Sunday, June 22, 2003

Got off the plane (thank god, I had a serious case of plane-butt), and Charles de Gaulle airport was nice.  Got my luggage, and we headed out.  Met up with Ryan outside the luggage carousel, and the group and I headed out into Paris.  Took the train and the metro to our hotel, the Hôtel Nouvel Orléans on Avenue Général LeClerc, and settled in a bit.  Then they took us out on an excursion through Montparnasse, the area on the south side of the main city where the hotel is.  Saw the Luxembourg Gardens, which were apparently built by/for a Medici (or Médicis), and were very, very big.  Also went through the Latin Quarter and saw the Sorbonne Cathedral, which was impressive.  I even got to see the infamous Boul-Mich, or Boulevard St-Michel. After the touring was done, Rob, Amanda, Julie and I stopped into a little café and had a few beers—quite nice.  Very relaxed, fun, and the four of us are a team.  Sweet.

 

Monday, June 23, 2003

Woke up bright and early, and had a light breakfast downstairs.  Then out to l’Île de la Cité.  Nôtre-Dame is incredible.  Climbed up the interminable stairs to the top, which gave us a spectacular view of all of Paris.  Not to mention the fabulous windows and immense interior volume.  Then over to Ste-Chapelle, which was even more beautiful, more delicate.  Also had some amazing stained-glass windows.  After a fun lunch (I think it was even at the same place as the night before), we saw Ste-Eustache and the big giant head in front of it, but kids wouldn’t get off it.  Ste-Eustache was unique in that it was finished in two stages, and so it looks sort of like the Washington Monument in that respect.  Also went to the Georges Pompidou Center, which was whacked.  One particularly weird piece of modern art was a black-and-white movie which was playing alone in a gallery.  I guess the guy really needed to express himself or something, but it was just weird.  More interesting was the The Suspects piece, which had six characters, from a rabbit to a bird to an elephant to a man, lined up with scared expressions.  Then a Hitchcock-ized version of “Silent Night” would play as lights would focus on one character at a time, and in the end none was picked out.  I thought it pretty cool.  My favorite, however, was a painting that proclaimed, industrial strength sleep.  I need a copy of that for next finals to replace “Who Needs Sleep” by the Barenaked Ladies.  But the first-mentioned piece kind of sucked the life out of us, so we left and did some touring on our own.  Eventually decided to go see the Eiffel Tower.  Holy cow.  We didn’t even need to go up; it was enough to drink a 6-euro bottle of wine and admire it.  We even saw it sparkling for us. Hung out some more and then went to bed late.

 

Tuesday, June 24, 2003.

Up again way early to head out to the Eiffel Tower again.  This time we went all the up to the top.  Holy cow, was there a view.  It even had a band around the top saying “Los Angeles, Etats-Unis, 9,105km”(14,700 miles). God, but it was cool on top.  Then down to the middle level for some gift shopping, crêpes, and more photo-opping.  Amanda and I were waiting for the other two to meet us, when we saw that they were already down with the group ready to leave.  So we ran down the leg of the tower, which was fun.  Then toured Les Invalides, which Napoleon built up to house the wounded soldiers.  Apparently, some still live there.  Frankly, I thought it was a gorgeous place to live.  Also got to see Napoleon’s tomb, which is very grandiose and extravagant.  His son had a nice little annex on the bottom floor, and I felt kinda bad for him.  But the tomb also had a museum, which house some amazing things, including some nice armaments.  Then on to the Musée Rodin, with The Thinker out in the garden, The Gates of Hell doors on the other side, and some amazing horticulture.  Didn’t even get inside, there was so much on the outside.  Then a little café for lunch, and off on our own.  We went back to the hotel and slept in preparation for the evening events.  We went to the Arc de Triomphe, which was as grand as everything else.  Again, climbed interminable stairs to the top, for another spectacular view.  We grabbed a pizza on the Champs-Elysées, and started with everyone to the boat ride.  Except we lost everyone somehow and ended up chasing them.  Until they came up behind us and surprised the hell out of us.  Really weren’t expecting that.  Then loaded on the boat and up and down the Seine.  Had some major fun seeing everything, including the Eiffel Tower sparkling, and the Statue of Liberty at the end of the island.  Kind of un-American of me, not having seen the one in New York, but it was cool.  This one was facing west, toward the one in New York, so I guess it was close enough.  Then a little more touring and bed.

 

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Started out the day in the Cimitière du Père-Lachaise, which has some rather famous tombs, including Balzac’s, Oscar Wilde’s, and the grand finale, Jim Morrison (which was rather small and out-of-the-way).  Wilde’s had to be my favorite, though, because every woman who stopped by had put on insane lipstick and kissed his tomb.  And given that there was a naked Sphinx-esque body holding up the tomb, you can imagine where some kisses went.  One even landed on the mouth of the bust on the tomb next door, which I thought was nice of that person.  A nice little lunch, then onto the Louvre.  Holy cow, that place is incredible.  The statues, the artwork, just phenomenal.  Saw the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory (Nike), and of course, the Mona Lisa.  Outside was even more fun, especially the two women carved in four scenes on the backside of the wall that faces the Pyramids, on the interior plaza in front of the fountain.  And the Pyramids were pretty cool, although they seem a little out of place surrounded by the grand style of the Louvre.  I guess you need to shake things up every so often.  Then we went and saw the Moulin Rouge, which was fun to see.  Told Jacqui in a postcard, “Can you imagine me there dancing with Nicole Kidman?  (Neither can I)”.  Then we went to the USAC dinner, featuring a great three-course meal and a decent house red wine that intoxicated us nicely.  Ended up going out some more afterward, wandering around the city and singing like stupid drunks.  But the rain put a slight damper on things, and we ended up getting back really late.  But it was fun.

