La chatte est sur la valise

Le semestre...

2010-09-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

My semester currently will look like this (names of classes in language in which class will be taught):

MONDAYS:

10:15-12:15 Dispute Resolution;

TUESDAYS:

8-10 Corporation Law,

12:30-2:30 Fondements de la politique économique et mondialisation,

2:45-4:45 Droit administratif,

5-7 Fondements;

WEDNESDAYS:

12:30-2:30 Fondements de la politique économique et mondialisation,

2:45-4:45 Français;

THURSDAYS:

8-10 Person, Personhood, Comparative Study,

10:15-12:15 Droit des contrats,

12:30-2:30 Droit international privé,

5-7 Español;

FRIDAYS:

8-10 Microéconomie,

5-7 Accountancy

Um.

Ok. Right now we still are in the Cycle préparatoire, a glorified orientation, which I will be happy to have over. I want to just plunge into things for real, especially my classes in languages other than English...which on some level totally terrify me. I hope it will be okay once we get going, but a big part of it is that everything is so formulaic, so structured, and I feel like I came in during the middle of Act II, Scene II...and speaking all my lines with a horrendous accent! On that note, it's totally time for a petite pause tartelette framboise.

And then I remember why I am here....

Where in the world is...uh...rue Cortambert?

2010-08-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

It's a good question, n'est-ce pas? Seeing as this Cortambert dude appears to have been a geographer. Well, this is where I live here.

Ok. Not quite there.

But more like here.

Yes, rue Cortambert. But that other picture is just a block away (it is the mairie, like the town hall, for my arrondissement). Paris is divided into arrondissement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrondissements_of_Paris. I live in the 16th: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_arrondissement_of_Paris.

I now have a landline, so it's somewhat cheaper for you to call me, depending on your calling plan. Either e-mail me, or leave a comment to this post requesting the number. The first time it rang I didn't recognize it as a ringing phone noise. Ooops. It is that beautiful blue thing above...29 euros and two Dartys (http://www.darty.com/) later.... I should probably figure out if there is some way to change the ring tone. In the alternative, Skype is nice....

And yes...those are homemade fresh blueberry-raspberry muffins. Oh...and while we're on that subject, why yes, that is cheesecake that you smell cooking in the oven.... You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the American baking out of her (despite the utter lack of necessary ingredients: cream cheese, baking powder/baking soda, etc.!). Resourcefulness is a virtue!

Bienvenue chez moi

2010-08-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Come in! Here is the hallway.

I’ll spare you the bathroom off to the right. Yes, it stinks. Any ideas what that stench could be? Egh. Mon dieu! I do not know what to do! I’ve even spent a lot of time in there with Mr. Clean (er, I’m sorry, that’s M. Propre) including singing that song from his U.S. commercial. Now it smells like lemon masking something rotten and dead. Dégu!

Well, next on our brief tour, is the kitchen. Please keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times, ladies and gentlemen. Food is not cheap here, and there will be no snacking, thank you very much. I also feel like I’m buying food every two minutes because there is no storage. Every meal makes me feel like I’m back in hunter-gatherer times having to go to Monoprix (the big supermarket chain, where you can buy aaaaanything). Also please keep your feet inside the vehicle at all times, I just washed that floor. I have not even been here a week and I have done more cleaning than I can ever remember doing in my last apartment…..

Next we have the living/sleeping/eating/everything room (it’s amazing what 850 euro/month cannot get you in Paris)…. I spared you shots of the other side of the room where I had yet to clean the table. There is also a second bed, a TV, some drawers, and some lamps that you probably are not seeing…. I have to keep a little mystery so folks will come visit me, right?

And finally, the thing that makes it all worth it, the reason for being: my pretty little balcony. Now, if they would just stop doing construction work on the Indonesian Embassy, or whatever that is next door, at the rump-crack-of-dawn!

The return of the suitcases

2010-08-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

I have been delinquent. A little over a year ago I promised to start posting again on my "next" trip to France. Since that promise I have been back and forth to France three times without a post. Je m'excuse.

In my own defense, I was on crutches with a broken foot during my 2-week August 2009 trip (lesson: DO NOT make a transatlantic flight with a recently broken bone). Misty T. Kitty was less than impressed too....

My 1-week January 2010 trip I flew Boston-Iceland-Paris (this was pre-volcano-unpronounceable's spewing) I was jetlagged enough and my hosts were in an awkward enough way that again no posts (lesson: $470 roundtrip airfare might just be too out of the way, adding 4ish extra hours onto the trip in each direction, that it becomes not worth it).

Then, on my 2.5 day June 2010 trip I was only on French soil for a long weekend and I spent about 89% of that meager time studying for the NY Bar Examination (lesson: yes, a long weekend in Europe is entirely possible...but just not during bar prep)!

BIG take away lesson: All of these trips over the last year were shorter (2 weeks), and shorter (1 week), and then shorter yet (2.5 days!) in length. That's not right. So, with an eye toward remedying that, this Friday I'm moving to France.

Thus, the RETURN OF THE SUITCASES! Which, on my first trip back in January 2009, I was allowed to bring 2 for the price of my plane ticket. This trip I will be charged $50 extra for my second suitcase. Sorry, American Airlines, a transatlantic move will be impossible in just one suitcase.... Plus, the cat's put on some weight since the last trip and gotten way feistier about trying to make her way not just on top of the suitcase, but actually into it....

And one final post...

2009-06-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is one final post-- at least for the time being-- to inform you that I am safely back in the U.S. I say "for the time being" because I will likely add a post or two when I return to France in the future-- which is to say, roughly 10 weeks from now. I feel fortunate to have had such an incredible experience. Words are inadequate, so I will leave with you with these few French feline photos and best wishes for a splendid summer!

La fin de la fin de la fin de la...

2009-05-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Noyant d'Allier, Auvergne

I spent last weekend during the canicule (heatwave) in Noyant d'Allier, visiting my college roommate, Doris. My what a difference from my visit in early February when there was still snow on the ground!

Noyant d'Allier, Auvergne

Prior to this May visit to Noyant I went out to Senlis, in Picardie last Thursday because it was the Ascencion holiday, so I did not have class. Since seeing the movie Séraphine, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9raphine, which revolves around an artist in Senlis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9raphine_Louis, Susan and I had been discussing a trip to Senlis (where she used to live many years ago) to see some of Séraphine's artwork. It did not disappoint, nor did the church!

Senlis, Picardie

As for disappointments-- what's with French grading!? Also, why are my language grades markedly better than my average law grades!!?? For the uninformed, French grading is out of 20, unlike the American "A" to "F" system. French grading is also notoriously rigorous, especially compared to the typical American grade inflation. In France, anything above a 10 is passing, but it's virtually impossible to get anything about a 16! My grades range from an 11.13 to a 16 and a 16.5. Evidentally I did not entirely understand the French expectations, format, wording of the questions, etc. Tant pis. Oh well. I'll take it, but I'll engage in that favorite Jewish pastime and kvetch a little too.... *winks*

Senlis, Picardie

Observations upon babysitting

2009-05-17T01:06:00.001-07:00

Month old French kittens in the jardin. There were 4, but only 3 are in this photo because mama cat wasn't letting me too close.

Misty, don't be jealous, dear; I'm not cheating on you with French kitties. I promise!

