EuroTour!!!

Here are some pictures from my frolicking around Europe with 44 other Rotary Exchange Students from April 16-27

Enjoy!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/BrentinParis/EuroTourParisToVenice

http://picasaweb.google.com/BrentinParis/EuroTourVeniceToDijon

Cheers Here’s to Life (on Vacation)

Last week a couple of my friends from the first bus trip, Jim and Zach, came up to Paris early for their bus trip that was leaving on Thursday. So we hung out. Tuesday we met up with an exchange student from Canada who is going on their bus trip, and Wednesday with a Colombian exchange student who was visiting Paris. Good times.

The sound of my alarm Friday morning wasn’t very appealing to my ears, so I turned off the alarm and fell back asleep, waking up at 9:00, exactly when my class was starting. While explaining this to my host mom I was interrupted by the beautiful sentence “oh, don’t worry Brent, I’ll just call you in sick and you can come to Good Friday Mass at Sacré Coeur with me.” The service was a lot different than the somber, candle lit services I am used to. There was simply a lot of singing (no Spencer, we did not sing “our God is an awesome God”). It was peaceful to sing songs, and it was something I really enjoyed although I may have spent more time focusing on my French pronunciation then on what the words really meant. All of this was of course sweetened by the fact that I was in the process of missing 4 hours of science labs, and that the only class between me and vacation was one hour of math later that afternoon. After math I went to Parc Monceau and read for a while, then a little later I met my friends to surprise our other friend Marion for her birthday. We threw her a hoppin’ party, and the night consisted of dancing, fun conversations with friends and new acquaintances, me being hungry as I hadn’t eaten yet, music, and well, an all around super-duper time.

Saturday. I stayed at Andrew’s house because my host parents left for the weekend. We ate Panini. He left. I watched “Ensemble c’est tout”, a French movie with Audrey Tautou (that sentence rhymes by the way). I ate Doëner. I slept.

For Easter, my church went down about an hour south of Paris to the country home of the parent’s of a member of the church. We had a traditional Jewish Seder meal on the Sunday outside in the beautiful sun and warmth. The Seder meal is for Passover, but it works as well for Easter because of all the parallels between the story of Passover (the blood of the Lamb etc) and Easter (Jesus=Lamb of God). The food and fellowship were amazing both Sunday and Monday. Monday I was a little tired after sleeping in a maximum five foot bed Sunday night. The length of this bed also did not help my legs, decimated as they were by the intense soccer match played Sunday. Monday night Andrew and I kicked it at his house, ate some pizza that reminded me of Positano’s (but did not completely reach that level of greatness) and watched 24 and the Office.

It has been gorgeous here in Paris for the last couple weeks, which suits (or creates?) my intensely joyous mood lately. Just thought all you suffering through cold weather in the states ought to know that. In light of this gorgeous weather, yesterday I went to the Musée Rodin. Rodin was a sculptor in the 19th century, and his work is displayed both inside the museum and outside in the garden (thus justifying my going to museum on a beautiful day). The museum is amazing. I fell asleep reading outside on the grass. That night, Andrew’s parents took me, Paul, and Taro out for dinner. Andrew picked out the restaurant, called “Le Timbre”, which means “the stamp” and is called that because it is so small. The staff consists of a cook and a waitress, but the food and atmosphere are impeccable (despite being surrounded almost completely by other English speakers). It was probably one of the last times I’ll get to be with Andrew, Taro and Paul all together, so although it was amazing, it was a little bittersweet at the same time, knowing that my time here is slowly depleting. In other news, after almost 8 months in France I still struggle drinking red wine and keeping it off my lips and/or glass. That is on my list of things to learn before I leave. Along with hangliding. And quilting.

Almost done. Today Melanie (exchange student from New Brunswick) and I went to explore the Versailles Gardens (which are free), as we are too cheap and it was too nice out to warrant a visit in the actual museum. It was such a relaxing day. We vented about the French school system, walked around, fell asleep near the canal (where I got semi-sunburned), ate Sherbet, and eavesdropped on adolescent British girls with funny accents. Solid day. Man do I love vacation.

Brent!

I Roll With the Cripz

So I pretty much can’t believe it’s already April.

In other news, I am doing pretty much amazing. Paris in the springtime is gorgeous. I have a week of school until my three week vacation. Bref, I am loving life.

This weekend was one for the books. Friday after school Victor and I walked around and talked, then I went and saw the 300 with my friends Guillaume and Marine. I thought I was sitting next to Johnny Depp the entire time, but finalement when the lights were on it was most definitely not him. I was a bit disappointed.

Waking up Saturday for Badminton really melted my butter, but I only have 2 sessions left, which excites me. Not having any plans in particular for daytime Saturday, I was very happy when Brie, an exchange student just outside Paris, called and wanted to hang out. So Brie, Rebecca (from Cali) and Rike (Germany) hung out most of the day Saturday, eating, walking in the rain, smoking hookah, and eating the most amazing, fresh out of the oven baguettes. That was a once in a lifetime baguette.

That night was similarly amazing. I went to the largest apartment in the history of history for dessert with friends from school, as it was a girl’s birthday party. They are a close group of friends and are super funny and great to hang out with. We then went to this kind of chic, bourgeois, “I’m Parisian and spend my parent’s money” bar where you drink cocktails out of baby bottles. There was a competition where trivial pursuit questions were asked in order to win suckers, and I won two. Take that French people and the stereotype of American ignorance. I got home at 3. I wasn’t really tired. Good night it ‘twas.

The sun was shining nicely Sunday morning for the picnic my church was having at the Jardins de Luxembourg. My friend Andrew and I played an awkward version of Pickle with some little girls from the church and these two French boys. It was really hot. The sun. Not the game of pickle. Andrew and I then went to a cemetery near by (Parisian cemeteries are the bomb diggity) and talked for a long time. It was amazing.

Usually on Mondays I have a history class with the Juniors (Premieres) from two till four, but as they were taking a test today, my teacher said I could learn the French “of the bistros.” I took this grand opportunity on this fine Spring day to walk to the Eiffel Tower, which took about an hour, where after several miscommunications I met up with some friends from my first bus tour, who were in Paris for their Euro tour. It was great to see them again, if only for a little bit. I then proceeded to lay in the grass under the warm sun and read. Perfection.

And that my friends, is how I roll with the cripz.

Brent

Tour Guidin’

This is going to be as short as I can make it.

For the last week and a half I’ve been playing tour guide in Paris, first for my best friends Evan and Kyle who came Friday before last (March 16th) and then for some Rotary kids who are studying in Poland (Spencer and Alyssa).

And the recap.

