20.3.09

Post- le dix-neuvième


I marvel at how quickly time vanishes. This past week (after last weekend's fun with Jenny at the museum and then Kristrun--from Iceland's-- party at her charming Paris apartment) I've had a myriad of classes. Also, among some interesting highlights, Tuesday night I celebrated St. Patty's Day at Cergy's Irish Pub! Thursday, there was another grève. http://www.19mars2009.fr/ In the two months I have been here there have been two. I didn't find this problematic. In fact, due to the reduced train service I was even able to leave French Class early on Wednesday evening!


As for French class, I am feeling frustrated and impatient. Maybe it is best to characterize my relationship with this language as a love-hate relationship? I know, though, that I tremendously want to continue learning French when I return to the U.S. Initially, my plan had been to go to Vermont for the summer to continue studying French....
Then, I got a job offer. I will be back at the law firm where I worked last summer-- Robinson, Kriger & McCallum (http://www.rkmlegal.com/). I'm very excited about this employment, but I am also thinking of how to best build upon the experience of this semester. Maybe this is just my tendency to pre-plan to an absurd degree...but there is a large part of me that knows I am happiest studying language and literature. There is certainly a strong corrolation between such studies and law. I mean, the basis of what we do as lawyers is to use language, to write, to persuade, to argue...but...je ne sais pas.... I just feel so...ALIVE...here. I can't really explain it, and that might be part of the allure....


I know I should not be trying to live my future yesterday, or even today...but this is my neurotic tendency. I'm trying to do better about letting life develop as it will, and not worrying as much about precise planning. What will happen will happen no matter how much I try to micromanage....



In that light, trying to savor moments and live without worrying and getting tangled in planning for the future, I went to Lyon yesterday, where I visited my friend Jacquie, who I have known since elementary school, but have not seen in many years. It was wonderful to see her and to see Lyon, where she has been living and teaching for the year. Next fall she will go to Duke University in North Carolina in the U.S. to start her PhD in French Literature.
Lyon was very charming, and much less chaotic than Paris. All of the pictures on today's post are from Lyon. Jacquie and I, along with Lauren (another Portlander!) had a delicious lunch and delighted in various sights, including a silk factory where I purchased a gorgeous scarf http://www.atelierdesoierie.com/gb/lyon-silk.asp, a very intriguing minatures museum http://www.mimlyon.com/site.html, and an incredible shop with phenomenal little chocolates and pastries http://www.bernachon.com/shopguide.htm. Yum. You see the important priorities...silk and edible deliciousness. lol.
Well, on that sweet note, I am going to sleep. Tomorrow promises to be an early day, as I have to go to Paris for the next installment of my Company Law course. I'm quite excited, actually, as we will be meeting in La Défense, the major business area. It actually is a little surreal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_D%C3%A9fense Standing there looking from the Grande Arche http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche down to the Arc de Triomphe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe...it escapes words.... I mean, I can cut and paste all the links to wikipedia that I want, and that does not remotely convey the sensation of it. More pictures and words to come! Surely those, too, will fall short of the full impression, the full experience of living it, but I will try to express something, even if that something is destined to be incomplete....

14.3.09

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....

10.3.09

Post- le dix-septième

*Why do the French put egg on everything, kinda like sunny-side-up-ish? This is actually really yummy, but it is certainly quite different! Egg on pizza. Egg on hamburger. Egg on crepe. So, I am getting plenty of protein. I should be running more, too, but I have been too busy and it has been too drizzly.



*Monday, I met up with the group visiting from my law school (http://mainelaw.maine.edu/) and a group of French law students from Le Mans involved in an interesting seminar program (http://mainelaw.maine.edu/students/academic-program/franco-american-seminar.jsp) and went to the Conseil d'État. Then Tuesday after my Droit de la concurrence course I again met up with them and went to the Conseil constitutionnel and the Assemblée nationale. I understood little at the Conseil d'État, but at the Conseil Constitutionnel I understood nearly 100%. I think it helps that this is an institution I have actually studied at length. I understood a fair amount at the Assemblée nationale, also. It was some sort of health care reform they were talking about....


*Mostly, though, I was just exhausted! I wake up at 6h45 to make it to Paris for the 9h00 course on Tuesdays.... After the Assemblée nationale, I took the metro to the Marais (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_des_Rosiers) to purchase hamentaschen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamentashen) because I had no time to bake them fresh and I wanted the family I'm staying with to taste these traditional Purim "cookies." My recipe is actually better than the 6 that I purchased for 9 euros!! They were pretty good, though, and my opinion may be biased.... Or perhaps just sleep deprived.


