YAY IT'S THE GRÈVE!!!!

Ok. So as you may have noticed, my posting has been, shall we say, slacking. Let’s attribute this to my obvious rejection of NABLOPOM. My theory is that Ysabel has been posting enough this month to account for me and all of the other people who claim to have a blog, but are usually too lazy to actually post or post random uninteresting things. (PS I fit both of those categories).

Today I experienced a true cornerstone of French culture. La grève (strike). Yes. Today the majority of France was shutdown. To begin with, the trains (SNCF) in France went on strike last week to protest their retirement age and conditions and are still going strong this week. On top of that the students here are getting pissed due to a little thing called the LRU (Loi sur la résponsibilité des universités). Basically the law wants the universities in France to become more autonomous, but the students are afraid that with more autonomy, the French universities are going to become too commercialized and begin to be run by the corporations that will eventually sponsor them. So today the students joined up with the unions of SNCF along with the French functionnaires (employees who work for the State) and employees of EDF/GDF (the electricity and gas providers in France). Just a side note, functionnaires account for 5.6 million of a total French population of 61 million. Quite a considerable amount.

This was truly a unique experience. I woke up this morning with a sore throat and not the slightest desire to go to class. Nonetheless, I woke up, showered and then went to my first class. My first class today was Sociéte et Culture, which is a course offered by the Department of International Relations. Since there are only foreigners in this class and is offered in a building separated from the others on campus, it went off without a hitch. Ugh, 2 hours talking about the war in Indochine. Anywho, cut to after class. On the way home, Mira, Angelica, and I went to the other main buildings to see what was going on and were surprised by what we found. All of the doors had been barricaded with wooden palettes, chairs, chains, construction barrels and chairs. If I get a chance, I’ll try to sneak some pics tomorrow. So luckily, no classes tomorrow since most of my classes are normal classes with all French students.

This afternoon we decided to profit from the strike and went into town. I bought a new scarf and then Angelica, Mira and I went to an amazing candy shop while we were waiting on Claire and Jean to sign up for internet at their apt. On the way back to meet them, we met all of the people who were on strike. Boy, was that a sight to behold. The street was completely full of probably about 3,000 people (Mira, help me here. I’m bad with numbers.) Several of them were really pumped up and chanting while waving placards and brandishing roadside safety flares. However, the majority of them didn’t look very enthusiastic and probably would have preferred to be somewhere else (such as in the candy shop buying the marvelous violet flavored candies that I had today). I saw several of my teachers and French classmates amongst the crowd. Namely one crack-head teacher that teaches a class that I dropped.

In other food-related news, I branched out today and made mashed potatoes for the first time today. MMMM. Luckily the hardest thing was peeling potatoes with a knife. It’s true that you don’t miss things until their gone (ex. potato/carrot peeler). Oooo. And Jean’s mom sent her a package with Kraft Mac & Cheese in it today. So we had that for dinner. I also had the best pizza of all time tonight. Angelica and Pierre went to this pizza place downtown and brought 2 pizzas back. They were made with a fresh cream sauce and topped with mushrooms, foie gras and filleted duck breast. Mmmm. Okay.

Well I guess it’s time for bed now to prepare for my long day tomorrow of doing nothing since there are no classes. Hooray. Hopefully I will get a chance to post this at some point tomorrow if I can make it to building 24 since all the others are barricaded and the library is closed. Anywho, happy grève-ing to all.

I mean, Slovakia is pretty much the Paris of eastern Europe...

As Benhameen so bluntly reminded me, I have been slacking on updates. And now as I sit here in the library attempting to update, my mind is blank. So in the future I'm going to make a list each night of the things I intend to put in my blog.

A la une this week, Liz is coming to visit. She arrives tomorrow at 14h00, which means that I'll be sleeping til about noon. Then I'll head down to the train station to meet her when she arrives. We've been trying to plan out some activities while she's here and now I think we have it all planned out. Tomorrow night we're going to go to a traditional Savoyard restaurant. Wed. will be a tour of Chambéry day including a tour of the Château. As you well may know, Wed is Halloween and one of the nightclub's is actually having a Halloween party. Not too sure about Thurs., maybe a day-trip to Annecy (the Venice of France). She leaves Friday morning and then it's off to Aix-les-Bains to go to the hot springs.

