I thought it was time for an update, since in a couple of days I wont have internet for at least a month, and things have happened!  Finally.  Once you get back in the swing of things and in a schedule there's nothing really to talk about.  School is school, no matter what country you're in.

We had vacation the week leading up to the first of November, which is All Saints Day here, which is a jour férié (I really don't know how to translate it...the literal translation is a closed day.  I think national holiday works best), and it was nice to relax for at least a couple of days, but with the imminent selling of our apartment by our landlord, I pretty much just scoured the internet for apartments.  I called about 20 places before finding one that was even still on the market.  But it's pretty cool.  We started looking so early because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to find a landlord willing to take us as renters because of our financial situation.  A student and someone who is unemployed can give you problems rent-wise, and there are landlords in France who ask you to come to look at the apartment with at least 3 months worth of pay slips for both people and another person willing to help you out just in case.  It's ridiculous.

The place we're in now is owned by a very old, and very French man, last name Hubert, who didn't ask us any questions about our current financial situation, and just wanted to let his apartment.  He fixed it up about 2 years ago, but since he's like 90 I think it's difficult for him to get about and let people know about the apartment.  Also it's on the first floor, street-side, so you get all the street traffic (but it's not a hugely busy street, so who cares anyway).  We have double the space we're living in now...about 520 sq feet and 3 rooms!  The pictures directly below were taken when we were cleaning up the place and getting everything in order:  (also sorry for the bluuryness in advance)

The kitchen from the hallway.  The front door is on the right.

The hallway from the kitchen.

The bathroom.

The bedroom "bourne."

The livingroom/salon.

Our spooky old mirror and cool Greek relief above it.  Its a god-warrior in a chariot with four horses running over a man on a cloud.

The second door, directly facing the mirror, with another relief, this time of two lions with wings facing an urn.

Our purple windows looking out onto the street!

All in all, it's a pretty great place, there are just some things I wish we could change.  The sink is rather gross...nothing unhygienic, but has paint spills and calcium buildup that makes it look rather unkept and dirty.  Plus it doesn't get a lot of light, being on street level, but my plants seem to really like it in the kitchen!  The bedroom room is the one in the middle, which means people have to walk through it to get to the livingroom, but we've put up some curtains to block off the area, which adds a little something (although the curtains were given to us by Vitalik's mother and are not my favorite thing to look at....you'd be surprised how much curtains cost in France!!!)  It's also weird because there's no gas or anything, so no hot water/heating is available, which means that at the moment we're still living in our old apartment, but we've moved all our stuff into the new apartment, so we don't really have a "home."  We officially move in on my birthday, meaning Thursday the 10th.  It's been pretty hard money-wise, but we're gonna pull through with money to be able to eat this month (which was not the way it was looking a week ago).  I guess thats what it is to be an adult though!  Work through tough situations, figure shit out, and get stuff done!  I'll post more pictures once we're fully moved in and have internet service again!

In other news, I started my internship at a French middle school yesterday.  It's probably the school with the worst reputation in the whole city, located in what is essentially the ghetto of Besançon.  The majority of the students come from families in difficult situations, who are first generation immigrants, and who just in general don't give a fuck.  I'm not going to get into political details in this post because it's just too much, depressing, and I think we all have at least a vague idea of how things work in places like that, but my God.  It's completely different from anything I've ever seen before in my life!  The kids (from what I've seen in my two days there so far) have no interest whatsoever in learning, and prefer to make jokes and insult each other and the teacher.  Even for the children who want to learn and get things done, the troublemakers prevent them from doing so.  I thought my teacher was going to explode today from how much she was yelling at her class.  It scares me a little about my future, but seeing as how I'm in one of the worst schools in the city, it can only get better from here, right?