Exams are over and life at the Alliance Française is going nicely! I am meeting amazing people (e.g. a Hungarian law graduate, a Jordanian woman raising kids in France while her husband completes medical training here, a Chinese film director, a Mexican computer programmer, an Irish nurse, etc.) and learning, even if not 100% enough to understand this culture. Nonetheless, for the second time since in France I accepted an offer to babysit. I understood the kids much better than the first time. I marvel at how much in these past couple of weeks I am grasping more and more; language acquisition is a phenomenal process. Query: are little kids this thrilled when they become able to convey new ideas in their mother tongue?! As my French improves, it is like an image on television slowly coming into focus, or like tuning a viola and finally hitting the right pitch.

So, Saturday night Geraldine and her husband went to a concert in Paris, I looked after their five-year-old Hortence-- Ok. I appreciate cultural differences in naming, and as Shakespeare aptly observed (see Romeo and Julliet) a rose would smell just as sweet if named something else...but!?-- and her twelve and thirteen-year-old brothers Ambroise and Gregoire. Though not an au pair-- thanks for incessantly asking-- I must have some "expertise" to share, having now babysat for two French families; thus, some observations:

(1) "Cacao" is evidentally universal. So is "Nesquick."

(2) Dora (la exploratrice) is also universal. BUT...um...chers français, my Dora speaks English and Español. My Dora does not speak Français! Hortence was adorable; when her maman introduced us she was initially shy, but then we discovered we had Dora in common. Then, after her parents left she would not let me out of her sight and wanted to be BFFs (best friends forever). Until....

(3) Well, let's just say that all five-year-olds are the same:

Me: "à ta chambre?" [To your room?] "Tu es prête à dormir?" [Ready to sleep?]

Hortence: "Non! laissez-moi tranquille" [Leeeeeemee alone!]

*Her eyelids get heavy, but she keeps fighting sleeeeeep*

Me: "Mais, c'est mieux dans ta chambre!? Vas-y!" [But it's better in your room! Go along!]

Hortence: "Non!"

*She proceeds to fall asleep on the living room couch with the Dora blanket.*

2009-05-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

View of Place de la Concorde, from La Madeleine

View from atop the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Cat is what's for dinner?

Because I have exams this week I suspect I will not be updating this blog too frequently. Thus, I am going to simply leave you with the above photos and get back to studying. Doesn't it feel like such a shame to be in France and be sequestered in a room studying obscure legal provisions?

1. Exams, 2. Sketchy Train Dude, 3. Future Flight

2009-05-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Photos in this post are in Conflans and along the Seine near where I am living. Often I think to myself, this must be the most beautiful place in the world...especially walking along the Seine...I couldn't imagine being anywhere else!

1. With one meager week to spare, the Université de Cergy-Pontoise finally informed us of the days and times of our exams. Merci...mais...I was scheduled to be in Paris in a much more exciting-- not to mention educational-- French class at precisely the same time. C'est dommage! So, after a tense day of exchanging pissy e-mails, I have arranged to take my French class in the afternoons, and my exams in the mornings. After this zaney week of exams and class, I will have two splendid weeks of just French class, just for me. This is at the Alliance Française Paris, not for academic credit, not for anything save for my own edification and enjoyment. Thus far, it has been the highlight of my time here. Honestly, law classes here have left me a little uncertain. The universities are in upheaval; the semester has been tumultuous and disorganized. Though I can appreciate difficulties in a different system, I feel caught in the middle and compromised....

2. Speaking of "caught," tonight Susan and I are walking the dog and this guy comes up to us-- this sketchy guy who she evidentally knows. Then I realize this is the same sketchy guy I've met and talked to twice in the train station. The first time was early in the morning when I was going to visit my friend Doris and sketchy train dude and I talked about Bush and Obama, with my crummy French, and I was pretty sure he was going to try to either rape me, or kill me, or both! Something is really not mentally right with him! Then there I was tonight and Susan knows this guy and he knows her. A bizarre conversation ensued, with all the typical french kissing on the cheeks, etc., etc., etc. A few weeks ago sketchy train guy had also randomly remarked to Alain (Susan's husband) "DO YOU KNOW!? There's a blonde girl living in your house!?"So then tonight sketchy train guy proceeds to ask me, how long I have been in France. And I reply in French "I am leaving at the end of this month." Then it starts thundering and lightening so we take the dog inside. Yes! A convenient exit. So here I am.

3. Here I am and here I go. June 1 I return to Maine. I'll work. Then at the end of the summer, August 15-29, I will return to Paris. Right now the details are up in the air. The only thing I know is that I have a round trip ticket from Logan to De Gaulle. Presently, that is all I know, all I need to know, and thus all you know. Bonne soirée!

Post-- Fontainebleau Fun

2009-05-01T02:38:00.000-07:00

1. Le mardi dernier je suis allée à Fontainebleau http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau pour voir une amie. I never realized that Christine, who I had an English class with during university, had lived in Fontainebleau. Her father is a professor and had taken a sabbatical year to teach here, about twelve years ago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INSEAD. Each year he continues to return, and this year for the first time she returned along with him. Thus, we decided to meet in Fontainebleau. It was a marvellous day catching up, enjoying a yummy lunch and white wine, and seeing some of the chateau, forest, campus, and village. She starts law school, http://www.northeastern.edu/law/, in the fall-- good luck to her!

2. In other news, I am contemplating fun things like the July 2010 Maine Bar Exam and courses for my LAST year of law school! Next fall: (1) Business Associations, (2) Immigration Law, (3) Independent Writing advised by Prof. Norchi--http://mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/profiles/norchi.jsp, (4) Taxation, (5) Trial Practice. During fall semester I will also continue to study French. I could have the opportunity to return to France for my final semester, spring 2010. I am very conflicted about this; there are many pros and many cons. Ultimately, I think it is likely I will take my last semester in the U.S. and return to France for a more extended time to live and work after the bar exam.

3. I have also been thinking about the remainder of this semester! One month from today I return to the United States. While I am happy that two days after that I will be in Immigration Court on a pro bono case I have been assisting for awhile, and one week after that I will be starting my summer position at Robinson, Kriger & McCallum www.rkmlegal.com, this semester in France has not been nearly long enough! Next week my four weeks of intensive French at the Alliance Française http://www.alliancefr.org/ commence. Supposedly, the following week, I have exams for my law courses in Cergy, but it has been impossible to get an answer from the law faculty regarding when precisely these alleged exams will be held. I e-mail the dean and program secretary daily, not to mention speaking directly to the secretary everyday I am on campus. I have only been trying to ascertain this information since last fall. I am growing frustrated, but I know that everything will work out in the end. It has only taken me one semester in France to learn how to spell the word "bureaucracy" correctly in English!

