My everyday ramblings about my second semester of studying abroad in France. Warning, this blog contains swearing because I have decided to accurately depict college students. You have been informed.
Rough start to the day this morning audience. I won't say
what sparked it but definitely was pissed off today due to communications
across the pond. What a fantastic start!
The first objective of today was gathering various bus
schedules for the week. Kate and I decided yesterday that we would spend this
week long break (sweet no class!) visiting various areas of Normandy. The main
transportation besides train in France is bus. Fortunately the bus fares are
very cheap especially when travelling to towns nearish to Le Havre. We grabbed about
four bus schedules since each day will be spent exploring a town. The man was
nice enough to write down the platforms where each bus boards. The day was
starting to become better.
After that Kate and I walked to the public library in order
to return some DVDs. Annoyingly it wasn't open. Unbeknownst to us the library
is closed on Mondays. Nevertheless the drop box was unlocked and both handfuls
of discs were deposited without trouble. Next it was onto food.
Bakeries are France's greatest asset. Kate and I decided to
try a new one on for size and it was decent. The scones were pretty shotty but
the pain au chocolat was nice and smooth as it should be. In the States I test
areas by trying their hometown burgers, in France it's pain au chocolat.
It was chilly outside, the wind was bitter and continuous,
but we walked to the Carrefour supermarket anyways. Why? They sell better
quality produce than our supermarket. Nothing is worse than opening a packet of
apples (trust me the pick-your-owns were awful at the time) and finding two of
the rotten. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch, two to confirm it.
Thus we buy our fruit from Carrefour because it's actually fresh and edible.
Also their Smiths are bigger, it matters.
Finally we returned to the dorm ready to relax and thaw in
our cozy rooms. I worked on some chapters as well as some mineral research
before giving my big brother a call/chat. Pete and I hadn't gamed together in a
lil while (over a week) and that needed to change. I had some spare time so we
decided to co-op Maple Story together. The best part is that we started new
characters and both chose the trade of piracy. My new character's name is
Slashlass, a double pun as well. Hint (Cutlass, cut similar to slash, lass =
girl). Peter's character looks intoxicated and has a flying monkey sidekick. He
also has a pig companion named Madame Bacon. I have a ribbon pig companion
named AmBween (nickname for my dog Amber) as well as a pig named Bacon. Seems
like a cruel name but it's also hilarious to see pigs with the word
"Bacon" over their heads running around. Maple Story you are adorable
and hilarious, please never stop this.
When life gives you lemons, burn em. That's honestly my
version of that annoying saying also lemonade just isn't the same without pink
dye. Now today I was rather down on myself and the world. I suppose it has
something to do with homesickness but this time around it isn't food, or
accent, or lodgings at all. I find myself missing American boys. Now allow me
to explain what exactly I'm missing about the boys from the stars and stripes,
it isn't what you're (probably) thinking audience.
1. Sneakers
The shoes always make the man, no heels
2. Baseball Caps
Looks good on every guy, looks great on Sale
3. Messy (bed head) Hair
Relaxed and simple rather than vain
4. White Smile
One word, clean
5. Jerseys
Again looks good on every guy especially in Red, White, Black, and Yellow
6. "Dude"
It's a magical word and a slick name
7. Offensive Humor
Sure it makes us uncouth, we don't care
8. Stupid Ideas
Real men grow their own mustaches
9. Wings Night
Best fuel, hands down
10. Shorts
Alright this is a bit silly, but there is nothing silly about those grey athletic shorts Oh Tazer
Those are the ten things (from the top of my head) that I
miss from my native boys. My method of dealing with it is to both write this
blog for you audience as well as lighting paper on fire. Yeah I literally do
burn my lemons of life by writing a list of agitations and then burning it. It
is always in a controlled environment (cement sidewalk) and is never anything
more than a sheet of paper. Still, it helps eradicate the negative. Also flames
are pretty (says the pyromaniac). Til next time.
It was a fun time at Disneyland but a very frigid fun time.
The weather prediction was around 30 degrees Farheinheit (-2 degrees Celsius,
271.15 Kelvin) but apparently Google weather sucks as much as Fox News
forecasts. I can handle freezing, that's whatever. But when the temperature
feels like the mid-teens (-8 degrees Celsius, 265.15 Kelvin) and my feet actually
start to freeze up, well there's a problem. Somehow we survived it and even
enjoyed ourselves. Let's review the details dear audience (I may have some of
these out of order, it was a long day).
First attraction to see when entering Disney Paris is the
castle. Sleeping Beauty's Castle to be exact and it is not much compared to
Cinderella's for one glaring reason; it's pink. Had it been all pink (like dark
pink roofs with light pink walls) then it would've looked better. Rather it was
light pink with blue roofs and looks like a jumbo version of a mini golf
castle. All that was missing was the windmill.
First ride was Dumbo! This specific ride holds a special
place in my heart since it was one of my very first Disney rides as a child in
Florida. While my mother and brother had gone to Splash Mountain (I have yet to
conquer that one) my father and I rode the Dumbo ride together. It must have looked
silly since I was only five or six at the time and completely miniscule next to
my 6'2" father. Nevertheless I had a lot of fun riding it. This second
round with Johnny and Kate was a lot of fun as well especially since Kate was
giggling with glee (I can't believe I just typed glee, shiver) which made me
laugh.
Second stop, Alice's Curious Labyrinth. I know it was Alice
in Wonderland but I could help but think about finding a goblin or two hiding
amongst the hedges. Maybe I watch too many movies, then again I wouldn't mind
stay with Jareth forever (later Toby).
Just couldn't resist this ^_^
Anyways, we all had fun posing for silly
pictures (there is one of me looking utterly ridiculous) and becoming lost. Hmm
lost might be too strong a word since it was a children's maze but we
definitely hit many dead ends. "Couper la tête!"
Midday was food. Why? Well it was really (insert the most
unique curse word in English in participle form) cold and I was starving. Never
allow me to become too hungry otherwise as a wolf I will bite anything in
sight. Usually people's heads off followed by their hands. I don't like to be
petted when I'm hungry. Needless to say we made our way to one of the several
Disneyland restaurants. I would have pushed to go to Pizza Planet but
it was further from Café Hyperion (which was right by us) so we took the weak
way out and went to the closer restaurant. If there is a Pizza Planet in
California's Disneyland I'm so hitting it up!
