Today, is your Birthday. It is Saturday, the 1st of October 2011. You are now 21, congratulations.
You will get to sleep in a bit, then you and your roommate, J, will spend most of the day hanging out in your small room discussing how fun Paris is and resting up for what should be one of the best nights of the year... an annual Parisian event called Nuit Blanche.
According to the google translated version of the website (nuitblance.paris.fr) tonight should be an awesome combination of Art, Culture, and good times. With most of the events starting at 8pm and continuing on until 7 am it is going to be a long night, this is why you and J are enjoying a Lazy Day.
At 6 you leave for Monoprix and grab the cheese, bread and bottle of Wine (a nice 2008), that you agreed to bring to the pique-nique, you forget to buy the meat slices, which you remember as soon as you leave the store after a 15 minute wait in the check out line.
You don't have time to go back so you figure perhaps you will pass another store with shorter waits, and if not, oh well. You get to the Metro stop at 6:25, exactly five minutes early, J shows up at 6:34 (which means you may have been able to go back in get the meat and still meet up with her without being horribly late). Together you excitedly board the Metro and head on down to meet a few of the others for dinner.
You arrive at the location a bit late, and can't seem to find anyone, but after a few texts using your Orange Phone's strange keyboard you realize that you are the first to arrive. Eventually a location is chosen and everyone gathers dropping their goodies into the center of the circle you have formed on the grass. Thus the "feast" commences, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, just after sunset.
What was supposed to take an hour takes three as you wait for on of the girls who has gotten lost navigating the Metro, but no one minds much. The food is cheap but good, and the wine from little plastic cups makes everyone feel classier than they really are, if only for a moment.
By 10:15 it's time for a quick bathroom break before you head out to the great wonders Nuit Blanche has promised you. By 11:15 you realize you must not be doing Nuit Blanche correctly. by 12:15 you have gotten lost more than once but managed to find your way to the Purple Rain exhibit, and while you aren't horribly exited about it, the rest of the group suddenly becomes enthusiastic again when they realize they've found it, and thus begins the three hour wait in line. By 1:15 certain more annoying members of your party are complaining of the wait despite the fact that you all knew how long it would take. By 2:15 some random chick a few groups ahead of you begins to throw up on the wall of the building you all are queued against, then drunkly cry about the state of her life you turn your back so you don't throw up, then strategically place yourself in J's line of view so that she doesn't through up either.
Finally around 3:15 you have made it, cold and tired, inside the courtyard where the exhibit is being held. It is much cooler than you expected, there is actual purple rain falling from the sky as you are handed a see-through umbrella with a slight purple tint of its own. The courtyard however, is crowded, the water is wet, and soon your shoes are soaked and The Complainer has begun to complain again. You take some pictures, discuss how interesting the set of is and then leave, returning your umbrellas as you do so. As you exit then regroup you notice that the wait is now only about five minutes long. It's pointed out that you could have gone to another exhibit then come back, but it's too late now. Every one decides to head home early, the line having killed their spirits and you and J head off to find one of the two Metro lines that have stayed open late for the occasion.
By 4:15 you realize that you have walked half way home in the opposite direction of the Metro you were aiming for. You decide to back track to avoid walking the less activunintelligible maps that lead to wrong turns and closed Metro entrances (as well as almost causing J to have a mental break down) at 5:15 you finally arrive back home exhausted, cold, wet, and rather disappointed by the nights events. It's then as you shiver in bed that you realize that the only people who sang happy birthday to you were your parents/sister, and you didn't hear most of it because of a glitch in you sound system, this is what makes you realize that you just experienced your most anti-climactic birthday ever. Perhaps this is why some adults seem so set on "forgetting" their birthday.
A tour à l'heure,
Vicarious Paris
Nuit Blanche [New-E Blahnshh] is, as stated, and annual Arts event that takes place across Paris. Many museums are open all night (with free admission) and temporary exhibits are set up around a few key areas, there is also supposedly lots of live music and other fun activities but we didn't experience any. Literally translated it means White Night, but its actually meaning is closer to "a night without sleep".
Monoprix [Mono-Pree]- is a chain store similar to Target in that it sells everything form clothing to food, but unlike Target, Monoprix is often overpriced (but they accept our Sedexo food checks soooo. . .).
