Tuesdays of course is a great day, largely because of ballroom. Before that however, I really got to enjoy the fact that spring has truly come and hit Paris in full force, and its as if Parisians are blossoming with the flowers, bringing such an energy and happy vibe into the streets. The parcs are full of people and the Seine is lined with picnics. This day, I had my first outdoor lunch of the season and went to Pont des Arts with Annie, Juliette, Fran, Katie, Louis, Lincoln, Nick and Sarah Coskeran before heading off to ballroom. A lunchtime picnic on the Seine really just puts you in the best mood ever, though not very conducive to returning to indoor library sessions which are sorely needed right now. In dance class, Daniel was sick so I had to partner with the teacher. It was actually great fun because since she is pro, it is so easy to follow along. However, I feel like a giant dancing with her small fragile French lady frame. Oh well. I've always said I'm too big to be cute, but hopefully with these lessons I'll be able to try and aspire to be tall yet graceful as well. Good luck with that. Upon returning to Sc Po to get more work done and meet Grace for our debat, I took advantage of the air and worked in the garden for about an hour on work. Its much more spiritually uplifting, and I was much more productive than I am at home.
At 7:30, I also went to go see a movie with my sport and politics class, called Boxing Gym. Its by director Frederick Wiseman, and this documentary was unlike any other. I couldn't believe that in 90 minutes, no narrative emerged, but was instead just an observational construction of the multi-ethnic and gender community that emerges in this random boxing gym in Houston. It was pretty boring at the time, and it was only when I started writing up my analysis and opinion piece for class that I thought it was actually kindof a cool movie. Our class was watching it as a replacement for a seminar in April when Rook (prof) is away at a conference. It was nice though to go as a class and get to chat with people a bit more. Watching the movie also made me want to re-apply myself to a workout regimen once I go home.
When I got home, I was greeted by Annie. She has been having problems with her door in this spring heat. Apparently when it swells in these hot temperatures, it shifts in the frame so the lock doesn't line up, and she's locked out. This was the second Tuesday in a row that it has happened, so I gave her my keys and she was crashing at ours. It was fun to have her aorund, to rant about various things and laugh. She also helped me come to an important decision that I will elaborate on in a little bit. The best part was that the next morning we got up and made pancake breakfast with real maple syrup, blackberries and french vanilla ice cream while listening to the Boy George Culture Club cd. You just cant help but be in a great mood after that kind of morning.
Back to my important decision. This made my day much much brighter, and my step lighter. I decided to drop a class for the first time in my life. Histoire politique de l'Europe. My reasons were multiple, and can be summarized by wasn't following the narrative of lecture, struggled with the language barrier in the conference and so wasn't participating, getting stressed out because I didn't know what was going on and I have a 4hour exam for this at the end of the term, and not learning anything. Add onto this list the fact that I didn't need any of the credits, continuing on seemed like a waste. Each assignment was incredibly time consuming, but by dropping the class I felt I could focus on my other courses which I am truly loving and do really well on those. I called Mom on Tuesday and talked the matter over with her, and we decided that the reduced stress and workload was the best call. Now I feel recharged to apply myself to my assignments, rather than overloaded. With only a few months left, I don't want to be able to once again balance the ability to explore Paris and do well at school.
This decision buoyed my steps as I headed to Sc Po at noon. The rest of the school day rolled along with another solid Middle East class. I'm probably not supposed to say this, but our prof looks mighty fine in his suit, even in his middle age. He has such energy, striding across the classroom and waving his hands, constantly reminding us of of various interesting tangents that are very engaging, but could be dealt with in an entire other course. The walk through Tuileries from yoga is always refreshing. I can't wait until May when classes are over and I can wander aimlessly for hours. I returned for my final conference for Histoire de l'Europe, and gave my debat without a hitch. I think it went quite well. Not two minutes after we were done, I told my maitre de conf that I wasn't going to validate the class and wouldn't be attending anymore. It was a bit intimidating, telling your teacher you're going to drop, but I thought it was the responsible thing to do. Grace and Sarah cheered me on. And just like that, there were only 4 classes. Stll a respectable number with plenty of work to go around if you ask me.
