Thank God for Weekends

I suppose I shouldn't give up on this blog just yet.

We went to Zurich last weekend although it already feels like it was months ago. And this last week was like the week from hell so I went to bed exhausted and at questionable hours pretty much every night.

But Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were the most lazy days on the planet, thankfully.
I should have done more work today but really it's easier to be out on the town when you've already been out. It's so hard to leave the comfort of one's dorm these days.

I read once that you are truly Parisian when you have wasted a day in Paris.
Bienvenue à paris, je suppose.

Working Wednesdays

I did studio work today with only the slightest variation. To be honest.
And I spent 4 hours making a figure ground of my site. It sucked, just fyi. But it looks great.
Here's what wasn't studio:

I actually slept in til 10 and it was nice to be able to do so.
Got my Navigo Imagine R card today so now I finally don't have to worry about it anymore. Plus I can leave Paris on the weekends. Which is exciting.

Also had French this evening and though we left a little early, we were late because I think something went wrong on one of the lines so the trains were backed up and we were stopped more than we were moving. Frustrating but now we know how it happens. And French wasn't too bad except that we also spent as much time on the metro as we did in the classroom. Oh well.

I need sleep, desperately, and I think I'm done enough to go to bed. Thank God.

It's Tuesday Still!!!

How frustrating that I've missed the day because it's after midnight.

Anyway, regardless, today was uneventful. Went over our sketches in Tristan's class and I can't tell if he liked them or not. I guess we'll see when he gives us our grades... Hopefully I'm doing ok.

Walked around the area where our apartment will be when my parents arrive and found a new pair of boots (and they're extrememly comfortable!) so I'm happy. Came back and dawdled before going to Visual Arts, which was tonight because Garry can't teach tomorrow morning. It wasn't too bad -- we did more etching and he saw one of my sketches that he really liked and made me do. So ok, that works.

Then I came back and ate and have been slowly doing studio work since.
Will probably go to bed soon though, because I can't finish my thoughts anymore.

Manic Mondays!

So we still don't have our cards for imagine 'R, which is our unlimited metro pass for the rest of the trip, and I begin to worry about it. I'm also anxious to get our social security info in the mail but we're still waiting on one vital piece of information on that, too.
Other than that I only had class from 11 until 12.45 so it wasn't so bad. Then I headed home, visited the grocery store, and then got busy on my work. So far, not so good. I keep getting distracted (and you're not helping, blogspot!) and it's all just sketching anyway so I'm anxious about it getting done. It's really frustrating to be doing this. This is NOT what I want to do with my life... But I suppose we have to suffer a little or there is no gain.

Hopefully the sketches will all end up on facebook or deviantart or something but we'll see.

I have more work to do so I'm going to keep this note short. Although I do have to note that Belin's Croustilles are the most yummy of all foods, ever.

Sunday Doesn't End the Weekend

It's almost not today any more!
Today I didn't do much. We tried to go to Notre Dame to climb to the top and it was WAY crowded (damn you Americans!) so we decided to try it another time. I ended up going to church with Kat and it was a pleasant enough experience although next time we go it will be the 9.30 service, and hopefully it will be more traditional. Oh well.
Anyway, after church I had a brief lunch and then sat infront of the Chatelet for a while. Took a few pictures and read for like an hour then headed back and did a variety of work and play pretty much all evening.

And here I am. I do love uneventful days.

Forgotten Saturdays

I don't know how I just forget to do these things.
This post is for yesterday.

I woke up late (what a nice change!) and slowly made my way in the direction of La Defense, but I was fortunate enough to hope on a metro that took me to just over a bridge from my site. So I walked my studio site from about 11.30 until 1.30 and took some pretty good pictures and made some pretty good mental notes from which HOPEFULLY I'll be able to make some decent sketches/sections.
Afterwards I went to L'Arc de Triomphe and went to the little vehicle island it's situated on in order to take some pictures. Spent a little bit of time there then made my way back to Notre Dame, where I sat in front of the Memorial to Deportation and had a lovely franglais chat with a guy from the Mediterranean part of France. Admittedly, that was pretty damn awkward because both of us spoke just little enough of the other language for it to not work out fantastically.
Anyway, came back and sat around, doing a little bit of work here and there.
Oh, and I made a calendar. And a reminder to update my blog. We'll see how that works. So far not.

