Courtyard Picnic

This word will be repeated so many times from now on. We had a picnic last week, or the week before I guess, with Noemie and other people that joined later in the Sciences Po courtyard. Beautiful weather and Noemie made the best food.. I had forgotten how much I liked caramelized onions and now I'm addicted to them on everything as well. She also made an apple pie, oh! Can't even remember, it's painful how much I want to have that right now. We also got some beers, cause we thought since there was a patry going on organized by the Bureau des Arts that drinks ouwld be around and sold..... nobody else was drinking but that didn't stop us. That's how we roll.





















Bridgette and I then headed to Menilmontant,where I wanted to get some of the books I mentioned in the last post (I actually wanted another one but it was too big and heavy to carry back to CR-Vancouver unfortunately). Crossed the river, saw the usual cafe terrace scenes you get with this type of weather around Saint Germain, got to Menilmontant, etc. This quartier has become my new favorite. Ever since I did my project on Parisian street art I've read a lot about it and my appreciation grew for this place. I think of it as my new Faubourg Saint Denis, although I think that will always be my favorite street in Paris because of all the good times (and really bad, akwards, creepy ones) spent there by myself and with friends.

Rue de Seine

La Seine

Menilmontant

These metro stations in the north that I love and hate. Ligne 2.

Readings

Finished school, or, at least finished handing in assignments, so now I can really choose what I want to read and I've done it. Actually, I got a little overexcited and now I have so much to read I'm not reading. But they're waiting there, by my bed, and I'll start devouring some pages soon.

So, lists.. I love them. this is my reading list for the next week(s):


-Beaux Arts special on the Manet Exhibit



-Book Paris Sous Tension



-Magazine Le Tigre



-Photo Book Mai 68 d'une Photographe



-And as soon as I finish this, I spotted my next acquisiton today at the press stand. The hors serie edition of Le Monde featuring Simone de Beauvoir.

La Defense and Around Town

Trying to catch up in chronological order now. My batery charger for some strabge reason disappeared, well actually its not so mysterious because I lost it while moving in/out (one of the many times, I'm an expert on the matter since 2008). Anyways! That's why I have a lot of photos in my camera that can't be uploaded here yet... but I'll try filling the gaps with other people's pictures.

So Yuna was over here last weekend (can you see we're running a guest house? And this is nothing, we have like 34536475857 guests in June). We did so many things, those touristy often times boring annoying ones, but also cool ones. I did have to stay in lines for hours to get into the Louvre (yuck) and the Musee d'Orsay just to stand in crowds while the raging masses try to take pictures with the frames they can recognize. I'm a snob, and hate this kind of things.

Ok now to pretty things. The weather was beautiful, so great... so it was nice walking around, we had a great group of people over for Sunday brunch, we biked, ate ice cream, yummmm....

And another great thing... I finally went to La Defense! Had been wanting to for months, ever since Hjalte and his mom went and told us it was really impressive. We were just talking on the couch Saturday afternoon (Y, B and I) and then decided to head off there and explore what it was all about. We saw the sunset, walked on top of a cemetery and got a view from the arch all the way to the Arc de Triomphe.

Here are some of Yuna's pics from La Defense and her stay in general.


Night walk aroudn Sacre Coeur, a beautiful view.



Walking towards the Louvre, 30 degrees.




Those maddening crowds I mentioned. That was the Mona Lisa bien sur.



Yuna took this shot of the apartment which I really liked.


Bastille Metro.



The Arch of La Defese.



There's a cemetery right below this.



Yeahh

Peaceeee

Velib and Canal

Bridgette's friend Vannessa stayed at our place about three weeks ago, while I was having my hell week but I did manage to go out and have fun and celebrate during the weekend with them. We got Velib bikes and headed towards the canal Saint Martin, while there we encountered a block party, music feast, meet some Moroccan bloger revolutionaries (who also go to Sciences Po) and drank beers with them at Le Point Ephemere. No big deal.

B's photos.

Sun is shining..

"The boat" or Medecins Sans Frontieres building out our window

......out my window, on the streets, creeping into everyclassroom and the library, and guess what, I don't have to be there anymore! Yesterday I had my first 'vacation' day, and after 8am class went for delicious breakfast with Jess around school at this place called Eggs & Co... had amazing omelette with zucchini and jess got eggs benedict. Still haven't tried them but Bridgette has been talking about getting eggs benedict since.. I met her?