In Café Hyperion there is a decent sitting area but on a
cold day in Disney that means nothing. Kate, Jonathan, and I had to stand near
the door and eat our hot sandwiches around small bar tables. That was fun, good
thing the food was decent. I actually enjoyed my cheeseburger and fries.
Somehow they were well made.
After chowing we decided to hang around for a lil bit in
order to thaw more. Fortunately in Café Hyperion there is nonstop entertainment
in the form of Pixar shorts. Sadly we did not see my personal favorite
(embedded below) but the magician short, the maintenance robot from Wall-E, and
even the original Junior short made an appearance on the screen. All was well
but we eventually made our way outside. My feet weren't too happy but the rest
of me didn't care.
Second ride, the teacups (obviously!). Again memories
stirred with the teacups but those were vaguer. I remember riding them and I
remember my brother trying to spin it as fast as he could. Did a pretty good
job for a ten year old too but hey I was five (or something like that)
everything seemed faster back then. This teacup ride was hilarious because Kate
was in charge of the spinning. She was a trooper to ride the teacups because
Kate doesn't do too well with dizziness. I'm alright with spinning but I prefer
coasters where I go through loops and corkscrews and near vertical drops. Spins
just tend to make my stomach slosh, just a lil.
Afterwards we found our third ride and our longest line,
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Alright out of all three movies (I say
three since this park was built long before the fourth film) why the Temple of
Doom? A Raiders ride would've been way more epic. Imagine going through the
pyramid seeing the puzzle room and the treasure chamber with the statue then
from nowhere a giant boulder begins to chase you until you find the entrance
and just barely escape in time! That would be epic. The actual ride was a lot
of fun and had some decent drops and a few loops intertwined as well. The wait
was around and hour but fortunately we were sheltered from the wind. That
seemed to boost temp a bit.
Sometime later we found ourselves on a boat ride. Alrighty
then. This was the Land of Fairytales or a boat tour with fairytale decor. It
was sweet, very sweet. My favorite part was when we entered the Cave of Wonders,
I mean who doesn't dream of that day? However the random village sets scattered
throughout most of the displays were a bit misplaced. They were just space
fillers but like most fillers they just didn't satisfy. Still, Cave of Wonders!!!
After that we grabbed some more food and by "we" I
mean Kate and me. Lovely Kate spotted some candy apples and we both decided to
buy one. To my surprise the apple itself was a golden delicious. At first I was
questioned on my apple knowledge, big mistake. This chick right 'ere loves
apples (a little too much sometimes) and even has a few trees in her backyard.
One of them happens to be a golden delicious tree meaning I've eaten my fair
share of goldens meaning I know the texture, taste, and skin very well. Crap,
now I want a golden delicious or a fuji, I miss fuji.
While I was eating my apple Jonathan took the opportunity to
make me feel like a savage, again. Except audience instead of ribs he was
laughing at my face being covered in candy apple glaze. It's a messy food and
I'm an aggressive eater (most of the time) so my prey often ends up decorating
my face. I refused to look at him because he kept calling me "cute"
(I loathe that word) and wouldn't shut up about how I was going to have candy
coating in my hair. I ate my apple, back turned to Kate (who was delicately
eating hers in peace) and Dolt. The candy apple was awesome.
It was then time to do some shopping meaning a visit to the
Disney Village was in order. I found what I was searching for in a giant Disney
store. I must say they are really promoting the whole "we own Star Wars
now" thing. There's merch everywhere including Disney character pins as
Star Wars characters. Donald as Darth Maul, bit odd. I steered clear, don't
have me wrong I love Star Wars but I wasn't interested in Disney themed
imitations. Rather I wandered to the Nightmare Before Christmas area. I've had
a thing for that movie ever since I can remember, something about it just
clicks with me. Now, that doesn't mean I want it to click with anybody else.
It's one of those loves that I'd rather not share with someone. Kind of like my
obsession with Toews, it'd be weird to have that in common with somebody else.
Anyways what I bought was a deck of cards. It is tradition for me to buy a deck
of cards anywhere I travel or anytime I feel like it. My collection is over
twenty five decks so far, not bad but it's only a start. These Nightmare Disney
cards are too perfect; I honestly couldn't ask for a better souvenir.
Once shopping was finished we visited the second park or
Disney Studios. That place was pretty sick if I say so myself. We went on a
behind the scenes tour that displayed original concept art as well as a montage
of Disney scenes and songs. Best part is half was in French and half in English.
Regardless everyone in the audience, myself included, was absorbed in the short
film of Disney clips. They did play the sad part from Dumbo, when his mom is in
chains, and I had to bite my lip. That part/song always makes me cry and want
to hug my mother. I guess as a child one of my biggest fears was losing my parents.
Didn't help that in every (pretty sure all) Disney films at least one parent is
dead or in Pinocchio a group of children are turned into donkeys. I really hate
that scene because of the talking donkey named Alexander. The idea of a little
boy being turned into a donkey and forced to work in the salt mines while
crying for his mother was too unbearable for little Mary. Also my brother
convinced me that I'd turn into a donkey, funny now bad back then. Damnit
Disney, why do you inspire fear in children?!
All in all the day was wicked cool. That is both literal and
figurative because it was wicked cool or awesome but also was wicked cool or
really damn cold. By the end of the day I was near to passing out because of
overexposure (nocturnal!) to sunlight and I was hungry again. I don't remember
the train ride back to St. Lazare or the train to Le Havre. But I do remember
having a sandwich, a muffin, and some hot chocolate with Kate. That was
delicious and heartwarming. Endings are always better when food and friendship
are involved.
Friday was nice and lazy, just the way I like it. I think I
sweated at least five pounds of water weight out yesterday (virus stress) cause
I felt incredibly frail today. Well it could've been due to stress (aka sweat)
or the fact that I neglected food while Rikki was in the ER (Safe Mode). Anyhow
I ate like the wolf I am and had no regrets. I mean eggs, rice, soup, rice
cakes, and spinach isn't really what I'd call junk food. Sure cals are cals but
least mine weren’t empty.
