Je suis fini

...is actually not the correct way to say "I'm finished." Unless you mean in the dead sort of way. As in when I die, I'll be finished. Or my midterms killed me, so now I'm finished. To say you're finished with a project, or with dinner, or with tying your shoe, the correct phrase is, "J'ai fini." I, however, meant the first version.

Midterms are over, and je suis fini. More in the sense that I'm exhausted than anything else. The tests themselves weren't that bad, though they would have been better had I studied sooner than yesterday night at about 8 o'clock. Sorry college, I cheated on you with my new friend Paris.

One of the things I did yesterday instead of study for midterms was book two trips: one to Madrid for next weekend, and one to....A SOCCER GAME IN BARCELONA!! Madrid is cool, ya know, but I'm so excited for the football match in Barcelona that the only way I can express it in writing is to use all caps and add a gross amount of explanation points after BARCELONA!!!!!!!

I'm going to Madrid for a long weekend with Tanya and four other friends. The only thing that stands between me and Espagne are three presentations, a paper, and a quiz. All due next week. Nothing much.

I'm going to Barcelona with a friend for part of spring break. We were lucky enough to snag one of the last sets of seats that were actually next to each other (as opposed to caty-corner, or even better, a section apart). Judging by how difficult it was for us to find two seats together, I think the game is nearly sold out. Which will be awesome. The only thing standing between us and Barcelona is, well, an actual ticket TO Barcelona. Haha. Minor detail. (Oh yeah, and finals. Another minor detail.)

For the first time in the month or so that I've been here (whoa, it's been more than month already?!), I am finally starting to enjoy myself. I've been having a good time so far, and I've met a lot of cool people, seen some cool stuff, etc., but it hasn't really felt like what I thought a trip to Europe would feel like. Being in Paris is great, but there has not really been anything magical about this place for me, not like there seems to be for other people. I haven't had that, "Wow, I'm in freaking Paris!" feeling at all yet. I think now that I actually have travel plans, now that I will actually be exploring new places and doing the things for which I have so frugaly saved all my pennies, this study abroad thing will start to feel more like it should. And as more time passes, I think the wow-factor of my host city will kick in a bit more. Or maybe I'm just not the exciteable type. I dunno.

Anywho, I need to dormir. And by dormir I mean sleep for the next four to six hours to make up for what I missed last night. Peace.

Sunsets and Chocolate

Not much time to write anything, as I have to study for midterms (I'm not sure how I feel about abbreviated semesters...), but I caught a beautiful sunset over the Seine this evening on my walk home from school. These are proof that my two feet beat the métro any day.

[the tippy top of the sunset]

[crossing over to the Right Bank]

[the Passy viaduct]

[sunset over the Right Bank]

And introducing.....pain au chocolat...aux amandes! (My favorite pastry made even more succulent with the addition of what is essentially an almond paste. It tasted kind of like a mélange of galette de roi and pain au chocolat, my two favorite desserts. It was good, but a bit too rich for me. I think I'll stick to enjoying the two separately.)

[a rich little piece of heaven]

C'est tout. "La Cantatrice Chauve" is calling my name.

Soldes!

Get it while it's hot, folks. Paris is on sale for two more days. Every year, beginning in January, all of France goes on one massive sale that lasts until mid-February. There are "Soldes" signs in every store window, so if you're gonna faire des courses (shop!), now's the time to do it. (Audrey's had some really unique shirts and dresses. Perhaps when mommy comes to visit, we'll go back...? Hehe.)

In addition to my gorgeous boots (which I've worn twice already), I've gotten a couple shirts, and am in the market for an across-the-body purse (so the pick pockets can't get me!). The sales end Tuesday, so some time between studying for midterms (which are Friday, which is stupid), preparing two presentations and a debate, and going to the theatre to see a plot-less play for class ("La Cantatrice Chauve" = The Bald Soprano = hey Ionesco, you suck!), I need to hit up the stores.

Ahh, the joys of spending away last summer's Park Ranger earnings.

On Friday, I went to the Musée du Vin for a dégustation course with the rest of the A-J crowd in my program. We spent probably three hours learning about wine, comparing the colors of different wines, smelling wine, writing about wine....and finally, we TASTED wine. We had five total: two reds, two whites, and a sparkling white. None of them were spectacular, but the sparkling white and the old red were the best. So far I'm liking California wine better than what the French have to offer. (Granted, I haven't forked over the cash for a really "good" bottle just yet. Pictured is an 850 EURO bottle of Cognac, which equals about a thousand American dollars. Is it really even that good??)

Last Wednesday, my Economics class took a field trip to L'Union de L'Europe Occidentale to learn about the innerworkings of the UEO. It was better than sitting in a classroom for two and a half hours. The emcee annoyed me though. He was this round little man who made jokes nonstop about President Bush. I learned something about myself during that field trip: I don't really like it when foreigners poke fun at my presidents. I don't think I took offense to the fact that it was George Bush, necessarily, because I'm not a huge fan. But I got pretty tired of that silly French man yacking on and on about the ex-Pres. We Americans can critique and criticize our presidents without outside help, thank you very much.

They absolutely love Obama over here. Everyone on the panel at the UEO talked about how they can't wait to see how Obama's new foreign policies will affect the European Union, how they're excited to see what he can do with and for them, etc. etc. They then asked us as Americans to give a short word about our outlook on the new administration. Everyone came to basically the same conclusion: Obama can't save the world. He needs to start with America. I find the expectations of the rest of the world quite interesting. I'm excited for the new president (I clapped and cheered with the rest of my campus when the election results were announced), and I think he will do a lot of good. I'm also glad that the rest of the world seems to be happy for America for once. But I think people are jumping to conclusions too quickly. I hope they aren't upset if everything doesn't come together right away.

All right. Enough about politics. Time to stop avoiding my Econ homework. Here's to partiels (midterms). Bleh.