Then I just walked around through the river, the Louvre, les Halles, doing the tiny second-hand shop tour around rue Saint Denis that I used to do so much when I lived going up in that direction. Saw the nice Iranian guy who always gives me free stuff when I buy something from him... The goal was to find summer dresses because it's so hot I can't wear anything else, plus there's nothing better than a comfortable summer dress (except you have to be careful when you live in a city full of Marilyn Monroe ventilation things) but anyways... walekd for about 2-3 hours... then hit the Marais and thought of my dear Sofie so mcuh and how it would've been great to have her walking here with me and getting a falafel together..

I didn't get falafel but did get frozen yogurt (mmmm). Finally, I went to the camera stores I've been wanting to go for aaages in Blvd. Beaumarchais and left 3 films to be developed. I've been wanting to get a new, smaller, lighter 35mm camera and the guy was really nice and help me out and joked with me (basically he was laughing at me because of the expressions I invented in French). I have to fix my Yashica first if I inted to buy something else, and also, I think my next big purchase is going to be a video camera. For a couple of months I've been really wanting to get one to play around with it, make short films ar whatever... so I'l save for that and I think any other cameras will wait.

I've been getting some concerns about my potential vegetarianism... Hahaha. I don't think it's happening soon. Not when I'm goign back home in 3 MONTHS! (Ok it's not that soon, I thought I was gonna be surpirsed when I checked today's date...). I can't not participate in my mom's amazing sunday bbq's so the issue will be kept in a closet for now.

I have so many films in my computer to see, and so many books to read!! This is exciting, I feel like my parisian life just took a really god turn now that its really spring and I can go out and sit somewhere and read in the sun. Exciting! I'm going to an amazing bookstore today, le Monte-en-l'air to get a book I we used for a project on street art. I really liked it so I'll get it to have some French reading to do. Also I've been wanting to check this place out for a while, they have great openings, a gallery space, and really good book selection I've read!




After that, Bridgette and I are having a picnic lunch with Noemie in the Canal Saint Martin. Oh! And after that, Yuna is arriving and staying with me for the weekend here in Paris, so I'll probably be doing some of the museums and sightseeing I haven't done yet.

C'est dur la vie! Not.

Canal Saint Martin

So close!

Now this post is gonna start really boring but hopefully it will get better once I spit out my horrible first thoughts.

Cleaning, sanitizing my mind from confusing ideas... in one week or two weeks I have tried to "ARGUE":

-that the effects of France's reintegration into the NATO military structures are mostly symbolic..
-that power in our society works in a way that it enforces compulsory heterosexuality and leaves no space for other "subversive" sexual identities
-that the internet and social networking present a "new look" for surveillance and we should be careful about "cyber-utopian" attitudes
-that we live in a 'society of the spectacle' where images mediate our social relations
-that there is a social movement for the democratization of art in paris but the relationship between the individual artists and the collective movement is an ambiguous one
-i don't even remember any more

So much fighting, so much fighting! They make us fight and argue and debate and contest so much in school, I don't wanna fight anymore I just wanna love the world, why is that so hard.

:)

Seriously after seeing what all these people "argue" and "claim" or "suggest" I can't even think for myself anymore. I can't think for myself anymore but I can write papers like a robot and make them sound coherent. What does that say about me, or actually, what does that say about this education system.

Coffee after coffee.. ah how it kept me alive! We found a great Monoprix coffee from Cosa Rica that was my saviour during my late night adventures. I moved the table of the living room by my window in my room and sat there fore hours and hours, numbed in front of a screen. NOW i'M ALMOST OVER!

ohhhhhhhh What am I gonna do when I don't have anything DUE?

I'm probably gonna have a nervous breakdown because I'm not PRODUCING and have forgotten what sort of things you do when you have free time... read a bok perhaps? Go for a walk for no reason? Take pictures? I don't know there are so many possibilities but who knows if I'll do anything of that or just crash.

School is getting close to an end, one more months but that also means the end of Paris! No way, I can't believe I just wasted so many weeks writing assignments. Most of the topics I chose were interesting, but I have such limited time for each that I ended up hating the those expressions, the way in which the language I used started shaping my state of mind, that permanent headache, the "I just want to close my eyes for 5 min but I'm at the library" feeling.... BUT NOW IM SO CLOSE!

Just one more paper and one more presentation. Monday. IT'S ON. Both in French. -------------------------------

Yeah, I'm not thinking about that right now, I'm just enjoying the semi-freedom.

And this weekend I'm going to Lille to be in a nice ouse with nice people who are nice with me and help me wih french and cook me good food. And Im just gonna write my paper nice and chill and thats gonna be it (until finals haha how depressing).

I don't care about finals, I'm happy and I'm taking a train to the north in 2 hours. I'll write more happy things when I'm happy there.

:)

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