viva la vida

so let me tell you about a little trip i took this past weekend to madrid...

we left thursday night, and arrived just in time to leave our bags at our (very orange) hostel and go right back out again. we ended up going to grab a bite to eat at a café&té, which is a fast food chain, but it was very good. what surprised me was the overpowering smell of smoke...i guess people can still smoke in public places in madrid---one of the few places where they still can! so the smell was kind of nauseating everywhere, actually, but we left and went to a club called...wait for it... joy. it was pretty joyous, i must say. it was a masquerade, so we all got cardboard masks to wear, and we danced the night away...well, til about 4, when we parisians decided we were too tired to continue.

the next morning (friday) joleen and i slept in til 11, took showers (bliss! so sad that i look forward to staying at hostels to take a shower) and discovered that our room had a balcony. we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant on a "calle" with quotations on the cobblestones (i forget what it's called) and it was de-licious. then, since it was a cloudless, 60 degree day, we took a walk around our area, found the museo del prado and then stumbled upon the retiro, which is like central park and tuileries mixed together. we seriously were exicted to see the sunshine and to be able to take off our jackets; we could not stop giggling for about half an hour. and then we laid in the sun until it was time to meet the others at bilbao for pizza. not very spanish, but whatever.

we then walked to a park to see the temple of debod, or something along those lines, which is on a hill that boasts amazing views of madrid- and of the sunset. so we stayed to watch the sunset and i was seriously the happiest i've been so far here in europe. as the first stars began to come out, we set off to el jardin secreto (apologies for the massacre of the spanish language) which is well-known for its desserts. meh. twas okay. i've had better. but i do love me some cheesecake.

on saturday we did some more touristy things: we saw the royal palace, the plaza de mayor, cibeles, and took pictures of all of the above. i'm convinced that clouds do not exist in madrid: another 65 degree, blue-skied day. we then went to the reina sofia, a museum that houses works by dali, picasso, etc. because it was free, but we really only saw guernica before the guards ushered us out because it was time to close. from what i saw of the rest of the artworks, though, i can't say i really like dali too much. i am a fan; however, of magritte. and of picasso, bien sur.

saturday night was our tapas-hopping night. i forget the verb that gwenna told me, but i guess going from restaurant to restaurant in search of tortilla de patatas is a legitimate activity. so we did as the spaniards do. we then went to this bar that has been made to look like you're in a cave. stalagmites and stalactites and rock walls. this bar is very well known for a drink that sounded pretty weird to me: milk, cinnamon, and four different types of alcohol? what? but it ended up tasting incredibly amazing. i yearn for it. and what made it ten times better was that the milk for this drink came out of one of the stalagmites from the ceiling. yes. you read that correctly.

sunday morning we only had time for a visit to the street market before we had to go back to the hostel and leave for paris. but mark my words, i will return.

there's something about spain that i like so much more than france. probably the sunshine and the warmth had a lot to do with it, not going to lie. and perhaps the sunshine, then, makes the people of madrid more laid back and carefree. viva la vida. whereas the french (well, the parisians, anyway) are very uptight. all i want to do is go outside not dressed like i'm off to a fashion show or a shoot for the latest hipster mag. seriously, people. chill. and quit judging me.

i do what i want.

still no computer. it's ridiculous. but it definitely crashed. so everyone should send me mix CDs so i can start to rebuild my itunes library. hint, hint.

i met my french language exchange partner! her name is imene, she's algerian, 19, and a student of languages at the sorbonne. AKA she speaks arabic, french, spanish, english (she's SO good) and she's learning italian. ridiculous. we talked a lot about the differences between the education systems here in france and in the US. i met her entire family, and we talked in english for an hour and a half and then in french for another hour and a half. this is going to be so good for my french. when i'm forced to speak in class, i speak very slowly. but with imene, and her family, i got into a nice rhythm and was speaking pretty rapidly and animatedly, and i even started adopting some slang towards the end of our conversation. sweet deal.

i think that's all for now. this weekend i'll be exploring paris, hopefully have my computer, and doing my homework for all my classes. oh, and i have to clean. living alone has turned me into a pig. not even kidding. it's probably a good thing that i'll have so many guests because i'll actually keept the apartment clean!

