don't call...

I just sold my phone to the registrar (for her daughter I think) so please don't call the number anymore. If you need to reach me, I'll be checking e-mail periodically while I travel.

Site Update

Added photos of French cars to the Around Aix page.

smart cars make you smart

why don't we have smart cars in the U.S. yet and why haven't American car companies gotten in on the hybrid evolution?

(A few specs.... lowest CO2 emissions on the road... 58.9 miles to the gallon... super easy to fit in tight parking spaces... and still one of the safest in its class... starts at 6,810 pounds ($12,205.30 with today's exchange rate)... available in the U.S. starting in 2006.)

crazy day

Yesterday was all over the place...

We had our last History of Provence class and despite the fact that it's my least favorite class here, I really enjoyed it. The student presentation topic was Provencal cuisine so the presenters had brought a tarte and wine. As we were eating our Professor gave a really nice toast and then started telling us about the first time he had American food - when the American soldiers liberated his town after WWII. That was quite the experience to hear someone talk about firsthand.

I spent the afternoon stressing about finding a place to stay in Paris since there were no more single or dorm rooms available at the place we had just agreed on meaning I'd have to pay for three beds each of the nights I was there by myself... not happening. And in the middle of all of that, I got a reply from my HR person at work to my question about enrolling in the health insurance program saying I couldn't sign up until the open season meaning I wouldn't be insured from Aug - Jan! With Michelle's help and the recommendations of people here, I think we finally found a place to stay though I'm still waiting to get confirmation. And, from a slightly cryptic e-mail received today, I think I might be able to get insured in September when I start work.

In the evening we had our final ceremony. Before going, I was thinking of it as substituting for my graduation, even though I knew I was setting myself up for disappointment. It turned out to be really nice. Lots of speakers talking about the similarities and differences between the French and Americans. The academic director, whose main interest is translation, spoke about differences in various sayings.

American: I have a frog in my throat.
French: I have a cat in my throat.

American: green thumb
French: green hand

American: Please excuse me!
French: I excuse myself.

American: Pigs will fly.
French: Chickens will have teeth.

One of the students from the school gave a nice speech too on behalf of the student body. He started by talking about his first day when he met his host mom and instead of saying "Je suis enchante" (again - I don't know how to do lj accents!) he said "Je suis enceinte" (I am pregnant.). Later that night at dinner, when she asked if he wanted more to eat he replied, "Je suis plein." Word for word, it means I am full - but it's really another way of saying you're pregnant. hahaha!

They also gave out academic prizes and, unexpectedly, I received the prize for excellence in History studies - haha! I find this incredibly amusing. Oh, and the prize was a book on the Cold War from the Atlas of Wars series - translated into French from the original English version. :o )

Saturday...

So Saturday... I had arranged to go to lunch with Blake. I felt like I hadn't seen him since break since he had been sick most of the week, so I was looking forward to catching up. That in itself would've made Saturday a good day and we did, in fact, get to catch up over a 2-hour lunch at a restaurant Erin had recommended. (Appetizer sampler, caprese salad, pizza, pasta and dessert for 14.50 euro!) We talked a lot about the music we had traded before break - he gave me songs from quite a few bands that I need to go check out further - about his time in Paris and the 30 pounds of used CD's that he bought, my break at home, school ending, the usual sorts of things. But then there was the unusual part of it. The night before at the art show, he had been outside rapping in the street with a friend. A French guy approached him in the middle of this explaining that he produces music in Aix and has been looking for Americans to rap and/or sing for his recordings since the French can't rap/sing well in English. Blake was interested and invited me to come with him to this guy's apartment after lunch on Saturday.

