Cliff diving... sorta

German friends.

Hello Friends! 

     Today at the old port (I'm literally translating that from the French vieux port) they had a cliff diving competition. That said, there are no cliffs at the old port, so they used the old tower there instead. The weather has been nice recently here, so I'm enjoying spending more time at the beach and outside. I have another few photos for you, with pictures of cliff divers to follow sometime in the near future; i.e. whenever my german friends decide to share them with me. I do have a photo of the tower.

Of Ice cream and Islands

In return for your patience I have a few more photos for you. My exams are next week, so things have been a bit hectic getting everything ready. 

These two are from the Isle de Ré. Enjoy. 

I can walk on water

Medieval people must have been smaller

Crowded Streets of Bordeaux

Wine Tasting

This is me and Milenco at a vineyard. He's a good friend, but he looks a bit funny in this picture. 

Bordeaux Tower

So here's a picture of me on top of that tower I was writing about. There might be a theme for this weeks pictures.

Day at the Beach

I spent about 4 hours here today after class. Feel free to be horribly jealous.

Traveler's Tales

Hello friends! I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. Personally I don't celebrate Easter, but the French do, so I got off from school for Easter monday. 

My parents returned home safely from La Rochelle, without too much trouble. Irritatingly enough, the airline lost their luggage. In spite of our persistent phone calls, it never arrived. Still I believe they enjoyed their time here. Perhaps so much so that they "accidentally" missedtheir return train to Paris. Fortunately they were able to catch a slightly later train, and theysucceeded in catching their flight without incident. 

I still attended a majority of my classes while they were here. My schedule is such that I spend the mornings in class with the afternoons, starting at 12:30, to myself. We took long walks in town, granting me an opportunity to show them the aquarium, the market, and other such sights. They seemed appropriately impressed by everything, in spite of their utter lack of French language skills. 

The lady I'm staying with invited us to have a cordial. I spent a conversation glancing back and forth from them to her, translating as much of the French as I could as quickly as possible. She left the same day that they did, to visit her son in Nice. Almost immediately after she left, I accidentally broke a vase with my backpack by turning too quickly. I tried not to worry about it too much while she was away, and she didn't seem too upset by it when she returned. 

       In my parent's absence, I felt a tinge of momentary melancholy. Fortunately I live in a beautiful city in a beautiful country, so that didn't last long at all. I immediately went out with my friends. A veritable parade of German boyfriends decided to visit La Rochelle to see my German friends (who you can see in the St. Patrick's day photo). My friend Saskia and her boyfriend taught me how to say Kant's categorical imperative in German. I made her write it down, so now all I have to do is memorize it. I hope I get a chance to come back and visit Germany again. The last time I saw that side of Europe I was a mere fourteen years old. Speaking of Kant, there is an exhibition at the mediatheque (that's a library if you haven't been following my posts) entitled "The last days of Immanuel Kant" (translated) which features crazy abstract photos and a weird structure of florescent lights. I'm pretty sure it earns points for being beautiful, but falls somewhat short of sublime. 

On Easter Sunday I hopped a ferry to Île-d'Aix with my friend Thais, she's Brazilian. The Île-d'Aix is a small island that rests near La Rochelle. Napoleon spent his last days in France there, hiding out from the British Navy and plotting a possible escape to the US. Thais and I borrowed bikes and circumnavigated the island... well, sort of. We kind of got lost a few times, which is hard to do on such a small island. We bought and ate some oysters off of a few local teens, and enjoyed the beaches. Unfortunately rain clouds loomed in the gray sky, lowering the temperature. The sun occasionally poked through to say hello, and our luck kept us from being rained upon. Unfortunately I returned from the island with a horrible cold, which kept me bedridden for a few days last week. 

Happily, I felt well enough on Wednesday to go to an international festival up at the school. I arrived about an hour late, which in France means that things had just started. This really annoyed my Japanese friends who were quite hungry, but amused themselves by keeping a balloon in the air. We weren't kept waiting for too much longer though, and my palette felt nearly overwhelmed by various nationalities of food served. I tasted offerings from Malaysia, Lithuania, Russia, China, Japan, and Africa. 

This past weekend, we hopped a train to Bordeaux. Once we arrived and deposited our belongings at the hotel, we went to a Cuban bar for some dancing and mojitos. Thankfully no one was seriously injured by my lack of dance moves. We spent most of our time in Bordeaux walking around and seeing the sights, passing a lazy Saturday afternoon in a park. I learned how to do a little bit of Tai Chi from my friend Linda, how to taste wine from the wine museum we visited, and how talented some of the skaters at Bordeaux's outdoor skate park are. 