When I return to the States I am going to sink my teeth into
a true champions spread of fantastic American dining. By that I of course mean
Buffalo Wilds Wings. Oh I just drool at the thought of it. Don't worry audience
I won't go overboard and even if I do my body will just crash from it and I'll
avoid anything fried like the plague for a while. Yes, this has happened
before.
Moving on Friday Friday. Well I did make a good dent in some
chapters that I've been working on. I always enjoy rereading my work and
comparing it to other authors of similar genres. My go-to author is of course
Tolkien. Hey I dig the guy's style alright, sept for all the lineages. That can
be excessive at times especially during the counsel of Elrond. My chapter
drafts seem to be smooth enough, I'm sure I'll want to burn them later in life
(I often cringe at older works), which is rewarding in itself. Sigh now what
else did I do today?
Oh I know! Wait that might be a bit too personal. Aw you're
just the internet audience, why not share a lil secret with you? Ahem whenever
I am stuck on an idea for writing I either do a handstand against my wall or
rub my stomach. I have no idea why but those techniques always seem to work,
least they spark something. I think the stomach rubbing has something to do
with gymnastics as does the handstand. See way back when MareBear was an even
liler MareBear I was on my high school gymnastic team. We had these really soft
leos (leotards) for warming up during meets and as a joke we (mostly NayNay and
I) would run up to one another and rub our stomachs for luck. Actually it was
more of pet rubbing cause the leos were just so darn soft. That sounds really
creepy but hey we were fifteen year olds, they're all weird.
That's all I have for you today audience, sorry bout it.
Tomorrow will be nice and juicy since it is the day I go to Disneyland Paris
with Kate and Jonathan. Should be a fun time, I hope.
Today was nonstop stress, what joy. Ever heard of a trojan
virus audience? Yeah well poor Rikki (my computer) caught one and a nasty one
at that. Not only did it attach itself to protected system files it also
corrupted my main antivirus software. The latter of the two was worse primarily
because it wouldn't shut up in telling me that it had quarantined a threat.
Somehow I didn't believe the constant stream of messages from Symantec seeing
at it had quarantined the same four files over 8,354 times.
Fortunately Rikki was functioning fine, nothing was slow and
I could access the internet. Not that Google did me any good. Apparently, more
so inconveniently, when system.exe files are corrupted with
trojan.zeroaccessinf4! virus there isn't any one universal way to destroy it.
Rather it varies from system to system. Also if you delete any system.exe files
accidently your entire system falls like a jenga tower. Personally I'd like to
avoid that from happening. Throughout the entire day my thoughts were only for
Rikki and how I had allowed her to become infected with a rouge cache file.
Needless to say I did not pay close attention to my Religions lecture about
Hinduism.
Rikki is extremely precious to me since it's my first laptop
and my college computer. We've been through so much together. Why I remember
first seeing it at the Microcenter store just sitting on the top shelf. It was
a sleek Gateway machine with a broad LCD screen and a full number pad (the
number pad was a necessity). I knew that it was going to be my computer before
the sales associate even tried to pitch it to me. To be honest that kid (the
sales associate) was an idiot. He kept trying to push me towards Macs even
though I gave him three basic needs for my computer:
1. Must be a PC
2. Screen needs to be large
3. Number pad has to be included
Yeah he really didn't seem to pick up on those obvious
"hints". Whatever, I found Rikki and everything was squared away.
Thus audience you can imagine my concern for poor little Rikki, we're so tight
knit and all. The thought of losing it to some virus was more than I could
handle. I ended up doing the classic MareBear break down.
First I cried.
Then I bent a few spoons since I couldn't punch anything.
Then I wrapped myself under my blanket and brooded.
Then cried.
Then unbent the spoons.
Then took in some deep breaths.
Finally sent an E-mail to my computer programmer father (or
went to Mom and Dad for help). Classic MareBear!
I'm alright now, sort of. I'm not fully alright because the
virus is still there but Rikki is doing much better. I had to uninstall
Symantec (no tears there) since it had become corrupted. No way really? You
mean having over 8,000 quarantines of the same four files isn't normal? Heh
personally I'm glad to be rid of it for now. Especially since it kept telling
me that Rikki was doing just fine even though Adware and Malwarebytes had
flashing red lights. Remember kids always seek a second opinion.
Today was fun and frustrating and filled with "oh
wells". Then again what day isn't?
My wardrobe is lacking a certain classy area to it.
Basically I have a ton of casual tops (plus some geeky ones) and jeans. First
world problems eh? (Oh no the Canadian in me is reappearing! Craving maple
syrup and Eastside Mario’s pizza.) Moving on, yes as much as I love my punk "Don't Care" look I felt need for a boost a
change. What was my solution? Shopping! At the docks! With Kate!!!
Surprise! The two of us ran into Jaimie on her way out.
Oddly enough she was going shopping too, though she had a better reason than
spoiled vanity. Jaimie's birthday is next week and her twin sister Sam is
travelling to France so that they can celebrate it together. Sam decided ( a little last minute) that the two of them should be formally
dressed for the occasion. Thus poor Jaimie was on the hunt for a cute black
dress. Spoiler, she bought one.
The three of us decided to tag along together and explore Les
Docks array of clothing options. I made out pretty well actually; a black skirt
plus two white tops is a decent deal in my book. Kate even bought a few clothes
(though she went in with the idea of window shopping) that suited her beautifully.
I had fun shopping with both of them and I feel as though they did as well.
Then again I'm often in my own head so I have no idea if that's how they felt.
Let's just say that they had fun, makes this sweeter.
I did have to ditch out early due to Lexicology being at one o'clock.
Darn, and I was just looking forward to sitting down to a decent lunch too. I
ate on the go (literally while I walked) to university and tried a new food.
There was a pastry called a chocolate croissant at La Petit' Boulangerie and I had never seen it there before. I was
intrigued and bought it along with a sandwich. I grabbed a bottle of coke from
the supermarket, way cheaper. Anyhow I tried the chocolate croissant and it was
alright. Couldn't hold a candle to a pain au chocolat but not a bad
pastry. I probably won't buy another one in the future, just
saying.
-If you're in any way from an area of the world known as Britain please do not read past this point. My knowledge is of American English and does not coincide with British grammar. Also I'm stubborn and refuse to edit my rants.-
Lexicology was the frustrating aspect of my day (oh well).