We ended up spending the next four hours recording loops and various ideas for a track that we'll try to finish this week. I don't know what this guy intends to do with it, though I'd be happy even if it was just for fun. Olivier, the French guy, has a Yamaha RS7000 (a digital instrument/production studio) and he knows how to use it. Just listening to the different effects he could do was awesome because he wasn't just playing around to see how much he could screw up some sound - he really has an ear for it and with every effect or added instrument, he was enhancing what we had already done until he had built, within a couple hours, this amazing layered beat that I wouldn't have been surprised to hear as part of a song in a club or on the radio. The possibilities with his machine are endless and it overwhelmed me thinking about all the different directions you could go just starting out with a simple melody when you have the right tools. It really drove home the idea that you need to decide on a direction in which to take a creative project before you get started - otherwise you'll just sit there overwhelmed by the possibilities and going in circles. Perhaps that's one of the hardest things about any creative endeavor - making that decision and a commitment to a particular direction for your idea. Anyway... it was a lot of fun and I hope we're able to finish the track this week, but even if we don't, it strengthened my desire to learn about music recording and production at home.

Time to Move On

I knew from the moment I got out of the bus from the airport last week that Aix had changed - it was warm enough at night to go without a coat and the trees that had all looked dead the week before were now full of yellow-green leaves creating a beautiful canopy over the Cours Mirabeau. Now, a week later, the French students have all returned from vacation and more tourists have started showing up, filling the streets during the day. For the first few days I was back, it was really just about getting through each day and finishing what I needed to for class since I was so exhausted. But as I got caught up on sleep and the last full weekend approached, I started thinking about hanging out with people here for the last time, all the things I wanted to do when I came and what I actually had done.

It's strange - everyone I've made friends with here has become better friends with someone else. So even those I feel closest to aren't really people I get to hang out with that much. I knew this past weekend would be my last chance to really spend time with some of them though, so I decided to go to them and join the groups going out drinking or dancing. On Thursday night, I headed out with Erin and Meghan to a pub called the Red Clover. We each had a drink and sat and chatted for a bit and then followed a bunch of other people we had run into from school to a Tapas restaurant a few blocks away. Another group, including a couple friends I was hoping to see, was already there and had just been given a free bottle of champagne by the relatively perverted restaurant owner who was constantly shouting "I LOVE AMERICANS!!! WOOHOO!" and trying to kiss everyone. He was weird. After the group finished their champagne, we headed back home. Friday was the opening night of the art exhibition for another art program that's related to IAU so we all went to that before going home for dinner. After dinner, I was thinking about going out with Erin again, but she left without me and I wasn't about to chase after her. I wasn't entirely surprised that she left without me - it's not that I wasn't invited because Meghan called a few minutes later to see where we were, thinking that I was coming. Erin just assumed I didn't really want to go since I really haven't gone out all semester. Fair enough, I guess, but it definitely made me realize that I'm just an acquaintance to all but one or two people here, and maybe even those as well, but at least I'll try to keep in touch with a few.

I will say that Saturday was awesome, but in an effort not to mar Saturday with any of this stuff, it's getting it's own post so I'll get back to that. I spent all of Sunday hanging around the apartment and reading on the balcony as the rain came down in an intermittent drizzle. I realized that I haven't been in the greatest mood since I got back and the more I thought about it, the more I felt I was ready to be done here. I'll miss Aix, but I wouldn't be able to get any more out of this experience if it stayed this way. I would have to switch schools, move to an apartment, get a job or have some sort of major change to get a new perspective. As it stands now, I've learned what I can from my classes and beyond that, I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything here. It's time to go home where I can actually DO something.

I wonder how much of these feelings are my mind's way of making the separation easier. I don't want this to end on a negative note, but little things keep happening that are just disappointing. We had our art show tonight including paintings from everyone in my class and the full-time art students. Paintings were displayed both inside and outside of the studio. Inside was all full-time work and some was outside as well, hung under branches of trees and overhangs on buildings so that they wouldn't get wet in the rain. My class' art was hung on plywood boards behind the second shed and over a muddy ditch - many of the people who came didn't know it was there until you pointed it out to them and by the end of the show the cardboard paintings were slowly coming off the wood as the rain soaked in. It's not like they were poor quality either - all were just as good as at least half of the full-time pieces. And as I left, paintings and art supplies in hand - clearly a student, three of the full-time students thanked me for coming. It was my show too, dumbass!

