and on your left is.....

Today I took an evening cruise on the Seine. It was colder than I'd hoped it would be.

I fell asleep last night while Smurfs 2 was buffering (it was set in Paris. give me a break) and didn't wake up until 11:30. I got myself officially ready for bed and went back to sleep. I woke up at 8:22 this morning. When I first woke up I thought it was the middle of the night considering how dark it was. It was just a really gray day today. I immediately started praying that it wouldn't rain and ruin my cruise plans. I started thinking about museums I could go to instead of trudging out in the rain. I got out of bed and made a plain cup of black coffee (which I now think is sad. god, one week of having milk and now i'm converted. what next? iced lattes?!) and searched the cupboard for food. I figured that I'd coat a slice of bread with butter and sugar and then fry it, but it turned out to be a soggy piece of sadness. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow with more sugar and less butter....or I'll leave the house and get a baguette.

I sat down to read my first article of the day. It was another article for histories about the physical changes that occurred in Paris since the the mid 1900s. This article specifically talked about Le Marais at the end of the article and even mentioned the phenomenon of shop owners leaving up the boulangerie signs on their stores. I've always thought that was charmingly weird. The next article was about the Forum Les Halles that was built after the old Les Halles was destroyed. I've studied the old Les Halles so much that I'm sad that it's gone. It's replacement by an underground shopping mall is a crime.

I only had three things left on my to do list and I wasn't planning on leaving the house until late. I turned my attention to looking up the list of hotels that mom sent me for my trip to Barcelona. I googled the transportation system and then looked up the hotels. I made my decision and emailed mom. She said that she had thought that's the hotel I would pick. She knows me a little too well. I'm going to book it tomorrow. Barcelona, here I come!

After my little distraction, I turned my attention to working on my pop presentation. I finished the last slide only to realize that the last two slides were different than the other slides. I recreated the slides and then reviewed my presentation. I had to fix the formatting so that it would look normal while in full screen mode. That took awhile. Then I figured out how to send my presentation to Mindy and then how to print it. With those checked off the list, I did a quick dry run of my presentation. Not bad for the first time. I have a few more days to work on it(...or a lot. It's not due until the 10th).

It was only noon so I thought that I'd have a lunch break. I made a small plate of thanksgiving food (i had devoured three cookies during my second reading) and got into bed to watch netflix. I settled on a documentary about the crime boss Whitey and then couldn't pull myself away from it when one o'clock came (the time I had planned to go back to work). I watched until 1:25 when I finally found the courage to shut it off. The documentary was riveting. It was about how the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were covering for this mob boss and how they enabled them to continue doing crimes. The whole case against Whitey was about proving that he wasn't an FBI informant even though the he had actually been charged with racketeering and murder. One guy was being interviewed because Whitey killed his sister. It turns out that his sister was the girlfriend of one of the crime bosses. Not exactly innocent, but didn't deserve to be killed. Another woman was the stepdaughter of one of the mob bosses. He started sleeping with her, and when she started using drugs and prostituting, he killed her. One man was being interviewed because he had been extorted by Whitey and knew the man whose sister was killed. During the documentary, he was found dead in the woods. It turns out that his business associate poisoned his ice coffee with cyanide. What a crazy world.

I finally tore myself away from the documentary and worked on my pop paper. It's coming along, but it's not awesome. We shall see what Mindy says about it on Thursday. I then finished my movie and then edited my monument paper. I feel like it's getting worse. Oh well. Next up was a snack (the finishing of my nacho cheese sauce) and a new documentary. This one was called Gideon's Angels and followed public defenders in Georgia. They've underpaid, overworked, and their clients often end of pleading guilty. The saddest case was a 20 year old who was charged with arm robbery. They were just about to prove he was innocent when they heard news that his codefendant (and best friend) was going to testify that they had done the crime together in order to get a lesser sentence. The boy ended up with a five year mandatory sentence after pleading guilty to robbery by intimidation. He was innocent.

While watching the documentary, I was having an inner battle deciding what time I should go on the cruise. I had chosen to either take the cruise at 5:45 or 6:30. At five o'clock it didn't seem that dark. I then firmly decided on 6:30 but kept looking at the clock second guessing my decision and wondering if I could make the 5:45. I ended up leaving the house at 5:45 and walking to Gare de Lyon. On my way out the door, I saw Francisco's roommate and two friends trying to pick the lock to their room. The 15 euro lockout fee might be worth it. At Gare de Lyon I bought some metro tickets and then walked through an open gate onto the platform for the one. I went to Châtelet and then got out at the wrong exit.  I was still able to find my way to the Seine and started to walk along to find the correct boating dock. In the distance I saw a building that said "Vedettes Pont-Neuf." I just googled it, and "vedette" either means a star or a small speedboat. Who knew. I walked to the building but it seemed to be closed. I finally got a man to come to the door who looked at my printed ticket and told me "juste là." I walked over to what was obviously a cruise company and waited for the boat to load.

I had been waiting to go on this cruise for awhile and I was determined to sit on the top deck. It was a fairly empty boat (maybe only 20 of us) so there was plenty of room. However, when the boat started to move, it became obvious that this was not going to be a comfortable trip. It was absolutely freezing. The fog was so heavy that rain drops were occasionally falling into my eyes and my hands were frozen after five minutes. It became even worse at the end of the cruise when I couldn't even see out of my glasses and I had become so desperate that I was covering my face with my scarf for warmth. It was bad, man. Despite the cold, the cruise was pretty cool. I will admit that Paris at night was pretty creepy. There was no one along the banks, and the yellow street lights gave the city a very weird glow. I really did like seeing Notre Dame all lit up in soft blue lights with a Christmas tree covered in blue lights in its courtyard. The cathedral is way better at night. I also really liked the Eiffel Tower. Duh. I can never get sick of seeing it at night. From a distance you could only see the very bottom level due to the heavy fog. However, when we got closer (like right in front of it) you could see the whole thing. Spooky and cool.

Notre Dame

Ladies and Gentlemen....you know what that is

The second the cruise was over I rushed off the boat like a bat out of hell. I actually felt ten times warmer once I got onto the quai. I rushed to the metro and decided to take the 14 home. I tried to walk through an open gate but it shut with my body in between it. It turns out that the gates don't have the same release mechanism as the metro doors. To my chagrin, the door closed when I pulled myself out of it and then opened again as I went through another open gate. Have I been scared straight? Not a chance. It turns out that I have been on the 14 before. It is one of the high speed lines like the 11 that is totally unlike the 8. The line map on the train is so huge the font is practically the size of my head. There's only something like six stops. There no stop between Châtelet and Gare de Lyon (unlike the one where there's like four stops). I got off the train after what felt like forever (i'm so used to the one stopping all the time) and then found my way upstairs. I got nervous when I realized that you have to use a ticket to get out of the RER/14 area so I went through the only open gate I saw.

That gate lead to exit 2...nowhere near Diderot. I looked around, got confused, and found a sign pointing to the SNCF trains in Gare de Lyon. I could definitely find my way out from there. It turns out that Gare de Lyon is way larger than I had thought. I haven't even seen half of it. I followed the signs leading to metro line one until I saw a sign that said Diderot exit. I went up a sketchy set of stairs that only had enough room for one and a half bodies (yep, not even two bodies) and was transported onto a familiar escalator that lead to the main floor for the TGV trains. I wove my way through the throng of people (it was even busier tonight than it is during the day. maybe because it's sunday) to the exit and quickly walked home.

When I got home I couldn't even open my door because of how cold my hands were. I finally managed to open and close the door and then immediately made myself an extra hot cup of cocoa before settling in to finish my documentary. I've now moved on to a documentary about late term abortions. I'm on a role today. I am sad to announce that I have finished the last of my chocolate turkey and am down to my last three chewy caramels. I'm going to have to find some room in the grocery budget for more treats. Momma can't live without her treats.

it is finished

Today I walked in the snow for the first time in years.

I woke up lazily at 8:30 this morning and got up to make breakfast. I poured a bowl of cereal only to realize that, after filling the bowl with milk, I only had a tablespoon left for my coffee. Who knew that I would actually be sad when I finished a container of milk....or that I would use an entire container of milk! I've really grown as a person in Paris. I made my sad, slightly milky coffee and got back into bed. My coffee didn't taste as delicious this morning, and I think I put too much coffee in it. I had a headache after chugging only half of it. I messed around on facebook before getting up. I washed some more dishes before taking the trash out. I decided to finally take my trash out today after seeing the milk bottle barely teetering on top of the huge mound of trash. It was really a five alarm sound when I started putting the discarded hair from my hairbrush on the floor next to the trashcan because there was no more room. I really need to change my ways.

I came back from my adventure downstairs, during which my feet stuck to the floor of the trash room due to spilled juice (no wonder i don't go down there), to hear a strange noise coming down the hallway. It turns out that I was hearing the sound of my own computer blasting pandora! I'm just like the other, noisy kids! I felt so ashamed...but not enough to lower the volume on Modest Mouse when I came back inside. Before starting my work, I messaged Morgan to ask if she still wanted to go to Saint Germain des Neiges with me. I had seen an article that was posted to the Accent facebook wall about this event that turns Saint Sulpice into a winter wonderland. There was supposed to be hot wine, ski demonstrations, and skiing for the children. It sounded amazing, and I had to go. Morgan and I decided to go at about four or 4:30 after she got back from shopping. I had plenty of time to get my work done before our adventure.