WAIT! wait wait wait.
spring break is (almost) finalized.

barcelona for three days. morocco for ten days. london for four days. all for less than 300 euros. yes. you read that correctly. i can't even begin to describe how excited i am.

i may not ever leave europe.

i think i'll write anyway

so i haven't gotten my computer back yet, which literally made me sob for half an hour today. i called the so-called apple care center and, after sighing after i asked him to please repeat what he said slower, it turns out that i basically won't have my computer back for another week. so here's what happened: two weeks ago, i took my computer there, hoping they could fix it for me. ten days later, they called me. i went there, all excited, but was told, upon arrival, that they had merely found the problem, did i still want them to fix it? um, clearly i want you to fix it. that's why i brought it there in the first place!!!! goodness. so then they said they'd call me on monday. they didn't. so i called them on tuesday (today) and here i am.

i am pretty upset about the way they are treating me, and i am upset about not having my computer and therefore not talking to my friends and family as often or much, but i think the crying session today was a culmination of all the stress that i've been dealing with in my month abroad. oy. it felt good to get it out.

anyway, i'm going to update just because i feel like it, darn it. although it's going to be a workout for the brain because i'm typing in english on a french keyboard, so none of the letters are where they are supposed to be. it's taking me a long time to write this. but i accept the challenge.

i guess i'll start with egyptian princes, as promised. i don't even remember when this was, but a while ago i pretended i was an AUP student and went to the Plaza Madeleine with them: a club that their university had rented out for their biannual fundraiser or something along those lines. honestly one of the most fun times i've had in a really, really long time. i was never really big on clubbing, because the thought of bumping booties with complete strangers gave me the willies. but that night was just so much fun! perhaps because i knew everyone was a college student, i don't know. so anyway, this one girl comes up to me at some point and says "my friend thinks you're really cute. you should go and talk to him; he's an arab prince." intrigued, i went over to talk to this kid, who ended up taking me to his private table in what i guess constituted as the VIP area. we talked for a little bit, and his name is khaled and he's from egypt. and then he asked me to dance. sweet. so i start dancing. and he just stands there with his drink in his hand. okay, i thought, maybe it's a cultural thing. maybe i should take a few steps away from him or something and continue dancing less suggestively. nope. nothing. no reaction. finally, after feeling supremely awkward for dancing in front of this "prince" i gave up and told him i was going back down, maybe i'd see him later.

listen up boys. if you can't dance (and won't even try) i'm not going to give you the time of day. hahah. okay moving on.

so that night was just a barrel of laughs and joy and we ended up staying out until the subway reopened at 5:30 AM. i didn't get home until around 6:15 en la manana. there i was, striding up the streets of my ritzy neighborhood, hair disheveled, makeup all over my face, while some typical passy ladies in their big fur coats and their collagen-infused lips were walking their dogs (and neglecting to pick up the poop. probably my only complaint about paris--other than the terrible mac people, of course--is that there is so much dog poop everywhere). yes. so that was my night.

i have nothing to write about london BECAUSE I DIDN'T GO. apparently last week and weekend was the snowstorm of the century in england, so our flight got cancelled, and i wasn't about to wait til 8 PM for the next flight when i had paid for two days in london, not one. alas, i will just have to go when it's warmer. and this time i will take the train.

instead, i will tell you about my classes. because that's what i'm here for. to go to class. ahem. yes, so i am officially enrolled in: the contemporary art world, business french, francophone literature, and gender&sexuality in france.

the contemporary art world is going to be a good class. i've always liked modern, abstract, and contemporary art. the class is set up so that mondays we're in the classroom, looking at slides, learning about how to talk about art, etc. on wednesdays we go to various museums and galleries around paris to see exhibits and works by contemporary artists, and usually we have a talk-back session with the artist as well. i'm pretty excited for this class despite the amount of written work we're going to have to turn in.

business french is, so far, my easiest class. it's really just learning the vocabulary for different business-related fields and situations. we're going to have two role-plays during the semester, so those will be a pretty big deal. and if we're good enough, the professor is going to let us take the business exam that all french people take should they express the desire to be french businesspeople. that was a horrible sentence. i apologize. but yes. so if i'm good (and i will be good, damnit) i can take the exam and perhaps come back to work in france! in advertising! or marketing! or who knows what.

francophone literature is tough. there are only seven people in the class, including myself, so there's no hiding. but so far what we're doing is really interesting. although the class is called francophone lit, it's really just african lit, so right now we're reading some fables and discussing them. we'll be reading two other african novels, watching some movies, and going to museums. sounds pretty good to me. but this one kid in this class in actually from switzerland and so he's fluent, and the class seems like it's so easy for him--not just in the language aspect but also in the analysis aspect. i feel like he knows so much more than i do. why are foreigners so much smarter than americans?

