A Few Moments.

I've been a bad blogger. It's been a while since I updated, I know! I've just been pretty busy. Last week I had the party on Sunday, which was a good time. I got to hang out with Dan and get all the food together first and then Ray arrived and we grilled the burgers and then the girls showed up to join in.

We sat around and watched movies and Dan ended up spending the night and while he was passed out on our pullout bed downstairs the girls and I watched American Pie and laughed about high school and past fun times. I wish I could spend more time with Ray and Lauren and Hilary because I never do! We're always in different places living busy lives. It's only a few days out of the year where our lives have the opportunity to intersect.

So my last week of work was very busy filling orders and making arrows. It was a good way to close out my summer though. James Cosimini, another archer who runs the Brandies team, will be taking my place on Saturdays, and a retired friend of my parents will be taking over weekdays when my Dad isn't around the shop. James is really knowledgeable about archery and at first I felt unsure because of some past personal issues I had with him but after watching him and training him in the store I feel a little better. I've been trying to find out more about him. He recently had a break with his long time girlfriend, who was the one who really had the problem with me. Friday night we grabbed a pizza after work and talked about breakups and watched Office Space. I had a better time than I thought I would. I kind of did it out of pity and knowing what a bad break can do and how much having someone give you the time to talk means. But it ends out that we actually had a pretty awesome time!

Saturday morning I got a text from my mom asking if I wanted to do Waterfire. It's a weekly event in Providence on the canal. Basically there's these little floating baskets that are chained to the bottom of the canal and black boats with people all dressed in black go with a torch and light them on fire and tend to the fires until just after midnight. Sometimes they light the whole canal, other times it's only a partial. Friends of my mom have been doing it for years and needed two more volunteers on their boat for their section and gave my mom a call. So after outfitting ourselves in all black we made our way to Providence to the team meeting where we were given the down low on how to stack the wood and light the fires. We were "part of the show" and were "meant to be invisible." Of course people waved but we weren't allowed to wave back, except for maybe a little shake of the hand at waist level.

We boarded our boat, which was stacked with wood on more than half of it and we all stood on the starboard side in a line facing forwards. Because it was my first time they let my light a number of baskets. We were first part of a procession down the canal to the large basin that has a circle of fire baskets. There was one boat with the flame in front of the audience and the other young guy in the boat held out the torch and lit our torch from the original one. Each boat has a torch about eight feet long and gets the flame during the procession. Then we divide up and go to our individual sections and light the baskets. We are constantly moving at about 5 mph so the torch is in the front of the boat and as soon as we get close enough, a wick made of newspaper is within reach. To lit it you have to shove the torch in as deep as you can to the wick, without knocking any of the stacked wood off the basket and keeping it on while the boat is moving away. It takes a bit of skill but it was really fun!

While going down the canal to the sounds of haunting music, I felt like a Venetian courtesan, being applauded for my skills, although mine were fire lighting and stacking on more wood, not being a woman of "entertainment" and intelligence. After lighting them we went back to the dock to take a break and wait for the fires to burn down a bit before stoking them. One of the women in our boat was named Liz and she'd been abroad for a year in college near Madrid. She told me it was the best decision of her life and told me I absolutely had to see the Prado if in Spain.

After a night of stoking fires from a boat, reaching out with two blocks of wood as far as I could reach at times, my legs are a bit bruised from falling wood and I slept today until very late. My Grandpa joined us for dinner tonight. We had my "last supper" as my parents kept dubbing it. I know they're going to miss me a lot considering every time an ad or show or movie refers to children moving on my mom starts bawling her eyes out and my dad gets teary eyed. My brother, Pat, is actually trying to be nice to me and tomorrow we're going to see Pineapple Express, my last American, non-dubbed, movie till Christmas.

Other than movie plans tomorrow will be a fun filled day of packing and getting my things settled at home. Making sure you've taken care of everything is always a worrying process. It's hard to know what you'll need to bring. I need to remember to take pictures of my family. Not that I don't have them on my computer but having an actual photo in my hand is always better.