I then sat down to start my first reading of the day. The reading was a New York Times article for my histories class about the changes that have occurred to Times Square. I really struggled to read it due to my coffee haze. It was ill written anyhow. Next up was reading chapter 21 for Horne. It was only 11 pages about May 1968 and the end of the de Gaulle era. That short reading concluded my reading of The Seven Ages of Paris. I can't believe it's finished.

The reading didn't take me long, so I had moved on to working on my pop presentation by 11. I was able to finish all but the last slide before getting weary (also my allotted hour of work was up). I decided to take the polish off of my nails and then have lunch. I think I'm dying. I'm hungry all the time. I stuff my face and the second I'm finished I'm opening a pack of cookies. What is wrong with me?! I don't think I've ever been this hungry in my life. To fix my ravenous problem, I made myself a plate of thanksgiving food and settled into bed to finish watching The Nut Job.

After lunch I turned to working on my pop paper. It totally sucks. It took me about an hour and a half to work on editing it, and there are still sketchy portions. This paper is the bane of my existence. I don't know what to do. While I was working on my paper, I happened to look down at my nails and realize that my fingernails were toally a gray/blue color. Literally, the whole nail was this weird color except for the very tips. I had had a problem over the summer with having gray toenails, but this is the first time that I realized it on my fingers. It really freaked me out.

After working on the paper, it was already 2:30 so I went to get dressed. I did my hair and makeup and then returned to bed to work on my monument paper. Eh. It's okay. I finished the paper by 3:30 and spent my time waiting for Morgan to message me messing around on the internet. I was hungry again (ohmygod again?!) so I had another plate of thanksgiving food. Morgan messaged me at about four stating that 4:30 still works for her and that she was just waiting for Sophie to get back from Monoprix. Wait. Sophie? I messaged her and asked if Sophie was coming with us and she responded yes. My anti-social heart suddenly sank. I was thinking of ways to back out of our plans when I figured that I'd just suck it up and go along with it. I do like Sophie, after all.

I met the girls downstairs at 4:30 and we walked to Gare de Lyon. My internet was totally sucking, but I've been to Saint Sulpice twice already. I had the basics of the instructions down so I figured we'd just go from there. We got to Gare de Lyon and I led the two girls in walking through an open metro gate. I'm just a bad influence. We then got on the one and took it to Châtelet. We then transferred to the four and went to Saint Sulpice. There was a heard of young, German tourists on the train who were totally annoying because they don't know how to take the metro. The girl next to me was facing the wrong way and kept squirming. Ugh. Tourists.

We got off the metro, followed by the Germans, and walked to Saint Sulpice. The whole street was covered in lit up Christmas stars and other Christmas lighting. Paris is really into Christmas. The whole area around Saint Sulpice was covered in Christmas lights and all the stores were decorated in Christmas themes. We got to the square and saw a hoard of people. Immediately inside the gate was a small area of snow with kids and dogs in it. Sophie wanted to take a picture in the snow so I took the photo with her. We then tried to win small bears out of an arcade game but all of us failed. We saw a ski simulation game, a man chopping wood, and a small run for children to sky on. It was all adorable, but very boring. Most booths were for travel companies and all the activities were for children. We then saw a huge slide at the end of the square. The rider got onto a blow up inner tube and flew down the slide onto a huge inflatable landing pad. Morgan wanted to do it until she heard a girl scream bloody murder before making the most disturbing thud the world has ever heard. At least she was wearing a helmet.

It really does snow in Paris

We then crossed the street and saw a sign pointing in several different directions. We followed the sign down the street and wandered into a shop with Christmas decorations in the window. The shop was adorable with really cute ornaments, but it was way overpriced. Six euros for a butter knife?! We then proceeded to walk towards Saint Germain. We then saw another decorated side street that had another ski run (sans snow this time) for children that ended in a shooting game. All of the shops were decorated and adorable. For once I was actually in the Christmas spirit.

We then got to a main street and decided to walk towards some Christmas lights. It turned out to be nothing, but in front of the nothingness was Le Bon Marché lit up in red lights. I had heard of the store from another student who went there but didn't really know what it was. Morgan and Sophie had read about it in school and wanted to see it. I agreed, and we crossed the street to the store. The outside windows were filled with moving Christmas displays that we had to look at. There were red and white patterned reindeers hauling Santa's sleigh, and assembly line of letters to Santa parading in front of a background, there were reindeers singing into old fashioned microphones, there was even a reindeer working out to power Santa's sleigh using a bike. Adorable.

We went into the department store (through a door opened by a store employee who called me madame. Finally I can get some respect in this country) to figure out that it's just a department store. A really nice, expensive department store, but just a department store. Sophie said she saw a sign that said there would be Christmas decorations on the second floor. We went upstairs to find a few reindeers and Christmas wrapped presents, but nothing special. Morgan was starting to get angry so we headed for the escalator. She then got excited when she saw the food portion of the market. We wanted to pick up some fleur de sel for a friend. She looked at the options and decided against buying any. While there, we saw huge rocks of pink salt and a 79 euro bottle of olive oil. I was sad to be dragged past large displays of sweet treats on the way to the exit.

Outside, Morgan speed walked through the crowd leaving both me and Sophie behind. Seesh. There was a metro stop right outside the door, but it was the 10 and the 12. We looked at the map and finally decided just to get on a train and see where it took us. As we approached the first sign, the direction Mairie Issy looked familiar. I then realized the other word on the sign was Auberville. It was the train to Montmartre! We walked to the train and got on. We then took the train to Concorde where Morgan again proceeded to speed walk. We were going to take the one, but the crowd on the way to the train was huge. We decided against it and took the eight instead. Morgan speed walked again on the way to the platform. We walked to the end of the platform where no one was standing and were able to get on a car with open seats.

We got home and I finally managed to go downstairs to get hot cocoa from Morgan. She loaded the cup I took downstairs full of hot coco mix. I was questioning why she would give me so much, but she and Sophie said that each cup needed three huge tablespoons. I was still doubting them but came back upstairs with the mix and set straight away to heating up some water. I put the first tablespoon of mix in and it tasted like water, one tablespoon more and it was barely chocolatey, the third tablespoon finally did it. I added some sugar for good measure and had gulped it down within five minutes. Next up was painting my nails so that I didn't have to see their weird color anymore. My internet is still sucky today so I painted them while I waited for five years for some Netflix to load. The rest of my evening has consisted of reading half loaded articles online and bouncing between tv shows on netflix. I've been tired since I got home. It's so time for a nap.

welcome to the mad house

It was a gloomy day but I dragged myself out of bed anyhow. I'm glad that I did.

Let's start the tale of my day from last night. I was asleep and having a dream about something or another when I swore that I heard screaming. I woke up a bit and the screaming was still there. It sounded like some drunken idiot who was screaming intentionally to wake people up. As I woke up further it sounded like someone screaming bloody murder. I put on some sweatpants and opened the door. Near the stairwell I saw Kenia and Molly with a girl on the ground who was half shirtless. They were grabbing her by the arms and feet and she was screaming and thrashing and yelling "I don't want to be a kappa." Kenia and Molly were screaming at her "Anna, come one. You're going to get us in trouble." I went back inside and closed the door. I then heard more screaming and went outside to investigate. By now no one was in the hallway but I decided to track to noise. I walked down to room 62 and heard screaming from inside the room. I then went upstairs to get Kate. This was ridiculous.

I went upstairs and rung Kate's bell. I didn't hear anything and was just about to leave when Kate came to the door. She was wearing a cute, red onesie with big white polka dots on it. She only opened the door a crack and I could see that she was rubbing her eyes as if yawning. I told her that there was screaming from room 62 and that she should come investigate. I heard her mutter "this better be good" as I got back on the elevator. They told me to wake her up if I heard noise. I came back downstairs and got in bed. I was definitely awake by then. A few minutes later I heard scuffling and then heard a female voice say "what the hell are you doing?!". It must have been Kate. I heard Kate's voice some more and then heard her discussing something with another girl for awhile. The noise eventually stopped and I went back to bed.

I woke up with a start and thought that I had overslept. Last night I didn't set an alarm because today wasn't going to be that busy. I reached for my phone and realized that it was only 8:30. I got up and made my sugar coffee and put the rest of my Normandie cake on a plate. I had a relaxed breakfast in bed while I shopped on Nordstrom online and responded to facebook notices.

I got to my desk by 9:15 after getting distracted by washing dishes. There's so much stuff in the sink that pot handles are taking over half the counter. The trash is so full that I might have to start putting new refuse on the floor. I'm too lazy to take it out. I started my day by reading an article for my histories class. It talked about how architects and city planners have either planned on or actually succeeded in destroying Paris and how whole quartiers have lost their original identities. It was depressing.

Next up was reading half of chapter 20 in Horne. My reading was really fatiguing me so I took a break to work on my pop presentation. I have to present my paper to the class on the 10th. Since my mac has absolutely no functions like a regular computer, I've been forced to build my presentation on an online site. I've started work on the first three slides (literally the title page, the slide that has the music video i'm presenting, and the slide with my thesis and a picture of the album cover). That took me about 45 minutes.

I then used my credit card (with mom's permission) to buy the evening cruise on the seine that I had been looking at. It was only 10 euros and it's something thats been on the list for ages. I think that I'll do it on Sunday. I think I told you all this yesterday. Since I had to print the confirmation, and Accent isn't open on the weekends, I knew that I had to go print it today. I also looked up instructions to go to parc buttes chaumont today. I passed it last week and remembered that it was on the list. I had made a mental note to go this weekend so I figured today was as good a day as any despite the gray sky.

