Special Edition: American in America!

So, I've been home for just over a week now. I had been expecting the culture shock to be pretty intense, but haven't really noticed it at all. There are little things that keep surprising me, though, like having white eggs (the only ones I've seen in France are brown), the different shape of light switches, the different placement of toilet handles, thinking in dollars (which is a lot less painful than euro), and being able to make witty remarks to people I don't know without accidentally insulting them. I do miss my apartment, my friends and the warmer weather of Montpellier, but Vermont has its own perks, including (but not limited to) not needing to cook for myself, having a dryer, being able to talk with people, etc. Also, I'm sure that no one in their right mind will agree with me here, but... I had missed American men.

So, I got home on Monday evening, 24 hours later went to my friend Lise's annual Christmas-cookie-making-and-fondue-eating extravaganza which was awesome, and then two days later left for Sunday River, a mountain in Maine, to going skiing with the fam.

This is arguably the least attractive family photo ever to exist, but what can I say? Attractiveness isn't necessary when all that can be seen of you is your nose.

So, we went skiing on Friday and Saturday and headed back that evening. It might have only been two days, but dear God was I sore!! I feel like I pulled every muscle waist down. Ouch.

The exciting event of Sunday was my first contra in four months!!! I got there early to play in a jam session which was fun, and then danced the evening away. It was excellent--not only was the band, Nightingale, incredible, but there were a lot of great people there, as well. There was just a lot of love going around that evening, and it felt wonderful :)

(Photo stolen from Roger Katz, resident awesome photographer)

So, tomorrow I head off to NYC to visit family for New Year's (Seriously, 2010? It's going to take me at least 6 months to get used to writing that), which should be fun, and will be coming back on Sunday. Then, I need to figure out how to cram the following into 11 days:

- Choose a new violin
- Visit my music teacher
- Go to contra
- See Crooked Still
- Visit my Grandmother
- Go to an Irish jam session
- Go to a Renewal concert
- Meet up with 7 different friends, half of which don't live in VT

... And I had been worried about being bored while at home... HA!

GOIN' HOME--The EPIC travel log of an American trying to leave Montpellier.

4:30 am, France time--Maybe going to sleep at 2:00 am wasn't such a good idea after all. Pretty nervous about this whole trip, but have been reassured many times that everything will go just fine. Am determined to prove optimists wrong.

5:45 am--Why did it seem like such a good idea to pack so much and then walk to the train station? My hands hurt.

6:05 am--Hello Gare St. Roch, nice to see you again. Man I'm here early.

6:45 am--Waiting for my train... Thought that it would be a good idea to get here really early seeing as it's the only part of the trip that's under my control. Am now sort of wishing I had stayed in bed a little longer.

6:50 am--So, the train was supposed to be here by now, instead there's a flashing EN RETARD sign for an HOUR AND A HALF. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.

7:30 am--Waiting... And waiting... And... A fire alarm and everyone needs to evacuate the building? Great.

8:20 am--If the train isn't here now, I kill people.

8:25 am--Train's here, thank the gods.

(11:00 am--When I was supposed to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport)

11:30 am--Wish the alternately screaming and giggling children would go away. They're stressed me out. At least the country is beautiful and snow-covered.

12:45 pm--So, not only are we running an hour and a half late, but the train is running slower than normal, too. FML.

1:00 pm--At the airport 2 hours later than originally expected and FORTY MINUTES BEFORE TAKEOFF!! AHHHHH! Mad dash to the terminal where I was told "pas de stress" and that it would be fine, as apparently everything was running late. Whew. Bags checked, go through security...

2:30 pm-- On the plane! Don't know how or why I made it, but I'm not going to complain.

3:00 pm--Au revoir, France!

9:45 am EST--And... the entertainment system is broken. It's gonna be a Loooong 7 hours. At least I got to chat with my neighbors.

4:00 pm--Hello, Montreal!

4:30 pm--Really, security and customs? Could this take ANY longer? I mean, I don't have another flight to catch or anything, so take your time...

5:25 pm--Just getting through customs... Hope it's not a problem that my flight was scheduled to leave FIVE MINUTES AGO. FUCK!

