Blogging from the airport while waiting to go home!

First half of the year is done and I’m back to DC a month for Christmas break!

The last week has been hectic, but nothing was comparable to yesterday, where I had a final at NYU in the morning, hectic last-minute Christmas shopping, packing and putting the room in order (think a college student’s place during finals week… yeah, I don’t need to do a more precise description) AND getting ready for Swan Lake (choreographed by Nureyev) at Opera Bastille.

A word on getting Christmas presents to the two crazy baby cousins: after getting out of my last exam and bidding farewell to NYU in Paris – at least for 2010, I visited three toy stores and a book store on Rue de Passy and got out empty-handed. One must understand that my dear A., 5, and J., 3 are not your average sweet little girls, even though at first sight, they look like angels fallen from Heaven.

One salesperson insisted to give me advice on what to choose and lead me to the dolls. I started an uncontrollable laughter – the idea of A. or J. dressing up Barbie dolls and brushing their hair, or pretending to be the mothers of Baby Corolle and dress them, feed them, take them to the park… in other words, how I used to play with dolls in my childhood, is absolutely risible. Instead, the poor dolls will more than likely end up bald then loose their members one by one. And probably, as my mum would say, end up “being transformed into monsters”! So there is no point for bringing them from France.

Then the salesperson takes me to arts and crafts. She suggests that I get a knitting kit for the oldest one – something age-appropriate with colorful patterns to teach the child how to make their own fashion accessories. Laughter, again, while people look at me weirdly (I am a grownup cracking up in a toy store), because the idea of buying A. knitting material is insane: when she’d be bored with scrambling up the yarn into shapeless knots, she’d simply go back to her favourite occupation, which is to hunt her little sister with the  knitting needles. The fact that little J. is learning more and more to defend herself would lead to a serious fight, which would lead to the confiscation of the toys and grounding. One doesn’t want that at Christmas!

Hello-Kitty pens, modeling paste, child jewelry… forget it. Then finally, almost about to let go of all hope and decide to just run to Target once I land in DC, get the kind of stuff they’d like and simply wrap it in Eiffel Tower giftwrap (that’s a joke, I don’t even have Eiffel Tower giftwrap), I find the ideal thing at Nature et Découvertes, a hippy, eco-friendly store that sells all sort of gadgets, lifestyle manuals, essential oils and authentic cultural artifacts.

Marbles.

They wouldn’t choke on it since they both stopped putting stuff in their mouth long ago, and they’ve never had any so they’d have some fun with it. Besides, unlike the heavy xylophone I saw right next to the Treasure, one cannot hit someone with marbles or use them to climb and reach forbidden objects or cupboards.

I should simply remember not to give them this in the car, though.

At the register, I laugh for a different reason. Reminiscing a childhood memory where I enjoyed the delight of racking grownups’ nerves, I thought, thank goodness I wasn’t evil enough to buy them bouncy balls…

Then the day went fast and I headed at around 7 to Opéra Bastille for Swan Lake. Since I will be writing a review on it, I will not talk about it too much now (my flight is in half an hour!!). I will simply say how excited I was to watch my favourite ballet, how magical it seemed to have this happen right under my eyes (literally, I seriously splurged on the ticket and was seated in the first rows), and how the version of Nureyev is interesting, deeply psychological and would challenge anyone who pretends that Swan Lake is too traditional and known, and the story so naïve that it gets boring. Although I am quite a purist when it comes to ballet (some scenes did shock me at first), I must admit that this version was the most interesting I had ever seen, because when you got the hang of it, you knew that there was more surprises to expect from Nureyev’s choreography and interpretation of the ballet (hint: look his own personal life, and maybe even his darkness…).

After Swan Lake, I headed back home and kept tidying up the room, not nearly getting enough sleep. So I intend to zone out completely in the plane today – I am landing at 2:00 PM Eastern Time, and I’ve missed my car. I’m thinking an outing with the babies would be a good way to start what promises to be a very fun vacation! I cannot wait to see all my friends from High School and hang out and have looaads of fun!

