far the most challenging thing I've done.  About halfway through the 0.9 mile swim you're out there in the middle of a lake wondering what the heck you're doing.  About halfway though the 32 mile bike, you're grinding up a hill wondering why the heck you're doing this.  And about halfway through the 6.5 mile run, you're too busy dealing with the pain that comes with finally being able to feel the bottom halves of your legs again to be thinking anything.  But I finished and I loved it!  I can't wait to do another one.  Lance Armstrong competed in this race also.  He passed me on the bike, and then I paced with him for the last 50 meters of my run!  I also missed my turn because I didn't realize he had another loop to go, but whatever I ran with Lance!!!!

That was my big adventure of the last few weeks, and it really overshadows all the every day adventures that compose my life.  Til next time!  Oh I also did a 10 miler called the Mountaintop Trot the weekend before last.  That was a blast too, though the course was super technical.  We were basically hiking around Mountain Lake at a brisk jog.

Nothing like slamming into a wall!

Hello dear readers! If you thought I'd forgotten about you, you were probably right. Life as an engineering student leaves very little room for anything except homework, eating, and sleeping. If I'm lucky, I can squeeze in a lunch date, a power nap, laundry, or a run. Professors don't waste any time easing you into the workload sophomore year, and it's taking me a week or two to become used to it again. Since I last blogged, I've climbed another mountain, watched a sunset from bald knob, had a bonfire on wind rock, held a baby squirrel, sprinted across campus and through construction sites with my old calc professor, harassed/helped my mentees (they love me, really), raised $100 for relay for life, been thrown in the air at two football games, managed to lose my lovely purple raincoat, hosted a vlog for my living learning community, received my official ISE ambassador blueberry polo, and made the decision to join the triathlon club amongst other everyday adventures. I've also met so many fun new people! I just really love college, crazy classes and all.

It's good to be back.

It's so good to be back to the friendliest place on the planet!  I've spent the last week in a flurry of activity in an attempt to make up for the wall I'm about to slam into as classes get started.  I'd heard that sophomore year is the best, and so far that's been true.  I've gone hiking twice since I've been back.  The first time, I went to Dragon's Tooth.  This was my second trip up, but it's still one of the best hikes I've ever done because it's relatively short, challenging in places, and the view from the top of the main tooth is incredible.  The second adventure wasn't quite as successful.  We attempted to go to Tinker Cliffs, but ended up taking the wrong trail and just exploring the wilderness of the North Mountain.  Apparently the Tinker Cliffs trail is unmarked and in the back of the parking lot.  Who knew!  Anyway, we still had a ton of fun and got a great workout from the seemingly millions of switchbacks we discovered.

I also reconnected with Molly and Kelley!  We watched Midnight in Paris and reminisced about our summer, and ate a wonderful dessert called Big Cookie.  Basically, you take two things of chocolate chip cookie dough, bake it until it reaches your preferred level of gooiness, and cover the top with vanilla ice cream.  Yum!

Academic update:  not sure if I already mentioned this, but I'm going for the full double major.  Also, I'm apparently a junior now because of AP and dual enrollment credit.  Woohoo!

Back to school, back to school!!!!!!!

In case you couldn't tell from the title, I'm so excited to go back to Blacksburg!  I'm only a little bit terrified of my schedule, which is good, and I can't wait for football season to begin.  Before I either abandon this blog completely due to lack of time or switch over to adventures at VT, I figured I ought to do a quick recap of the major fun things I did post-Paris.

Ocracoke Island
My family and I try not to spread the word too much, but, since you're reading this, I'll tell you that Ocracoke is the most fabulous island in the Outer Banks. It's very low key and family oriented, so if you're looking for a Beach Week house or mini golf, this isn't the place for you. However, if 12 miles of beach, riding bikes everywhere, folk music, and access by ferry only sounds like your style, visit this island. I'd really like to live here for a summer.  We went to the beach every day, did some shopping, and went offshore fishing!



Camping
The camping trip included my immediate family and two of the dogs (Gracie and Fly). We went to our usual haunt in Montebello, VA. The highlight of that trip was climbing Spy Rock and witnessing the incredible 360 view of the valley below and other mountains nearby. The downfall of the trip was Fly rolling in human feces and having to share a tent with the dog who smelled to high heaven even after two baths and a trip into the lake. We also had to set up in the middle of a wicked thunderstorm, but we still had a great time!

Flying!
Last major adventure: I finally got my old cross country coach to take me flying!  He has his pilot's license and keeps his little Cessna in a nearby hangar. We flew over several friends' homes and over the property on which my parents are building a house!  From this adventure, I realized that I have no idea how my hometown is actually laid out and that maybe i'd like to get my pilot's license if I ever find enough time.

