I woke up at 8 this morning to the sound of my alarm. I barely groaned when I had to get up in the darkness to turn on the light. First thing this morning I found out that I had to upload the new version of flash. I was having problems completing the application because it said Safari was still running. I quit Safari and downloaded the application. I can't live without my sweet youtube! This put me way behind my morning routine so I rushed to make my peanut butter and honey sandwich and coffee before starting to study.
The same routine. Study for French then start on pop. You remember the freakout session from yesterday's post right? I've figured out the only way to semi-silence my test anxiety is to do practice quizzes. I decided to put links to all of the pop videos into a document in a random order. I copied and pasted the link onto a tab and turned the screen away so I wouldn't see what was loading. When the video started to play I did exactly what I'll have to do on the midterm: genre, decade, and explaination of why this song falls into that genre (plus some extra craziness for my own needs such as naming the artist, song title, and exact date of publication). I actually kinda enjoyed doing it. Each song was a surprise, and I'd try to guess which song would come up next.
I still forgot to write that Chopin's étude for piano was played as the tune for lemon incest, but overall I did fine. I was able to write a paragraph for each song and only slighly struggled occassionally while justifying my choice of genre. Today's favorite songs included: Indochine's l'aventurier, Brel's ne me quitte pas, Brassens' chanson for l'avergnat, and Edith Piaf's non, je ne regrette rien.
I wrote my first histories essay as a break from studying for music. I was like two minutes off of 45 minutes. Not too shabby. I then did some more pop songs, and had my lunch break. I choice a Picard meal that consisted of a very thin piece of salmon in a creamy citrus sauce with what I think was basil and spinach mashed potatoes. It kinda looked like baby food, and was kinda runny when the cream sauce got into it, but was actually pretty good. The potatoes were kinda sweet, but overall this was the best Picard meal out of the bunch. It was only a little after one so I took the leisure time to watch an extra episode of Judge Judy.
I finished studying for pop at about 2, and it was time to go to Carnavalet. I have to write a paper for my histories class over holiday about an object from Carnavalet. I got myself dressed, grabbed my shopping bag so I could pick up more meals, and went out the door. As I was walking I kept seeing new shops that I've never seen before because they're never open when I'm in town. Oh Saturdays, you're a bastion of open shops and way too many pedestrians. I got to the museum and pushed my way past the garden, which looked beautiful next to the gray sky, and went straight into the museum. I was a woman on a mission. I should have stopped to smell the roses.
I knew that I wanted to write my paper about the finger from the Vendome statue that was destroyed during the Revolution. Writing about the Revolution would give me tons of material to work with, and writing a 4-6 page paper would be a breeze. I rushed straight to the Revolutionary section without batting an eye…to find out that it was closed. What was I supposed to do?! I started frantically looking around the museum for something to write about. I went to the room that concerned Napoleon to look for inspiration. I saw the crib for Napoleon's child. Ehhh interesting but not fantastic. There was a picture of Haussmann. I thought that would do, but something in me said to keep looking. Some kind of sword like object from Garnier the builder of the Opera. Nah. I kept walking until I found more revolutionary items.
I saw some more things that could be it, but nothing really struck me. I figured that I'd just write about Haussmann, and went to find the sortie. I got lost in the museum, it really is a conplicated place and none of the signs make sense (how can it be the sens de viste and the sortie?!), and then I saw it. There, wedged into a corner near a doorway, was a picture of a woman with a red floppy hat. It was the image of the Republique! She even had a rooster on her arm, and was leaning on a fasces. How could it be any more perfect! Scooooore. I finally found my way to the sortie when I stopped because I saw something on the way that I had never seen before. There was an exhibition of beautiful black and white photographs of Paris. They were so beautiful. It was so weird to see such beautiful pictures of places that I've been a million times. It was like dreaming of Paris from the US all over again…expect I was dreaming of Paris in Paris.