As a conclusion: Paris this semester was amazing, although challenging: there are particularly problematic aspects of the society that I didn’t get to experiment enough last time I stayed there, given the fact that I hardly got out of the 8^th Arrondissement, my daily outing being a walk from Avenue Montaigne to the Champs-Elysées. Then again, I was too young to be allowed to take the metro, and it’s probably a good thing.).

I am thankful for NYU Paris to be a tiny American society there, a place where you feel at home. I don’t think I would have had such a positive experience if I went on my own, without any contacts or friends or community to live in.

2010, (if I don’t get to blog until the New Year), was a very interesting year. Despite a few personal problems that come along with life, it brought me life changing experiences and many happy moments, successes such as the Mention Très Bien on the Bac that helped me realize what I am worth. I met amazing people, learned so much about the world and about myself since I was challenged to new situations.

And guess what? I cannot wait for more!!!

I wish all my readers excellent holidays and hope that you will be many many more next year!

Finals, packing and nostalgy...

The first half of the Parisian Adventure will be over next Friday morning, when I'll be heading to the airport to fly back to DC. For a month, only, but still, I have the feeling something is over and I dread a little bit the moment when I'll be leaving Paris for real.
I guess this semester I focused on settling down and working with the big changes (starting college, living on my own for the first time, living in a foreign country... dealing with broken lightbulbs), not to mention the huuuuuge workload that comes with being an NYU student (Columbia kids, seriously, don't you say a word), rather than taking risks and playing it adventurous. As much as I've wandered outside Paris this semester, I intend to hop around in Europe next Spring, with my must-sees being London, Athens, Rome, Berlin..... and maybe some formerly-communist, Eastern-European capital. Maybe I'll even make it to Moscow...
As for conclusions, I do intend to blog more regularly (hard enough... now for example, huuuge guilt because I am supposed to 1) be producing finals flashcards at a rate of 193/second, 2) be preparing my place for a fríend's cousin who will be staying there while I'm in DC, 3) be doing laundry and figure out what to pack....

I guess you'll hear of me next Thursday, whereas I'll be freaking out about my possible grade on Political Theory final exam, getting ready for Swan Lake at Opera Bastille, and getting my suitcase ready for the next day whereas I'm trying to find a hairstyle that will stay fresh after 7 or 8 hours of flight and God knows how much waiting in line in airports. I'm thinking wavy curls, now that my hair is getting longer...



Sur ce, dear readers, off I am!
A bientôt,
S

A big step into college life... although untypical.

Good late evening/early morning, everyone!
So, it is 2:45 AM and I have been doing loads and loads (no pun intended ;)) of laundry. I kept procrastinating through it until I didn't have anything wearable in my closet. Well, this period included midterm survival (more or less well), home-related drama, failing appliances and infrastructures and last, but not least, homesickness.
So, as for Paris, since it is the main point of this blog, it is cold, rather dirty compared to Washington DC, and full of ill-intended people. But one loves it and one loves enjoying it simply. If just you wouldn't get permanently accosted by ugly, ghastly, sexually thirsty men every five seconds in the streets. It is easy for other girls I know to ignore this, but I simply can't, since not only I feel completely violated, as if I were reduced to a piece of meat, but it is coming in the way of my enjoyment of Paris and me realizing how lucky I actually am to spend my freshman year of college here. The first semester is almost over and eventhough I cannot wait to go back home for Chrismas, I don't want this to pass too fast, since studying to Paris was, for three years and until I learned of my acceptance at NYU, a crazy dream that wouldn't possibly come true.