I then heated up a plate of thanksgiving foods so that I could eat lunch while editing my pop paper. It's getting better, but it's still a little sketchy. Next up was fighting through the last 14 pages of Horne to finish the chapter. It was already two by this point and I knew that it would be getting dark fast. I had to make a move. I threw on some clothes and a hat to hide my ruined hair and walked to Accent. I printed my confirmation and then took the eight from Ledru-Rollin to République and transferred to the 11 and went to Pyrénés.

I got off the metro, crossed the street, saw which direction the street sign was pointing, and walked to the park. At first the park was really boring. It was pretty but there was no noticeable reason to waste perfectly good metro tickets. I had read online that there was some kind of structure in the park that was notable. I figured that I'd walk to find it and then go home. I kept walking and passed several cute bridges and patches of flowers. The park is like the other English gardens in Paris--weird. The steps are all made out of concrete but made to look like they're wooden. The park is entirely wooded with large patches of perfectly green grass in the open spaces. I wandered along a driveway (yeah, like a street in the middle of the park; there were even cars parked on it) and found a large clearing that overlooked a small stream. I walked down the hill to the stream and started following it.

The stream lead to some stairs that lead between two, boulder-filled areas. The space below was completely yellow due to all of the fallen leaves. I got to the bottom of the stairs and turned left. There, in front of me, was a huge lake with a gigantic cliff jutting out of it. There were several bridges in the area as well. In the lake were a flock of some kind of adorable white birds and some ducks swimming around. They kept diving and then bringing themselves at full height with their wings outstretched when they came out of the water. I kept following the lake and found the other side of the huge cliff and the cupola that I had read about online. There was also a large flock of geese sitting on the banks as well as a carousel and a few people fishing in the lake.

I looked up at the cupola and saw people looking over the edge. I felt the need to go up there but I figured that there would be tons of stairs to the top and my knees weren't up for it. I kept walking along and saw a set of stairs leading past some weird statue. The work was that weird shade of green like when pennies oxidize. The top looked like a monster but it had goat feet. The plaque below it stated that it was dedicated to the man in charge of parks. What a strange tribute. I followed the stairs and realized that they lead to a bridge that would lead to the cupola.

I walked across the bridge and had the best view. I could see all of the scary green grass and the trees all shades of yellow with the houses that ring the park in the background. I took some pictures and then climbed the stairs to the cupola. I could see the whole neighborhood. I even spotted Sacré Coeur in the distance. This is why I get out of bed. I left the cupola and got myself back to the metro.

I was going to take the 11 back to the eight, but then I realized that the 11 would stop at Hôtel de Ville and Châtelet. I decided to stay on the metro until Hôtel de Ville so that I could watch a young couple. When I got on the metro I realized that there was a girl with Downs syndrome sitting across from me. There was also a boy who was leaning against the metro pole and another young girl sitting in a seat across the aisle. I figured that they were siblings until I saw the boy kiss the girl with downs syndrome right on the lips. He and his sister got off the metro and he leaned back into the car to give his girlfriend another kiss before the doors closed. I then saw the girl pull out her cellphone to call her boyfriend. She looked confused when he didn't answer. We both got off at Hôtel de Ville and I lost track of her. I wanted to watch her to make sure no one hurt her. I hope she was okay.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to take the one to Gare de Lyon or take the eight from Bastille and get off at Ledru. I decided at the last minute to take the eight from Bastille. I know I could have gotten home quicker if I took the eight from République, but it was too late for that decision. I wasn't in a rush anyway.

I walked home and started to google tv shows to watch. People's Court didn't air a new episode yesterday since it was Thanksgiving (boo!) so I fumbled around until I found an episode of Chopped after hours. That wasn't very entertaining but I watched it while I ate a snack of nacho cheese dip and the mini tostada shells mom sent me. It turns out that they're just naturally chewy. Maybe they're stale or something. You would think that tostada shells are supposed to be crunchy.

I watched an episode of the last 24 about jim morrison on netflix. He died in Paris in Le Marais. As I was watching the show, I kept naming the places that they were going. They showed Rue de Rosiers and kept showing Sacré Coeur which I thought was a strange choice. Jesus and Jim Morrison don't mix. I've walked in the exact spot on the quai behind Notre Dame as the actors did. I was confused as to what brasserie in the Bastille they visited and couldn't quite identify what bridge they were showing. Wow. I really am Parisian. I even thought "call 311!" when Jim's girlfriend found him dead.

I then turned to editing my monument paper. Eh. It's coming along...I hope. Only a few more days to fix it before my first draft for Christina.

Next up was watching a documentary on Netflix about a town in Wales that has been experiencing high numbers of suicides. The documentary said that 99 people had committed suicide in five years. It was the saddest thing. The worst part was when the film said that one of the main people interviewed had hung himself three weeks after the last interview with him was finished. I had watched this kid continuously say how he'd never commit suicide and then he did it too. Then the documentary interviewed his mom. The day he died he had tried to get help at a hospital but they turned him away. He then tried to commit suicide and failed. After that attempt he went to the hospital who told him they couldn't help him. He then went to the police station and was turned away. Finally his committed suicide in the field behind his mom's house. His case was somehow sadder than the woman who lost her nephew, daughter, and husband to suicide. We hadn't talked to them for an hour.

Why do I watch such sad things before bed?

thanksgiving à la française

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so glad that I got to be at home for the holidays.

I couldn't sleep last night so I was less than thrilled to be awake this morning. I had just turned on my laptop and put my water in the microwave when I heard this really weird noise. I thought that it was some kind of weird fire truck outside until I realized that it was actually the fire alarm. I assumed that the building must be on fire so I opened my door to see if there was any panic. There were no flashing lights like I'm used to, but the noise was even louder than better. I tied my hair up (i still looked like a hot mess), turned off the microwave, grabbed my coat and scarf, threw on some sweatpants, and somehow managed to find my boat shoes while also grabbing two different boots before I ran outside. I was in that weird, half awake panic that sets in when you're pressured to do something right after you wake up.

I went to the hallway and Francisco and two other kids were standing out there. I asked them if we should go downstairs and they said yes. One of the kids standing there was the same girl who had woken me up weeks ago at when she was on skype in the hallway. She's just a bad person. Before her snotty comment "it's actually not 6am, it's 7:15"; suck it. Today she was self-centered and whining about how she had an interview to go to and that she didn't have time for this. I wanted to strangle her. Later I saw her at Accent before the 8:30 classes started and again at 1ish so I'm not sure what interview she was talking about. She even made sure to tell everyone that her alarm was going off when we were downstairs. Having to be in the same hemisphere as that girl really made the fire drill worse.

What also made it worse was taking the six flights of spiral stairs down to the ground floor. I was dizzy by the time we got down there. Kate and two other people I had never seen before were all dressed and smiley; bastards knew this was going to happen to us. They crowded us all into the first doorway (the one right after you open the outside door but before go through the second door to the rest of the floor) and told us to wait. Fewer than 30 people came downstairs. After the alarm went off about five minute later, we filed out while Kate counted us. I was not in a good mood.

I took the elevator back upstairs and rushed to get myself together. I also had to leave five minutes early to print my french composition and it was already about 7:40ish. I made my peanut butter and honey (i'm out of peanut butter. what am i going to do?!) and finished my coffee and had breakfast while I got ready. I threw on a sweater and leggings with just enough time to run out the door. I rushed to school with just enough time time to print my composition only to find the internet wasn't working. I moved to another computer that thankfully worked. I printed the composition and ran upstairs.

Class started about 8:40 and somehow the topic of the dictation came up. My professor had told us a different page number than the dictation was actually on in her email last night. I was only able to find the right page by looking at the page heading that she sent us. It turns out that a few other students have done the same thing and were fine. My professor really freaked out about this and had us open our books so that one of the students could read it to us. When I heard her reading the first paragraph, I immediately raised my hand. She told us last night that the dictation would be the second paragraph. I told her this when she called on me and then she had the second paragraph read. She then decided to stick to the second paragraph. The second paragraph was read by another student and then she gave us five minutes to study the dictation before the quiz started.

The quiz went terribly so we can just skip except for one little thing. We had to name 15 parts of the body so, of course, there was a drawing of a man with arrows pointing to the different parts. Another student had asked where some arrows were going to so my professor wrote some instructions on the board. I then got confused about what I had written so I went up to ask her a question. Her response was "that arrow is pointing to the back, but if you want to label something else just move the arrow." I have the best french professor ever. The back is "le dos" by the way....

After the brutal quiz, we took a break and then watched more of "Entre Les Murs". Blah. Blah. Blah.

After French I literally ran home as to avoid the mass of other students walked behind me. I came upstairs, put on some "wine and bubble", and made myself a cup of sweet coffee (don't forget the milk). I then settled in to edit my histories monument paper. Since it's a holiday, I took the day off except for that one bit of work. The paper is okay, but still not fantastic. I finished my editing for the day and then started watching some People's Court before pop. I left the house eight minutes early because I wanted to pay for, and print, my cruise on the Seine this weekend. Also, the Accent center had a thanksgiving luncheon for us so I wanted to grab some food.

I got to Accent and the lounge was packed. I made my way to a computer but had to stand and use the keyboard sideways because people had put their coats on the desk. I tried to pay for the cruise but my card got declined...again. I gave that dream up and went to read against the wall while I waited for my class to start. When class was supposed to start, I wandered over to the door but the other class was still there. I put my stuff onto a desk and went to get some food. Earlier in the day, I had seen Coraline and Adrian putting out sodas on the windowsill to chill before lunch. I saw the sodas as well as roasted chicken wings, baby potatoes, potato chips, and salad. I got some potatoes and went back to where I had left my stuff. The potatoes were delicious. They were peeled, new potatoes that were covered in this turkey gravy sauce. To die for. I even went back to get a second helping.