On Sunday we stopped by the church of St. André, taking the time to climb to the top of the large tower behind. Because my friend Milenco is an EU citizen, and because the guy running the admission felt kind, we all got free tickets to go to the top. From high atop the tower, I saw a side of Bordeaux that one can only glimpse from the street. It never ceases to amaze me how much fun it is to be atop tall structures, even though I am acrophobic. On a side note, when I was in Paris waiting on my parents to arrive (their flight was delayed) I finally got around to climbing atop the Arc de Triomphe. The nice thing about doing so is that since Paris is laid out on a star, I could see in every direction. Although it was not as centrally located, the tower next to St. André was much higher and gave a wonderful view of the city. 

After our main adventures in Bordeux, we took a tour of a vineyard and a small town called St. Emilion. Not only was I able to see a working vineyard and taste some of their excellent wine, but we were afforded the opportunity to view a huge underground church in the catacombs beneath St. Emilion. Never before have I climbed to the top of a grand tower and descended into the depths of catacombs in a single day. 

This upcoming weekend I will be going to the Châteaux d'Amboise, a famous castle used by French kings during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. I'll be sure to write all about it when I return.

In addition, I have a plan to add more photographs to this blog. I will endeavor to post a photo each day (Monday through Friday) to show you a bit more of La Rochelle and France in general. Sometimes these might include a caption, other times it might be a bit more. In any case, I appreciate your patience with my infrequent posts. I hope this will solve the formatting problems with trying to include lots of photos in a single post. 

I trust you are all doing well, and I very much enjoyed speaking to those of you who have e-mailed and called me since I have been here. I look forward to recounting my adventures here in person in the not so distant future. 

Reporting In

Hello friends! This week my parents are in town. I've been showing them around, and I'll try to write another post this weekend about our time here together, including their unfortunate mishaps in Paris. For now I wanted to take a bit of time to talk a bit about how things went with Rebecca a few weeks ago. She returned to the US, but we spent a lovely week together here in La Rochelle. Things warmed up here in La Rochelle with the approaching spring, and the market brimmed with fresh fruit and vegetables. We enjoyed many a lovely meal together, cooked some fresh fish, and generally relaxed around the city. 

I was ecstatic to be able to see her again. The fact that we were able to spend her birthday together in France will remain a happy memory for us both for years to come. I surreptitiously planned, with the assistance of Danielle, a surprise birthday party upon her arrival. So while we spent the morning in Paris, walking along the Champs Élysées, the best part of the day was allowing her to meet my friends and see the city I now call home. 

My landlady was gracious enough to allow her to stay here with me at a much cheaper rate than we would have found at any of the local hotels. Even though I frequently had class practically every morning while she was here, we passed the afternoons wandering around town and seeing the sights. I went to the local aquarium here, which I'm told is the best in western Europe (and I believe it). We walked along the ocean, picnicked in the park, and, of course, rode bikes. Rebecca isn't much of a cyclist, so mostly we strolled around town. We got to spend St. Patrick's day together, which was insane. I got a free t-shirt and hat, as well as a little drunk. There are several Irish pubs here in La Rochelle, and my friends and I managed to stop by most of them over the course of the evening. 

I'll try to post some more pictures of the time we spent together, but check the separate post below for a few photos from our time together. I'll try to update further this weekend or some time next week. This blog is very taxing during a busy school year, especially when I'm hopping off to Paris every other weekend. 

Photos from St. Patrick's Day

This is me, in Paris, with a beard. It's gone now.

Rebecca got along great with my friends on St. Patrick's day, so well in fact that they decided to wear matching hats! 

This is us in an Irish pub. Fun!

Longest Post Ever! (Now with twice the photos)

Wow. It has been an incredibly long time since I wrote anything at all for this blog. Between schoolwork, going out with friends, bicycle trips around town, bus rides, the library, and many many other exciting things, I simply haven't found the time to update. But, I'm here now, and we can put all of that behind us. It's Saturday night, and I'm feeling more than a little bit under the weather. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to catch everyone up on what's been happening with me these past three weeks. And as a bonus to all of you, I've included almost all of the pictures I found the time to take during our brief time apart.

This first photo is of a Chinese friend of mine, (I know her name, I just have no idea how to spell it, so I won't try) she is cooking me and my German friend Bergette (I hope I'm spelling that one right) a phenomenal lunch of authentic Chinese food. She just decided to invite us over one afternoon, about three weeks ago, to enjoy some of her cooking. It was delicious, just see for yourself: 

I can tell that La Rochelle feels like home when I don't find it the least bit odd to sit down to a Chinese meal and speak in French to people who don't speak French as their native language. The familiar translation difficulties came when I realized that she wasn't offering me bread, "Baguette," but rather chopsticks, "Baguettes" (silent s) but I made up for it by showing off my impressive chopstick skills. It's good to know that the lifetime I've spent at sushi joints and munching take-out Chinese food wasn't time wasted.