Les vacances III: Strasbourg [AMENDED, May 1]

2009-04-26T05:41:00.000-07:00

I am back from Strasbourg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg with my arm still entact, despite the best efforts of the Paris Metro to amputate it! Thank you unknown man who pushed the doors apart, otherwise I would be pecking away at the keyboard one-handed! I'm going to upload pictures later because I have to get them developped and scanned. It was not until I was onboard the TGV http://www.tgv.com/FR/ and some schmuck started snapping photos--nothing like flash dazzling your eyes at eight AM-- that I realized I'd left my nice camera back in Conflans. So, when I arrived in Strasbourg, I headed directly to the Monoprix http://www.monoprix.fr/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoprix and for 4.50 euro purchased a disposable camera. [May 1 UPDATE-- thank you 1 hour developping at Auchan Cergy, 20-some-odd-euros later, plus scanning, plus cropping, plus blablabla, we have some images!]All in all the city was charming in an overly-touristy-type of way. It was nice, but I can't quite put my finger on what I disliked. Was it all the porky Alsacian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace food? The feeling of being more in Germany than in France (both the attitude of people and the architecture and...)? The offputting mall http://www.placedeshalles.com/ built essentially atop what was a synagogue in the 1800s until the Nazis destroyed it in 1940?
Don't get me wrong, there was plenty that was very appealing about Strasbourg-- the European Court of Human Rights http://www.echr.coe.int/echr/, kugelhopf glacé http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugelhupf, bretzels http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretzel, fleur d'Alsace glace (think vanilla/kirsch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirschwasser ice cream), the sweet gentleman in the Gingerbread Store with whom I had a delightful little conversation in French, the stunning cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg_Cathedral, etc. It is just that after Nantes, and Conflans, and Paris, and yes, even Cergy, Strasbourg is not home.... Nice to visit, and glad I did, but that is that!

Les Vacances II: Je suis revenue de Nantes

2009-04-22T01:20:00.000-07:00

J'aime beaucoup cette très jolie ville! I love gorgeous, enchanting Nantes. This city has restored my faith in running in France. Since arriving I have only run several times, which is bizarre since I used to run virtually every day in Portland-- usually on a treadmill during winter. Here, though, I quickly tired of strange looks and comments outdoors, not to mention the gym at Cergy (a sketchy, male-dominated sauna with limited equipment-- read: not even worth the 16 euro fee for the semester). Now that it is warmer I do see more runners in parks, but almost never just on streets, and always men, rarely women.

Thus, I was delighted when the first morning in Nantes there was a marathon. Even non-racers were out jogging each day, even in rain! In fact, while waiting at an intersection for runners to pass, a lady--clearly a native French speaker, not from Nantes-- asked me if I was from Nantes and proceeded to ask directions before I could even explain that not only was I not from the city, or the country, but that I'm hopelessly directionally challenged. Also, I was wearing an American sweater, French pants, and holding an Italian umbrella, but okay.... *giggles*

I'm trying to do this chameleon-blending-in-thing. You know, it seems to help so that every sketcho on public transportation doesn't make disgusting come-ons to you in French. The unintended consequence, though, is getting asked for directions! Do I look like I know where I am going? I wish I knew where I am going. I mean that in a different sense, though...a sense that perhaps is a little larger...perhaps.

In terms of direction, I am working on this language learning schtuff, and it was splendid to spend several days just using French. My language skills are limited, but it was enjoyable to go to restaurants (particularly Creperie Heb-Ken and La Cigale http://www.lacigale.com/), go to movies (see "Welcome" if you get the chance-- it was quite well done, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314280/, http://www.premiere.fr/film/Welcome), and do everything in French. This was essentially the first time in France that I have not been travelling with other English speakers. I am realistic that this language acquisition thing is entirely a work-in-progress, and I will return to the U.S. and continue learning and learning and learning...and have I mentioned learning?! There are moments when I despair that I will never really speak French. Stupid neural networks-- language learning DOES get harder as you get older. I didn't have these problems with my first three languages, honestly!

Well, I ought to go finish unpacking from this Nantes adventure and get repacking for Strasbourg! À tout à l'heure!

Les vacances: Part I

2009-04-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Bonsoir à tous! Mom and I have said our goodbyes. She was visiting France this past week, mainly in the Paris area, but also with one day at "les plages du débarquement" in Normandie.

First, we started at the museum in Caen, http://www.memorial-caen.fr/portail/index.php. Then, we saw Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial, and several of the other beaches.

There is this still palpable sense of history always alive here. It is eerie. I recall when I first arrived in France during late last January and early February and meeting people who after learning I was American would start talking about WWII and express their appreciation. Likewise, the woman I live with (who is American, although she has lived in France for the past 28 years) has described how an elderly French lady at her Church gives her little gifts of gratitude like a clock, because for this French lady she symbolizes "America."

Tomorrow mom will fly home to America. Tomorrow I will travel to Nantes mainly to explore the area and see if it would be livable were I to return to teach, after I complete my J.D., in spring 2010. Thus, my "Les vacances: Part II" blog entry can be expected once I return from Nantes...probably around Wednesday. The third installment will come about a week from now when I return from another mini-excursion to Strasbourg. I figure, train rates are affordable, and I should explore as much of France as possible in my remaining time here. The reality is that time is rapidly running. Before I know it I will be back in America myself!

Joyeuses Pâques, Pesah, etc.

2009-04-10T03:13:00.000-07:00

Bonsoir! I hope you all are having a splendid spring holiday season.

Pesah, the Jewish Passover, is in part a story about being strangers in a strange land, the need for tolerance, welcoming guests, and remembering one's roots. It seems particularly fitting this year to be in France sharing some of my family's traditions, while also learning more about Easter and the traditions of the family with whom I am living here.

Easter chocolate eggs, animals, etc.-- virtually edible pieces of art, much more exquisite than I had ever seen in the U.S.-- are infinitely more exciting than hunting for a piece of afikomen (the crumbly piece of unleavened bread--matzo-- that kids search for at a Passover Sedar meal). Also, a fifth question to add to those infamous Passover "4 Questions": why does French matzo taste so much better than American matzo? One can even find it in an orange/wine flavour here, apparently from an Algerian recipe!

Sweets aside, though, it is fascinating to see our shared traditions and values and also the interesting differences, both between Judaism and Catholicism, but also between America and France....

Today my mother, who is visiting for the week, and I chopped up some haroset (the apple/cinnamon/wine/walnut mixture typical during Pesah) to complement the Easter lamb meal we shared with the Soufer Family.

I am quite lucky to have been welcomed by this wonderful family, in this wonderful country. I don't know how to express that without simply sounding corny (no pun intended for you observant Jews of ashkenazic descent who do not eat corn during Passover). Seriously, though, I am very thankful for this experience of this spring semester in France. Naturally, spring is always a season of rebirth, of the earth blossoming again. This year spring feels all the more acutely a time of renewal, though. Is this partially a function of the precarious times in which we find ourselves?

I grow pensive...introspective...and that is independent of my visit earlier in the week with my Dutch friend Sanne to several museums, including the Rodin Museum http://www.musee-rodin.fr/ , where the pictures in this long overdue blog entry, including one of the famous "Thinker," were taken.

On that (thoughtful?) note, I have to start contemplating which courses I will enroll in next fall back at UMaine Law, so I am going to conclude the present post. A happy and peaceful spring to you all!

Post- le vingtième

2009-04-01T00:41:00.001-07:00

Apologies for the long delay in posts. Last weekend with a group from the university I went to Mont Saint Michel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_St._Michel). It was marvellous! Absolutely beyond words. Even these photos don't do it justice!

The next morning, I came home to one of those horrendous "This is a terrible way to tell you, but..." e-mails, informing me that a high school friend, only 23 years old, had died in a motorcycle accident. Again, no words are sufficient.