Today we talked about EDM in pop. It was no "wine and bubble", but I did like our discussion about the production aspects and rave culture. The music selection was terrible though.

After class I started walking home when I remembered that I had no bread for my thanksgiving dinner! I went to the boulangerie and looked at my options. I wanted a tarte tatin because it's still on the list but one was nowhere to be found. I instead picked out the same Normandie cake I had the other weekend with Caroline. I also asked for a baguette but changed my mind when I saw an olive role sitting on the counter. I got it all for 3,10. Score.

I came home to do nothing until it was time to cook dinner. It was so nice to not feel such pressure to be doing schoolwork on the time. I needed a day to totally lounge and not think about school. I think that's what holidays are for. I finished up my people's court and then finished my movie on netflix called "free birds". It's about turkeys that go back in time to stop the first thanksgiving from happening so that turkeys will no longer be on the menu. I thought it was a perfect choice considering the holiday. I finished that and then messed around for awhile before starting my dinner at about four.

I started by chopping the onions and celery for my stuffing. Then I cooked the sausage. That was the hardest part of the whole dinner. I kept cooking and cooking the sausage but it was still a pink color. I finally took it out of the pan and decided to cook the vegetables. After awhile I put the sausage back in the pan and continued to cook it. It still didn't look cooked, but I tried a piece and it tasted dry and overcooked. Damn French sausage. While dealing with the sausage, I boiled my green beans. Then I finished the stuffing according to the package directions. My mom had sent me cornbread stuffing mix that was a stovetop variety so all I had to do was coil some chicken broth (ohmygod that's why my stuffing turned out really salty. the recipe calls for water for a reason!!) with 1/4 cup of butter (I don't have measuring cups so I guessed) and then I stirred in the mix, added my sausage and vegetables with garlic and poultry seasoning mom sent me, and covered it with a plate. It looked and tasted like stuffing at home.

Then I turned my attention to the green bean casserole. I chose not the go through the trouble of baking it this year. I just mixed the mushroom soup mom sent me with milk and tons of garlic, emmental cheese, and the rest of the fried onions that I managed not to eat already. The green beans were crunchier than they normally are at home, but it tasted pretty much like the one at home. I was already at almost two hours of cooking at this point (!). I then turned my attention to my mashed potatoes. Mom sent me two packages of instant mashed potatoes. I chose the butter homestyle ones. Instead of following the directions, I used the evaporated milk mom sent me and then substituted the rest with water. I also put in like three tablespoons of butter. They were freaking delicious. The last few things were the gravy and the mac and cheese.

Just as I had put the gravy on the stove (another packet mom sent me), I got an email from mom so that we could skype. She called and we started talking while I finished the gravy (by the way, I used the evaporated milk can to measure since I don't have measuring cups) and then turned my attention to making the fancy mac n cheese dinner packet she sent me. That didn't turn out amazingly (too...salty processed cheese?). Mom and I chatted while I made my holiday cocktail (orangina and cranberry juice) and then made my plate. She was at home cooking thanksgiving for herself and Matthew; dad had to work. It was so nice to be there while she was cooking. While I was still eating dinner, Matthew came home! He has grown the worst beard. He really needs to shave. It was so nice to see him after all of these months.

Happy Thanksgiving! I have tons of leftovers

I ate my dinner and then turned to dessert while mom and I chatted about our past few days. Matthew took me to see my room (mom is washing my sheets!) in between making me jealous by eating popeye's, coldstone, and pecan pie. Rat. It was nice to argue with him like I was physically there in the states. It felt like I never left. While arguing with Matthew, I watched mom cook and she asked me to give her cooking advice. She showed me the béchamel (it was really yellow due to her use of irish butter) and I told her to stop using so much of it on the first layer. She was getting out of control. She asked how she should season the roasted chicken breasts with the fresh herbs she bought (they had chicken instead of turkey this year) and if she should put maple syrup on the candied yams. I yelled at her for not buying cranberries for cranberry sauce and advised her on how to make my special holiday cocktail. It was so nice to be home for the holidays. It was like I had never left. Like I was still right there in the kitchen with my mom. I needed to go home for a bit. We skyped for four hours until mom caught me yawning and sent me to bed. She can still mother me from thousands of miles away.

She's right. I'm exhausted. Right before coming to see you, I remembered that I didn't eat my chocolate turkey! I unwrapped it from its colorful foil and took a ceremonial bite out of it's tail. I didn't realize that mom bought me a see's candy turkey! C'est très cher! While writing to you, I finished off my olive roll. It was huge and the interior was so soft while the outside was perfectly chewy and the olives were perfectly salty. So good. I might be too tired, full, and warm to even watch tv before bed.

This has been the best holiday ever.

joyeux noël

Today was sad in more ways than one, but not always the bad kind of sad.

I got up at eight this morning so that I could get started with my studying before class. I made myself a bowl of cereal and my new favorite sugary coffee and was at my desk by 8:30. I started off by finishing my reading for pop (the last one!) before finishing my French composition. Great start. Next up was studied the vocab for French. I then decided to edit my pop paper. It's still coming along. Some of the concepts aren't fully formed yet. I have thoughts in place but some of them are contradictory or only occur doing one song. Analyzing a whole album is hard.

I was really struggling over my pop paper, and by the time I looked at the clock, it was almost 12. I had to leave for my histories excursion at one and I still had a ton of studying to do for French. I knew it would be another long day for me. I washed my dishes because my room was going to be cleaned today. I made myself a peanut butter and honey for lunch and then organized my apartment so that everything could be cleaned. I then turned to doing my makeup. I was horrified to find out that I've broken out everywhere. For some reason it really depressed me. I quickly finished my makeup so I wouldn't have to look at my face anymore and then got dressed. It was only 12:30 so I used my last half an hour to start studying for French.

I left for the excursion at one o'clock on the noise. We were going to the Judaism museum today. I remembered seeing signs for it a long time ago when I went on that excursion through Le Marais (remember I wound up on rosiers street and in the Jewish quartier?). I still wrote down instructions, but they consisted of "go past Place des Vosges, keep going past the front entrance of Carnavalet, turn right on Temple Street". I started walking down Daumesnil and immediately was in a bad mood. It was wet outside and I knew it would be raining soon. It wasn't even the rain that upset me. It was the Christmas lights that had gone up on the street. I had seen a crew of men putting up these large, modern balls of lights over the shops along the viaduct (I should really take a picture of them for you) and I remember being really excited. Seeing them now, in freaking November, right before Thanksgiving really upset me. It was a reminder that I'm missing Christmas and I'm not home for the holidays like everyone else. It was really sad. The lights were pretty, though.

I kept walking to the Bastille and stumbled upon a mini Christmas tree farm set up on the sidewalk. Great. Another reminder of Christmas. I continued my journey into Le Marais. The street was lined with lit stars and the shops were covered in Christmas decorations. One shop even had a stuffed lion in the window with snow everywhere. They must be kidding. Why is France plotting against me?! The decorations were beautiful, but I just couldn't shake the feeling of being sad. Maybe I'll appreciate them next week when it's actually December...or start crying because I'm about to be shipped back to the states.

As I was walking along, I saw Morgan and two other girls from my histories class in front of me. They stopped at a crosswalk and it slowed them down just enough for me to catch up to them a few feet later. I joined into the conversation without announcing my presence first and really freaked them out. The museum was fairly easy to find and Morgan and I went in while the other two girls went to find lunch. There's a security checkpoint before you get into the museum and it's even more complicated than the one for the Louvre or the freaking Palais Royal for Christ's sake. This one included the usual belt for bags and also had a double set of doors. You put your bag on the belt and then, one by one, go into the doorway. You had to step into a small area next to the second door to get scanned. If you pass then you open the door and leave. Morgan and I put our stuff on the door and then the man told us to enter. Morgan exited and he told me that I had to go back out. I knew I was in trouble.

I went back into the room and went into the small section. All of this was caused by a series of gestures, eye rolls, and grunts by the security officer. Then there were gestures to tell me that I hadn't been approved. He then spotted my necklace and told me that my necklace was probably why I wasn't approved. I took my necklace and scarf off and put it on the ledge. I went into the small space again and was once again not cleared. Now he came to the door in front of me and asked what else it would be. I had on my heavy boots with tons of metal on them so I suggested those first. He agreed, but I still wasn't approved. Next suggestion was for me to go back out and put my jacket on the scanner. My jacket has no metal on it so I was surprised, but was anxious to comply. That seemed to do the trip. Who knew wool could be such a problem.

Morgan and I then went into the courtyard and chatted for awhile before Christina came over. We talked with her for a bit and then other students joined and we talked to them about hot wine, Christmas outfits, and turkeys for Thanksgiving before class started.

The Judaism museum is set in a former palace like others found in Le Marais. The building is meant as a dedication to the people who lived in the building before being deported during WWII. The point of the museum is to give an identity to the Jewish people that is not defined by their Judaism but by the whatever culture they have assimilated into. The museum, interestingly, stops at 1939 as to not address the Holocaust at all. The French don't even use the word Holocaust, but refer to it as the disaster. The creators of the museum insist that the Holocaust is a small blip in the history of Judaism and shouldn't overtake the identity of the Jewish people.