I probably wont post until I'm in Paris, and that all depends on if internet is free at the hotel or not. Then it depends on if I can find free internet otherwise. But until then I'll be writing it out so I can post a bunch when I get internet again.

The plans so far are:

Aug 26th, depart for Paris at 10pm
Aug 27th, arrive in Paris at 2pm, go through customs and somehow find Lukas in the airport. Get to the hotel and find Sebastien and have a wonderful, Eiffel Tower filled night.
Enjoy Paris.
Sept 3rd, See Lukas off to the airport while making my way to the Gare de Lyon for a train around noontime to Montpellier. Then make my way to my new campus to meet one of the International Relations staff who will get me settled in my new dorm room.
Sept 4th, Meet the other ISEP girls and have a wonderful welcome to Montpellier, whatever that may be!

The Olympics Make Me Emotional.

For as long as I can remember (in other words, before I was born) the South Koreans have been the leaders in archery, winning the Gold in the Olympics since 1980. But this year the Chinese cracked the Korean weakness, cracking under pressure. The Koreans are so good that in the past no one came close and they never felt the pressure of a one-point win or loss.

But this year China gave them a run for their money and won the gold, putting South Korea in second and third place. Because of the time change I woke up and watched the replay coverage online from NBC. I have to stay I was next to tears when Zhang Juanjuan climbed up on the platform and knelt down to get her gold medal from the official. If China can beat Korea, we can do it too.

From The China Daily paper:

"After brushing aside all three South Koreans in her way to the Olympic victory, two-time Olympian Zhang foiled reigning champion and No. 1 seed Park Sung-Hyun's effort to defend her title with a 110-109 win in the final.
"Today's competition was very hard. I had to to face three South Koreans, all the best in the world," said Zhang.
"But I was ready to challenge them, each of them. The gold is just a reward and encouragement for Chinese involved in the sport of archery," she said. "The honor is not just for me, but for all those related to the sport. Many years' efforts from our team resulted in the gold medal."
In the semifinal, Zhang just defeated world record holder Yun Ok-Hee 115-109. The score of 115 was also an Olympic record tying result.
"To my victory, I think that's for the sake of the cheers from my home crowd," said the new champion. "My confidence and composure also played an important role for that."
Before Zhang's victory over Park, South Korea had never allowed the women's individual gold slip away from them since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The individual silver was not enough to meet South Korea's expectation. "Silver is good, I value my silver. But it would be a lie if I say no regret. Of course, I'm regretful. I need to get better prepared for next time," said Park, who was also in her second Olympics after Athens' double gold medals four years ago.
"Of course, it's the winner always has the say. I do regret of the result. I think I can break those archers before me, but not this time. It's a good experience for me and for other South Korean archers in the future.
"It's Ok not to win. In this way, the newcomers will get less pressurized. Our archers in South Korea will compete in better mental conditions and get better results," added Park."

So it looks like the Koreans will not let this happen again but unless they learn not to fold, I see more golds in the future for non-Koreans.


I've been shooting since I was around seven, no one is exactly sure when I started. I can't remember a time when my family wasn't involved in archery. At this point, I don't shoot much after an injury to my shoulder. It's pretty painful for me to shoot, even though I really want to. I tried to shoot this summer but ended giving up in tears. It's pretty hard to sit in an archery range all day and not be able to do something that is such a large part of my life and my family's life.


Anyway, yesterday I got to hang out with my friend Ray who I get to see only about once a year. We were best friends in high school and drove to school together everyday for the last two years. When other friends and I went out separate ways for whatever reasons, Ray was always there!

So I was pretty excited to see him for lunch. We went to TGIFriday's and enjoyed a nice lunch with a horrible waiter. Talked about what we've been up to and what we're both studying. I felt like I was talking too much but Ray didn't seem to mind, not that he ever really did though! He's in a five year program for Engineering and stayed to do research this summer with a professor.