 

Thursday, June 26, 2003

Busted out to Versailles today, and god is it gorgeous.  Huge grounds.  Fabulous gardens.  Once again, Mama Lea would’ve died and gone to heaven.  Toured inside as well, and it was so luxurious.  Went to lunch in a café in the town of Versailles, then back on the train to go back to Paris.  Shopped up and down the Champs-Élysées—so cool.  Didn’t really matter that my feet were killing me. Got tickets to dinner and a show for only EUR95, and then I even got myself a new shirt and tie, which ended up being a size or two too small, but didn’t matter.  Went back to the hotel for a quick shower, and busted our asses to Le Lido de Paris, for our show, “C’est Magique!”  Had a fabulous dinner with some of the best wine I’ve ever drank, then the show!  Fabulous Vegas-style topless revue, with a magician, some bodybuilding hunks that did some incredible feats of strength, and a juggler who kept dropping things.  Then there was the Fabulous Miss Number Three, who had ample, eh, character development (the first time we saw her, she was the third from the top on a staircase).  I even bought the CD, and a program for Amanda.  After having such a great time, no one was quite ready to go home, so we walked a little further and saw the Eiffel Tower once more.  Got some great pics of the group in front of the sparkle show.  Then went up to the tower and got ripped off by a rose guy (damn he was good).  Then the girls went back to the hotel, and Rob and I got one last drink at the bar down the street.  Liz, the Basque girl who was a June student, joined us for that last bottle of wine, then it was back to the hotel for some too-short sleep.

 

 

Friday, June 27, 2003

Woke up bright and early this morning to get on the train to Pau.  After a very nice 5 hours on the TGV (those were comfortable seats), got off at the train station and met Mme Boix, the lady who’s housing me.  She’s got me in a very nice downstairs flat with two other guys who aren’t currently here.  Got my own nicely furnished bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom with all the laundry I want to do, and a toilet.  All in all, it looks to be a fabulous arrangement.  Except for this damn fly who won’t leave me alone.  Anyway, getting settled in.  Got some clothes hung, the picture of my family on the desk, and stuff already all over the place (will be fixing that shortly).  Going to go shopping later with Mme Boix and get some supplies, as it looks like I’ll be living pretty much on my own, as it seems the roommates aren’t here too much.  Or maybe I’ll just call out for a pizza (hehe).  Also need to check my email at some point soon.  Mom, I want to thank you for sending me with the family picture.  God, I love you all.  5:30pm

 

Just went shopping with Mme Boix, and it was an experience.  Getting a bit more of the lay of the land. There’s a grocery store “hypermarché” on the other side of the campus, LeClerc /la-clair/, that has just about everything, like the SuperWalMart that just opened.  Got me some milk, OJ, cereal, pizza, and what I think are eggrolls at this store.  She also drove me down the street to show me the other, more Mom-and-Pop operation, that is conveniently open on Sundays, as well as the place that she gets her cigarettes at, which also sells a full four-course meal for like ten euros, which is like $12, not bad at all!  So I’m settled in a bit more, and have my brand-new, cheap alarm clock to wake me up at 7:30 so I can make it to school on time tomorrow for the orientation.  Must remember to buy painkillers at some point.  Also got ahold of Mom before I went to the store and finally jerry-rigged the phone so that we could have a conversation.  I’ve hit that second-week syndrome, I guess.  But things are pretty good here; I’ve a nice room, a great host/landlady, and nicely-stocked fridge.  Downsides: no idea where my friends are, my family’s 10,000 miles away, and my feet are dying.  At least I’m not going to spend all night tonight walking around on them, so maybe they’ll have a chance to improve.  I also get to do laundry!!  It’ll be so nice not to have sweatstained clothes again.  But, since neither roommate’ll be back until Sunday night, that at least allows me to watch some French TV, drink some French Coke, and eat some French pizza.  I’m glad I’m here, and things are thus far working out great, but at the same time I’m feeling quite a bit low.  I guess I’ll get over it soon enough.  Hell, I’ll see all my friends tomorrow morning for orientation, and I can call my folks again tomorrow afternoon.  At least today is gray and gorgeous—a little hot and humid, but I can live with it.  7:59pm

 

Saturday, June 28, 2003

Managed to get myself out of bed and to school for Orientation.  Had a meeting, then toured Pau.  It’s just like Paris, but with fewer tourists and no Eiffel Towers.  Does have some nice features, including a very green campus, some nice parks, and it’s nice that it’s cooler.  Am going to have to figure out the bus system, though, as there’s no metro and they close at like 7:30 or some ungodly early hour.  I’m just really fucking mad at my feet, because the blister right behind my right middle toes prevents me from walking normally, meaning I just couldn’t go out with the guys to go clubbing or whatever.  Shit.  Oh well.  I guess I should go see if Mme Boix knows I’m home since she said we’d be doing dinner tonight.  Hmm…  9:01pm. 

 

