Des Amies Françaises, de la Nourriture Américaine, et Quelques Sociopathes au Cinéma

I know it's been a while. Je suis désolée.

Tuesday (Feb. 19) I went to the cinéma for the first time. I saw the movie Sleuth with Michael Caine and Jude Law; I thought it was well done, though I haven't seen the original movie or the play.

Rocky Votolato

On Wednesday night I went to see Rocky Votolato in concert at a place called Mains d'Oeuvres in northern Paris. Rocky is a folk singer à la guitare and harmonica from Seattle- originally from Texas I might add. All week I was listening to his music to get ready. With both Makers and The Brag and Cuss I had the same experience: I listened to them once and thought to myself, "That's not bad. Kind of weird." Then, I would listen again and again, and slowly the poetic beauty of his songs would creep into my soul. The concert was fantastic. A French cover band called Exsonvaldez opened, then Jenny Hoyston (she was talented, but strange). Then Rocky. I was front and center. After the concert I met him and had him sign a cd for Hannah, my sister. He was so nice. There were some French guys trying to explain how much they liked his music. They kept saying "Your music is like poésie." After I saw the confused look on Rocky's face I told him that poésie means poetry. "Oh good," he said. "I thought they were saying my songs were like poison, and I was like, poison kills people!" I helped translate a bit more before I left. Such a great night!

Me and Rocky

Friday I finally broke down and went shopping with some friends. I bought a shirt, a cute dress, and some pattern stockings, which are seemingly la mode now in Paris.

Saturday my host cousin Timothée (or Titi, as his friends call him) had several friends over for a dinner party. They were all very nice and it was such a pleasure to meet some real Parisiens. Titi made delicious pizzas and dark chocolate pear tarts. Mmmmm! The only uncomfortable moment of the night was when I was asked to explain America's electoral system, which I find somewhat complicated in English, let along French! I eventually got some things straightened out for them.



The next day (Sunday) I went with one of Titi's friends from Montpellier to visit some museums. Juliette was in Paris on vacation to reunite with some of her other friends from school, and she was nice enough to let me come along. We visited a photography museum, a Monet museum, and le Musée de l'Homme (museum of man). There, quite justly, we visited an exposition called Femmes du Monde, by Titouan Lamazou. He apparently captured the many facets of femininity by photographing, painting, and interviewing women from all over the world. It was fascinating. My French was really no good this day (I think most of my attention was taken up by how much pain my feet were in), but they were all so patient. Juliette, as I said, lives in Montpellier, Aude lives in Dublin, Delphine in Brussels, and Eva in Paris.

Delphine, Juliette, Aude

Monday I went out with the French girls again, and we just walked around near Notre Dame. My French was a little better this day. I was so lucky to meet these girls- they were so nice!

Tuesday I went to the cinéma again, this time to see No Country for Old Men. As disturbing as the violence was, I really liked the film. Thursday I saw There Will Be Blood, which I also liked. However, I'd had enough with all the sociopaths!

Friday I went to a delightful little restaurant called Breakfast in America. It's basically an American diner! I had apple pancakes and American coffee... mmmm. They serve Dr. Pepper, too! Next time.

Saturday, my friend Emily (also an opera singer) and I got together at my place to make chocolate chip cookies. We bought all the ingredients we needed, but could not find any baking soda. We went to 3 grocery stores with no luck. Finally a cashier told us to try a pharmacy. A pharmacy?! So we did. The first one was sold out, but the second one, sure enough, had baking soda. Who knew? We made the cookies, but for some reason the oven was only heating from above, which resulted in very crispy tops, and undercooked bottoms. We did not care. We piled them all together and made a cookie/cookie dough conglomeration, which we ate with a fork with our friend Lauren and Titi. We watched O, Brother Where Art Thou before heading to a friend's birthday celebration.

Sunday I went to the Taizé service at the American Cathedral again. I think I might join the choir there because the Chorale at Cité Universitaire is just not what I had in mind.

3 friends and I are trying to book our trip to Croatia for Spring Break. We are having a difficult time finding the best choice for flights, etc. But hopefully that can be resolved soon.

Other than that, I am fighting a cold/allergies which is no fun. I'm still so glad to be here!