After lunch we went to ColdStone Creamery, where I had some amazing raspberry sorbet. Then went to the store and relaxed and talked. We also listened to the Savage Love podcast because Ray was a little confused about how my last semester ended . It still makes me smile.

I also got an email from Jacques Louisin, my exchange coordinator. Housing is all set and I think I might be able to arrive one day early to my dorm instead of couchsurfing with another Montpellier III student.

Now that I don't have babysitting in the morning, I can get things done that I want, like exercising or figuring out the last things I need for France. Or even working on my French. I'm a little bit worried about my French because my skills have greatly decreased since I left school. I don't get to speak it here at all because I don't know anyone that has enough language skill to hold a conversation in French. I have a few friends that took French with me or took it in high school but none of them have enough to have a conversation that's anything more complicated than tourist stuff. Hopefully the Paris week will help me with a more gradual transition into French versus the other exchange students.

They're all arriving in Montpellier directly from their homes on the 4th. Then we have to do all of our meetings and planning things that day and the next in French, along with applying for the Carte de Sejour and all that. I think taking a week in Paris to adjust to the time change and be gradual put into French will be better. Well I hope!

I'll be with a bunch of English speakers and then be surrounded by French otherwise. Hopefully it wont be like my family's trip to Montreal, where everyone spoke in English to us automatically.

The treadmill is calling...

Two Weeks and Counting.

So it's exactly two weeks and I'll be on my first plane to France, stopping in lovely Iceland. It seemed so far away and now it's finally here!!

This weekend was probably my last at the Beach House for the summer and so we ended it with a bang. A sunburned bang to be exact! I chose to go to Crane's Beach, a hop by car away from our house, where I enjoyed the foggy, just perfect weather. It wasn't too hot, not too cold, just right. The only problem with just right weather is it tricks you into not putting on sunscreen. I put it on my arms and stomach and thighs, forgetting my lower back and backs of my thighs and face. Of course, being the Irish I am, I am now burnt in those places. Not horribly but still slightly uncomfortable. We went home after stopping for my favorite apple donuts at the farm on the way home and spent the evening watching South Pacific which my Mom was horrified to know I'd never seen.

The next day we lazed around and watched the Olympics but not archery, as it never makes it on tv. We left around noon time and stopped off at the New England Mobile Bookfair. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but it's a gigantic warehouse of shelves upon shelves of books organized by publisher. Everything is a pretty large percentage off so it's the best place for me to go! I bought three new moleskines, a planner, an address book and a new journal, and a tiny little guide to Paris published by Blue Guides. It's their art/shop/eat series and gives a bit more info on the main sites and restos while being tiny enough to slip into a jeans pocket. Even a girl's back pocket, as tiny as it is! I haven't browsed through it all yet but it seems perfect.

I've been planning a bit more about my trip, trying to find out more info about tickets and combo tickets and times. My Let's Go guide for Western Europe is probably the worst thing to bring with me. Many of the times or prices are a bit off. Not vastly but the August hours are not what is posted on the monument's websites. But of course, I'm sure they've changed and all so I can't be too annoyed.

After the Moblie Bookfair we went to get a nibble at Fresh City, a yuppie sandwich shop that makes a mean organic hummus veggie sandwich. Definitely not a meal but a nice snack to split. I'm still a rabid meat-eater and probably always will be.

We couldn't go the way we wanted on the busy street out of Fresh City and ended up turning around in the EMS parking lot. "Why don't you go look at the jackets?" my Mom suggested because I've been looking for the perfect coat for a while without finding anything.

It had to be stylish, warm enough for Austria in the winter, waterproof, but still be able to do the brisk chill of windy spring. A cover-all jacket. And surprisingly I found one. I went and looked at the 70% off and lower rack and found a Orage Chole II jacket on sale for $139, normally $250. Jackets last a few years so I thought, why not, and decided to buy it. I'll put up pictures I'm sure at some point, but it's a tan plaid jacket with a white zip-out soft-shell. Pretty nifty for so cheap. It was so expensive that the draw ties were wrapped in tissue paper. I thought that was a bit overkill but whatever. Still interesting.

Then we finally came home and went food shopping. When we came home we had a nice family dinner and cheered on Phelps. About to set down to a movie, my brother got a call from his boss at the resto he works at about how the only other cook was getting fired. He started swearing at the top of his lungs, now being the only chef left. We keep trying to convince him to leave the place because it's so awful and they don't respect him at all there and don't pay him nearly enough. We finally had him convinced after two hours of talking. He felt obligated because the resto couldn't run without him and his co-workers would be out of jobs.

Come to find out his boss got laid off and they didn't fire the other cook. And thus, my brother is thinking about staying. Back to square one. My parents are really stressed out about my brother and whether or not he can survive on his own and if he can make ends meet. Right now he can't at this job. He couldn't pay rent and all his bills at this point. I really hope he pursues another job like he says he's going to. It worries me. Will he ever move out?

So tomorrow morning I have a fasting blood test and right now I'm starving. I see cookies calling to me. Even salad, I don't care. I'm just so hungry! I guess sleep is the best remedy to that.

Missing my "Old" Buddy.

So I rented a DVD but found that when my computer killed itself it also killed my DVD player and I do not have a disk for it. It came with my computer I guess because I didn't buy it. Now I have a DVD and no way to watch it tonight, as the TV is occupied. Guess I'll sort it out tomorrow. But I need to fix this before I leave for France!

Today was also a bit nerve-twisting. I received a message from another girl, Kirsten, going to Montpellier with me about housing. In our first email from our International Services person, Jacques, he wrote about our stipends and housing: "Housing is paid by Monique + stipend of 260 euros/month on your bank account (I can "pre-open" it if you give me a copy of your passport showing the visa stamp). The students must confirm their booking on line (by June)."

And thus, I thought it was about money not housing because Jacques is talking about money in this bullet point, non? But alas, Kirsten thought it might be about housing, which makes a lot more sense as you can't exactly get a bank account up and running without being there (or maybe you can with this pre-open deal? not sure how that works). So we both panicked a bit! I called her and we talked about it and I reassured her that ISEP is in a contract to give us housing and that this will be fulfilled. I said it really to more convince myself it was going to work out.

We talked for a while about our jitters and our plans, what we're bringing and if we should meet at the train station and go to the school together. After a while, and probably using all of my minutes for the month, I hung up a bit more confident of my French skills and ready to get going. If Ben Molini can go to France for a semester with very little French, I can do it with eight years of learning.

I messaged all the people I know going to Montpellier and got a call from Mayra and she told me she once emailed Jacques about it and never got a reply. Meanwhile I have two emails out to Jacques about things he hasn't replied to yet so I asked her when she sent it and it was shortly after we got our first email, sometime in late May. Also, he had replied to other emails she sent about other questions.

So my thinking is that it isn't important, we still have housing and also that Jacques possibly made a mistake and is ignoring it so he doesn't have to live up to it. By the culture books I've buried myself in this summer it seems about right for what a lot of researchers say about French reactions to mistakes. For one, you don't say, "I'm sorry" when you make a simple mistake but rather "Pardon."

Anyway, moving on to better things. Well, at least more interesting than my mindless worries!

I found out today that the winemakers in the Montpellier region are on strike and as it turns out, a pretty violent one by American standards, though I think normal ones for the French. I'm not sure when harvest time is for grapes for wine but shouldn't they be picking rather than striking?

Also, I found a pretty nifty thing on Assistants in France, a nice little forum of English language assistants going to France talking about French things and preparing to go teach, someone posted about a podcast about French Idioms.

http://www.katiaandkyliemac.com/
I'm listening to all of their "Learn French" ones, which about idioms, but they also have two others, one about travel and another that talks about random words.