Also, the French school system is so very different from the American system, which I expected, but not to this extent.  Everything is cut and dry, and there's not really any room for conversation (although that could just be where I am, because if you give them an inch they will take your whole arm.  Notes are taken at the end of class, from things written on the board.  In the notebook, the date is written in the top lefthand corner of the page in red, the title of the notes (eg. British Food) is written in the center in green ink, and the notes are taken, skipping a line every time, in blue ink.  It's really interesting to learn how things work here regarding middle school, and now I understand better why my first French teacher was so adamant about how our notebooks looked for her class!  If we made one mistake writing notes, we had to completely re-do them on the next page, which I found ridiculous, because white-out exists for a reason!  Also, French teachers are much more likely to get angry, and come right out and tell you that what you're doing is wrong, and that is needs to be changed immediately instead of giving the students a more comforting learning environment, like the US.  I don't really like it, but thats the way it is!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted in the next couple of weeks about how the internship is coming along and everything.

Here are some more photos!

The kitten Sofia sleeping between my armoire and the window!

La Porte Noir, built in 1100AD

My university.

The Citadelle at night.

My wonderful French bike!

It's been a while since my last blog entry, and I'm sorry for my internet radi silence.  I assure you, I have not died or disappeared off the face of the Earth, or anything like that, I just wanted everything in order before I got on my blog and spent energy to tell you something I'd most likely repeat later on.

You've probably all heard about my visa problems at one point or another, and to make a (not very) long and (very) complicated story short, the French government doesn't like to make anything easy, so I had to take a trip home to get a visa.  I ended up missing my first week of classes, but I'm back now, so (obviously) everything turned out A.O.K.!


If I told you that my first week at real French University was a dream come true, I would be outright lying to you!  I arrived late Sunday night to Besançon and woke up at 6:45 the next morning to go to class.  I was so dreadfully jet-lagged the first week of classes, it was difficult to understand even the simplest thing.  Also, from the moment I woke up Monday morning to the moment I got out of class Friday afternoon felt like an entire lifetime had just passed away.  That aside, I missed the first week of my first year, which is definitely not a good thing.  Being behind in my homework was one thing, but I could not find ANY information on ANY of my classes or where ANY of them were being held.  I had been sent (somewhat thankfully) a schedule from the director of the program.  In the beginning it just confused me even more, but now I have a better grasp on it.  Instead of using dates (like normal people do), the French give each week a number (week 1 being the first full week in January), so I had classes weeks 37-43 and then nothing until weeks 49+50.  There are also classes that only last 2-3 weeks.  For my first semester (Sep. 12th - Dec. 16th) I have 5 different schedules.  The longest bit of normality I have within my classes is 3 weeks.  I also have a 3 week internship, which accounts for the large gap of weeks in the schedule, but otherwise I have just come to terms with the fact that I will not understand.  And what's more is that the french students don't really know or understand either!  I'm seriously considering asking the university to hire me to clean things up and make them less complicated.  Don't even ask me about exams/papers because I still have no idea!  Just getting into the swing of things here takes so long!

Half my classes are in English and the other half are in French.  They range from history (mostly American) to translation (both English to French and French to English) to how to write in English (although not in the English style...in the French style) to grammar.  I have one grammar class in English and one in French, and I can tell you without hesitation that the two of them are the two most difficult classes I have this semester.  I have never taken an English grammar class in my life, and here I am being thrown into advanced grammar.  I know when the sentences work and when they don't, but I can't tell you why, and I don't understand any of the phrases being thrown around in class.

The other students in my class are very nice.  It took them a day or two to open up and talk to me.  I was so jet-lagged that approaching them myself never even occurred to me.  We're still awkward around each other for the most part, and there are some who speak more to me than others, but I am by no means an outcast or completely alone.  In some of my more genreal classes (history, translation, etc.) the MEF students (thats me!) are put together with the Master Recherche Anglais group.  The MEFs are studying to become professors and the Master Rechercheurs are studying the language (at least this is what my understanding of the work recherche [research for all of you who don't speak French/couldn't figure it out] has led me to believe).  In the research group, there is a Russian girl who I have become relatively close to in the past week and a half.  We have not had the chance to get together outside of class, but I already feel much closer to her than the others in my classes, and I'm sure it's because we're both international students, and we both have to deal with/have problems with/don't understand the same things.  Also, she's from that city in Russia that do the experiments on domesticating foxes.  Maybe she can bring me one if she goes home!!!