Evan got in on Friday at 6:30 AM, so I called in sick to my school (oh the perks being “majeur” in France can bring), and picked him up. If you know Evan and I, you know we haven’t been away from each other for probably more than 2 or 3 weeks in the past 9 years, so after almost 7 months apart I can easily say it was amazing to see him. We went for a beastly walk around the city, taking pictures of a random Romanian Orthodox man that I still need to send him (at this real address in Romania, as he had no email), meeting Andrew for falafel (a very appropriate cheap and fast food option in Paris), then going to Montmartre, then planning on going to the Louvre but then after searching for a place to eat, and having Evan be constantly drifting into sleep, we called it a night and went home. Evan slept for 15 hours.

Andrew and I went to an awesome market by his house and made lunch for sleepy Evan, after which we picked up Kyle from the airport (YAY KYLE!), walked, and then celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day with Andrew and some of his teaching assistant friends. Let’s just say we got home at 4 in the morning after an adventurous time trying to find night buses but then bowing out and taking a taxi.

Sunday consisted of the Père Lachaise cemetery, waiting for Kyle to take pictures, walking, searching for an Indian restaurant on Montmartre with Nikki but settling for Tibetan (crazy ethnic food lovers).

Monday I unfortunately had to wake up and go to school. But Kyle and Evan met me for lunch, where we had scrumptious döner right by my school, and got served free tea, which officially made me a lifetime customer. Tyler was on his bus trip with his Rotary, and they were in Paris from Monday till Thursday, and as their chaperones consist of 4 ex-exchange students, we got to see a lot of him. 3 of my best friends, all in Paris at the same time, who would have thought!? Monday, Tyler’s group decided to take forever and a half to get to the Eiffel tower, so Evan, Kyle and I had to bear the cold while waiting for the incompetent Germans to find their way there. Then I went to sleep cause I had school in the morning L

I had my interview with SPU Tuesday for the full tuition scholarship, which went really well, and I find out April 17th so now comes the wait! But I met my friend-os after school, then we went with all the exchange students to this Brazilian bar, where much fun was had.

Sadly that was Evan and Kyle’s last night, so Wed I met up with them after school and we ate and said our goodbyes. I know it may sound like we didn’t do that much, but just seeing these boys made me so unbelievably happy that anything we did together was amazing. I was so happy they could come. Such a great time. But I met Tyler and exchange student co. at a café, then I went to Taro’s house and had this delicious Japanese dish that he made because his house was conveniently located right next to Tyler’s hostel. Then I remet up with Tyler and we went with the other exchange students to a Salsa Bar, where much fun was had, a sad goodbye was said, and I had to catch a night bus home and go to school the next day. Freaking school.

Thursday was my day off, aka day in between company leaving and company coming.

Friday Spencer (who is from Douglas, Wyoming, in my district from back home, and in Poland) and Alyssa (from Connecticut, also in Poland) came and I commenced my second tour guiding adventure. We went for a walk (I honestly walked more this last week then I ever have before in my life), got falafel, accidentally went into a gay bar, stayed in the gay bar, and walked around.

Brittney (from Connecticut, exchange student in Beauvais) came in for the day Saturday. We had a sweet picnic under the Eiffel tower, where I tried to throw a wine bottle at a pigeon and it exploded. (the wine bottle was empty, by the way). We then spent four amazing hours in a Hookah bar, filled with amazing and honest exchange student conversation and Spencer surpassing his master in blowing smoke rings. Brittney sadly had to leave, but we made the most of it by going to the Eiffel tower and pretending we were Polish while befriending Polish people.

Feeling French Sunday, we decided to get Mcdonald’s take out and eat at the Jardins de Luxembourg. We then walked. It was beautiful out. The first real day of Spring. I love Paris in the springtime! Then we went and ate curry at Paul’s house with my home group. I got to share my friends with my other friends. Yay!

Monday they met me for lunch, where we picnicked at the beautiful Parc Monceau right near my school. Bread and Cheese. What else is needed in life? The sun was shining, it was gorgeous. Perfect day. After school we went and sat by the banks of the Seine and talked, met some more Polish people, ate some more McDonalds, met a Polish guy there, walked, fell asleep on the grass near Notre Dame, then went home.

Tuesday they left, but that didn’t stop them from bring bread, cheese and wine for lunch! We ate. It was fantastic. Then I saw them off. It was sad to have friends leave again, but I was ready for the rest. Today and yesterday I’ve taken much needed naps. I ate a hamburger with Andrew on Montmartre today and got awful service. But it was on Montmartre, and with Andrew, so I couldn’t complain.

And that’s my life in a box.

Brent

A Blog Concerning the Happenings and Circumstances during the interval of [Return from Bus Trip; Return to School]

The reason I haven’t written in so long is twofold: first to give all of you who dared to read my epic (concerning it’s length, not exactly it’s amazing content) recantation of my week in Spain, and second because my internet chez moi has not been working L. I’ll keep this recap of what I’ve been up to since getting back from Spain as short as I can. In fact, I am going to take the format of Tyler’s blog and give it to you in easy, numbered points.

1. Got home, then directly had to pack back up and leave as my host parents were leaving for the weekend and I was staying at a friend’s then going to Brussels from Monday to Wednesday.

2. Stayed at Paul from my church’s house Friday night, wanted to sleep, but it was a bit difficult with the party that his roommates threw going on at full boar.

3. Saturday an exchange student Colleen who I met on the aeroplane coming here was in Paris with her host parents before she went on her bus trip, so I got my second of three free meals provided by the (host) parents of exchange student friends visiting Paris. Although it was weird talking to Colleen in French through lunch (I have an aversion to speaking to people who’s first language is English in French), we got our English time in on the walk to the Louvre. It was so great to talk to her, as it is to all exchange students. Thanks Colleen! Lets hope this trend continues. Love it. Stayed at Victor’s house Sat night. We went to a club on a boat with some friends. We did speed dating. Let’s just say I never thought I’d ever go speed dating, let alone in French. Although I didn’t find my true love and soul mate, it did provide a good laugh and good story (it’s all about the story).

4. Sunday caught up on some needed rest, then met Victor and co. for a Chinese dinner. Went to bed, and got up at 5ish to catch my train for Brussels.

5. Brussels does not have the best weather, but is a beautiful city. Kelsey (an exchange student from Vermont) kindly showed me around town and let me stay at his house. It was great to have some more exchange student contact. Exchange students=my favorite people. Thanks for a great time Kelsey!

6. Came home Wednesday to the sweet present of candy brought by Aunt Esther, Uncle Bruce, and cousin Lyndzi, who were visiting me, and were a present in themselves. It was so great to see family again, I forgot how comforting it feels to be around those that are related to you. We went on a bike tour with Bike About Tours provided by Christian, a guy at the church who started the company with Paul. Paris by bike is such an escape after spending so much time walking. If you come to Paris, go on their bike tours, I promise you’ll love it.

