WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD
Oh man. The day of depart becomes ever closer! I am so excited. :)
Thursday:
-French grammar class
-Etudes Cinematographiques class, get final exam take-home topic
-maybe go out with friends? If not, spend the evening in self-loving--make big dinner, paint fingernails, watch movies, read
Friday:
-wake up late morning to go gallivanting to the places I want to gallivant to
-meet Anna at the Centre Pompidou library at 2. Spend all day studying, except for coffee/cigarette breaks
-after studying, go to happy hour and then proceed to stay out all night getting sloshed (so long as we've studied, Anna and I figure that we can then go shopping, go drinking, whatever... because we were working hard the last five hours! ;D)
Saturday:
-wake up late morning, go to the Crypte Archeologique on Ile de la Cite
-exchange the sweater I need to exchange, seek the boots I want
-start considering what to do about my Etudes Cinematographiques final
-go out and rock hard all night long ;)
Sunday:
-work the shit out of Etudes Cinematographiques. Get it DONE.
-start contemplating some beginnings of packing--get it organized
-study for Phonetique and Litterature Francaise
Monday:
-go to the library with Anna. All flipping day. Study the bejeezus out of Phonetique, Litt. Francaise, and start on grammar.
-commence with the actual packing
-make a good dinner
-hopefully go out? not too late or too hard of partying
Tuesday:
-go to Montmartre with Anna to find the silly little store we want to find
-sit at home, or maybe in a cafe (La Bibliotheque au Centre Pompidou is closed Tuesdays) and study like my life depends on it for grammar, and put any finishing touches on Phonetique and Litt. Francaise
-do the rest of the packing for my big suitcase
-have a relaxing evening at home, maybe movies and hot cocoa
Wednesday:
-EXAMEN FINAL-LITTERATURE FRANCAISE
-EXAMEN FINAL-ATELIER PHONETIQUE
-back home, study up on grammar for keeps. Double check Etudes Cinematographiques, make sure it is in school bag.
Thursday:
-EXAMEN FINAL-LANGUE ET GRAMMAIRE FRANCAISE
-RENDRE EXAMEN FINAL POUR ETUDES CINEMATOGRAPHIQUES
-go out for a pleasant evening with friends
Friday:
-clean up apartment (sweep, wipe down surfaces, etc) and do apartment check-out with Melissa
-do all final packing, all final wandering the streets of Paris, cry a little
-take myself out to a nice dinner in a cute bistro with a good book. Quietly mourn the end of the semester; quietly celebrate the end of the semester.
-go out with friends and get hell of sloshed. Loudly mourn the end of the semester; loudly celebrate the end of the semester.
-lay in bed all night trying to get some sleep.
Saturday:
-wake up ungodly early
-brush teeth, put on make-up, put that shit in my suitcase with alarm clock
-panic
-run downstairs and buy pain au chocolat
-return to my apartment, panic with suitcases
-meet Melissa, give her pain au chocolat, and enjoy her assistance in getting me and my suitcases into the metro
-go to CDG. Panic, get on flight... GO HOME!! :D
Isn't that just more than you ever wanted to know about my life and what I'm going to do? I have even further detail charted out for the next few days, and I'll probably continue to post crap like this over the next eight days. Aren't you thrilled? ;) I'm excited.
Last night, my program went and saw "Looking for Josephine," a musical at the Opera Comique. It was extremely, extremely well done. Everyone in it was fantastically talented and it was an enjoyable show to be an audience member of. But the politics miffed me a little bit. For background, it is put on and (to my knowledge) written by a white Frenchman. But the story is that of black Americans in New Orleans after Katrina. A lot of it was, from my knowledge, fairly spot on... Until it turned into pro-France propaganda. Just before the end of the first act, during a musical number, one of the girls walks on stage with a sign that reads "THE U.S. HAS FORGOTTEN US." She turns it around and it's a French flag, with "FRANCE PLEASE BUY US BACK!" written over it. The rest of the show then just veers more and more toward how all the blacks in New Orleans would be happy if only they came to Paris.
... Uhm. I'm not arguing that the US has some fucked up racial issues and we still have a huge, huge way to go. What happened (and I'm sure is still happening) in New Orleans post Katrina is downright disgusting. BUT FRANCE IS NO BETTER. I'm sure Sarkozy could really teach Bush a lesson about how to deal with problems in ghettos, right? No. They're both idiots. And both countries are mired in racial issues that they are dealing with incompetently.