No-Work Fridays

I planned to get up fairly early this morning but that didn't work out so I left the dorms about 11 to head to Bricorama, where I found a great rug for about 25€. It covers almost all the floor (a few cm is the difference) from the length of my bed to the closet so I'm thrilled... and it adds so much to the room. After bringing that back I lazed around for about an hour and enjoyed a brief lunch before heading out to pick up some printing paper and supplies from rougier & ple. I ended up buying a really nifty watercolor set, which I promptly took to Notre Dame to test out. I looked around the St. Michel district for a bit before having a go around the Holocaust Memorial there, then sitting in that park and doing one small water color scene, which didn't turn out too badly for my first time.
I read a little while I was there and was yelled at by a crazy man whom you wouldn't have assumed to be crazy because he was a fairly well dressed old man, and then headed back. I also found some really cheap souvenir stores on Ile St. Michel, where I was able to purchase some posters that now hang in my room. I really like them -- 2 medium and 3 small for about 5€. Not bad. Maybe I'll start a collection.
Laura, Sarah, Stephanie, and I all went to Murailles de Phenix for dinner (but no beignets) and made our way back to the dorms, where I have been sitting on my butt for quite some time now.

It's hard to believe we've been here a month already. I live in Paris.

Thursday Update

Just pretend this post happened yesterday.

I got up around 9.30 to try to get some work done for studio and ended up walking all around Parc Monceau to take pictures. Then I headed over to La Villette where I tried to print and it failed miserably at first, not to mention my French was completely ruined and I couldn't talk to the guy at ALL -- although I could understand him fine and I really hate that everybody makes fun of us.
I got all of my stuff printed and then made my way towards studio with Stephanie while picking up lunch in the process.
Studio lasted from 1.30 until 8.15 and we went over this great book called Paris Metropole for most of the class period and then talked about what we had done. I ended up not showing all that stuff I had bothered to print because it was on a tiny spot like I thought we were supposed to focus on rather than a huge spot like Ron clarified yesterday. So all the walking was for naught except exercise but I suppose that's ok. We got out at 8.15 and Sarah and I went over to Kat, Irene, Yeh won, and Cindy's apartment where a bunch of the girls were making dinner and having "bible study" (that would be aka chatting) and we enjoyed that until 11PM, when we headed back. Ended up playing spades and rummy until 2 in the morning.

On Busy Wednesdays

I had better update today before I forget to do so.
Although it was not a very exciting day. Woke up early and went to French, then enjoyed lunch in the hallway and head to St. Paul in the Marais where we met up with Marc who gave us a small tour around Medievalesque Paris. It was lovely, starting right near Notre Dame and ending on the other side of the small walls in Paris. We went inside the Crypt of Notre Dame which is unlike any crypt I've been in (and I've visited a few, they're my favorite part!) because it has Roman ruins in it and is more like an underground museum than a crypt. But I'm not complaining because it was a rather interesting tour albeit small and every other part was interesting. Plus we don't have class next week, only the demande to do some of the work/sketches/fun for the board game and to visit some sites where we'll get fantastic views of Paris. Somebody finish the torture, hahaha!
Anyway, we finished that and moseyed to an art store to look at some stuff for Damien's vis. arts class before going to it. In there we etched into plastic to fill with ink. Mine turned out pretty sorry but it was just practice so I brought back a bunch of plastic and an etching tool to practice. This technique is actually a lot of fun -- granted when it's not at my expense.
Got out of there at 9 and finally made it back home where I need to get some studio work done before going to bed tonight.

My grey vest has gotten a little too big. I feel as though I've gotten wider and gained weight but I suppose this is a sign that it may be the opposite case, unless of course the vest never really fit me properly in the first place. I suppose I'll never know.

WIFI works, for once.

So since my internet has been screwy lately I've not been able to get online and thus was not really able to update yesterday. Actually a valid excuse this time.
Anyway, yesterday:
Monday, October 6, 2008
We went to French class at a wonderfully late time and had a pleasant class. When it let out we went exploring to the place called rougier et ple... or something like that, I don't remember the exact title, and discovered it to be four-stories of magical design supplies. It's a wonder I didn't spend all my money there. After carefully monitoring my spending we ventured out in the direction of our site, which is about 12 square kilometers, and to try to put a dent in the adventuring. We got... maybe a tenth of the parameter covered. But it's ok, because I did the research today and I'm ready to go back out next time there is time.
Sarah made tacos and they were delicious.

