We didn't start the fire...

...it was always burnin' since the world's been turnin'...

and this past weekend only confirmed those lyrics for me. I went on one of the most depressing-in-an-inspiring-way weekend trip to the Normandy region. More specifically, to Caen - to visit the WWII memorial, to Omaha Beach - and the American cemetery, and Point du Hoc -the German forces' base. It was overwhelming, to say the least. At the memorial museum in Caen we watched a couple of films that included footage from the battles, but nothing compares to actually going to the beaches and seeing what the Allied troops were facing. Omaha beach, for example, is HUGE...much more so than I was expecting. There's also all sorts of marshy vegetation to fight through...and a very large hill. and of course, the troops were also dealing with the enemy fire raining down on them...it's no wonder that the cemetery is as large as it is. It's a sight that will take your breath away...crosses and Stars of David stretching on for what seems like forever in perfect rows...

It was an emotional weekend for me. I always remember the Albert Einstein quote whenever I think of war..."One definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result every time." I have to wonder when humankind will find the new approach, rather than trying that same thing over and over.

Being the broadway baby/music aficionado that I am, music marked a lot of this weekend for me, too. I had Billy Joel's "We didnt start the fire" going through my head as we were watching one of the films at the Caen museum that showed image after image and footage of so many of the wars and armed conflicts that have happened in the past century. It was...bouleversant (moving, distressing), to say the least. but then...a new song started to play in my head while I was at the cemetery. A song most people don't know, because it's 8 years old and part of an obscure musical created by an international theatre troupe that doesn't exist anymore. It's called A Song of Peace from A Common Beat, created and performed by Up With People. UWP came to Ontario when I was in 7th grade. I have the soundtrack memorized...and on my iPod.

Can we sing a song of peace in a world that's full of fear? Can a melody of hope ever hope to dry a tear? It's an easy thing to say and it's so hard to hear...will the fighting ever cease if we sing a song of peace? Can we sing a song of love when we're hostages of hate? Will it be heard above the shouting at the gate? Can we stop the sands of time if we hold a hand of faith? In this world of push and shove can we sing a song of love?

Clouds are gathering on the horizon and on the winds...overtures of war. It may be too late to settle for peace if we wait till they settle the score

Can we sing a song of peace when they're knocking down our doors? Can you hold an olive branch, hang on to what is yours till the weapons that destroy go to join the dinosaurs? Will there still be hope at least if we sing a song of peace?

à+

work, play, and...World Wars?

In exactly a week, I'll be taking a train to the Charles de Gaulle airport (which always amuses me to abbreviate, since it's mum's initials!). Why? To meet Peter and Andrea so that we can take a train to Italy! It's so weird that it's only a week away...we've been planning this visit/trip together since LAST semester and it's finally (almost) here. I'm so excited!! It'll be so good to see family faces - and it's been a good year and a half since I've seen Andrea =)

In the meantime, however, I've been making myself get work done. Since I didn't sleep last week and therefore got nothing done, I've made this week a work week, and even more so next week - at least until Thursday! Granted, I still went out to Bucks on Tuesday after conversation club, but I still managed to sleep...some! What's so weird here is that I never seem to *do* all that much each week, but the time still flies by. I always tend to sit here, trying to write a blog entry, and finding that unless it's about travel, I don't usually have much to say. I suppose that's a good thing...it reminds me that I've moved from being a foreigner in a strange country to...someone living here. Things have settled into a relatively normal life, rather than this overwhelming feeling of being foreign.

Well, that's to say that I don't constantly feel foreign. Only sometimes!

Random Fact of the Day: Yesterday Lazare Ponticelli died at the age of 110. He was the last living French "Poilu," c'est-à-dire a soldier of WWI (poilu meaning hairy one, born of the fact that the soldiers in the trenches could never really shave, so they tended to have bushy mustaches and beards) . I learned about him in my religion class earlier this semester, and my professor was saying that when he died it'd be sure to be all over the news. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to watch the news yesterday, but I DID receive a news text message about it =D

and speaking of World Wars, I'm headed to Normandy this weekend with IES!

à +!

PS - does anyone know why one particular website wouldn't work on my computer, even though it does on other computers? I can't seem to log into facebook, even though I'm able to with friends laptops or the IES computers. While it's not the end of the world (since I have the IES computers to use, of course!), it's getting on my nerves, mainly because I want to upload pictures from Nice, Monaco and Corsica, and that's easiest to do with my laptop. Plus, with Normandy and Italy adventures to come, I want to get them up before I have HUNDREDS of pictures to post at once!