7. This week I’ve had the Bac Blancs at school (equivalent of massive mid terms) so I’ve been spending my nights semi studying and finding other ways besides the internet to procrastinate (Solitaire, listening to Rob Bell sermons, etc). But today (Wednesday) was awesome because I went out to lunch with an exchange student Katherine who I met on the bus trip, who is in Paris with her mom. Basically the statement by exchange student friends “Hey Brent, me and my (host) parents are going to be in Paris, and they want to take you out to lunch” has become one of my cherished treasures (as mentioned earlier, really hope that continues). As I get to 1. Hang out with exchange students. 2. Get to meet new people and have great conversation. And last but not least 3. I get a free meal. We were extremely loud at lunch to the enjoyment of the semi-creepy guy eating alone next to us and listening to our entire conversation. We laughed a lot. Merriment ensued. Thanks Becky and Katherine, I had an amazing time!

All I have to say is…life is good.

Oh, and Evan comes in a week. After spending 9 years together without being away from each other for more than a couple weeks apart, I could say I’m excited but that would be a vast understatement.

And to share a quote that randomly caught my attention from C.S Lewis, “Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travelers.”

I hope you all have something and are going somewhere.

Brent

Bus Trip

Warning: This is extremely long. Maybe just read every other paragraph, and you'll get a good jist of my trip. Or take it in sittings, just like War and Peace, I think this blog will be better if you don't read it all at once then end up wanting to kill me by the end. and i'll post pictures later

Sorry this has taken so long to get up, but I have had limited time to write this since I got back from the bus trip. Without further ado…the story of my trip.

I wish I could write it in a more interesting fashion as opposed to just what we did everyday, but this is for my benefit of remembering as well, so you will have to deal with it, or you could just close your browser, you choice. This is going to be very long. I warn you right now.

Friday the 16th, I got up, grabbed my backpack and messenger bag and embarked on one of the best weeks of my life. Half of the exchange students met at one train station, and half at the other. Because of the amount of people that signed up they used two buses instead of the usual one, which was great because I got to meet a whole busload more people than I would have on a trip with just one bus. So us at Gare de Lyon kicked it for a few hours, as our bus was caught in traffic. Cards and greetings were exchanged, but it would take a couple days for everyone to become comfortable around each other and start really having fun. We took a pretty awful bus tour of Paris. Not my favorite part of the trip. Our free time was virtually non existent, but Zach, Jim (two other exchange students who came in on my plane) and I used our time to hang out with the Japanese and Chinese girls and take some fun pictures outside the Louvre. We hopped back on our bus for a 4+ hour journey to Dijon, which was made shorter by the presence of Zach’s speakers for his iPod. Zach and I sang every line to “What would you do?” by City High, and I attempted a singalong with the South Americans during Juanes. That night we had a welcome party, where everyone introduced themselves, and then danced the night away. The highlight of the dance was probably the 30 year old man who was staying in the hostel where we were; who decided that there probably wouldn’t be a better chance than this to pick up under aged women and joined in on the dancing. Awkward.

Saturday we got up early and drove 6ish boring hours to southern France to see the Pont du Gard, which is the largest surviving roman era aqueduct in the world. We took a guided tour and I should have paid more attention but it was somewhat boring. The coolest part was that we actually got to go into the aqueduct and walk through to the other side. Keep in mind that all this time, whenever we do a tour, or all the exchange students are together, there is a constant flow of amazing conversation, laughter, and fun. So even if something sounds boring, it probably wasn’t. Once we finished walking around and taking pictures we hopped back on the bus to head to Nîmes, where we were spending the night. As Nîmes was an ancient roman city, we had a fitting Roman dinner, complete with togas. Zach and I, always at the front end of fashion, forwent the given “togas” that we were supposed to wear and instead stripped our beds of the sheets and made ourselves some togas. We ate the semi-decent food with our hands (which was a relief after spending 6 months constantly worrying about my table manners). That night some of us hung out in a room, where Zach and Jim told one of the funniest stories ever, and Jim found out he has some capacity for good storytelling. Zach, Jim and I also had an experience that night in our room during our conversation with our roommate Nacho, as I was basically in tears laughing the entire time.
Sunday we got up, and did a tour of Nîmes. It was raining heavily, so I wore my Chacos, so I would just have wet feet and not wet socks. Basically what’s left of Rome in Nîmes is an old temple and a Roman arena, so there wasn’t too much to see, but we had some free time in the covered market in Nîmes to save us from the rain. After our tour we headed to España. Driving through mountains made me very happy, as looking at grey buildings 7 days a week can do damage to the spirit of someone from Colorado. We arrived in Lloret de Mar (hour outside of Barcelona) near dinnertime to our fantastic hotel which was located a short walk from the beach and complete with swimming pool, room/bar for dancing, and all-you-can-eat buffets for breakfast and lunch. Due to the prowess of Zach’s vision, we found out that there would be a Flamenco dancing show that night in the basement of the hotel. Let’s just say I wish I was man enough to dance Flamenco. Near the end we all got invited on stage and did a little dancing of our own, albeit far inferior to that of the salsa masters.

Monday we finally got to see Barcelona, which became very quickly dear to my heart. We spent most of the morning in a bus tour, which was interesting to a point, but mostly I spent it yearning to be able to get out and walk the streets of Barça. We had some free time at the top of a hill with a beautiful view of the city and the ocean. It was a gorgeous view accompanied by gorgeous, sunny weather, which we were treated to every day in Barcelona. We ate at a buffet near the beach, after which we had a few hours of free time in the center of the city. We walked down the Rambla (the large, pedestrian street in Barça) where we saw some street performers and some very cheap pets being sold. We had to resist Zach’s urge to buy some small rodent and let it loose on the bus. I think he may have made up for his inability to buy an animal by buying whatever exotic fruits he could at the market right off the Rambla. While at the market I had my first of two encounters with random drug dealers asking me to buy drugs on the trip. I bought a Cuban cigar from a store across the street, but it sucked. That night we smoked some Hookah as Gabby the Argentinian brought it, went and danced in the “club” in the basement of our hotel.

The next morning (being Tuesday) we had a tour of the FC Barcelona home stadium, which was okay. Seeing where star players get dressed isn’t exactly my cup of tea. We ate at another buffet (I ate so much on this trip) and then went to visit the Church of the Sagrada Familia, a modernist church by the famous Spanish architect Gaudi, which is still under construction. The church is amazingly planned out, with Gaudi taking hints from nature during his planning, with the inside acting as a kind of forest and the large beams on the outside shaped like Sequoias, among other things. The church was definitely my favorite site visited in Barcelona. It’s beautiful, and somewhat of a breather from the “normal” French churches that I’m used to seeing. That night some of us went down to the “beach” which was really a bunch of little rocks that obliterated my feet, and did some nighttime Mediterranean swimming. It was very cold. We didn’t swim long. On the way back, Jim and I got offered cocaine by a random guy on the street, thus my second drug dealer encounter. We made it out alive despite not buying any, and returned to the hotel for another night of dancing. We danced a lot that week.