It was interesting to me that the non-whites in my program were the most adamantly against the message of the play, and were the most fervent in saying that France is no better. Most of them insisted that France is worse. I don't have the experience in either New Orleans or France to be able to say. But I am almost positive that France is no better. But then, all of the actors/actresses in the show were from New Orleans. So perhaps I'm misunderstanding something. Of course, I also have a feeling that they are getting a very sugar-coated France while they're here. They are certainly living in Paris, not in the ghettos in the banlieus I would imagine, and... Yeah. It just astonished me a little. But that might just be my secret inner patriot coming out.
Tonight I went to a bar with Anna and Ermanno and we chatted quite a bit. Interestingly enough, one of our most heated debates was about gay pride--for or against? Ermanno is really adamantly against gay pride, which I found interesting, since he is the one out of the three of us that is actually gay. He made some very interesting points about it, though, and it was an extremely animated conversation (particularly because pints are only four euro at that bar--HOLY CRAP! That's practically free! :D). His argument is that gay pride, the demonstrations and parades and everything, give everyone an idea of what "gay" is, and for the most part they find that to be offensive. He doesn't want to be lumped in with that. Anna and I, however, saw his standpoint as almost appeasement tactics--if people want to exaggerate the stereotypes of what gay is and run around wearing ridiculous outfits and chanting, they should be able to do it without being criticized or discriminated against. The impression I got from things Ermanno said, however, give me the feeling that in Italy, gay pride demonstrations are much more... obscene, or flagrant perhaps, than in the US. He talked about public sex and really pushy attitudes. I don't know where I stand. Because I completely understand what Ermanno is saying--it is fair to not want to be lumped into this big group, particularly when he doesn't share the standpoint of that group. However, on the other hand, there should be no interdiction on "gay pride" because the audience might be ignorant and not understand it. Appeasement is never a good way to go. It is a difficult subject.
We have lots of good debates. It's very enjoyable. I would enjoy it so much more if I spoke good enough French that I wasn't always frustrated in my attempts to contribute by my inability to vocalize what I want to say. ;) In that sense, it will be awesome to get home and finally get to speak all the English I want again. YEY.
Thursday:
-French grammar class
-Etudes Cinematographiques class, get final exam take-home topic
-maybe go out with friends? If not, spend the evening in self-loving--make big dinner, paint fingernails, watch movies, read
Friday:
-wake up late morning to go gallivanting to the places I want to gallivant to
-meet Anna at the Centre Pompidou library at 2. Spend all day studying, except for coffee/cigarette breaks
-after studying, go to happy hour and then proceed to stay out all night getting sloshed (so long as we've studied, Anna and I figure that we can then go shopping, go drinking, whatever... because we were working hard the last five hours! ;D)
Saturday:
-wake up late morning, go to the Crypte Archeologique on Ile de la Cite
-exchange the sweater I need to exchange, seek the boots I want
-start considering what to do about my Etudes Cinematographiques final
-go out and rock hard all night long ;)
Sunday:
-work the shit out of Etudes Cinematographiques. Get it DONE.
-start contemplating some beginnings of packing--get it organized
-study for Phonetique and Litterature Francaise
Monday:
-go to the library with Anna. All flipping day. Study the bejeezus out of Phonetique, Litt. Francaise, and start on grammar.
-commence with the actual packing
-make a good dinner
-hopefully go out? not too late or too hard of partying
Tuesday:
-go to Montmartre with Anna to find the silly little store we want to find
-sit at home, or maybe in a cafe (La Bibliotheque au Centre Pompidou is closed Tuesdays) and study like my life depends on it for grammar, and put any finishing touches on Phonetique and Litt. Francaise
-do the rest of the packing for my big suitcase
-have a relaxing evening at home, maybe movies and hot cocoa
Wednesday:
-EXAMEN FINAL-LITTERATURE FRANCAISE
-EXAMEN FINAL-ATELIER PHONETIQUE
-back home, study up on grammar for keeps. Double check Etudes Cinematographiques, make sure it is in school bag.