After velib-ing home for some dinner, I headed up to the 18th to grab a drink at Rdv des Amis. Its becoming quite the familiar watering hole. I teamed up with Annie, David, Tom, Camila, and Camila's sister who was visiting. Pints to celebrate the class drop! We caught up on whats what in day to day. The latest gossip was news of Shawn's being accepted for a Michael Kors Internship in New York this summer. That is just too lucky. We debated for quite a while how he managed to pull off such a feat, especially it was decided he was a "goober" and "elf-like". We have decided he will have to hum the tune "making my shoes like an elf" while employed this summer. Lucky duck indeed. We also discussed the latest youtube craze videos. This week the music video "Friday" was all the rage. If you haven't seen it or heard it, count yourself lucky.
Another big decision also came up that week, regarding the upcoming triathlon club executive elections. Would I return to my former gang, or not? This wasn't just a matter of being on exec, but almost a reflection of the direction of my life in terms of sports and social group. A fairly weighty thing to decide on in one night. After much deliberation, I decided not to run for a position. To cut a long story short, this year has diversified my interests and I want to pursue those when I get back to UBC. I also think that the current direction of UBC TC is headed down a different path than the one I'm on with triathlon. Don't get me wrong, the triathlon club is making huge strides and I fully support them and the race series, but I know that for my own happiness, I need to remain periphery next year.
The 'high' if you will of dropping that class spilled over into Thursday, and combined with morning swim and the fact it was St Patrick's Day had me beaming. I even did my first speedwork in the pool of the year, though only a modest 10x50 holding some respectable spilts. After Russian Politics and Vichy France, Daniel and I went to La Basile to grab a drink since we had missed our normal Tuesday lunch date and caught up on life. I really enjoy conversations with Daniel since they range and we can engage in really academic, theoretical discussions, but also just talk about life, people and relationships. I'll definitely miss our chats next year. After a quick dinner, I headed to St Michel to meet Annie, David and Tom to take in some Patty's Day festivities - namely green beer. We went to an Irish pub, Galway, and spent a couple hours trying to come up with nicknames for Annie, practiced photo face slaps and making truple chins. It really was great fun. I was fading pretty fast though, so around midnight we decided to change venues and find food to revive me. The plan worked brilliantly and a kebab later, we were at the Hideout by Chatelet enjoying 2,50 pints. I had an amicable chat about history, Frenchness and foreigners with a Breton guy, Romain, and before we all called it a night (a good one at that) around 3. Annie and I trekked it back to hers to crash, sometime around 4.
Annie getting "slapped"
Super stoked at Galway
My really cool friends heading to Chatelet. At least David's normal.Friday, understandably tired, we headed to mine made the best homey pasta and watched That 70s Show. It was acceptable since it was cold and grey outside. Then, Annie helped me prepare for my first interview ever. It was with ACE at 5 via skype, and even though it was kindof stressful having to think fast and organize your thoughts concisely and articulately, I think I handled it well and was pleased with myself at the end. It was certainly good to have some practice at it in a relatively low pressure postion.
I've also been hanging out with Ayumi more recently in an effort to stay in touch with the old Dutch crew. We're sort of spearheading the Helsinki reunion trip, so I went to hers for dinner and planning session. Hopefully we get a good turn out, it really could be such an epic trip, and there's still 11 people left in Europe so its really worth while. We also chatted about UCU, University College Utrecht, which is the school Boudewijn, Boris, Lisbeth and Timon attend. Its only 700 students in 3 years. I can't imagine how small their campus is, and how different campus life would be in comparison to UBC, which is mammoth by all accounts. Even though I bet the family and community feel would be really cool, I have to say the sheer amount of resources on UBC campus is great.
Sometimes I'm not so bright, like this weekend when I inadvertantly did the wrong readings for Sport and Politics. Well at least they're out of the way for next week...