Our final day in Barcelona, Wednesday, we visited a park designed by Gaudi, where we had free time to buy from the street vendors there (I got some 5 Euro “Armani” sunglasses), and admire the architecture. Again, it was gorgeous outside. Jim and I followed Posh English girls with ridiculous accents for a little, and then listened to some Spanish guitar in another part of the park. Oh, something I forgot to mention is that while in Barcelona, our buses were split up and our groups stayed at different hotels, so we didn’t see too much of each other, but we did have times together like at the stadium, and our time at the park overlapped. In that aspect I wish we would have spent more time as one large group, but it did allow the people on each bus to get to know each other better. We ate at McDonalds in Barcelona. I don’t know why. Then we went to the Picasso Museum, which was a let down mostly because one part of our bus had to spend 30-45 minutes waiting for a guide to come back to get let in, even though we really didn’t have to because there was a miscommunication. Waiting around was annoying to me because it cut into our last free time that we were going to have in Barça. But, as most worrying ends up, me stupidly being frustrated about free time meant nothing, as we got a lot of free time nonetheless, and Jim and I had one of my favorite experiences from the trip. Jim and I were walking down the Rambla, and all we heard was English and all we saw were people wearing red jerseys. We had forgotten FC Barcelona was playing Liverpool that day. Beer was everywhere, the Liverpool supporters were fired up and using the f word exceedingly. After walking for a bit, we stumbled upon a large place right off the street, where about a thousand Liverpool supporters were drinking, peeing, singing, and kicking soccer balls throughout the crowd. Jim and I stared in amazement at the sight presented to us, then went and bought a beer so we wouldn’t stand out too much. We had a random conversation with a guy from Liverpool, who thought we were speaking a different language at the beginning of our conversation. His friend with him, we understood not at all. Afterwards Jim and I wished we had been born in Liverpool. That night (the last one we would spend in a hotel) was kind of crazy. I won’t go into all the details, but there was swimming, dancing and fun to be had by all.

The last (tear) morning we drove to the Salvador Dali museum outside of Barcelona, where we took a tour. That man is crazy. But I love his art. Some of us decided to go all out and eat a big, Spanish, lunch for our last day, so a girl Eden and I split a “mixed grill” for two. Not knowing that Eden was vegan before she came, and not knowing that she was a little confused by the definition of “mixed grill”, I didn’t inform her that it meant “crapload of meat.” She ate a lot anyway, the good sport she is, and I tried some blood sausage, which despite it’s disgusting nature and aura, isn’t that bad. We explored the city a little and then headed back onto the bus. We drove to Montpellier where half the people got onto one bus heading to Lyon and another on a bus heading to Paris. It was time to say goodbye. Zach and I had a nice little farewell singing “N’importe quoi” with our South American friends we made on the trip, while Jim sat on the bus for an unknown reason. It was weird saying goodbye, because at this point in the trip everyone was just becoming comfortable with each other, just starting to have a really good time. So the only thing about the trip I can really complain about is that it should have been longer. We then loaded up on our bus to Paris, watched some movies, I slept in intervals of no longer than 30 minutes, had a great conversation with a Finnish girl named Nika and an American named Katherine, slept on the floor as our bus waited two hours in a parking lot no more than an hour outside of Paris because we were early and needed to wait for the place we were supposed to eat to open. After our unholy amount of time on the bus, we finally got to Paris, where saying goodbye was weird again. My return home was easier than those who had to wait at a train station then get on a 3 hour train home, so I was happy to return a short 30 minutes on the metro.

It’s very difficult for me to explain the utter amazingness and fun that I had on this trip. After writing all that, I think I failed miserably at portraying it’s amazingness. But those that went on the trip understand that despite some parts sounding boring, or some parts actually being boring, the entire trip was so amazingly fun. I know I’ve said amazing around 4 times, but it’s really the only word I can think of. Part of the fun comes from traveling to new and unseen places, but most of it comes from the people I met and the experiences we had together. As I’ve said time and time again, there is this unseen connection that every exchange student has with one another. It comes from the shared experiences, emotions and problems that every exchange student experiences. I was constantly amazed at the fact that with so many students from different backgrounds, cultures, and languages could be put on a bus, and have such camaraderie. Sitting on the bus I was struck by the relatively small amount of people that ever get this opportunity, to interact with and learn from so many different cultures at such a young age. After a week of hanging out and having fun with people from every part of the world, I realized how lucky I really was to have this experience. If there’s one thing I took from the trip, as my friend Brie put it, “this trip straight up made us international.” True that.

Brent

(If you read this entire thing, you should be applauded)

Busy Little Birthday Bee

In place of working on the scholarship essay I should be writing, I am going to inform all of you what I’ve been up to the past week or so, as blogs are a little more off the top of the head and less stressful than real essays.

As you may or may not know, it was my birthday on the 8th, also known as last Thursday. Somewhat like my experience with Christmas, it didn’t exactly feel like my birthday on Thursday, but I was plagued by feelings of homesickness nonetheless. Basically just a weird feeling, which I should be getting used to by now, as even sometimes I walk around and ask myself if I really realize I’ve been living in Paris for the last 6ish months. That’s beside the point. I know you’re all eager to hear me list off what I did, so here it goes.

For lunch, Victor and I got some tasty and pretty cheap Indian food on Montmartre. A dog in the restaurant spilled a bowl of water the owner gave it to drink from. I resisted my urge to also spill the contents of my plate over the floor to see what treatment I would get compared to the dog, but after realizing that humans are rational beings and are held accountable for their actions, I held off. Actually, that thought never crossed my mind, I just needed a way to make the paragraph more interesting than simply saying I got Indian food, as even though I had a lot of fun, nothing adventurous or exciting happened so it seems boring writing it down. Anyways…

Rotary, being the great and caring organization they are, decided to organize a concert at the Sorbonne (oldest and most famous university in Paris) for my birthday. Or actually that’s probably more like on my birthday. It was a classical concert, and I learned the lesson that it’s better to be over dressed than under dressed in these situations, after taking ‘wear your rotary blazer’ to mean that it wasn’t too formal, I decided to wear jeans and then felt awkward the entire time. Lesson learned. Afterwards my Rotary counselor took me out to the oldest Parisian restaurant, Le Procope, which was founded in 1686. I tried a French culinary specialty, Tartare, which is raw, spiced meat. On the plate, it looks similar to pre-cooked hamburger meat, but in the mouth it tastes lovely. I’m sure you can find disgusting Tartare in France, but I figured at a classy restaurant they wouldn’t screw up too bad and thus give me food poisoning. I was right (as in them not screwing up), and the night was great with the meal ending at 1 in the morning after I had great discussion with my host counselors friends about topics ranging from the politics of the young to the War in Iraq.

