It's the little things in life.

Slightly bored so decided to take a pic...Thanks again Ashley & Co for my halloween goodies! Coke hasn't tasted this good for a while! I'll post pictures of our halloween decorated apartment soon !

friday friday

I've been unusually exhausted all the time lately...I don't know what's up with that but I went to bed relatively early last night and woke up around 1030 this morning still feeling zonked! Once I finally got a head start on the day I scheduled all my classes for winter quarter...

• theories of argument
• Introduction to communication theory
• nonverbal communication (Again because apparently the last one I took was just for kicks and doesn't apply to my major?)
• Rhetorical theory
• gender communication
• history and thought: buddhism (Finally going to get a real handle on OHM ---->)

Then I went to mail the package to the Hitchcocks which was not a simple feat, there's a lot of discourse involved with shipping a package it seems. Hope I did everything right and it will get through customs easily but (spoiler for hitchcocks) I was trying to explain that there was a small teddy bear (Because I had to list everything I was sending, I forgot a few things so I hope they don't confiscate them) so I said un petit ours...a small bear...my accent was bad and she didn't understand ours, after I spelled it, she pronounced it differently and laughed and said in french that there could not possibly be a bear in this box, it is too small! It was pretty funny. I hope it arrives...My friend Alexa is still waiting on her envelope of goodies (very small so it fit in an envelope) and she is in Seattle and I won't let on how long ago I sent it, but it should have gotten there...Maybe it's tied up in customs...

so now that those two are done it's almost laundry time. Hooooooray. Then I'll see where the day takes me...

General

So for my communications course I had to write a journal for 'Intercultural Sensitivity Development' and I thought I came up with one that was fairly interesting, and thought I'd share. Don't forget to read the continued part of the Strasbourg trip below!

            Us versus them. I was/am, inclined to think of it like that, living in Paris that is. That the Parisians see us as the foreign invaders, alien threats, that aren’t quite threats, just more of pesky nuisances that are a constant insult to their culture. So I tread softly and try to blend in to the Parisian lifestyle as I know it or pretend to understand it so as to not offend. I feel crestfallen if I say bonjour to a bonsoir, I’m still getting used to that…and I never know what’s up with the ‘pardon’s. If I am in a crowded place and say pardon repeatedly, no one moves. I am forced to resort to shoving and elbowing my way through the crowd of Parisians. I feel as though they have been affronted by my abuse of the crowd, but it seems as though all of my ‘pardon’s fall on deaf ears. And then there’s the issue of bumping into someone/stepping on someone or just something plain awkward that would render a quick ‘sorry’ back home. I accidentally stepped on a man’s foot and kind of shoved him on my way out of the metro, but it was his choice to lean on the door and refuse to shift at the station. I said, “Pardon, desolee monsieur,” and hurried out of the way. I felt so awful for having ‘hurt’ someone. But in all reality, this was no offense, I, could not have possibly have hurt him by treading on him and shuffling past him. This is a day to day occurrence for those not only in Paris but anyone living in a big city.  So maybe that is why I get no reply if I say ‘pardon’ for any of the aforementioned reasons, I always expect a ‘ca va’ or ‘c’est d’accord’ in response to my mea culpa, but nothing ever comes of it. On the flip side, it’s quite rare that someone does one of the things mentioned to me and issues a ‘pardon’. So when is this word actually required? What is the use? The politesse of the culture seems to dictate it, being that Parisians are supposed to be nose upturned (in the best way possible), chic, elegant people, I mean, they drink water out of wine glasses! But there seems like there is no room for it, at least not in the metros of Paris.

Continued

 

I thought ordering food in France was hard, it was triple hard in Germany! We had a quick lunch at a restaurant in the little town at the top of the Black Forest, right by the Titisee lake. I opted for bratwurst and mashed potatoes, seemed like the safest choice. And of course bratwurst was a good choice in honor of Rick, (I tried to eat the sourkraut because I know how you love it, but guess what? It's still not good).

I kept seeing these little witches all around the shops here, and upon seeing these, the witch to the far right has pumpkins on her dress, I am led to assume that Germany must celebrate Halloween! Or maybe these are just supposed to be witches who lurk in the Black Forest...Up for debate....

A beautiful view. We only had 45 minutes to 1 hour here, and then spent 1 hour walking 

around Freiburg, Germany (which was just that, walking, not really any 

sights, so I wish we had stayed here.) and you could also rent a small

boat for a half hour for a low price to go into the lake which would have 

been nice to do had we had more time. It reminded Erin and I a lot of

our trip to North Carolina this spring, the driving through the mountains 

and fog to get to the top, and this lake is a lot like one Nini showed us in NC.