Pique-Nique- a fancy French way of saying pic-nic.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
New air, new immune system.
"What is that noise."
"Sorry, my throat itches."
"You better not be getting sick. I don't want to be a part of that."
"I'm not, don't worry."
The next morning you wake up, sick. Of course. You suffer through, it seems to be only a minor cold after all.
The day after waking up sick you enter full on Zombie mode. You think you may have spent several hours walking around Versailles? Possibly you went to Monet's house in Givernigig, Givniver, Givgishishmobonkin. Something like that.
Then again, it may all have been a weird dream.
As your "concerned" roommate, J insists you go to a doctor, or take some medicine.
"I want my body to build up its immune system, I'll be fine it's not that bad."
Zombie phase continues.
At some point you saw some castle thing Napoleon built? This may have been the day before Versailles, it may have been after, hell it could have been the same day. Zombie mode is not a keeper of time or places. This was a place for injured veterans and invalids? Perhaps that has something to do with the Metro stop you may or may not remember. While leaving this place Jane makes a comment in her ever so soothing British accent. "Robyn, you don't look well. Are you feeling all right?"
"Just a small cold."
"Perhaps you should go see a doctor just incase."
"I'll be fine, lots of sleep."
"Alright, if you think you can manage then great. It's better to not have to see a doctor that way your body will be prepared come winter."
"Yeah."
"But if you do decide you do need a doctor, just stop by the office and I will call and set up an appointment for you. Ok?"
You have no words left in your sick little throat. So you nod.
At some point during The Sickness you take a test. A French language placement test, or something. You had to write an essay about an invention that changed the 20th century, or was it the 21st? Either way you remember writing ordinateur and wi-fi several times, including a grammatically incorrect horribly spelled statement about how schools, governments, and businesses all benefit from the magical wi-fi/ordinateur combination. The only thing your are certain about is that you left two sections blank, and couldn't remember your French phone number/address, J helped you find the first, and then when she wasn't looking you copied the second down as well.
You then felt guilty for "cheating" on the "What is your local address?" question that was less of a question and more of a "let us own your life" opportunity.
You don't remember knowing the answer to a single one of the multiple choice questions, so you did what they specifically may have possibly told you not to do: you guessed. Then your people gently shepherded you into a line for the oral examination. You mustered every last bit of energy and brain power to explain to your confused looking professor why you seemed so odd and confused.
"Je suis malade."
"Où?"
????
"Where, where are you sick."
"Oh my uh, my, je ne sais pas le mot. . ." You gesture.
"La gorge?"
"Oui."
(Non-sick you knew that answer.)
Somehow you make it home at eventually you start to feel better. Several days after the test you discover that by some weird fluke you tested into the third level of the second level*. Elementary 13. You are happy to not be in a Beginners level, but aware that you would be better suited for Elementary 15, the lowest Elementary level. This is confirmed when classes begin, but after a discussion with Danica about grade transfers and what you hope to gain from the class you decided to stay with the slightly more difficult/out of your comprehension class in hopes that you will gain more from it. Danica thinks that if you apply yourself you will be able to test into the intermediate level next semester and will therefor be eligible for actual French lecture courses.
The challenge is accepted, but you still question how Zombie you managed to test into a higher level when Post Zombie you doesn't even remember what the majority of the test was about.
A tout à l'heure,
Vicarious Paris
Ordinateur [Or-din-AH-ter]- that magical device known in English as a computer.
Wi-Fi (often but not always pronounced [Wee-Fee]- Wi-Fi
Je suis malade [jze swee ma-lahd]- I am sick.
Où? [Ooo (as in Ooo-Ahhhhhh!)]- Where?
"Oh my uh, my, je ne sais pas le mot. . ." [oh my uh, my, jze nuh say pa le moe]- "Oh my uh, my, I don't know the word. . ."
"La gorge?" [La gor-g (like gorgeous without the us)]- "The throat?"
Oui [we]- Yes.
*There are five main levels. In ascending order they are Beginner, Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior (for those fluent enough to sound like a native speaker.) Each of these levels has five interior or sub levels and I THINK (mais je ne sais pas) that they are (in ascending order) 15, 14, 13, 12, and 11. Yes, i said ascending order, in this case 11 is the highest sub level, 15 the lowest.
