Tenth update

this morning morning we all woke up and headed to a museum of music. It was really fun to see the old musical instruments. Our guide spoke a lot about the birth of opera. It's interesting to think of opera where the musical instruments used were quite different than they are now, i think there must have been a very different sound. at one point, the guide asked if anyone knew the difference between a harpsichord and a piano is and i thought he said if we would like to know so i said very loudly "yes" and then had to explain to everyone that i misunderstood. I realized after someone said the answer that i knew at one point because mom told me. Oh well. Apparently there is this instrument that looks like a cello only it has like twice as many strings. It was weird to see that. they also held the bow a lot different. In one painting, there was a man who was playing a violin looking instrument only he was holding it more like a guitar! Being there almost made me want to take the class because i want to know how to underdstand music better. The class is more about the history of music and, although it would help me understand my cello a bit better, i'm thinking it's not going to be in the way i want to. hm.. we'll see. i have a couple more days to decide. ugh.

After that, Ricks' whole family came to meet with us for lunch. we couldn't find anywhere close and the boys decided they wanted McDonals. As tacky as it is, i miss hamburgers and none of us objected to the idea. It was also pretty cheep for food and all of us are feeling the expences right now. it was just a tad embarrassing being obviously american in there but it was a good cheep meal and i got fed french food by the family that night anyways.

after that, Courtney, Ariel, Chelsea, haley and i went on the second marais walk. I have to write blogs about the walks i take so i'll just quote what i wrote here so you can know more about it. "The second walk was pretty fun but it would have been so much better if the Picaso museum had been open! We wondered what would take till 2012 in there to finish. We had the same problem in Saint Chapelle, too. We didn't get to buy any falafels this time because we had just eaten but i def want to go back to get some. The Musee Cognacq-Jay was pretty cool i guess, but i was surprised by all the somewhat erotic paintings it had in there and how women were often displayed with their tops coming off and the like. I suspect that was all during the romantic era and when realism started to become popular too. I could really relate to how many realist works point out the hypocrisies of the romantic genre while i was in there. I almost feel like even with the two walks in the Marais, we missed a lot of the cool stuff that's there. One of these days when I'm all done with the walks, i'm going to go back with my little Paris guide book and figure out what i missed." After the walk, Haley took us to a really cheap thrift store there that had ten euro coats and all sorts of stuff for pretty cheap. a lot of it was pretty crappy but there was also some really cute things. Haney found this pair of over the knee boots (flats) that were super cute but just a bit tight on my feet. It's probably a good thing they didn't fit that well or i would have been EXTREMELY tempted to buy them. i didn't get anything in there cause it as a little crowded and i had the beginnings of a migraine so i skipped out for that trip. Maybe i'll take the girls there when my family comes to get me!
Ok, i thinhk i'm going to quote those more for you guys so you can know more about my walks, but if you want more details about my past walks, here's the blog i have to write for my class: http://pariswalksjournal.blogspot.com/

So the other day, i wrote a post card to one of my missionaries who hasn't written me in about 4 months. It read something like "write me, jerk!" Well, it turns out that when mom came home, there was a package from him waiting for me there. It had chocolate and pictures and a tape recording and a letter. Now i feel bad about the post card, lol. I'll have to write to him to appologize but i almost want to wait till his letter gets here in france so i can write him a better letter. oh the bad timing...

Just had dinner with the family. The oldest girl was here. I didn't catch her name though. I saw her fiance again. His name is Remi and they both speak english pretty well. it was nice to take a break from trying to speak french all the time. it's good that i practice so much. Speaking french is difficult because when i write it, i am able to think about conjugations and the like and take my time but when i'm speaking i really have to know those off the top of my head. Well the parents had a date or something so they left while we were eating. lauren brought a friend of hers. I was mostly quiet the whole time beause all the kids were having fun talking to each other. Lauren's boyfriend came over at the end of dinner and he bent over and did the little kissy cheek thing before i could stand up so that was funny. He's pretty cute. a tall blond hipster looking guy. he has scratchy cheeks. I didn't know if he was her boyfriend so i tried to ask lauren. i always learned that petit-ami means boyfriend but she didn't understand and so i said boyfriend. I don't know, i guess they have a different word. I told her we always learned "super chouette" (i never learned how to spell that) to say cool and she looked confused. when she figured it out she busted up laughing and told her friends who started laughing. apparently long after i went into my room they laughed about it and said it over and over again jokingly. that's what courtney said. glad i can entertain them. :) I wonder what sort of english words they learn that are super archaic.. like groovy or something. For dinner we had rice with a sauce that had sea food in it. It wasn't freaky sea food like one would expect. There was salmon, cod, shrimp, and i assume it was crab but it may have been something different. and mushrooms. it was ok. not my favorite here.