All in all, this has been a wonderful summer. I can only hope that this school year continues to hold such amazing adventures. 

Keep on dreamin' even if it breaks your heart

I've spent the last month swept up in daydreams about things I want to do, places I want to see, and the person I'd like to become. I've redone my course of study planner so many times that the sticky notes lost their stick and the creases of the paper are wearing thin. I've literally lost sleep because I've been so concerned about how I'm going to fit everything into my life. I had this preconceived notion that all fun stops once I begin my career, but I've realized that I'll still have vacation time and opportunities to go explore as much as I want to. And if I find the job I really want, work will be an adventure too. As of tonight, the plan is to go for a double major in ISE and French, take classes first summer session next summer, get an internship after junior year, and bike across the country after senior year before leaping into the workforce (www.4kforcancer.org). Somewhere in here I'd like to squeeze in backpacking at least virginia's part of the Appalachian trail (next summer?) and running a half marathon. I'd also eventually love to do the ironman in Nice.

The weird thing is, while I'm sitting here losing sleep because I'm so excited and terrified about the future, some of my peers are settling for an ordinary life. Throughout high school we all had prescribed goals to reach and honors to attain. Now that we're in college or working, it's up to us to set our own goals and instill that sense of competition within ourselves and a lot of people aren't capable of really pushing themselves to greatness. It breaks my heart to see some of my friends accepting life the way it is and fading into mediocrity instead of stretching beyond their comfort zones. I found a really great quote from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: "The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough." If I could, I'd spread that mantra to the world and give everyone that touch of wanderlust and thirst for spontaneity that make life so much fun. Do not settle. Be afraid but do it anyway. Mind your own business, and be interesting enough that other people mind it as well. Don't follow your dreams; chase them.

'Merica!

Dear readers,

I am so sorry for abandoning you all in Nice! As wifi access got sketchier and the hours I actually spent sleeping decreased, I lost my blogging stamina. I do hope you'll forgive me. Milan was neat, but it really can't hold a candle to Nice in my opinion. All there really is to do is shop and eat pasta. Not that there is anything wrong with those two pastimes, but I'd rather be at the beach eating watermelon and fresh baked bread. While in Milan, we managed to get scammed by gypsies while we were trying to buy metro tickets and caught by the bracelet scam near the duomo. I totally blame Griff for the bracelet incident, but he claims he was innocent. We also did some great shopping, ate pasta, and sat in a lovely park for a significant chunk of the day. I guess you could tack that on to the list of things to do in Milan. We also tried two different places for gelato, but I think the Amorino gelato in Paris is better.

After Milan we went back to Paris for the night, had a great dinner with my professor, and then headed back to our respective countries the following morning. Molly and I made it to America without any delays (except when we were waiting for a gate to open so we could deplane after we had landed)! I seem to have picked up a wicked cold somewhere, and that's what has prevented me from updating this since Friday.

Today is the fourth of July and I am so happy to be spending it in America!

Well, I guess this is goodbye. I might post randomly throughout the summer if my adventures are worthy, but we shall see. Au revoir!

A day full of adventures!

Today I:
-climbed a small mountain
-saw a beautiful waterfall
-explored two cemeteries
-went to like eight panoramas
-adventured through the wilderness
-broke a lock
-picnicked next to the med
-swam in the med
-shared watermelon with some kids from people to people
-got a hint of a sunburn
-witnessed so many men in speedos and topless women it isn't even funny

Nice is absolutely gorgeous. Tomorrow we leave at 7:25 am to head to Milan!!!

Well hello there Mediterranean sea

After five and a half hours on a train (the nice lady sitting next to us gave us cherries) and half an hour wandering around looking for the hostel, we have safely arrived in Nice! This city kind of reminds me of Eluthera with the brightly colored houses and beach-town vibe, and I absolutely love it. The architecture is totally different from Paris with terra cotta roofs and stucco walls and so so so many flowers. Today it was about 85 and sunny, an there are palm trees everywhere. After two weeks of almost perpetual rain showers, I am positively in heaven! There are also a ton of tourists here, and there was an Ironman earlier this morning.

The hostel itself is so cute, but the rooms are TINY! Molly, Griff and I are all in one room with bunk beds which have just enough room to walk between them. We've also got a sink and a push button shower, but the toilet is shared with the rest of the hall. In case you ever stay in a hostel, don't assume that "linens included" means towels. We had to use today's clothes to dry off after showers. The staff seem friendly and helpful, there is free wifi, and free breakfast so all in all this place is a steal. Did I mention that we are two blocks from the MEDITERRANEAN?!?!

