The sweet sweet unemployment lifestyle

As luck would have it, I got laid off..from an internship!  Not really sure how it happened, but I'm rolling with the punches, babysitting, and enjoying some time off.  Here's what I've been doing:

1) Making friends with people in costumes:

Exhibit A: Abe Lincoln @ Nationals Game

Exhibit B: Buddha @ BYT Rave Pool Party

2) Eating and drinking

Exhibit A: Boating at Otis Reservoir in MA

Exhibit B: Things I've cooked so far this week:

-Delish pizza with summer squash, zucchini, tomato, basil and cheddar on a garlic herb crust.

-Harvest grains salad and spinach with pine nuts

-Homemade strawberry jam

3) Becoming an expert at urban picnicking

Exhibit A: Screen on the Green

Exhibit B: Fort Reno Park concerts

Exhibit C: Jazz in the Sculpture Garden @ National Gallery of Art

4) Watch movies

Exhibit A: aforementioned Screen on the Green: so far: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Dog Day Afternoon

Exhibit B: Free redbox code:

-Rachel Getting Married, Confessions of a Shopaholic

Exhibit C: Free screenings, borrowing DVDs, and friends who work at movie theaters

-Harry Potter, 500 Days of Summer, Julie & Julia, Breakin: Electric Boogaloo 2, American Teen

So if you've ever wondered how an unemployed 20 year old might spend her time...now you know.  And really, what else could you ever need (besides money)? 

On U.S. Soil!

Unfortunately my first U.S. experience in four months is occurring in the Philly airport: luckily I have not spotted any mice yet, (you may remember that when my flight was delayed for 7 hours on the way here, I was in a mouse-infested area. eww).  Also luckily, they have free internet, so I can make use of my extra-long layover and recap my last few days in Paris.

I spent my last week revisiting some of my favorite places in Paris: the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, Luxembourg and Tuileries Gardens, and of course the Eiffel Tower.  I ate crepes, fondue, frog legs (!!!), and quiche.  I spent my last night sitting on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower, drinking wine with friends and watching it sparkle.  

I sad goodbye to my friends (sad), and goodbye to Paris (worse).  I said goodbye to my host family (though they were great, this wasn't as hard).  I don't think I can put into words what an amazing experience my four months studying abroad were.  I showed up speaking basically no French, and now I can get by just fine on my own.  I still can't quite believe that I lived with a French family for four months and spoke only French to them!

I think what I am even more proud of beyond developing my language skills is that I have become much more independent and confident in my capabilities.  It certainly was not easy: I was the only one in my program who lived outside of the city, I got harassed more often because my red hair makes me look very, very not French and therefore a fun target for creepers, and the whole language barrier thing didn't help either!  This was the first time that I have lived without a roommate I was close with: that means I suffered through all of the 4am night bus rides followed by 8am classes all on my own.  Luckily...the negative things are few and far between in comparison to all of the positives.  I am so lucky that I was able to do something so enlightening and enriching at such a young age.  

I'm about to catch my flight home to Connecticut (I instinctively typed Paris first...), and I can't wait to spend the next week and a half catching up with family and friends (and also catching up on sleep..and American culture...and seeing Molly!)  Then, it's off to DC to intern   I'll report back soon on my reverse-culture-shock observations and also with my pictures from the past week, as the two I've put here are stolen from a friend!

You know you've been in France for a while when..

A metro strike doesn't even phase you anymore! 

The first metro strike was a huge deal, and they've become subsequently less and less significant for me: I just leave half an hour earlier than normal and hope for the best, I don't have any other options!  Now that we all know what metro lines to avoid on strike days..they don't seem like a big deal at all.  I'm used to it by now: just like I'm used to showing up to the bus stop only to see that there won't be a bus at all that day because a demonstration is blocking the bus route.

Another confirmation of my being in France: during my four hour exam on Saturday, we weren't allowed to go to the bathroom, drink, or eat, but when the girl next to me raised her hand and begged to be let out of class to smoke a cigarette, the professor let her! 

On more personal terms.. I know I've been living with a host family for a while when I don't even blink an eye when my dinner consists of: a hard boiled egg, raw radishes, and cauliflower baked with bacon bits.  Only just now, an hour later, did I realize how bizarre of a meal that was.   