Well all the kids are hanging out in the living room, and i'm just chilling in my room... as always. i can't wait till i'm comfortable enough wtih my french to just join them. I'm also listening to good american music on my computer and i want to sing along to it. too bad these doors are def not sound proof. oh well. and my hair looked really bad at dinner. it as really frizzy after my nap. oh well

ok, well i'm sending this tonight even though i sent one yesterday :) And Katie: i bought the last of that shirt from the store :( :( i was going to buy a matching white one but it had a hole in it so i ended up not. I'll keep my eyes out for something cute for you, though. if not, i'll take you shopping when you come! <3

ninth update

So yesterday after class, i was doing homework in my room. Usually i can hear the family talking upstairs cause they talk really loud, but tonight the mom, and i assume laura were yelling at each other hard core. Usually they yell but i can tell it isn't angry, but they were def really upset that night. There were sobs in between yelling. I really have no idea what was going on but i just hid in my room and worked on my homework the whole time which lasted maybe 15 min. Then there was silence. Yesterday was the day where we got fed. Usually dinner is right at 8 but it was twenty after 8 and Courtney and i started to wonder if we were going to be fed, and if we were, how tense it was going to be. finally the little bell was rung for dinner and we headed upstairs wondering what we were going to find. It was just the dad, Tiphini and Lidwin there with us. they all seemed quite cheerful. The interesting thing was that dinner yesterday was the least tense and awkward dinner courtney and i have had with them yet. The dad was joking the whole time and they actually laughed during this dinner. they were talking about how they've been to San Fran and i told them that that's where i went to get my visa. They asked if it was dangerous living there because of the earthquakes which i found amusing. I told them that it's dangerous everywhere, for example, i lived by a huge volcano. I also said that they needed to visit Yellowstone. We ate some really yummy pasta with mushrooms in it and i was trying to ask how to say mushroom in french. The best i could come up with was "what are the vegetables in,.. that" and the dad was like... "those aren't vegetables, that's pasta" and i laughed and tried to clarify. He finally understood and joked about how pasta is a vegitable and how it hangs from trees and how beautiful it looks. It was pretty funny. He asked if there was any good news from home and they were all amazed to hear that dad baught an airplane. I explained that usually the drive from wyoming to Utah is 8 hours but on a plane it only took two hours. I realize now that the fact it took 8 hours to drive from one state to its neighbor is probably really shocking to them. I mean, i bet it takes them about that long to drive to Nice or something. Then we had crepes for desert. I decided i really like crepes with butter and jam. I ate probably around 8. The dad kept asking me if i wanted more and made a contemplative face and he said "that means yes" and plopped it on my plate. Lidwin ate more than i did, i think. at least she has the excuse of still growing. They asked Courtney and i how to say crepe in english and we said it's the same but most americans say "crape" and they all laughed and tried to immitate. "Crip." Well, like i said, without the mom or Lauren there, dinner was way more relaxed and fun. Courtney agrees with me. I quite enjoyed it.

I went shopping yesterday, too. I only went through the super sale racks for things that were around 5 Euros. I got a shirt and a scarf :) i'm pretty happy with myself. I saw the CUTEST dress there but i resisted cause it was 45 Euros... I forgot what it was like to shop. after i get over the initial overwhelmed feeling, it's pretty fun trying to find cute and cheap cloths on sale. there were tank tops there that were 90 Euros! I really don't know how the french afford to cloth themselves. i really appreciate how cheap stuff is in the US. I'm modeling my new cloths in one of the pictures. There's also pics from the louvre and pictures of my school/church.

The new french class is working out pretty well so far. As usual there are still those darn concepts that i just can't understand for the life of me! And i have serious problems trying to remember all the gender agreements, little rules and exceptions, adverbs, etc. I really hope i can get it down. i won't be able too... it's too much for my little brain to pack. The other day i realized that i'll never be proficient enough at French to raise my children bilingual and it really depressed me. At least i know enough to communicate somewhat effectively with french people. and there's always norwegian! haha

i had my French civ class today and art history. French civ was interesting. I was supposed to talk infront of the class about what our group discussed and i did a really horrible job. oh well. we just discussed the book we've been reading. we haven't had a lecture in that class yet. It's pretty chill. I also had Art history in the louvre today. It was kind of boring again. Our teacher is really interested in somewhat boring paintings and i have a hard time knowing what i should be writing down in my notes. Next week we go to versailles, though! i'm super excited about that. But i decided that i don't understand art. I always feel like we're overanalyzing paintings. I suppose i'm more into more modern paintings that are weird and creepy like Dali's. I'm thinking i'll be able to understand or at least appreciate what classical, realistic and impressionist french paintings have to offer. I must also be way to litteral of a thinker to really see all the little things in these paintings that make them cool. Yeah, i'm not really sure what i'm trying to say right now.