Saturday evening Annie came over and we made an awesome Thai vegetable stirfry. Its was just so colourful, I wish I had a picture - complete with beans, bok choy, mushrooms, red and green peppers, chopped peanuts and peanut sauce. Further evidence of how great a team Annie and I are in the kitchen. Over dinner, I finally got to see the episode of Its Always Sunny in Philedelphia which features the Troll Toll song, and it defintiely lived up to the hype I've been getting from Annie, David and Camila. The food however, made me feel rather lethargic and we ended up bailing on a French soiree in the banlieus after realizing that it was going to take up forever to get there. Instead we stayed in and David came over. While listening to some pretty terrible music, we discussed how basic the lyrics of so many popular songs are. Therefore, how hard could it be to write a song!? Thus, Voleurs of the Night by Punk'd in Paris was born. It was based on Tom's mugging up in Barbes a few weeks earlier, where he had his velib and iphone stolen. It only took about 5 hours of brainstorming, writing, recording and mixing to produce the final 2min product. I used Garage Band on my Mac for the first time and it was awesome. If you're interested, you can search the clip on soundcloud. Maybe I do have a bit more appreciation for the musical process.
On Sunday afternoon, David, Tom, Jordana, Camila and I headed out to Chateau Malmaison. The country manor was the summer residence of Napoleon and Josephine, and is about a 25min train ride from Paris. While I obviously get pumped when seeing anything related to Napoleon, the best part of the day had to be just walking outside in the gardens, enjoying the spring air. Thank you one less course for giving me time to check out castles and really enjoy spring. We frolicked about in the gardens for quite a while, checking out the many "remarkable trees" and seeing the years first daffodils. The whole time I had the Troll Toll song in my head - its quite catchy. The main lyrics are "you gotta pay the troll toll to get into this boy's---oul". I have a feeling none of you readers are appreciating this. Your loss. The inside of the Chateau was quite nice, not as overdone as some other 18th century chateaus. Most impressive was Josephine's bedroom, where she had her initials embroidered on all her furniture, and also seeing one of the famous David paintings of Napoleon riding through the Alps on the Italian Campaign. Overall I was a pretty excited camper. The chateau sits on the outskirts of Rueil-Malmaison, and so we decided to extend our stay and check out the town. Like all small French towns, it was incredibly charming, and had an incredible Town Hall. We also went to an exceptional boulangerie for afternoon treats. A great afternoon outing, low-cost at that!
Malmaison Crew: Camila, myself, Jordana, Tom and David
Frolicking in the spring air.
THE David painting.The best part of Monday was the love of the continued fine weather! After the day's classes, I velibed home and then was so enthused that I went for a run for the first time on a Monday! Now that its light so much later, this is actually a possibilty. Hopefully it becomes a bit more of a trend.
On Tuesday I got to take advantage of my new freedom on Tuesday mornings, as a result of no more Histoire Politique lecture. I have vowed to head to school at the same time though and use the time effectively, instead of wasting it by sleeping my life away. I did get the library early to start working on an upcoming expose before meeting Daniel for lunch. Rather than going to Lina's down on St Peres as per our normal routine, at my suggestion we grabbed sandwiches on the road and ate at Pont des Arts before ballroom. This particular ballroom class we decided to start writing down the various moves and combinations we were learning in the various styles in order to remember them better for following weeks. That is always the hardest part, especially for Daniel who has the responsibility to lead me. Hopefully this will help. Rather than head back to Sc Po afterwards, we went down the road to Starbucks to study. I love studying in cafes, finding that I focus much better than at home, but that the ambiance is preferable to the library. Back in Vancouver and even Kingston I had a few favorite haunts but I haven't really done much cafe studying at all this year for one reason or another (its not as much in the culture). I'll try and do it a bit more in the coming weeks, especially since so many cafes have great outdoor patios. This way I can enjoy being outside while studying.