finally, gender&sexuality is my toughest class. the subject matter is mostly feminism, but we will be doing some queer studies later on. things i don't know much about in english. the reading that we've been doing so far is quite dense, and it's difficult for me to understand what's going on in class because the prof speaks very quickly...the word that comes to mind when i think of her is whippersnapper, and i'm not really sure where that came from. but yes. it's going to be so interesting, but SUCH a challenge. oy vey. so much reading for this class: 200 pages of nelly roussel for next week. woop!

tomorrow night i am going to the ballet (fo free), about which i'm quite excited. i think that will make me feel much better about my life. that or it will make me really miss dancing and feel terrible about my body, which it probably will to some extent, but i'm going for the first emotion haha. it should be good.

this weekend i am going to madrid! hopefully. fingers crossed. i haven't had the best luck here so we'll see what'll happen. probably a hurricane or something. i don't know. knock on wood. but if all goes according to plan, i'll be in madrid, speaking spanish, attracting a latin lover just in time for valentine's day.......

so happy valentine's day everyone.
til next time, x

anti-technology

i have so much to write!
but i am waiting until i get my computer back.

yes. it crashed. the ubiquitous 2-year-mac curse.

things to look forward to in my next update:
-Egyptian princes
-taking the first subway home
-classes starting
-conversation partners
-LDN!
-and all sorts of other witty observations

hopefully i get my baby back soon...

c'est la vie

i thought i would check in before running to my advising appointment at 14h20. i came home for lunch today, after stopping at my favorite little boulangerie (desgranges) to buy a crispy fresh baguette for just one measly little euro. probably my best purchase thus far.

anyway, it's friday! finally. the two-week intensive language seminar is halfway over. i had "class" for four hours every day this week: two hours of phonetics&oral pronunciation, and two hours of grammar&writing skills. it's been pretty intense. out of nine groups, i placed into the eighth, so the course is kind of kicking my ass. i am reading my first real novel in french, it is "un roman policier" (a mystery) and despite the complaints of my classmates, i'm actually enjoying the book. it just takes me forever to read, because i underline everything i don't know, and then go back at the end of the chapter and look things up. no more of this haphazard skimming through business. i can't do that when i'm not fluent! but yes. my ass is bruised. one week left, though, and then real classes begin on february 2nd.

i'm meeting with my advisor today to discuss classes, but so far my plans include: the contemporary art world, francophone literature OR new currents in french lit, gender & sexuality in france, and business french. except business french has some pre-requisites that i may not be able to argue, so i'd take european cinema instead. that or take a class at sciences-po, a parisian university. we'll see about that. the universities here are striking at the moment! and i believe the metro workers were talking about striking next week... ah, la france.

also, parisian weather is just as bad (if not worse) than ohio weather. and by that i mean it is very bipolar. i have learned to never leave the house without an umbrella, because clouds could gather out of nowhere and dump water on the unsuspecting denizens of this city. i have also learned to dress in layers, because it could be 54 degrees on my way to class, as it was this morning, and a mere 30 on my way to lunch. c'est ridicule!

plans for the weekend include:
-paris by night on the river seine, in the bateaux-mouche!
-finishing reading that novel, and other assorted homework
-exploring the louvre/père lachaise (weather dependent)
-mmm you know, probably going out on the town, pour boire un café ou peut-être du vin!
-sleeping, eating, taking my vitamins. i've been feeling a little under the weather.
-buying my eurostar ticket to LONDON for feb 6-8. asap.
-taking more photos
-doing some yoga on my antique silk rug. ha.

if anybody wants me to send them a postcard, give me your address!
and here's mine, in case you feel like making me feel loved:

Faustyna Hariasz
c/o NYU in Paris
56 rue de Passy
75016 Paris
FRANCE


hope everyone is doing well :)

un petit mot

briefly..

in my future home i WILL have a shower.
am i the only one who cried during Obama's inauguration?
administrative things are too complicated (mostly banking)
paris is teasing me.
it is difficult to make friends.
my teeth hurt.
i am a mixture of overwhelmed and elated.
creativity is itching to be used. stay tuned.

much love.

oh, you know, just an update from paris

i don't even know where to begin!
there is so much to write about..

oh well. might as well jump right into it. i've got some wine at my side, and some nat king cole on vinyl playing in the background, so this is about to be a very pleasant evening spent writing, relaying my adventures.

i suppose i should start with the flights over here to la belle france. the plane from cleveland to chicago was the tiniest contraption i have ever seen, but somehow it flew and got me to o'hare. i was sitting next to a very blonde german girl (whose boyfriend is from ravenna, weird) and we spent the 50 minute flight talking about europe, and languages, and exchange rates, and schools, and i have an invitation to munich which i might just have to take up. o'hare has starbucks around every corner, and is actually a very cool airport. i enjoyed my two hour layover there immensely. especially all the artworks. and, before i knew it, it was time to board the plane for france!