The museum starts off with dedications to the inhabitants of the building. Most were immigrants to France because France had an open border policy before WWII. The dedications were actually their census documents blown up. The French are so used to paperwork that they didn't even question why there was a census in 1940. They didn't think anything bad would happen to them. The 1940 census was also the first, and last, census to ask for religion. After this sad welcome, we moved upstairs to talk about Jewish identity. The museum constructs Jewish people as easily able to assimilate into whatever culture they are in, thus there is nothing essential to being Jewish besides maintaining Jewish cultural and social practices.

This introduction led into a discussion of self-identification and other people defining your identity for you. There has actually been a long history of Jewish people in France, thus the history of France is that of Judaism. The museum had a lot of problems actually getting artifacts from other Parisian museums (such as the Cluny museum and the Pompidou center). The Cluny museum stated that, if they gave up their Jewish collection, then the museum would only portray the history of the Christian Middle Ages. The Pompidou center insists that Jewish artists don't always represent their Judaism in their art, thus they shouldn't hand over the works of Jewish artists.

We then saw more objects that portray the assimilation of Jews into other cultures and objects that showed that Jewish people aren't always poor but are from all sects of society. We also saw some contemporary art. While we were looking at wooden models of synagogues in Eastern Europe, I spotted a work of art on the wall and instantly thought "is that a Chagall?". We had talked about him during our discussion of the Pompidou center giving over it's collection so his name was fresh in my mind. To my surprise, it was a Chagall. Go me. While we're talking about art, the museum has some really great art pieces ranging from every decade. Even if you're not into religious art, the collection is worth seeing.

Next was a discussion of North African and Middle Eastern Jews and their cultural divide from European Jews. Christina then made us jam into a corner to illustrate the liberation Jews felt when given full French citizenship. We talked about the Dreyfus affair and modern anti-Semitism. The commander of the École Militaire refused a statue of Dreyfus recently because he didn't want the memory of the affair lingering around. Next was a really sad discussion. The whole class Christina emphasized how easily Jews assimilate into other cultures. Even when the WWII was breaking out, the Jews in France didn't leave. Their identity was so wrapped up in being French that they insisted nothing would happen to them; the French government wouldn't deport them. We all know what happened. It was so sad. Not that their French identity was sad, but that their faith in the French government was betrayed. Their homeland betrayed them. I knew the museum would be sad.

Next up was an even sadder discussion. There's an exhibit on the outside of the museum that Christina wasn't to talk about but was hidden from view due to another exhibit. The piece is made of paper plaques that have been glued to the wall of the museum. The plaques are dedicated to the people who lived in the building. The paper is being slowly eroded away as was planned for in the artist's design. The point of the work is to say that, if we don't build monuments, then we are bound to forget history. The memory of the people murdered, or the people that participated in any historical event, will be forgotten if we don't record it. The last of the WWI veterans of died; they can no longer tell us their story. It's our duty to protect their memory and keep history alive.

Christina said that she was feeling emotional while explaining the last piece to us so she showed us her favorite piece in the museum to cheer us up. Then we were done.

I walked to school for my pop class instead of taking the metro with Molly and Nico. The only metro stop near the museum only has line 11. I'm pretty sure that there is no connection to the line 11 anywhere near where I live. Besides, why waste a metro ticket when it's only half an hour walk. While walking to class, it started to rain. Oh. no. I put up my umbrella and rushed inside. I wasn't surprised to see Molly and Nico sitting on the couch, but they were an unexpected amount of surprised to hear that I'd walked there in about the same amount of time that it took them to take the metro. In the battle of man verses machine, woman won.

Pop was weird today. The internet wasn't working and Mindy was in a weird, overly giggly, mood. This class talked about French museum that is made outside of France (Africa and Québéc to be precise). Mindy was so scattered that it felt as if nothing was getting done during class. Some of the songs we barely even talked about. However, I'm still singing "wine and bubble" in my head. Google it. At the end of class I made a comment about said song. The artist sings in both French and English during the song and I asked why. French artists should sing in French. Period. It turns out that singing in English, and anything American in fact, is considered sexy in Paris. Weirdos. Also, singing in English allows for him to further penetrate the totally English genre of pop.

I came home after class and was dreading the amount of work I had to do. I made myself some dinner (the last of my beans with the rest of the usual fixings) and proceeded to study for French. I had yet to receive the email from my professor about what would be on the quiz tomorrow so I just continued continued with my studying as usual. I then studied what I thought the dictation would be and finished the rest of my French studying. I decided to take my shower and was surprised that it was only 6:40. I checked my email, and lo and behold, the email from my professor arrived while I was online. I'm my usual amount of freaked out, especially since I can't remember the names of all of the parts of the body, but decided to take my shower anyway to calm down.

I went back to my desk after my shower and studied the dictation four times. Did you know that the life expectance of France is 81,1 years (4th in the world) while the United States ranks 50th in life expectancy? The powers of Free healthcare. Next up was studying the parts of the body. Hopefully I can remember la poitrine and la cheville tomorrow (maybe la coude won't be on the test). Next up was some relaxation time over the new episode of People's Court and some cookies. Then I worked on my histories monument analysis before writing to you.

I have 33 minutes until bed. I'm exhausted, but on the bright side: tomorrow is turkey day!! I'm so excited for this holiday. I'm celebrating by only working on my monument analysis paper before cooking my feast. I might make my special Thanksgiving cocktail a little early this year....

il a tort

I was in school today. It's going to be a boring post. Sorry.

I had the saddest dream last night. I don't remember what it was about, but I know I was at my parents' house. I woke up from the dream and thought "i'm going to go tell mom this". I started to get out of bed to go find my mom, but then I realized that I was in my apartment. Alone. In Paris. It was really a bummer. I got myself up at 7:30 (god why?!) and made myself an extra strong cup of coffee. Now that I have milk in the house I decided to put a bit of milk (and a crap ton of sugar) into my coffee. I sucked the sweet concoction down in .5 seconds while jamming out to Sum 41 and Good Charlotte on youtube. I did my makeup, managed to get myself dressed in a sweater and a dress, and then made my peanut butter and honey. Despite starting my routine a few minutes early, I had to literally run out the door when I saw that it was 8:15.

I had to take the most awkward elevator ride ever with Hanna and Lucinda and Raven who were taking out their trash (their roommates). I found it so weird that they didn't own trash bags, but were taking their trash down in reusable grocery bags. I finally out of the elevator and walked to the post office to drop of Uncle Alvin's postcard. I think I saw the mail truck come get the mail just as I was slipping my mail in. Close call. Even after taking the long way to class, I was still two minutes early...and the classroom was empty as usual. I sat down to read my book and wait for our professor to get there. She arrived ten minutes late, and then we proceeded to learn an entire chapter in about two hours. Yep. One whole chapter. We have a quiz on Thursday so there was a lot to cover. I'm freaking out.

We started with practicing a dictation for the quiz. French youth and jobs. I did okayish, but I really couldn't focus so I had nine mistakes. Next we did our oral presentations and then talked about phrases with avoir (j'ai chaud, j'ai envie de acheter, etc). Next up was talking about the body. We discussed every body part you ever wanted to know before turning our attention to discusses illnesses and injuries. We then went around the room and talked about the injuries that we had had. I got to say that I've been perfect (literally Je suis parfait) because I've never hurt anything (except for my face in kindergarten. We didn't learn the verb for that). Then came the moment that nearly killed my soul.

There was an exercise in the book that we did orally. Each problem was a statement that we had to answer with if the person making the statement would be right or wrong. Our professor was calling out people to answer the question and then provide a reason for their response. My professor read out the phrase (in french) "your best friend says that you are afraid of speaking in public." Immediately after she read the phrase she said my name as if it was some kind of word association game. Who is afraid of speaking in public? Michaela is! I said (in a slightly sarcastic tone) "il a tort" (he is wrong). She then said really? And I said oui. What I meant to say was "ohmygod don't look at me! I'm dying!". My life.

We took a break a few minutes after ten and I went downstairs to print my histories synecdoche paper and read. I was sitting at the table reading when I saw Christina at the copy machine. I then got up to go back upstairs when she pointed at me and said that she had something for me. I knew that I was supposed to be getting a paper back so I didn't freak out. I then asked her if I could turn in my monument analysis two paper in on Tuesday instead of Friday. She looked confused but said okay anyway. She then gave me my monument analysis one rewrite back and I handed her my synecdoche paper. I read the paper comments as I went back to French. I got a 100%! Her only noteworthy comment is the end: 100% (again sheesh!). Boom.

We got back upstairs and filled out a worksheet talking about the parts of the body (I've even "learned" the word for pinky finger. I'm serious. It was that in depth). Next up came a 10 minute discussion (five of which were past the end of class) about depuis and depuis que and how to use them in time duration sentences. The entire class was confused, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be on the quiz. Fantastic.

Histories class went by like any other. At the beginning of class, Christina asked her usual question if anyone had seriously done the reading when we had a paper due. Morgan raised her hand, and Christina said "okay, one" and the whole class snickered. Morgan immediately whipped her head around and said "oh come on Michaela, I know you did the reading." I told her that I didn't want to raise my hand anymore; I'm glad Christina didn't hear me say it over the noise of the rest of the class shuffling. Towards the end of class, my stomach was seriously growling and I thought that it would eat itself. The stomachs of other students were growling the entire class. It was time to go home.