 

We headed back to Strasbourg after our tours of the Black Forest and Freiburg and took a boat tour of the Ill river running through Strasbourg. We took a very strange kind of boat...

 

So the picture I got was a very good shot!

And that's pretty much it! We waited for the time to meet up for the train and took the 2-3 hour trip back which felt like forever because we were so tired.

Strasbourg and Freiburg!

This weekend we had a trip to Strasbourg, France and Freiburg, Germany that was organized by our program CEA and was included in our program.

Saturday morning we were up early to get to the train station at 745 which feels really early on a Saturday morning! We met up at the station with about 20 or so other girls, and boarded the train to S.burg which is about a two and a half hour trip. It's amazing how quickly the landscape changes from urban to very rural when leaving the city. Anyway, once we got to S.burg and off the train, we were all quite surprised to notice how much colder it was there! 40-50 f! Brr! (Coldest Paris has been is 60s). We took a bus to our hotel/hostel and immediately headed out to go check out the town. We walked through a cute antiques market and stopped in front of the cathedral.

 

I found it to be even more beautiful than notre dame...blasphemy, I know!
We had some free time to wander around and get some lunch and we decided on a bratwurst. (Strasbourg is verrrry close to the German border...seems like about 20 minutes, lots of German influence)

Once we returned for a tour of the Cathedral and the old town, we were all very cold and damp, it had been raining since we arrived.

After the tour finished, we had some more time which we spent napping at the hotel, followed by dinner with the group. The dinner was very good, a sort of pizza dish followed by chicken and vegetables and weird pasta noodle things. After dinner some of the girls decided to go out and grab a drink and we finally were making some friends!

Nobody looks happy here, but it is not the case!

Time for a haircut! Agh!

The next day we headed for the Black Forest in Germany which surprisingly looks a lot like the Smokies in North Carolina....But it was very pretty and it was a fun time strolling through the little town that sits up by the Titisee lake.

....to be continued (I am sooo tired and I have class bright and early!)

vendredi

I made a terrible spur of the moment decision and bought leopard print, stiletto booties. I couldn't help myself. I saw them one day and could not stop thinking about them. So in order to prep myself for wearing them, I thought it was tantamount to practice prancing around paris in my already broken in pair of booties that I brought with me. Heels aren't comfortable or easy for me to wear, but I was determined to make it work so that I could wear these fabulous new shoes out.

Erin and I went out and decided to walk around. So far so good from our apartment to the metro station. Stairs down into the metro? Not so easy. Through the metro? Not easy either. But I'm out of practice. So we get out at Hotel de Ville to go to BHV and look for nailpolish because I discovered on my pointless excursion for halloween decorations that they had very nice nailpolishes for very cheap prices. It's a hot day, I'm killing myself with tromping around in these high heels, and sweating profusely. (Walking in stilettos is a major workout for your calves) BHV is the star of the solar system in Paris. The hottest place temperature wise (AC doesn't exist in Europe as far as I'm concerned) and everyone flocks to it.

Unfortunately my brakes are also out on my stilettos, and being so clustered, I can't maneuver. This is starting to seem like a very bad idea. I can't regulate my temperature, and I'm sweating, and there's too many people in a small area.  We make our way out and find a stoop to take a breather on.  We stumble upon the familiar, being right by our school, and also  the least paved area of Paris it seems.  I wobble, and weeble and soon enough I mistake a crack and have a near fall. A half block later, right in front of a cafe, I have another. How embarrassing to falter in front of all these Parisians! So I am just about to die from embarrassment and Erin has to go to class so I embark on the metro to hurry home. Going down these stairs to this metro however, and using the railing and being careful, I fall about three steps, as gracefully as one can imagine, I'll add, and all my heel confidence and Parisian confidence is gone. I board the metro to the next station and somehow take another almost spill. Merde! How is this happening? I don't usually fall, I can't ever say I'm a magnificent strutter in heels, but this is a rarity. Unless I have been drinking… Haha. At the next platform I sit down and admit defeat and take the heels off and put on these new boots I found for an absolute steal. Ego is cracked and bruised, and I'm sweating from total embarrassment. I return home, defeated, and believe that I will never again try to wear heels in Paris again. Erin assures me that it'd be difficult for anyone, but I just felt like I failed, and so so sad that I wouldn't be able to wear my new leopard print heels here.

My new mission is to spot any Parisian women wearing heels and wait for them to trip to ensure myself that I was not an utter fool.

Two posts coming soon! Homework comes first ! I hope to have them up by tomorrow night.
Stay tuned. :)