Lesson of the Week: sleep is a good thing...

sadly, lessons like that usually have to come from NOT succeeding.
three straight not-enough-sleep nights is not conducive to a successful, productive, fun week.
Monday night wasn't bad...but I had an 8.15 midterm tuesday morning -tuesdays are always sleepy days. then, after conversation club, I went out to watch the lyon vs manchester soccer game...and while none of us really watched the game, we all had a heck of a lot of fun talking and people watching in the bar. unfortunately, I completely lost track of time and consequently didnt get home until quarter of one. and then the next night (despite being sleepy all day...) my girls and I went to Buck Mulligans, which hosts an international night. we didnt actually meet anyone, but we had a hell of a time playing cards and acting like idiots...I'm sure the rest of the people thought we were drunk, but they just dont understand that you can laugh and have fun without extraneous amounts of alcohol =D aaaand once again I didnt make it home until quarter of one...
and then thursday night was the crowning moment of college-sleeplessness-stupidity. We had a day trip to Paris yesterday (moment 16,823,086 of sur-reality of my life, by the way-who takes a day trip to PARIS?) and we had to be at the train station at 7am. my girls and I decide for some unknown reason that it would be a good idea to sleep over at Jenan's house so that we could all go together. of course, we ended up cooking dinner and having a whip-cream-fight (I think since Britney stayed clean, she was the winner) and watching a movie until 2 am. ergo...we were working on about 4 hours of sleep. after two already sleep deprived nights for me.
I was TIRED.
but then I slept for 11 hours last night...and have learned my lesson. granted, it probably won't stop me from doing this again at some point, but that's beside the point =D Besides, it was because of fun that I didn't sleep. every now and then, I'll take that trade-off!
à+!

PS!!! While it may be the 9th here in France (again with the staying out too late...this time dancing!), it's still the 8th back home, and so I say to you...Happy International Women's Day! not only that, but it's the 100 anniversary of the birth of Simone de Beavoire, affectionnately refered to by some as the mother of the second wave feminist movement =)

sunburn in February? I'm NOT going to complain!

Well. That was quite the adventure!
(yes, I know it's March. but I got the sunburn in February! and it's even better when the sunburn isn't from snowglare!)
(for my own benefit, I'm doing a timeline. then I'll get to the good stories)
Sunday: beach lounging, picnic lunch, parade, dinner, cruise ship to Corsica
Monday: essentially just wandering around Bastia and Sisco in Corsica, chilling by the water, cruise back to Nice
Tuesday: arrive at the 'hostel,' dinner at the Restaurant du Gesu, night parade
Wednesday: back to the market, Battle of the Flowers, Russian Cathedral
Thursday: train ride to Monaco, Palace, gardens, casino, head back to Nice then back to Nantes
Friday: arrive in Nantes, ULTIMATE crashandburn

So that's what we *did.* My favorite parts:

sitting by the Mediterranean. We did a lot of that...Jenan had brought a deck of skipbo cards, so we'd either play skipbo or write postcards (or journals, for me!), or just bask in the sun. It was so nice to just relax for once...nowhere to go, nothing to do, just enjoying the sun and warmth (my utmost apologies to the snowbunnies back in the states...). And the sea itself...it's amazing. I've NEVER seen a shade of blue like that. When it's overcast, it's this deep grey blue, but when the sun comes out, it turns a brilliant sapphire blue that I didn't think existed except in photoshopped pictures.

the parades. France may not do Halloween, but that's okay - they have Carnavale to make up for it! Little girls were running around in princess costumes (or the occasionnal punk/goth, for the middleschoolers). There were pirates and batmans and spidermans and clowns...even the adults were dressed up! The parades were so much fun...the crowds had TONS (literally) of confetti and silly string...it was amazing. Since it's the year of the rat, the theme was "King of Bats, Cats, Rats and other Legendary Creatures." There was a dinosaur, a ton of vampires, bats and rat-themed floats.

the "hostel" in Nice. When we booked Nice Home Sweet Home on hostelworld.com, I was expecting something like the hostel I stayed in while I was in Paris. Clean, but simple, bunks with strangers, that sort of thing. We walk into the room (just for us, by the way) and it's HUGE. Bigger than some of the IES classrooms! There was a tv, dvd player, and a cd player. There was even a little balcony outside our window! Needless to say, it was incredible. The owners are so nice, too. At any rate, when we got there on tuesday, we were exhausted by our corsica trip - the ship docked at 7 am, so our days started EARLY. we decided to take an afternoon nap that was intended to be from 3 to 4.15. well...I was the first to wake up at quarter of 6! if any of you ever go to Nice...try to get a room in the Home Sweet Home bed and breakfast. It's SO worth it!

Monaco. It was pretty incredible, I'm not going to lie. You can tell there's money in that country! We did try our hand at the slot machines in Monte Carlo...all that happened was that we lost 5 euros =D It's just a really...beautiful place. It's so fun to gawk at the ginormous yachts in the port and the shopfronts boasting things that we sure as anything couldn't afford! it was the last day of our trip, so we were all pretty beat.

There were other highlights, of course, but those were some of the best.

