Okay so... I'm trying my hand at video blogging.
Let me know your thoughts.
http://www.youtube.com/icidailleurs
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
c'est maintenant!!!
Paris! Paris! (Snap! Crakk! anyone?)
Oh my. I woke up this morning a little bit confused....am I still in Paris? No. Is this...Melbourne?! No. I was in Lyon, I just didn't know what was happening.
Ahh Lyon. Wait no....Paris!
The first thing that overwhelmed me about Paris was that I was underwhelmed. It was strange, I had been so excited, and I was certainly excited on the TGV from Lyon, but when I arrived I had some difficulty buying a late lunch (this involved a woman asking the man behind me in the queue if I would accept a sandwich with fish in it WTF), and then a crazed person spat in my direction and glared me down. So it was like...welcome to Paris honey! No, you can't eat that sandwich...and now I'm going to lance my saliva at you. Nice.
Me and Katie caught the metro, that sometimes sounds like flutes, sometimes like dragons, sometimes like a kettle boiling over, sometimes a party...in the direction of Champs Elysees. We wandered vaguely for a short time, and then we saw it - la Tour Eiffel. So we continued in it's direction until we were up close and personal. I guess...how did I feel. The afternoon was grey but golden. I thought la Tour Eiffel would look bigger. My spirits were flat I'm sad to report. Me and Paris missed our connection for the first couple of days. Our first meeting was like an unusual blind date. I felt apologetic all afternoon, but by night's end I decided that it wasn't mine or Paris' fault.
Katie and I shopped a lot in Paris. I bought 2 pairs of boots, 2 dresses... I won't continue, but yes. We shopped. Gazing glaze-eyed at the gorgeousness of Galeries Lafayette was like gorging on too much sweet food. The sugar made my head spin and spin and I was happy but I kinda ached from it later. I'm still dreaming about miu miu shoes and black velvet dresses and sailor themed clothes, and my nose is tingling from the perfumes... we did some op-shopping though which yielded good results - my white boots and a sailor-esque dress.
We went to the Georges Pompidou centre - that was really exciting for me, because I had learned about it during high school so it was like the little pictures in my text book from when I was 15 came to life. We also went to Musee d'Orsay which was beautiful. We went to Versailles and saw the Chateau for free - the advantage of entering through the exit... Versailles was large and luxurious. I could not imagine being the possessor of all of that!
We went to see Cedric Klapitsch's new film Paris, in Paris! It's quite good. We saw it at the Grand Rex too. The cinema was full the session we went to, and with veritable French people too, not stacks of tourists or anything. Seeing Paris the film in Paris the city...
It wasn't until our second last day, sadly, that we discovered Montmartre. Montmartre is in such a good spot, it's pretty and there's a creative vibe to it. There's also a seedy vibe and a cheap and tacky tourist vibe, but once you get past that... I liked it a lot I think because it reminded me of Lyon in some ways. I found myself feeling homesick for Lyon when in Paris! At Montmartre we went to the cafe Amelie works in, les Deux Moulins, and had hot chocolate and creme brulee... like most of the other tourists were at exactly the same time! But it didn't feel tacky, it was just cute.
On the bus home from the station, I felt really happy to see my town, my rivers, my Fourviere in the distance. On 2 hours sleep and without a shower I took myself to the markets to get some food for the week. I really love living here.
It's back to school this week. I really need to start being disciplined and do more work!
I'm seeing Japanther tomorrow night. I'm really excited to finally start seeing bands in Lyon - there's a whole lot of great things coming up.
I hope everyone's well. I dream about various homies from home almost every night!
I'll add Paris photos to my flickr sometime soon.
xoxo
Oh my. I woke up this morning a little bit confused....am I still in Paris? No. Is this...Melbourne?! No. I was in Lyon, I just didn't know what was happening.
Ahh Lyon. Wait no....Paris!
The first thing that overwhelmed me about Paris was that I was underwhelmed. It was strange, I had been so excited, and I was certainly excited on the TGV from Lyon, but when I arrived I had some difficulty buying a late lunch (this involved a woman asking the man behind me in the queue if I would accept a sandwich with fish in it WTF), and then a crazed person spat in my direction and glared me down. So it was like...welcome to Paris honey! No, you can't eat that sandwich...and now I'm going to lance my saliva at you. Nice.
