Fall break in Barcelona and Ireland!

Nov. 6-Nov. 11

So the night before I was supposed to leave for vacation, I had completely forgotten that I had to be at the metro stop Port Maillot by 6:00 to catch a bus to the Beauvais airport to catch my plane for Barcelona. The metro stop was probably a 30 minute metro ride and 1.5 hours by foot (aka impossible, plus I would get lost). Well, guess what time the metro opened? Either 6 or 6:30... I don't even know. Either way, I was freaking out that I wouldn't make it to the bus, then I wouldn't make it to the airport, then I would miss my plane, and everything would go wrong. Luckily, my host mom helped me reserve a taxi for the next day, which was terribly frustrating, but obviously as I am back safe and sound, everything worked out.

I didn't get much sleep the night before, but I had no real problems getting to Barcelona. Just be forewarned: if you think you're getting a good deal on a flight, I'm sure you are, but what they DON'T tell you is how much time and money the transportation to and from your flight will be. That adds a significant amount. I had to take a taxi to the bus (30 mins), then the bus to the Beauvais airport (1 hour), the the flight itself (2.5 hours), then the bus from the Girona airport in Spain to Barcelona itself (1 hour 15 mins). So yeah, it all SOUNDS easy... just hop a flight! It's not. It's not a big deal, and I'm now fully prepared to go to Rome because I know exactly what to expect, but you really need to be relaxed for this sort of thing. I brought along my literature book, and it really worked out because I was forced to read it because I had nothing else to do, so now I am actually ahead on my reading. Plus people thought I was French! It was cool.

So in Barcelona I met up with my friend from IU, Lexi, who's studying abroad there. I had a great time! We did TONS of walking, though. The Spanish metro is a lot like the French one, really... it was easy to use. I saw the touristy sights, such as Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia, which were both designed by this big deal Spanish man named Gaudi. There's a Barcelona Arc de Triomf and then this really nice park called Parc de la Ciutadella, and then this building called La Pedrera, which was designed by Gaudi. We also went to La Rambla, which is sort of like the Spanish Champs-Elysees... aka a really big-deal street.

Nov. 4-5... Election Day!

Okay, I have been slacking a lot on my blogging because first I was busy getting ready for vacation, then I was on vacation, then I was recovering from my vacation/getting back into the swing of things. So I'm going to divide up my posts so that it's not one 10 page post.

So in France, everyone loves Obama. His picture is everywhere, and he is constantly in the newspapers... They have had tons of coverage of the American elections, and because French newspapers aren't unbiased like American ones are (or should be), they're probably 99% for Obama. My politics professor Marc stayed up all night to watch the results, and he actually sent an email out at like 5am saying "OBAMA A GAGNE!" ("OBAMA WON!").

So I was sitting in the student lounge with another girl, Shaina (who actually goes to IU), and we were just chatting when Bertrand, the guy in charge of student affairs at IES (my program), walks in. He said, "Hey, so there are some people here from a French news station who want to interview American students on the election. Are you two willing to be interviewed? Everyone else is in class..." And what were we supposed to say? So of course we agreed and then were terribly nervous when this man and woman walked in carrying a video camera and microphone. Fortunately, it wasn't like CNN France or anything; it was fairly casual, and they said it would be airing online and not real TV, thank goodness. I think Shaina and I did pretty well, but who really knows? We were pretty nervous.

I had my literature midterm on Wednesday, and I honestly thought I did pretty well... it was stuff that we had covered in class that I thought I really knew. We had to answer two questions about themes in these two books we had read, then we had to pick an "explication" question where she gave us a page or two in a book and we had to explain what was going on and how it related to the overall theme/story. Well, since this post is written like two weeks later, I now know my grade... and yeah, I was sort of surprised to get a 9.5/20. Yeah, that's like less than 50%. I would have freaked out, but because this is the French grading system, they don't divide the points up like we do in the States. My lit prof told us she doesn't give higher than a 12 (again, a failing grade in the States), so my 9.5 was actually a B+. No, I don't really get it, so sorry, but I can't really explain it either. But I was happy that rather than failing, I did okay.

Les mauvaises nouvelles = bad news

Halloween continued...

I went to Mathilde and Slimen's at 7 on the dot, and naturally since I was ready no one else was. They were waiting for their friend Phillipe to finish his laundry, of all things. We waited for two hours! Finally we just left without him and went to a Japanese restaurant. It was really good, and afterwards we went to McDonald's for McFlurrys! According to Slimen, he and Mathilde "never eat" at McDonalds, except for McFlurrys, especially after Japanese food. Slimen just found a job (like Mathilde, he just finished school) in informatics, I think (also like Mathilde), so he bought our dinners. I protested, saying I could buy my own, but he said no, he invited me, but he would allow me to buy the McFlurrys.

So here's some information about France: they HATE when you try and pay for anything with something that is not within 3 euros difference, i.e. a 5 euro sandwich you must pay for with exact change or a 10... don't even THINK about using a 20 or higher at a patisserie; they will give you the evil eye and actually refuse your money, claiming they have no change. So at McDonald's, I tried to use my 50 for the express purpose of breaking it (because there is nowhere to break bills larger than 20), and the cashier gave me a look and was like, Do you have anything else? I'll have to go ask my manager if I have change for this... And I was like, This is McDonald's, lady! I KNOW you people take in enough cash to break a 50, don't even try to play it off like you can't. So I said, no, I didn't have anything else (lie, I had a 10) so she just asked the cashier next to her and it all worked out.