So as soon as we checked in, we went straight to the beach. It's a stone beac instead of sand, and the water is so dang blue it almost hurts to look
at. You don't even have to try to float the water is so salty. I could swim out there forever. There was an interesting cast of characters at the beach which included topless women, men in speedos, and tons of naked children. Typical France.

"Castles are not for crying."

Yesterday was my last day of classes, and I'm going to miss all of my classmates so so much! Now I have an excuse to visit Spain, Ireland, Ukraine, and Australia just to visit them! We had the final group dinner at a restaurant called Nos Ancestres Les Gaulois, and it was absolutely delicious. Here's the menu:

appetizer-a huge basket of raw vegetables, sausage and a veal pâté , and coarse bread.
Main dish-I chose côtes d'agneau which is like lamb cutlets but you either had a choice of some form of beef or lamb.
This was followed by a cheese course to cleanse the palate (kind of a foreign concept to me but it was so great).
Dessert-chocolate mousse that I traded to Molly because she didn't like the caramel crème brûlée.

The whole restaurant was set up like a huge old tavern complete with animals skins adorning the walls and a giant barrel of red wine where you served yourself.

Today we went to Chambourd, a GIANT castle about two and a half hours away from Paris, and I took my final final for 3126 (and got credit!). There was a festival going on so we didnt really get to explore the open fields nearby, but the castle was absolutely beautiful and we got to explore most of it. I also found Gracie's long haired French cousin. Kelley, Molly and I decided we will be coming back to Paris next summer for the music festival and then we'll get ball gowns and pretend we're royalty at Chambourd. We ended the excursion at a winery that has been handed down through five generations of the same family. The whole operation seemed so personal and cute, and the wine was wonderful! It was a lot more flavorful than the three euro stuff we occasionally pick up. I got a bottle of a floral white to bring home (if I can find a way to get it through customs), just because it has such a unique taste.

I leave for Nice tomorrow so this may be my last post for a week depending on wifi. A bientôt my faithful readers!

Things the French do:
-drive like maniacs if they've got motorcycles. They essentially create their own lanes in between each lane of traffic on the highway
-pink toilet paper.
-man-on-man bises

Things they don't:
-seats on public toilets
-have any qualms about PDA or excessive wine consumption in public
-American bear hugs. I always mistake bises as the start of a hug and things get awkward quickly.

Ps Griff has successfully made it to Paris! The photo is really dark, but here's proof:

The city appears to have a hangover

Oh my goodness. Yesterday was the annual Fête de la Musique which means all of Paris was in the streets celebrating every style of music. I started in the Marais and witnessed jazz bands, drumlines, reggae, rock, acapella, and an Edith Piaf cover artist. I also participated in a spontaneous parade that took over the main boulevard, bathroom hunted like a champ, and danced to the YMCA. next we headed to Bourse. In the Palais Royale gardens a band played back in the ussr so of course we stopped an danced to that. Then we finally ended up at a Redman (reggae) concert at place de la bourse which was absolutely insane. I have never seen so many people just going nuts at once. I survived the night without stepping on any glass or any encounters with creepy pick up artists, and we ran into our new friend from Canada! I made it home by 12:45, but the city was no where near finished. I'm pretty sure I saw people staggering home during my 8:15 métro ride this morning. I really wish I could upload videos to the so you could understand how insane this was. The whole city was celebrating, bars closed the insides and just set up tables outside, and everyone danced. I love Paris.

"It's a part of our culture."

Let me just say that I am a girl who loves to sleep. I need around eight hours to fully function, and naps are pretty far up there on my list of favorite things, second only to really hot showers. Let me also say that a good nights sleep here is usually between five and six hours. At this point exhausted is an understatement.

Yesterday I had my final for oral proficiency, so now I just have one more post-final thing to do on Saturday. I also took the final for my class at the alliance today, so tomorrow should just be a fun day. Last night I went with some girls from tech and some of their friends to a canal to hang out for a while. It was so great to meet new people, and I learned a little bit of Russian (I've already forgotten it though)! Apparently being on time is a key part of swiss culture, and a lot of Quebecois is English spoken with a french accent. And in the spirit of random information, the restrooms in McDonalds and KFCs in Paris are upstairs and usually require a coin to get in.

Today my class had a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens! It was so fun to have so many languages swirling around. I had to explain why american football is so great, what prom court is, how frat parties work, and then I demonstrated my southern accent. In return, they taught me how Spanish and English universities work, how to hitchhike in Spain, and a few words of Italian that I need to memorize before next week. I am going to miss these people so much!!