I went to a huge party the following Friday night. It was put on by a student organization at the school, and they chartered buses to take us to a club outside of La Rochelle. The open bar meant that most people were trashed, but I had a decent time dancing with some friends of mine and generally hanging out. I stumbled home exhausted at five in the morning after the bus dropped us off. Fortunately La Rochelle is a city where violent crime is practically non-existent. I tried my best to look extra intimidating, though exhausted, on the walk home though. 

The above picture is of my dearly departed friend Theo (this isn't even the strangest pose I've seen him in) He left us about a week and a half ago to return to the US. We had a nice sendoff at Rachael and David's apartment. I wish him all the best back in the states. His girlfriend, Danielle, who remains here to finish her studies, will miss him dearly. In an effort to cheer her up, I forced her to rent a bicycle with me and ride around the city.

A quick side-note about how awesome the bike system is here in La Rochelle. At the central bus station there is a wonderful man, who I have become friends with over many many days of seeing each other (we use the familiar form of the word "you"), who informed me that with my student bus pass I can keep their bikes all day long. Consequentially, I have delighted in riding them all over the city. Not only is it fantastic exercise, but it's truly a marvelous way to see the sights. Everyday that the weather is nice, which is often, I borrow a bike and ride along the ocean, through the park, or simply along the well trodden streets of La Rochelle. This system needs to be adopted by the US. By investing in bicycles we could help alleviate our dependence upon gasoline, improve our infrastructure by building bike friendly roads instead of fixing our decrepit highway system, and help American's to get the exercise they so desperately need. Of course I'm probably oversimplifying, but riding a bike is tremendous fun, and I defy anyone not to have a good time doing it here. 

Moving right along, to another awesome aspect of French culture: the library. Ever since I purchased a library card, I have been enjoying their vast selection of books, movies, dvds, cds, and graphic novels (or comic books if you insist on being a jerk about it) Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that back in the states I am an avid library goer. I have worn out the signature on the back of my library card. Before I got this excellent laptop, I used to walk to the downtown library to use their free computers to access the internet for hours at a time. Believe me when I say, as someone who has been to libraries in many different states in the US, that the French médiathèque is unbelievable. I have seen record stores with smaller music collections than they have their. And I'm not talking about laughable eighties hits, although they're here too. I've listened to everything from the Sex-Pistols to Bishop Allen, to Ray Charles, to the Gorillas, to crazy European artists I've never heard of before. In addition, the dvd collection is on par with some of the smaller Blockbuster rental stores I have seen. They have recent hits, Woody Allen, tv shows, South Park (eight seasons), and more. I'm not knocking libraries back in the states, because they certainly do an incredible job with their limited resources. But when I can sit on the third floor of a library with a good book, gazing through a glass wall that looks out upon the harbor, I know it's as close to heaven as an avid reader can ever be. I promised my friend Eryn I'd take a picture, and I'll try to post one later. 

Someone asked me in an e-mail not too long ago how I have time to do all the neat stuff I get to do here in France. After all, I am here to go to school... right? Well, the truth of the matter is I mostly just write about the fun stuff, rather than boring people with the incredibly dull work that are my business classes. School is fun. I like learning. But when I am placed in a class titled "International Negotiation" with students from all over the world, I expect more than a project on the proper way to negotiate the purchase of a used car (I only wish I were joking about this!) Maybe it's asking for too much for me to expect my business classes to be challenging. After all, even compared to my easiest philosophy class, any of the five business courses I've had throughout my college degree are a cakewalk.

Fortunately not all classes are quite so mind numbingly dull. My French class, for example, is always a delight and a challenge. I feel like I learn more French language and about French culture everyday. And I am meeting lots of really cool French students. Like my friend Tiffen (French for Tiffany) who invited me over to celebrate her twenty-first birthday party. Turning twenty-one in France isn't accompanied by massive amounts of over-intoxication, as they frequently are in the states. Since the legal drinking age in France is eighteen (sixteen for beer) the atmosphere was decidedly more fun. 

From left to right you can see Milenko (my fellow classmate from Venezuela), Tiffen, Ray (a Canadian who clearly thinks he's more gangsta than he really is) and a friend of Tiffen's whose name I have unfortunately forgotten

This past week I have had a vacation from school. I guess it's the equivalent of a spring break, although it just kind of happened that way for me. Most of my friends had their breaks last week, and only for a few days. Others didn't get a break at all. I was going to go to Bordeaux this week, but after I bought tickets to go to Paris next weekend, I decided I couldn't really afford it. I'll probably go for a weekend some time in the future. I had a decidedly low-key week, hanging out with friends, riding my bike around town. I did go to the movies Thursday morning to see Watchmen. It came out here two days before it was released in the states, and since I'd read the book before I didn't mind that it was dubbed over in French. The movie was so engrossing that I forgot at several points that it was in a foreign language. 