*Thus, I am going to go collapse in order to get up at the rump-crack of dawn again tomorrow for another busy day of classes.... Corporate Governance will be attrocious, but I am actually really enjoying my French class, even though we had a conjugation test last time and a dictée (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictation_(exercise)). It's probably entirely wrong that I dread the law classes but enjoy the language class, right? Well, it's not fair to say that I dread the law classes...the EU Human Rights Seminar is actually quite compelling. It is just the business law focused classes that seem to...er...lack focus? Je ne sais pas.... But I do need sleep...so off I go.... Bonne nuit!


-A

8.3.09

Post- le seizième

I. La semaine dernière:

This last week was a busy week of classes and studying. Significantly, I was informed by my school, UMaine Law, that assuming I receive grades of "C" or better, I will actually receive credit for each course I am taking, including my French Course. Yay!


II. Hier: Je suis allée à synagogue. Yes, an egalitarian Massorti (analogous to "conservative" synagogues in the U.S.) Synagogue in Paris in the 15th arrondissement. http://www.massorti.com/adathshalom/ I really like this neighborhood. It is near the Eiffel Tower. It was a pleasant walk in my heels from the metro stop to the synagogue. The service was interesting, particularly because there was a bat mitzvah. Clearly everything was in French and Hebrew. The melodies, etc. were almost familiar to me, but the cadence was slightly different. The bat mitzvah's d'var torah (sermon) was about anti-semitism. I understood the main ideas, but like everything, I feel I'm missing something...I understood maybe 50-60% of the words...and it was good practice for my French, but I really need to learn more.


I grow impatient with myself. I've been here long enough to speak more, right? It does not help that many people want to speak English with me. It also does not help that my French Course at school is so large and includes such a wide range of levels. Although we are all supposed to be roughly at the same level (there was a placement exam earlier in the semester) everybody brings their own educational and cultural baggage and some students are clearly more advanced in certain ways than others.


So, for example, I really enjoy the amount of writing we do, but that comes very easily to me. There are simply too many people in the course to really improve my speaking...particularly my pronunciation.... My vocabulary is also hopelessly limited...and having formally studied the language so briefly before coming, my knowledge of grammar is essentially all self-taught.... My speaking seems to improve more by trying to buy train tickets, or trying to ask directions, or things like that. I don't know. I just don't know....


III. Aujourd'hui: In a few hours I will meet with a lady and her teenaged son. The son wants additional help with his English because he has a difficult teacher in school. Since my French is quite limited I hope I will be able to actually be helpful. I was pleased, though, that I entirely understood his mother over the phone. That's just it. I understand far more than I speak, or am able to speak.... Aaaaaargh. This lady seems very nice, though. She is a friend of the mother in the family I am living with. The problem was that over the phone I understood and I was able to say a few things and solidify a time and place to meet, but all of the little polite niceties I would have casually said in English were very strained and even somewhat inaccessible for me in French. Sometimes that type of thing is easier in person? Sometimes I hope I don't come across as rude...it is merely that I have a very limited vocabulary...really.... Somebody...please help me with this.... Please....


Well, after meeting with these people this afternoon (and hopefully better assessing where he is at proficiency-wise, and what we can work on together) I will head into Paris for a dinner at La Coupole. ( http://www.flobrasseries.com/coupoleparis/carte/). This dinner is with a group of students from my school who are visiting France during this week as part of a seminar exchange program (http://mainelaw.maine.edu/students/academic-program/franco-american-seminar.jsp). It should certainly be interesting to see them! More on that later, as I really ought to continue with my never-ending homework.... Hyperbole? Or....


-A

1.3.09

Post- le quinzième: elle revient à France, etc., etc., etc.