5:30 pm--Skidded to a halt at my gate just as they were calling my name, and just barely made it on the flight. God, that was close.

5:31 pm--Kid stole my window seat! Grr.

6:40 pm--I don't know how... But I made it! Hello, Boston!

9:45 pm--Home sweet home!

10:30 pm--Bed sweet bed! After 20 hours of travel and enough stress to give me a freaking ulcer, I think it's deserved. Also, I've decided that when I return to France in January, I'm getting myself a rowboat and ROWING back. It'll be easier, I think.

And thus ends the travel log, when Emily checks herself into a mental institution after the general trauma of travelling internationally.

Time for the most epic catch-up ever!

So, it's been an interesting few weeks. Long story short, the French university system works so that for the first three-fourths of the semester, there's nothing to do whatsoever, and then the last few weeks are hell. But, somehow I made it through the papers (including the one that I didn't learn was optional until the day I handed it in...), and actually just finished my third exam this evening! YAY!!! I had two exams yesterday, which ended up being 5 hours of exams straight which was good fun, and then another today. Being done still hasn't sunk in, though... I think that there's just too much residual stress and caffeine in my system to let me calm down and too much apprehension concerning packing, saying goodbye, traveling home for break... Yeah.

Anyways. What else have I been up to? Well, I've been to two more folk dances, which were a lot of fun. The first was just a really small one at UPV which I went to with Sara and was really nice. Then, two days later, we went to another dance, "Le Bal au Chausettes" (Dance of the Socks) where everyone was supposed to wear crazy socks, and there was even a competition. So, of course, I went out and bought myself a pair of striped knee-socks. It was a rather intense dance, in that it was packed and chaotic, but still fun, and I finally learned some more of the dances.
I wish that this had come out better... But there it is! It's a little hard to see, but the decorations included laundry lines with paper socks clothes-pinned on. So cute! Met a nice boy, too, by the name of Pierre :)

So, despite the fact that Thanksgiving doesn't really exist in France, we still celebrated! Twice, in fact. First, the whole group of us went out to dinner at a restaurant called l'Artichaut, and they actually made us Thanksgiving dinner! ... That is, French style. Two days later, we celebrated again, this time a little more family-style with a potluck! Looks amazing, huh? Tasted amazing, too. I must say, we're a pretty damn talented group of cooks! Let's see, there were yams, mac+cheese, turkey, peanut chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, lemon meringue pie, apple crisp... God, I'm still full, three weeks later.

Last week, Sealia and I had our last cooking session of the semester, and made salmon, crackers (you have to pronounce it in a French accent, though), and chocolate mousse!
Cooking away...Mme Mousseron--she is SO CUTE!*Salivates*

So, Friday was the first night of Hanukkah, so me being a good little Jewish girl (/wanting an excuse to not be studious) decided to make my two favorite Jewish foods, latkes and noodle kugel! Never having made either I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out... But it ended up being great! :)Bon appetit!The makeshift Hanukiah that Sealia made out of tea candles. Yes, it was only the first night, but we figured why not celebrate all 8 nights in one? It made me really, super happy :) (Also, it just occurred to me that most of my photos seem to be of food, which makes me wonder why my pants still fit me...)

I MADE CREPES! Okay, can I now be officially French?

"EXAMS" is all I really need to say here...
Note the package of Prince cookies, mug and the Pyrex-liquid-measure-turned-teapot. What's that expression, necessity is the mother of invention? Yep, pretty much.
At some point very late on Monday night/Tuesday morning when I was just tired enough to start raking pictures. Glad that's over with!

So, that's me. I'll be spending the next 4 days cleaning, packing, and spending as much time as possible with my friends before heading home on Monday. I leave first thing in the morning (like 6:58 am or something) and will be home late that evening, after about 20 hours of travel. Wow, I can't believe I'll be home so soon. It'll be a bit weird, but I'm excited to be back home and if you're in the VT or MA area, give me a call!

(Oh, and most of the photos are courtesy of Sophie or Sealia--thanks!)

Hello all! Well, I've been up to quite a bit since my last check-in. Now, of course, I just need to try and remember some of it...