Well, this post has gone way longer than I was expecting. It's late, I'm tired, and I have to finish up preparations on a presentation to be delivered in Monday's French class. It's a comparison between the French electoral system and the American one. While the French's system is undeniably more complicated than ours, I do appreciate the fact that they hold their elections on a Sunday, and that no campaigning is allowed at all after the Friday before. Also they don't allow annoying ads to run on Television for months on end. 

Please write me an e-mail to let me know you're still alive. Today is the Philosophy conference back in Oklahoma, and not even La Rochelle can keep me from a slight feeling of sadness that I'm missing it. Fortunately I've got next week in Paris, and my girlfriend coming to see me to look forward to with anticipation. If I don't write another post for two weeks, you'll know why. 

Foxhunting, Flying Disc, and Peacocks

       It's pretty late here on a Sunday night, but I wanted to go ahead and get this post up so that I don't forget to do it later. It's been another busy week here in La Rochelle, but I think I'm falling into a routine. My British and American culture class is going well, and I have to write a short paper on Barack Obama. I'm also finishing up a project on the British foxhunting ban, which is a lot more exciting than I thought it would be.      

     Yesterday I went to the market, after eating free couscous for the second Saturday in a row, and bought some stuff for a romantic Valentine's day dinner. Rebecca and I dined together (my dinner her lunch) via webcam. While it wasn't the most romantic experience in the world, it was nice to enjoy a bit of face-time with her. Only one more month before her arrival here in La Rochelle!     

    My French class keeps adding new students from around the globe. This past week I befriended a Venezuelan student, named Milenko, who has been living in the Netherlands for the last year. Maybe after I start my International Negotiation class I'll be better able to broach the subject of our country's fiery rhetoric against one another. Until then I'm holding my tongue and sticking to conversations about French food and culture. 

     The wind storm that hit last Monday nearly blew the town away. We had eighty mph winds. It wasn't a hurricane, in spite of the wind and the rain, since the wind wasn't fast enough and hurricanes don't happen in the north Atlantic (at least they're not supposed to.) I blame Al Gore... not global warming, just Al Gore. 

      After a lengthy odyssey to find a flying disc (or a frisbee if you must use the brand name), Danielle pestered me incessantly to go out and toss the disc around. It was far too cold to do so for most of the week, and yesterday was no exception. Even so, I walked down to the beach and gave it a few good tosses. I can never seem to aim correctly with those sorts of things, and this particular disc was very slightly warped. This led to a lot of apologizing and scurrying to collect the misthrown disc, which soon developed a crack down the middle of it. Eventually this much maligned disc broke in twain, leaving Danielle crestfallen. Theo, on the other hand, was quite pleased to discover that half of a broken disc makes an excellent boomerang, but I think Danielle might have found him to be a little insensitive. 

        Afterwards we decided to go to the animal park and drown our sorrows in the antics of zany peacocks. This particular one decided to spread its feathers to intimidate a particular ornery rooster. The rooster didn't back down, but I didn't miss the incredible photo op. 

       I suppose I should push myself to do more exciting things this week.  It's rather difficult keeping a blog filled with interesting things when I spend most of my time in class doing boring things. In the spirit of entertainment, if anyone has suggestions for things they want me to photograph or write about, please let me know. I even have a skype phone number now, so if you want to give me a call or leave me a voicemail, feel free to e-mail me for the number. 

C'est moi, gratuit!

        Just a quick post today. The weather has been acting a bit strange lately. Saturday afternoon we were beset by hail, but only after my trip to the market concluded. I also discovered a place on the old port that passes out free couscous. It was fantastic, and I have a photo up above to prove that there is nothing quite so wonderful as a hot serving of couscous on a cold Saturday afternoon. I think it's a muslim organization that is passing these out, but regrettably they will cease to do so at the end of February. Until then, I have found my new favorite lunch for Saturdays. 

        My new class, British and American Culture, has been relatively uneventful thus far. Being the only American in the class means that I get called on frequently to give an "American" perspective. This also means that I know the names of about three of the twenty four students in the class, all of whom know me by name. No zany misadventures this week, I've been too busy with school. On Thursday night when I went out to a bar, I feared that perhaps I was going crazy. Everywhere I went people seemed to know exactly who I am and took pleasure in telling me so in English. After the fourth time this happened, I realized that these were people from my class.