I headed back towards the Left Bank to meet Jordana at le Bon Marche to go see the Dior exposition. We'd been meaning to see if for quite a while, but finally got our act together since it was closing the upcoming Saturday. We had finally managed to find a good time, but when we showed up it was closed for a private showing! What kindof luck is that! We agreed on to meet on Thursday to try our luck again, and then walked around the Marche and oggle at the clothes. Its Paris' oldest department store, and is simply massive. Its also really upscale, and one stop shopping for Haute Couture and designer labels. Oggle indeed. Afterwards, I headed back up North to meet Ayumi & Co for some Mexican food at a restaurant that had been received good revies in Paris food blog. Too bad they failed to mention it was really only a takeout counter, rather than a restaurant. In the end we couldn't resist the delicious smells and ordered tacos and burritos and ate them over across the street by Canal St Martin. The tortillas were homemade and delicious, and even received a thumbs up from Poullette, who is Mexican and great cook. Its not too far from Annie's, and a great price, so I will be heading back soon! Once the food was inhaled, our group of Lauren Bailey, Poullette, a couch surfer friend of hers, Ayumi, and myself headed over to Rdv des Amis to meet Boris for drinks. Its spring break for UCU and so he and a bunch of friends decided to spend the week in Paris, and we weren't letting him leave without visiting. It was great time at the bar, and I really got to know Boris a bit better than ever before. Yet another I wish I had known him better in the fall moments. Last metro home.
Lauren B, Ayumi, myself and Poullette at Rendezvous des AmisWednesday: Usual fare of class and yoga, but no stress from the conference for Histoire de l'Europe. What a great feeling. Again, I am committing myself to staying at Sc Po until 7 though, just like before, to work on assignments etc. Plus, this gives me a chance to use to beautiful iMac computers in the new library. It makes computer work practically a joy. In the evening, I went over to Corina's for a visit since we hadn't seen each other in a little bit. We ended up going to this Irish pub McBride's for a Sc Po social, which was not that good , and went home in good time. The social was for Crit, an annual sports showdown between the 6 Sc Po branches across France. It rotates in location, so it was lucky that it was in Paris this year. Sadly, none of my 'sports' are included in the program. I only rarely see demonstrations of school spirit at Sc Po, but crit brought it out in full force, which was kindof cool.
Thursday was consumes by my work on preparing my expose on clandestine newspapers in the French Resistance for Vichy france. I even ended up skipping swimming to get it all done, which was annoying. It was a rushed day, and the presentation itself, since I had to go with only 15min left in class and I knew time would be tight. I think I nailed it though, so just have to wait and see. After, I met Jordana to have another go at the Dior expo. This time, it was open, but only for 10 min, so we had to rush through. Thankfully it was really small so we got to appreciate everything. The clothes were truly spectacular, and Dior has really succesfully commercialized this Parisienne dream. The expo was a multi-media exhibit as well. The coolest part was a large digital book in which you turned the page by waving your hand across the image. Each page showed the noteworthy designs of the year between 1947 to present, accompanied by a quote from Dior. The poor 80s and 90s.
I also went out for another take at salsa night, this time with some friends from my old salsa course from the fall. We went to this really cool bar in Bastille called Le Balajo, and I had a great night working on my skills. It was great because I was dancing with people I knew, and so there was less pressure if I made a mistake, and we could try moves together. In general, I like how salsa nights have a great camaraderie. Everyone is dancing with everyone, and willing to teach. Hopefully one day I'll get to move like some of the great dancers that were on the floor that night. It was the most fun I'd had at a salsa night, so I hope this group goes out again. After, I metroed and velibed home. This particular velib night was notable since I had to walk a ways to find a stand, which only had two bikes - one with no chain and the other with a front flat tire. So yes, I rode 20 min on a front flat tire, cringing at the damage to the rim. Sorry velib. Hopefully I don't have to make another ride like that anytime soon.
I am calling this Friday, March 25th, a near perfect spring day in Paris. After a very restful, long sleep, I got up and booked tickets for the Helsinki reunion in May and wrote some fun peer pressure emails to Timon and Bou. By 11:30, I was out running in shorts and tank top, doing my route along the Seine and by the Eiffel Tower. I may have been feeling less than fabulous o nthe run, but the gorgeous weather couldn't even dampen my mood. Back home to shower, I then headed to Avenue to Breteuil to picnic with David and Annie in front of Invalides. It was summer dress weather, and time to tan! We had a delicous spread of food, and Corina and her visiting friend Raluca joined. After, I took Annie to see the Dior expo before it closed and spend a bit more time, and then we did some Bon Marche window shopping ourselves. I walked all the way home and grabbed some groceries and cleaned to apartment spick and span (feeling very accomplished) before going to picnic # 2, this time on Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower with Juliette, Fran and co. We had some wine back at their apartment when it got a bit chilly. I went home around 11, and so tired from the day, curled up with Twilight in bed. Not too shabby indeed.