I had a really busy week, last week, with a phonetics test on Tuesday (amazingly, I think I'm getting worse at this subject, which is quite impressive), a new art history professor and topic (it's all about the end-19th-century Symbolist Movement in painting, which is actually kinda cool, and coincides with the era in which Byron and Shelley were writing. It's very dark, wonderful stuff), and yet another test in grammar which was really tough. So... Yeah, it was a busy week. And this one is a whole lot busier, as I have two papers due next week. Ironically, they're for the same class, one is 3 pages (the French students need to write 4, haha!) and the other is 7. But here's the weird part--the longer one isn't graded, while the other is, but we still need to do it. Does this make sense to anyone? Oh, the French university system... *shakes head*

So, as exciting as my academic adventures might be, other adventures might be more appreciated... Like, my trip to BARCELONA this past weekend! I headed out with Essi, Muoyo and Ally on Friday afternoon, hopped on a bus and 5 (looong) hours later we were in Barcelona! My very first time in Spain, how exciting! We stayed in a little hostel "El Residencia Erasmus" which was actually great, and really cheap. It felt very much like a slumber party, as we were all in one room. We had an early night on Friday, and then spent all of Saturday walking around, seeing everything--the market, the sea, the old quarter, the cathedral, the Gaudi park etc. Man... I'd gotten used to Montpellier, which has a downtown of about a square mile. According to my poor feet, Barcelona is quite a bit bigger. We did some more walking around on Sunday and then took the bus back and got home in the evening. Quite the whirlwind trip! But, pretty damned awesome :)

Photo shot from the bus, at the French/Spanish border. The photo doesn't really capture it, but the landscape there is Beautiful, really mountainous, and at the moment kinda misty.










We went wandering through a park on Sunday, and found this! I'm not sure what's it's a monument to, but it was beautiful... And riddled with Greek mythology, which always makes me happy.














L'Arc de Trimuph!... Every city's got one. This one was quite spectacular, though.












Shoe-shot!
I kinda like my turquoise chucks, right here...












My lovely travel-companions!!!













Street in Barcelona, in the Gracia quarter, I think.













So, Monday was spent recovering from the busy weekend, actually getting work done, and getting another fiddle lesson. I learned a great new tune called A Cup of Tea. I think we all know why I like it... Also, I've decided that I need a new violin. After mentioning, for the tenth time, something about getting my pinkie down where it should be, Brian tried to demonstrate it on my violin... And realized that it was practically impossible. The problem is that the strings are Really high off the fingerboard, so being able to push down hard enough to get a good note with my weakest finger... Not gonna happen. It's actually really nice to be able to blame my instrument for my problems, for once.

Tuesday was terribly busy (normal classes, plus paper-writing and going to a required play in the evening), and today has been as well. Sealia and I had our cooking class this morning, which was fun--unfortunately I don't have any photos to put up at the moment. And... tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'll admit to being very sad to not be home :( It's only the second time I haven't been with my family for the holiday. We will be celebrating here, though, which should be fun. And now, I have class to go to! Tah!

This is going to be a somewhat happier post than last week's, I believe. So. I had my big presentation in my literature class on Tuesday which went pretty well, although it ended up being Way longer than originally expected. We had been aiming for, oh, you know, 20-25 minutes. How long did it end up being? Nearly an hour, and even when we left the front of the class, we were still talking about the passage. Wow. I think that the main reason for this was that my partner had timed her piece with her speaking at normal speed: not presentation-in-front-of-a-class-full-of-foreigners speed. Ah well. I got to feel like a good little MoHo, though, because we were talking about how there were all these feminist themes etc. and also, we were asked a question to the effect of "does it just seem like a feminist novel because that's how you want to see it?" to which I answered No, in fact it Was a feminist novel, so there. [Take that, French man!] Also managed to make 'em laugh a few times, which felt good. Anyways, thank god that's over. Now I can worry about all that other work I need to be doing... Frak...

