Post- le dix-huitième: In which she is asked "are you miss america?"

*Hier I was asked by a male friend of my French friend, "are you Miss America?" After a couple of very confused minutes of French and English I realized that this was supposed to be "do you miss the United States of America?" Um. I'm still not actually sure I can answer that question. Is it wrong that I really don't miss the U.S. (and I'm certainly not Miss America!)? To "miss" seems to imply a lack, a void. I don't feel that at all. In fact, maybe I feel less of a lacking here. If that makes any sense whatsoever....


*The question, though, was very genuine and kind, unlike the creepy, smelly, middle-aged (40-something?) black guy who sat down beside me this morning on the train and proceeded to give me his phone number and tell me to call him tonight. I took out my assorted European Court of Human Rights opinions to read and in French told him I was sorry but I had no phone (not true) and that I was very busy and had to read my homework (only partially true).


*Clearly this was too polite because he kept talking, asking me my name, commenting on my accent and hazarding guesses as to whether I was Belgian (was that a joke?) or Portuguese (what are you smoking man? bonjour, les yeux bleus, come on!) or British (that at least could be plausible). I told him, in French, yes, yes, I know I have an accent, but I need to read this right now. I deliberately never mentioned my mystifying nationality. Um. How do I manage to attract all the crazies? Can somebody teach me some curses in French that mean something along the lines of "kindly please fuck off"? You know, something good enough to get rid of sketchos, but like not so strong that I end up getting murdered in broad day light on a train....


*After all of this insanity I finally made it to the Musée d'Orsay (http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html), where I had a lovely afternoon enjoying the art and getting to know Jenny, a friend of my friend from Portland, Sam. Jenny is studying at Hampshire College, where Sam studied, but this year Jenny has been studying here in Paris. This is additionally interesting because she is originally from China (which naturally when she took the map of the museum all in Chinese led me to have to remark, "wow, that's all Chinese to me!" and I then took a copy in French). She was very kind, and it was especially interesting to talk to her because she has recently taken the LSAT (on which she did considerably better than me, lol) and is contemplating law school options, etc., etc., etc.


*In fact, the afternoon at the museum and getting to know a very nice person thoroughly compensated for sketcho-ville on the train in the morning. I had an uneventful ride home, and now I am getting read for my fun and exciting evening. News on that later.


Lots of love,
Amanda


*p.s.-- What do people think? Would it be absolutely insane for me to go back to law school in the fall, then graduate in spring 2010, sit for the July 2010 Maine Bar Exam, then come back to Europe and do some type of work (perhaps unrelated to law)? Just putting that out there.... Feedback, thoughts, ideas, etc. always appreciated....