On the way home in the RER train, it as so so crowded. It's set up basically just like a metro train with the seats and the poles inbetween areas for you to hold on if you don't get a seat. People just packed in there and some of them were really stinky. I got a little pukey and courtney was feeling a tad ill today. It was not super fun.

I'm trying to make an effort to make friends with the other girls in the group, too. I pretty much like everyone on the trip. i just feel like i'm in highschool again which makes me laugh. We're all basically in the same classes and see each other all the time. there are the cliques already. Small classes again... it's pretty fun.

my diet is going better... ate a rubarb tart today, a piece of chocolate mousse cake, and the last two pieces of chocolate that i brought with me from the US. (i had a massive chocolate craving).

eighth update

So i was looking through my facebook and realized that a ton of girls who were in my hall last year are either engaged or married. I know that usually makes girls feel old, but it makes me feel really young! Things like that just reminds me of how i'm not ready for real life just yet. thank goodness I'm in paris and i don't have to worry about that for now.

like two days ago, when courtney and i were walking up to our gate, like 7 guys walked by. they were dressed in black, had black bandannas around their faces, and were carrying crow bars. they looked like they were up to no good! i'm glad they ignored us when we went through the gate. It was a tad freaky, though. no lie.

The program got changed. I found out from Ariel that at first, the winter program was supposed to be a political science program and that it was really competitive and most the students were already picked out to go. For some reason that director dropped out and was followed by all the students. Ricks stepped in and here i am! cause obviously i wouldn't have made it if it were the political science program (and i'm guessing that's around the same reason i didn't make it for fall) I'm super lucky! poli sci? yuck... even though i plan on doing a little for my major. we brought it up cause i was saying that Ricks seemed like a fairly random guy to be directing one of these. He's not in the french program. He speaks a fair amount but obviously not a ton like some of the other directors. Ricks doesn't seem like he's spent a ton of time in Paris. I really like Ricks, though, I'm super glad he's my director. It just all turned out better for me. :)

I had dinner with the family last night. We had split pea soup some type of american chocolaty nutty cake that fell flat. I told them that the uglier a desert is, the yummier. I also told them grandma made us split pea soup at home and they asked if we had dinner with the family the same way they do. Other than that, we didn't talk much. They commented that church is long and i said i had a lot of homework and they grimaced. Tristan didn't come to dinner and the dad yelled his name really loud while he sat there and it made me jump. good times.

Church yesterday was also pretty good. I sat by this one american guy during our young single adults class and Rosalie was all "be careful, he's going to flirt with you a lot. he flirted with me and brooklyne, and skye the whole time last sacrement when he sat by us." I was all ok... but he didn't flirt with me the whole time but for sacrement he searched out the shoppers and started to flirt with them. I didn't really want to flirt but i couldn't help feeling a little annoyed that he wouldn't flirt with me but flirted with those girls. Ariel pointed out that i didn't flirt with him so that would be why he didn't flirt with me and that the shoppers are shameless flirts. Makes sense. :)

Today i went to French class. Garret brought up that some of the kids are struggling. My french class is... WAS 102 and 201 together. These two kids who were in 102 who hadn't actually taken college french started complaining the whole time about how it was too hard. They were being really rude and basically just wanted an easy grade. I'm not sure what they expected. Now Gerret has to get a new curriculum together for a new 102 class just because they expect to have an easier grade. IDK, the whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way. Now i have less class time for french and it's going to be faster now that it's just 201. Sounds not so great.

I really enjoy spending time with the more shy girls in the group. Shy/quite people always amuse me because they randomly surprise you with something funny that they say. I just like how unexpected they are. it's fun.

I'm also still in a bit of an irritable mood. I think it should go away soon. Being with Courtney all the time scares me away from a mission. I really don't want to deal with companions. I have already whined too much in this email so i won't continue about it. I must be tired.

Yesterday i had to feed myself lunch but we don't have our own food here and nothing is open on sunday. I ended up having two bags of potato chips and two bars of chocolate. after that i was like "that's it! i'm going on a diet!" today I ate two more bars of chocolate, a sugar waffle, ice cream, nutella, and two greasy sandwiches. You can see how well that's going for me... I'm seriously worried about staying skinny. I have no self control!!

It's ok, though, i'm still enjoying my time here in France! I wish i had more to tell you about it in this email. :) love and miss you all!