In style news, Claire put highlights in Jean and Angelica's hair yesterday. That was pretty much an all day affair. My role was very important in the whole ordeal. I laid on the bed and supervised, which means I studied a little, read HP6, and played Snake Xenxia on Claire's phone. They tried to put highlights in my hair, but I refused. However, I am letting my hair grow out. At this point I think it is longer than it ever has been and it's about to drive me crazy. I don't know if I'll be able to make it, but we shall see. Anywho, I can't really think of anything else to post right now so I'll stop writing. I promise the next post will be much more interesting.

Ciao

La nuit tous les chats sont gris...

So obviously it's been a while since I've posted. Thanks for reminding me, Beckey. Anywho. I have a little time to kill while I'm sitting outside the class that I just decided to drop. Yes, that makes two classes that I've left after the pause. What is wrong with me? I'm tired. That's what it is. I guess. Monday I decided not to take the lit class over the Middle Ages, because I would seriously all asleep every class period if I stayed in there. The teacher was so freaking annoying. He's one of those professors who really doesn't like his job and he is not enthusiastic about the subject at ALL. I was in the front row and it was still hard to understand what he was saying. Plus, he likes to ramble A LOT. Normally, this isn't a problem for me. Most of my teachers back home get off on tangents, even in HS. Beckey, all I'm going to say is "castles." But something seems a little strange when we're studying lit of the MA and a student asks a question about lit OF THE MA and the prof responds, not to the question of the aforementioned student, but rather by talking about his love of German pre-romanticists. Don't get me wrong. I love romanticism as much as the next person, but in the wise words of Mary Poppins, "there is a place for everything and everything in it's place."

Ok. Enough with that. What's going on this week? Tonight, there is a potluck dinner for all of the foreign students in one of the bars downtown. We're all supposed to bring a dish that is stereotypical of or from our country. What is stereotypical of the US? Initially I thought hamburgers, but then was yelled at by the germans :-). So as per the suggestion of my French roommate, Pierre, I am taking pancakes. I do believe I have the easiest dish ever, except for the fact that whenever I make pancakes, I use Bisquick. Therein lies the problem. It doesn't exist in France. Ugh. They have crêpe mix (mmmm, crêpes) out the ass; but alas, it's not the same. So I went to monoprix and found some prepackaged pancakes which I hope will do the trick. I also found maple syrup (mmm, maple syrup). It's no Aunt Jemima, but it will have to suffice. As for the other Americans, Jean made like 50 grilled cheese sandwiches (to which my roommate insisted we add some ham that he had in the fridge which would just make it a French croque-monsieur) and Claire made a green bean casserole. And to answer your question, apparently you can cook a casserole in a toaster oven.

Tomorrow is a big ERASMUS party at the RU and afterwards I'm sure we'll all end up at Charly's. As for the weekend, which I would like to take the opportunity to remind you starts on thursday night, no big plans. Just a tour of the cathedral on Saturday.

Now it's time for lunch so I have to go beat the line. More later.

Ciao

Excuse me, sir, but do you realize that you're sleeping on the street?

So this has been a fairly eventful week. Let me start off by saying that I love not having classes on Friday. Especially considering that Thursday is the main party night in Chambéry. So let's start with last night.

After getting out of our perfectionnement de français class, Claire, Jean, Angelica and I went to the RU for dinner. Apparently NOONE eats there at night. There were literally 3 other people eating in there. After that, we went back to our apts to get ready to go out. Sandra (the German) came over at 20h30 with Jean and Claire. This obviously mean pregaming at Eric's. Oh, Captain Morgan, how I miss you. I went to the grocery earlier in the morning to get some liquor. Yes, liquor from the grocery store. :-) Claire and I were craving Capt. When buying rum in France, don't be fooled by what appears to be the Captain, because believe me...it is NOT. What I ended up with was Rhum ambré.