We take each other for granted, never stopping to contemplate the fragility of life, never stopping to savor every second.... I don't say it frequently enough, but thank you people for being part of my life. Thank you.

Post- le dix-neuvième

2009-03-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

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....

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

2009-03-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

*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....

Post- le dix-septième

2009-03-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

*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

Post- le seizième

2009-03-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

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

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

2009-03-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

[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

Post- le quatorzième: It's heeeeeeeeeeeeere

2009-02-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

The rail pass arrived yesterday morning. I immediately went to the train station to validate it and get my reservation. The poor lady who works at Gare Conflans Sainte Honorine is witnessing my "progress" with learning French. I do hope it has been progress in this past month! Luckily she has been very patient and helpful. I depart on the overnight train tomorrow evening. I'm going to Italy! The last I was in Rome (summer 2005) I was too jetlagged and too anorexic to appreciate anything. So I am tremendously looking forward to this trip! Hopefully we'll also have the opportunity for a few little excursions out of Rome. More later!

Post- le treizième: ADDENDUM- "we deliver for you?"

2009-02-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

After waiting all day (okay, only until 15h00ish, but do admire the hyperbole) the UPS truck arrived. So, I ran out barefoot. "Il y a un colis? Un colis? Je m'appelle Amanda Zane! J'habite ici...avec cette famille." Um.

After a conversation entirely en français with the UPS driver, I learned that he tried to deliver twice yesterday but nobody was home and when he looked at the mailbox name he did not see my name so he thought it was a mistake and today he did not have the package, as he was only here to deliver something to some neighbors.

I explained-- probably sounding like a three year old with my limited French, or maybe accidentally speaking in Spanish, or maybe even making up words-- that yes the door bell does actually work. But nobody was here. And I was probably at the unversity. All day long. And yes I do live here. And I am studying here. And living with this family. And I am waiting for my package. A delivery of a train ticket.

At this point he asks me if this package I'm waiting for is urgent. Right. That must be part and parcel to why I've been waiting all day for you to show up, monsieur! He explains that the package is back at the cental location place thingo and he gives me a number to call.

Thus, I come in and after 10 more minutes of French on the phone (heavens I'm glad I remember my letters and numbers so I was able to repeat the tracking code twenty-five-million times!), I resolve the confusion and hopefully they should get the package to me tomorrow morning before I go to classes.

I don't know whether to be happy that I was able to deal with this all in French, or to be frustrated. So, I'm trying to approach it with some humor, and hopefully they will deliver tomorrow-- with no further issues-- before I leave for class! Simultaneously exhilarated and exhausted from all this, I then went for a brief run down along the Seine. Several times as I passed by, I overheard people uttering words like "sportive." *giggles* C'est tout!

Post- le treizième: waiting games

2009-02-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

Dear Eurail (http://www.eurail.com/), where is my train pass? Je veux partir à Rome! Maintenant! Well, okay...maybe Monday. UPS France is having issues delivering this pass. I just want Corporate Governance Class tomorrow afternoon, French Class tomorrow evening, the Geomoov (http://geomoov.idoo.com/index.html) boat trip on the Seine Saturday night, and ITALY early next week! So much for 2 day international delivery on the train pass! Why with two failed delivery attempts yesterday (merci, online tracking) did they not leave a card to tell me how to claim my colis?

Every truck excites undue attention today-- ooooh, a bakery truck! a garbage truck! utilities trucks with ladders! But where are you package delivery truck? S'il vous plaît! Would flying (ironically the best rates were Lufthansa via Frankfurt)have been better?! Remind me, why do I cave to peer pressure? Ethan?

While I'm whining in such an unbecoming fashion, let me add, I want l'hiver-- winter-- to be over. It is not that it is particularly cold. It isn't. It has only snowed twice since I arrived, and both were mere dustings. It is just that I appear to be the only person in this country, maybe on this entire continent, with un manteau rouge-- a red coat. I eagerly await the day I can go out without awkwardly drifting through of the sea of mud-colored coats.

I successfully baked a batch of apricot-almond rugelach! Yippy skippy! On that sweet note, let me return to awaiting the arrival of this delivery. I feel somewhat trapped. I would like to run now that my knee is much improved from my fall last week at Gare Saint-Lazare, but I'm afraid I will miss any attempted delivery if I even go a couple of miles.... And so I go....

Post- the twelfth: In which she finds Philadelphia

2009-02-17T11:39:00.000-08:00

Chers amis! J'ai trouvé Philadelphia! Yes, I found Philadelphia...the cheese, not the city of brotherly love. Well, cream cheese is pretty lovely, too! I am now convinced that for the lovely price of 4.60 euro for a mere 200 grams-- thank you Kraft distrubtors in Belgium-- that ANYTHING can be found at Galleries Lafayette (http://www.galerieslafayette.com/).

Normally, I have little interest in cream cheese, but it is a central ingredient, which I have long taken for granted, in rugelach (yummy New York/Jewish baked pastries)-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugelach. This is one of the specialties I love to bake, and seeing as it is impossible to find rugelach in Paris, I have indeed decided to bake.

I did search for these delicious treats in the several open Jewish bakeries in the Marais this past Saturday, when I got together with my friend Mira from Brandeis (http://www.brandeis.edu/-- I feel like they should be forgiving some of my undergrad loans when I do such advertising for them). She does a better job writing about the nice little restaurant we visited, so check out her blog, especially the February 15 post, here-- http://ausoleillevant.blogspot.com/. We also found a yummy little tart with quetsche (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetsche) but alas, no rugelach!

Naturally it was Shabbat so many Jewish bakeries were not open, but even so, I don't think I can find rugelach in a pâtisserie here. Cream cheese is not exactly abundant here, either, despite the myriad other cheeses. So, I was quite thrilled to find Philadelphia on the way back from my Antitrust Course this morning. A course that this morning, interestingly, was all about franchising in France!

Now, there is a rugelach dough chilling in the fridge downstairs. Tomorrow I'll probably bake them up and pray that the joys of metric conversions and fahrenheit-centigrade changes don't destroy my culinary endeavors. Sweet. Hopefully literally.

Well, next week is vacation here, and I will head to Rome to meet up with Ethan, my friend from back in Portland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Maine). Thus, my other exciting purchase this morning was a little tourbook for Rome and a French-Italian phrasebook. Lol. For 2 euro I treated myself...because you know...in case my limited English, Spanish, and extremely limited French are insufficient.... On that note, it looks like the battery life of my laptop is going to be insufficient for anything more. Ciaomiao. ;-)

-A

p.s.-- Any suggestions on what one ought to do with approximately 90 remaining grams of cream cheese?

Post- the eleventh: in which she experiences "luck" on vendredi le 13...

2009-02-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Cergy for my 13h30 cours to learn the prof was not there. So what else is new?! So, I had a good amount of time before I'd told my new friend Linda, from Germany, that I would meet her to go to an athletics class at the gym. When we finally met up for the 16h30 class we learned that it was also cancelled! Thus, we simply used the velo (bicycling).

After, I went to my 18h30-20h30 French Class...which I'm not sure why I even attend. It is a major pain-- on Wednesdays it finishes at 8 PM and on Fridays at 8:30 PM! Then, the soonest train is about 9:10 PM, and when I get to my connecting station I usually have to walk 20 minutes to get home, unless I want to wait 45 minutes for the connecting train. I get home and eat dinner about 10 PM and collapse from exhaustion.