Enjoying the picnic-ing
Dior dresses at the expo.
Motivation on Saturday to get up early and get at my homework was the afternoon trip with Etienne and Loic to the March Salon de Vin, this time at Porte de Champerret. Equally overwhelming, I am still amazed by how many vendors are there, and the hoards of people that pack the exhibition hall. After a bit of touring with the boys, I split off to do some sampling with Ayumi and her visiting friend. All said in done, I picked up 11 bottles, of 3 varieties and came away with a much better sense of my personal preferences in wine. In the end, this visit was only about 2.5 hours, but when you're at a crowded, hot wine fair, even that does one in. After stopping back home for dinner, I went up to Annie's. We had bought tickets to see this DJ Peaches play at this really trendy hipster club, Social Club, that night with some other friends of hers, but they all bailed last minute with work and sickness. In the end it was just the two of us, but nevertheless it was a great night. When we arrived just after 11, we discovered Peaches didn't come on until 3am! Based on the need to seriously do homework the next day, we ended up just dancing up a storm to the opening acts, which were really good, and still managed to catch the last 2am metro almost all the way home. Europe's love of techno has finally rubbed off on me and I had such a great night, a reminder that I should try and get some more good dancing in this year. I won't mention that after velibing the remainder of the way home, I arrived after 3 - because of time change. Despite this unreasonable hour, I decided it would be a good idea to watch the second twilight movie. Sometimes my stupidity even impressed me.
More Salon de Vin craziness
Trying to get my hipster glam on for Social Club.Monday was also business as usual at school, plus my expose for Sport and Politics, this time on labour migration. It was really annoying since I had emailed everyone who was originally on the list to present that week, but then someone else had switched weeks and not informed our group, so by the time I got to present on the readings last, the class was questioned out and we had kindof been over a lot of the relevant material. After getting over my initial frustration, I still think it went ok, and I later was talking to the teacher, Rook, and she said it was fine. I also started a new trend after class is over at 5 of going straight to the library and working on the blog. I have really fallen behind, and these more recent weekly posts have been a result of this strategy of library blog sessions. Normally by the time I get home, I am just so tired, I don't have the energy needed to be creative an put life into the posts. So now, hopefully I will be able to get on top of it. Darn life for being so full of wonderful things and making blog writing a bit of a chore! I closed out the day by watching an absolutely terrible film called, D'Artagnan, about the Three Muskateers. Love the books, but terrible movie.
Tuesday's big news was an email received that informed me I was being offered the co-chair position for ACE! Even though I had only applied for the Alumni Director position, they felt after my interview that I would be a great leader and offered me a head position! I was obviously both thrilled and flattered, even though it will mean more work. This actually caused a bit of dilemna as I was just in the process of applying for the UBC REC newspaper, The Point. With the added time committment of the Co-chair position, I wasn't sure whether I should still apply, but after skyping Chrissy and discussing, I decided I might as well submit my application and see if I get an interview. I also started a new book today, for leisure, which is something I haven't done in awhile. It was the one I picked up from Shakespeare & Co a little while back, The Paris Wife. Spring in Paris makes me want to read about this incredible city as well. Its so exciting reading about people going by the places I'm living today! It feels me with bubbly emotion that's hard to describe. In ballroom, we also learned that we will be having a year end performance as part of Sciences Po's Semaine des Arts/Arts week. We started work on a routine, or enchainement for Tango. I'm excited about the opportunity to show our friends what we've learned over the course of the year. I closed out the day with a drink at Le Basile with Ayumi after a good library session once again.
Wednesday was overcast and I was in a blah mood, but at least I had tartiflette for dinner and afterwards hosted our "group" of Annie, David, Tom and Camila for brownies and movie night - Get Him to the Greek. Our friend group has really upped the game of getting together during the week and having a great second term. Its been lovely.
And this brings me to the end of March! Next stop: April!
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