Horrible liquor aside, it was a good night. After pregaming, we went into town around 22h30. We met up with Annika and Christoph (the other Germans) and Peter (Slovakian) at Charly's. We had a few drinks at the pub and left there about 00h30. OMG!!! Let me just say that drunk, nasty French guys piss me off!!! Especially when they vomit on me and Annika. :-( Yes, this is correct. Some random French guy was walking by us and just let it fly. That was not cute. So after that drama, we all went to the Cocktail Club. This was more like an American club than Opéra. There was a lot of American music. Particularly 80s music. Oh and the biggest shock was that they played Cotton-Eyed Joe and that every European seemed to know the words. We left the Cocktail and went home around 03h00. PS. Claire gets very talkative when she is drunk, hence the title of this blog. We saw 3 students passed out on the street and Claire tried to wake up all of them. But all in all, it was a good time, but that's enough about drunken times in Chambéry.

Today has been rather uneventful. I slept til 12h00 and then went to eat at the RU with Claire. And now we are in the library so that we can help Sandra with her English homework. How is it fair that her English homework is watching an episode of Desperate Housewives on the net? Well, I should probably try to be productive now and go to Carrefour or something.

Ciao

Gene Kelly, I need some inspiration

Rain, rain, rain....

That's the general run of the mill here in Chambéry. It's been raining for about 4 days straight now. I'm not talking about general rain. It's tricky rain. It won't rain hard until you decide to go somewhere, but then the bottom falls out. Oh yeah, and it's cold. Yes... It's about 53 degrees outside and tonight it will get down to around 38!!!! ugh... i'm ready for some snow already. The clouds here are sooo low. You can't even see the tops of the mountains :-(

oooo. good news!!! I have pics posted now. there are quite a few. there are also some on facebook too. so this is a really short post, but now it's time to go for some café.

Chambery. Home Sweet Home

So I'm finally here! It took a while and took me a long time to get settled, but I absolutely love it! The views are spectacular! (I promise to post pics as soon as I can connect to WiFi). The first morning of trying to get moved in was uber stressful. OMG!!! I actually almost broke down into tears. First, there is soooo much paper work in France (i just love the bureaucracy). After lugging 105lbs of luggage, a backpack and a bassoon up the huge ass hill to campus, the housing office proceeded to tell me that I needed to go back to town and buy housing insurance (40 euro) and that the housing deposit was 350 euro!!!!!! I definitely was not expecting that. That's the main reason I was almost in tears. I'm actually very surprised that the ATM let me withdraw that much at once. The secretary tried to comfort me by telling me that I would get it back at the end of the year. Geez, thanks a lot. That really helps me NOW.

But, all is good now. When I was going back to the office to get sheet and blankets, I ran into the two girls from TN, one from Knoxville and one from Chattanooga. I realize that I didn't want to hang out with Americains all the time, but they have been a huge help. They have kept me sane. We have also been hanging out with a girl from Mexico, a guy from England and a girl from Italy. They have all been really nice.

I still haven't really met my roommates yet. There names are Mohammed and Pierre and they are rarely ever at the apt when I am. However, the first night we met the neighbors who were really nice. We went over to their apt and drank with Greg, Jonas, and Thomas. Greg doesn't live there, but he is there a lot. Jonas was very keen to practice his English, and sought out Jean as a target. Meanwhile, Claire and I were talking to Greg and Thomas. They were really cool. We downed the two bottles of wine, a bottle of whisky and quite a bit of pastisse. mmmm tastes like licorice.

well i have to go to a meeting now and i'm sure the other internationals want to use the computers now. i'll write more later.

ciao.

i LOVE Geneva!!

So i could probably make this the longest post ever, but considering i'm running out of time and i'm really freaking tired, it probably won't be very long. first, internet over the next few days could be sketch. stupid eric didn't even look at his transformer that he bought from radioshack. my comp has a three-prong plug, but the transformer only has place for two. this should be interesting. anywho, geneva is amazing.



i was really tired when i got here, but i forced myself to go explore. and boy am i glad i did. by far the thing i was most excited to see was the united nations, otherwise known as my future employer. :-) i really wanted to run through the fountain, but i controlled mzself (i realiye that i tzped a z instead of a y and vica versa, but until i'm back on mz computer, just switch them :-)) anywho, the onlz bad experiences i've had have been mostlz of mz own doing. first off, i packed waaaaz too much, which caused me to take a taxi a few blocks to mz hostel, because i looked like a fool trzing to carrz mz luggage. second, despite what the sncf website might have zou believe, there is definitelz NOT, i repeat, there is NOT an automatic ticket machine for sncf passengers in this train station. there is a sncf office next door, but alas, thez are closed on sundazs. so, i had to buz a cff ticket to chambérz and cancel mz ticket from sncf. luckilz i did this 4 hrs before the train leaves, so crisis averted.