See either my professor loathes me, likes me but uses tough love, or is
socially awkward towards me because she always seems to be in a bad mood around
me. I understand that I'm the only Anglophone in the class which does make it easier
for me to understand the concepts but that doesn't give her the right to not
like me. It is possible that she believes me to be a smartass (wise judgment)
due to my bored natural expression and lack of care. However I do care it's
grammar and I freakin' love the stuff. Sure I don't have perfect grammar (never use this blog as an example) but
I enjoy learning the rules and concepts. Just another quirk on the list
audience.
Today in class she was once again incorrectly using the word
"round" as a preposition (oh well). See in spoken English we
occasionally say "round" rather than "around" just as we
say "sorta" rather than "sort of". Nevertheless written
English (except for dialogue and this blog) follows formal grammatical rules
meaning slang does not apply. It is "around" lady, please become accustomed
to it. She had a statement on the board (we were diagramming sentences) that
read, "He came round to see us." We were supposed to identify the
parts of speech for the words "come", "round", and
"us". The class went through the answers but became stuck on
"round" (oh well). Personally had it been "around" I
believe the meaning would have been clearer. Nope, this occurred.
My
professor, "Well see it is a preposition but, well "to" is the
preposition of the sentence. It is odd that there are two prepositions in the
sentence this doesn't often happen in English grammar."
I shook my
head (oh well).
My professor,
"Really? Give us an example."
Me,
"Alright...I'm going up to Canada. There, double preposition." (oh
well).
My
professor rolls her eyes. Her,
"I meant using the preposition 'round'."
I mutter
how there is no such thing. She decides to tack on, "What this is here is
a participial preposition since 'round' functions as an adjective of
'to'."
My jaw
drops (oh well) and my professor loses all credibility as an English grammar
expert (oh well). Wow just wow. (Uh...oh well?)
Really the sentence doesn't need "round" at all,
it is simply an extra preposition. The sentence "He came to see us,"
works just fine and keeps the intended meaning. A participle is an adjective
(sometimes an adverb) with an -ing or -er ending (there are exceptions) that is
attached to an infinitive verb (my favorite example "boring!"). A
participial preposition is when a participle is used as a preposition in a
sentence (e.g. considering, provided, given). Just for kicks, what do
prepositions do?
A simple definition is that prepositions create/bridge a
relationship between two parts of the sentence (nouns, noun phrases, or verbs).
Example, I'm going to school. "To" is the preposition linking the
transitive verb "going" with the noun "school". Round isn't
a participle (do you see er or ing?!) therefore it isn't a participial
preposition; the sentence already contains the preposition "to"
therefore it isn't needed; "round" isn't actually a preposition thus
making it pointless in written grammar. Even if it were "around" it
would not be necessary and would function only as an extra piece of flare.
Welcome to English 101 professor Smith. Please take a seat at the front in
order to better your understanding. (I'm cocky and karma will bite me hard for
it).
The rant is over, finally! I apologize for the lesson but I
easily become defensive on topics. Kate told me to just breathe and say "oh
well" whenever something out of (ha, extra flare that has no purpose
because English is corrupt) my control happens to anger me. Breathe in deep and
say "oh well." Well I do have something within my control, this here
blog. Although that professor may continue to spout off grammar terminology
incorrectly that frazzles her students' logic of grammar, I will always make
sure to rant about it on my personal area of cyberspace. Thank you for bearing
with me through this long post. Adieu audience!
Word of advice, don't try to learn every English grammar
rule in one day. Alright that's a complete exaggeration on my part but I
definitely bit off more than I could chew. It all started last week in
Lexicology...
I ignored reviewing the lesson and paid for it in full. Not
my best move. Especially since I had plenty of time too. The lesson itself
wasn't hard, I simply had to review word/structure categories or everything
about sentences. However, as in math, it is always wisest to start from
the foundation. I reviewed the eight parts of speech plus
sentence structures.
Ok that doesn't sound like too much work but audience it
definitely is. See my fabulous grammar book that I've owned for some time now
explains English grammar in a straightforward way. It also includes examples
and memory tricks. How I love that book! Anyhow it goes into decent depth with
each section and I prefer to know my lessons inside and out. Thus why I follow
my 4 step plan to proper book learning. Let's just say we were reading any ole
history book, this is how I absorb my facts. And some people call me slow.
Step 1: Read the entire page.
Step 2: Reread the page while highlighting key points.
Step 3: Create a web graph (or power notes) that captures
primary topics that teir down into specific subtopics.
Step 4: Write examples or practice questions to ensure that
you have learned the material. Repeat step 1 until the information sticks.
Pretty advanced technique I know. I'm proud to say that one
of my elementary school teachers taught me it, I don't remember who did though.
That's what I did today. Well, I did eat and read Tolkien and jam out to Rock
you like a Hurricane. Pretty standard if I say so myself.
P.S. I Dr. Scale prescribe everybody to rock out at least
five minutes every day to insure proper 'wicked' levels.
It's time for a read aloud with your host MareBear!
Alright audience here's the deal, nothing happened today. I know I know, same old song and dance that I keep giving to you. Well too damn bad for you, sometimes (especially on Mondays) events just don't occur. The biggest part of today is when I had some tomato soup; I haven't eaten soup since last summer! It was delicious by the way, mmm mmm good.
Right then, let us commence the video blog with the read aloud of the Brothers Grimm fairytale 'Brother and Sister'. Enjoy if you like.
Lovely day to be indoors audience, too much sunlight
outside. I know I sound like a hypocrite since yesterday's post I insisted on
being outdoors because of the sunshine. Well I can't handle too much sunshine,
and two days of walking around outside in the stuff is too much. Summers are
dealt with difficulty and sunscreen, lots of sunshine. Oh and shades and
slurpees. Can't go without my trusty 7Eleven.
I spent today researching minerals. You see audience an
author is only as good as their attention to detail (sort of, more comes into
play). In my fantasy fiction there are supernatural abilities that will nature,
powers or magic. The main character controls that of earth which I define as
mineral compounds plus organic plant species. This becomes rather complex and
offers a huge variety of control. Thus I research plants as well as minerals in
order to better understand the topics. This is something that I love about
writing; learning. When you write you enable yourself to learn more about a
subject maybe something that is a secondary interest or hobby. It is great for
a quilt of basic understanding which works well in this world. Obviously I am
not going to become an expert botanist or geologist from reading articles and
books, but I will know something.