Today, Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Had very... interesting discussion in Tristan's class that was a round-about argument over whether something can be described such that somebody knows exactly what the object is, and also how it is perceived by the describer. It was seriously intense conversation and I'm still not really sure of the outcome -- or if I did try to explain it, I would invoke the entire rambling thing all over again.
Afterwards Ally and I ventured over to Le Geant, another art supply store, to see what they had. The selection was not as good, but at least now we know.
Came back and went to the grocery store of which I learned every nook and cranny just looking for the things I needed for dinner. Spent 40€ without meaning to, but I was really proud of dinner tonight and now we have stuff to make more things much later... like spaghetti.
Worked on studio, history, and art tonight and I know it sounds like a lot but mostly it's just stuff occurring in my head. Plus this sketch WIFI is absolutely killing me. I have GOT to find that guy in person and try to talk to him.
I'm not sure I'm going to survive the semester.

On Learning to Update

So I apparently stink at this whole “update your journal” thing.

Let me try to catch up, again.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Today we had French again, but at 11.00 instead of the old 9.30 and that was nice. But French was boring and afterwards we went to find this art supply store… that ended up really good, but I didn’t get anything really useful. So I need to go to another store tomorrow, especially for ANOTHER sketchbook for Tristan’s class. Went to WHSmith over at Place de la Concord and found the sketchbook we’ve been looking for in Damien’s class, which is this lame and expensive pullout thing. Also bought Salad Cream and I’m thrilled to get to use it.

Walked around our supposed site (really, I think they just put their fingers down on a map of France) a little bit and found virtually nothing in the way of usable space for this project. Going out again tomorrow.

And here I am, relaxed and fighting off a good nap because Sarah’s making tacos tonight. I need to read for Tristan’s class and graffiti all in my book.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

I did nothing on this day, just so everybody knows. I did not leave the Fondation and it was niiiiiiiice.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

In the morning, we hunted down a supply store in the nearby neighborhood but it ended up being nothing but sculpting materials. But that works for Damien’s class probably, so we’ll keep it in mind. Went to Champion right after and spent a bunch of money AGAIN… but it’s nice to have real food in your dorm.

Kickball followed but it was a short 9-inning game in which we lost, sad faces, and I only drank 2 little cidres so it was pathetic. Then we came back and got ready for Nuit Blanche.

First we went to Notre Dame and listened to an almost all female Gregorian Choir which was BEAUTIFUL, not to mention getting to go see the exterior and interior of Notre Dame. Then we exited and watched this cool fire dancer who used fireworks in his show just outside Notre Dame. Then we saw this beacon of light and followed it all the way to Montparnasse, where there was this AWESOME display of about 50 lights set up in a pattern, pointing to the sky. They were just tall enough that you could get maybe your hand over them, and they were accompanied by some of the coolest sounds. It was really cool. Then we meandered towards Quai Branley to try to see the Rabbit Opera but we never found it and instead saw this… international tour? With strange sounds and pictures of places around Europe, as well as a ton of rubber duckies in this cute pond thing representing all the EU countries. It was trippy.

But we looked again for the Rabbit Opera and ended up missing the last metro (which cut off ½ hour early, btw), so we had to walk the 2 miles home and finally got in about 3.30AM.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Had the day off from class and it felt spectacular after the previous two days. Ended up sleeping in before…you know, i don't remember what we did here.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Went to WHSmith today to check it out and ended up buying 2 sketchbooks (together) and the book I need for Tristan’s class. Damn expensive. Had studio afterwards and nearly fell asleep because we sat in the same place for 5 hours listening to them talk. it was harsh, but apparently NOT how it will be run from now on. We can be hopeful.

Everybody in the class speaks English, and I’m torn over whether this is a good thing or not.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Extra long class today – Started at 9AM with Damien’s “Visual Arts” class, aka Art. That was RIDICULOUS because we couldn’t understand a word he said since we had to sit in the back, and then went and sketched our site and now we have to “pick a theme” for it and… I’m not an art student! I don’t like this artsy craftsy installation stuff. Oh well.

Then we suffered through Paris Urban History, which was looking at map after map after map with only the slightest changes for 3 hours… and it wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t falling asleep the whole time.

Then we went to French, which was the same as usual except we got to start reading Asterix, so that was pretty cool.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Had Tristan’s class today and watched “La Haine,” which was a really good movie focusing on the problems of living in the banlieus of Paris. Also discussed the class a bit and it seems cool (except that today I received an e-mail about our assignment due next Tuesday and it looks BRUTAL).

Waited for three hours to go try the stage design course but it wasn’t happening this week. I’ve decided I don’t want to take the class to try to free up my Tuesday since Wednesday and Thursday are both days from hell. We’ll see.