i have determined the favorite pasttime here in geneva is lzing on a bench on a bridge with zour significant other's head in zour lap. guzs and girls both do it. dogs are verz popular here. thez are all soooo cute (except for one reallz old ladz's dog who apparentlz had never been groomed, pauvre chien) and i want to pet them, but worrz that that might be a little awkward. i haven't been talking a lot because it seems weird to just start talking to strangers walking down the street, but it's fun to eavesdrop on buses.

there's lots more i could write about genève, but i'll wait til i can post pics and when i don't have to paz for internet. ciao

ps. in case zou were wondering, the kezboard here is almost exactlz the same as home, but the z and y are switched. it has a couple of extras too but obviouslz for zou guzs the z and y are the most noticeable. :-)

Flughafen frustration

So here I sit in the Frankfurt airport. damn i wish i spoke some german... where are you, Liz, when i need you? anywho, apparently blogspot likes to switch over to the german version when you're in germany. i know. imagine that. convenient if you're german, not if your last name is german, but don't speak the language. i'm pretty much in love with the appel soda, lift. apfel-schorle, mmmm.... well, this was a very short and pointless post, but at least you guys know i'm alive. and in EUROPE!!! needless to say, the 15 minutes of internet that i paid 2 euro for is about to run out, so i will try to post when i get to genève and can actually communicate with people.

ciao

Demain!!!!

Yes. That is correct, everyone. I leave tomorrow!!!! Sure it might be helpful if I already had all of the stuff I needed and didn't have to make a Walmart run. Sure it might have been a good idea to already be packed, but for anyone who knows me, that's not how I operate. *Cut to me starting my 5 page French paper at 11pm the night before it's due. That being said, let's recap the last few days.

Tues PM.
My family all went out to celebrate my bday/leaving (or as they like to call it, abandoning them). My mom had this wonderful cake made:


So just to let you know, my mom doesn't know the slightest bit of French, so this cake was quite an undertaking. While I was in Knoxville for the weekend, she rummaged my room and took a French-English dictionary and one of my hs french books. She tried to compose "Happy Birthday and Goodbye" on her own and produced this, "Heureux anniversaire bon adieu." So apparently she wanted to personify my bday and thinks it's a good thing that she won't ever see me again. Hooray for translation. Needless to say, she broke down and called my hs french teacher, Elaine Thompson (Madame). Let me just say that she was almost my fav hs teacher, a close tie with my AP English teacher, Mrs. Joiner. Madame was able to offer some help to ma mère and you can see the finished product. Oh, and my mom almost used the Union Jack instead of the Tricolore. :-(

Wed.
This morning I started off my day by babysitting my niece, Layla, for a while.


We watched the new Charlotte's Web movie and then I had to take her to the hospital, because ma grand-mère was having knee surgery. They told her to be at the hospital at 8h30, but she just waited in her bed until they took her back to the OR at 13h30. Slightly ridiculous. During this wait time however I went to visit Madame. In case you have never gone back to visit your hs after graduating, it is a VERY weird feeling. Anywho, she was very shocked and happy to see me. We exchanged contact info and talked all about my year abroad. She said that she expects postcards so I guess I'll have to send her some. OH, and her daughter lives in Karlsruhe, Germany so I'll probably need to make a stop there to say hey.

Then, last night consisted of packing. By packing, I mean I took all of my clothes, books, etc that I'm carrying with me and spread them across the living room and opened my suitcases. Tonight will consist of filling these suitcases and praying to God that they meet the weight restrictions.

Well now it's time for the dreaded Walmart run. I'll post again when I get to Europe and have internet access.

Salut!

Only 9 more days....