This week was much better, and instead of feeling like an eternity, it has flown by!  I guess thats a good thing :)  Vitalik and I are now actively searching a new apartment, but we wont be moving until at least November, most likely in January.  We got an oven though!  It's a little bit bigger than a convention oven, so we can cook a whole chicken in it and everything, so now I just want to bake all the time!  At the moment I have my first batch of chocolate chip cookies in the oven.  Pictures below!

I think thats it for now....if anything else interesting happens, I'll let you know!

My pea plants!  They sprouted into a forest while I was home getting my visa!

My basil, white onions and rosemary (which is just beginning to sprout after 3 months) from bottom to top.

 La Porte Noir - Literally stands for the black door, has been the entry point into the village since Roman times.  They just finished cleaning it, which took over 6 years, these past couple of days.  So beautiful!

Puce does this fairly often, and I think it is absolutely ADORABLE!

Puce with the kitten next door, Sofia.  A moment of peace among a month of mischief (we were taking care of her while her owner was back home for the summer). 

That was close.  Too close in fact.  I absolutely abhor being late, especially when it comes to travel, and this was the closest I’ve been to completely missing a train/plane.  I had to get in 10 cars early in Paris, and then had to lug my 100+ pounds of luggage down the track as quickly as I possibly could to get in the right car before the train left again at Dijon.  But yeah, my luggage was literally thrown onto the train in Paris as I ran down the track in a dress and heels.  I pulled an Indiana Jones though, with my sister throwing me my big camera bag as the train door closed, so that was pretty cool, but I’m on my way, and that’s what counts!! And then I had to run again with all my stuff, tripping, falling, scraping and otherwise fucking up a perfectly good knee.  It wouldn’t be real life without some adventures!

I guess what I was going to say next goes back to what I was thinking when I was taking the plan a week ago, which started when I noticed how terribly sad people look in the security line, either because they don’t want to be there, or because they’re leaving something behind.  And then you have the parents and the other halves who are standing on the other side of that thin barrier that separates them from those they love with looks of worry and sadness all over their faces.  Seriously, it was one of the most depressing things I had thought about in a while.  Then I thought about how I pride myself on not being sad to leave, and always finding the positive, always pushing ahead for that new adventure, not scared or sad when leaving family and friends behind.  The one thing I think I hate more than being late for things though is crying, especially in public, and that almost happened multiple times on the plane, for an unknown reason to me, I’m going back to that place I’ve wished I were for the past seven months, I’m doing exactly what I want.  About seven hours later I realized that it was because I was scared.  I don’t really need to go into detail about it, but to tell you that at this moment in my life, I’m pretty scared of everything.  From little things like bugs to huge things like getting my visa, living with Vitalik and being able to pay rent and buy food, and then growing up and feel like I’m doing things right.  I’m just so unsure of everything, but I don’t think I’m the only person on the planet who feels that way.  That’s going to be one of the things I work on this year is not being so afraid of things, and I hope (and am pretty sure) that once things settle down and I have a normal and regular lifestyle I will chill out a little bit.  I’ve moved from house to house on a weekly basis since graduation almost a month ago, and that’s enough to disrupt anyone’s life.  So hopefully Besançon will be the last stop for a while.

And now that I’m here, it’s terribly weird and somewhat confusing.  It’s like I never left.  Like the past 7 months of my life at Knox were all a dream and never actually happened. 

Kate’s here now though, and as much as I enjoy having her here, it’s really stressful trying to decide what to do and when to do it.  I’m also super tired and haven’t really had a good night’s sleep since before leaving the states, so that’s definitely in order!