I came home and made myself two bowls of cereal (thank god for honey smacks) while looking up directions for the histories excursion tomorrow to the Judaism museum. Next was do my french homework. It was confusing and I didn't do very well. It was about the subjunctive, and there's tons of memorization. I'm not looking forward to learning about it. I then had to start writing a French composition about what makes me happy. Here's what I have so far:

Pour moi, il n'y a pas des composantes essentielles pour mon bonheur. Il y a des choses qu'ajouter à mon bonheur, mais rien est essentielle pour mon bonheur. Le petits choses faites-moi bonheur. Je suis heureuse quand je lis un livre. Je souris autour d'une tasse de café. Je suis heureuse quand je regarde l'art. Je suis heureuse quand je suis avec mes amis. Boire du vin avec mes amis ajoute à mon bonheur. Quand je mange des baguettes, je suis heureuse. Bonbons me fait sourire. Je peux trouver le bonheur aussi sans toutes ces choses. Parfois, je suis heureuse pour aucune raison. 

Next up was making myself another cup of sweet coffee with milk before I read three pages for pop. Next was editing my pop paper. It doesn't suck as much today. What a shocker. My stomach started to growl while I was editing so I took a break to watch some People's Court and eat my bean and nacho cheese concoction. I pulled myself away from People's Court after only two episodes so that I could start studying for French. I fine tooth combed chapter 14 that we learned today (J'ai peur d'examens) before taking another break to finish People's Court. 

I then studied chapter 13 (Je porte une robe noire) before relaxing in bed for a bit. I finally got myself up to shower and then edit my monument paper before I skyped with mom. The paper is coming along, but it's definitely not awesome. I still had time before I skyped with mom so I tried to watch some tv. I kept looking for today's episode of People's Court...and then I realized that today's episode hasn't actually been aired yet #timezoneproblems. I settled for finishing the documentary on the Burt from Burt's Bees. It had just begun to play when mom called. We talked for a bit and then I ate two cups of ice cream while finishing the documentary. I then followed that up with some internet time and devouring half a package of cat's tongue cookies. 

I promise tomorrow will be more interesting. I do have a field trip to take, after all. 

derniers jours

I spent the day in bed. I needed this.

I didn't wake up until 8:45 this morning and then I proceeded to stay in bed until 9:30.  I went to the kitchen  get breakfast at nine and realized that I'm out of food. My cupboard is my version of completely bare. I found like four cat's tongue cookies and a few smushed madeleines hiding in the cupboard. I put sugar in my coffee to make up for my lack of food. Breakfast of champions. I then spent some time trying to watch an SNL clip before starting my work. I looked out the window when I got to my desk and realized that it had been raining. Good. I can stay inside today. I'm exhausted anyhow. I read an article for histories then started my reading for pop. Up next was studying for French. I got halfway done with my French review before I had to straighten my hair. It was literally driving me insane. I worked on my hair and then finished studying for French.

I ate some nacho cheese with beans (and garlic powder) with chips while watching Judge Judy. It might have only been 11ish, but my "breakfast" wasn't cutting it. I finally got myself dressed and headed it. I needed to get a birthday card for Uncle Alvin and do my grocery shopping for thanksgiving. I went to Hema to get the card before going to Monoprix. I got to Hema and wanted to cry. The entire store is filled with Christmas ornaments and decorations. It made me miss home. I didn't realize it before, but Hema is totally a chick store. All of the cards were covered in flowers and other girly stuff. I found the least girly card (which looks more like a children's card) and left. I went across the street to Monorprix and whipped out my list.

Boy is it hard to shop in France when you don't speak French and have no idea what half of the stuff is. I started off by picking up frozen green beans for my casserole. That was easy enough. Next up was the produce department. I had the hardest time finding the celery and onions that I needed. I found some celery but it was like three euros and I only needed a bit. I decided to give that up and then went to look for an onion. I saw green beans (haricot vert for those of you in the know), but they were 4,99 a kilogram. How much is a kilogram?? I decided to pass on those. I then saw some celery that was only 1,99 a kilogram. I thought that was a good enough bargain for me. I got a baby stalk (which barely fit in the basket because the stalks still had the leaves attached and were really long) and then got a very small onion from a bin underneath.

I was moving along fairly nicely. Next up was the meat department for my pork sausage. I found pork sausage (a little pricy at 2,60), but I wanted to keep looking. There are such cool things in Monoprix! I'd never been back there before. I don't feel the need to do it again, but it was nice to look. I returned to the earlier sausage and put it in the basket. Next I had to look for parmesan cheese. I looked and I looked and I couldn't find it. Then I spotted some cheese in another section. They only had powdered parmesan or a huge slice of it. I picked up some emmental because it was cheap and has a distinctive flavor I thought might be nice in the casserole. Next up was figuring out milk. France sells unrefrigerated milk in opaque bottles but it really freaks me out. I chose to get fresh milk in the refrigerated section. I finally figured out which one was the whole milk and then moved on to find the rest of the list. I then spotted more cheese on an aisle end but it wasn't right. I wandered to the cheese counter but got intimidated and left.

I picked up a box of instant soup packets for lunch before getting sliced bread to continue my hobby of making peanut butter and honey sandwiches. I then grabbed some cat's tongues and a box of chocolate chip cookies and got in line. I was about to unload my basket when I realized that I forgot cranberry juice! I went to the juice aisle but didn't see any cranberry. I had to go off of the pictures of fruit on the labels because I don't know the French word for cranberry. I then wandered up another booze filled aisle and saw cranberry juice! It turns out that the French word for cranberry is just cranberry. I grabbed some ocean spray instead of a French brand that I knew nothing about and then went to checkout. Only 14,94 for all of my groceries. That's how much I spend on food in like two weeks! (pretend you didn't read yesterday's post about the 10,40 burrito).

Next up was the post office to get a stamp for Uncle Al's card. Mom hadn't sent me the address yet so I just got the stamp and left. I came upstairs and watched Judge Judy for awhile instead of finishing my work. Then I read my synecdoche paper and emailed it to myself. Thank god it's due tomorrow. I'm so sick of it. Next was more messing around with Judge Judy and some candy before working on my pop paper. It's even worse than before. God help me. I then took a break to eat some Honey Smacks (that mom bought for me when she was here but I have yet to open due to my lack of milk situation) and watch more Judge Judy. I wasted more time and then worked on my monument paper. That one also sucks.

The bright part of my evening was watching a documentary on Netflix called Advanced Style. It's about older women (50 and up) who are fashionistas in New York City. It was fantastic. Literally made me cry. Of course one of them just had to die during filming. How predictable. She died while in the front row of a fashion show during Fashion Week. She knew how to make an exit. It's a great movie and was really inspiring.

I then took my shower and waited to skype with mommy. I wrote Uncle Alvin's card and then looked up evening cruises on the Seine. I've been meaning to go on one, and I finally found one for a decent price. While researching I got an email from mom. It turns out her internet is down and she couldn't connect to skype. We rescheduled for tomorrow. I don't want to go to school tomorrow. There are so many documentaries that I haven't watched on Netflix.

take the third exit at the roundabout and take the stairs

Today was the day. I finally had Mexican food after months of deprivation. It sure was work getting there.

I woke up at 8:30 this morning and got myself to my desk by nine with a brown sugar pop tart and cup of coffee in hand. I started off with an article about the Spanish Civil War for my histories class. There is (was?) a big controversy in Spain over digging up the bodies of the victims of the Spanish Civil War. The article specifically focused on the exhumation of a famous Spanish poet, last name Lorca. I found it really interesting. His family opposed digging up his body, despite a government declaration that it would happen, because they said that exposing his body to more humiliation added nothing to history. The article also accidentally brought up a concept that we've been talking about in class. We've discussed the importance of monuments a lot, and I've found them more and more important. If there's no monument, even if the monument isn't interesting, then we're bound to forget history. The next article I had to read for histories was about a town in Spain called something to the extent of "Little Town of Jew Killers" and the controversy over changing its name. I actually agreed with the townspeople who opposed changing the name. Hear me out. The town was originally a haven for Jews, but the townspeople converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition instead of fleeing. They changed the name to be anti-Semitic to avoid being repressed. The article also brought up the position that, if the town changes its name, other Spanish towns might be pressed to change their names also (like Matamoros "moor killers"). My histories class has had fantastic readings lately.

Sadly, after that high, I had to finish the pop reading that I started yesterday. I'm so glad that this is the last week that I have to read for that class. The articles are always so convoluted that you can't figure out what they're trying to say. So annoying.

After that annoying blip in the road, I turned to writing down instructions for today's adventure. I wanted to rent a bike (the bike system in Paris is called the velib') as suggested by Mindy so that I could ride up and down the canal after getting my Mexican food fix at El Nopal. I ordered the bike online using my credit card (it wouldn't take my debit card) and wrote down all the information. Next I wrote down the metro directions. I was all ready to go. El Nopal doesn't open until one on Sundays, and it was about noon by this point, so I decided to study for French before leaving the house. I finished studying at 12:40 and then got myself dressed and ready to go. I encountered Kate in the elevator on my way out the door and we discussed my Mexican food adventure. She said that the complain of all of the California students at Accent is how much they miss Mexican food. What can I say, Mexican food is the God-given right of a California. Burritos, tu me manque.

I went to Gare de Lyon and walked through an open gate onto the metro. I had to take the one towards Château de Vincennes instead of my usual La Défense to go to Nation. I then took the two towards Place de Dauphine (that's the only direction available for the two at Nation; it's the end of the line) to Colonel something with an "f". I got off the metro in the sketchiest neighborhood imaginable. My directions said to walk north on Place de la Villette (ohmygod I was in the 19th! I hate the 19th!) and take the third exit at the roundabout. I saw a roundabout, but I got confused and walked away from it. Big mistake. I was walking and walking through the sketchy neighborhood filled with shady looking men and a strange Asian community. I finally decided to turn around, and hold on tightly to my purse, and go back to the metro station. When I got to the roundabout again, I was still confused, but I figured that I'd just walk around the roundabout until I found the stairs my directions talked about.