La Republique
I left the museum and headed to Monoprix. On my way there I stopped to take a photograph of a three piece string group playing under an arch. I really liked walking on this new side of the street across from Place des Vosges. The area is covered in art galleries with really cool modern art. I could never go in them, but it was nice to look. I also stopped to take a picture of some art in the window of an art gallery. One piece was entitled "Russian Love".
The street musicians
Russian Love
Smirnoff bottles turned into art
I walked through the Bastille looking at new shops that never seem to be open when I walk past. I finally fought my way through the crowd to Monoprix. I saw a clothing display in the window that advertised their new clothing collection. One mannequin was wearing a sweater that said "Chic" in white block letters on a black sweater. I had to have it. It was perfect.
I hate going out on Saturdays. Monoprix was insane. I got four frozen meals (moussaka, a spinach and salmon lassgna, the same lassgna from last week, and one that's fish with basmati rice) and went to stand in line. I was in the line that priviledged pregnant women and people in wheelchairs. I saw a line that I had never seen open before. It had a sign on it that said something about caisse livrason so I knew I shouldn't stand in it. I waited for forever while the annoying girls behind me went to get a bottle of water off the shelf to start drinking it, chewed gum in my ears, and were generally annoying. Before I could pay my 7,94 I looked over at the line that I didn't get in. There were two men bagging the groceries of a woman. This is Europe. There's no such thing as bag boys! They were picking up crates from the stack that are always in the corner of the store and putting her groceries in them. I've never seen that before! You can get your groceries delivered!
I paid for my groceries and decided to go upstairs to look for the sweater. I saw it hanging there and started to think about how many weeks I'd have to save up to get it for myself. I thought it would be 40 bucks max. 119,99 euros. Yep. For a sweater from a grocery store. Au revoir, mon amour. Tu es très belle, mais trop chèr.
I went home. I walked through the courtyard and to the ATM. I got 250 euros out for my trip and came home. I check my online account to see how much money I have left in my savings. I'm down to my last $500. Yikes. I also took the time to write out the directions to my hotel in Rome; I had only written down the directions for the last hotel that got cancelled. I also found out that my hotel in Venice is 193 euros for my three nights! That is wayyyyy over budget!! I can't cancel it. Lame.
While I was thinking about it, I put my credit cards, cash, train tickets, and reservations in my bag to prepare for my trip. I also messaged Leila if she still wanted my Swiss francs. She's going to Geneva, and I told her that I'd trade her my francs for euros. She said that she wanted them and invited me to come over. She asked me if I had been okay this past week because I seemed mad about something. Have I been mad? I know that I think Leila is less cool after last week's episode (ohmygoodness that seems like it happened five weeks ago), but I don't remember being mad. Ugh whatever. We chatted for a bit, and she tried to guilt trip me into seeing Gone Girl with her. I was almost down to go, but I'm basically out of money this week and I have to pay for laundry tomorrow. I was totally almost convinced until she told me that the movie shows Ben Affleck's penis and is about something scary. Not. Happening.
I came back upstairs and finished my last essay for histories. I wrote it in 37 minutes. Is it weird that I'm kinda worried that I wrote it so quickly? I should review the information again. Maybe I'm just becoming more practiced at writing my essay.
By this time it was 7, and I was skyping mom at 8. I wasn't hungry, but I ate some soft center caramels anyway. Then I finished off the potato chips that Lauren sent me. I was a little sad to see them go. I was still hungry so I heated up my moussaka. I was surprised that it didn't have mashed potatos on it like it's supposed to, all it had was melted cheese on top. All it had was melted cheese. I'm insane. It did have big pieces of eggplant and a hint of meat. Not fantastic, but I ate it anyway.
I watched some Judge Judy while I waited for 8 to roll around. I then chatted with mom for 1 hour and 14 minutes. We had a lot to talk about. When I answered her call we both laughed because we were both snuggled up in bed while we talked to each other. It's like I'm there with her.
Uggh. It's time for bed already. Goodnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment