La Manche

I'm back in Europe, but this time on the other side of the channel ... Clovis never was king, although later French kings believed they were kings of England, so I've made a new blog: http://bedebeowulfandblastendedskrewts.wordpress.com .

One Year Later

A year ago today I arrived in Paris. Meera and I found each other in the airport, and we made our first venture into the seizieme arrondissement. I remember when Meera got out of the taxi, I felt as though I might never see her again. We didn't have cell phones yet, and I had not yet found my way the three blocks from the Camurats to her host family's appartment.

I didn't know Holly yet, and I had not yet ever seen Reid Hall. I was not even excited to be in Paris yet -- I was just tired and a little disoriented.

A year later, what I wouldn't give to be back in my first day in Paris. I am so jealous of my friends who are just leaving for semester abroad now -- I didn't know then, and I don't think I knew for a lot of my time there, how much my view of the U.S. and my life here would be altered.

Being back in Berkeley this semester was ultimately wonderful -- how can Berkeley not be wonderful? But it was really difficult at first to go back after having done something so different. I felt kind of dissatisfied at first, and I really missed the group learning experience that I had with my American friends. I never quite knew what was going on while I was in France, and when Meera and I left to travel, I really didn't know what was going on. In Berkeley, I often feel as though I will never accomplish what is expected of me, but at least I usually know what I'm aiming for.

Heading into my last semester is strange. I have a thesis to write (oh goodness!) and just a lot of things to finish up, I guess. I'm scared to almost be done, but Sonia mentioned to me at the beginning of the year, and in many ways I totally agree, that it already feels like it's not quite our school anymore and we're working on moving on while watching other people come into our places.

I guess I have a lot of challenges left in the U.S., but I can't be more happy that I took the time to try something very different. Sometimes I feel as though I live the same way I did before going to Paris, but then I realize that that isn't true. I'm jealous of my friends who are just about to start that adventure. I've never enjoyed anything so much.

The Bowl

Ok I lied. But I want to write about a recent trip to Berkeley Bowl and maybe it fits in with a general theme of cultural differences?

So Berkeley Bowl is an independent supermarket that recently got press in the L.A. Times for being rather unusual. I don't go that frequently -- I live in a coop afterall -- but they have fabulous produce, and it is a nice place to buy all sorts of goodies. Usually I go to the supermarket first thing on Sunday mornings -- I run down and walk back. Last week, I ran down to Berkeley Bowl thinking that I had gotten a rather late start and showed up around 9:30 only to find that the store doesn't open until 10am on Sundays. What surprised me most though was that the parking lot was already full and there was a throng or a hord or just a lot of people waiting outside on a Sunday morning to go to the supermarket. I joined them and waited for fresh produce and honey yogurt.

From Paris to Berzerkeley

Orientation: I am back in Berkeley after spending five weeks at home in Newton. Class started on Wednesday, and I am procrastinating a large amount of reading and Latin and German homework by writing my promised blog post ... I don't know if I can start at the beginning of Meera's and my trip anymore because there was simply too much to say and too much time has past.

I think the pictures might be the best I can do description-wise ... Four weeks is a long time to recount, but I'll give my favorite things:

1. Naxos: Meera and I flew to Athens the day after we finished class. We stayed overnight in the most horrible hostel of the entire trip. There were cockroaches, it was unbelievably hot (Athens remains above 90 degrees at night), and the toilet was so incredibly smelly that we would wake up in the middle of the night and say "Did I really just wake up because I smell poop? I guess I did." Fortunately, we left first thing in the morning and headed to Naxos, one of the Cyclades islands. It was incredibly beautiful. We stayed in Naxos town and went to the beach every day. We also took a day trip to the interior to Apeiranthos, however, which is a tiny olive-growing village with marble sidewalks on a hillside. We took an incredibly rickety old bus that stopped randomly throughout the countryside to let people on and off seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The old man who collected tickets took a shine to me and Meera and spent the entire trip trying to explain what we were passing to us, unfortunately mostly in Greek ...

When we got to Apeiranthos, we took a walk into a little valley, and then we went looking for the archaeological museum. We went to an archaeological museum in Naxos town which was really cool because it was just sort of a jumble of really old ruins that people had dug up in their back yards. We didn't succeed in finding the archaeological museum in Apeiranthos though. Instead, we found the anthropological museum, which consisted of two tiny rooms, one of which was decorated entirely in doilies. That was very amazing.

2. Delphi: The museum has beautiful ruins, it is cool to actually be at the ancient shrine, we met a retired Scottish man who told us that he had been on a trip on the east coast of America and had gone to "Viagra falls", and Mont Parnassus looks out on the most beautiful bay. What more could you want?

3. Rome. I don't know what exactly to say, but I love this city. It is beautiful, lively and full of amazing museums. I went to the Villa Borghesie for the first time, and I saw Bernini's Appollo and Daphne. It was incredible. I also went to Ostia Antica which was amazing. It is now a few miles from the sea, but when Claudius was emperor, it was the port of Rome -- amazing! It is also very complete and huge. For those who love Pompei (as I do), Ostia Antica was amazing. A friend of mine who was doing research in Rome was also really kind to me and Meera and had us over for lunch, which was really fun.

4. Verona and Carmen: Meera's parents were in Italy at the same time as us, and they were really nice and invited me to go with them to Verona and Venice, both of which were amazing. They were incredibly kind. AND, we saw Carmen in the amphitheater in Verona. It was beautiful.

5. Avignon: Sur le pont d'Avignon ... Who knew that the pont d'Avignon was originally one of the only ways to cross the Rhone and was the bridge between the kingdom of France and Provence. And the landscape is just beautiful.

6. Bastille Day: Meera and I headed back to Paris on July 14, the French independance day. We went with Sonia, Mark, and some of their friends to the fireworks at the Eiffel tower, which were choreographed to opera. It was beautiful and such a fabulous way to end my time in France.

The day I came back to the U.S. felt strangely triumphant. I was positive it would be terrible, but from the help Sonia's dad gave me with getting my suitcases to the RER to my smooth ride through passport control and customs in both France and the U.S., everything went well. In the end, I was just incredibly happy to be back at home with my family.

I was really smelly, and I think Meera's and my trip inured me to wearing dirty clothes (so what if everything I'm wearing smells like sweat? My entire suitcase smells like sweat ...)

But, I don't think I realized really until coming back to Berkeley, not even Boston, what a large effect being in France and then Europe really has had on me. Rather than flipping out that I wasn't settled in immediatly when I got back here, I was totally fine with living out of a suitcase and being rather transient -- I guess four weeks of that had something of an impact. (And where is Meera? After eight months living down the street or in the same room, Ann Arbor seems even farther than before!) Also, things that should be familiar and easy just somehow don't seem quite right to me ... I guess this is what you call reverse culture shock ... I even find going to the supermarket stressful though -- to bag my own groceries or not to bag?

The best thing about coming back is seeing all the people that I missed. I'm content in the U.S. for a while now -- I am an American -- this year has made me really realize that. I'm excited for the election and I rooted for the U.S. in the Olympics. Still, I can already feel that I might be itching to explore again ...

Thanks for sticking with me through it all! I'll write more when next I start exploring ;)

Pictures:
1. Meera and her parents in Mantua
2. The grand canal in Venice after quite a rainstorm
3. Nice from above -- we never did find that life-sized chess board!
4. Meera with the pont d'Avignon below her
5. Sonia at the Place de la Bastille, on Bastille day of course!
6. Meera at Naxos in front of a temple to Appollo
7. A street in Apeiranthos
8. I can prove I've been the the Parthenon!
9. Me at Delphi
10. Meera at the Colloseum

After all Miss, this is France!

Recently I remembered this lyric from "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast, and Holly and I have talked about how this line can explain a lot of things here. When I don't understand how something works, well, after all, this is France ...