I spent a total of probably 4-5 hours in cafés on Friday. After school some friends and I went to one, then went to a movie, Molière (about the famous French playwright) a few hours later. After the movie, we walked to another café where my friends surprised me with a cake for my birthday. I couldn’t stop smiling. To think that these people that I’ve known for less than 6 months would do something so loving to make me feel a little more at home gave me goose bumps. It was a good night.

Victor and I met up on Saturday afternoon and he took me out to a Japanese restaurant where we shared great food as well as great conversation. I proceeded to then kick it at my house, as I knew it would be my last calm night for a while.

I woke up Sunday and warmed up my cold pizza I had asked my host dad to save for me, which he found extremely bizarre, and then met my friend Brittney (exchange student in Beauvais) as she was meeting some of her exchange students in Paris to explore the catacombs. Her friends turned out to be amazing, and we proceeded to have an equally amazing day. First was the catacombs where we joked about the excess of bones and bone dust and were loud to the chagrin of Anna. After winding our way through over a mile of dark, bone infested, underground tunnel, we emerged to a gorgeous day. While walking by an outdoor market street, we had the wonderful idea to have a picnic. In true French fashion, this picnic consisted of two bottles of wine, 10 euros worth of cheese, chicken and 4 baguettes. We ate in a beautiful park all scrunched on a bench and reveled in our Frenchness. Some of us (and although I’m not going to name any names, I’ll specify that it wasn’t me) reveled a wee bit too much in the wine aspect of the Frenchness for our own good, which provided some entertainment for the rest of us during the remainder of the day, which consisted of exploring the famous cemetery Père Lachaise and spending some quality time in a café. So, Leah, Anna, Taylor, and Brittney, thank you guys so much for one of the most amazing Parisian days I’ve had.

Have I emphasized enough how thankful I am for the church I am a part of? On Monday night, three of my best friends from the church, Paul, Taro, and Andrew threw a little birthday celebration for me. Taro brought a cake with 19 candles, “not enough” according to one of Paul’s roommates. This was my second inadvertent compliment about my apparent age this weekend, the other coming at the catacombs where I was carded to see if I was under 26 so I could qualify for the youth price. We had some aperitifs there, then meandered over to Chez Justine where we had an incredible dinner filled with wine, laughter, and good food. These are some of the most amazing guys I’ve ever met, and again I was so touched by their efforts to make my birthday away from home special. So, Taro, Paul, and Andrew, thank you guys so much.

Well that wraps up this week in review. I leave Friday for my seven day bus trip through Southern France and Spain, which I cannot stop thinking about. So I don’t know when my next blog will be up, but it will be filled (hopefully) with adventurous stories and glorious pictures.

Much Love,

Brent

Life In General

Last Friday I went to a party with Andrew and a lot of English (as in British) teaching assistants. Being with assistants is fun…after I get through the awkward introduction phase that typically goes like this.
Them: “So where are you an assistant at?”
Me: “well, umm, actually…”
Andrew: (in a mocking tone) “tell ‘em Brent”
Me: “like, I’m actually in high school, I’m an exchange student with Rotary”
Them: “so wait, you’re like the kids I teach right?”
After that gets over it’s all good, and talking to British people is a preferred hobby of mine, because their accent makes me laugh, and they are all uber-nice.

After getting up for Handball for the 3rd to last time, I met my friends Guillaume and Marine to do some shopping for “Les Soldes” where the price on everything is basically cut in half, but as it’s been going on since Christmas there isn’t much selection anymore. They had to leave so I met up with some exchange students, Monica and Melanie, and we, well I can’t remember exactly what we did, but I do remember getting Ben and Jerry’s, although I was pretty upset they didn’t have Phish food. That night I went to a party with some kids in my Français class that I have with the Premieres (aka Juniors). We listened to metal, they smoked illegal substances, and we laughed a lot.

I went and saw L’île aux tresors on Wednesday (Treasure Island) which is a French movie based on the book, and I came to realize French movies based on English books aren’t very good.

This weekend was grrrrreat like Frosted Flakes. Andrew and I hung out again. We made some food at his place then went to a party chez Tina (girl from church/AUP).

I’d like to preliminarily thank Rotary, Bokoff Kaplan, and Facebook for Saturday. A couple of weeks ago, a Rotary exchange student who is near Marseilles, who I met on the plane coming to France, sent me a Facebook message saying she was going to be in Paris and that her parents wanted to take me out to lunch. Obviously, I said yes. It was amazing to see her and talk to her, as I’ve said a billion times, exchange students have these weird connections and so get along swimmingly without problem. Her host parents are also some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. This statement is demonstrated by the fact that they first invited me, a random person they’ve never met before to lunch, which they paid for, then paid for me to come to the Louvre with them, then paid for my drink with them at a café after, then told me they would write a letter to my Rotary if I ever wanted to spend a weekend in the Midi. It was an amazing time, thanks Allie!

Afterwards, I met up with Victor, where we proceeded to buy some ridiculously expensive tickets to a movie (as the theatre decided it was way to cool to take our bus passes, that usually give us discounts, because it was Saturday), then ran quickly to get some MacDo, and ran back to get a seat in the theatre. We got back a little later than we wanted too, and the theatre was a little smaller then we expected, so we ended up having to sit in the front row. I’m just glad the movie was in English (it was The Illusionist, which I really liked) or else I would have destroyed my eyesight trying to read the subtitles and seeing what was happening on the screen. It being a beautiful night, we decided to go for a walk along the Seine. I think I’ve said this numerous times, but I’m so thankful to have him as a friend. He is one of the most genuinely kind people I’ve ever met, and our conversations flow so smoothly. We just talked, sat by the Seine drinking beer, and walked. It was amazing.

I told myself Sunday was going to be a kick-it day because I was going to watch the Super Bowl that night, but laying around all day seemed less attractive then at first thought, and since it was the first Sunday of the month (and thus all museums free) I couldn’t justify staying at home. Oh, and it was gorgeous weather outside (completely opposite of today, where it SNOWED!). But I went to the Musée de l’Orangerie, the impressionist museum, which was cool, but I had to wait in like for like 30 minutes…BOO. Afterwards it was still beautiful out so I went and sat in a chair by the fountain in the Tuileries garden (the one by the Louvre), stared at the stars, and had some self-reflexion time.

After my self-reflexion time was Home Group, where we made Taco Salad and had a great discussion about Sin. Justin took me out to coffee afterwards (before the game started) and we had a great talk. Then we returned to the apartment for the big game, where 4 other guys from church came over to watch. Despite not having commercials, being humorously commentated in French, not being able to cheer (not that I cared about the teams anyways) because of a newborn baby sleeping, and the fact that the game ended at 4:30 AM and I had to be to school by 8, it was amazing. There’s something comforting and American about watching football that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (or maybe that was the beer I had). I somehow managed to get up in the morning and not fall asleep at school through the help of caffeine. To counter my 3 hours of sleep the night before, I went to bed at 8:30 that night. Oh man that felt good.