While we were eating our McFlurrys, I whipped out my camera and Mathilde and Slimen stared at me incredulously and were like, You couldn't take pictures at the Japanese restaurant, could you? Nooooo, the first pictures of us that you take have to be at McDonald's, of all places!... It was too funny because you could tell Slimen was actually embarrassed; he kept trying to conceal the camera behind his jacket while taking a picture of me and Mathilde. This is me pretending to hit Slimen with my spoon because he kept refusing to have his picture taken. Mathilde was much more relaxed about the whole thing.
Saturday, Nov. 1st

So in case anyone doesn't know (I didn't) there is some international chocolate fest called Salon du Chocolat (at least, in Paris it is) and it's in Paris, Peking, Tokyo, Moscow, New York, and some other really major cities in the world. My friends and I went and pretty much you pay a fee at the door and then you can walk around inside the building and see tons of chocolate stands and cool chocolate things and eat "free" samples... it was a good time. Yes, this sculpture is made out of chocolate.

Afterwards we went and got some falafel... I don't know why I haven't eaten falafel before Paris. It is amazing! You should try some! Just a thought.

Sunday, Nov. 2nd

My former host brother (from the last time I studied abroad in France three years ago) invited me to go see the new James Bond movie, so my friend Rachel and I arranged to meet him and his friend at the movie theater at 4:30 to see the 5:30 show. So Rachel and I got there at 4:30 and I got a text from him saying he and his friend (who live together) were having problems with.... their laundry! What is it with French people and their laundry?? So he asked if Rachel and I could get tickets for them because they were going to be late. So Rachel and I waited in line only to find out that it was sold out at 5:30 and the next show wasn't until 7:55. I called my host brother to tell him, but the laundromat apparently had horrible service and I couldn't get ahold of him for the longest time, and we were worried the next show was going to sell out, too. Eventually, he called me back and we decided to get tickets for the 7:55 show. He said he and his friend would come meet me and Rachel in an hour, so Rachel and I left to walk around (we went to this great panini place where you can get a panini and a drink for only 3 euro), and an hour later we returned to the theater to wait for the guys.

So 40 minutes after they said they'd be there, they FINALLY showed up. My host brother said the laundry machines weren't working; they'd get the clothes wet, but wouldn't wash anything, and so they couldn't leave because they had tons of wet clothes and they weren't doing laundry at their apartment. Drama, drama, drama.... it didn't really matter though, as the doors didn't open until about 8 minutes until the movie started. We passed the time trying to teach the Frenchies how to properly say American actors' names, like Keanu Reeves. Fortunately, after all that hoopla, the movie was indeed excellent.

I was home alone all weekend, like I said, so I made "dinner" for myself Sunday night. Aurelie had previously made some potato puree, so I took that and for some reason mixed it with tuna and a sunnyside up egg... sounds gross, but it was actually very good. French people are really onto something with this whole sunnyside up egg thing.

Monday, Nov. 3rd

I am too ready to leave on my vacation. I didn't think I'd make it through my classes today... I'm so tired of literature. I'm not even inspired to try because everything I do is wrong. My teacher is all right, she just teaches in a way that is very, very different from every literature class I've ever taken. Marc handed back our midterms, and said that there were excellent grades, good grades, and slightly less than good grades, but not to worry, it was only a midterm. My theater professor handed back our papers, and in the typical French manner, as she gave you your paper, she made a short commentary on it... not usually of the complimentary kind. That's not how they do in France.

Catherine came back today. She must have taken an overnight train because she left me a note this morning and had set out some bread for my breakfast. At dinner it was just the two of us, and she said she had some bad news for me. Apparently, Lionel was trying to hire some extra help for his store in the Alps, but it fell through, so Catherine is going to quit her job here and move there for the entire season, beginning December 1st or 2nd. She's going to tell Rosa, the woman in charge of housing for my program, to see what she says. I was slightly surprised that Catherine said it was fine for me to live here without her or Lionel if I wanted to... that's trust! haha. Anyway, she said that she's not sure what will happen, and I should think about if I want to move to another family. I don't know what I will do, so I said she should just tell Rosa and see what Rosa says because maybe she'll say I have to move, it's not an option to stay without my host parents.

However, Aurelie will be back and Mathilde and Slimen live on the first floor, so it's not like I'd be alone. I don't really want to move for just the last two weeks of the program because I'd have to pack everything up, meet a new family, move my stuff in, and basically just get settled when I'd have to leave. The only reason I'd have for moving would be to meet more French people and hopefully interact with more people because this weekend I had very limited contact with French people because I was alone in the house. On the other hand, I did really enjoy having the house to myself. I'll just have to see what Rosa says and whether it's my choice or not. Catherine's going to talk to Rosa tomorrow, I believe, so I'm sure it will all get settled soon.