Yesterday we went to a pseudo France-Comtoise restaurant called La Grange.  The server proposed to us a menu that was 25 euros for 2 people, which included 2 entrées, two main dishes and 2 desserts.  We thought this was an amazing deal, since La Grange is not the cheapest of restaurants.  Then when we got the bill we saw that we had been charged for 2 of them.  I called the waiter over and he explained that the menu is 25 euros, and a minimum of 2 people have the order it, but each person gets charged separately.  What a jip!  He did not explain that well at all.  So an expensive meal turned out just that more expensive.  Thank goodness my parents were the ones paying and not me!  But it was amazingly delicious! 

Kate and I are heading to the market to get fresh fruit and veg (“This is a fresh shop!  I will do well here…” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jSE3JANx14), so I’ll leave you all with some photos and one video (!) before leaving!

A part of the Basillica St. Pierre just outside of Paris, where Louis XIV (and all the kings of France) are buried.  

Katie eating her Fondue au Vin Jaune at La Grange

Vitalik looking classier than ever drinking wine at La Grange

Our plates and grill.  I sadly was so hungry and excited to see the food arrive that I completely forgot to take pictures until it was all gone.  Pretty much we each had a couple of slices of beef, chicken and duck, with roasted potatoes on the side.

Me and Vitalik at La Grange

A mime in Monmartre Paris.  Watch it until the end!

First post!

I had this whole thing written out on my iphone while I was sitting at my layover in the Dublin airport, and boy was it a downer of a post.  It's probably a good thing I lost it due.  So we're going to start this in a good way!

Today was pride today in Paris (like I'm sure it was for most of the rest of the world too), and there were many good spirits and much pride, but the French used it as an excuse to imbibe alcohol on an inhuman level and take off their clothes.  French do this on a fairly regular basis, but this was OUT OF CONTROL.  I saw like 5 fights and people falling over drunk at noon.  I mean, I guess I should be used to that from Flunk Day and all, but still.  It made me laugh.  There were half-naked men there, and even more naked women, and LOTS of crossdressers and drag queens.  I wish I had taken pictures!  Unfortunately for me and my sister, we were caught completely unawares that it was Pride and the two of us were on our way to pick up about 300 Euros worth of food, so alas, no cameras.  And you all know how difficult it is to catch me sans camera.

But all in all a really good time.  I saw Louis XIV's eternal resting place and sang him a little song about how cool he is when no one else was around.  I can't believe how much of a nerd I am!  It's been fun hanging out with my sister too...as soon as I left for Knox and she left for boarding school we hardly get to see each other.  This is probably the most time we've spent together in the past couple of years, and it's been fun!

AND THEN I MADE DELICIOUS CREPES!

I'll jot down some of the thoughts I had on my phone previous to my losing them (hopefully) on Monday when I'm on the train to Besançon, but who knows if I'll even be able to sit still!  I miss Besak to a level I can't even explain, especially after Paris, which has lost almost all of it's charm for me.  When I was 16 and here for the first time I was without a care in the world, and now each time I come back, it seems like I have more and more responsibilities to my aging aunt, and the city life is just way too stressful.  There are a million and one things I have to make sure are ok and ready, and I no longer see the glamour that most people see/saw/lived.  Living in a smaller city, like Besak is just so much more enticing for me.  And only 2 days until I'm back!

Some photos to tide you over....taken with my new iPhone!  I promise more interesting photos will make their way to this blog.

Until next time!

Les Jardins du Notre Dame de Paris - with a silly filter.

Taken at the Musée D'Orsay, this animal is what I want as my next pet.  Forget about a Belyaev's Fox, I want a half horse, half eagle that I can use to sweep naked maidens off their feet.

A sign on the door of my aunt's apartment...it reads "bikes do not enter here." You can kinda see the stairs in the background and see that it's a fairly schnazzy, classic French building.

The view from my favorite spot of my favorite Parisian church, Saint Gervais.

Some weird 'jardin éphémère" that they set up right next to the Hôtel de Ville.  Not sure how it's ephemeral, but if you stand from a certain point, you get this image.  Otherwise it's just a bunch of weird, artificially sculpted lawns with random white lines through them.

Me crying with two angels at the tomb of Louis XIV

First attempt at an egg, cheese and broccoli crêpe.

Second attempt.