I am 19 tomorrow.

Brent

oh, and if you want to see pictures from

a. the muddy football game, as I heard the link didn't work...go here

b. random pictures from christmas break till now...go here

Mud

After several failed plans of playing American football with guys from Vintage, this last Sunday we got our act together and met up to play in front of Les Invalides in Paris. There were 10 guys: 5 Americans, 2 Frenchmen, a German, an Australian, and a Kiwi, all joined together to play America’s vulgarization of ‘real football.’ As luck, fate, or God, would have it, it began raining basically the second we started explaining the rules. It rained quite hard. The French “football” players on the other grass fields at Les Invalides left when the rain started, but we, as hardcore as we were/are, stayed. What took place constitutes the greatest hour or two of fun I’ve had since I’ve been in Paris. I was either smiling or laughing out-loud the entire time. There’s something about the combined effects of having no traction whatsoever, not really being able to feel your hands, falling every time you start to move, and being completely soaked in water and mud that takes a friendly game of football from fun to ridicu-fun. After a good amount of time playing football, and a short banana break, we turned the tables on the Americans and switched to playing Rugby.

Obviously, playing rugby favored the French guy who played for Harvard, the other French guy who played a pretty high level club rugby, and those from the southern hemisphere (Paul and Garth) who, although never playing on teams, played it at school like we play football or baseball. Rugby is amazingly tiring. It’s also tiring on my brain when I constantly have to tell myself to stay behind the ball as opposed to in front of it. No matter my problems with the strategy or flow of the game, Rugby was just as fun as football, if not more, as it was full contact (we just played flag football, but even that was basically full contact, as there’s no way you can really stop forward movement in the wet mud). Also, by the time we started playing Rugby, we had in effect completely destroyed the field we were playing on. There was no grass to be seen. I’m glad the cops didn’t come by, although we could always claim ignorance and say that we neither saw nor comprehended the sign that said “no ball games on the grass.”

We were the center of every passer-by’s attention. People came up on the grass and took pictures of us. Every person that passed by stared at us thinking “what in the name of Jacques Chirac is going on over here.” My favorite was when the Open Tour bus passed by with tourists all on the seats on top, and they cheered for us.

After we had worn ourselves out completely, I was in the predicament of “what do I do with my mud-caked body/clothes before I go to a birthday party in a few hours.” I was without the option of returning home, as I didn’t see me waltzing into the apartment saying “heyyyyy host mom, you got some laundry to do, and here, while I’m at it, I’m going to track mud all over your floor” so I had to ask Andrew (good friend, English teacher) if I could shower at his house and if he would wash my clothes. Which he did, thanks Andrew!!

I went to the birthday party with no socks, wet shoes, and a wet jacket. I was cold. More so when I had to wait outside a metro station for about 40 minutes before all my friends got there. I could barely move most parts of my body. I was cold. I wanted to go home and sleep. So I did.
And that’s my story. My weeks been pretty good besides that, had a rotary lunch Sunday, grabbed a beer with Andrew Tuesday, saw the movie Bobby Wednesday with Leo (brazilian exchange student), and I highly recommend it. Yesterday I got my Christmas presents (finally) as my friend Nikki brought them from FoCo for me. Yay!

Also, today there was a revolution in my life. I realized my Professeur Principale (head teacher) doesn’t hate me. In our lab she was talking to people about what they were doing next year, about which Prepas they want to do (Math, Math/Physics, etc, the French higher education is really complicated), and I told her I was going to just take Chemistry, because it’s my favorite. She said she’s noticed that (obviously sarcastic) so I got to talk to her again about how I don’t understand because I’ve never really taken it etc, and she was like “ya since you don’t have the same base it’s probably like reading Chinese for you.” My head response was “Wait what, you are being understanding, where did that come from??!! Then I started talking to her about what I really was going to do next year, and kind of explained the American education system to her. She said, to my complete surprise, that she was going to give me her email so that I could fill her in from time to time on how I was doing. Wow. That’s all I can say. Things are looking up people. She doesn’t hate me.

The end.

Brent

if you want to look at the pictures of football and don't have facebook, go here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000375&l=4f9e0&id=1076310089

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

“You’re taking a vow of silence because of Friedrich Nietzche?”

So ya…school started again today. Hip hip hooray. That, mind you was said with sarcasm. Although, it wasn’t that awful, as I got out an hour early because the History class I joined before break was taking a test, so I didn’t have to go. Chaching. I’m basically just trying to relax and have fun with the time I have left. Not to say I’m going to start doing nothing in school, but I’m no longer going to spend time needlessly worrying about school. After all, school is not exactly the reason I’m here, so it shouldn’t exactly be the thing I spend my time creating ulcers in my stomach about. But enough about school…

The end of my vacation was great, well not ending my vacation, but the latter part…I think you get the picture. Let’s see, saw The Holiday with another exchange student Wednesday which was good but needed more Jack Black. Thursday…I got my haircut. I finally got around to going on the Bateux Mouches (the boat tours on the Seine) Friday when the people who I hung out last week came up from Bourges in central France. The boat tour was pretty good and informative, but semi-ridiculously cold sitting on top of the boat. The day was somewhat random, as we had to go meet an exchange student (Jim) who didn’t ride up with the other kids at a train station where he had been walking around for a couple hours as he forgot his cell phone charger and had to buy a new one so he could call us. Good work Jim. We then proceeded to eat, according to each individual’s taste requirement, Panini, Croque Monsieur, or a cold Hotdog, but the cold hotdog didn’t exactly get finished. Then we went on a somewhat random walk around Paris, as I didn’t have a map, but nonetheless it was a success. Then, me, Jim, and his friend Jon who had just come in from the States went and got some French onion soup on Montmartre at Jim’s bequest, well actually I just mooched some, but that’s besides the point. Anyways, Friday=Good.

Saturday=Also good. I went to this exposition on the history of Paris, then met up with an awesome guy named Taro from my church to see Little Miss Sunshine, which although it was the second time for me, was equally amazing as the first viewing. Then we got some Falafel in the Jewish Quarter, and to preempt questions by those who were with me last time in the Jewish Quarter, no, I didn’t get asked if I was Jewish this time. Maybe because it was the Sabbath and I was in a restaurant and not at temple. Who knows?

Yesterday I went to the Cluny Museum (The Museum for the Middle Ages) because it was the first Sunday of the month, and the museums are free. It is pretty massive, with an inordinate amount of stuff to look at, so much so that I somewhat got bored and tired by the end, but had to go anyways to get to home group, which was amazing, as usual. It’s actually called table group so I’m just going to call it that. But, table group was great, it kind of just turned into me and the two other guys that were there (Justin and Bjorn) just having a discussion about a lot of stuff while Jen (Justin’s wife) took care of the baby. I drank a lot of Orangina. Maybe too much. But, there is never too much Orangina.