And back in Nantes...I saw the most amazing movie last night. It's called Paris, and it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear last night when I just wanted to be in New Jersey with the rest of my family. It's the stories of people living in Paris, how their lives are all intertwined without them even knowing it...one of the main characters had a terminal illness...and the whole movie is about seizing the moment, living life to the fullest and taking the chances that could change your life - because it's too precious to waste. ...and I bawled through the conclusion. anyone surprised? ya shouldn't be! but it had Juliette Binoche and Romain Duris in it, a couple of my FAVORITE actors.
so yes.
carpe diem!
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off to the Riviera!

In about 2 and a half hours, I'll be train-bound for Nice!

and since I know perfectly well that I'm going to come back with loads of pictures, I figured it was about time that I uploaded the ones I've taken in the past month. There really aren't that many...and I feel as though I should explain the "Revolt of the Mannequins." It was an art project that the national puppetry school (or something like that...) put together in store front window. The thing that I didn't realize at first was that they changed every night. Over the course of a week, they told stories. they are also...creepy. very, very creepy. but amusing, all the same.

l'histoire continue

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hmm...I seem to be lacking a witty title today

Well, I'm afraid I don't have *that* much to write about as of late! The semester has truly picked up in terms of work - a 4-5 page paper for Religion, a 10 page paper for Art, and of course my 25-30 page IS for Wooster. Basically, I'm going to be writing. a LOT. toute en français, of course. Fortunately, I'm starting to settle into a work routine pretty well...with plenty of fun in between, of course =D Like my SUAPS courses, for example.

There's my salsa class from last semester that is SO fun, mainly because we're finally getting into more complicated moves, and the class is *almost* an even ratio of men and women! granted, it's frustrating when the names of the moves are all in SPANISH...I get so lost half the time, but I me débrouille (manage) and hope that my partner knows what the heck he's supposed to do!

There's a class called 'les danses de la société" society dances, better known as ballroom! We do lindy hop, salsa, waltz, chacha...it's great. granted, it's MUCH more uneven as far as the male/female ratio goes, but there are 2 other IES students, so when we don't have someone to dance with we just chat and make fools of ourselves having fun!

and then there's the wild card class-gym douce. 'soft gym'. we were under the impression that it would be almostkindasorta like yoga. ish. we get there the first day and it was...not yoga. we ran around like idiots, skipping and hopping along to essentially elevator music. we did a little bit of stretching (thus I was still under the impression that it might be like yoga...) and then we were told to partner up. and gave each other massages. and we do this every class. so essentially, it's just an hour and a half of running around to warm up and then getting and giving massages. it's pretty much fantastic...so those of you who already know my massages? they've only gotten better =D

oh and on saturday...I'm going to Nice with Jenan and Kim - I'm kind of crazy excited!! It's the Carnaval...which is essentially like our Mardi Gras celebration. well, sort of. We got tickets for three parades, one of which is apparently a HUGE flower parade where the people on the floats shower the crowd with flowers. Needless to say, I'm crazy excited! And I bought a big floppy black sunhat - only appropriate for une promenade sur le promenade des anglais, à côté du côte d'azur - a walk along the boardwalk next to the Riviera.

à+!

ps - to whomever left me a nice comment on my last post...who are you?! all it says is anonymous =(

*blinks* where'd the week go, exactly?

Somehow, it's already the weekend. The END of the weekend. I don't know where my time goes...granted, part of it is because I was sick this week. That never helps. But all the same...I've been back for almost a month already! I only have a little over three months left with all my Nantais friends...and only 4 more in France. Granted, perspective is everything: when I started college, three or four months felt like FOREVER. now...I find myself saying only.

Part of it is the fact that I have no balance right now. I've been spending the past three weeks going to class, of course, but not doing much work outside of class. I just haven't had much! except, of course, the Junior IS looming over my head. I was about to email my adviser at the beginning of the week to tell her what I was thinking and get some feedback, but then I got sick. and then she emailed me first with deadlines and assignments -time to face the IS music! but it just made me panic a little...I need to get moving on it. and the weather is doing some crazy things here...one day it's horribly disgustingly rainy and cold and the next it's sunny and 60. When it's that nice out, I start to think that it's March, April in NY or OH, which is also what created this minor panic/anxiety feeling today. The weather is tricking me into thinking it's later in the semester than it really is!

I think the reason I'm so freaked out by the idea of the end of the semester is because I love it so much here. I have an amazing group of friends. I feel comfortable in this environment. I'm a lot more comfortable with my French and it's incredible the difference it makes. I'm settled, and the idea of moving again really unbalanced me, mentally. and yet, to be completely contradictory, I had such a bad case of home/woostersickness this weekend. Part of it was the fact that Winter Gala was last night...while I didn't go my freshman year, I had so much fun my sophomore year, and now I missed out on it my junior year. it's all about tradeoffs, I understand that (I get to live my French dream!) but it doesn't stop things from being difficult every now and then. especially when I'm tired.

hopefully I can get a good night's sleep and feel less anxiety-bordering-on-panic in the morning.