Up up and away for a couple of days

Stressful midterms completed: 4
Amount of funness I will hopefully experience this weekend: infinite
Midterms I still have to take when I come back from weekend of infinite funness: 1

Going to try to find orange liquer for the margharitas I'm going to make for taco night... I already packed for Milan and I am being an ultra minimalist and only bringing the bare essentials, I feel like life is better that way, or at least traveling for a weekend excursion is. I wonder if I'll have a hard time communicating with people because I don't speak Italian. I have a feeling I'll be asking everyone if they speak French and I'll proabably get a bizarre response, because why would they speak French? I mean it's at least worth a shot, those are the only two languages I got, you know besides large gestures and strong face expressions... sometimes that's the best way to communicate, or the worst, I guess it depends on the situation.

Good thing I brough an Italian phrase book with me.

Oh yeah

I went to Giverny the other weekend. It's where Claude Monet's house and gardens are. It's beautiful, especially his Japanese water garden. This is what his house and the gardens in front of it look like.

Just take a deep breath now...

My host mother and brother left for the weekend. So I decided to make dinner in the house by myself for some friends last night. It made me so happy! It almost made me feel like I was back home. Except I was in someone else's house.

I made rosemary chicken, couscous with black beans spinach and lemon and warm spinach salad with pancetta! It was delicious. Then this morning I woke up and quick finished washing the dishes so they wouldn't know I had people over, because I don't know how they would feel about it and I didn't want to talk about it.

I tried to study for midterms today and it just wasn't meant to be. I went to this amazing library and it was horrible, because there's no WiFi. How stupid is that? I was so frustrated it put me in a horrible mood and I couldn't print powerpoint slides out. LIBRARIES IN PARIS SUCK. ahhh ok I just needed to get that out. Much better now. I wasn't expecting to miss the libraries in Bloomington so much, but I do! Too bad they're on the other side of the Atlantic :(

I finally made it back home where I have wifi and I'm going to try really hard to concentrate. I only have my bed side light that works in my room. This could pose yet another problem. I cannot wait till these f-ing midterms are over and this shit is finished. BAhh I wonder if I sound as strung out as I feel. I need help. I don't think I can fix this with chocolate either... i'll muddle through some how.

Boo!

Food for the moment, I can't get enough of: olives
Artist I'm listening to right now: Ingrid Michaelson

I see Halloween decorations in Paris! Huzzah! I thought that no one in France understood what Halloween is, but I'm assuming I was wrong. Not that I'll be in Paris for Halloween.. I am meeting Meggie in Milan! I wonder what they think of Halloween over there... I'm not sure why but I just feel like they should celebrate Halloween there, you know, the architecture kind of looks spooky.. right? I don't know what I'm talking about.

I've been feeling so lethargic lately, I don't know what my problem is. I'm having a hard time getting myself to do anything. Why start studying for mid terms when I can watch another episode of mad men on my computer? At least today I did something requiring physical activity. I don't know what I should I should bring with me to Giverny... Well a camera is a must, too bad mine can't be trusted, I'm definitely going to want to take pictures of this place it's suppose to be beautiful. I think I should go to bed now so I can wake up in the morning...

Finally going to the movies tonight to see a movie.
Found a dance studio I can take ballet class at.
Going to Giverny to see claude Monet's gardens.

Life is looking pretty sweet.

C'est très beau, non?

Can't get no tickets to Brussels with my visa card. Gonna have to do it with some hard cold cash instead. I don't know why I keep having problems, I have this feeling it has something to do with the financial crisis in the States/Europe.

This week was pretty uneventful, just class. And some disgusting Asparagus soup. Never again. But at least I know now, if I had never tried it I would just be left wondering.. and with a few more taste buds. I am planning on going to the movies this weekend! I'm really excited for it because I miss going to a movie theater. You know there really isn't a phrase in French for I'm really excited? I asked a French person. Je suis très excité apparently means you're sexually excited .. So don't make that mistake!

I am also not très excité to make tacos and watch the sex and the city movie with Kaitlin this afternoon. It's just so beautiful outside, I feel like I need to be outside for a little bit first. My host mom gave me a bunch of information on other things I should see that aren't in the "top 25 Paris" guide books. The only thing is I don't have a camera I can use to take pictures of these beautiful things since mine has more or less gone caputz. :(

That deserved a sad face. Off to soak up the beautiful weather- à bientôt!

Fully rested

Time I went to bed last night: never
Time I went to bed this morning: 6:30am
Time I woke up this afternoon to an overwhelming feeling of lazy, I waste my life away-ness: 4pm

I really needed the sleep though. I'm just worried I won't be able to fall back asleep tonight. I maintained a very poor sleeping pattern this weekend. I need to get better at that. Probably having some kind of schedule will help me not waste my weekends away. Maybe I'm just overwhelmed with the fact that I have three day weekends every weekend. I always had Friday classes, so I was never really allowed the amazing-ness of the regular three day weekend. But a lack of free Fridays is not completely to blame.

I did stay up till 5 am to watch the debate on Thursday night for no good reason.

I did get completely horribly drunk on Friday night so that I was pretty hung over all day Saturday.

I did stay out all night until the metros came back on because it was Nuit Blanche.

Ok that's it, from now on there is no more watching debates live, I'll just have to you tube the next day. And I've already decided it's a good idea to never drink that much champagne again, and Nuit Blanche only comes once a year, so this should never happen again, right?

Right?

I'll just keep telling myself that.

Had an art history lesson in the Louvre today, it was kind of awesome. I love that I can just hop on a train and hang out in the Louvre for an hour and come back home like it's no big deal.

You know what's funny about most of the sculptures there? (Besides the hilarious lion biting man in the ass sculpture) There is always, coincidentally, somehow a sheet of fabric, (cape maybe?) strategically placed over the privates. It's odd when you think about it: they're in battle, or reigning a horse or doing something where you wouldn't think would ever require a sheet of fabric- and there is a sheet draped just so over the goods.

I don't think it's because it was inapro-po to show what's south of the border at the time, but rather, the sculptors just got tired of doing that part, because there are plenty of sculptures that do show that part. (And it always seems to be a small part too if you know what I mean). Of course I would be terrified to mention any of this to a professor, especially in French, but I will always be left wondering: Why exactly did they make that choice?

Until I get the balls to ask someone, I guess I'll just be left guessing.