The fact that I attend this infernal French class is a testament to my desire to learn this language. Especially because UMaine Law has informed me that I am unlikely to get credit for this class. Does anybody know if I can like argue this with the curriculum committee, or some such...? This French course is compulsory here-- the Université de Cergy REQUIRES that I take it.... So my Icelandic (is that the proper adjective in English?) friend Kris and I endure the absurd schedule and take the train home together, all the way merrily complaining. YES!

On a...sweeter...note, I was able to use my abundant free time to visit the Poste and mail some chocolat to my oldest childhood friend Ruthie, who is presently in Malaysia as a Fulbright Scholar. Whenever I start lamenting the strikes and the myriad of administrative issues here, I think of Ruthie and it makes me realize nothing is problematic here! Nothing. I don't know what those last sentences mean. It seemed like something to type, though. So there it is. And there we are. And there is the end of this post. And soon to be the end of this day.

-A

Post- the tenth: In which she visits Noyant and commences courses and purchases a mobile (or Cats&cows&sheep&roosters, oh my!)

2009-02-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

I have been delinquent in posting. That must mean I have been busy! Last weekend I visited Doris in frigid Noyant, south of here. Why did I doubt her when she insisted that Noyant is the middle of nowhere? Note to readers: do not doubt Doris. See pictures below! It was wonderful to spend time with my old college friend, meet her mom, and their kitten Seurat. We also visited Noyant's Buddhist Pagoda, among the few things to do in Noyant. So, mostly, we stayed in and baked. Yum. Then I came home to Conflans. I like Conflans very much, especially downtown by the water; it has character, but is small enough to not be overwhelming. I also came home to classes! Yay! Wednesday was a full day: 9-12 Company Law, 2-4 French Tutoring, 6-8 French Class. I made friends from Holland and Iceland. We are all in the same level of French as well as the same law programme. There are so many people from a so many places, each with their intriguing stories!

Between classes I also managed to purchase a cell phone/mobile/portable/call it whatever you want it connects me to the world (in perhaps all the worst ways). It was cheap. So, if you have some absurd desire to hear my voice, message me/e-mail me/what have you and I'll give you the number. No guarantees if it will actually function, but thus far I have received several calls and made a couple. My brief call from mom in the U.S. was really fantastic-- especially to hear Misty T. Cat meowing into the phone at me. Mom also claims she (the cat, not mom, herself) was "head-butting" the phone when she heard my voice! This, as well as licking people, is Misty's way of getting possessive and showing some love. Génial!

Now, today, Thursday, I have just returned home from a very productive day of: (1) locating the law firm I need to go to for a class in Paris next week, (2)exchanging some travellers cheques and learning that the reason the exchange rate was better to purchase them initially was because I now get assessed a pesky 2% fee to redeem them for paper euros, and (3) my time with Adrien-- the French computer student with whom I'm doing a little language exchange thingo. It was really fun. We went to the bowling alley in Cergy. I am crummy at bowling. C'est dommage! The only annoyance, really, was me having to catch the infernal train to make it back to Conflans before I'd have to walk! I am beginning to feel like I live my life dictated by train schedules....

Well, this appears to be sufficiently lengthy.... As my uncle says...it is clear I am going to become a lawyer because I write so much! Au revoir!

-A

Post- the ninth: In which she is mistaken for British...

2009-02-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

This morning I was headed to the train to go to Cergy for the informational meeting for French law students who want to come study in the U.S., Great Britain, or in Australia. I was not sure I would have anything complimentary to say about American legal education, but since I was invited to this meeting to answer questions or what have you, I figured I would go. At the least, it would be an opportunity to practice some French and to meet some people, right?

So, I walk out the door all sunny and happy-happy because I had just given S (the mother in the family with whom I am staying, see prior posts) her birthday gift. Her birthday is tomorrow, but I leave at the rump crack of dawn to go visit my friend Doris south of here, not to mention that I'm lousy at keeping surprises and was ready to crack just keeping it.

I bought S a casse-noix-- a nutcracker-- not of the Tchaikovsky ballet type, but of the actual functional type, because the device she was previously using (lime squeezer? garlic presser? clearly I am not familar with kitchen gadgets?) was not really functional. Well, at least not without sending nut shells into the dog/cat's water! So, I did a little research to find out what nutcrackers even looks like (think larger version of those crackers for taking apart lobsters). It is also interesting to note, as a tangent, that one can purchase a Hillary Clinton shaped nutcracker on amazon.com. I will refrain from further tangents here.

So there I was, all sunny and happy-happy walking out the door. I closed the gate behind me and crossed through the parking lot in front of the Tabac to get to the train station across the street. But there was this guy with his car door open. So, awkwardly I start to squeeze past, and he apologizes in French, and I try saying that it was fine, in French. Then he starts talking quickly in French, so I have to explain to him, in French, that I only speak very little French.

So then he asks me, in French, if I'm from England. And this is particularly strange to me because a couple years ago when I was in Madrid I was incessantly being mistaken for British. Back then, I took it as something of a compliment because anti-Americanism was much greater than it is presently. Now I don't know, though. So, I explain to him, no, "je suis...de...les Etats Unis..."

At this point I am about to miss my train, and they don't come nearly frequently enough between here (Conflans Ste. Honorine) and Conflan Fin d'Oise, where I need to connect to the RER out to Cergy Prefecture. So, I start to walk away, and he says in perfect English, "I love you." And I'm like trying to not crack up (nuts-- right?) laughing. So I say "merci." And continue to walk to the train, and then he shouts really loud, "I love you."

It is good to be loved. *laughs* :-)

-A

Post- the eighth: UE 3

2009-02-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

So yesterday-- hier-- a word I adore for its similarity to Spanish-- was the day of the oral French placement exam. Oral. Um, "why don't we just extract some teeth?" was probably the remark I made to many of you prior to this test.

Interestingly, though, it was fairly painless. I arrived early and chatted in the hallway with a few girls from Lithuania who seemed amazed that an American actually knew where Lithuania was. Unfortunately, when they pressed further for where precisely my grandmother's family came from I could not deliver. Please ask me about the Romanian side of my family. I can actually mention a town name there.

Then, I got called into salle 39 for my 15 minutes of teeth pulling. The teacher had on way too much mascara for 10h, but was otherwise a very pleasant woman, and we discussed many bizarre stilted scenerios entirely in French-- no I am not an au pair-- and then she placed me into UE 3. There are 6 levels. UE 1 is for like absolute beginners. UE 6 is like for extremely advanced folks. So I am somewhat middling.

I was mostly just amazed that I was not placed in remedial French for 2-year-olds, which frankly would have made scheduling my law courses much easier. As it stands I now have to arrange some things. Thankfully the law department here is very helpful about things like that.

I think the French teacher lady was mostly just amazed that I've only studied French formally for like one class that lasted for something like 8 weeks last summer. lol. That does not feel nearly sufficient enough, but I do marvel at how much I can follow. I tried to explain to her that I think it is easier for me because I speak Spanish. I'm sure I entirely butchered trying to communicate that idea rapidly in French.