Top ten (and counting) current thoughts:
1) Honey, you need to make this post sound more positive.
2) There we go: I love the sushi, the macarons, the coffee.
3) What else? The fashion, most definitely.
4) Tomorrow I'm taking pictures.
5) I should also consider wrapping up and finish up with folding the clothes.
6) And do my nails.
7) And go to bed.
8) And find a way to tell about my beauty and fashion blog without sounding completely superficial.
9) I miss American Cosmo. Although they just print the same sex stuff every single month, and that is boring.
10) Then again, once you get the hang of it, there isn't much innovation in sex.
11) So is changing partners the everlasting way? And how do you do that when you're married?
12) C.F. the Bible on adultery since I'm studying this in class. But they're quite extreme. Like, you look at a girl, you commit adultery in your heart? And they only mention guys doing it, girls don't seem to have enough free-will in order to check out someone else.
13) Lucky number. Honey, you're getting controversial. You might get some nasty comments from Mr/Ms God is the Truth and I Want to Convert Everyone... Go to bed.

Oui, votre Majesté de la Rousserie!

Sur ce, good night!

Ten first days to make or break impressions

I've been in Paris for over ten days now after seeing it for the last time more than four years ago, and I have had many occasions to observe a city roamed by some quite funny specimens. I've been able to break ''idées reçues''.

For instance, not all Parisians are mean. Some of them are very helpful, which is great because thanks to my sense of orientation, I DO get lost very often. On the streets while jogging or going to class, in the metro, everywhere.

Talking of the metro (from a Washingtonian's point of view): it isn't as clean as the one in DC, but it is much faster and efficient. And there are weird people whose ''flirting'' actually makes you want to empty your pepper spray bottle on their (creepy) faces. But the custom here is to ignore them. And since I don't have pepper spray (don't even know if it's legal here), I definitely don't want to waste my favorite shine spray that I can only get from the States, I barely have a bottle here to last me until Christmas.

Since one thing leads to another, let's talk about me surviving my first Parisian strike last Tuesday: thankfully, I didn't have to walk four hours to get to school, nor to take a cab that would cost me as much as a charming pair of shoes (I'm thinking dark red velvet with rounded toes... stop dreaming Sophie!), because the metro was still ''partly'' operational, meaning a packed train every 6 minutes, or as frequently as the DC metro in its most glorious hours.
About striking: coming from the country of pure capitalism and (forgive the term) crappy healthcare, I don't see what the French have to complain about, given the fact that so many of them get a fair amount of  unemployment financial aid when they're actually abusing the system. Let's not forget the fact that the French public healthcare system has been judged the best in the world, and let's compare this to the millions of Americans who don't have health insurance and who live in the permanent fear that, for instance, their kid will break his leg and medical costs will be sky-high.

To remain in the same frame of thoughts, let's talk about something very interesting (and rather sad): paying at the register when grocery shopping: on my first day, I had to buy a whooole lot of groceries, and when I arrived at the register, I opened widely a grocery bag (see? I respect the environnement! good me!) and asked the lady if she would mind putting the items inside the bag after she scanned them.
To be precise, I put the bag exactly on the same platform where she would put the items after she scanned them. The only difference was a quarter-inch thick fabric over the metallic surface.

The lady refused and told me to remove the bag. I had to put the items in it myself.

Okay, seriously? There is nothing wrong in being helpful when it doesn't cost you anything (no, it doesn't cost you your dignity), and nothing humiliating in putting items directly in a bag instead of leaving this to your customers who 1) pay for your service, 2) have to do that quickly without breaking anything AND pay and sign receipts otherwise you'll yell at them to hurry because they're holding the line.
So I don't know were they get this pseudo-socialist idea of not being helpful at all, as if putting items in a bag that is widely opened in front of you after scanning them is humiliating.
It won't kill you, it won't be degrading to your person or to your dignity.
In the opposite, you will be more respected and will receive feelings of gratitude and customers will have a great experience and will come back.

In the States, cashiers get barely enough money to stay alive, and this is before taxes, have no healthcare and can barely afford necessities. Yet they're helpful and nice and like to do their jobs the way they should be done.


Bottom line: France is a country of many contradictions. You have revolutionary/socialist principles AND a glorification of a royalist past.

Thus, dear readers, I leave you now :)
Till my next post!