I found the stairs two streets up. They passed through a really cute little plaza with a large tin sculpture that had children playing with a soccer ball in it. The stairs led me through an adorable park; adorable, but still sketchy. It wasn't a good neighborhood. I followed the path down to a main road which happened to be the road I was looking for. The canal was right across the street. My directions said to take a right from the road that I first encountered, but there was no way to make a right. I crossed the street only to see a street sign saying that I was on a different road entirely. The directions said nothing about a different road. I chose to go back across the street and keep walking down the original street that I encountered. The area around the canal is totally bobo (French for hipster). There were groups of twenty-somethings sitting along the canal having lunch as well as tons of small (probably organic) cafés. I kept walking and walking but I couldn't find the street. I finally located a mairie map and found the street I was looking for; it was in the other direction.

I went back to the street that I came from and went further up the street hoping to find a right hand turn. It was up a large hill, and my already dead feet were starting to ache again. I crossed the street and went back towards the street I came from. I was pretty worked up by this point, but I knew I was somewhere nearby. I wasn't going to give up hope. I finally found the street and saw El Nopal! It was on the same street that I encountered when I first got to the main road. I'm so dumb.

El Nopal is literally a hole in the wall. There are no tables, just a small ledge where one or maybe two people can stand to eat. I already knew what I wanted. I was disappointed to find out that there were no carnitas as advertised on their own sign. Strike one. I ordered my burrito with chicken and spicy sauce and added guacamole to it; my total was 10,40. To add guacamole was 1,50 itself (more than I pay for a metro ticket). It had better be good. I stood there amongst the other English speaking patrons (literally all but like two patrons spoke English) and waited for my food. While waiting, the most stereotypical bobo I've ever seen came to order food. He had a big beard, had earrings, and was wearing a bonnet (a beanie for you English speakers). I had to laugh. The whole area is bobo heaven; it even has a small skate park.

I got my burrito a few minutes later and took it to the canal. Now the moment you've all been waiting for: my review of the burrito (called a "burrón" in french for only god knows what reason). It was a burrito. It tasted like Mexican food. It satisfied my Mexican food cravings for a good hour. I must say that it really did satisfy my cravings and did actually taste like the Mexican food that I'm used to. It wasn't perfect (or like the other burritos that I normally eat) but it was pretty good. On the down side, there was like no meat in the burrito and only like a tablespoon of guacamole. Not worth the 10,40 I paid for it, but it was still tasty. I could get something more filling and satisfying at a kebab stand (for way cheaper).

I finished my lunch and went in search of a velib station to get my bike. I walked back to where I had seen a station and followed the prompts on the machine to get a bike. I got the bike and started to ride it towards the big hill going towards the end of the canal, but immediately had to pull over because the seat was up way to high. I couldn't figure out how to fix it so I rode standing up for a few minutes. That got tiring quickly so I got off again and figured out how to lower the seat. I had to pull over one more time to lower the seat even further. Then I was off! I made a left towards El Nopal and raced down the street narrowly missing small children and pedestrians. Sadly I had to use the bike lane that was away from the canal, but I had already seen so much of it that I didn't mind. My next problem was trying to change gears. I figured out how and kept riding. The bike was hard to steer, but I managed.

I figured that I'd just ride the bike home. I was riding on the street next to cars (the bike lane had run out). The canal is way shorter than I thought it was, and I had ridden past the whole thing in a matter of minutes. I realized where I was and had pulled into the bike lane that had moved to the left hand side of the street. I had stopped at a red light when a biker pulled up next to me and was trying to tell me something in French. I told him that I didn't speak French. He then told me in English that something was wrong with the back tire of the bike. I asked him what I should do, and he said to exchange it for a new one; we were right in front of a velib station. I pulled over, pulled the bike into a station, and then tried to rent a new one. It turns out that you can't just go exchanging bikes when you have a one day pass. Lesson learned.

I was near Oberkampf which meant that I now had to walk for about 40 minutes to get home. My feet hurt, and the sun was going down, but I managed to walk home and collapse in bed. I ate some See's candy and watched some tv in bed to recuperate from my exhilarating adventure. Next up was working on my pop paper (it seems to be getting suckyer) before watching some more New Girl. I've run out of New Girl episodes. What shall I do?! What I'm actually doing is watching a documentary on Netflix about conjoined twins and returning to my Judge Judy watching ways. I tried to watch tv but my internet kept freezing. I took it as a sign to work on my synecdoche paper before watching some Judge Judy. I ate some ice cream and then worked on my histories monument paper. Next up was eating some refried beans with nacho cheese (don't forget a heavy sprinkle of garlic powder) and chips in bed while watching some more Judge Judy.

I've had a day.

hell is other people

I went to the Petit Palais today. What took me so long?!

I guess someone on this floor has visitors because I woke up last night to a male voice I didn't recognize talking extremely loud. I tried to ignore it but I just couldn't. I got out of bed, blindly put on pants, and went to confront him. He was drunkenly screaming at someone he was facetiming with. I told him to leave and then stumbled back to bed. This morning when my alarm went off I was surprised that it was past eight. I thought I set it to let me sleep until nine. Oh well. I ate some cookies in bed before getting up to work on my hair some more. I've gotten it to stop being a ball of frizz, but it's still poofy despite my best efforts. After rangling my hair, I went to my desk and started reading Horne chapter 19. I read half of the chapter before reading half of an extremely convoluted article about pop in Quebec. I realized that I accidentally put the Horne chapter 18 notes in my pop section in my blind rage on Thursday. I left myself a note and highlighted it before finishing the rest of chapter 19. I took a break to work on my hair some more. I think I might have burned it.

Up next was eating the rest of my mac n cheese while reading a newspaper article for histories. It was about a small town in France that changed the name of Pétain street after national outcry. Now that I've been reading so much about French history, I actually found it interesting. By this point it wasn't even noon. I wanted to do something today, and remembered that going to the Petit Palais was on my list. Christina had mentioned that the entrance is free during our excursion on Wednesday so I looked it up. The collection sounded amazing and I got really excited about going. I was going to study for French before going on my adventure but I was too excited to wait. I threw on some makeup and a hat to cover my hair and ran to the one. I didn't even write down directions.

I took the one to Champs-Elyées Clemenceau and took exit six. Since I was already basically standing in the center of it, I made a mental note to go back to the marché de noël after I went to the museum. I crossed the street and then started walking to the museum. I passed several of the prerequisite police vans with several police standing around looking bored. As I walked, I saw the heads of two policemen in the van right in front of me. The one on the passenger side leaned over to look out the window at me. The policeman in the driver's side kept staring at me and turned away for a brief second when he saw me staring at him. The police aren't even above staring at women. I'm like Helen of Troy except for street harassment.

I went into the museum and turned left. It is one of the most beautiful museums that I've ever seen. The building was created for the 1900 World's Fair and is quite impressive. There are marble columns, mosaic floors, ornate ceilings, and frescos on the ceilings. There's also a small garden in the center. It is now one of my favorite museums in Paris (how many times can I get away with saying that?). The first collection I saw was of modern (1900s) ornate objects. The collection also included a stuffed monkey for good measure. Next were paintings of Parisian life from the 1700/1800s. All amazing. There were also sculptures scattered around. I really loved the collection of art from the time of Louis XV. There were more stuffed animals, furniture, and everyday objects. There was also a bust that looked familiar. My first reaction was "is that Benjamin Franklin??". It was. There was also a portrait of him. I guess I'm still American after all.

The inside of the palais

The interior courtyard

The garden

Next I moved on to some more modern paintings and then into a room dedicated to animal art that I really loved. I then went downstairs to see more Parisian art, religious art from Greece and Crete, some amazing still lifes, European religious art (including ceramics and woodwork), modern art (think deco. this section also included everyday objects such as ornate hair combs), and a large selection of Roman black fire pottery and Greek bronze work. I then found my way back upstairs.  I went into the garden to take a few pictures and then exited. There was an exhibition about baccarat crystal that I didn't visit, but I did manage to take a picture of the huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I just googled it, and there is a baccarat museum in Paris. I'll be going to that.

After the museum I went to look around the Marché de Noël. I was looking for roasted chestnuts, but I also wanted to see if there were any good gifts to buy. I walked past tons of stands selling hot wine, all types of carnival food (like chichis which are the French equivalent of churros), French onion soup, French specialities, dried food, a food court selling everything from wine and champagne to sausages, scarves, ornaments, a massage stand, carnival rides (including one that hired a little person to wear an elf's costume), handmade paper. You name it, it was there. There was even a stand dedicated to Santa costumes. I was going to buy an ornament but they were expensive and touristy. I passed several roasted chestnut stands, but it was five euros for a small. I don't even know if I like chestnuts, and I thought the price was a little steep. My favorite part was the ice skating rink that flooded the streets with melted ice. I really enjoyed walking through the crowd while listening to the "twelve day of christmas" that was being pumped out of speakers lining the street.

The ice rink

The smell of melted nutella made me want to buy some food, but I resisted and instead got on the metro. I was still sugar crazy so I went by the patisserie near Gare de Lyon; it was closed. I came home and ate some See's candy instead before studying for French. I then took a bread to watch People's Court and make dinner. I decided to try the mini tostada cups that mom sent me. I scooped on some nacho cheese, added a dallop of refried beans, and then sprinkled them with garlic powder. They were delicious though the shells did get chewy/soggy in the microwave. I'll do better next time.