Well, ixnay on the dinner.  But we’re going to do lunch tomorrow.  Been hanging out by myself tonight, watching this horrible French program, Nice People, which seems like a cross between “Real World”, “Fear Factor”, and “American Idol”.  It’s just as bad as their “Survivor”, “Koh-Lanta”.  But then “Les Experts: Miami” came on, and it’s somewhat better.  I’m now wishing I’d gone clubbing, since I’d’ve done something, but we’ll probably be doing something tomorrow, I hope.  It’s boring down here all by myself.  I hope my roommates will be fun to talk to/hang out with.  God damn my feet hurting.  But I did go up and see Mme Boix, and she gave me some books to read, and encouraged me to watch some TV or read to pick up more of the language.  I just can’t get into it.  I hate it when you’re bored but you don’t have the energy to go out and do something about it.  Turns out, she sold the house in January, and is moving to Biarritz in August, so I’m her last USAC student.  I hope I do better than the last girl, whom it seems she doesn’t like.  I must also find out what all the honking and cheering was about this evening, as the French don’t seem to do the evening news.  At least I was able to update my journal and reminisce about Paris with my study guides.  I also bought La petite fille que aimait Tom Gordon, a French auto guide, and some paper at the store near the campus today, so I ought to be ready for Monday.  Gotta find some B&W film though, since that’s what we’ll be processing come Monday/Tuesday.  But I’ve still got to get through Sunday, which is going to stink unless I can find something to do tomorrow.  I wish I were out with my friends.  Still, they have me booked for Pamplona on the weekend of July 4 for the running of the bulls, so that really ought to be interesting.  I guess I could go to bed, but I don’t really feel like it.  Must smoke fewer cigarettes, as the pack I bought yesterday with Mme Boix is almost gone.  God I wish my feet weren’t in such a horrible state.  It’ll probably be the end of the month before they’re okay.  I miss America a bit, I’m nervous about the roommates, and I hope my friends aren’t pissed that I ditched them today.  Ostensibly it was because of Mme Boix’s dinner, but I don’t know…  I am so going to have to censor this journal for Mama Lea.  Heh.  God, I only have a month here; there is no reason why I should be bored like this.  None at all.  Stupid feet, stupid nervousness.  1:07am

 

Sunday, June 29, 2003

Woke up at one pm.  So, so nice.  Got showered, and then Serge (M. Boix) invited me up and the three of us had lunch.  Nice salad, some meat, and some chocolate and coffee.  Then we three watched TV for a few hours.  Saw New York Unité Especial, JAG, some long-winded talk show, and Boston Public.  Was great to watch American shows, even if they were in French.  Got some good talking time with Delia, and we even went together to buy cigarettes!  After a pleasant afternoon, came downstairs with Delia and we ran into Philippe, Mathieu, and one of their friends.  She did a little more cleaning and I got a load of laundry in the washing machine.  Now I’m just going to have to figure out how to dry it…  Mom called not two minutes after I got in (incredible timing) and we talked for a while.  I hope I don’t seem a little stuck to America.  I miss it though.  But, New York District comes on every day around 2pm on channel 2, so maybe I can have a little bit of home?  Good day.  Now I have to build up the courage to hang out with Mathieu and Philippe.  Delia said that Mathieu wasn’t very “sophisticated” (her word), and told me not to take it personally.  I guess Philippe, who is actually Mathieu’s boss, is better.  Now that he’s here, I wonder if he’ll let me watch TV with him.  Otherwise I’m going to have to dig into La petite fille que amait Tom Gordon or one of the SAS books that Delia gave me yesterday.  I got like five of them, in Stockholm, Moscow, Rome, Belgrade, Panama, and against the CIA.  This ought to be interesting.  I’ve only been up eight hours today, and I’m ready to go back to bed.  I hope my having slept in this afternoon won’t keep me up until four am, because that would really suck.  But the alarm is set for 7:45am tomorrow so that I have plenty of time to get ready for my first day of school.  I guess I should take Mom’s advice and start “nesting”.  8:46pm  Oh, and all the honking last night was because Pau won the nationals in basketball (le basket /bas-kette/)!!

 

Just Mathieu.  Philippe arrives tomorrow.  Those were just his friends. They spoke English okay.  Great.  Anyway, he’s getting in the shower now; I hope my laundry doesn’t affect that.  This ought to be interesting.  They were all kissing.  That’s just not right; I’m sorry!  9:20pm

 

Monday, June 30, 2003

What a day!  Woke up early to go to school.  Took my French tests, which included a horrible written grammar exam and very nice oral.  She said I’d probably be in intermediate French, which I like.  Then went to the store and got a key made for Mme Boix, along with a run to the post office to cash out some travellers’ cheques and send off the postcards.  Then back to La Vague for lunch (with Val, the, em, talkative one, so we weren’t the antisocial group), then back for a meeting on housing.  Then it was off to Rob’s dorm room for some drinking, cardplaying, and food.  God, did we have a fabulous time.  My only regret is that I’m hardly doing anything French (though we did eat French bread (and some PB&Js, but that’s not important right now) and drank all, very good, cheap, French wine).  But still, we were playing poker and essentially being Americans.  Must involve myself more with the French, because this isn’t what I paid for.  Then fell asleep, and when I woke up, Rob and Julie were gone (Amanda was still asleep).  So I left, and walked around looking for a place to buy cigarettes.  But unlike Paris, there were like no open bars/tabacs.  Like nothing is open.  And this is at 10:00!  God, for a kid from Nevada, this just isn’t right.  Finally did find one bar, the one Mme Boix and I bought cigarettes at the first time, and had a drink.  Some guy kept looking at me; I wish I’d spoken to him.  That’d’ve been French!  So, now I’m back in the dorm room, thinking, I should still be out (not that there’s anywhere to go) and wondering if there’s more to this, or if it’s just me that’s holding me back.  I must be more confident!!  But it seems that Philippe has not yet returned, and Mathieu is once again locked up in his room, so here I am, where I’ve been every night since I got here.  Hmm.  11:02pm/23h02.  (There!  I was more French!)

