Another Valentine's Day come and gone. You know, in my heart I feel like this day is a complete scam. I subscribe to the belief that it's a marketing ploy concocted by Hallmark. I agree with Ze Frank that saying "I love you" on February 14th is, if anything, much more meaningless than saying it on any other day. But underneath all that reasoned thinking, I just really want to have a romantic dinner with a special someone. Someday...
Happy Valentine's day, for all the lovers. And the for all the solo cats too.
I should have done this post soon after I moved in, but whatever. I just thought you guys might want to have a vague idea of where I live, although it's been almost 6 months that I've been here.
As you may know, I don't actually live in Paris, but just south of the city limits in a working-class town called Gentilly. There isn't a lot of restaurants, bars, clubs, tourists, or anything like that, BUT I still think it's a great place to live. I have 2 grocery stores, 2 bakeries, 2 butchers, a laundry mat, a post office, a flower shop, a newspaper store, a convienience store that's open all the time, and an open-air market that happens 2 mornings per week, and all this is within a 2-minute walk. (I think I used the number 2 a little much in that last sentence.) Regardless, Gentilly is a practical place to live, and the people here are very friendly.
This is a sticker someone put on the back of a stop sign. It says "Sarkozy is watching you!" There are a lot of anti-Sarkozy posters in Paris.
This is a map of the town located just outside the mairie, which is just by my building. Some grafitti I pass everyday alongside some left-wing political posters. This "walk" sign is not the typical one for paris. Le petit bonhomme vert here is more chill looking.This is what I see as I walk into my place: my little kitchen. You can see my little 2-burner stove (the tiny fridge is below it), my microwave/oven, and my water heater that lets me 10-minutes hot showers, if I'm lucky.
Another view of the sink area. Once you leave the kitchen, you're in my room! Here you can see my Ikea fold-out bed and Moulin Rouge poster.
Here is the fireplace that's been converted to a store space. It's my cave a vin.
Here is my desk, which I never actually work at. The chair is now mainly used to hang my towel on (it dries better that way), and the desk covered with random crap I really should put away.
Here's the view from my bedroom window. The neighbour has a garden! I can also see the courtyard of my building, where we keep the garbage bins.
This is the view from the kitchen's window.
I didn't take a picture, but I also have a decent bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink, mirror.... you know, the usual.
In conclusion, I love my little apartment! It's a little out of the way, but I can walk to school within an hour (which I had to do during the metro strikes), and the RER will get me there in a couple minutes. YAY!
I missed a party this weekend. I was invited to a Chinese New Year party which I was really looking forward to. The hostess cheekily asked all people born in the year of the rat (which means me, Miss. 1984) to wear red underwear. Not owning any, I actually bought some pretty crimson underthings specifically for this purpose. In my mind the party was on Sunday, but I realized too late that it actually on Saturday. FRUSTRATING! On the plus side, I do have some sexy new underwear, as well as 2 new dresses and a black turtle neck, all of which will allow me to better blend in with the chic natives.
The other day I went to see a really fascinating exhibit at L’Hôtel de Ville called “Paris en couleurs.” It featured photographs of the city since the advent of colour photography, around 1918, to today. That means pictures of Paris when people were still getting around with horse-drawn carriages, as well as pictures from the German occupation, all the way to Paris celebrating the turn of the millennium. You know, this video explains it a lot better:
I also hosted a party chez moi the last weekend. I made my first Cajun gumbo, which turned out surprisingly good. The small crowd, which included some friends from the exchange as well as some friends of my co-host Erin, made the party very lively and fun. Here are some pictures:
This is the picture we put on the Facebook invitation. We look hot, right?
School starts Monday. I am taking a course about Cubism, one about German art from 1945-60, one about movements in modern Western art, and one about the History of Paris. I’m actually pretty excited! I just hope they aren’t too hard or stressful, as I am allergic to hard work. I also don’t have any school on Fridays (hurrah!) and the earliest I start is 10am, which is only on Wednesday (double hurrah!). So, to sum up, my schedule kicks some serious ass.