Thursday:
-EXAMEN FINAL-LANGUE ET GRAMMAIRE FRANCAISE
-RENDRE EXAMEN FINAL POUR ETUDES CINEMATOGRAPHIQUES
-go out for a pleasant evening with friends
Friday:
-clean up apartment (sweep, wipe down surfaces, etc) and do apartment check-out with Melissa
-do all final packing, all final wandering the streets of Paris, cry a little
-take myself out to a nice dinner in a cute bistro with a good book. Quietly mourn the end of the semester; quietly celebrate the end of the semester.
-go out with friends and get hell of sloshed. Loudly mourn the end of the semester; loudly celebrate the end of the semester.
-lay in bed all night trying to get some sleep.
Saturday:
-wake up ungodly early
-brush teeth, put on make-up, put that shit in my suitcase with alarm clock
-panic
-run downstairs and buy pain au chocolat
-return to my apartment, panic with suitcases
-meet Melissa, give her pain au chocolat, and enjoy her assistance in getting me and my suitcases into the metro
-go to CDG. Panic, get on flight... GO HOME!! :D
Isn't that just more than you ever wanted to know about my life and what I'm going to do? I have even further detail charted out for the next few days, and I'll probably continue to post crap like this over the next eight days. Aren't you thrilled? ;) I'm excited.
Last night, my program went and saw "Looking for Josephine," a musical at the Opera Comique. It was extremely, extremely well done. Everyone in it was fantastically talented and it was an enjoyable show to be an audience member of. But the politics miffed me a little bit. For background, it is put on and (to my knowledge) written by a white Frenchman. But the story is that of black Americans in New Orleans after Katrina. A lot of it was, from my knowledge, fairly spot on... Until it turned into pro-France propaganda. Just before the end of the first act, during a musical number, one of the girls walks on stage with a sign that reads "THE U.S. HAS FORGOTTEN US." She turns it around and it's a French flag, with "FRANCE PLEASE BUY US BACK!" written over it. The rest of the show then just veers more and more toward how all the blacks in New Orleans would be happy if only they came to Paris.
... Uhm. I'm not arguing that the US has some fucked up racial issues and we still have a huge, huge way to go. What happened (and I'm sure is still happening) in New Orleans post Katrina is downright disgusting. BUT FRANCE IS NO BETTER. I'm sure Sarkozy could really teach Bush a lesson about how to deal with problems in ghettos, right? No. They're both idiots. And both countries are mired in racial issues that they are dealing with incompetently.
It was interesting to me that the non-whites in my program were the most adamantly against the message of the play, and were the most fervent in saying that France is no better. Most of them insisted that France is worse. I don't have the experience in either New Orleans or France to be able to say. But I am almost positive that France is no better. But then, all of the actors/actresses in the show were from New Orleans. So perhaps I'm misunderstanding something. Of course, I also have a feeling that they are getting a very sugar-coated France while they're here. They are certainly living in Paris, not in the ghettos in the banlieus I would imagine, and... Yeah. It just astonished me a little. But that might just be my secret inner patriot coming out.
Tonight I went to a bar with Anna and Ermanno and we chatted quite a bit. Interestingly enough, one of our most heated debates was about gay pride--for or against? Ermanno is really adamantly against gay pride, which I found interesting, since he is the one out of the three of us that is actually gay. He made some very interesting points about it, though, and it was an extremely animated conversation (particularly because pints are only four euro at that bar--HOLY CRAP! That's practically free! :D). His argument is that gay pride, the demonstrations and parades and everything, give everyone an idea of what "gay" is, and for the most part they find that to be offensive. He doesn't want to be lumped in with that. Anna and I, however, saw his standpoint as almost appeasement tactics--if people want to exaggerate the stereotypes of what gay is and run around wearing ridiculous outfits and chanting, they should be able to do it without being criticized or discriminated against. The impression I got from things Ermanno said, however, give me the feeling that in Italy, gay pride demonstrations are much more... obscene, or flagrant perhaps, than in the US. He talked about public sex and really pushy attitudes. I don't know where I stand. Because I completely understand what Ermanno is saying--it is fair to not want to be lumped into this big group, particularly when he doesn't share the standpoint of that group. However, on the other hand, there should be no interdiction on "gay pride" because the audience might be ignorant and not understand it. Appeasement is never a good way to go. It is a difficult subject.
We have lots of good debates. It's very enjoyable. I would enjoy it so much more if I spoke good enough French that I wasn't always frustrated in my attempts to contribute by my inability to vocalize what I want to say. ;) In that sense, it will be awesome to get home and finally get to speak all the English I want again. YEY.