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2003

I got 7 hours of sleep, but I was still tired.  Odd.  But I got my ass out, and went to my first day of classes.  I ended up in Intermediate 3 (Julie’s in 4, Rob’s in 1, and Amanda’s in Beginners’/elle est debutante).  Sat next to a Jamaican girl named Winsome who is decently cool, and we ended up not having a bad class.  It’s somewhat redundant, but dammit, I’m in France!  Afterward, went back to Rob’s dorm and hung out with the girls for awhile.  Bought Rob and me dictionaries (French/English and French/Spanish for me), and then Rob and I went to the computer lab.  I finally got to check my emails and Roy and I were emailing back and forth like IMming.  Then back to Rob’s dorm, and he and I hung out in Pau for awhile (we got lost) on our way to Amanda’s place to pick up the girls to go to Julie’s place.  Ended up there for the rest of the evening.  Met Julie’s Mom, Dad, Mom’s mom, and a friend of the family.  The eight of us had quite an evening!  We talked about everything from Franco-American relations/politics to the prostitutes of Nevada.  They were such an open, wonderful family, so willing to share everything!  They not only gave us coffee with Schnapps (made by the friend’s dad on the German border), 60-year-old cognac that the grandma had saved during the war!!  60-YEAR-OLD COGNAC!!!  We talked for like three-four hours, and I haven’t had such a fun evening in a long time (actually the night before, but that was all in English).  I cannot express the good time we had.  We compared money, and the mom expressed how much she missed French francs because the euro was so European and meant very little to her.  We laughed all night.  And then, the friend drove us home!  God, I’m going to have to get some good alcohol or something special for these people.  It was so worth it.  And apparently, we’re seeing them tomorrow.  God, when do I get to stop? Actually, that stopping sucked a few nights ago.  So I’m not going to do it.  I’m going to go as fucking fast as I can.  Incredible time.  It was perfect.  And now I regret not having a family like that (not that mine is bad in any way).  And this afternoon, the girls signed the three of them up for a gym, and I think we’re going tomorrow, and I may sign up as well.  Holy fucking shit, it’s all happening so fast, and we’re doing so much.  I think my parents would be proud of this.  And my feet are no longer bothering me (I figured out how to walk again), so the only thing holding me back is me.  I wish I were more confident; that’s how you get to do these things.  But I also feel bad because I’ve seen Mme Boix like twice since I’ve arrived.  Must stop by upstairs tomorrow and drop off the key (last night, she put more cheap serials in my window, and today she found the dictionary and put it in my window—I do believe she likes me!)  I love it when all I have to feel guilty about is not being as generous as my friends.  It makes me feel loved.  And I know I’m not a complete moocher.  All right, if I’m going to be at Rob’s at 8:30 tomorrow to walk to school together, I have to go to bed NOW.  I’ll do this in French when I have more time.  2h09 au 2 juillet.

 

 

Wednesday, July 2, 2003

So yesterday, I woke up at 8:40.  Shit.  But I still managed to get to class before it had really started, so she didn’t even really notice.  Good class, and afterwards we went back to Rob’s before heading back to Julie’s family’s house for a going-away party (for the dad and the grandma and the model Eirel (sp) (not Ariel)).  Didn’t have quite as much fun as we did the first day.  Eirel just walked in and parked her face in front of mine, and I didn’t know how to respond.  Finally did the kiss the cheek thing, and she moved on with an “Enchantée”.  But god is she gorgeous.  Now I really wish I’d bought an FHM so she could autograph it.  But still had a good time, and really glad I got to speak French with them all.

 

Thursday, July 3, 2003

Today has been much slower-paced, which has been great.  Got to class on time (but didn’t meet up with the group at 8:30; ought to try that tomorrow, especially with my nap today and going to bed earlier, though I’ve started a load of laundry and that could hold me up significantly).  Then to Rob’s for homework (the girls napped), then back to school for photography.  Except we missed the bus.  Fortunately, Robina came back and took us downtown so we could go to the building and get in okay.  The photography class is going to be so cool.  He speaks French and Spanish, but no English, so at least I won’t be practicing the language I already know.  Was interesting, and seems exactly like I thought it would be.  He had us write down what we thought photography was, and I wrote that it was the ‘art of immortalizing a moment in time, or an expression caught at just the right time’.  Ryan is translating, which helps.  After the class, we went to his favorite photo shop, and I bought film and showed off my camera.  Asked him if I could fix the light meter, and he said I needed a battery and that they don’t make it anymore!  Shit!  They agreed it was about 30 years old (oh, the photo guy speaks Spanish and French, too, so I can communicate effectively—yay!).  It was very cool hanging out with this guy; I feel a connection, which is quite cool.  Afterwards, back to Rob’s for a nap and dinner.  Was a quiet evening, which was nice, and I’m back before 1am.  And the three of us (not Amanda, who was doing homework) even had a great talk about verbs, which is my kind of subject.  Called Mom, and wasn’t very nice to her because my feet hurt so much, so I called her again 10min ago, but got her voicemail.  Got Dad’s voicemail too, but I did manage to get ahold of Jorge, who was very glad to hear from me.  If only Janet had been there!  Oh well, the postcards arrived, so everything seems to be cool.  It’s been a good couple of days, and it’s nice not to feel like we’re going 1000mi/hr.  11:22pm

 

Friday, July 4, 2003

Class was mixed today.  Antoine, a nice guy from the Basque country (I imagine of Spain), brought in some very nice food for his birthday, which I thought was quite nice of him (and it was very good food, along with some Rioja wine).  But then we had to do skits (which I’ve never really liked, although my group I think came up with the best—people were laughing), and while we were writing it, Marie-Jo, the teacher (whom you still have to refer to as vous), caught me speaking English and yelled out “Dix centimes!”  I was not all about that.  Ended up pissing me off, and I was not kind (not mean really either) to her the rest of class.  So I’ll apologize on Monday.  After class, I checked my email and the others went shopping.  We all rendez-voused at Rob’s place, and ended up having a great Fourth of July, despite being in the most ironic country for that celebration.  The girls brought a CD player and a great selection of music, and we partied the night away.  I drank 1 if not two bottles of wine on my own; in total we blew through eight I think.  The only downer was the guy who lived below us telling us he’d call the cops if we didn’t turn it down.  We gave him immense desolés and turned the music down.  We all crashed there.  Wild night; lots of fun.