At this point I'm writing out of books to read about France. I mean, a lot of them are exactly the same. "Oh poor me, I'm moving to retire/marry a sexy Frenchman/hang out in France. How will I ever adapt?!?" And then through a lot of awkward moments and Anti-Frog sentiment they come to love their new home. Yes, this is probably what this blog will get to but at least this is for people who actually might know me and therefore have a personal connection. I don't know these random author's little tweaks so these books get a little old after a while.

I am still shying away from history, which is bad I know as I know very little about French history. But even so, I'm not interested in history in English. So reading French history (in English as the French versions are very expensive) is not exactly my idea of fun. And there is a grammar book sitting at my side waiting to be worked on. Shame on me.

Now, back to listening to two lovely Anglo-Francophones!

Finally Offical.

So I'd say things are finally official. I have my ticket to Paris, STA finally sent it back and I got it yesterday. Today I bought my ticket from SCNF, which is actually a pretty complicated process.

The SCNF is the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français, in other words, the French national railway. Unlike in the US where you can buy things from a bunch of different places, they are the final stop in train tickets. But being an American it's a bit different process to get your ticket outside of France.

The first option is to buy it from RailEurope.com, which is obviously more expensive because they're not SCNF. Processing fees and profit factor in!

So here's your steps to buying your ticket while not actually in France.

Number One.
Get your American credit card ready. Visa or Amex, I didn't see if they did Mastercard?

Number Two.
Select your train. If you are under 26 you can get a Carte 12-25, which saves you anywhere between 25% and even up to 60% off the ticket price. Don't believe me? Just check. Also, buying it two months in advance saves money too! DO NOT BUY IT THE DAY OF. Look at the prices for today's. They're outrageous. note: online is cheaper than at the station.
For the Carte, you don't need the number to reserve your ticket because they only check it when you're actually on the train/at the desk. Put country to pick it up in as France.

Number Three.
Pay and print out all your papers of confirmation and itinerary. You never know!

Number Four.
Get to France and your train station. Watch out in Paris. There are a bunch. Make sure to get the right one by checking your train route by the train number.

Number Five.
At the correct station find the little man/woman inside the ticket box. Buy a Carte 12-25. You'll need your passport, an id size photo (possibly two?), the card you used online to buy the card, and your address in France (or fake one, whatever). Another option is to get it taken care of at a SCNF store. Not sure how that works or where they are. I tried to find one in Paris without much luck?

Number Six.
Get your ticket! Give the little box person your reservation number, handily printed out on those papers and voila! One ticket for wherever your travels take you!


Okay, so I wont swear by this as I obviously haven't tried it yet. But everyone told me this is the way to do it. Make sure you pay for the ticket online otherwise they only keep if for a week in the box. I hope it works or I'm out 30E80!

Some other hints I picked up today. Bank of America does their fees for foreign purchases by first converting it to dollars and then applying a 3% rate (I have no idea if this is for all cards and I doubt it). So for my purchase of 30E80, I paid something like 47$. You can check for your own card, at BOA or otherwise, in either those little papers they send with the card or online. If you can't find it in your online banking, check in the space where people apply for cards.

Also BOA is part of a world ATM alliance with BNP Paribus, which means you can withdraw from their ATMS for free with just the conversion rate. Supposedly. But we'll see how that works when I get there.


On to more fun things.

A family that comes in for Saturday class at the shop visits France pretty often, the father studied in Lorraine in high school I think. So I spoke with the mom today about places I should visit while in Paris. She highly recommended the Musee Picasso, which was something I wanted to see if we had time. Picasso couldn't pay his taxes in his old age and thus gave his private collection to the city to pay it off. It's basically almost all of his work stages and shows the progression of his life's work. Pretty cool huh? She also asked if I'd bring or send her back a poster of the Sacre Coeur that Picasso painted that she just can't find anywhere else. I just looked it up online and it looks pretty intense.

She also gave me an awesome suggestion to go to the Eiffel Tour just before it lights up, as it flickers for about ten minutes (quite possibly the inspiration for the new Disney World Cinderella's Castle night show). Elena promised to bring pictures next time to show me. She also mentioned an apparently awesome ice cream place on Ile St-Louis. That we will hit up after Notre-Dame!