So, after the test I went on a silly search in several different FNACs (kinda like Borders or Barnes & Nobles, for those in the U.S.-- think books, electronics, etc.) for the text for the course. Unsuccessful, I finally came home and became well acquainted with amazon.fr to purchase my livre and accompanying cahier d'exercices.

Afterwards, I went back to Cergy for a Geomoov meeting (international student group thingo) and met oodles of people. Then, I had exciting adventures getting back home to Conflans because I am notoriously crummy at timing trains. Thus, I walked a couple of miles from one station home, because like hell was I going to stand there and wait 45 minutes for the next train when I could do the walk in like 20....

Tenacious as always, and impatient and somewhat disappointed at having to wait for the book delivery, too, I woke up this morning and continued my mad quest. Finally, FNAC Montparnasse worked out (third FNAC is the charm!?) and I came home just now to cancel my amazon.fr order. Yay! Impatience is a virtue.

I'm excited and have started looking through the livre and cahier. These both ought to occupy me some this weekend on my train ride to visit Doris in Noyant. Next week law courses start, too, so there is much excitement coming! Particularly, my Antitrust course, which is in Paris at a law firm-- http://www.vatier-associes.com/. Also, this evening I meet with Adrien (the 21-year-old computer/engineering student who I help with English and who helps me with French). Fun. Fun.

And even more, the news from the mother(land) is that my former nuisance of a landlord finally returned money he owed to me-- $200 USD. I feel almost like I need to write something like: -- "AMANDA ZANE, YOU HAVE JUST RECEIVED $200 USD, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?" -- "...I'M NOT GOING TO WILLIAMBURG, I'M GOING TO (EURO)DISNEYLAND!" Well, okay, not planning on that for anytime soon, but perhaps...lol.

I am just pleased that my former landlord finally came around, especially given that I spent a lot of last summer at work writing things related to landlord/tenant issues, so it was only too ironic that he would turn into such a schmuck right when I moved out of the apartment!

Nonetheless, that is all resolved now. My mad French book quest is resolved. And my schedule seems to be resolving itself. So there we are. And there is the end of this post.

-A

Post- the seventh: la neige (the snow)

2009-02-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

Salut! Il neige! It is snowing! Actually, it seems to have perhaps let up, but for awhile thick, fluffy flakes were falling. Take my word for that. I'm probably something of an expert on the topic, having grown up in Maine. Truthfully, though, je déteste la neige...mais ce matin j'ai marché et j'ai pris des photos, parce que j'aime prendre des photos. See:

For the remainder of today I think I will stay in though, nice and warm, and conjugate some verbs, or something like that. First person to comment on what I dork I am...well...that person probably has a valid point. *giggles*

Staying in will be okay, though. I spent a lot of the weekend playing "tourist" and meandering about all over. Sacre Coeur was particularly lovely. For additional pictures, I am simply going to implore y'all to sign onto Facebook. I love just walking and walking and discovering something new in Paris. It makes me feel very alive, very real, very human. It is the type of beautiful place where I could just wander and wander and I suspect even after years would still always marvel at something different.

Somewhere in all of this wandering, though, people seem to think I look like the type of person who knows where I am going. Nothing could be further from the truth. Various folks in various languages keep asking me for directions. They would probably have better luck finding "insert-desired-location-here" if I politely, gently, told them to get lost. I don't mean this in any nasty way, but I am incredibly directionally challenged, and even if I know where I am going, I can rarely coherently instruct anybody in any language how to get there! This was a particular problem back when I used to work as an EMT and a good deal of my job was driving ambulances in emergencies!

Speaking of challenges, the next challenge, or perhaps I prefer to think of it as an adventure, will be classes starting up this week. Tomorrow I will go to the school and meet some other folks in the L.L.M. program in which I'll take my courses. They should be nice and stressed out because tomorrow they have some of their first semester exams. I will also submit more paperwork to the school to hopefully get an identification card at some point prior to leaving. I have been told the French tend to collect papers. This does not surprise me after my experience with the French Consulate in Boston. Wednesday I will have my French placement exam, and then French classes will start. Next week law classes commence. Yay! I am eagerly looking forward to all of it, but the unknowns, the newness of it all, makes me simultaneously nervous.

I shall keep you posted. This seems sufficiently lengthy now. As you can likely tell, brevity is not quite my thing. Au revoir!

-A

Post- the sixth: la grève (the strike)

2009-01-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there was strike-- une grève -- see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7858467.stm; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7858318.stm. This is beyond a bizarre phenomenon to me. This is supposed to be "effective"...supposed to accomplish something? Ultimately, doesn't this just create more problems?

Alternatively, there is something nice in seeing people collectively feel like they "have a voice" and can impact change. This is much less passive, much less apathetic that in the U.S. I don't know, though...it still all seems...I don't know!

It seems there will always be discontent. That is axiomatic. Somebody is always going to be unhappy about something. As for redressing discontent, especially when it rises to massive levels...I just do not see how this method is at all effective. Paralysis is supposed to solve problems? I try to understand, but this is perplexing!! We live in complex, troubling times. I just don't see how this is any sort of solution....

In any case, yesterday was yesterday! I've had some time to see more of Paris, see more of Cergy, do some reading, and do some studying, including a conversation exchange with a French engineering student named Adrien, where I helped him with his English and he helped me with my French. We will do this weekly. He is very kind and I think it is very helpful for both of, especially with just hearing and pronouncing language in a more targetted type of practice.

I also have had the opportunity to purchase tickets to visit my friend Doris who lives in Noyant. I will travel there next weekend. I spent ages in line since only one guichet was open, evidentally the computer-- ordinateur-- was not functioning at the other one. I was pleased that my French was sufficient enough to first apologize in French for my poor French and then to get precisely the tickets I need!

So Noyant is about 2 hours from here via rail. Nobody seems to know where it is. It is small. I am sure it will be wonderful. Doris complains that it is cold. Ummm. Hello! I'm from Maine! *giggles* Mostly I am just thrilled to see Doris-- my dear friend from undergraduate studies back at Brandeis (http://www.brandeis.edu/). It has been far, far, far too long. I suppose the last time we saw each other was on a long layover I had at Charles de Gaulle (airport), passing through to Madrid. That must have been...spring 2007? Yeeeeps. Though we e-mail so frequently, this actual in-person visit is long, long overdue! Soon I will have to make plans to see other friends I know scattered all about this country. It is really splendid!

In any event, if you want to see additional photos, please see my Facebook profile. It has been infernally difficult to upload anything onto Blogspot. Je suis desolée. :-( Facebook has not been too easy, either, but it is easier than Blogspot. I suppose this may all relate back to my impatience (see "Post- the fourth"). :-)

Bonne journée!

-A

Post- the fifth: In which she registers for classes...maybe...possibly...enfin...

2009-01-27T06:50:00.000-08:00

So. I think I have classes. Perhaps. Maybe. Despite a very disconcerting e-mail from my dean back at UMaine Law. "Amanda - I will need course descriptions for the classes. I am not sure whether all of those will transfer.... I hope you are having a wonderful time in France!"

Actually, I was having a wonderful time until I received that e-mail, merci. Um.

People here have been friendly, and helpful, and in a word, wonderful, merveilleux. The family I am staying with is very kind. Yesterday (lundi) I tried to go to the school to register. First, the machine for the train tickets would not accept my stupid American credit card. I assure you there are sufficient funds!