*sigh* It's supposed to be gray and rainy all week. I often enjoy the rain if I have nothing to do, but this week, I have plenty to do and I'm dreading these finals. Hopefully, once school is over, I'll be able to spend the last couple days walking around and enjoying the city the way it's meant to be enjoyed - at a leisurely pace with coffee and crepes. I certainly want to end this on a high note since it seems events and places are often remembered by the way they're finished.

Site Update

Added pictures from school and the walk between school and the apartment to the School page.

Surreal Vacation

Wow... it's hard to believe I just got back here a week ago. My break in the States was awesome and surreal. I didn't have culture shock the way I was expecting to - I wasn't overwhelmed by the size and scale of Texas, it wasn't hard to transition to constantly speaking English - everything seemed so familiar. I did constantly notice things I had forgotten about during the first weekend in Houston though. Terri and I would be driving around and I'd make a remark like, "Hey look - those Sonic waitresses are on roller skates!" "Yep, they always have been." Oh yeah. Terri and I had a great time doing wedding stuff and catching up and I got to see a bunch of other people as well. Sonia and I had coffee sitting next to Ed Lu and I didn't even notice for a good half hour that he was there. The three of us (Terri, Sonia and I) went to see The Prince and Me. I hadn't even heard of it before that day and it was nice to see a movie in English that I enjoyed. Terri had gone out of her way to find some veggie recipes and get all the ingredients (and cherry-flavored Craisins!) so I got to try some really good new recipes too. :o ) And James, Terri, Jayleen and I all had dinner at Mamacita's. Oh how I miss Mexican food - I don't dare eat it anywhere besides Texas now because it's just not the same so it's been awhile...

Flew back to Chicago that Monday (4/19) and went home for two hours to re-pack before starting the drive to Michigan. We got to Rob and Ena's the next morning and met Chloe. Spent the next five days staring at and taking turns holding the baby. I could stare at her for hours - she makes so many faces even in her sleep that I never realized were innate. At first she had night and day confused - sleeping most of the time we were awake and keeping Rob and Ena up at night, but towards the end of our visit she was starting to get it sorted out. I could go on and on about her. :o ) We drove back to Chicago on Saturday just in time to run home and re-pack again before catching my 10pm flight back here. A whole week back in the States and I slept on other peoples' futons the whole time - haha!

I had a long layover in Frankfurt on the way back. I was so tired when I first got off the plane that I just wandered around, got some food, washed my face and debated sitting in the airport the entire time. But eventually, I decided I had to go to the city as I had intended. Being in a place where I didn't speak the language at all was a very different experience from being in France. Everyone was helpful enough, but I was embarrassed to say anything or interact with them - embarrased that I didn't even know if I was using the few German words I know properly. I got a train ticket into the city and decided to try and find the picturesque Old Town. There were very few street signs and the ones that were labeled weren't on the map I had acquired at the airport. I eventually figured out (from the setting sun) that I had headed the wrong way and went back. I think I got within a few blocks of the area, but all the streets were so curvy that I couldn't tell what was two blocks away and after an hour of walking, my shoulders hurt from carrying my backpack stuffed with my computer and papers so I hopped on the train back to the airport where I finally bought a couple books in English. (Staying up all that night when I got back to Aix to finish reading the Nanny Diaries probably didn't help my jet lag, but it was the first fiction I've read since January and I couldn't put it down!)

Perhaps the strangest part of the whole break was the feeling that France had been a dream that hadn't really happened. Unlike other trips, I had the chance to go back to France so I wasn't worried in the States about trying to remember every last detail and hold on to it. Since I have been able to share pictures and thoughts on a regular basis with friends and family back home, there wasn't that urge to tell people everything about France and shove pictures under their noses. And on top of it all, I had no contact with any of my friends from France for the entire time I was gone. It might as well have been a dream. It brought to mind something that my teachers always say in yoga class - leave your stress at the door, you can pick it up on the way out. I left France somewhere in customs knowing I could get it back in a week.