 

Saturday, July 5, 2003

Woke up at six and couldn’t fall back asleep.  Went back to my place and caught a few more ZZZs before taking a shower, grabbing my camera, and going to the university for the bus ride to Bayonne.  They arrived at their typical time, and we got on the bus and slept some more.  Stopped in Bayonne for a few minutes before the bus tour of the city, then a walking tour.  It was rather boring, but we had a good time anyway.  We knew it was a fabulous city when one of the highlights was a parking garage (it was actually the entrance to an underground cavern which was fairly cool).  I tried a lot to listen to the Spaniard’s translation to try to understand what was going on, since we did the French tour, but to no avail.  Then we all got back on the bus and slept some more.  Woke up when we arrived in Biarritz.  What a town!  Beautiful, rocky coast and sandy beaches with topless women (not topless babes, but whatever).  We had lunch in a nice café that was way understaffed, but served us something (god I wish I could remember the name), a crêpe filled meat, cheese, and an egg, and left mostly opened.  I finished mine right up.  Then to the beach, which I was ill prepared for.  But I took off my shirt and lay on the beach (no shorts or swimsuit, otherwise I’d’ve gone into the water), and flipped over a while later.  Ended up looking like a lobster.  But it was a fun day.  We went back to Rob’s for dinner, and I just got worse.  Went back to my place and crashed.  They’re all going back to Biarritz tomorrow, but I do believe I’ll stay home and get enough sleep. 

 

Sunday, July 6, 2003

Woke up at 11:30.  Nice.  Not feeling sick like yesterday, but my front still really hurts.  And the stupid thing is that I didn’t even tan/burn evenly (there are these huge white streaks on my back, and a band in my neck where the fat bunched up—gotta lose some weight).  I’m feeling better; the pain’s even dulling somewhat.  Called the folks; they were so glad to hear from me.  Got to tell them some nice stories, and it was so nice to talk to them.  The three of them I assume are in Biarritz today, having tons of fun, but I’m going to have dinner with my family, so I’ll be doing something productive.  Dinner’s at 8:30, and I’m hoping they don’t go to bed until around midnight, so I can talk to them for awhile, since I’m not doing a hell of a lot of French.  It bugs me somewhat, as this is really just becoming an expensive French course with some side trips, and a great week in Paris, and not a ton of exposure to the French culture or language.  C’est la vie, I guess.  At least I’m going to have dinner with these people, and that ought to be cool.  4:24 on July 6.

 

It was cool.  Not a hell of a lot of French, but dinner was cool.  Fabulous chicken, a couple nice salads, some abricots, and a wonderful sorbet.  Nice conversation with Delia, and in the end she gave me a mini-TV!  I’m so happy!  So, now I’m totally taken care of.  I do believe she really likes me.  Serge too, but I don’t quite understand him.  Anyway, great conversation, about many things, and a decent comedy movie on TF1 starring a very famous French actor who committed suicide way too young and Gérard Depardieu as the gangster.  Had a great time, and now I’m gonna watch some télé.  11:34pm

 

Monday, July 7, 2003

Couldn’t really fall asleep too well last night, or rather 4am, because of my sunburn and this really loud bird outside.  So of course, this morning I was resetting my alarm.  Still made it to class on time, and again the teacher over-corrected me, but I got over it more quickly this time and participated in the rest of the class nicely.  This getting corrected so much is not helping my self-esteem.  But survived class, and went to the store.  Cashed in some more travellers’ cheques at the post office (only took like 30min), then to lunch at Rob’s place.  Came back afterward to load Amanda’s good music on my computer while the others exercised, then back again to Rob’s for an excellent stir-fry dinner, and a couple rounds of You Lucky Bastard.  Now back, and now I’m going to name all the songs I just got (51 in total—very nice).  Not a horrendously French day, but nice nonetheless.  9:26pm.  Ooh, now I have to load film into my camera!  Oh shit!

 

Well, I finally met Philippe.  Nice guy, 40-ish, with a helluva moustache.  But he seems like an all-right guy (never mind the Sylvester plastered inside his minivan window).  Nice little chat with him (and totally accessible-yay!), then off to the internet café, for a good check of the email (and some bonding with California).  Then to a nice little pub to take a load off and have an Amstel and a cig—great bartender; I am so going back.  Unlike Philippe, the bartender doesn’t seem to speak English, so I may finally get to really practice some French!  But now I’m terribly exhausted, as the walk seems to have tired me out more than I would have thought it should.  But no matter—I now have two very good prospects for practicing French and experiencing the culture, which is something I’ve been sorely lacking lately.  And it won’t cut into the Four, so everything’s cool.  Whew.  12:44am on July 8

 

Tuesday, July 8, 2003

Waking up really sucked.  But I made it to class okay, then to Rob’s for lunch.  Ended up losing the time, and at 1:15 I started back to my place to get my camera.  Get to the house, and my keys are gone.  Shit.  So I crawl into the window and get my camera, and get to the bus stop at 1:45.  But the bus comes at 1:31, 1:36, and 2:22.  So I waited there (I wasn’t the only one) until 2:22 to get to class.  Ended up getting there late, just as the group was leaving to go into the city and take pictures.  The timing couldn’t’ve been better.  So walked around Pau for two hours, taking some pictures.  And I do love my teacher.  Since Ryan the Translator was guiding the other group, Manuel was just speaking Spanish, and the other guy was translating.  But I understood just about everything, and he speaks with a Castilian accent.  Very happy with that.  Took all but two pictures (one ended up being an error), and then sitting in a café for an hour relaxing.  One girl, Kara, who had missed class, met up with me and we hung out until I had to get back to Rob’s to make the phone call for reservations in San Sebastián.  Ended up not making the call, because by the time I got back, it was time to leave to catch the USAC-sponsored movie.  Walked all the way back into town to see Les triplettes de Belleville, which was rather interesting.  It was animated, and grostesquely caricaturing.  I’m glad I saw it, I guess, but it didn’t have an American happy ending, so it was sort of a letdown.  Then we walked through Pau to a nice little Italian place, my treat.  I had escargots, lasagna, and crème brûlée for dessert.  It was 11:00 by the time we finished, so we walked back a little.  I stopped off at the Internet café to check my email (I had only 1!).  Then, being really tired, walked back to Parc St-Lawrence, and had a couple smokes.  Almost sat down on a sleeping homeless person, but decided it’d be better to sit in the bench over there, since the one in the other direction had a nice little couple on it.  While sitting there, the poor old guy made some of the loudest farts I’ve ever heard in my life.  The couple, who’d been fairly hot and heavy, seemed to have their moment killed.  Ah well.  Walked back home and crawled in the window, since I still didn’t have a key.  Took my last photo, which was of the lonely workstation with two bottles of liquor and a burning cigarette, in a dark room.  I think it’s quite cool, but we’ll have to see how it works out.