Me and Katie caught the metro, that sometimes sounds like flutes, sometimes like dragons, sometimes like a kettle boiling over, sometimes a party...in the direction of Champs Elysees. We wandered vaguely for a short time, and then we saw it - la Tour Eiffel. So we continued in it's direction until we were up close and personal. I guess...how did I feel. The afternoon was grey but golden. I thought la Tour Eiffel would look bigger. My spirits were flat I'm sad to report. Me and Paris missed our connection for the first couple of days. Our first meeting was like an unusual blind date. I felt apologetic all afternoon, but by night's end I decided that it wasn't mine or Paris' fault.
Katie and I shopped a lot in Paris. I bought 2 pairs of boots, 2 dresses... I won't continue, but yes. We shopped. Gazing glaze-eyed at the gorgeousness of Galeries Lafayette was like gorging on too much sweet food. The sugar made my head spin and spin and I was happy but I kinda ached from it later. I'm still dreaming about miu miu shoes and black velvet dresses and sailor themed clothes, and my nose is tingling from the perfumes... we did some op-shopping though which yielded good results - my white boots and a sailor-esque dress.
We went to the Georges Pompidou centre - that was really exciting for me, because I had learned about it during high school so it was like the little pictures in my text book from when I was 15 came to life. We also went to Musee d'Orsay which was beautiful. We went to Versailles and saw the Chateau for free - the advantage of entering through the exit... Versailles was large and luxurious. I could not imagine being the possessor of all of that!
We went to see Cedric Klapitsch's new film Paris, in Paris! It's quite good. We saw it at the Grand Rex too. The cinema was full the session we went to, and with veritable French people too, not stacks of tourists or anything. Seeing Paris the film in Paris the city...
It wasn't until our second last day, sadly, that we discovered Montmartre. Montmartre is in such a good spot, it's pretty and there's a creative vibe to it. There's also a seedy vibe and a cheap and tacky tourist vibe, but once you get past that... I liked it a lot I think because it reminded me of Lyon in some ways. I found myself feeling homesick for Lyon when in Paris! At Montmartre we went to the cafe Amelie works in, les Deux Moulins, and had hot chocolate and creme brulee... like most of the other tourists were at exactly the same time! But it didn't feel tacky, it was just cute.
On the bus home from the station, I felt really happy to see my town, my rivers, my Fourviere in the distance. On 2 hours sleep and without a shower I took myself to the markets to get some food for the week. I really love living here.
It's back to school this week. I really need to start being disciplined and do more work!
I'm seeing Japanther tomorrow night. I'm really excited to finally start seeing bands in Lyon - there's a whole lot of great things coming up.
I hope everyone's well. I dream about various homies from home almost every night!
I'll add Paris photos to my flickr sometime soon.
xoxo
Sunday, February 17, 2008
magical sunday
Everything here is going really well. I'm having such a good time! I'm always on the run (hence the lack of communication).
Okay so detailing every little bit of excitement, every new person and friend, every meltdown, every success, every club, every dance move, every dinner party, every baguette, every pain au chocolat, every little thing would be excrutiating for me and probably some looooong reading for you. So! I'll start with today (because today was Sunday, and it was magical, just like last Sunday, which I may also detail) and then we'll see what happens.
Well! After staying up til 3.00am chatting on the webs to Fjorny, I had a nice sleep in this morning, and then made a good breakfast of fresh strawberries and fromage blanc. Fromage blanc. Amen. A Californian girl in my lit class recommended it to me. It's like natural yoghurt, but better, and it rules with the addition of fruit, and if you're feeling like it maybe a little bit of sugar. Katie knocked on my door so we could go to the markets...I was still toting PJ's so she went back to her room. This was magical timing part 1 because the elusive internet fixing man, Xavier, came to Katie's room right after she returned from seeing me. So now her internet woes are fixed, which rules. Me, Katie, and Tom - a Melbourne guy who is here for a bit of touristing at the moment - went to the markets. We bought some awesome gnocchi for dinner. We wanted to buy vegies but that wouldn't have made sense because we'll be going to Paris for a week so we wouldn't get to eat them.
I'm going to Paris for a week tomorrow! I am so excited that I can't find a better description than "I'm so excited!"