       No zany misadventures for this week, but I did manage to finally open a French bank account. After giving them two forms of ID, my passport, proof that I paid rent, my fingerprints, blood and semen samples, and a piece of paper promising them my first born, the lady I'm staying with came with me down to the bank to prove that I was staying with her legally. Banks here are run very differently than they are back in the states. For one thing, you have to make an appointment with them before you can actually open your account. I'd complain, but given that our banking system is part of what led to an economic meltdown, I think I'll hold my tongue. 

Lundi est le nouveau dimanche...

       As the title indicates, I was far too busy this past weekend to post. So hopefully you will excuse my tardiness with this new post. It has been a busy week, both at school and socially. Yesterday the sun came out, but today the clouds are back again. Fortunately the sun lasted long enough for us to take a picnic to the park. In this particular park live a donkey, several peacocks, geese, turkeys, other birds, deer, and a many agreeable goats with their kids. Although not quite a zoo, we occupied ourselves watching the animals play. By far the most interesting animal in the park, an old woman chastised the many French people who fed the donkey's bread. "C'est mal pour leur santé." she said, answering the age old question of whether donkey's get sick when fed too much bread. After watching her feed several carrots to them, we assisted in retrieving some of the larger pieces of bread from the cage, utilizing several fallen tree branches to extend our reach. I fear our efforts were entirely in vain. When we left I noticed several children and their parents approach the cage, their arms laden with baguettes. I tried not to worry about sick donkeys as we walked to the beach and enjoyed our picnic. We rounded out the afternoon by going to the museum of natural history. Like most of the major museums, it is free on the first Sunday of the month. I find myself eager to return and see more of the exhibits. It was difficult to explore the collection in its entirety in only an hour. I enjoyed thoroughly their collection of stuffed animals (see above)

       In other news, I resolved to speak in French as much as possible when in public, even with my American friends. One of my classmates is a particularly loud and extremely talkative American girl, whose voice and appearance prompt les garçons to practically fall over themselves at the chance to practice their English. On the other hand I have met many an interesting French person simply by making an effort to speak French. Even if I speak French like a Spanish cow, it's still good practice for me. When I met the other student from my university, who arrived in class last Monday, I realized just how good my French skills are for an American. In spite of my best efforts to allay her fears, her adjustment to living in France has been, to put it kindly, quite challenging. Still I think she is making real progress as are the Lithuanian students in my class. 

      Last week was Chinese new year, which meant a large party at a bar in town. Named after my favorite Truffaut film, "Le 400 coups" filled with students. I found myself talking at length to several Chinese students. All of them seem astonished when I tell them that I have been to China. I suppose it's not a popular tourist destination for Europeans. Inevitably these conversations in broken French turn to politics, as it did with a young Iranian I met a few weeks ago. It might simply be the international response to our new president, but most of the people I meet love America. Our culture is without a doubt our greatest export, and they firmly believe the propaganda we spout about the "American Dream" In spite of our political differences, I am happy to say that I enjoy the company of these students. Truly my time over here is a unique opportunity to learn more about the world. 

      It seems as though the week has been more action packed than this meager post would lead you to believe, but I simply don't have the time to write any more. I'm on my way to my first non-French class. It's on British and American culture, which might very well be a waste of my time. Still, I think it will be interesting to discover how others perceive our culture and to discover more about the Empire that spawned us. Some of you might find it refreshing to learn that I don't spend all my time here adventuring, but writing about all the schoolwork I slough through makes for a pretty boring read. 

Taking the world by storm...

     It's been another exciting week here in La Rochelle. Unfortunately the weather has kept me indoors most of the week. A light rain persists everyday, even as I write this. This wouldn't be so bad if the wind would quit trying to blow me over each time I open my umbrella. A quick note about the umbrella; it was a gift from a classmate of mine who was kind enough to grant me her spare (she picked it up in a youth hostel.) 

     As you can see by the photo, I enjoyed a delicious seafood feast this past Tuesday. It was lovingly prepared by some French students I met that very same day. Seafood here is incredibly inexpensive and fresh, since we live on the sea. It was my first real experience with oysters and mussels, but an enjoyable one. I can't say that I'm the biggest fan of seafood in general, but I found it thoroughly edible. 

     After a late lunch, we travelled to the local library (which is huge) where pictures taken by a student of La Rochelle hung in an exhibit. It wonderfully depicted the campaign trail of the 2008 election, but I could have done without seeing Sarah Palin's face again. The speech played in French on a television monitor in the center of the room, but I struggled to hear everything, so we watched it in English on a laptop instead. The French people I have met are very enthusiastic about our new president. I think they are mostly glad not to have George Bush in office any longer. At the speech's conclusion, applause emanated from the crowd and champagne and hors d'oeurves were served. I helped myself to a particularly tasty opera (a kind of French pastry.) 

