blogging is hard to do

i went to paris.
school is dumb.
when i come home i will be homeless and unemployed.
here are some photos in reverse order:

chateau de versailles

birds on my head

feeding birds

notre dame

moulin rouge

a carnival in angers

delivery bird

sweet fireplace

me owning this castle

alex and my halloween costumes

my pumpkin

mud at mt st michel


me in the atlantic ocean

photos

mt st michel (aka janitzio if youre katie or myself)


black lady bug, red spots


falafel town


horse meat, for eating


me, in front of a castle


my room

these sarcophages were uncovered while they were building a tram way. they are from the 5th and 6th century!!!!!!!! they found a TON of baby skeletons which is really weird because this is definitely a crypt of people that were very important. its weird because children were not allowed to be buried in sacred crypts because they probably hadnt been baptised yet. so they could only have been buried with these hella rich people if they were in fact hella rich and very important to society. so far they have uncovered 9 sarcophages.
this is in seriously the very center of the town about a 7 minute walk from my house. wow!

woohoo! now i know how there will be more soon!

bff's

its really weird now that things have gone on a while here.
at the beginning, without even meaning to i was trying so hard to get to know everyone and really make a good impression so i could develop relationships. now that ive been here a few weeks ive pretty much given up. i like who i like, i dont like who i dont like.
i thought that i really needed to form strong relationships with people so i could feel comfortable but more and more im just realising that it doesnt matter if these people are my friends. im going to have a life changing experience either way and more importantly, im here to graduate.
i just keep wishing the fourteenth and ferry house was here and annie and liz and jessie and ali and tavi all just lived here with me all the time.
these people keep calling me weird.
the other night when we were out for a girl's birthday, three people in unison (for no reason because i definitely didnt ask and dont care what they think of me) told me i was very different from other people on the planet.
i just thought to myself, if they ever met my brother, their minds would be blown.
i think people come abroad to expand their minds yet with people they can actually communicate with, and that come from the same place as them, they can be as closed minded and judgmental as they want without thinking about it.
they said i was "too real."
also, i am the oldest one here.
ok on guy is 24. but other than that, everyone is a infant toddler and totally insecure.
people in the program are constantly asking how they look, what people think of them, if they fit in with the french. i think its retarded. we come from different places. we are different people. be yourself.
i just miss my friends at home because what i really love about them is that they know who they are and they own it.
my roomie and i are in our own little france here because we dont always speak english, we hang out with french people, and we dont give a fuck what people think.
it makes me miss katie so much.
i think about (and annoyingly, im sure) talk about mexico EVERY day.
it was summer
the group was smaller
the range of ages went from 18-30
mexicans loved us
french people for the most part think that we're assholes. they hate our government, they call us fat, they point and laugh at me in the cafeteria. ??? why ???
alex and i are in love with this falafel place here called ali baba. the guys that work there know our order when we walk in and give us the best seats in the house and always something for free and a reduced price. last night they told us that the french are intimidated by us because they dont know what we're thinking ever. they dont know who we voted for, if we're stuck up or super wealthy, and they think we are always in groups becuase we only like a,ericans and hate everyone else. they told us some new clubs to go to that americans dont know about so we can make french friends without the preconceived stereotypes. ill let you know how it goes.
one of our program assisstants is doing research for me on theatres and companies in france with modern theatre interships and jobs. she is really into performing arts and wants to help me stay in europe forever. we are going to go to some shows and chat with some peeps about potential jobs. everyone here is so helpful and wants us to stay and really are encouraging us to fight the resistance of french people. she says that act like jerks to test your true colors. if you be yourself regardless of differences you encounter she says theyll really respect you. its all very logical here. you cant get something for nothing.
this is just more work than i thought it would be but itll be tight in the end.
im going to try to put some photos on here now. i miss everyone, but definitely not eugene.
ha. vraiment.

le futur

everytone keeps asking me what i am going to do after this.
here are some options:
1. move to spain and give bike tours with eric
2. become an aupair and make ca$h
3. intern at one of the millions of theaters here in france
4. teach engrish with jessie anywhere in europe through some program in which i would make ca$$$$h
5. move back to the states and be miserable for six months until i get accepted to louisville or vermont for expenisve apprenticeships i can't afford and that won't pay me anything with which to begin paying back the $40,000 in debt i am to financial aid

thoughts?

vampire weekend

oh my goth!
this weekend was crazy.
on friday we went to the chateau which was really great but didnt have much of the old furnishings at all and you couldnt really go into many rooms. the best part was when alex and i crossed over a do not cross rope and climbed stairs into a hallway built in the 1300s!
after touring the castle we walked around the neightborhood surrounding. the castle is just in the middle of town like anything else and people live in the houses next to it that were also built in the 14th century. the streets were all narrow and cobblestone and and we called it little italy.
after that alex and i met up with morgan and andrew and kim and went to the bars. we walked around for a while until we found this bar that our teacher assisstant told us about called, "soft." thats where it all began.
we met some french people selene, antoine and jimy. we hung out with them all night and exchanged phone numbers. saturday morning was a big outside market in the center of town where we met up with jimy. jimy has two lip piercings, two tongue piercings, nipple piercings, three surfqce piercings on his back, and tattoos on his wrists and neck. the first surprise from him is that he is in the french army and has been for three years. after about three hours of walking around the town jimy told us that the way he dresses isnt the way he always dresses. when he goes to parties he told us he likes to dress goth with big black platform boots. a few more hours passed of us walking around town and he bought us all a round of absinthe! then a few hours later we passed an internet cafe where he showed us pictures of him wearing a floor length black skirt. as if i didnt think he could get any weirder and more opposite of me he told me he has malaria.
needless to say i pick winners as friends. its so bizarre how opposite someone can be and yet we stayed out until 4am together.
the next morning we slept until 1pm and then met up with jimy and antione for lunch before saying goodbye to jimy who has to go back into the army and go to lebanon to fight. we were super exhausted and very few places are open on sundays so eating was difficult and by the time alex and i got home at like 6h30 we fell right to sleep.
today i had my first classes and i placed into level 321 so i will be able to graduate college here in france!!! class was okay but i really just want to play all day and never have to go to school again.
im close.
pictures as soon as i find alex and her photo uploader thang.
wild wild west

a few brief things

1. our host mom collects everything: old phone cards, bottle caps...
2. a man in his car followed alex and i around our neightborhood with his pants down
3. we toured a theatre yesterday that has internships and they want me
4. we're going to a castle today
5. crepes and croissants

f.u.s.a.