Tick tock... It seems like each passing day is going by slower than the last. I only have 9 days left in the states and it is sort of surreal. It seems like I have sooo much to do and yet, I'm not worried. For once in my life, I'm just letting things work themselves out. I've wasted too much time in the past worrying myself to death over little teeny tiny unimportant minuscule details and I've had enough. The past two weeks I have decided to just breathe and enjoy myself, and I have. I've made to trips to Knoxville and they have been incredibly enjoyable. I reconnected with my long lost love, sushi. If you haven't met her yet, you should. She will do things to your mouth you never dreamed possible...

So now we're leaving the slightly philosophical, preachy, and beginning to get creepy part of the blog to get to more substance. aka. The Life of Eric. After all, who really needs the Life of Pi??

The day has finally arrived... and by the day I mean my bassoon. Yes. I'm sooo happy. When it arrived today at my grandmother's I was very sad, because I ripped open the box and realized I didn't have a reed with me to try it. I know... sad times. So I proceed to drive home, bassoon in tow, and practically run everyone else off the road in the process by driving 80 mph all the way. (Yes, I know my life is boring when I am that excited to play a new bassoon). Anywho. I get home, soak a reed, put my baby together, begin to play and beautiful music erupt from the horn until I play that ill-fated note. No, not an Eb, but alas, a G. That is correct folks, probably the first note I ever played on the bassoon will not play. In a prolific panic (isn't alliteration fun?) I call my stepmom and she calms me down. I notice what is wrong, the spring isn't working right, but surprise surprise, I don't know how to fix it. Luckily, after 10 minutes of conversation with Barry Trent (thank you, Mr. Trent) I am able to readjust the spring and all is right in the world. Except for this post which most of you have quit reading at this point.

Now onto France related news...

One word.... Skype. Download it. It is quite amazing. I can call any other Skype users anywhere in the world for free. I bought a USB phone today and made my first call to France to reserve a hotel room. It is amazing that the desk attendant understood everything that I said just fine, yet he had trouble with BEUERLEIN. Looks like my name is hard for everyone, not just US Americans. I actually had to spell my name for him 5 times. But finally he got it right and I now have une chambre simple pour une nuit when I arrive in Chambéry the night before I can move into my dorm.

Time to go to sleep, so that I can wake up early in the morning and make some gas money to go back to Knoxville yet again for football weekend!!!! Heck yes for going to the game as a normal student and not wearing a uniform. But I might shed the slightest tear during pregame. For now....

Bonne nuit
Ciao
Auf Wiedersehen

How fast can I laufen through the Munich Flughafen??

So yesterday was fun. Well, if you consider spending $800+ on an airplane ticket. The good news is that now I can make it back to France for my second semester. The only issue that I'm concerned about is the depressingly short layover that I have in Deutschland. Typically I wouldn't be concerned about making a connection with 45 mins between the flights, but due to USAirways horrible delay record I'm slightly besorgt.* Liz, I know how proud you must be of my progress with the German language :-). I leave the states for the second time on Dec 29 and won't be back until June 30!!! Did I mention that I'm slightly excited? In case you're wondering, my flights for the second leg are Nashville>Philly>Munich>Geneva. Now it is time to schlafen**. Gute Nacht.

ps. I'm STILL waiting on my bassoon...

*worried
**to sleep

Things that make me happy...and not so much

Happiness-

• Receiving my excess financial aid check
• Shopping for clothes for France
• No work for 3 days
• Going to Ktown for those 3 days
• Jones Cream Soda
  

Not so happiness-

• Waiting on my bassoon
• Achy feet from work
• People trying to buy my clarinet for $200, I mean really?
• My room and the time it's going to take to clean it
• Packing
• Still waiting on my bassoon

Luckily this list tends to balance itself out. The official France countdown is 16 days!!! I'm purchasing my second round of tickets tomorrow. Hooray, Orbitz. I was really skeptical about travel sites at first, but so far I've had good experiences. I'll post more after I actually get to France.

Well, time so go shopping.

ps. I'm still waiting on my bassoon. :-(

NEW BASSOON!!!! Well, almost...