Weather update: Paris weather is just as crazy as Blacksburg weather. I got a sunburn at our picnic, and then thirty minutes later I was sprinting home in a thunderstorm with torrential rain and marble sized hail. Wooooo!

It's just not France without a strike.

We finally made it out to the science and industry museum, only to find out that the cleaning staff are on strike. We still went in, though, because we desperately needed the museum to finish the culture and civ class. The nettoyage had literally scattered paper and confetti everywhere and were sitting in the lobby of the museum looking sullen and handing out flyers. The museum itself ended up being a lot like the Richmond Children's Science Museum. I learned a lot about the ancient Gauls and earthquakes and then genetics. Wooooo science.

I also mailed the last of the postcards today, but my stamps said china even though I asked for ones to the US, so who knows if they'll actually make t to the states. It's the thought that counts right? Sorry these last posts have been short, I am behind on writing and I want to be done by Thursday!

C'est lundi

Blogger Hier

Well, in case you didn't know, La Cité des Arts et des Sciences is closed on Mondays. Quelle surprise. My whole afternoon was basically a wash today. After about two hours on the metro, I tried to go to la Caféothèque but there wasn't a free table to be found. Then we tried to go to a tea shop that's said to have great hot chocolate, but it's closed on Mondays too. We ended up getting crêpes at a cute-ish restaurant and then going shopping. Ile-St.-Louis has surprisingly good prices!

Wild and wonderful weekend

Happy father's day!

The excursion to Montmartre was a HUGE success. First we got gelato (hazelnut, chocolate, and cinnamon; see photo), then we did some shopping, and then we got dinner around 8:30. Montmartre has the best little shops with the neatest jewelry and decent prices. Dinner was so much fun, although the food didn't match up to the ambiance. To begin with, the restaurant was tiny with two realllllly long tables pressed up against a bench-lined wall. If the waiters decided you were going to sit along the wall, they made you step up on a chair and over the table. I was lucky enough to get a chair, but Molly and Kelley clambered over quite gracefully. The first course was a fruity little apèro and a plate full of cheese, olives, and different sausage slices. The main course was a Swiss-ish cheese fondue with bread chunks to dip. This was served with your choice of red or white wine in a baby bottle. Bizarre, but so much fun. Dessert was a surprisingly refreshing fruit salad. Because of the way we were sitting, we got to know the girls to the left of us really well. Almost every place on our table was taken by American sorority girls, and I'm not sure the waiters knew how to handle so many divas making so much noise. Oh, and I added a little hokie spirit to the bathroom graffiti. We made it back to St.Michel around 10:30 and then we decided to take a bâteau mouche around the city! It was beyond beautiful, albeit a little bit chilly.

Today, we finally went to Versailles! After getting on (and off at the next stop) the wrong train, we made it it in time for a quick stroll through the city and lunch at a café. Today's menu included a salad with a vinaigrette dressing and goat cheese on toast. Yum! Then we went to Versailles itself, which was mind-blowingly beautiful! The line to get inside was really long, so we went out to the gardens first. Marie Antoinette's hamlet was by far the most quaint, beautiful thing I've ever seen. The rest of the gardens were also awesome, but this one was more natural and untamed and just so green! Then I got us thoroughly lost in the garden, but it was fine because we found some really cool stuff and then I had blueberry sorbet. By then it was about 4, so we waited in the slightly diminished line for the palace. It was also gorgeous and so so luxurious, but I really preferred the gardens.

Funny occurrences of the day:
1. Getting on the wrong train
2. Dresses on a windy day
3. Two Asian tourists asking to take a picture with me. I guess they like Americans? This has the potential to be creepy, but I'm just going to take it as flattering and try not to think about random people having a picture with me in it as a souvenir of their trip to France.
4. The coolest dog that rode back next to us on the train. The train was packed, so when I say next to us I mean snuggled up on the floor of the train.

Blueberry jam!

Today marks the third day my teacher hasn't returned journals and I've had to write on looseleaf. The horror. After an hour or so of writing, we went to the neatest restaurant for breakfast/brunch. It was called Le Pain Quotidien, and the food was so good. I ordered hot chocolate, and they brought a bowl of hot milk and a tiny pitcher of melted fudge that you mix together yourself. Delicious! They also had realllly good blueberry jam and a hazelnut butter spread that almost beat nutella. The place was set up sort of like a castle with exposed beams, raw wooden tables, and stone floors. Then, because it's STILL raining, we went to the shopping gallery by Palais Royale to do some more writing, people watching, and window shopping. This is the place of all places to window shop. You're basically in an indoor alley way that connects a couple different buildings and all the shops have huge windows where they casually display ancient books and 230€ shoes that positively shout your name. After a quick trip back to the FIAP for a power nap and another layer of clothes to combat this froideur, we're off to Montmartre. Molly heard of a restaurant where you drink wine out of baby bottles and listen to live jazz. Even if it is a wash, there is no way we can escape the night without some gelato so it's bound to be a success.