 

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

Waking up was not so hard this morning.  Went to class, and today, I took my camera.  Afterward, went to LeClerc, where Rob bought a pocket computer dictionary, and then promptly lost it while we were looking for wine.  So Julie and I went back to Rob’s (Amanda was already there cleaning), and I grabbed a quick croissant before leaving for the early bus.  Met Rob there, who had found his dictionary, and we met the girls at the class.  This time, went up and watched him explain the developing process.  Very cool.  It’s basically three steps.  First, in complete darkness, you have to wind the film up into a spool and put it inside a container.  Then you can turn the lights back on, and pour in a solution that will dissolve the silver solution and make it so that the film won’t take any more pictures.  Then you pour that out and add a solution that stops the dissolvent.  Then you rinse it all out, before laying the film in a dish and just letting it rest in water.  And then you hang it up to dry.  Not much, but apparently some people are never able to put the film on the spool in the dark, and thus have to give up their career in photography.  So hopefully I’ll be able to get the hang of it.  Still had fun.  Then it was off to Rob’s house for a minute (tried to convince the girls, whom we had beat on the bus, that we’d been there a while and panhandling had been quite lucrative, to no avail).  I called the hostel in San Sebastián, but Saturday night was full and Sunday night was €89/night/room, and we’d’ve had to get two rooms.  So it ended up being a bust.  Shit.  Actually, nice, but c’est la vie.  So, I came back and hung out a precious little bit with Philippe and Mathieu.  Rob’s cooking Amanda dinner (I had half of a fabulous pizza), and Julie’s with her family, whom I believe I’m going to go visit now.  I just don’t know if I want to walk all that way.  Fuck walking.  8:33pm on July 9.

 

Went to Julie’s place later, and we ended up going bowling.  I sucked ass, but that’s okay.  Never broke 100, but we had such a great time.  The bowling alley is on Jean Mermoz, across from a Casino supermarket, not far from my house.  They had a Coors Texas neon sign on one wall, and a Coors California sign on the other, and the CD was all about Lynyrd Skynyrd and “I Will Survive”.  Still had a great time, and even won one of the three frames, with a few strikes and spares (the actual French names).  Got home so so late.

 

Thursday, July 10, 2003

Woke up (barely) and went to class.  Fell asleep toward the end, but she made a joke of me so that’s cool.  She kept saying I needed like ten coffees, which may not be far from the truth.  Hung out the rest of the day, some of it at Rob’s, some of it at Julie’s.  Watched a part of the last episode of “La recherche pour la nouvelle star” Afterward, we all went back to the bowling alley and Madame even came and watched us.  We did karaoke and drank from a Girafe.  It was so frigging cool.  Julie went up first, and did “Blowing in the Wind”, then I did “Addicted to Love”.  God I suck, but then so did we all!  Ludo, to thank those who did karaoke, gave me a Latino music CD, a very cool lighter, and a nice condom.  It was all very cool.  Went to bed very, very late again, but life goes on.

 

Friday, July 11, 2003

Was able to get up, somehow, and stay awake through class.  Afterward, we all got on the bus and headed out to Jurançon, south of Pau.  Saw a cathedral from the 12^th C., then out to the wine region for some tasting.  While it wasn’t a fabulous time, the wine was good and it was nice to get out of Pau (though the bus’ air conditioning could’ve used some tuning-up).  Hung out the rest of the evening at Amanda’s house.  Her mom fed us, which was quite cool and quite good!

 

Saturday, July 12, 2003

Slept in!  Yay!  Till like noon!  It was so, so nice.  Then to Julie’s house, where Audrey and Sylvain took us to MacDo and out to go-karting, and I managed to get up to like 53kph (35mph).  Didn’t do too horribly, though Rob kicked ass (I would’ve too, but my car couldn’t accelerate too well, I think because I was too heavy).  Hung out some more at Julie’s house, then went shopping at Casino and then to Amanda’s to hang out.  Walked home at 3am.

 

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Slept in till 1pm.  Called the folks, did some laundry, cooked some pasta, and read the paper and the French equivalent of Motor Trend, which was very informative.  Found out the American Accord is going to be the European Inspire!  Aren’t I special!  Very laid back day, almost too slow, but it was nice to take a break. 