      I fear might have overdone it, as I fell ill the following day. I missed a day of class, but I'm far enough along with my French that it has not been too difficult for me to keep pace with the rest of the students. I mailed out a few postcards to those of you who have sent me your address, and I invite anyone else who wants one to send me their address as well. Postage is a bit pricy though, so don't expect more than one. 

     In other exciting news, my lovely girlfriend will be visiting me in mid-march. Although I still have class during the mornings, we have a weekend in Paris planned upon her arrival. The trip coincides with her birthday. While I am struggling to come up with a good present, hopefully my presence will be gift enough. Fortunately through the miracle of the internet, I've been able to keep in touch with her and most of my friends back home. I set up an online phone number a couple of days ago, and maybe if you ask nicely I'll even give it to you. 

     Living in France is generally pretty fantastic, but when I reflect back upon the week it all seems somewhat uneventful. I've been to a few French markets this week to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables, which are delicious. Other than that I've just been reading, studying, and recovering from my brief illness. Hopefully the sun will shine a little longer today (it's been poking through the clouds a bit each day) and I can go out for a stroll in the park. Otherwise I'll just curl up inside with a good book and wait for the storm to pass. 

Faire la Féte

     So this week came at a much quicker pace than the week preceding it. I started French classes last Monday, which run from Monday through Friday, and those are going really well. I've been learning some useful French expressions and improving my conversational abilities. The other students in the class include another American from Colorado and several young women from Lithuania. I sorted out my class schedule (sort of) and so I'm all set to take other classes, but the first of them doesn't begin until February. The weather last Sunday was lovely, so I took a little walk along the beach (a frequent hobby of mine here) and watched the sunset over the ocean. 

     I've also met some different people here. I got in touch with the other two students from my university, Rachael and David, who have been living here since August. They showed me around to some of the students here. I've met people from all different parts of the world. I met an Iranian, several Mexicans, Spaniards, Germans, Brits, and even some Japanese kids. The picture above is from the start of a party we went to, with Rachael standing on the left. I went to a couple of parties this weekend where I was able to mingle and try out my French skills. My conversation skills pale in comparison to some of the other international students, but they have all been fairly impressed with my language skills when I tell them that I've only been here in La Rochelle for two weeks. 

       I couldn't possibly capture everything I've been doing in a single blog post, but suffice it to say that I'm having an awesome time. It's been warming up a bit here, and I've been meeting so many interesting people. It's nice to feel like a citizen of the world, instead of just my small corner of it. In other news, my girlfriend, Rebecca, is going to be able to come stay with me in March. I offer an open invitation to anyone reading this to come and visit me as well. I'll be happy to show you around town. 

Totally Bitchen!

      Good news everyone! I made it to La Rochelle without incident. I took the train from Paris and arrived at the train station about an hour and a half before it departed (in retrospect I might have been a bit overly concerned with making it on time.) Since then I've done very little, but wander around the city trying to get my bearings. 

        After getting lost a number of times, I feel like I'm getting the hang of this city. It's not terribly large, but it is centered around an old port which makes it a bit difficult to navigate at times. La Rochelle is a very old city, so there are lots of old buildings and structures. Fortunately for me it's a very walkable city. I've taken long walks on the beach and through one of the several parks near my house practically everyday since I've been here. It's also very cold, preventing me from leaving the house without several layers on. I don't think it has been above freezing a single day since I've been here (as evidenced by the layer of ice over every stream and pond.) I even helped the lady with whom I am staying to break up some of the ice over her fish pond. Apparently fish need oxygen to breathe, who knew? 

      Speaking of my accommodations, the lady I am staying with is very sweet. She's considerably older than myself, but a generally kind woman who picked me up from the train station. In spite of my impoverished French skills, she has very patiently answered all of my questions, speaking slowly enough that even I can understand. The French speak very quickly compared to English, so I frequently ask people to repeat themselves or slow down when they talk to me. I think that in time I'll probably develop an ear for it, but right now I feel like I'm listening to a tape in fast forward whenever anyone asks me a question. 

       As far as my actual quarters, I have a modest sized room, bigger than the bedroom in my old apartment. Attached to it is a bathroom/kitchen (I'm referring to it as a bitchen, since it's sooooo awesome.) Basically it's a bathroom that has some cabinets with cooking utensils and dishes in it, along with a hot plate for cooking. Fortunately the University mandates that its student housing must have an internet connection, including the families who house international students. This has helped tremendously, especially when it comes to keeping up with e-mail and, of course, this blog. Another advantage is that my house is extremely close to the center of town, where the central bus stop is. 