A curiously American week so far

My week has felt so American thus far!  Today everyone in the program had our first and only paper of the semester due.  Since none of us have had to write anything since December, it was quite a challenge and even though it was nowhere near as difficult as some of the papers I've done, it took me forever!  For once I actually appreciated the awful weather because forcing myself to write would have been harder if it was beautiful out.

I wrote it on the introduction of coffee in Paris, the mass opening of cafes and coffee houses, and how cafes and coffee have been intertwined with Parisian history.  It was interesting, but lots of research.

Yesterday for lunch, a few of us went to a place called Breakfast in America.  We were all craving pancakes and wow- they were great!  There's a few other American-style places here but this is the first I've been to...

Tonight I'm going to a friend's apartment for dinner which should be nice.  My host mom isn't the best cook so I am REALLY looking forward to going home where my Mom will cook for me (when I am home) and I can actually cook for myself in D.C.  Having no control over what I have for dinner is getting kind of old.

So there you have it-- a week quite like a week in DC- writing papers and eating American food with friends!  Of course, I couldn't go a full four days without doing some exploring, so I spent some time reading in the Arenes de Lutece.  Lutecia was the name for Paris when it was first settled by the Roman empire.  The Arenes de Lutece are the remnants of the coliseum-style amphitheater, now it is a public park.

 

Yum!

Lovely family friend and former French teacher Lucy (say that 10 times fast!) sent a real treat for me when my parents came!  The book Paris by Pastry by Joyce Slayton Mitchell is all about "stalking the sweet life on the streets of Paris"- just my kind of book! 

I can't decide if the gift was a blessing or a curse because I don't exactly want to return to the U.S. in the form of a whale!  Of course I've enjoyed plenty of delicious pastries thus far but this book really sets apart the champagne from the sparkling wine, if you know what I mean.  Yesterday, I checked out my first Patisserie-Boulangerie from the book which was about 5 minutes away from my classroom.  I got a Chocolatine Amandes which was basically like a crushed chocolate croissant dusted with confectioners sugar, with almonds on top.  YUM!  Thanks Lucy, but I blame you if I come back in whale form!

This weekend I am off to Interlaken, Switzerland.  As you can imagine, the town takes its name because it is situated between two lakes.  Several friends have been there before and I am so excited to see the Swiss Alps!  Did you know I have always said I wanted to honeymoon in Switzerland?  

No honeymoon this time around but I am meeting  my friend Kim there!  She is all done with her program in Madrid and ready for one more adventure before she heads home.  

Refuge des JERKS!

It was bound to happen.  With all of the ranting and raving Americans like to do about how rude the French are, I really hadn't encountered much rudeness at all.  Perhaps it's because I'm already used to the brusqueness of living in a city from being in D.C., or maybe because I at least attempt to speak French to them, but most people I come across on a day to day basis are perfectly present. 

Unluckily, one man effectively balanced out my perspective last night.  A group of us went to a fondue restaurant that is known for serving wine in baby bottles: I'm not sure why, but they do and it sounded fun.  Our waiter was an extremely disgruntled 70 year old who decided to rant to us about how Americans have drinking problems, and then would not let any of us order a second glass of wine.  He kept counting the amount of bottles left on our table, and as soon as someone finished theirs he would snatch it up off the table: this was easy because he LITERALLY stood at the end of our table watching us very awkwardly the entire time.

We later found out that he was obsessing over the possibility of one of us stealing a baby bottle.  We all started getting frustrated and in a rush to leave because of how rude he was.  As we were leaving, he decided to single me out, block me from exiting, and insisted on searching through my bag!  At this point I just desperately wanted to leave and since I obviously hadn't stolen a baby bottle, I sighed and started taking my bag off of my shoulder.  

The waiter then decided that I wasn't being quick enough and yells at me to hurry up before he calls the police!  WHAT!?  Then, when he is going through my bag, he grabs my water bottle triumphantly but when he pulls it out and see that it is, in fact, NOT a baby bottle as I was trying to tell him the whole time, he just gives me a dirty look but finally lets me leave.

I have never been happier to leave somewhere in my life!  Refuge de Fondue certainly made my list of places I'd recommend to my worst enemy!  Also, I would just like to question why this man chose me as the one he was most likely to catch with a stolen baby bottle!  I've never stolen anything in my life!