Wednesday was a national holiday, in celebration of the Armistice of WW1 (although, of course, it took me half the day to realize that that was the cause, not some bank holiday. I felt rather silly when I found out). Took ballet in the morning, and went out to a wonderful restaurant called La Tomate in the evening. It felt really very French, and had this great atmosphere--very cozy, with a fireplace and everything. I even got to see frog's legs, for the first time. They really don't look all that appetizing. Thursday contained yet another culinary adventure: the veggie gratin to end all veggie gratins... but, of course with half of the ingredients changed around. It ended up being cauliflower, onions, shallots, an apple and some spinach cooked in wine then with cheese and eggs added. Not bad, not bad at all. I think I added a bit too much liquid, though, as it was a bit soupy.

This weekend was really one of the best on record. Like, seriously. I got a fair bit of work done (for once), went to a knitting store that I found a few weeks ago with Sophie and bought materials with which to crochet a hat to match my scarf, spent a good deal of time in cafes hanging out with my lovely friends and working, and had a most epic dinner party on Saturday evening which included: wine, salad, bread, eggplant parmesan, pasta, sauce, chicken, and a cake. My compliments to the incredible chefs!! Friday night was the Irish session at Fitzpatrick's which was a blast. I knew/kept up with maybe 6 or 7 of the songs, which may not seem like much, but it was enough to make me really happy. I even earned myself a free Guinness... Which I promptly gave to Brian. A whole group of the girls came to see me play which was really sweet, too :) Anyways, it was pretty awesome weekend, just what I needed--a balance of productivity, friends, music, sleep and just plain relaxing. I do have a whole ton of work I need to get to, though, and sharpish. I think that's the main thing I hate about this system, that you have no work for the first 2/3 of the semester, and then Everything is crammed into the end. It's kinda terrifying, actually. Hm, maybe I should stop whining and start working? Quelle idée!

So, I would argue that the past week has been one of the more interesting/busy/social/horrid on record, although I'll spare you most of the gory details. So, there have been such adventures as: meeting interesting French men at laundromats, working on my first presentation for a literature class, another cooking class with lemon meringue pie and being able to play with cookie cutters, skipping my first class this semester, a cooking adventure which involved substituting most of the ingredients which still came out well, finally breaking down and doing a bit of shopping, being read to via Skype by my awesome dad and sister, watching American movies dubbed in French, finding Irish fiddle books in the library, making plans to visit Barcelona next weekend, and having really, really awesome friends :)

In a bit more detail... I've had a really social past few days, wow. In fact, I feel like I've barely been home at all which is weird. So, Friday evening was celebration #1 of Ally and Muoyo's birthdays! Happy birthday! So, we all went out to a bar for a few hours, hung about and had cake. Then we went out to Australia (we were actually let in this time, unlike last week when we were unceremoniously turned away for no good reason) and danced until the wee hours which was fun. On Saturday I had quite an adventure... I had run into my friend Magali the day before and she had invited me to go out folk dancing with her and her friends Olivier and Stephen! It was in a little town about an hour out of Montpellier called Sommieres (I think). I was expecting it to be really small, and low-key... Man, was I wrong. It took us about 15 minutes to even get in because there was a line, and then it was this big hall that was absolutely packed to the gills with people. We decided that the word of the night was "chaos." Nothing was taught, so you either knew it or you were out of luck (or, if you're me, you just hunted down a good partner and didn't let him get away), and it was so crowded that it was hard to tell what was going on. There were some dances that were done in pairs, some in pairs in lines, some pairs in circles and some in lines in circles.... Whew. I can now dance a pretty mean valse (waltz at warp speed), scottish (possibly the sexiest dance I've ever done--un, deux, trois, un, deux, trois, un, deux, trois, quatre--and done while practically hugging your partner because there just wasn't enough room to do otherwise. It reminded me of a salsa or something) and a mezurka (nothing like what we learned in ballet class--un, deux, saut!, un, deux, trois--and just super awkward, but rather fun anyways, when you're not stepping on your partner's feet). So, it was fun, but also overwhelming in the fact that at home, folk dancing is where I belong, I know the dances, the people, the music etc. whereas here, I was expecting the same and was rudely surprised. Apparently there are folk dances at UPV on Thursday evenings, though, which I'm really excited about. Also, there was a boy with long blond hair in a skirt who danced really beautifully. I think they're following me...