"Il y a des perverts partout."

Today was my favorite brazilian's last day. She has degrees in psychology and literature, a phd in psychology, had her own practice for a while, and now she teaches and does research at a university in Sao Paolo. And she was the nicest lady I've ever met. Yodita, you're an inspiration. Culture clash side note-- I went to hug her goodbye but she though we were just doing the French bises so she was a little startled.

My main adventure involved going to a pharmacy (you don't go to a doctor here unless you're near death). I keep biting the inside of my lip, and it turned into a huge ulcer that killed every time I tried to eat or speak. No big deal, except I'm in a language class every day and I'm in the amazing-bread capital of the world. Anyway, I successfully communicated the issue and got the right medication and I'm already mostly healed!

I'm spending this lovely Friday night hiding from the rain and resting up from this last week/for this coming week (see the calendar) in the company of Mum and Sons and some ice cream we smuggled into the building. The weather really has been dreary for the last week.

Oh, and the quote above is my professor's favorite thing to say when we're discussing faits diverses (random stories that typically deal with death and bizarre occurrences like a cheese rolling competition that put 13 people in the hospital).

But really, how much for that doggy in the window?

Today we tried to go to our favorite bakery by Mouton Duvernet, but there was some strange police event taking place. They had the whole block taped up and about fifteen of them were lounging around in riot gear outside of a restaurant. No one seemed particularly stressed though, so we just wandered past and found another bakery where the owners were even friendlier. Across from the bakery was the cutest pet store I've ever seen. I'm pretty certain they only sold dogs because there were so many tiny puppies playing in the window. It was beyond precious.

After lunch, Kelley and I tried to find the last museum we need for the culture and civ class. We spent about an hour on the metro getting to the outskirts of the city and came up in the middle of the ghetto. I'm not exaggerating here-- there was trash and dirty diapers everywhere and people were just chilling on street corners and all the buildings were HLMs. We halfheartedly looked for the museum, but we got back on the metro pretty quickly. We might try again later when there is more daylight and we're not wearing dresses in an area dominated by Muslim families. Nothing shouts tourist like two light-haired girls in sundresses with backpacks looking for signs that point to a museum.

Later on we went to watch the Eiffel tower sparkle and met a Californian girl who was actually from Mississippi named Tess. Once we got tired of fending off the champagne-sellers and a really persistent homeless man who kept coming back for wine, we headed back to the fiap.

It's not a lifestyle until you smell.

Today's metro ride was particularly horrendous. Normally it's uncomfortably crowded, kind of like sardines in a can. Today, it was more like a trash compactor. It started out when Molly had her arm behind me so that she could reach the handrails, but I didn't know it was her so I was trying my hardest not to be leaning against a stranger. This shifted my center of gravity way forward so I crashed in to so many people at every turn. Then the crowd changed at Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, one of the more crowded stations. I was left squished up against this disheveled (lifestyle*) man. We were so close that if I hadn't turned my head, our noses would have been touching. Such a great way to start the morning!

Class was fun, I learned that most young Chinese are capable of hacking into different servers and therefor getting around the Facebook/YouTube ban. I also learned that French spoken with a Slavic accent is the hardest to understand.

Molly, Kelley and I are spending the afternoon at the Luxembourg gardens. They certainly are magnificent, but I still prefer the Palais-Royale. It's a lot less touristy and therefor a lot more enjoyable, but it does lack all the runners and the occasional duck.

*We've established that disheveled, like most other outfit choices, is a style in France. There is a line, however, that separates the willingly disheveled (style) from the possibly homeless (lifestyle). It's determined by smell, but other than that it can be very difficult to differentiate between the two.

And to wrap up the day, I saw a production of Cyrano de Bergerac that was really, really good! The play was followed by some amazing pesto pasta and a dessert called profiteroles (ice cream inside of a croissant-like pastry with fudge drizzled on top). I also attempted to wear those awesome shoes and I would have been fine except I had to walk about half a mile at once (we walked from street number 15 to 85). Luckily another girl on the trip was kind enough to change shoes with me for the way back! I'll be paying her back in wine.