[apologies for blogspot messing up the paragraph spacing/layout of this post]
1. La semaine dernière:
*Rome! Wow! It was a really marvellous week that escapes description. The night before I left, I went on a boat on the Seine, an excursion organized through the school. It was marvellous fun, but coming home was fairly nightmarish. My night bus (trains don't run after a certain hour) was stopped by the police to control several rowdy individuals. I finally stumbled (purely exhaustion and the beginning of a PESKY cold) back to Conflans about 5h30 the day my train for Rome was to leave at 18h52.
*So, after sleeping a little and sniffling a lot I made it to the tiny couchette, a compartment where they put six people but should really probably only put one small child. A compartment where the seats folded into precarious bunks. A compartment where I spent 16+ hours sneezing and coughing into tissues and praying I was not getting a sinus infection. A compartment where one Italian woman, three French men, and one French woman gave me awful glances for 16+ hours, likely praying to not catch my horrid contagion.
*Thankfully after a day or two of gnocchi, fish, white wine, pizza, etc., etc., and 12/13 degree (celsius!) the sniffles diminished. Even so, what an interesting way to arrive in Rome, where my buddy Ethan was waiting for me, equally (un)fresh off his 10 hour train from Austria.
*So, over the course of the week we took in the Forum, the Colluseum, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, St. Peter's Basilica (including walking up all 500+ steps to the magnificent, awe-inspiring view of the Vatican and Rome) a myriad of other important and beautiful locations that utterly escape description. I think all the steps also provided a convenient excuse for abundent gelato. In fact I pretty much went nuts regarding gelato, savoring marrone (chestnut), nocciola (hazelnut), etc. Splendid!
*One day we also went to Napoli, a dirty, seedy, bizarre city that was worth it essentially only for the nice little old Italian grandma lady at the cafe where we enjoyed beverages and cannolis. The picture below where you can faintly see Mt. Vesuvius in the distance makes it look better than it was. Seriously.
*By the end of of our stay in Italy I was very excited that I would ask questions in Italian and actually get responses in Italian that I understood. Somehow my handy French-Italian phrasebook was actually functional. Between that and my very limited French and very limited Spanish it was really neat to see how much I understood. Returning to France was somewhat disorienting, especially no longer saying "grazie," but I seem to have readjusted.


2. Hier- Auvers sur Oise:
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auvers-sur-Oise Of course, by readjusted, I mean being overly ambitious and alighting from the night train back to Paris yesterday, showering, and then taking off only several short hours later with friends to go visit a multitude of interesting Van Gogh related locations, http://www.chateau-auvers.fr/accueil.html, including his tomb. Then, we also enjoyed a nice cafe with amaaaaaaaaazing hot chocolate.
*Some times I have to pinch myself. Even today, which has mainly been consumed by oodles of homework and chores like laundry. A little running too, which was refreshing. This week will be quite busy with classes starting up again, but nonetheless, this sometimes feels slightly surreal.



3. Le futur:
*Speaking of surreal-- I happen to have 3 days left on my France-Italy rail pass. It expires April 22. So, what should I do?! I would like to make reservations for travel fairly soon, given the fiasco Ethan and I had returning from Rome. The Italians kept telling us the computer was malfunctioning because of some issue in France and that the entire train was full. Well, when we finally made the train Friday evening, schleping bread, salami, cheese, nutella, bananas, and water (yay train picnic!) it was virtually empty.
*In fact, only two other people ever joined us in our compartment. This was nice because they spoke French and I was able to explain to them how the beds folded down, as I had travelled on the train previously. Thank you Doris for teaching me convenient French vocabulary about beds, etc. *giggles*
*Seriously, though, if anybody has ideas as to where might be nice to go for three days of train transportation, I'd be open to such suggestions! I'd love to go to the south of Italy where Salvatore Zumpano (my great-great-great grandfather is that?) lived, but I fear that might be overly ambitious. Even Pompeii might be a stretch.
*Milan, Turin, Firenze, those are options that might be somewhat more realistic. Then again, I've always dreamed of seeing Mont Blanc.... http://www.readprint.com/work-1366/Percy-Bysshe-Shelley. So...really, there are too many places and too little time!!
*Outside of those three days of train pass, I entirely intend to do a little travelling in France, too, at some point. Again, far too little time-- not to even mention money-- but I'm going to squeeze it in somewhere, somehow!! Having now become addicted to Eurail passes, I also am contemplating a little further travel for when classes are over, if I can fit it in before returning home to Portland for summer work. If I can, I would ideally get the 5 country 10 day pass and go from France to where my ancestors come from in Romania, Austria, and Hungary. It actually looks like there might be a train connection to where Fred Froimowitz lived in Romania!!
*So, in any case, any input y'all have, dear readers, would be tremendously appreciated. Particularly on the France/Italy travels. Now having left you with many pictures, many words, and even a homework assignment, I shall get back to my riveting reading for the evening-- a contract, a franchising agreement. YES! *smiles*
-A