Besides research I did make a nice dent in the giant laundry
pile that had been building up. I have music and the necessity for more outfit
options to thank for that motivation. Also laundry isn't so bad when you're
doing it at two in the morning, no one is ever in line.
Seriously, that is useful!
That's all. Yeah it's a short post and kind of a lacking
one, but hey "drab" days often fall short of excitement. At least
things you'd find exciting audience. I think of you as somewhat general, doubt
that you'd enjoy my descriptions of onyx crystals or aventurine quartz slicing bandits
to ribbons. Wait, maybe you would. Too bad, that stuff is copyrighted, deal
with it!
I awoke late, as usual. Ah how I adore sleeping through that
pesky AM. I believe my least favorite hour of the day is 7 AM, it's just a
horrible hour altogether. I did not see 7 AM today, rather I slept until the
wonderful hour of 2 PM. Wonderful simply wonderful. The good news is I went out
of my room, after proper grooming, and noticed it was a fair day with loads of
sunshine. Although I am nocturnal, this was too good to pass up. Le Havre
doesn't have a lot of sunshine and this afternoon was going to be spent outdoors.
About thirty minutes after my sunshine discovery Kate and I
set out to the beach. It was the perfect day to walk among the bulky rocks of
La Manche. We strolled about and noticed something odd yet expected (if that's
possible); all the beach huts and shops were gone. This was of course due to
the season but was strange nonetheless. All that remained were some grey
squares and rows of stone. It did make it easier to watch the sunset though.
Speaking of that, guess what not so surprisingly happened?
We ran into some of our new friends! That was enjoyable.
Everyone it seemed had come to the same conclusion; sunshine = go to beach. I
added a picture of all us enjoying each other's company in my photo page
"Friends of France" (go check it out!). I guess I'm either really
funny or that annoying kid that won't shut up because I caused quite a few
giggles during conversation. I'm going to assume 30% the first choice, 69% the
second choice, and 1% other. Never exclude the "other" category.
After several photos and poses with the sunset we all
decided that it was high time to head home. Kate and I grabbed some take out
sandwiches, we're often hungry, on the way home which took longer than expected.
Seriously the French need to learn how to properly operate a Subway. I'm sure
Jerry could show them the ropes. Any how we arrived home fine and put on a
flick just for kicks; also we all were so tired from the day (for me it was
personally the overdose of sunshine) that we couldn't be bothered to go out.
Dream Girls was our selected feature. I will say this, too much song. I love
musical films but that was just ridiculous! It dragged on forever due to the
"speech" songs. Ugh, not a recommended movie.
I'll wager a "no" as the answer to that question.
It is an MMO (mass multiplayer online) RPG (role playing game) video game. I
often play it with my older brother and my best friend Brian. Why? Because it's
freakin' fun! Not as cute as Maple Story I will admit, BUT Spiral Knights has a
lot of kick to it. If only they would improve the layout, it is not noob
friendly.
Moving on, I played this all day (well afternoon/evening)
long. I love being young and silly and naive about how real time is supposed to
work. Before any of you give me slack for being spoiled let me say this, well
duh! Of course I'm spoiled, I'm a snotnosed kid just entering her twenties
who's studying abroad in France just to improve her French. I happen to love
reading and writing fantasy stories and playing various video games in my
"spare" time instead of exploring the world of Le Havre.
Another
note, the world of Le Havre is often drenched in rain, not fun to explore.
Rather I do this when I am able which is often late at night for France (even
if I don't game or read or write, I'm always awake until 3 AM). So, you may
judge me if you like for being a spoiled nerdy gamer but at least I know what
makes me happy; socializing with some of the people whom I miss by blasting
ghost cats to bits while voice chatting on Steam.
That's basically it, yeah a shotty post I know. That's why
the pictures below have been included. Remember audience, a picture is worth a
thousand words meaning I just increased this post by 3,000. Logic.
Do you know whom I love? Myself of course! I did call my
family and sent various valentines to those others whom I love, but mostly I
was kind to number one. In fact the day was rather kind in return.
I did have my 8:30 AM as usual, but the lecture was
fascinating as usual. That all went swimmingly as well as my trip to the
grocery store for some apples. Seeing as it was the big V-Day, I bought both
Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples. It was a wonderful treat for me; two of my
favorite kinds of apple together. After that I ate my lunch in the library
before heading over to my next class, history of religions.
Though I was fifteen minutes early, I wasn't alone in the
classroom. Half of the class was already there lounging about. I sat down and
began to read Fellowship since I don't socialize with those particular classmates.
While Frodo was debating on how to leave the shire, one of the class clowns
came galloping in. "We don't have class," he said en français.
"It has been cancelled!" Best part was that no one believed him. The
other students doubted his claim since they had seen our professor in the
building and that this specific boy was known to be a slacker. He kept claiming
that it was on the bulletin board and finally, to shut him up, two of the girls
left to verify his word. Turns out he was right. Awesome!
The rest of the day was spent listening to music, buying a
few gifts (Kate received a red rose from yours truly), and being happy that I
was loved. It was a well spent Valentine's Day, as mine often are. I have
always loved this day since I can remember because my family celebrates it as a
day of love, not a day of romance. Love is so much better since it takes all
forms including self-love. That's the best kind, I always buy myself great food
and gifts. Seriously I'm a good shopper for me.
I did go later that night with a bunch of the newer students
to a few events around Le Havre. Here's the rapid low-down; arrived on time,
turned out to be early, only three of us there, found out the others changed
the time, half of the group didn't show, went on without them, turned back
halfway to find the others, they turned out to already be there, turned around
once more and finally reached the hookah bar, chilled with my friends, met some
new faces, everyone left for the club, I lead the flock, I was a good shepherd,
reached the club without any issues, the club was empty, went inside, everyone
stood around awkwardly, waited for a little bit, more friends showed and the
party started, glad I am in shape for the amount I danced, left the club with
my friends who also lived in St. Nicolas, washed my face, brushed and flossed, passed out. The
End!
P.S. The event was called Drunk Knight Rises and had both
Batman and the Avengers on the same poster. The French don't realize that
Marvel and DC are two different comics.
Class was interesting today, least one of them was abnormal
from its regular track of action. Ahem the obvious question; why?