       Mostly I've just been biding my time, waiting for school to start. I contacted the lady in charge of international student affairs, picked out my courses, and I'm set to take a French placement test tomorrow to see what level of French classes I should take. In the meantime, I've been studying French on my own. I'm excellent when it comes to vocabulary, but studying all the French verb tenses makes my brain hurt. The French have fourteen verb tenses, seven simple and seven compound, whereas in English (as I'm sure all you competent English speakers know) we only have six verb tenses, three simple and three compound (for those of you who are really nit-picky, I'm not counting the imperatival forms of verbs as a tense.) Hopefully staying here will help me to improve my fluency, but I really haven't been talking to that many people as of late. Once school starts it should provide me with more opportunities to speak. 

     Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well (whoever the hell you are) and that you'll feel free to drop me a line. I haven't really been missing Oklahoma so much as some of the people in it. I'm going to try to update this blog at least once a week while I'm here, but please don't get spoiled to these longer posts. I offer no guarantees that I'll have the time.

Extended Stay In Paris

Hello everyone! I've been getting some great e-mails from all of you out there reading this blog... well, there haven't been any e-mails, but at least none of them were bad! I changed the settings so that if you want to comment on here you can. 

I finally got in touch with the lady I am to stay with in La Rochelle tonight. Turns out I was dialing number incorrectly (I feel really bad for the lady who kept getting my voicemails). She is going to pick me up at the train station tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I'll make it to the train station tomorrow morning without incident. I must say that I am quite ready to be settled. I decided to stay an extra night at my hotel when I couldn't talk to her yesterday, so I got to change rooms for my trouble. On the plus side, there's a bunk bed in here along with a double bed, so maybe I can finally live the dream of getting to sleep on the top bunk. 

What an exhausting two days it has been. I am already tired of the commute into Paris, but it does give me an opportunity to eavesdrop on French speakers. Of course sometimes they talk to me directly, which makes me more nervous than Sylvester Stallone at a spelling bee. Most of the French people I have met are very friendly and personable. Some have even helped me, like a nice couple who sat next to me yesterday at lunch. They taught me the French word for asking for the check. Seems like the sort of thing I should know after so many years studying French, but I wasted all my time learning vocabulary for impractical things, like poetry and literature.  They sat next to me while I tried escargot for the first. The texture is surprisingly similar to sautéed portobello mushrooms, but it wasn't bad at all. 

Yesterday I went to Notre Dame (be sure to pronounce it in the bastardized American way). It was a nice change from the baroque cathedrals I saw this summer in Rome, but I didn't feel up to climbing the tower again (I've done it once before). After I left the cathedral I wandered over to the Panthéon. It was pretty cool seeing where all of my favorite Frenchmen are buried. I thought it was kind of funny that Rousseau and Voltaire are entombed right across from one another, since they were practically nemeses in life. Afterwards I took a brief walk to the Sorbonne (the major French university in Paris). It was neat, but the real treat was the philosophy bookstore that was nearby. They had an entire shelf dedicated to Quine (probably you don't care or know who I am talking about... it's never too late to crack open a book). 

I wandered around Paris a bit more before I got bored and wound up in the Jardin de Tuileries. I got some friendly Americans to snap of photo of me (see above). Parts of the garden are a bit like a carnival. I found myself getting in touch with a more childlike Logan... well, maybe he's never very far away. I went up in the giant Ferris wheel and got to see the city. The Eiffel Tower is back to its regular yellow lights, now that 2008 is over. A family with two little girls rode in my car on the way around. They started singing "Champs Elysees" in a perfectly adorable fashion. I rode back to my hotel and went to sleep, after only getting lost just a little.

Today, Jet-lag really caught up with me. I was so exhausted on the train back from Paris, I could barely keep my eyes open. I managed to make it back to my hotel without getting lost (my first time this trip). It's a shame I'll be leaving Villepinte tonight, I think I'm finally getting to know my way around. I spent all day today at the musée d'orsay. They have some really bitchin' impressionist paintings, as well as a new exhibit on Picasso's interpretation of Manet's dejeuner sur l'herbs (google it!) As well as a temporary exhibit on pastels. I know... I'm kind of a museum nerd, so much so that I wandered around in the museum for over four hours, but to be fair I spent part of that time eating in the restaurant upstairs.  There were just too many pretty things to look at. I decided to skip the Louvre on account of the fact that I've been several times and really love the musée d'orsay. Besides, La Rochelle is only about two and a half hours away by train, so I might come back to it eventually. 

Anyway, I've got to get packing for my trip to La Rochelle tomorrow. I hope you enjoy reading these posts more than I enjoy writing them. Frankly I find this whole thing to be a bit narcissistic... even for me. Oh well, at least you can comment now!

