Destination: France

Ken and Dee's Excellent Adventure: Normandy and Versailles

Tue, 8 Sep 2015 | By vagabonds3 | Views [457]

DEE FORTIFIED HERSELF FOR THE DRIVE ahead with a breakfast chocolate eclair in Amiens, not caring too much about the Notre Dame Cathedral.  The American Cemetery at Normandy, after all, was one of their target destinations.  It was a beautiful ... Read more >

Nothing like a three-hour French test to get your day off to a good start

Mon, 7 Sep 2015 | By kakimono | Views [385]

One of the classes I’d registered for was French, so that needed to begin with a placement test. We were told to show up at precisely 9:00, and expect it to take about 3 hours. Because I can never get enough of French placement tests (why else ... Read more >

Tags: cultural differences, french, registration, tests

Leo - The little teacher

Mon, 7 Sep 2015 | By cygorman | Views [274] | Video | Scholarship Entry

Since I was a child I have worked with the poetry of music to convey feelings. In the last 5 years I have been working on my DSLR photography, & in the last 3 years with videography, learning how to capture and develop the poetry of light. In studios, ... Read more >

Tags: 2015 Film Scholarship to Colombia

Yvoire, France

Sun, 6 Sep 2015 | By elcastleberry | Views [563]

Last night, as I strolled through Lausanne with Sarina, Craig and Baby Malia, I felt the blissful, sudden on-set of euphoria that always appears shortly after I begin a new adventure. These moments are precious: the early stages of travel when bonds ... Read more >

Tags: castles, ferry, france, freedom, languages

French 3010 comes back to haunt me

Sun, 6 Sep 2015 | By kakimono | Views [491]

There weren’t any morning activities scheduled on Thursday, so I slept in, walked around Paris for a while, and finally worked my way back to the university around two. This had given them enough time to respond to my e-mail, first to forward ... Read more >

Tags: art, course registration, french

Photos: France

Sun, 6 Sep 2015 | By vagabonds3 | Photo Gallery

Registering for classes and signing forms about my room used to be so easy

Fri, 4 Sep 2015 | By kakimono | Views [478]

Tuesday we met for a walking tour of part of Marais. “Marais” being French for “when I was a kid, the entire city used to a swamp, and we had to go to the Latin quarter just to be on solid ground.” It was led by Guillaume, an ... Read more >

Tags: apartment, class registration, tour, transport

Pretending I'm a real adult

Wed, 2 Sep 2015 | By kakimono | Views [1140]

On Monday, I woke up in my own apartment. Although waking up anywhere else would have been rather disturbing, it still felt like a surprising thing to do. I did not need to worry about Ruby already being in the shower, or tripping over Clara's bags ... Read more >

Tags: apartment, cheese, groceries

Moving Day

Tue, 1 Sep 2015 | By kakimono | Views [458]

The last apartment that I needed to look at was in the twelfth arrondissement. It was another one of those places where taking public transportation was nearly as slow as walking (about half an hour). And, given it was supposed to be a nice day, (a ... Read more >

Tags: apartments, home

A Saturday not as lazy as I would have liked

Tue, 1 Sep 2015 | By kakimono | Views [431]

Saturday we had nothing to do until 17:00, when we were meeting at a cinema to watch Dheepan. Which gave us most of a day to ourselves. I woke up around 10, looked up a couple of destinations, and set off for Shakespeare and Company. It was ... Read more >

Tags: apartments, books, film

First visit to the university

Sun, 30 Aug 2015 | By kakimono | Views [447]

A crash course in the names that the school I'll be spending next semester at: The full name is Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie. When it's abbreviated, this gives rise to the rather logical UPMC. Depending on the context, the Sorbonne ... Read more >

Tags: apartments, dessert, university, upmc

Settling into normal

Sat, 29 Aug 2015 | By kakimono | Views [448]

Thursday began with police from the eleventh arrondissement coming in to talk to us. Three of them showed up- two actual police officers and one volunteer. (A couple of years ago, to improve their public perception, the police started accepting volunteers.... Read more >

Tags: apartements, police, rain

I've walked these streets before

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 | By kakimono | Views [403]

Wednesday began with a "practical meeting" scheduled for two hours. This one was an actual case of over scheduling, since we were done with the meeting in under an hour. But it gave Erin time to explain things about our cultural outings, (opera, dance, ... Read more >

Tags: appartment, metro, montmartre, montparnasse, stairs, walking

Photos: test

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 | By dode | Photo Gallery

Courses and Housing: what most people figured out in April

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 | By kakimono | Views [567]

he day began with a quick breakfast from the nearest boulangerie (perk of being in Paris) and a two hour description of French higher education.  Mainly focusing on universities, especially the ones we'd be studying at. It was a mixture of practical ... Read more >

Tags: apartment, classes, metro, transportation, universities