Well seeing as how Creative Writing (Lexicology and Nursery
Rhymes were their same ole selves) has the word "Writing" in its
title, one would assume that the class would only involve written work. That assumption
was wrong today, very wrong. Mama Duck is a very parental teacher as well as an
out of the box kind of guy. He had us march over to the student center in order
to utilize the small theater there.
That brought back a few flashbacks of high school. Every
stage has the same dusty scent, this one was even black. I looked at the back
of the theater and saw a small sound and light booth. It was a serious form of
déjà vu for this former stage crewer.
Now, Mama Duck is a huge fan of ice breakers, it must have
something to do with age. Honestly everybody under 30 hates those awkward games
created to "bond" with new peers. They do nothing but verify the
clicks that were already there. No matter, this class was a giant game of ice
breakers; five to be exact.
First one (weirdest one and my least favorite) was a
counting ice breaker. The idea was to count up to 15 without two people saying
a number at the same time. The highest we ever reached was 10 (I believe) and
it really had no point. I don't see how poor counting in a circle breaks the
ice.
Second one (touchy and crowded) was where we had to move
around the stage pantomiming different walks. For instance rushing with a heavy
suitcase. The French kids seemed to love it but I wasn't too thrilled to be bumping
shoulders with them (shiver). Also it didn't bond anything, failure!
Third one (strange but more logical) was writing out our
names using our hands and the air. I was a part of the group who went first,
lucky me. In any case the idea was that we "write" our names and the
other students sitting in the audience have to guess what we've written. It is
a creative name learning game, I'll give it that. However when someone doesn't
guess your name (this happened to the girl who freaked out in Arthurian Lit
last semester, uh yeah she's in this class too) it's awkward for everyone.
Fourth one (my favorite) was when we broke into even small
groups of five and had to create a list of objects on top of a table. An
example would be, "I put upon (direct translation) a cow on the
table." Then the next person would say something like, "I put upon a
tiger on a cow on the table." and so forth until you have a crazy list of
nouns. I don't remember the entire list but I do remember my nouns; a bottle of
wine, a marionette, and headphones. By the way, this was all in French. Jaimie
and I volunteered to a part of one of the French groups. It worked well with
this exercise since we really had to think about wacky nouns. There was some
confusion about a "tournevis". We both asked what it was
but before the kids could explain Mama Duck swung by and
said, "screwdriver." Alright then!
Fifth one (my most embarrassing) was telling a story based
upon an assigned setting. My setting happened to a dessert. The concept was to
describe an interesting story based upon your given location. Well I sucked
that up majorly. I was attempting in French and the kids said, "maybe in
English?" I told them no I needed to practice. Yeah, I was red faced while
I stammered about trying to find water in a wasteland of sand. Good thing we
only had to speak for
a minute, I was digging my own Arabian grave.
That was class. Told you that it was interesting and
different from the norm. I liked certain parts of it but overall it didn't
reflect creative writing. The story telling sorta did, but that was speech not writing.
Michael really should change the class title to "Creative Expression"
that would suit the vocal aspect. In any case Kate and I left and snacked on
some burgers. It was a relief not to cook just to relax with a soda in hand.
I love not doing anything all day. You've probably figured
this audience, after all sloth is one of my nature vices. I did do things
(boring things) but nothing particularly worthwhile. Well, I did edit some chapters
for a fictional story that I've been writing forever, I suppose that's something. What?
No you can't read it. For my eyes, and eventually some publishing company's
desk, only.
Nah nah nah naaaah nah!
Tis all.
What did you say?
Crap. Fine have a couple of simple riddles composed by yours truly.
My hat is a smokestack
My bottom a bell,
Your hand cannot crush me,
But a fall cracks my shell.
I wear a flat apron,
Pattern never the same,
My scent is of wheat,
Now what is my name?
I can make a house but its walls are filled with holes
I can have a face but its expression is always stone
I can start at one but I often prefer two
I can lay flat on the ground but I love to hold you
Guess what was fun? The Chinese New Year Celebration!!!
Although it was year of the snake (shiver) everything turned
out fantastic. I do feel a bit unlucky to be short at events like this, my
father or brother was definitely needed to lift me up. I managed alright on my
tiptoes, thank you high school gymnastics. The best part of the celebration
wasn't the actual celebration, it was a little cheesy at times like a middle
school play, but rather spending it with the newer foreign exchange students!
-Quick note, I am trying to find pictures of us, it will
take some more time and me remembering to bring a camera or something. However,
we did take a group picture and once it is posted online I will repost it here
for everyone's enjoyment.-
So many of them showed up it was wonderful! I was happy to
become more acquainted with them since I hadn't maintained steady conversations
at Saturday's partay; don't judge, I love to talk to everyone.
We all guarded
the chocolate fountain which was four tiers high I might add. I only indulged a
small amount, it was rich stuff, but did take a good share of the mini pain au
chocolat. Those pastries fresh are greater than heaven on Earth. I'm salivating
just remembering them.
There was also champagne which I sampled. Irritatingly
enough for me I was asked my age. Although I know I'm not an exact shot for
20, I do at least look 18 damnit! (I'm about to be spiteful) Hmph, the old lady
was probably just jealous, no one would question that she's well past her
prime. (Spite over).
Fortunately some of the newer foreign students had recently
moved into St. Nicolas meaning I had a group to walk home with. It wouldn't
have mattered anyways, 8:30 PM is a far cry from late, but it is always nice to
have company, in my opinion. Sides, I didn't have my I-Pod on hand. Great start
to the week, fingers crossed that the rest will follow smoothly.
Oy what of today? Well it included me excluding myself from
the world. Sundays are especially good days for doing this, why? Well most
people are either hungover from Saturday nights
(hungover = irritable slug) or have remembered that they actually
haven't relaxed on their weekends (pesky worriers). I am often a little bit of
both though much more of a worrier than a hungover slug. I seem to have a
talent for creating stress, maybe that's why I can't sleep at night, and today
there was a nice dumpster of stress on my mind.
Happy note, I pretty much fixed it. My method is old school,
the whole "write down what's bothering you" spiel. Unhappy note, when
there's nothing something will move in aka more stress.