So, I went to the info counter and explained this in my very limited French. The lady came out of the booth, tried to help with the machine, and when she could not get it to work, she took me across the station all the way to the guichet and stayed with me until I had my carte hebdomadaire and was on my way. I could never imagine anybody being so helpful on a commuter train in Boston.

Then, I got to the school and found that the person I needed to see to register for law courses would not be in until the next day. That was alright, though, because I was able to complete some necessary administrative formalities, enroll in a French course, and explore the area a bit.

So, today, aujourd'hui, mardi, I went back to the school. I met with the lady to register, and she was very kind and explained that yesterday she had been taking her daughter off to study abroad in the Netherlands. (I love that studying in various places is so encouraged here. It would nice if in our myopic-little-American-lawschool-mindset we, too, could see the benefits of international learning that other programs clearly already appreciate....)

So, I got all my classes and I came to send the list to my dean in Maine only to receive the above message. I am quite sure this will all work out in the end, though. Presently, in addition to a French course, I am enrolled in the following classes on French Law: (1) Company Law, Capital Market and Banking, Litigation (Droit des affaires); (2) Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Europe (Libertés publiques en europe); (3) Criminal Law and Procedure (Droit pénal et procédure); (4) Antitrust and Competition Law (Droit de la concurrence). Well, well, now let us see how all of that will work out! *Smiles*

À Bientôt!

-A

Post- the fourth: On trivial challenges and impatience

2009-01-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

Bonsoir! Bonsoir mes amis!

So tomorrow-- demain-- is THE DAY. Tomorrow I go out to the Université de Cergy-Pontoise and register for classes, hopefully buy some books, and hopefully have a better sense of what I will be doing for the next several months! I am simultaneously happy-excited-nervous. This is a phenomenon once referred to as "hervous."

Updates on my schedule to follow, particularly those of you in London/Lyon/Noyant/etc. that have been clamouring for a visit from me! This is probably contingent upon the cost of books, etc., but I do hope to travel some throughout this semester. After registering tomorrow, I should have about one week until classes actually commence. Maybe even in that time I might meander a little.... There is so much to discover close by, too!

The past few days have been very nice. Yesterday I went with Susan (mother in the family I'm staying with here, not to be confused with Susan in Maine who is my biological mother-- to avoid further confusion let us start referring to Susan here as "S" and Susan in Maine as "Z") to Versailles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles).

Why am I so challenged by formatting with this blog and integrating photos, which seem to take centuries to upload? Somebody please help me! I am clearly a blogspot-novice! I would upload more photos if this did not take so infernally long.... Really, I enjoy photography! Don't ruin that for me, blogspot!

Oh, and why am I so challenged by French, too? Or maybe not so much challenged as just impatient with myself?! Okay, in case you did not know, I have something of a reputation for impatience. Like I was born a month early. Like I was given the "fastest camper" award at Girl Scout Camp when I was 8. Like I graduated high school early. Like I paced up and down my sophomore year residence hall at Brandeis frustrated that the RA (query: does that stand for Residence Assistant? Repressed memories, no doubt...) was delayed in coming to do the final inspection to let me check out at the end of the year. Doris can confirm that pretty-boy-South-African-RA (pretty-boy?) was only like 5 minutes delayed. So, impatience. Impatience is a virtue. Right? Now, though, I am particularly impatient!! Particularly because my comprehension is strong when I am reading French. It is even okay when I hear French...but I just cannot speak!

I was proud of myself, though. Today I ventured into Paris solo. I visited the Louvre--yay Picasso exhibit...not to mention the Mona Lisa-- and all around that area and managed to negotiate the day entirely in French, including struggling with the train ticket machine and my credit card(http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en).I had a panini and espresso. Okay, so being partially Italian it seems to not matter where you geographically situate me, I am always going to eat more like an Italian.... Later I bought a bottle of water. On the way back via Gare Saint Lazare I even verified that I was on the right train and had a brief conversation with a gentleman. All of this all in French! Mostly I am self-conscious. But I keep trying...tenacity...tenacity.... Have I mentioned I am impatient?

It all takes so much thought. Like when I listen to news on the radio I have to give it my undivided attention to comprehend anything. The good news is that French media has the same endearing (endearing?) tendency as American media-- playing the same news story 5 million times. This is great since by the 5th millionth time I generally have the gist of the story, especially if I apply myself and listen most carefully!

Well, I am also heureuse because a French student at the commerce school at Cergy was looking for somebody to practice English conversation, in exchange that he would practice French conversation with them. So, naturally, I immediately inquired into that. Hopefully that will help me progress faster. Again...impatience!

A proverb seems fitting: tout vient à temps à qui sait attendre-- everything comes to him who waits. So we wait...we wait....

Until Later,

Post- the third: la chatte américaine est sur le lit...et la chatte française est sur le radiateur

2009-01-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

Coucou!

I. Of Cats and Such:

E-mail from American Susan (my mum): "Your Cat seemed to be despondent yesterday without you. She wanted to be left alone, didnt come out of the bedroom except for food & the box. She was a little better this afternoon when I got back but just a little while ago she seems to have come around. I was sitting at the dining room table with my computer she came in & started to meow, she would not stop until I got up & went into the bedroom with her. She needed a love fest & now she is fine. Just proves she is a spoiled brat."

All cats are the same. Generalization. But entirely correct still. Here, the cat (Mougali (sp?)) decided it would be fun to beg me for my breakfast. Yum. Mini-chocolate-chip-weetabix (http://www.weetabix.co.uk/brands/weetabix/weetabix-minis-chocolate-crisp/). Who knew they came mini? Who knew they came avec chocolat? J'adore le chocolat. :) Evidentally, so does a certain chatte! Indeed!

We finally made friends (if only perhaps because she smells Misty, ma chatte, all over my clothes still) and she seemed content enough having me pet her while she sat atop the radiator. Yes, the radiator. Somehow this does not result in singed fur.

I suspect were Misty to try such a trick singed fur would result. This is because (1) Misty a plus poils que Mougali. In fact, Misty is so long-haired that weekly furballs are practically a ritual. Have fun, mum, w/kitty-kitty whilst I'm away. (2) Misty is dumb. First person to try to come to her defense, in response to that remark, has to have their sanity questioned. Miss Misty really is just another pretty face....

II. Of Conflans and Such:

After zealously guarding mon petit déjeuner from that stealthy beastie known as Mougali, I proceeded to take a stroll around Conflans. I went to Parc du Prieuré. See the photos.

After returning, Susan, Alexandre, and I had a très délicieux repas that Susan made. It was yummy crepes with vegetables, as well as salad, and spinach, and baguette. For dessert we had caramel-apple galette, which is traditional this time of year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galette; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake).

This is so good that I again am asking myself why I do not drop out of law school tomorrow to attend culinary school. Oh. Yeah. There is that pesky thing called substantial amounts of educational loans...debt....

Dear UMaine Law, why does "financial aid" consist solely of massive amounts of loans? Massive.

So, after this meal--yum-- Alexandre very kindly took me to the school and showed me around. This will be very good for early next week when I have to go register there. At least I now have a good idea of where I am going. After the school, we went to the train station where I purchased my train pass, so at the least for the month of February I will be able to move about Paris/Conflans/Cergy. Yay! Double-yay for the fact that the rate was reduced this month in response to strikes/issues last month!