 

Monday, July 14, 2003

It’s Bastille Day!  Woke up at noon, and hung out at home a little before going out to find my friends.  Went to Rob’s, no one’s there; went to Amanda’s, and her mom told me they were in Biarritz!  Crap.  So I went down to the Internet Café, and checked my email for the first time since the eighth.  Found out my car’s fixed (yay), and emailed California.  Stopped at one of the three places open today, the Shell station on Jean Mermoz (which doesn’t sell cigarettes, and doesn’t have slot machines!), then came back home.  Hopefully the guys’ll call me like I asked them to, but they’d have to go to Amanda’s, hmm.  But I talked to Mme Boix, and so I’m having dinner with them tomorrow night.  C’est tout pour maintenant.  7:24pm

 

Well, called Madame, and she said they were still in Biarritz!  This is at 10:30pm.  And right as I hung up, I heard a boom.  So, I went outside and there they were, to the south behind some buildings and trees.  Managed to find a spot between the trees and got to see some of them, and for some reason, it made me happy.  Fireworks never seem to have really done that before.  It was nice.  Then some TV and I went to bed (with the hope that tomorrow morning I’d wake up nice and easy).

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

NOT!  Dammit.  Oh well, got to class on time and managed to keep interested enough not to fall asleep until the very, very end.  Then we went to the cafeteria at Leclerc for a not-too-bad ten-euro lunch.  Rob went back to his place, and we three went to check out movie times.  Of course, I have dinner, so the 17h30 show is out, as is the 19h45.  Shit.  So I just gave up on that idea, and lost the girls as I had to wait for the bus.  Got there with 15min to spare, so Kara and I had a quick citron pressé and Coca (guess who had the Coca), then up to the room, where it turns out, he’s doing what we did last time.  He kicked most of us out for a half hour (I went and had another Coca and read the paper), then back up to hang out with the prof.  Was nice enough.  Afterwards, hung out for an hour at another café (with another Coca, are you noticing a trend), then off to the Château (or rather, a house right next to it) to see Manuel’s exposition.  Were some really cool photos.  One was of a storefront, with a nun on one side, an average middle-aged woman on the other, and the poster of a hot model in the doorway.  The name of the store: Différence.  Another was of a couple SDFs sitting against pillars that framed the store “El Corazón de Jesús”.  The funkiest juxtaposition for me was the flamenco dancer very seductively handling a cross, while the photo below it had a little girl praying in front of an altar.  Got some nice Jurançon wine (both doux and sec, and the doux was better), and left Manuel a nice message (in Spanish, of course).  Met Kara, Lucca, and Lucca’s friend (who reminded me suspiciously of Ross the Intern) there, and then walked back to the bus with Kara.  Caught the 8 Line back up, which stopped right in front of the house.  Très chouette.  And now, to dinner with the host family!  8:23pm on July 15.

 

Nice dinner, sorta a repeat of last weekend.  But I got my dictionary back!

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

 

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Class was okay, but photography was the highlight.  We made prints!  Actually, I half-assed watched him, since I couldn’t see a damn thing, and since it was a sauna in the room, I ended up spending most of the time out in the hall.  Finally got in to make a print of the “cool” photo of the writers’ block author.  He said it was okay, but the photo was not fabulous because the isolation had no ambience or setting, and therefore wasn’t fabulous.  But it was all good. 

 

Friday, July 18, 2003

Woke up at the regular time, which is to say, it was hard.  Packed a few things, and walked over to Rob’s.  Then we all marched down the Gare and hopped on the train to Toulouse.  Then caught a bus to the airport, where we hung out for a little bit.  Then onto the bus that hauled us out to the puddle-jumper for the brief flight to Nice.  It was a pleasant flight, especially with my being able to be the first one to see the Mediterranean.  Oh, it was sweet.  Landed in the late afternoon, and got a cab to the hotel, which was nice because the driver was cool and informed us of the proximity of Monaco, a mere 20 min away.  We made the decision right then and there that we ought to check it out.  The hotel was, however, not quite as nice as the Let’s Go travel guide led us to believe.  Odd odors and a perma-puddle outside the bathroom really didn’t inspire confidence.  But it was irrelevant, as we left to go shopping.  I got myself a pair of sandals; the girls got themselves a lot.  Then to the sushi restaurant, Zen, a block from the hotel.  Very good sushi, and it was so nice to get some real meat into the body.  Had us quite an evening there, especially with the cooks doing their thing right in front of us.  Spent the rest of the evening in the hotel room hanging out, talking (I threw in a joke at the exact perfect moment and we all laughed for five minutes).  Went to bed after midnight, which was bad because we wanted to wake up early and see the sun rise over the Med. 

 

Saturday, July 19, 2003

That didn’t happen.  But we did eventually get our asses out of bed and got down to the beach.  It turned out to be a rocky, not sandy, beach, but we all had good footwear and survived.  But it did make suntanning slightly uncomfortable (I still managed to get rid of the watchtan, though the legs are fishbelly white).  But we got to swim in the MED!  So sweet.  Dragged ourselves away from the water to go back to the hotel and refresh before catching the train to Monaco.  A mere 20 min later, we were in another country.  A very hilly one, at that.  But the harbor was full of some fabulous boats, much to Rob’s pleasure, and the streets were fully of very nice cars, much to my pleasure.  Rob was paying attention, and saw six Ferraris and three Lamborghinis, and that doesn’t even start counting the premo Mercedes, Land Rovers, etc. that filled the streets.  Finally pulled Rob away to catch a bus under the mountain to see the HSH Prince Rainier’s car collection, which was on display.  Some gorgeous cars, from all over Europe and America.  Cadillacs, Rolls-Royces, Bimmers, French cars, and a nice (if old) Lamborghini were featured.  Went back to the waterfront afterwards and had dinner and desert in the sidewalk cafés, along with plenty of Get-27.  It took a lot to go back to the Gare, but we managed to get back to Nice fairly late and hang out in the room (and Internet café) before going to sleep.