Wow I wrote a lot more then I wanted to. Thanks for reading this far. You are a trooper.

I have 6 weeks of school till my first Bus Trip in France/Spain, which I’m uber excited about. Let’s just hope this 6 weeks is a wee bit less eventful then the last 7 I had at school.

Bisous,

Brent

How I Been Rollin’

Quick recap of my after-Christmas Christmas vacation so far.

Don’t worry, I’ve been putting off writing this, so it won’t be tooo long and in depth.

Last week was great. Wednesday I at dinner over at Paul’s house with his brother, two other Kiwi’s that were in town, and Garth the Australian. The dinner and company were great, but when cricket became the topic of discussion I felt probably more confused then I have since coming.

Thursday I hung out with Paul’s brother Jon-O, which was awesome. Got some lunch, went to the Picasso Museum, which I had been to before but was much better the second time, and talked over a beer.

Friday I ate dinner at Paul’s again, then went to a bar with him, Jon-O and some of his roommates, then went to a club with his roommates and Jon-O. Clubs are overrated. That’s all I have to say.

Saturday crashed at Paul’s house. Saw Babel, which was okay, don’t really know if I liked it or not.

Sunday aka New Year’s Eve, hung out with exchange students from Beauvais who were in town, Brittney and Chelsea, who are some of my favorite exchange student friends. We walked for-ever, but it was amazing nonetheless. Then that night I went over to Garth’s friend’s apartment and had New Year ’s Eve, which was fun. Went out and saw the Eiffel Tower at midnight, and was disappointed that there were no fireworks. Got home really late. So therefore slept until 4 in the afternoon Sunday. It’s 2007. Crazy talk that is.

Did nothing Sunday. Watched two movies. Laid around. Etc. Etc.

Today was grrrrrrreat. Wendi (who went to FCHS and is doing her exchange in the West of France) was here, so we walked around for a while (that seems to be a trend for me, as I believe this week has been the most walking I’ve done in a week outside of backpacking), which was awesome and it was great to see her and talk to her again. Then met up with some other exchange students who were in town, Zach and Jim, who I had met on the plane coming here, who were here with some friends from home. We ascended the Arc de Triomphe, walked, ate, caféd, and basically had an amazing time. They are coming back Friday, so I’m looking forward to another fun day à Paris.

“This life is all we are, so prepare your lonely hearts, you know it’s all you have, so breathe in”
-Number One Gun

Brent

Christmas Away from Home

It is finished. The event that every exchange student kind of hmm’s about before his exchange, saying “hmm, I wonder what Christmas is going to be like away from my family, in a new country, with strangers?” Mine, in fact, turned out to be great.

Great may not be the correct word to use though, but this whole experience has been so semi surreal, aka it hasn’t felt exactly like Christmas, and since nothing bad happened, I ate to my hearts content and didn’t start balling when I talked to my parents, I will say it was great. I say it didn’t feel like Christmas because it really didn’t. Probably because what I view as Christmas, the tradition and celebration that my family and I celebrate and remember each year, is really the only Christmas I know. Sure I know that around December each year lots of people put up Christmas lights and buy lots of presents, which didn’t change when I came here. But the real festivities that let me know it’s Christmas, with my family and my mom’s food and my friends, didn’t come with me this year. The reason for Christmas, Christ’s birth, was still celebrated, but it didn’t feel like it was supposed to, as it didn’t feel like what I was used to. Welp, here’s to growing up.

Now, after my meager attempt at philosophical wanderings, onto the concrete, what I actually did for Christmas, or more specifically, the weekend surrounding Christmas.

Saturday night I went over to Paul’s house (this is the final time I’m explaining who he is, the Kiwi, from the church, who went on a rotary exchange 9 years ago) because his brother just came in, who is my age. We drank some good Trappist beer and talked for a while, and then in true French fashion, Paul, his brother John-O, Garth (Australian) and Danielle (Paul’s girlfriend) left to eat at around 9:30. We went to a pretty typical French restaurant where I had duck, mmm I love duck. We had a great time talking over the funny live French acoustic musician and inhaling loads of smoke. That in fact isn’t sarcastic, we did have a great time. I will probably be hanging out with Paul’s brother more over break, as he is my age and Paul will be working. He is really cool so it should work out pretty nicely.

Christmas eve I met up with Victor and his brother and sister while they were finishing up some last minute shopping. They are really nice, and we went to a café for a long time talking over vin chaud (also known as gluhwine or mulledwine) and spiced beer for Christmas. I made it home just in time to throw on my suit and speedily walk to the Church where we were attending mass. I walk by it all the time when I go to the closest metro, and I had never peeked inside, but the inside is beautifully designed with whitewashed walls and tall arches, so it was a good place to have Christmas eve mass. It was the “kids service” so the kids sang a lot of songs. I tried really hard to pay attention but it’s hard when there’s a large mass of stone blocking your view of the priest and there are tons of people around. I enjoyed it, but I prefer a little calmer service like at Discovery. I then proceeded to the apartment where I ate one of the biggest meals of my life. First though we drank champagne (Cristal to be exact, aka 150 Euro bottle) and opened presents. Crazy Europeans decided they would do that on Christmas eve, but I think it makes it lose some of the charm, not really having to wait and kind of just opening them all at once and eating. But the food was amazing. We had coquilles saint-jacques (seafood in shells, I don’t really know how to explain it), followed by chapon (basically a big, good, chicken) with stuffing, potatoes with I think walnuts or something of the sort, then a enormous amount of cheese of all types, topped off by an excessively rich raspberry cake that I had helped my host mom make earlier in the day. Coupled with all the wine I drank, saying I slept well would be an understatement.

For Christmas lunch we went over to my host grandparent’s apartment (who I forgot to mention ate with us on Christmas eve) to have probably the most filling meal of my life. My host mom is from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France (so basically Germany), and therefore she made the traditional alsacian dish of sauerkraut topped with sausages, salami, and smoked meat. All of this is put on a gigantic platter then brought out and put on a heating pad, so it stays nice and warm for seconds and thirds. Definitely one of my favorite dishes, ever. Along with the meal we drank amazing wine, starting with wine from Alsace (which is sweeter white wine) then moving along to a 1988 bottle from Bordeaux and a 1975 bottle from Bourgogne (the wine, as my host grandpa explained to me, was Napoleon’s favorite, and he never went anywhere without a bottle). Against all odds, the meal only got better, because the cheese we ate was Muenster (my hands down, favorite cheese, and no not “muenster” like you get at Safeway, but real honest to goodness Muenster) and the dessert was bûche de noël (a ice cream type log cake) and little éclairs, all washed down with lovely expresso. I honestly didn’t consider moving after we ate. Alas my resolve was not strong enough, as later in the evening I went to see James Bond with my host family. Afterwards we went to this fancy pants restaurant type place and grabbed a drink, where I had Bailey’s, yummy. And that was the end of Christmas.