On the drive back from the school/train station trip we discussed French auto insurance and American auto insurance. Oh, mum and Professor Wriggins both would be so proud! Yes, I'm a huge dork. Guilty as charged.

On that note, this has gotten lengthy. As you must know, brevity is not quite my thing.... So, for now, I shall say, c'est tout!

-A

Post- the second: Welcome to Conflans goats and monkeys...

2009-01-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

Bienvenue a Conflans! Je suis...ici! Et je suis tres fatiguée. An implicit goal of this blog=teach a little more French to the non-French speakers reading this. Oh, and maybe teach myself a bit more along the way, too, or at the least provide the actual French-speakers reading this with some entertainment via my mistakes *laughs.*

And, very importantly, too, happy belated inauguration day. At laaaaaaaaast.

So, I have finally arrived at the house where I'll be staying until...until...well...heavens knows when these classes end or what classes I am actually taking.Yes, this is a major point of anxiety for me. I register for classes next Monday. Presently, I do not even know what I will be studying, what language it will be in, the format of instruction, the format of assessment, or when I will return from whenever the end of the semester is.

I have several days to postpone thinking too much about that, though. My Lufthansa flight (no Uncle Bob, I am going to have to respectfully disagree, Air France is better than Lufthansa) got into Charles de Gaulle Airport about 8:35 this morning. The eldest son in the family I am staying with came to the airport to pick me up. This was tremendously appreciated, as I guess I packed for 5 years instead of 5 months? He (Alexandre) leaves tomorrow to return to Oslo, where he is studying law as an exchange student. When he is not abroad, he is a student a the university I will be attending. We drove from de Gaulle through Cergy, where he pointed out the school and the "interesting" architecture. I will be right at home! Round buildings at law schools! Yay!

From there we drove to the house here in Conflans Sainte Honorine (http://www.mairie-conflans-sainte-honorine.fr/). He carried one of my nearly 25 lb suitcases up the three flights of narrow stairs (narrower than my old apartment! yes!) and I carried the other. After a brief introduction to one of his younger brothers (Maxime), his mother (Susan, yes, just like my actual mum's name), the cat, and the dog, I proceeded to collapse from sheer exhaustion. Or maybe that was just hunger....

Dear Lufthansa: WTF? What was that mush marinara that tasted oddly of tinfoil? PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: never order the pasta option on an airline. Ever. And that rubbery slab of something the color of orange traffic cones that I sadly assume was "cheese"? And um? No back of the chair in-flight-personal-entertainment consoles? I fairly thought that was standard on transatlantic flights. *Rant over.* Seriously, though, it was a decent enough flight (minus being a row between two crying babies all the way from Boston to Frankfurt) and the hour of midflight turbulance where I thought, well, that'd be a hell of a way to go. So maybe "decent" was too generous an adjective?

Frankfurt was fun though-- I spent 8 Euro on an hour's worth of Wi Fi (clearly I have my priorities in line (query: on line?) where I proceeded to find that the only person awake and online to chat was Ruthie. Gotta love that time zone difference in Malaysia....

Also in Frankfurt, their TSA equivalent decided my fingernail scissor was worthy of subjecting me to serious interrogation! Boston TSA (if they even actually were awake when my handbag went through the scanner) took no issue with this genuinely innocuous object.

Also in Frankfurt, which is a semi-decent airport after 06:00, when things actually begin to open, an older lady asked me where the bathroom was in some foreign language. I could not really understand her, though. I pretty much got the gist, and something about "toilette." But I didn't know where it was. So I told her that much in English, which she clearly didn't speak. I should have then tried French. But I didn't. Could have also tried Spanish. Or Hebrew. But I didn't. So, in any case, I smiled a lot. And she smiled a lot. And neither of proceeded to know where anything was or exchange any useful information. The only result was that I spent the remaining hour or so until my flight departed panicking that it was French she had spoken to me in and that I did not understand a word other than toilette!

At this point, I'm fairly sure she was speaking to me in German. Maybe I have convinced myself it was German. My French is quite, quite limited...more limited than I would like. I can read the language. I can understand a fair amount spoken. Or at least I thought I could. But I cannot string together a coherent thought of my own verbally...or especially in writing. Why is this language not spelled phonetically, consistently, predictably, like...Spanish...or even Hebrew is very predictable!! My hopeless lack of language skills. I will learn! I will learn! Or maybe I'll just whine about it some more first! This is the jetlag speaking.

-A

p.s.- Special prize to the first person to post in a comment what the title of this post is an allusion to (oh, and there are two "correct" answers)....

Long story short, after all of that, I am here, I am pretty tired, having just woken up from my nap. I am also pretty hungry, so I am going to stop being antisocial sitting here typing this post as opposed to actually interacting with people...and food.... Right now...food!

A tout a l'heure! (Yes...I am too lazy for proper typed accent marks...it's taken me 23 years to learn the proper ones for Spanish...so have some patience with me for the few that are different in French...standard American computer keyboards don't really facilitate foreign languages.... That is my present excuse.) And that is all.

Post- the first

2009-01-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

Bonjour a tous!

So, I have finally decided to stoping being so paresseuse and start a blog in order to keep in touch with y'all, while I am abroad this semester.

As many of you know, I will be studying French and European Union Law at the Université de Cergy-Pontoise (http://www.u-cergy.fr/index.php) which is-- surprise, surprise-- in Cergy-Pontoise, France. This is right outside of Paris.

During the duration of my studies, which is to say, roughly until the beginning of June 2009, I will be staying with a family in Conflans Ste. Honorine, France, which is just about midway between my school in Cergy and Paris.

I decided on this exchange program, which is one of the few offered through my law school, (The University of Maine School of Law, in Portland Maine: http://mainelaw.maine.edu/) because it will hopefully give me the opportunity not just to learn more about another legal system, but to also polish up some more foreign language skills. I do adore learning languages! Perhaps more so than I enjoy learning law, actually....

Well, in any case, tomorrow I depart. I am taking the Concord Trailways Bus from Portland to Logan Airport (Boston). From there I am flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Paris. In Paris I will meet up with the family with whom I will live. Let us all pause for a moment, though, to marvel in some irony. The past several times I have travelled to Europe I have flown Air France, from Boston, via Charles de Gaulle (Paris) to Spain.... Naturally, the first time I will venture beyond the airport in Paris, when I want to make Paris my final destination, the cheapest air fare was on Lufthansa, which will send me further east to simply come back west to my final destination. Yay for student airfare rates, though!

And boo for overage fees on luggage over "excessive" weights. On that note, and fearful of gazillion euro charges for packing one sweater too many, I am going to go do a little unpacking, and have my last greasy American dinner meal.

Ok...jk on that greasy American meal bit...seeing as that has never much been my style. Anyhoooo...seriously, off I go to finish this unpacking business! For now, au revoir!

Bisous,

A

p.s.-- Oh, for those of you who are wondering, the name of this blaaaaaawg is "La chatte est sur la valise." This translates to "The Cat is on the Suitcase." This is because all through my packing/unpacking/repacking my dear little fluffernutter, Misty Nevara, the marvellous ragdoll, has decided that sitting on my suitcase is great fun. For real now, though, à bientôt!