well well well
here i am.
the flight here was really long and i got so confused turning two days into one. i left at 8:15am and got to paris at 7:55am.
i immediately got totally lost and some very nice people took me under their wings and taught me how to buy train tickets and not to get caught in the door of the subways (which of course i did anyway) and carried my heavy bags and felt bad for me for being all alone.
i took 2 trains to the train station where my new friend and luggage carrier hassan found another boy to carry my bags and get me very lost before finding the lockers and eurostar train. i ran around in circles for a while and then finally got all of my bags in a locker except my backpack which i took upstairs to the eurostar gate and got many more stamps in my passport. i then took the train to london and slept the entire time drooling all over myself pretty much comatose. when i got to london i called sam 3 times and spent about an hour walking in circles thinking i saw him and chasing strangers. sam apparently did the same thing calling other girls lucy and then running away when they werent me. finally i paged him and we found each other and he taught me how to ride the tube.
all the trains in europe use tickets that you slide through a machine and then run through little gates before they close on you. i got stuck more than once.
we took a small tour through what sam called the Times Square of london and then got some drinks. sams boyfriend cqme and met us for dinner and then we went to a different train station and picked up sean. it was late at this point and so sean and i split ways from sam and kamil on the last tubes of the night and found our way to our hostel.
we stayed in the sketchiest part of london but it was so charming. on our block there were three fried chicken restaurants.
i fell right to sleep.
the next day we were pros at riding the trains and tube so we went into town and met sam for touring the city. we went to a beautiful park and ate blackberries and looked at a petting zoo and then we went to buckingham palace and made fun of the guards. there were only two of them outside of that entire palace and they are so silly with all their rituals and stomping and stupid hats. then we went and saw big ben and some street performers and then walked for at least two hours trying to find what we thought was a resonable request for lunch: soup, sandwiches and outside seating. im pretty sure we are all just dumb and bad at navigation. we finally found it and ate to our hearts content and then proceeded to see the worst movie i have ever seen: hellboy 2. i slept through at least half of it and still had a bad time, except for the delicious cider we drank in the theater. then we went to dinner with kamil and then out to this gay bar with barbie dolls and disco balls all over the ceiling.
the next morning i woke up really early because i was so nervous about going back to france and getting lost and speaking so poorly. in the kitchen of the hostel where we ate our complementary breakfast i watched the first half of i am legend which is SO SCARY and really good. i cant wait to see the rest. but THEN i was really nervous and scared with little sleep and zombies on the brain.
we got on the train and then the tube and got to the train station and i said goodbye to sean and got in the queue for the eurostar back to paris. due to fires on the eurostar on sept 11th this year (i know, right) qll the trqins were delayed so i had to wait 2.5 hours more than expected to leave. i knew i would miss my connecting train to angers and tried to buy a phone card to call my site director. of course, because its me, my card was declined. i had to use another and then when i called the director (a million or so times) she didnt answer and couldnt help me with anything. so i called my mom. i read a lot of my book and then got on the train. when i got to paris i had to take the underground to the other train station which i have gotten pretty good at now but when i popped up from underground where i believed my train station to be were signs that said "actuellement le gare du montparnasse est" followed by three different sign with arrows pointing in three different directions. i asked three different people for help and looked at 7 different maps before a young french boy pointed me in the right direction telling me that it was behind all the other buildings i had been walking around. i had to speak with two different info booths before i found my train and then had to go through three different conductors before they would let me use my ticket that was originally for 4 hours prior. so i got on the train and again someone helped me carry my luggage and put it in the way of some important looking business man who cared but wasnt about to mess with me because i was so obviously confused and tired and stressed out. so i got to the train station in angers (my final destination) and called sue right as she was walking out the door to meet my host fam and try to come get me if i was there. they picked me up and i mme charlotte (my host mom) made me some tomatoes and fishy sticks? maybe? and bread and tea. then i went up into my beautiful room with a queen sized bed and horse pictures and a big window looking out on the garden and i fell asleep.
the next day, yesterday, i got to sleep in and SHOWER (for the first time in three dqys) and then i met the other student living with me. her name is alex and she is awesome and from seattle and we are going to be very good friends. we had breakfast and then walked to school.
at school we met the other students and one of the professors and had a bit of orientation and then took a small tour of the city where we saw the castle for a minute and also went inside the huge and gorgeous cathedral. then we got a drink with our prof and had dinner at the university cafeteria. we get 200€ a month for food but if we eat at the cafeteria we can spend our money on shoes and going out. so im starting to like the cafeteria.
so then we went home and watched a mini series about this french author françois something who was a drunk and got in a car accident and thats all i could get really. then i went to bed.
this morning we came to school and took a placement test that was really scary and we dont find out the results until monday. for now i am going to eat lunch and then do more orientation and get my french phone activated so i can texto.
i miss everyone very much but the us has nothing on france.
ill post pics tomorrow or so to go along with all this but thats about that for now.
wow.