 

Sunday, July 20, 2003

Waking up was very hard, but we had to because our train to Carcassonne left at six and we needed one more bath in the Med.  Got myself a little water under the dark sky, and enjoyed it a little more.  Then back to the hotel for a quick shower, and a nice little rush back to the train station to get en route to the château city.  Did a little napping on the train, made a connection at Marseilles (not the best looking town) despite our train’s being late, and got into Carcassonne at 2pm.  Had lunch in the plaza (more red meat, but still a little off), and started toward the cité.  Met up with a couple Americans, and together we entered the 1700yr-old city walls and got a look at an 800yr-old castle.  That in and of itself was mind-boggling.  Walked around and saw a Renaissance Faire complete with good actors and a jousting match.  The only thing it was lacking was someone holding English subtitles.  I still enjoyed it, and the jousting was not horrendously fake, which was cool (and much better than the earlier fight scene where the guy was two feet away from touching anyone).  Plenty of humor, as well, with a couple wimps (they were hilarious, beyond the language barrier), and the lush queen.  Lost the Americans afterwards, but toured the cité on our own, and it was nice.  I finally managed to find a not-too-touristy souvenir, a knife/corkscrew, gorgeous.  Put it on Mom’s Visa.  But we were all tired, so we ended up spending most of the day in various cafés, having water, crêpes, and lunch.  But finally found a great little café, and played You Lucky Bastard between courses.  It was the most fun, and it reenergized us, ending the day on a nice note.  Then to the train station, for the long ride home.  With the (almost-missed) connection in Toulouse, it was a long time, and we got into Pau at 2:30am.  I made it to bed at 3:15.

 

Monday, July 21, 2003

Waking up was hard, but I got to class on time.  Almost.  Stayed awake the whole thing, and stayed an active participant.  Right now I’m pretty sure of a B/B+, which isn’t acceptable, and is really undesirable.  Then I treated everyone to a pizza (I just didn’t want to go back to Rob’s place), and I got myself some soap.  Then to the bus station for the last photography class.  We just shot the shit the whole time, in three languages.  But I really impressed him with my answer to what we wrote on the first class.  I changed my answer to (this time in Spanish, not French): ‘it is the art of capturing a feeling, a moment, a sensation, that has nothing to do with reality but rather what the photographer feels in what he’s seeing’.  He said what I’d written was exactly what he’d been trying to teach us, so I felt way cool.  It was a great class, and I’m gonna miss the guy; we did some bonding in our short time together.  He was exactly what I wanted, regardless of what others feel about him and his philosophies.  Sigh.  I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Internet café, doing my emails (I had a whole 2, and only one was a response to my emails from Nice—what is up with my parents??).  It was nice to sit and relax.  Caught a bus to Rob’s and we did homework and had a nice dinner (despite a little Val interruption—I managed to go out for a quick smoke and that got the ball rolling on getting rid of her.  Julie actually sat on Rob’s lap and started loving on him to convince her to go; Amanda came out and joined me on the front steps.  By the time Amanda and I got back, she was on her way out, and we spent the rest of the evening in peace).  Rob cooked a great turkey and cashew on rice with marinade sauce meal, and we drank a little Get-27 before I decided I needed to go home and crash.  That was an hour and a half ago!  I am eventually going to get to catch up and reset, right??  It’s all good.  1:08am on July 22.

 

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Class was cool.  Had lunch at Rob’s, then left around 2 to work on my “extra credit”.  Set up a little office with all three dictionaries, the laptop, and Philippe’s TV.  Had to clean it up so Mathieu could eat, so I hung out for a bit before going to Rob’s to see if anyone was there.  They were, but they all decided it was time for bed like five minutes after I got there.  So back home to hang out before bed.

 

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Woke up early to rewrite my XC on paper, and finished just in time to get ready for school.  There was a grand total of 3 there: Leila, the black chick from my photography class with the dreadlocks, the Basque guy, and me.  Jaylene showed up a bit later.  I left at break (after handing in the XC), and caught the bus to downtown for the Tour de France.  But it couldn’t take me all the way to Place Clemenceau because of the Tour.  So I got off a little early and started following the signs to the tour.  But they stopped at Clemenceau, and I couldn’t figure out where it was.  This was at 11:27.  So I walked to Place Verdun, but it wasn’t there (just a parking lot, really), and that was at 11:40.  So I figured I’d missed it (I had; it had started at 11:30), so I walked to the Café de Pau next to Les Halles and had lunch, then back to Rob’s to see if anyone was there.  Nope.  So I walked back home, which was uneventful.  Watched some TV, did some stuff on the computer, and talked to Dad.  Finally got tired of it, so I walked to the movie theatre and saw “Charlie’s Angels”, which was a littler harder to follow sans dialogue than I thought it’d be.  I figured after that that maybe Rob and the girls had come back, so I walked to Thélème, and sure enough, they’d gotten in about an hour after I’d tried them.  Hung out with them and Ryan (my roommate in Paris), before coming back home and going to bed.  12:20am on July 24.

 

Thursday, July 24, 2003

Uneventful

 

Friday, July 25, 2003

Woke up decently to go to my last class.  We watched “Tanguy”, which was a good movie, but I now need to see it with subtitles to understand the jokes better.  Talked with Marie-Jo, and she told me that thanks to my paper, she’s giving me an A-.  Celebrate good times, c’mon!  Got a pic with her, then to lunch with Rob’s mom at L’Etna, followed by an afternoon of packing.  Then went and talked to Mme Boix.  Apparently, I missed dinner Wednesday night, which pissed me off severely.  But, we had a nice little chat, and she gave me a lift to Amanda’s, where we hung out instead of partying like I thought we’d be doing.  Then out to dinner at the crêperie across from the château, with a little shopping thrown in for good measure.  Then back to Rob’s, where I said my goodbyes and left behind all my purchases.  Did a lot of crying, and spent the rest of the night packing, also saying bye to Mathieu.  Didn’t do any sleeping (to avoid oversleeping), and got to Pau airport at 5:15.  Nice little flight to Paris, and a really, really long flight to SFO.  And now I’m back!!! 3:49PDT on July 26.