when i found my seat, i was very excited to see that i was sitting next to a pretty cute french guy. he had his ipod headphones in, though, so i just figured we'd exchange our life stories and fall in love later. but he never took them out. in fact, he may have been the weirdest seatmate i have ever encountered. he was either listening to french house music very loudly, or watching movies. i'm pretty sure he didn't sleep during the entire flight. when the flight attendants came by with drink #1, dinner, drink #2, breakfast, and drink #3, he simply waved his hand and shook his head no. he didn't eat a thing. oh except drink #3, i suppose. the flight attendant was ready to move on after i had (very nicely) asked for an orange juice, but mr. crabby french guy yelled "JUS D'ORANGE!" right in my ear, and after the flight attendant had recovered from his shock, gave him his sole nourishment during the eight hour flight. weird, right?

i exited the plane and i was in FRANCE. but of course i couldn't really think about that because my body was in full-on survival mode, and before i knew it i had made it through customs, through baggage claim, through the AirFrance bus, and was at the gare de lyon, frantically calling jess to see if she was in her studio apartment to help me with my luggage. when i couldn't get through to her, i sat down on a bench and was immediately accosted by some very friendly pigeons. i hate pigeons. but i dealt with it because i had made it all the way there all by myself. the gare de lyon (a train station) is beautiful (i really just love all of the architecture here). as i was looking around, i couldn't stop smiling. i'm here. i made it.

what have i done since then?

i haven't been here a full week yet, and yet i feel like so much has been going on. after that first night at jess's (so many s-es. s's? geez. i'm done trying) i moved into the FIAP, a youth hostel, for a couple of nights with the rest of NYU in Paris! i've been meeting so many people and i can't really get the names straight. it's a little overwhelming. but so far, everyone seems really cool. okay, not everyone. but there are a lot of people that i would like to become great friends with, which is always good. it's always good to be surrounded by intelligent, inspiring folk.

i got a 'Navigo,' which is basically a high-tech version of a re-fillable weekly/monthly metro card. it has a nifty little smart chip on it that is scanned at the subway entrances. i can even put it at the bottom of my purse and set my purse on the scanner. that's how cool these french people are. so anyway, this Navigo is rather pricey for my liking, which just means that i will have to get out and explore this city from top to bottom and all around too. (side note: everything here is rather pricey for my liking. think new york prices, and then convert that to euros. i feel like i'm spending so much here. and on what? i'm really going to have to start babysitting like a fiend. or find some other means of cash flow).

anyway, i guess where i was going with all that Navigo speak was that i became very familiar with the 6 train, as i had to take it about three or four times a day, from to FIAP to the NYU center, and back again. the NYU center is in the very ritzy 16th arrondissement, at 56 rue de Passy, which is actually an entire complex hidden behind a great big set of blue double doors. i feel strange describing it as "charming," and "quaint," but that's really what it is. a very Parisian mansion, plus a converted stable, and an apartment make for about 6 or 7 classrooms for the 150 of us. i'll put pictures up soon! we've met all the directors, and student life leaders, and all of that, and it's really just like being in one big family. with lots of matriarchs. i really think it's going to be a great semester. now i just need to decide what classes i'm taking....

so that's the school part. what about everything else?

it really just hit me today that i'm actually living here, instead of just on vacation. and that is probably because i moved into my apartment this afternoon. yes, apartment. i am living all by my lonesome in an enormous apartment literally a 10-minute walk from school. apparently the demand for homestays exceeded the supply, so i am in an apartment. which just means that i am going to have to try harder in order to put myself in real, live, french-speaking situations. but that's totally okay, because one of my overall goals for this semester was to get out of my comfort zone. this just maximizes the need. NYU has this exchange thing with students from other universities in paris (real French ones) where you meet with someone for an hour or two each week, and spend half the time speaking in french and half the time speaking in english, to improve language skills. i think i'll probably do that. maybe take some dance classes. who knows. the opportunities are endless!!

okay i'll stop sounding like a motivational poster.