As I often say in these situations, "oh well." I
can't escape my silly stresses and they really are silly. Instead I'll edit my
blog and utilize my insomniac habits in order to kill the irritating
stresses one by one. Sides, tomorrow is when Le Havre has a
Chinese New Year celebration. That should be fun AND hopefully stress free.
Hello there, this is your beloved MareBear. Did you know
that the reason Partay is spelled with two "a's" is because the
second one stands for awesome? Well now you know the first definition of
Partay. Another, and a favorite of mine, is courtesy of Urban Dictionary:
"A party that is more fun, outrageous and epic than a
normal party."
On this lovely Saturday night Kate and I attended a partay
at the containers residence hall. It was so much fun. Although many of my old
friends weren't there to share in the dancing, chit-chatting, and beverage
consuming, I still managed to enjoy myself. After all, moping about all my
friends that are no longer here is no way to live, it just isn't. Rather I made
many new friends who are also new international students. They all seem
relatively nice and curiously interesting. I hope that all goes well and that feuds
won't occur; nothing bad happened last semester, but you never know.
Anyhow audience I enjoyed myself and returned to St. Nicolas
a happy bubbly girl. I then passed out on top of my Blackhawks blanket. As
Frankie would say, "oh what a night!"
Ah nothing beats a relaxing Friday, too bad I didn't exactly
have one. Have any of you ever written anything fictional that falls under
creative writing? Well I have, more so I've begun many projects that are simple
snippets of Word documents on various flash sticks. They are fictional, but
aren't finished. It takes a lot of stress and effort and stress and time and
coffee to boost typing speed and stress to finish said creative works. I've
rewritten single sentences for over two hours, just one sentence and hours of
time. It is crazy!
If you haven't already guessed my Friday was dominated by me
writing a fictional story, a short story to be exact. Le Havre University is
having a little writing contest about madness. I thought, "eh why not? I could
use the practice." Thus I have spent this Friday pacing my room, reciting
dialogue, visualizing scenes, and typing like a 1960's secretary on a sugar
high. When I needed a break I turned to lovely Tolkien. The LotR always
inspires (and comforts) me, unlike my short story.
Since the topic was madness (which I lucked out on since I
didn't realize there was a topic) the story I wrote is a bit "mad".
For some reason when I saw the poster for the contest the first word that
struck me was "wayward". Hopefully you all know the story of the prodigal
or wayward son, the drifter who left home and all that jazz. Well over a year
ago in a writing assignment for a Fiction workshop I did a dialogue passage between
two characters where the word "wayward" was often used. Seeing the
poster made me think of this word and inspired a story about waywardness, just
drifting. I then thought, "hmmm what would be the end of the line for a
wayward?" Not even a second later the word "Sterling" slammed
into my brain; the one place to always give me goose bumps is Sterling
Illinois.
My story was born from there. Two words hit my mind and
something began to grow. I hope I win (who wouldn't want to?) but if I don't I
now have a creepy short story about madness. Who wouldn't want that?
Pop quiz audience, what is Mary's favorite form of alcohol?
That's right Jagermeister (I'll pretend you all said that).
For some time now I have tried to buy some at a local wine and spirits store,
but every time I went they were all sold out. Bullcrap! I mean back in the
States I am one of the only (sides Suzy and Peter) people whom I know that
loves jagermeister, I mean who can resist its flavor? France loves it enough to
hinge my ability to buy it. Well today was different, today I won.
Kate and I decided to stroll around our local Espace Coty
mall because we're girls and we love to explore stores. The wine and spirits
store happens to be located in that very mall, that damn store. Today I went in
and asked for jagermeister; the dude said they had it. I then started to jump
around while saying "yes! finally!" to the surprise of everyone and
amusement of Kate. I did actually do that, judge if you like but when something is taken from you for so long you tend to be happy once reunited. I don't have
a drinking problem, I'm just young is all.
After I bought my bottle and left with an ear to ear grin,
Kate and I swung by the Monoprix (a grocery store) that was conveniently
located across from the wine and spirits store. Monoprix is nice for snack
buying and apparently their liquor section is more versatile than I had previously
thought. I found jagermeister there, same price but more abundance.
Craaaaaaaaap. Oh well, had we not had such a long absence from one another then
I wouldn't have appreciated it so much. Jager, I promise that you'll be my
first drink when I return to the States. We won't ever be apart again, my
precious...
Also I had class...but they were Thursday classes...so
yeah....til later!
Humpty Dumpty splurged on burgers. That is what happened
today though, oh dear I see the confusion. Right let's add some punctuation and
a few parts of speech. One moment.
Kate and I giggled over Humpty Dumpty today and afterwards
splurged on burgers and fixings from Mickey D's. Hmm, somehow that isn't as
catchy but definitely makes more sense. If you
all can recall I am taking part in a Nursery Rhyme class
this year; the basic function of the course is to analyze and learn about the
origins of nursery rhymes and their function in society. Our professor is one
of those "well-aged" women who has the energy of a first grader. If
only I could harness that kind of power, I'd be unstoppable. Plus I might
actually upload these posts on time. To all of you disappointed with my
slacking on blogs note the bottom left corner. I specifically say that I will
"try" to upload posts "once a week". So there, impatience should
die in all of you.
Now why were Kate and I giggling over Humpty Dumpty? Well
the name itself is giggle worthy but that actually wasn't it. No, you see
audience Nursery Rhymes (capitalized since I'm referring to the course and
classes are just THAT important) is not the final class for Kate and me on
Wednesday.
After the charming Humpty Dumpty lectures we head over to Creative
Writing with Mama Duck. Two hours of French lecture can become tiresome on the
mind and personally I love to draw little doodles. Don't give me that
look, today's class was all about the difference between legends and myths; heard
it ten times over back in the States, doesn't change. Anyhow my doodle turned
into a Humpty Dumpty themed one where another egg finds a fallen Humpty on the
ground and promptly eats him. Egg eating another egg, what a cannibal. Yeah, I
was restless.
The class ended and Kate and I were peckish for artery
clogging fried food. We all have those moments, I blame it on my own inability
to control my cravings. Let me tell you, the nuggets and burgers were tasty and
deliciously horrible for me. I could feel the fat bubble up around my tummy.
That's what exercise is for, least at this age, to keep the fat off and the metabolism
strong. Yeah, my arms and abs were crying after the workout I gave them. Hey,
no pain no gain that's the point.