I'm really feeling the blogging bug lately, so I think I'll start posting more regularly. I have no idea if the posts will be quality, but regarless.
I was looking at the Globe and Mail's website today and came across this sketchbook slideshow by cartoonist Brian Gable. I love the depictions of Paris in January, and they are very true to life. Click on the picture to check it out!
In other news, I passed my Goya class! 13.5/20 baby! I also got "controlled" on the RER. I fucked up and took the wrong train, ending up in zone 3. My metro pass is only good for zones 1 and 2. On-the-spot fine of 25 euros. What can you do? Stupid life.
I wrote my final test for "Roman, Cinema, Societe" (I really don't know how to do accents on this laptop) and I mean, I didn't bother to study that much, but I think it went OK. It wasn't exactly my favourite course, and ultimately I just wanted to pass it and get it all behind me.
After that, I went les galaries nationales du grand palais to see the Gustave Courbet exhibit. It was really packed as it was the last day for the it, but I'm really glad I went. I really don't know much about Courbet, but I am somewhat familiar with a few of his works. Here is a sampling of what I saw:
This was the exhibition's poster, with one of his self-portraits
Burials at Ornans, which is incredibly huge. I looked it up, it's about 10 feet high and 21 feet long. I'm constantly impressed by how gigantic some of the paintings I've studied really are.
The (in)famous L'origine du monde
His paintings were really cool and interesting. I also loved his landscapes and hunting scenes. The Musee d'Orsay has a good webpage if you're interested in learning more.
After the exbibt, I came back home. Erin and her friend Bobby came over later to eat some pasta and oreos, and watch C.R.A.Z.Y., a wonderful French-Canadian movie if you've never seen it.
So I know it's been a damn long time since I've last posted. I guess there hasn't been too much to report. I've been mostly lying in bed the last few days doing nothing, and the less I do the less willing I am to get up and be productive. I'm fairly certain I'm only attending to my blog now is because I have to study for an exam tomorrow, and blogging is less effort. I am a professional procastinator!
First off, watch this video of Flight of the Conchords, a comedy, folk song duo from New Zealand. They do a song about a sexy song called "Business Time."
I've just been watching a bunch of their songs on YouTube, and they are all hilarious. Here are a few pictures from the Christmas holidays.
Les Galeries Lafayette
Paris at Christmastime La famille Melanie, Camille, and Mom (she's kissing Camille's hand. How cute is that baby!)
Me in Santa mode
My cousin Dave has already come and gone. We had a lot of fun together, but I was mostly stressed about my Goya exam and didn't get to spend as much time with him as I would have liked. We didn't go to Amsterdam either.
But we did do some cool shit together. We got to ride the giant ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde.
The wheel
The view from the wheel We checked out the Louvre, and the inverted pyramid (and the Starbucks. Dave loves Starbucks) La grande arche de la Defense (which is in the business area of Paris. Apparently all of Notre Dame cathedral could fit inside). The Pompidou Centre (the line-ups were crazy so we only looked at the building) La musee des arts et metiers
And the Moulin Rouge, where we ate a nice dinner, watched a wonderfully tacky show, and met two cool Austrailian guys sitting next to us. Now I really need to get studying for this friggin' exam.
p.s. Please comment! I'm lonely and I love reading them. God I'm desperate.
from Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, which I am presently reading lu·gu·bri·ous /lʊˈgubriəs, -ˈgyu-/ [loo-goo-bree-uhs, -gyoo-] –adjective mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner: lugubrious songs of lost love. [Origin: 1595–1605; <>-ous]
re·con·noi·ter (rē'kə-noi'tər, rěk'ə-) v. tr. To make a preliminary inspection of, especially in order to gather military information. v. intr. To make a reconnaissance. [Obsolete French reconnoître, from Old French reconoistre, to recognize; see recognize.]
Things are going well in Paris, by the way. My cousin Dave arrives tomorrow! I'm very excited, but less excited to have to get up at 7am to meet him at the airport. I'm hoping we get the chance to visit Amsterdam together. This song has been inspiring me to see the city. I mean, I've seen the airport, so it's time I see the rest of it.
