puis-je faire un pause?

Seriously!

My continuously hectic/busy/exhausting lifestyle has followed me from Los Angeles and Wellesley all the way to France. Thanks to the lively city of Paris, the programs Sweet Briar arranges for us, the hectic task of picking our classes and getting ready for the Parisian universities, and, don't forget, the fact that my dad is here and is constantly introducing me to his friends--- I'M ALWAYS BUSY! c'est la vie, I know, but I was really hoping French life would be more relaxed than this. Apparently not.

I haven't had time, therefore, to make a video, but I've been shooting a lot of random clips, and I hope to have time sometime this week. In a (brief) nutshell, here's my life:

• family/living situation: living with a SWEET Jewish couple in the 11th arrondissement, which is a nice mix of modern and ancient Paris. I have a large room with a TV and my own toilet. The couple lets me do whatever I want. I live within a 10 minute walk of some cool places and within a half hour walk of the center of Paris. though often I take the metro.
  
• university: what. the. hell. So here's a brief history of Parisian universities and my particular university. In 1968 there was a HUGE student riot. In able to never ever have this happen again, Parisian universities were split up alllllll over Paris. I had thought that Paris 7, where I'm studying, was in the Latin Quarter... well, it was. One day, someone discovered asbestos there. SO the building was torn down and is in the process of being reconstructed. In the meantime, classes are in the ugliest buildings in Paris, in the ultra-moden (read: gross) section of the 13th. I commented to someone "It looks like someone just said Quick! Build a university! It doesn't matter what it looks like, just take this concrete and hurry!" and received the response "well, that was actually exactly the case. They discovered asbestos and had to relocate the campus quickly." Oops. Well, I'd rather ugly concrete than asbestos.
• Life: Too American for my tastes. I need to make some French friends my age, and fast. My dad has been introducing me to all his friends, which takes up all my time and annoys me to no end. They're very nice people and I'm very happy to have them in my life but ohmygoodness I am NOT in Paris to sit in people's homes for 8 hours a day and do nothing but eat! Especially not when it's this beautiful outside... But I love my Daddy and I'm happy he's here. He leaves Thursday, so I just have to make it until then.

In other news, I start my classes on Tuesday. Hence, I will be even busier. But what else is new. ha.

video to come eventually, I promise. I've been up to fun things :)

Tours, in a nutshell

I'm in PARIS! And everything with my host family and my dad worked out and is marvelous and wonderful, don't worry.

But more on that later, when I have time. For now, before I run out the door, I have the two videos I made of my orientation in Tours. The wifi at my host mother's house in Tours was crappy so I could never upload them.

But voila! Enjoy :)

Video 3:


Video 4:

My overprotective dad... in Paris

I knew I shouldn't have been too happy when my dad announced that he would spend the month of September in Paris at his best friend's house to help me adjust to my new life here.

For those of you who don't know (and honestly, who doesn't know?), I have the world's most overprotective dad. I don't even want to begin to name the numerous examples of his insanity of loving overprotectiveness, but let's just say it's surprising that I haven't rebelled and that I don't smoke pot, dress in black, deal heroin, and prostitute myself as a result.

Now, we have the grandest and greatest example of this phenomenon: Daddy comes to Paris, asks for the address and phone number of my future host family (we arrive in Paris tomorrow, btw), goes there, pokes around, and then calls me insisting I change my family RIGHT AWAY. I explain to him that the rule is we must remain with our families for one week, to try them out. He says no way in hell (well, his equivalent of that phrase-- "never happened!!!"). I must go right away to the Sweet Briar directors (umm, it's 9 pm, dad...) and tell them to change it. Nevermind that we haven't arrived in Paris yet, this MUST CHANGE NOW.

what's so wrong with this location, you ask? Well, first of all, there's the room. On the 5th floor, no elevator, no mirror, tiny desk, tiny lamp, no closet, not acceptable for an American student, he says. Ok, understandable. That worries me too. But that I can try out for a week. However, across the street from this tiny shithole of a room is a cafe that 'is not acceptable for young girls' because it is 'full of young people who lack morals, and girls who lay out on the table.' I tried to press my dad further-- is it dangerous? sketchy? are there prostitutes? what's the REAL problem? but that's all he said.

I trust my parents' opinions in general, but I'm afraid my dad is just too scared, and is reading the worst into all this. But he is forcing me to try and talk to Sweet Briar and convince them otherwise. And Sweet Briar will be like 'umm, what? ofc we can't change it THE DAY WE LEAVE FOR PARIS, before you've even MET this family!' And then my dad will go over to Sweet Briar and fucking yell like the stubborn crazy asshole he can be sometimes (trust me, my dad is wonderful and I love him dearly. but sometimes... UGGHHHH!!!!!!). And then this whole thing will blow up and THIS IS NOT HOW I WANTED TO START OFF MY YEAR IN PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so upset that I was crying to my host mom here in Tours.

whatever, I'm going out tonight to celebrate Hannah's birthday. I'll just get drunk and dance the night away and deal with this tomorrow.

Finalement, eh?

Bonjour tout le monde!

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to post something- anything!!!- in this blog. The combination of lots of activities, jet lag, and a super slow Internet connection has made for a long period of time in between video blog posts. I'm sure you're very happy to know that the jet lag has worn off, Sweet Briar and the town of Tours keep me busy with lots of fun activities like museums (des musee) (hey, how do we do accents on this thing?) and gardens (jardins) and hanging out with friends at La Place Plumereau (the 'it' section of Tours for young people who want to hang out). So, at least it's not like I haven't been posting videos because I have nothing to show you from lack of a life. But then again, this is me we're talking about-- when do I ever lack a life? When do I ever have a moment of freedom? ... exactly.

I now present to you a video of, again, completely crap quality. Like I mentioned before, it's really hard to find time to sit down and edit a video and make it look even slightly watchable. So forgive me.

Now, this video is me basically talking in DC about leaving the next day for France. Pretend like it's me talking to you, confiding, one on one, y'know? :) I have a second one made, from when I arrived in Tours, my first impression, and my activities during the weekend. But for some reason YouTube keeps telling me ''this video no longer exists' after it spends forever uploading it... so I'll work on it. In the meantime...

Video Blog 2: Orly in DC


Tonight I'm seeing a comedy in French. Let's see how much I can understand, eh? (by the way, the French add 'eh' to the end (or even beginning) of their phrases/sentences a lot. Not like Canadien 'eyy' but really just 'eh'. "On va manger, eh? Il fait beau, eh? Tu parles bien le francais, eh. Eh, ben oui, eh.")

And instead of video 3, in the meantime, I present to you the latest Mc Solaar (a famous French rapper) hit, 'le Rabbi Muffin,' which combines two of my favorite subjects: French, and Jews. Ha. The video is a takeoff of a scene in a famous, cult-favorite French comedy, The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. Enjoy.