Julien says BON JOUR

Well, my, my.  It has been a long time.  I have not been ignoring my duties of bringing stories of my life for those living vicariously through my experiences (Naaaazzzyyyyy.  It's OK Ninka, I love you).  Due to a strong form of clumsiness that only few possess, I was able to spill the entire contents of last friday night's salad on to my keyboard, and thus for a week now (GASP!  One week, I know!), I have been without means of getting through to the rest of the world.

POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF SAID EXPERIENCE 

1. I learned a new word--Le clavier--the keyboard.

2. The time I would usually spend checking email-facebook-email-facebook-email-facebook-email, I spent decorating my apartment, studying all six tenses of the indicative mode for 809 different verbs, and, yes, you guess it , cleaning my floors. 

**Just as a side note: I pretty much gave up on the floor thing and bought some ridiculous blue, glittery slippers.  I call them "dampaee zeshthah" They can collect the grime instead.  

3. Because I didn't write several blog entries, I now have reason to write a really long one.  woo! 

So, what's happened since my last entry?  What hasn't happened?!?!  

Just kidding. 

My classes...actually...two of my classes started this week.  

One of them is my most intensive course, two and a half hours of straight grammar, vocabulary, complete concentration.  

--ok.  im sorry, so i'm writing this blog in my apartment, right?  and i just want to let everyone know that Mims is learning the words to the song that's like, "One, you're like a dream come true.  Two, just want to be with you...." for a classor something, and she plays it over and over and over and over, and the part where all of a sudden he hits the alto she decides that she would like to sing, so she starts.  8 times, people.  8. times.  I need to make that girl a mixed tape of music I actually enjoy. 

So anyway, the time I spend in class each day, I learn the equivalent of the amount of French I would learn in a year in the US.  I can go on and on about the problems I have with the foreign language system at home, but I'll spare you...it all comes down to the fact that my class is amazing.  

The other students in class are super cool too.  They come from all over the world, and we all speak French with each other.  It's cool how fast we became friends, really.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we're all in a new place by ourselves.  Bichareh, this one girl from Japan was like, ''Yeah, i spent my birthday by myself.  all alone.  in paris"  she totes deserves a cake one of these days.  

Besides the language class I'm taking this retarded phonetics course.  

REASONS WHY IT'S RETARDED:

1.  It's at 8:00 in the morning.  When I leave the apartment, it's still dark outside.  

2.  Since it's a phonetics class, it's organized by nationality and so I'm in a class filled with American people who have decided that they would much rather speak English than try their hands (or mouths) at French.  So this morning, I tried to speak French to the girl sitting next to me and she started laughing and loudly said, "WELL, LOOK AT YOU!!" 

I'm never sitting next to her again.

3. The class itself is really strange.  The teacher stands in front of the class and says little phrases, which we must repeat.  It goes something like this:

Prof: "Il est fatigué"

Students: "Il est fatigué"

Prof: "Non, il est fatigué" 

Students: "Il est fatigué"

Prof: "I L'EST FA TI GUÉ"

Ok lady, you know what, je suis fatiguée.  Make me wake up at 6:30 in the morning for THIS!?

The only cool thing about our class is that the second portion is lab and we get to wear cool headphones with built in microphones.

ok. so it's not THAT cool, but at least I'm searching for the positive.  

No, you know what?  They ARE really cool.  I wear them and I'm all like, "Yeah, I'm a pilot, what now?" 

But, its all part of the learning process, so despite being...not my favorite...phonetics is a very important part of learning any language.  Think Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady."  If I want to be a flower girl, I MUST be able to perfectly articulate the rain in spain sits mainly on the plain...in French.  It's just the way it goes.  

ANYWAY, apart from that, I'm also taking History of French Art and The Origins and Results of the French Revolution, which start next week.  So excited.  I think for the art history class we get guided tours around the Louvre!!!!!! 

And now, a list of my favorite things to do.  Amelie Poulin style (if you havent seen the movie, Amelie, I suggest you go to blocks right now.  RIGHT NOW.  and rent it.  Fave movie ever). 

RANNA'S FAVORITE THINGS

1. Walk through Saint Germain-des-Pres and take expired art gallery posters from the walls/windows and decorate my apartment with them.  Whenever I have little to do, I hop on the metro and go find new posters. 

2. The farmer's market across the street.  Every sunday.  It has everything I could every want to satisfy all of my taste buds.  I basically plan my entire week around the market.  I basically have nothing to eat at home on Fridays and Saturdays.  So I go over to Marion's and she doesn't have anything to eat either.  So thats when I make a salad consisting of one tomato with olive oil dressing that spills on my computer.  I go to sleep those nights with an empty stomach and a broken...what is it, folks?  CLA VI ER.  

So yeah, the market is really amazing.  All of the vendors are Arab men who sing and yell and kind of frightened me the first week I went. 

Actually, haha, the very first week I went to the market, I walked through the entire thing without buying anything.  When I got to the end I was like, "RANNA, pull yourself together.  You can do this.  You need to eat!  Think with your stomach."  So then I walked through again and bought like 2 tomatoes, 1 lemon, some cooked potatoes, and 4 oranges.  I think I ate at Marion's that night.

3.  I like to walk from L'Acadamie Française to the Louvre using the Pont des Arts.  My dad introduced it to me and I love it.  I think its because it's sandwiched between two amazingly wonderful buildings filled with amazingly wonderful histories.  I always take my time and stop in the middle to check out what's going on around me.  One time, I threw a piece of bread on a bateau mouche just because I wanted to do it.  Thats right,  you know me, rebel without a cause.  Piece of bread, bad a$$.  

4. I like to count how many people look like they're not paying attention when really they think it's the funniest thing when homeless men and women get on the metro and make speeches about needing money and start singing.  It happens so often that people lose interest after a while, but there are some people who look like they put a lot of effort into ACTING like they've lost interest.  Right when a man/woman walks in and starts performing, they start to read their newspapers more intently, or they start playing with their phone.  My favorite is when they act like they're asleep.  They'll be dead awake and then when the bichareh homeless person comes in starts belting "La Vie En Rose," and they close their eyes and start breathing deeply.

5. My bed is very comfortable. 

OK.  My fingers are tired and also, the Picasso exhibit just opened up at the Louvre so I think I'm going to head to that.

Cheers. 

actually, PS I've gotten some emails from people asking for pictures of some certain and specific things, so here they are.  

  Marion, and the devil dog, "Angel"  the bedroom, office, dining room, living room, tv room

 another view of the bedroom.  the hallway leads to the kitchen and bathroom, WC, closet, and front door.