I then worked on my pop paper. It needs work, but I guess it's better than the last version. It was surprisingly late by this time, and I was going to skype with mom at eight. I did some more work on my hair and then turned my attention to my synecdoche paper. I kept hearing thumping upstairs so I went to investigate. Neither girl who lives upstairs from me thought that it was them. Am I just crazy? I came back downstairs and finished editing my paper. Mom called me the second I got up to finish making my coffee. We talked for awhile then I got myself a cup of ice cream and started working on my monument analysis two. It needed some work, but I actually not hate it. It did take me two cups of ice cream to finish it.

I then took my shower and got distracted watching New Girl. Time for bed. I'm going to Canal Saint-Martin tomorrow to get Mexican food. I'm so excited.

à tous les gloires de la france

Today I finally went to Versailles. Took me long enough.

I knew last night that I needed to get an early start today so that I could give the maximum amount of time for my day trip to Versailles while also getting my work done. I only set my alarm for eight hours last night. When my alarm went off this morning I actually stayed in bed with my eyes closed until it went off. I don't think I've ever done that before. When I finally rolled over I was so tired that my eyes were blurry. I had to waste some time on the internet just waiting to wake up. I finally decided that I might as well get my day started. I did my makeup, made a cup of coffee, grabbed some cookies for breakfast and started doing my histories reading. The reading was actually fascinating today. It talked about empathy and how we can't use to when making moral decisions. We should make calculated decisions based on reason so that we can improve long term circumstances. I totally nerded out over it.

After my reading I checked the weather report. I saw a report that called for rain, so I took my umbrella with me just in case. I googled how to get to Versailles and it kept telling me to take a cab after taking two metros. Lauren had told me that there was a train that went straight there. I consulted the Versailles website and figured out that I could take the RER C to Versailles. I would sadly have to walk to Gare d'Austerlitz to take the train from there. I threw on a hat and some jeans, packed some snacks, and went out the door. Considering that I had a long day of walking ahead of me, and my pathetic breakfast, I went out the back gate so that I could pick up a baguette. I ate the part of the baguette that stuck out of the sleeve and shoved the rest of it in my purse for later.

I walked to the gare and found my way to the ticket machine. I figured out how to get tickets from Paris to Versailles for a whopping 6,90. I tried to insert a 10 into the machine only to realize that it didn't take bills. Damn Parisian ticket machines and their hatred of paper money! I grabbed a huge handful of coins out of my purse and started to feed them into the machine in a frenzy. I didn't want it to cancel my purchase because I was being slow. I thankfully had enough in coins to buy my two tickets.

I wound my way through the gare and down the platform A. I hate the RER. The RER section of gares always freaks me out, and the train system is super complicated. You have to figure out when exactly the train is coming for your destination. It freaks me out that different trains use the same track. There also aren't screens posted everywhere so you have to stand in one stop with a huge crowd. It's just lame. My train finally came and I settled in for the journey.

The trip to Versailles was actually really nice. The train goes through small towns that are totally European; stone buildings and lace curtains and all. The trip took less than an hour. After a few minutes of being on the train, an accordion player got on. How kitschy could it get? After saw the sing for Versailles Rive Gauche I got myself off the train, after being asked by a young German man in broken French if I speak English, and followed the people pointing the way to the chateau. I walked past the huge equestrian statue of one of the Louis's and walked up to the entrance to the chateau. I read online that I didn't have to buy a ticket because I'm awesome and European now. I went to the entrance and told the man that I'm a student. He asked where and how old I was. After answering he let me in. The woman inside was a different story. She asked for my passport. I showed her the copy and was let into the chateau.

The outside of the chateau

I was mostly at Versailles to see the gardens, but I knew that I had to see the chateau just to say that I've seen it. I decided to do a quick walking tour before heading the the garden. I started off with someone's bedrooms. Next up was the main event. I really wanted to see the hall of mirrors. I quickly passed by all of the boring royal and military paintings (they're not really my style) and speed through some other uninteresting rooms. The chateau was filled with tourists, including the usual Chinese tourists and hoards of children, so I really couldn't stop to admire anything. My favorite room was the hall of mirrors by a landslide. The decoration was typical of the other chateaux that I've seen; flower print for girls and lots of ceiling paintings set in the sky. I did really like the chapels (is that what they were? What other kind of room has a huge organ in it?) and the war room. On a whole, Versailles is the best chateau that I've seen in France though the Vatican had a better selection of paintings. Ohmygod I'm such a snob. I can't believe I can say something like that. What a life.

I can say that I felt some weird feelings of national pride while walking through the chateau. I feel like I've become part of France while living here and that I was in some kind of French hollowed ground. I've learned so much about Versailles, and it was really powerful for me to finally be there in person.

After my speedy tour of the chateau I went straight for the garden. I must say that I was really disappointed about the garden. Number one, gardens are supposed to have flowers. I've seen enough of these "gardens" that are totally composed of overly manicured topiaries. Stop the madness, France. I went walking on a statue finding mission. After reading such an interesting article on the Versailles statues and garden for my histories class, I was really excited to find them all. I started walking away from the chateau and found myself at an exit gate. I assumed that it led to another garden. I ended up walking past fields with goats and sheep in them. I knew that I wasn't supposed to be there so I turned back. I then went through a gate that said something about the queen. It ended up being a hotel with a nice English garden around it. I knew I wasn't supposed to be there either so I left and went back through the gate that I originally went through.

I walked along and saw nothing but a strip of grass between lines of trees. Not fascinating. I finally wound my way to the central pool after finding the backside of the giants fountain that I was looking for. I walked along the central pool taking pictures of the boats and obligatory swans. School children were screaming and having lunch on the lawn closest to the chateau so I kept walking. I was interested to see where the pool went. I think the pool goes on forever. I kept walking and walking but it led to nowhere. I sat on the banks of the pool for a few minutes and then headed back. I also tried to find something that I think said trident that was 10 meters away. I walked for a bit, saw nothing, and went back to the pool. My legs and feet were already killing me and I still had tons to explore.

A fountain facing the chateau

The endless pool

I think went to find the front of the giants sculpture. The sculpture is about a myth. There was a race of giants on earth that decided to hurl rocks up into the heavens to kill the gods. The gods outsmarted the giants and threw the stones back down at them, crushing them under their weight. The sculpture shows a giant, with a pained expression on his face, that is halfway buried under an uprising of dirt. He is still clutching a large clod of dirt that he is attempting to throw back into the heavens. I loved it.

The giants sculpture

I walked back up towards the chateau and then went down the other side. I found some uninteresting statues and then stumbled on the real gem of the gardens: the jardin du roi. I saw a huge depression that had manciured grass growing up its sides with a glistening pool in the center. To my right was the most perfectly little garden that I'd ever seen. The jardin du roi is a perfectly manicured English garden with a pink column in it. I took some beautiful pictures of the perfectly mowed lawn, some flowers, and the orange fall trees before heading back up to the pool. I then went to the queen's garden. I went through to the other side and found myself at the base of the chateau. I walked through the orangerie and then up a huge flight of stairs that led back to the front of the chateau. I literally hobbled to the exit and agonized over my aching body as I walked to the train station.

The jardin du roi

the orangerie and the chateau

I got to the gare, put my ticket into the gate, and went to the screen in front of the platforms. I was looking for my train only to find a notice that said that trains from Paris were delayed for 45 more minutes. I was going to be trapped on the platform for 45 minutes?! I grabbed a metro news and tried to make the best of it. After awhile a train pulled up and seemed in no rush to leave. I continued to read before going to to check the screen again. The screen said that there was still half an hour before a train to Paris would arrive. I sat back down to read. I then noticed that everyone else was on the train but that it wasn't going anywhere and no one was telling them to get off. I got on the train and found a seat in the corner where I thought no one would bother me. The train was decorated to look like different rooms in Versailles. Cheesy but cute. Just as I thought I would ride to Paris in peace, a Chinese couple and their child squeezed in next to me. Train ride ruined. The man tried to ask me something in English but I told him in French that I don't speak English. I've become a terrible person.

I got back to Gare d'Austerlitz and hobbled home. I didn't think that I'd be home until at least five, but it was only 3:45. I ate a piece of See's candy and then studied for French. While studying, I put on a pot of water to boil for some Kraft mac n cheese. I put the pasta on to cook before turning to my monument analysis. It was done cooking before I was done writing. I ended up eating a bowl of mac n cheese at my desk. After I finished writing, I got into bed to watch some people's court and continue my dinner.

After my break I turned my attention to fixing my pop paper. I must say that it's actually coming along. Freak out over. By the time I finished it was 7:30. I was supposed to wash my hair tonight so I knew that I needed to hop on that before it got too late. I've never actually washed my own hair before and I wasn't looking forward to it. I followed my mom's instructions exactly. I split my hair into four sections and then washed them in the sink. I was dripping everywhere. I finished washing and then started to blow dry the buns. I put the blow dryer on high and started working. I left it on one bun for a little too long and a patch of my hair turned brown! Did I melt my hair like I melted my makeup brush?! I'm never taking my hairdresser for granted ever again. He's a miracle worker. I finished drying my hair and then took a shower.

I opened my See's candy box to reward myself and ended up eating two pieces of candy. I should have learned by now that I can't stop eating candy after I've started. I then grabbed a chewy caramel and  got into bed to edit my histories paper. I'm starting to think that it sucks. Me and my emotional roller coaster that is paper writing! I finished that after half an hour and then watched an episode of people's court. I didn't feel tired when I started, but now I can't keep my eyes open. It's definitely time for bed. Its been a long day.