The Blog, Long Overdue

I think it’s been a good two weeks since I’ve blogged. I have had a somewhat filled up two weeks, hence the lack of a blog, so here she goes.

School started last week (Jan 8th), which I could do without, but hey, c’est la vie. Last week on Wednesday I practiced with Justin and Christian (guys from the church) because I was playing the Djembe at Sanctuary on Friday. It was fun to get my groove on again, even though I realized I’m not that talented of a drummer, but as I told my friend Andrew from church, “I got rhythm.” So we practiced Wed, and played Friday night at Sanctuary which went really well. Although I spent probably over an hour and a half Friday afternoon on public transport, it was a great day. After Sanctuary some of us went and grabbed a beer at “L’academie de la bière” which is extremely overpriced but has a wide selection, and I successfully convinced my waiter to change my glass as it had an awful smell described by Taro as “dirty sponge.” As in French restaurants the customer, in fact, is not always right, as he is in America, I was proud of this achievement.

On Saturday, me, Leo (Brazilian exchange student) and Rike (German exchange student) hung out in Paris for a while, walked around, got coffee, etc, and had a good time. Then Leo and I went and saw Apocalypto. He had free tickets at his apartment so we ran/took the metro there, and then I rode precariously on the back of his bike back to the theatre. My legs cramped because I had to keep them somewhat lifted, and they also came very close to parked cars on the side of the road. I honestly thought I was going to die, and got very paranoid on the back of the bike. I think this summer’s accident has had lasting effects on my confidence on two wheeled vehicles. BUT, we made it fine, and watched the movie, which I found extremely well made, and extremely violent, but I enjoyed it.

Sunday I hung out with some exchange students who were in Paris before heading over to Justin’s house for an amazing table group, where Taro taught us how to make sushi. He bought all the ingredients, and we prepared it all (with his help) and finished with a ri-diculous amount of sushi that only ended up costing 4 euros each, as we just split the ingredients. Unheard of. Unheard of. Loved it. My favorite table groups are the ones where we prepare food together, because it’s just so fun to be in the kitchen talking about whatever and making food together. I just generally like fellowship. I was also able to watch American football, the Seahawks versus the Bears, which was really weird with French announcers, but I enjoyed trying to explain the rules to a kiwi and Taro and realizing that it’s a lot more complicated than I thought. Overall, amazing day.

Monday I headed over to Paul’s house for what else but curry, which was a really fun time. One of his neighbors came over who didn’t really speak French, so our conversations were half in English and half in French, and it felt really cool to be able to flow in between the two easily. We had 4 different nationalities represented between the five of us there. A French, A Kiwi, A German, and two Americans. I’ve realized why Paul (my friend) and Jesus (also my friend) are such advocates of meal sharing. Especially with people of different nationalities, it’s so interesting to be around so many different people with such different backgrounds, because everyone brings something completely different to the table. A different history, different culture, and a different outlook on the world. It’s a conversation that’s totally unique because of how unalike, but yet alike the people are. Also, sharing a meal, or just the invitation, brings such a feeling of warmth and acceptance that I think everyone needs from time to time. So if you have the opportunity (aka you don’t live with host parents), invite some friends (or random strangers, or enemies) over for dinner, I promise you’ll love it.

I got the chance to see my first French play this week, King Lear by Shakespeare. Although it was in French, it seems weird to me that my first experience at a French theatre was a Shakespeare play, but whatever. It was really well made, with great actors and a great set, but the experience was somewhat downplayed for me for several reasons. Listening to French for 2 hours and 40 minutes without an intermission can get somewhat tiring, especially when I’m confused on what is happening and who the crap that person is, or that person, or that person over there. It didn’t help that the girl sitting next to me had basically the same comprehension of the characters/plot as I did, so I didn’t get any much needed help there. But overall, I had a pretty good time, not sure if I’d do it again for 26 euros, but I guess it’s one of those things that you just kind of have to say that you did while spending a year in Paris.

Almost done kids, yesterday after school I went to the well-known English bookstore in Paris, Shakespeare and Co., that I had yet to visit, and spent a pretty substantial amount of time there book looking. The store is amazing, in an ancient house with books lining the old, time worn shelves, and even a section for Russian literature (YES!, although it was somewhat lacking in the Russian Literature in English dept, if I could read Russian I would have been supremely happy) although it felt weird to speak with the checkout lady in English. Afterwards, I went over to Andrew’s house (guy from church, teaches English here, went to Vanderbilt) who is one of my favorite people and ate with him (shared meals!) and one of his friends from school who is also teaching English in Paris. We had a great long conversation, watched some ridiculous videos from their college days, went and grabbed a beer, and continued talking. I love the seeming organic nature of conversation, how it seems to have a life of it’s own, changing directions and themes on the slightest whim. And, that’s the end of my day by day update of my life over the past two weeks. I promise I’ll be better about updating (if only so you don’t have to spend time reading this ridiculously long blog, while reading the word ridiculous probably 100 times, because it’s the only adjective I’m comfortable using).

Some observations:
-I can’t stop listening to Mat Kearney, if you haven’t heard him, hear him.
-I come home in less than 5 months, June 18th, baby.
-There’s still a lot I need to do in the next 5 months.
-Compliments on progress in French make me ecstatic (ex., girl in my bio class, after I was done talking with my professor about the geology of the western United States, aka bragging about how I backpack in canyons there, saying “Brent, it’s amazing how much progress you’ve made in French, I can’t even remember how spoke when you first got here”)
-I love reading.
-It’s getting progressively easier to wake up every morning without an expletive being my first thought.
-This blog is way too long. Next time, “Brent’s deep philosophical observations and thoughts that will make you believe he is the modern day equivalent of Plato”
-I miss my Fanny Pack.
-I miss my family.
-I miss my friends.
-I miss a lot of things.
-Most of which has something to do with food (Chipotle, Positano’s, Wendy’s runs etc)
-This year went by ridiculously fast.
-This year has been amazing.
-Time never stops.
-And the biggest struggle in life is deciding how we deal with the above observation.

Thanks for tuning in,

MILES Brent, Terminale S 1