The doodle is show below on a short video. Pictures, they just didn't work. Admire my doodle!
P.S. The word written when Cannibal Egg's foot is touching Humpty Dumpty is "poke!"
I must say that today was painful, physically painful.
Nothing particularly bad happened to me, I'm all in one piece and haven't been
admitted to Le Havre General, but still, today had an uncomfortable amount of
pain in it. Especially to my head.
Being a Tuesday I had tutor duties for the evening. I was
fine the whole day and relaxed before I set out on my habitual walk to the
Racadots. I went outside and saw a bright sunny sky, except for a brown (yes
brown) cloud that was hanging over downtown Le Havre. I thought nothing of it,
a cloud is a cloud, and began my journey. About five minutes into my journey hail
erupted from the sky. Damn brown cloud. It would have been fine had the hail
been either snow or rain, but it wasn't fine because the hail was (possibly) chunks
of ice. Damn hail!
My poor precious skull was bulleted with chunks of round ice
for the entire length of my walk. I hurried as best I could but it's difficult
when your face is constantly being hit by freezing pellets. Miraculously I had
a comb on me, good going MareBear. I was able to (with a few struggles)
straighten out the crow's nest that was now my hair. I appeared to be just a
little cold when Anne answered the door for me.
The lessons went well, no major problems, though I won't be
having them for awhlie. Sadly (happily for them) the Racadots are going on
vacation for a few weeks during the kids' first spring break. Mme Racadot left
me a note explaining the situation and that I wouldn't see them until the first
week of March. Aw darnit! I was supposed to give them their gifts from the US
aka Valentine's gifts next week; guess they'll wait til March. At least the
weather cleared up before I left, or so I had foolishly hoped. God damn hail.
It was even more painful a second time. Let's just say by
the time I made it home I was not a very merry Mary.
Look at my poor widdle red nose.
Let's stop there, the unflattering (but now funny) picture says enough.
Hey there audience! I hope that you all enjoyed my little
nursery rhyme segment, I know I did. Whenever I feel as though nothing exactly “interesting”
happened during my day I tend to spice it up by switching my writing style. The
nursery rhymes were fun to write, I won’t lie, but I’ll probably do something
else the next time a boring day hits me. Now, Monday, what happened on this
Monday? Not much!
Ha, sorry but that’s the truth. I had class, as usual, with
Mr. Martel from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. We discussed our home countries’ habits and
whatnot. For America (all of you should be proud) I said that our biggest hobby
was eating. Hey, we’re not the country with the highest obesity rate for
nothing. Our food is delicious! Doesn’t mean a lot of it is good for you; everyone
knows how many calories are tacked on when something is double batter fried in trans-fat
oils. But no one who has truly tried American cuisine can say that it is weak
and unsavory. The high fructose corn syrup always assures tastiness. Crap, I’m
becoming a ravenous wolf thinking about the succulent spread I left behind in
the States. Moving on!
Scope the picture below. What do you see audience?
You see the full collection of the Lord of the Rings trilogy
sitting on my bookshelf. At last, they all have arrived! I was so worried about
Fellowship, I mean it should’ve been here first. Damn customs delay in
Arkansas, they probably thought it was a black magic book like Harry Potter. Regardless
they are all mine now (insert crazy laugh)! Do you know what this means? Well
do you?!
It means nerd-gasm 2013 for the girl who has Zelda plaster
on every wall of her room in Chicago. The same girl who wears Elven jewelry
from time to time. The exact same girl who always listens to “Concerning
Hobbits” while she reads Lord of the Rings. Here’s a hint, the girl is me. More
of an answer than a hint, but hey least it’s correct.
Let us start at six o'clock in the morning. I decided to do
a huge chunk of laundry. I now have a closet of shirts again! Once eight thirty
struck I made my way to the St. Nicolas post office to retrieve a package. I
had two package slips but I wasn't sure if it was for the same package so I
brought the most recent. I would regret later. I also was pleasantly surprised
to find the post office closed. Online the hours are 8:30 AM-2:00 PM on
Saturdays. In reality they are 9:00 AM-2:00 PM on Saturdays. Being the stubborn
an extremely tired person that I am, I waited. Twenty minutes later the post
office opened and I retrieved my package. Instead of going home and sleeping, I
decided that some fresh pain au chocolat from Les Docks was too tempting to
resist.
The bakery doesn't open until 9:30 AM. More waiting. One
word, damnit! I did finally buy some "chocolate bread" and it was
absolutely amazing fresh from the oven. The chocolate was still melted and
crust warm with flakey goodness. I waited until I was home to devour my two
scrumptious pastries. While I was munching I opened my package. It was Lord of the
Rings Return of the King. Huh. I order all three Rings books and all three had
apparently been sent. I looked at the other package slip and realized that it
was for indeed another package. Crap.
I mulled over waiting to pick up the package on Monday, but
the idea of Fellowship sitting there by its lonesome drove me nuts. Sleep
deprivation tends to enhance paranoia of government workers. I grabbed my coat
and walked out of my dorm in my slippers. I made a U-turn and nabbed my boots
from room. I then left my dorm and walked once more to the post office.
The woman working was a bit surprised to see my scruffy
presence again but she greeted me with a smile just the same. I explained that
I had forgotten a packaging slip on my desk and wasn't sure if it was for a
different package. she looked at it and happily retrieved another rectangular
box from the shelf. I thanked her and left. While walking home I opened the
package eager to see Fellowship in my hands. Shocker, it was Two Towers. Where
the hell is Fellowship? I later looked online and discovered that it had
endured some "customs delays" in Arkansas. Only that redneck state
would find a Tolkien book to be a threat. Black Magic kill it with fire!
I then napped (sleep is for the night).
I woke at four thirty PM and began to work on some blogging.
Sorry for delay, the Kaiserslautern entries just slipped up on me. I wrote and
wrote until about seven twenty for I had an engagement that night. Jaimie,
Julie (a sweet Hungarian girl), and I were going out to dinner together in
order to know one another better. The evening went really well, minus me
causing us to become lost while finding a place to eat, and I now have a
slightly closer relationship with both girls. No we did not cuddle, that's
creepy. But every small step of building friendship counts. After all trust
doesn't fall from the sky audience. Silly audience, that's what an apple does.
Right then, time for Mary to pass out!