But listening to Beauty and the Beast on my iPod today while I was studying, I realized that I am soon no longer going to be the country that is home of the "little town -- it's a quiet village," which is my favorite thing to sing as soon as I leave Paris. I guess I'll have to take advantage of that in Provence!

I am pretty sure this will be the last post for a long time. This Friday I am going to take a plane to Athens. I have already given up a lot of my clothes to a friend to store while I'm gone (let the smelliness begin ...) and my last final is on Tuesday followed by my last class on Wednesday. This final is terrifying though -- I am given a question and then given 15 minutes to prepare a 10 minute oral response. I'm so scared!

This week I was able still to go to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont and to make a pilgrimage to Pere Lachaise cemetery to see Abelard and Heloise' grave. I also stopped by the park down the street where I broke my leg when I was two. The slide on which I broke it is gone now though ;)

Tomorrow night, my host family is starting up wine degustations again for the summer semester -- It's a perfect way to end my stay, but it also makes me feel as though it's time for me to move on -- new things are starting and I have to move on too. I have loved it here and I am really excited for my immediate travels, but I am ready to continue on. In the next few days though, I intend to tie up my loose ends and then visit some of my favorite places -- Musee de Cluny and Bois de Boulogne here I come!

I'm off for about a month now! I hope everyone is well! I miss you all a lot, and I'll be back in Boston on July 16!!
bisous!

Aurevoir?

I think this will be one of my last posts before Meera and I head on our trip to Greece, Italy and the South of France and then we head home. (I will post again next weekend anyway if not more than that, but I have only 12 days left!) I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm going to keep writing once I get back to the U.S., although I will try to post at least once about Meera's and my trip. Trying to tie up some of what I feel about my time here, I'm going to make a list of some (only some!) of the things that I will miss about Paris (in no particular order).

1. Bread
2. Taking the metro across the Seine almost every day
3. The Bois de Boulogne
4. The Musee de Cluny
5. Proximity to chateaux and medieval monasteries
6. My host family
7. Saying hello and goodbye every time I enter and exit a store
8. Reid Hall
9. A culture where looking forward to dinner all day is ok
10. speaking French
11. Walking around at night
12. Feeling slightly out of the loop constantly and therefore like I'm constantly learning
13. Everybody at Reid Hall
14. Living a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower
15. Feeling like I'm slightly confused constantly, but that I've also learned at least how to be an American who lives in Paris, if not an actual Parisian
16. The sun sets so late and rises so early!
17. Having constant access to some of the best and most interesting museums in the world
That's not it by any means, but I'll add more as I things come to me.

Things I am excited about in the U.S. :
1. Going to the supermarket on Sunday!
2. Peanut butter that doesn't cost an arm and a leg
3. Libraries that are open frequently and for long hours
4. Lending libraries
5. Not being embarrassed to speak English
6. A currency of DOLLARS!!!
7. Waiting for less than 1/2 an hour to check out in the supermarket
8. Feeling like I know culturally how most things work
9. Not always being in the hustle and bustle of the city
10. Being in the same time zone as many of my friends and only 3 hours off from most of the rest of them
11. Having a cell phone that I can actually talk on
12. Feeling only mildly overwhelmed at school
13. Buying toiletries at normal prices
14. Seeing the Citgo sign when I fly into Boston and the bay when I get back to Berkeley
15. Writing in ENGLISH!
16. Not taking class at more than one school at once
17. Knowing whether or not I am saying what I think I'm saying

Again this is by no means everything, and I didn't even mention things that are always true -- seeing my family and friends and just generally going back to studying and everything in Berkeley. I always miss Berkeley when I'm in Boston and vice versa when I'm in Berkeley, so I tried to focus on small things that contrast with Paris. I guess it seems like I am going to miss the effort to fit into a culture that isn't my own, but at the same time, I'm going to be really relieved to be back in my own culture.

Quick Expression of Disbelief

Am I really flying to Greece and moving out of Paris two weeks from tomorrow?! I don't believe it!