So I have big news, sort of. haha. After waiting two years, actually 6 if you count high school, a bassoon is finally within my grasp. No really... it's in the living room. There is only one problem. They* mailed me the wrong model. I know right? Sad times. What makes the situation even worse, is that I played the bassoon and absolutely LOVED it. Since I found out about the mix up, I've refused to play aforementioned bassoon anymore to help reduce separation anxiety. Of course I'm sure I will love the new bassoon even more. I mean, come on. The only difference is long bore vs. short bore and really, who can really tell the difference.**

So in about 2 days I should have the new new bassoon of my dreams. Let's hope it works out. I'm really happy because this means that I will definitely have a horn to take with me to France. Believe me, that is a big relief. About two weeks ago I was extremely stressed out about it. I'm pretty sure I would kill myself if I had to go 10 months without playing and there is always the possibility that I would have given it up had I not gotten my own bassoon. Alas, crisis averted.

So I was in Ktown this past week and it was really strange. First of all, I know that eventually I have to get older, but does that mean that the other college kids have to get younger? I mean really... I had 2 kids stop me and ask how to get to Ayres whose combined age had to be about 18. Not to mention the fact that they would randomly stop and ask me when I'm not even in classes this year due to the France thing, much less Ayres. How can you not know where Ayres is? I'm not going to lie, it made me a little sad to see people going to classes and not getting to myself. It was odd. What's worse is that I missed marching band. Well, that is until I heard the new pregame and was like, WTF?! How do you change pregame that much?! oh well. I'm sure 'twill be divine.

Anywho, I will be back in Ktown on Thursday until Saturday for a quick trip. so I'm looking forward to more awkwardness/good times. As for now, it is bed time. Damn you, morning shift. :-(

*American Bassoon Company, Inc.

**Long Bore vs. Short Bore

For decades Fox has built two styles of bassoons: The long-bore models, liked for their warmer tone, even intonation and stability, and the short-bore models preferred by many orchestral players for their greater flexibility and projection.

In the early 1990s Fox added an additional variant: The thick-wall models which sought to
combine some of the most desirable characteristics of each of the other styles, while
providing a brawnier character to the voice of the instrument.

Instrument makers must consider and balance many physical aspects in the acoustic design
of an instrument: bore length, bore size and shape, as well as the diameter, length, shape and
positioning of the tone holes.

29 days!!!!

So it's official. I leave in 29 days. I think the fact that I'm going to be away from my comfort zone- friends, family, school - is finally starting to sink in. Of course I can't wait for the opportunity and have been anticipating this for so long. Yet, it's a little surreal that it is getting so close.

Today I was helping sis put some random crap on eBay and I realized how much contempt I actually have for that website. It's just not convenient at all. We put 11 items on there and it took approximately 4 hours. That's 4 hours of my life gone. Sure, if I hadn't been doing that I would have probably just been watching Top Chef or playing on the Word Reference forums, but still. ;-)

Yeah, Top Chef. Um, if you haven't watched it, shame on you. 'owie and 'ung both drive me crazy. I really can't stand them. I hope either Brian or Casey wins. Casey is my favorite so of course she will win.

Well, I should probably try and be productive now and clean my room. It is for real starting to look like a disaster area and if I don't start cleaning now, I won't be able to find any of my crap to pack for France.

Wow! 2 posts in 3 days. I'm proud of myself. More to come soon.

so here it goes...

ok. so here's the deal. i've tried blogs in the past and they normally last about a week. we're ( by we, i mean i) am going to actually try to be dedicated to this one. so if i'm not dedicated, someone yell at me. yes, go ahead and yell. i can take it.

what's going on here in what i like to call the cultural mecca of the united states?* absolutely nothing. work's a bore, there is almost nothing to do, and i am eagerly anticipating my long awaited departure. T minus 31 days...

so here are the travel plans. i leave BNA on 14 sept. i fly BNA-CLT CLT-FRA FRA-GVA. sad news... i will be in genève all alone on my bday, 15 sept. i stay in genève for 2 days and hop a train to chambéry on 17 sept. orientation is 18 sept and classes begin 20 sept.

hopefully, i will have many new and exciting experiences in the land of the gauls. and with any luck i will remember them the next morning to share them on here. ;-) as for now, it is def bedtime and just let me say that sleeping in is probably my new favorite pastime.

*sarcasm (n)
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.
dictionary.com