Today I went to a mini jam-session with my fiddle teacher Brian and his friend Mark. We spend most of the afternoon playing away, with 2 fiddles and... a banjo? Yep, a banjo. They're such funny instruments. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a new tune by ear, which always impresses me as I'm usually horrible at doing that. I think it's actually the fiddle tune from the Titanic. Weird, I know, but a really great song. And now... Time to decompress from the last 7 days and get ready for an intense week.

... Because when deciding between procrastination and schoolwork, procrastination always wins.

So, another week full of exciting and less-exciting adventures. First of all, I made it though my week of two tests and a new section in my art history class, although barely. We'll be spending the next four weeks on... Something to the effect of iconology/iconography (there's actually a difference, who'd a thunk?) of Renaissance painting. Sounds like a blast in theory, but in reality, she's hard to follow and has this bad habit of assuming that all the students are in her other class as well... Yeah. That'll be interesting. Academics in general seem to be gearing up a bit, which is pretty terrifying. It's not that a ton of stuff needs to be done so much as what does need to be done is either very poorly explained and thus daunting, or is worth a huge percentage (say... 100) of our grade. Yikes.

So, on Wednesday, Sealia and I had our first cooking class! Getting there was an adventure, as it was pouring rain and windy to boot, so by the time we got there, we were soaked, despite the umbrellas and rain jackets. So, it was with a lady by the name of Mme Mousseron, who's rather adorable. So, we spent about 2 hours with front-row seats at a cooking show. We helped out a bit, but (at least I) did a lot of sitting and watching. We made: gratin aux endives, truit aux amandes, un "cake" et un "crumble," which was all wonderful, with perhaps the exception of the endives.

"LAAA!"
General immaturity, what can I say?
Also, I'm not sure I realized that fish have rather sharp teeth. And really silly looking tongues.










Grapefruit and kiwi. Do you have any idea how hard it is to cut and peel grapefruit like that? Well, hard!!! Looks pretty, though.











"Look what I made, ma!" Sealia showing off the truit aux amandes.

p.s. MHC, we're onto your scheme. You attract the brightest and most motivated women, then send them away to to foreign countries to "broaden their horizons" and turn them into housewives!!






Le "cake." Really, that's what she called it. It was basically a cheese/veggie loaf of bread which was really good, minus the olives.















Fishies! Mmm... They made fun of me for how I ate it, though, which I would consider a "I'd like to avoid getting fish bones stuck in my throat" manner, but they just thought was funny.














Apple crumble! And a rather satisfied cook :)

















As for the rest of the week... Nothing too eventful until Friday evening, when I headed back t Fitzpatrick's, the Irish pub, to listen to the jam session. Turns out that I got there early and had time to kill before they started, so I ended up just sort of attaching myself to a group of Irish students and hanging out with them for a while. It was a bit awkward, but I was damn proud of myself anyways :) On Saturday I finally went and found a ballet studio and took class! It was a really good class, just the right level, and a lot of fun. It really is interesting how little ballet seems to change around the world, though--same words, same order, even a similar "ballet mistress" attitude. The thing that amuses me, though, is the fact that in English, the words "tendue," "pirouette," "pencher," all sound so beautiful and elegant, whereas in French, it just means, "stretch," "twirl," and "tilt." Much less interesting. Saturday evening found me with a babysitting job, of a 2-year old and a 4-year old, the kids of my friend Lawrence who owns the English bookshop just down the street. It was an eventful evening--Finding Nemo, then train tracks (I love those things!), then paper-towel confetti, then books (written in French, and read outloud in English... Let's just say it wasn't pretty), and then bedtime, which took some persuasion. Whew.

Monday was a rather excellent day, overall, including such things as massive grocery shopping trips, cooking a really good dinner for myself (I CAN COOK!) and then having my first Irish fiddle lesson, from one of the guys who played at the pub. It was a good lesson, overall, but, as first lessons are wont to be, a bit disorganized and an overload of information. Ah well. At any rate, I have a good number of bad habits that need fixing toute suite, including some of the most basic elements, which is frustrating. Oh well. And... So starts another week. Oh, and random important information--I will most definitely be coming home for Christmas break, which is about between Dec. 18 and Jan. 20, so put that on your calendars!