We wandered around Vieux Lyon, which is always nice, especially when it's gently humming along on a Sunday. We went to a tea shop that's decorated like a carroussel and had some crepes and tea and coffee. Then we were wandering home and we came across the Roman theatre ruins, so we checked them out because we hadn't yet. They are very cool! I really want to have picnics there in the spring. They have bands play there during spring and summer, and we saw the old schedule because it was still listed...I made various cries of distress at what I could have seen had I been here last year! Then when I got to the door of my building, some people were standing outside with a mini fridge. I figured they were probably moving it into a room or something. But when they saw me they stopped me and aksed me if I was interested! I said I definitely was (for those who are unaware - there are no fridges in the building I live in. My building is so so basic, it's the meaning of austerity). So I bought it from them at a reasonable price! It's still quite cold at the moment, so the plastic bag out of the window was doing a decent job, but in the afternoons sometimes my milk and juice would suffer a bit too much sun which was gross. There's a funny factor to all of this though - they were a couple who I had met before, and I'm really glad they didn't recognise me. The girl lives on the first floor, same as me, and on about the 4th night I was here the both of them blasted me for having a conversation in the hallway. Which had me really upset, but I also felt it was over the top. I never spoke to the girl, barely saw her again, until today. They are actually really nice people! The most ironic part was the first bit of information they shared with me about the fridge - "It doesn't make a lot of noise, so it won't bother you in your room". They also offered to sell me a tv but I don't really want one so I declined. I asked if they had a stereo and they said no, sadly. Then about five minutes later they came to me with a little stereo! They must have decided they didn't want it or something, I'm not sure how it happened! I found a great French station and was listening to it all afternoon. The presence of a stereo has made my happiness factor skyrocket! So I bundled up a couple of buenos as a little present and wrote them a well-wishing note for their new flat. I walked down the hall to give it to them, and they were walking towards me too - they wanted to know if I wanted a big rug they had. Katie has been really wanting a rug, and she's had such a lousy week, so I got it for her, and she was so happy when I brought it to her room! Then they gave me a little camping chair (which will be my Meredith/Golden Plains chair in future) and a bucket. This probably sounds so whack to you that all these little things excited me so much, but the more you have to make living comfortable really helps, especially in this dingy little building!
So yeah, I've changed my room all around as well, and it's more spacious now. I was already feeling pretty happy with it, but it's even better now. Ah! The building I'm living in is known to me and my homies who live on the 4th as "le plus crap" - the most crap. But hey, we pay very little so that's where the trade-off is! Life here has been pretty good. Me and people from this building and the building closest to here often have enormous cook ups together and that's always fun. We end up with so many people in the kitchen and in the hallway, it's like a little party. Studying is going to be difficult..!
The day I got my room, I was the last person to be given one and the rest of the people that day got turned away until Monday! (That's a 5 day wait they had to deal with.) It was really stupid, the communication between my uni and the admin here obviously isn't good. Everyone was told to go on a particular day to move in, and it was a catastrophe basically. But yes, when I was notified of my building and room number, all of the women at the office kind of went "Ooooohhhh!" and were saying things to the woman dealing with me like "You're naughty!" I have yet to find out why! I was scared to even open my door after that.
I haven't been out a whole lot, and when I have it's usually been to Erasmus parties. Sadly I'm missing two really good shows in Lyon this week due to being in Paris (even when I'm overseas I have date clashes! WTF!) Oh speaking of WTF, I started saying that in the French way, pronouncing the letters as the French would, and it's spread around my group. They even make w's with their fingers. Best ever!
I hope everything's going well for everyone, I'm missing you all.
I have photos up on flickr, which probably detail things better than my scatter-brained alternately too-detailed and then random things that I'm typing up here! www.flickr.com/photos/23793190@N04
Grosses bises!
Okay so detailing every little bit of excitement, every new person and friend, every meltdown, every success, every club, every dance move, every dinner party, every baguette, every pain au chocolat, every little thing would be excrutiating for me and probably some looooong reading for you. So! I'll start with today (because today was Sunday, and it was magical, just like last Sunday, which I may also detail) and then we'll see what happens.