"Sorry, my throat itches."
"You better not be getting sick. I don't want to be a part of that."
"I'm not, don't worry."
The next morning you wake up, sick. Of course. You suffer through, it seems to be only a minor cold after all.
The day after waking up sick you enter full on Zombie mode. You think you may have spent several hours walking around Versailles? Possibly you went to Monet's house in Givernigig, Givniver, Givgishishmobonkin. Something like that.
Then again, it may all have been a weird dream.
As your "concerned" roommate, J insists you go to a doctor, or take some medicine.
"I want my body to build up its immune system, I'll be fine it's not that bad."
Zombie phase continues.
At some point you saw some castle thing Napoleon built? This may have been the day before Versailles, it may have been after, hell it could have been the same day. Zombie mode is not a keeper of time or places. This was a place for injured veterans and invalids? Perhaps that has something to do with the Metro stop you may or may not remember. While leaving this place Jane makes a comment in her ever so soothing British accent. "Robyn, you don't look well. Are you feeling all right?"
"Just a small cold."
"Perhaps you should go see a doctor just incase."
"I'll be fine, lots of sleep."
"Alright, if you think you can manage then great. It's better to not have to see a doctor that way your body will be prepared come winter."
"Yeah."
"But if you do decide you do need a doctor, just stop by the office and I will call and set up an appointment for you. Ok?"
You have no words left in your sick little throat. So you nod.
At some point during The Sickness you take a test. A French language placement test, or something. You had to write an essay about an invention that changed the 20th century, or was it the 21st? Either way you remember writing ordinateur and wi-fi several times, including a grammatically incorrect horribly spelled statement about how schools, governments, and businesses all benefit from the magical wi-fi/ordinateur combination. The only thing your are certain about is that you left two sections blank, and couldn't remember your French phone number/address, J helped you find the first, and then when she wasn't looking you copied the second down as well.
You then felt guilty for "cheating" on the "What is your local address?" question that was less of a question and more of a "let us own your life" opportunity.
You don't remember knowing the answer to a single one of the multiple choice questions, so you did what they specifically may have possibly told you not to do: you guessed. Then your people gently shepherded you into a line for the oral examination. You mustered every last bit of energy and brain power to explain to your confused looking professor why you seemed so odd and confused.
"Je suis malade."
"Où?"
????
"Where, where are you sick."
"Oh my uh, my, je ne sais pas le mot. . ." You gesture.
"La gorge?"
"Oui."
(Non-sick you knew that answer.)
Somehow you make it home at eventually you start to feel better. Several days after the test you discover that by some weird fluke you tested into the third level of the second level*. Elementary 13. You are happy to not be in a Beginners level, but aware that you would be better suited for Elementary 15, the lowest Elementary level. This is confirmed when classes begin, but after a discussion with Danica about grade transfers and what you hope to gain from the class you decided to stay with the slightly more difficult/out of your comprehension class in hopes that you will gain more from it. Danica thinks that if you apply yourself you will be able to test into the intermediate level next semester and will therefor be eligible for actual French lecture courses.
The challenge is accepted, but you still question how Zombie you managed to test into a higher level when Post Zombie you doesn't even remember what the majority of the test was about.
A tout à l'heure,
Vicarious Paris
Ordinateur [Or-din-AH-ter]- that magical device known in English as a computer.
Wi-Fi (often but not always pronounced [Wee-Fee]- Wi-Fi
Je suis malade [jze swee ma-lahd]- I am sick.
Où? [Ooo (as in Ooo-Ahhhhhh!)]- Where?
"Oh my uh, my, je ne sais pas le mot. . ." [oh my uh, my, jze nuh say pa le moe]- "Oh my uh, my, I don't know the word. . ."
"La gorge?" [La gor-g (like gorgeous without the us)]- "The throat?"
Oui [we]- Yes.
*There are five main levels. In ascending order they are Beginner, Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior (for those fluent enough to sound like a native speaker.) Each of these levels has five interior or sub levels and I THINK (mais je ne sais pas) that they are (in ascending order) 15, 14, 13, 12, and 11. Yes, i said ascending order, in this case 11 is the highest sub level, 15 the lowest.
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