Right now I'm talking to AJ online and looking at packing lists of other students and assistants (people who go teach English in French schools) and people are complaining about only having 20kg of packing weight. I get 50lbs (32kg) for each of my two bags. I have no idea what airlines they're flying with but still, annually I bring two bags home that are less than that from Hendrix. Given, I did ship a lot this year but most of that will not be coming. Or I'll be buying it in France. I think they have highlighters, non? ;)

A Huge Stack.

Of papers that is! This morning, as I don't go into work now till my mom comes home to pick me up, I cleaned out my super messy room and assembled all of my papers for France. It's a huge stack of about 50 pages. Pretty ridiculous. But then again it is a life. All those papers are needed, plus more, to prove you are a person in France.

On the way home from work last night we stopped off at the bookstore and I finally found a good guide book for the south of France. Most only include Provence and Cote D'Azur. Not what I need. And the books that typically include the Languedoc have only a page on Montpellier. Even the Michelin only had three pages with very little info on things I'll want to check out.

But Cadogan Guides publishes a pretty informative "South of France" which includes all of the south. I mean from Spain all the way to Italy! It was only 20$, compared to tiny guide books that are a few bucks more that have so much less. It has 13 pages on Montpellier, including a full-page map of the city center. I plan on getting a city map from the tourist office or buying a nice one when I get there. I wish Moleskine made a city guide for Montpellier. I used one in San Francisco over spring break and it was the handiest thing ever. It had places to write addresses and reflections as well as really detailed maps with every street marked.

Anyway, this guide also has a hefty front section with local history and culture for the south. Pretty handy if you ask me! I'll definitely read it when I get a chance.

I also picked up a tiny guide book for Paris. Only being there 7 days (after travel) doesn't leave me much time to see anything more than the really big sites, the ones I've learned about for years in French class. So I got a bare basics one made by Knopf in their Mapguides series. It has 8 fold-out pages of maps and the main sites marked. Plus a subway map and general info. For instance, the Louvre is free for under 26ers on Fridays. So I think we'll be going there Friday!

Last night I wrote down a list of the places I want to see and thought about how we could get to see them all. I really would like to see Versailles but that might be a stretch as it's pretty far away and kind of expensive. I think they're having a special event there while we'll be in Paris but I'm not sure exactly.

And by we I mean a ragtag group! Lukas from Germany is coming and meeting me in Paris and we'll be staying together in Hotel de Belfort, over by the Pere Lachaise cemetery. Kind of a bit east of where we wanted to be but it's a steal money wise. Then there's Sebastien, who lives in Paris and goes to the Sorbonne. He studied at Hendrix two years ago. Then Julie, another Hendrix student, is staying with Sebastien for the week. She's on her way to go study in Germany, at the uni of another former Hendrix exchange student, Dominik, who came the same year as Sebastien. Julie and Sebastien are going to visit him, leaving the day after I have to be in Montpellier.

There's also a slight possibility that there might be another Lukas, from Austria, to join us. I haven't heard back from him yet but that would be a lot of fun to see him. He was an exchange student last year and we took economics together. We were neck and neck for the highest score and ended out being exactly even at the end of the semester. Though we did make a little game out of it!

Still in the book realm, I finally got my copy of Cultural Misunderstandings by Raymonde Carroll. I sadly had to get the translated version as the French version was really expensive. I haven't read more than a page but it looks really interesting.

So today is the first of August. It felt like this month would never get here. August always seemed so far away. I've waited about nine years to go to France, ever since I first started studying it. My fantasy trip was never given an exact date till recently and until August hit, it sure didn't feel like I am really going away to France for a year.

I remember starting college and saying I was done studying French. I moved on to German. I sucked at German, more really studying German. So I switched to French back mid-semester. Hated the class because poor Pierre was sick and didn't really teach. Told myself I wouldn't continue. But I did. Huh, how about that?