Today I got up around 8 to get ready to go to Disneyland Paris/go look for my package. Turns out my package never found it’s way to the post office like the nice lady on the telephone said it would, so I still do not have my Christmas presents from my parents L. Although my day made up for the disappointment in the morning, as Disneyland Paris was extremely fun but extremely cold. It was for the birthday of my friend Guillaume’s girlfriend Marine (who is also my friend), another couple I didn’t really know, and Victor. As Victor woke up late then forgot his wallet, I was left as the 5th wheel for the first while which was not that fun. When Victor came things started looking up, and the day turned out to be a success, with lots of rides ridden and lots of laughs had. I’m really glad I went, as the smile on my face in the pictures attest to.


Merry Christmas to you all!!

Brent

I read an amazing editorial about Christmas last night in the Wall Street Journal, which you can find here http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=65000827 , read it. That’s a command.

4 Months Woot Woot

Well I made it 4 months, despite the best efforts of my school, and couldn’t be happier. I’m just so content right now to be here, especially since Christmas vacation started today.

This last week was great. On Wednesday I went out to coffee with Nikki (who did an exchange to France a few years ago and just graduated from the American University in Paris) which was just as fun as the last time we had coffee. Some more criticizing the French took place, more recollections from high school (as she went to FCHS), and just an all around great discussion. Thanks Nikki!

There was a concert at my school Thursday, and Victor was singing a Jack Johnson song accompanied by another friend Julian on the guitar, so at lunch we went to Julian’s apartment to eat and for them to practice. I found my new favorite thing to buy at a French supermarket, which I will use often if I ever live in Paris without a nice host mom to cook me dinner, which are 2 croque monsieurs (grilled ham and cheese sandwiches) that are ready to fry on a poêle (pan), for less than 2 euros! They were surprisingly good and filling, although the ham inside was a bit cold, but that says more about my lack of cooking abilities than anything else. Regardless, they were amazing. That night they played at the concert, which was really fun, as there were all types of music that were played, from their acoustic guitar stuff to jazz piano to “afrostralian” music with a djembe and dijoridoos (sp?). Afterwards about 5 of us went to a café, which was fun, although my coat then reeked of smoke, as French café filled with people=smoke chamber. But after we had a semi-Christmas dinner with my host mom’s aunt and uncle where we ate things that I don’t know the name of but were good. Being French, the dinner lasted for 2 hours, so I was a little bloated/tired by the end.

Last night as well was superb. Victor and I just chilled at one of his friend’s house Eva, who went to school with him before he switched schools. I ate way too much spaghetti as her brother served me a ridiculous amount because the noodles were all stuck together, but it was fun to just hang out at someone’s house without feeling awkward, and I learned lots of fun French slang, not all of which is appropriate.

Overall, I’m doing great, although through the coordinated efforts of the French postal service and myself, the package my parents sent bearing my 3 normal Christmas gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, was not delivered/picked up, so I will be receiving my presents hopefully Tuesday as a Boxing Day present.

Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve and it doesn’t feel like it at all. Maybe because we don’t have a tree up or anything representing Christmas at all, or maybe it’s because there’s no snow, or maybe just because my Grandma’s not at my house constantly baking mouthwatering goodness (well she is doing that, just not at my current residence).

But spend time with your families, eat to your hearts content, drink lots of sparkling apple cider, and be thankful for what God has given you, and what he gave us in the form of His Son. Enjoy this time; love and appreciate those around you, as you’ll never know how much they mean until they (or you) are gone.

Joyeux Noël,

Brent

 

Hey errrrbody.

If you want to see some pictures from 2 weekends ago/some artsy pictures i've taken/jacked with go here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000259&l=40446&id=1076310089

and here

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000293&l=39c10&id=1076310089

enjoy! 

Best Week Ever

Okay, maybe that’s an overstatement, but I did have a pretty great week.

I got put in some new classes with the Premieres (Junior year) which I like a lot. I have two more hours of history/geography on Mondays with the teacher I really like, but last Monday we only ended up having one hour. This was because my teacher went to a union meeting about a strike that took place today during the second hour of class, which was ironic because we spent the first hour debating the pros/cons of striking. Oooh the French…

The weekdays went by without much drama or incident, which was relieving. Friday was a great end to the week, as me, Victor and Gabriel went to a pub, had a pint, and saw Casino Royale. In the last couple weeks I’ve really been feeling my spoken French improve a lot, as it becomes easier to speak with ease without concentrating on each word I want to say. I then went to a party for an hour or so at this guy’s apartment from my church, wasn’t too exciting and I was tired so I left.

A sound I’ve learned to detest woke me up Saturday morning to remind me that I had to play handball for two hours. My abs and legs still hurt. That night there was a White Elephant gift exchange with the church (well not exactly white elephant, as the gifts were between 10-15 Euros). As I’m accustomed to White Elephant=Useless gifts, I made the solid purchase of a Czech-French dictionary as my present, and started to feel bad for whoever was going to get my present as presents were unwrapped such as coffee cups, automatic wine openers, etc. But all turned out well in the end, as I was not stabbed or wounded for bringing said gift, and I came home with Martini, so I think I came out ahead in the end.

I finally stopped putting off visiting the Eiffel tower on Sunday. I took a nice walk and some fun artsy pictures. Also, there was this big market right below the tower that was selling produce from regions all over France, so I took advantage (profiter as the French say) of many free samples of wine, beer, and cheese. I parted with 2 bottles of wine headed for an extremely enjoyable home group, where we all pitched in and cooked scrumptious Jamie Oliver Risotto (I was on chopping mozzarella/celery duty, along with figuring out how to properly cut chicken and feeling like an inadequate human being) and had a predictably amazing conversation.

Today many (but unfortunately not all) French teachers were on strike, so I only had school from 10-12. After my 2 hours of math that felt more like 3, some friends and I ate and then went to a movie.

Life is good. Christmas vacation starts Saturday. Therefore 2 weeks of goodness (although I’m not going with Rick on the “supervacation” because his Rotary won’t let him). My math teacher was talking today about how we’re basically halfway through the school year, which makes me happy and sad because A) school gets annoying but B) I am just starting to really enjoy myself here. But nevertheless, 2 weeks of vacation, then a month and a half of school, then my first bus trip in France/Spain for a week. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. I’m so glad I did this and so glad I didn’t get sent home. I’ve already experienced so much that many people never get to do, and still have many more adventures to come.

I love you all. Thanks so much for your support and prayers.

Bisous,

Brent