My stay in Montreal is almost at a close. I had a nice little vacay though. I had forgotten how nice my parent's house is! How much I love my bathtub! I love being home, but I know it's time to return to Paris 'CAUSE MY PARENTS ARE DRIVING ME FUCKING CRAZY! I love them though.
Christmas was lovely. I got a Jamie Oliver cookbook, my plane ticket back to Paris, cash in Euro form, a Tommy Hilfiger gift certificate, a necklace and a spa massage + pedicure. I got to meet my cousin's new baby girl Camille, who is absolutely adorable. Things got kind of tough when my Dad had a bad sciatica attack (a pinched nerve in his back) which left him immobile and we had to call an ambulance. Right now he's feeling much better, but he's on some pretty strong pain killers. For New Year's Eve I went to my brother's place to party with him and some of his friends. It was pretty fun, but they love punk and metal a lot and that really isn't my favourite kind of music.
I think the best part about being back has been the weather! Canadian winter, yes! Right now it's -14 outside and there's like 4 feet of snow on the ground. I'm not even kidding, it's absolutely nuts. I will post my pictures from Montreal when I get back to Paris and can load them on my laptop.
I will leave you, however, with this lovely New Year's picture of me (who is not as inebriated as the picture suggests) and my brother's friend Damien (who is, in my brother's word, "a slime ball")
I'm so excited to come back to Montreal! Back to my family, Christmas cheer, my bathtub (oh how I miss my bathtub)! And back to the Canadian winter, but only for a week, which is about as much as anyone really needs. Here's what I have to look forward to:
Right now it's 12:36am and I am just lying on my bed completely relaxed. I finished my presentation, I just wrote a test for my Roman, Cinema, Societe class, and I have no school tomorrow. Ahhh... Life is sweet. Matt just left a little while ago. He came over "to do homework," but we just ate some steak, got buzzed off Malibu and Coke (too sweet to get drunk with as I discovered), and looked at cute guys on MySpace (one of the most fun things to do with a gay friend is check out guys together).
This past Sunday was a "free Sunday," meaning that many of the sites and museums were free because it was the first Sunday of the month. I got to see the MuseeD'Orsay for the first time this trip (I did go 8 years ago though). It was amazing! Overwhelming even. It was filled with some of the most famous Monets, Manets, Gaugins, Renoirs, Van Goghs, etc... Here are some examples:
Manet
Monet
Many Van Goghs
Cezanne
Renoir
I don't know who did this one, but she looks tres sexy with that cigarette, no?
I also don't know who did this sculpture, but you've gotta appreciate that this photo rocks!
Degas
Afterwards I got to check out Sainte-Chapelle, a church built in the 1200s by Louis IX to hold Jesus' crown of thorns (he actually paid more for the crown than to build the church!) It has some of the most magnificent stained-glass windows in the world.
The famous rose window of Ste-Chapelle which, according to my guide, depicts the Apocalypse.
And then we headed to the Conciergerie, which used to be a prison. During the Revolution they held prisioners here before sending them to be guillotined at Place de la Concorde (Marie-Antionette was held here).
That's about all for now! I'm going to hit the shower and get some shut eye.
Another Valentine's Day come and gone. You know, in my heart I feel like this day is a complete scam. I subscribe to the belief that it's a marketing ploy concocted by Hallmark. I agree with Ze Frank that saying "I love you" on February 14th is, if anything, much more meaningless than saying it on any other day. But underneath all that reasoned thinking, I just really want to have a romantic dinner with a special someone. Someday...
This "walk" sign is not the typical one for paris. Le petit bonhomme vert here is more chill looking.
This is what I see as I walk into my place: my little kitchen. You can see my little 2-burner stove (the tiny fridge is below it), my microwave/oven, and my water heater that lets me 10-minutes hot showers, if I'm lucky.
Once you leave the kitchen, you're in my room! Here you can see my Ikea fold-out bed and Moulin Rouge poster.
This is the picture we put on the Facebook invitation. We look hot, right? 