the apartment is huge. too big for little old me. 52 square meters....let's convert that. 559.723 square feet. that's a lot of square footage for faustyna. a family room, a dining room, a bedroom, a tiny tiny kitchen, a toilet, and a bathroom. plus a complicated hallway network. pictures of that coming soon too. although maybe i'll just post those on facebook. i'll think about it. the apartment is full of antiques, and vinyl records, and i really think that it will be a good place to be (although i will mostly be out exploring all the time anyway). the only bad thing is that it's on the rez-de-chaussé (the ground floor) which means that my windows open out right onto the street. that's what shutters are for, but it's kind of awkward when they're open and people are walking by. oh well. if that's my only qualm.. oh and also since i'm on the ground floor, the musée de l'homme is my view. if i was one floor up (or if the museum wasn't there) i would have a perfect view of the eiffel tower. i'll post photos of my morning commute as well, so everyone can feast his/her eyes.

i'm not really sure what else to write about.
it will come to me later. and i will write later.
now it is time for bed.

bonsoir, paris. bonsoir, tout le monde!

i should be packing..

when did it get to be january? i just realized a couple days ago that i will be out of the country in a mere week. that blows my mind. it feels like the semester just ended. wait..it doesn't even feel like it ended. it feels like i'm going back to new york city tomorrow and everything will be the same. but of course, it won't. i'm actually going to paris in a few days. and nothing will be the same.

i guess i should write some reflections about last semester, or last year even. maybe comment on what i've learned and how i've grown. that doesn't sound like too much fun, because i'm not really sure what i think about everything yet. i haven't really been able to turn things over in my mind as i usually do, because this break has been so unorthodox.

so i'll keep it short. last semester was an interesting one, to say the least. high highs and low lows. you learn a lot, living with people. about yourself, about others, about life in general. i have learned to not take things at face value. to not judge before i am made aware of the entire situation. to not be so passive-aggressive (i'm working on it). i wish i wouldn't have been so comfortable in my, well, comfort zone. i wish that i had studied more for physics. but it doesn't make sense to wish i had done things. i lived, i learned, now i take what i know and i apply it to this coming semester.

but before i write about my goals and dreams for paris, i should ruminate a bit about this so-called break: how people have changed, how akron's changed, how i've changed relative to all that, and things of that nature. although i suppose that's rather difficult without being specific.

in general, akron ohio makes me sad. i came home and the movie theater closed. the dinner theatre closed. the recession is rearing its ugly head here. yet graydon carter's most recent editorial in vanity fair mentioned that the Great Depression ended up being a great creative era in regards to music, film, photography. so perhaps akron just isn't interested in being culturally aware. akron's idea of entertainment is tivo, or beer pong, depending on your age group. other than that, akron makes me sad because it never changes. the people here never change. how can they, anyway, since they've never left? i don't know what i was expecting.

but i must say that i have been pleasantly surprised (yet again) by (most of) my friends here. i love snuggling and watching planet earth and the history channel, something so "nerdy" that i would have been embarrassed to admit that's how i spent my evening, in high school. i love coming home and sitting at the cafés for hours and hours, having discussions with people that i barely even talked to in high school. and no longer is petty gossip what makes the conversations so appealing and long. that makes me so happy. i love being able to discuss philosophical, psychological, even theological themes with such intelligent and interesting people. i would even say that many of my friends in akron impress me more than many i've met in new york city. i love being surrounded by inspiring people. i only hope that i can be inspiring to someone, someday.

okay. enough. let's talk about paris.
paris paris paris paris paris.

i can't believe that i'm going to be living in paris for four months. much like i couldn't believe that i would be going to school in new york city. i guess i'm taking the big cities of the world by storm; conquering them one by one. i have such great hopes for this trip. i definitely feel that it will have a huge influence on my life even if i don't accomplish all the things i would like to. i mean, come on, i'm going to have to rely on myself so much more than usual. i am going to be in a completely new environment, surrounded by a language whose intricacies remain foreign to me, or, at the very least, rather rusty. i'm going to be experiencing a culture so different from the american way of life. can i come out of it unscathed? what will i find out about myself? about life? traveling always inspires revelations. i cannot wait. i cannot wait to be able to explore and to walk the streets where there is so much history, and so much beauty.

i plan on making lots of mistakes. i have always been so afraid of messing up, of being slightly less than perfect, and i want to let go of that a little bit. mistakes are a good way to learn. i plan on forcing myself out of my comfort zone. i plan on making some "real" French friends. i plan on getting lost and finding my way back without worrying, rather, while reveling in the experience. i want to take a train without planning and see where i end up, although i fear that may be a little too out of character. i plan on traveling all over europe. we'll see how far i can stretch what little money i have to work with. i plan on taking lots of pictures to remember this trip by. i plan to be less attached to this black macbook, as much as i love my baby. i plan to read more: in french and in english. newspapers and books. i plan to speak up more. to take advantage of all the opportunities that are literally being thrown at me.

i plan to write more. so stay tuned.

next installment from paris...