New Year's Eve in Paris

So I made it safely here to France, with only a minor delay getting out of Dallas which, fortunately, did not affect my connection. I made it to my hotel, which was only a scant ten kilometers away from Charles de Gaulle airport, in a suburb of Paris. Unfortunately I discovered that I have to take a bus to an RER station, then take that into Paris before I can get to where everything is. After I took a short nap, I headed into Paris. It takes about an hour, and the buses are very confusing... but more on that later. 

Paris is beautiful this time of year, although very cold. When I left Oklahoma it was in the seventies (Fahrenheit) whereas here it has been as cold as -10 (Celsius). I spent most of my time walking along the Champs Elysees. Trees lit up in blue christmas lights twinkled like snowfall, complete with faux christmas light icicles, which dripped at periodically. For a moment I stood at the median of a crosswalk, looking straight down the street. It was like something out of a hollywood movie, but I digress. 

I decided, undoubtedly to the disappointment of some of my more festive friends, to forego purchasing a bottle of champagne. I take very little pleasure in drinking alone, and I decided with my horrible jet-lag that it would just make me drowsy. In addition I saw police officers (and they were certainly out in force for the holiday) harassing some tourists for drinking along the street (which I learned is forbidden in that particular part of town). I did purchase a crepe for myself and simply enjoyed the scene around me. Heavily fortified against the cold, I walked under the Arc de Triomphe, saw the giant Ferris wheel, and walked across the Seine.

I decided, as midnight approached, that I should head towards the Eiffel Tower. It was all lit up in blue in recognition of the European Union. Every hour it shimmers for about five minutes in a brilliant display. The tower glittered like diamonds in the distance, and I followed it as though it were the star of david, all the way to its base. The crowds were bad everywhere, but especially at the bottom of the tower. I walked directly underneath it, but then backed up as the clock struck 23:00, so that I could see it shine. It was dazzling (as you can see in the photo I snapped up above). 

After watching it shine, I decided to try to beat the crowds and head back to my hotel early. I was exhausted after wandering around Paris for almost seven hours, as well as the journey there. At midnight I was sitting on a train, heading back to my hotel. Once I arrived at the RER station, I stepped outside into the cold night air to wait for a bus. Here is where things went horribly wrong. 

As those of you who know me well can attest, I am awful when it comes to directions. This applies equally to foreign cities (if not more so). Ordinarily I enjoy being lost in Paris, as I know their metro system so well as to be able to navigate easily throughout the city. In Paris, no matter how lost one might be, one is never more than five minutes away from a metro stop. The bus system, however, is a whole other animal. 

The bus that I was trying to take back to my hotel had stopped running at 0:30. Fortunately Paris has several night buses which run much later. I engaged in conversation with some fellows while I was waiting at the bus station, for the bus that had stopped running. They seemed friendly, in spite of my broken French, until I mentioned to them that I was an American. All of them expressed there hatred of George Bush, to which I heartily agreed. When I tried to convince them that I detest Bush as much as anyone (I think the guy should be tried for war crimes), I was reluctant to agree that he was worse than Hitler, as one of the men claimed. Upon my reluctance he became quite belligerent, and I felt a bit threatened. Panic washed over me like a bucket of icy water as I attempted to calmly excuse myself to check the bus schedules. 

After this, I called my girlfriend, Rebecca, back in the states to ask for her assistance (she is a prodigy when it comes to navigating search engines), but I accidentally hopped on the wrong bus. I hopped off at the next stop, but I was unable to find assistance from anyone I asked. I was equally unable to communicate where I was to my Rebecca, who finally managed to find the bus schedules for Paris' night buses. The other people waiting at the stop were heading to the east train station. I figured I would join them, hopping on the next bus that passed. So I rode in silence, looking out the bus window as Paris flew by. Rebecca was able to navigate me from the East Train station back to the bus stop across the street from my hotel. Thank goodness the French government made all buses and metro trains free for New Year's eve! 

In the end I wound up taking a free bus tour all over Paris. I reassured myself that this was all part of the adventure of being in a foreign country, but by the time I returned to my hotel it was five in the morning. I had spent over thirteen hours wandering the streets, riding the metro, and gallivanting in buses. Needless to say I was completely exhausted, and, after a quick internet phone call thanking Rebecca for her invaluable role in my continued survival, I crashed in a heap upon my bed. 

I awoke the next day in the late afternoon. Cursing myself for having squandered the day sleeping, I decided to take a break from Paris to see the sights around Villepinte, the suburb where my hotel is. I have to say it was pretty uninteresting. I stopped briefly to sate my hunger and find some respite from the cold at a local Turkish restaurant. After wandering around for a few more hours, I decided to return to my hotel. I did so without difficulty, having paid extra careful attention to where I was going. 

Tomorrow I hope to start earlier, venturing into Paris to see the sights. I still have not been able to contact the lady I'll be staying with at La Rochelle, but hopefully I will be able to tomorrow.