des petits morceaus

Been making pretty good use of my little black Moleskine notebook, so since I don't feel like doing a dry run-through of my days here, I'll just transfer stuff from the notebook.

- Static french flowing out of the intercom, mingling with the articulate barks of American CNN anchors - chatty college students' voices staccato surround sound - busy, busy, busy

- "Knockin on Heaven's Door" in the metro

- Saw a bunny cloud today (Amelie)

- The metro is breezy and smells like oregano

- 3:58 of "Blue Sky" Allman Brothers

- "All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put baby together again" - Aimee Mann

- 02:58 of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" Crosby Stills & Nash

- First line of "#41" DMB appx. 0:36.

- Aimee Mann "It's Not" orchestration at 1:25 could work for a trailer of some sort.

- "Poetry is either something that lives like fire inside you - like music to the musician or Marxism to the Communist - or else it's nothing, an empty, formalized bore, around which pedants can endlessly drone their notes and explanations. The Grecian Urn is unbearably beautiful, with every syllable as inevitable as the notes in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or it's just something you don't understand. It is what it is because an extraordinary genius paused at that point in history and touched it." - F. Scott, The Crack-Up.

- "For awhile after you quit Keats all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming." - F. Scott, The Crack-Up

Wrote a new piece, "Freefall." Not groundbreaking, but felt like I needed to just...keep writing.

zee french

I don't really have time to do a real update, so here's Paris on speed:

+ Tried escargot - not bad, basically just a lot of butter and garlic
+ Living in a cute converted convent with a nice family and a tres adorable cat.
- Since the house is extremely old, it's no surprise that there are mice. This morning I went into the kitchen to find that one had eaten a chunk of my baguette.
+ Walking down the street with a fresh, warm baguette in hand
- Somewhat disappointing coffee as of yet.
+ Paris metro = soooo much better than New York
- Still, find myself missing New York...even the griminess of it.
+ So glad I brought Arrested Development and Sex and the City with me; have watched both sets of DVDs to death, and have asked my brother to send me more.
+ The Eiffel Tower aint so bad at night.

Okay, will update again when I have time, and access to Interet. For now, I'm off to a wine and cheese tasting. Ooh la la.

et voila

I've arrived in Paris, no luggage lost in the process of getting here which was a huge relief.

Been living in a hostel for the past few days with the rest of the program until we move into our homestays/apartments. My friend Julia and I are living with a family in the 12th arrondisement, near the Bastille. Four kids (ages 7 - 14), a cat, a garden, and we're living in the third floor of a converted convent. It's "quaint" and "has character" - basically, it's really old. And there's no Internet, so we might have to get it installed, etc. But we'll see how things go, I'm crossing my fingers that I'll pick up a wireless signal.

First few days have a been a bit stressful since its been chock full of orientation meetings about paying rent, opening bank accounts, getting cellphones, etc etc etc. Today I managed to walk into a cellphone store, talk to salesperson, and buy a cellphone. So, hurrah, my French isn't complete shit.
Tonight I think I'll finally get a chance to relax, see Paris a bit. So far I've only seen the subways and our campus pretty much. (And by campus I mean small building)

I miss the city. I miss my family. I miss you guys. Paris is still very foreign so I feel a bit stranded, but hopefully things will get better as time goes on. Am rethinking going to Prague in the spring, because frankly the thought of going through this whole process again in a few months is a bit daunting, and I'm just not sure it's worth it. But we'll see.

Anyway, expect letters from me in the next few weeks. Will put up pictures when I get the Internet (I'm at an Internet cafe now so I'm typing as quickly as possible).

So that's all for now, I'll update again when I get the chance.

Bisous!