Well! After staying up til 3.00am chatting on the webs to Fjorny, I had a nice sleep in this morning, and then made a good breakfast of fresh strawberries and fromage blanc. Fromage blanc. Amen. A Californian girl in my lit class recommended it to me. It's like natural yoghurt, but better, and it rules with the addition of fruit, and if you're feeling like it maybe a little bit of sugar. Katie knocked on my door so we could go to the markets...I was still toting PJ's so she went back to her room. This was magical timing part 1 because the elusive internet fixing man, Xavier, came to Katie's room right after she returned from seeing me. So now her internet woes are fixed, which rules. Me, Katie, and Tom - a Melbourne guy who is here for a bit of touristing at the moment - went to the markets. We bought some awesome gnocchi for dinner. We wanted to buy vegies but that wouldn't have made sense because we'll be going to Paris for a week so we wouldn't get to eat them.
I'm going to Paris for a week tomorrow! I am so excited that I can't find a better description than "I'm so excited!"
We wandered around Vieux Lyon, which is always nice, especially when it's gently humming along on a Sunday. We went to a tea shop that's decorated like a carroussel and had some crepes and tea and coffee. Then we were wandering home and we came across the Roman theatre ruins, so we checked them out because we hadn't yet. They are very cool! I really want to have picnics there in the spring. They have bands play there during spring and summer, and we saw the old schedule because it was still listed...I made various cries of distress at what I could have seen had I been here last year! Then when I got to the door of my building, some people were standing outside with a mini fridge. I figured they were probably moving it into a room or something. But when they saw me they stopped me and aksed me if I was interested! I said I definitely was (for those who are unaware - there are no fridges in the building I live in. My building is so so basic, it's the meaning of austerity). So I bought it from them at a reasonable price! It's still quite cold at the moment, so the plastic bag out of the window was doing a decent job, but in the afternoons sometimes my milk and juice would suffer a bit too much sun which was gross. There's a funny factor to all of this though - they were a couple who I had met before, and I'm really glad they didn't recognise me. The girl lives on the first floor, same as me, and on about the 4th night I was here the both of them blasted me for having a conversation in the hallway. Which had me really upset, but I also felt it was over the top. I never spoke to the girl, barely saw her again, until today. They are actually really nice people! The most ironic part was the first bit of information they shared with me about the fridge - "It doesn't make a lot of noise, so it won't bother you in your room". They also offered to sell me a tv but I don't really want one so I declined. I asked if they had a stereo and they said no, sadly. Then about five minutes later they came to me with a little stereo! They must have decided they didn't want it or something, I'm not sure how it happened! I found a great French station and was listening to it all afternoon. The presence of a stereo has made my happiness factor skyrocket! So I bundled up a couple of buenos as a little present and wrote them a well-wishing note for their new flat. I walked down the hall to give it to them, and they were walking towards me too - they wanted to know if I wanted a big rug they had. Katie has been really wanting a rug, and she's had such a lousy week, so I got it for her, and she was so happy when I brought it to her room! Then they gave me a little camping chair (which will be my Meredith/Golden Plains chair in future) and a bucket. This probably sounds so whack to you that all these little things excited me so much, but the more you have to make living comfortable really helps, especially in this dingy little building!
So yeah, I've changed my room all around as well, and it's more spacious now. I was already feeling pretty happy with it, but it's even better now. Ah! The building I'm living in is known to me and my homies who live on the 4th as "le plus crap" - the most crap. But hey, we pay very little so that's where the trade-off is! Life here has been pretty good. Me and people from this building and the building closest to here often have enormous cook ups together and that's always fun. We end up with so many people in the kitchen and in the hallway, it's like a little party. Studying is going to be difficult..!
The day I got my room, I was the last person to be given one and the rest of the people that day got turned away until Monday! (That's a 5 day wait they had to deal with.) It was really stupid, the communication between my uni and the admin here obviously isn't good. Everyone was told to go on a particular day to move in, and it was a catastrophe basically. But yes, when I was notified of my building and room number, all of the women at the office kind of went "Ooooohhhh!" and were saying things to the woman dealing with me like "You're naughty!" I have yet to find out why! I was scared to even open my door after that.
I haven't been out a whole lot, and when I have it's usually been to Erasmus parties. Sadly I'm missing two really good shows in Lyon this week due to being in Paris (even when I'm overseas I have date clashes! WTF!) Oh speaking of WTF, I started saying that in the French way, pronouncing the letters as the French would, and it's spread around my group. They even make w's with their fingers. Best ever!
I hope everything's going well for everyone, I'm missing you all.
I have photos up on flickr, which probably detail things better than my scatter-brained alternately too-detailed and then random things that I'm typing up here! www.flickr.com/photos/23793190@N04
Grosses bises!
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