installer! (presque)

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J'arrive!

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Paris, je t'ehhh......you're alright

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Old Ming, New Mission

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29 September 2012

installer! (presque)

PRAISE EVERYTHING HOLY After 6 days and 8 apartment visits, I have FINALLY found myself a place to live!!! 



No more are the days of staring lustingly at espresso cups and home decor waiting until I had a reason to purchase them!

FREE are my sweaters, pants, and t-shirts adorned with profanities from the confines of their vacuum-sealed prisions (FUCK SWAG, that means you!)!

No longer am I threatened by the potential of leading the  bleak life of a gypsy!

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25 September 2012

J'arrive!

I have finally arrived in Angers and am LOVING it thus far!

 Sunday night I took the TGV from Paris to Angers, which was WONDERFUL primarily because I knew it was the last time I would have to carry 100+ pounds of luggage toute seule. My couchsurfing hosts met me at the gare which I was SO grateful for, and they really have been such incredible hosts this whole time. 

 I keep thinking back t0 my vacation in Nice last spring, when two other American girls from my program (Bailey and Michelle) and I decided (and by that, I mean it was circumstantially forced upon us because we were all broke as a JOKE by that point in the semester...) to couchsurf instead of stay in a hostel. We were all a little weary about the idea but decided that between the three of us we could pretty much handle anything.  My favorite part about the whole ordeal was that along the way we had somehow come up with the motto "This is either going to be the greatest experience of our lives....or we're going to die" and just went with it. That kind of 'all-or-nothing' attitude made it by far one of the best vacations I have ever been on.  
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23 September 2012

Paris, je t'ehhh......you're alright

          I have officially arrived in Paris and am closing up what has been the longest 72 hours of my life thus far. I cannot believe that a mere 3 days ago I was throwing my bags in my car and running off to O'Hare, not sure if I would make it to France!  Luckily, after a flight to Detroit and 5 hour layover in one of the greatest airports I have ever been in (ACTUALLY...not kidding. It was impressive.), then a minor heart attck after misplacing my Grandma's ring and then a subsequent full-on heart attack after being the only person left on the standby list, I not only made it onto the flight, but got into first class, which, needless to say, was SWAG.  Ollie the Otter enjoyed the life of luxury as well, although his presence during my naptime made me painfully aware how out of place I was.  Although.....my plane buddy ordered the cheese plate for dessert and ONLY ate the cheddar so I pretty much just called it even on the 'embarassing things to do in first class' front right there.

          So after like 18 hours of traveling (which was actually 25 if you count the time change, which I do because it sounds more impressive......) I landed safely in the Charles de Gaulle airport and, after pacing back and forth a couple of times, finally resorted to asking for directions (in French) with a clear and follow-able response (in French).  I was so happy that the woman didn't have to ask me to repeat anything or answer in English, and it gave me just enough confidence to be able to make the whole trek into Paris by myself sans iPhone or phone in general. After getting into Paris, I dodged all the haters on the metro who apparently did not enjoy my oversized hot pink duffel bag (courtesy of the one and only Eileen O'Connor) and eventually made it to Alex's friend Adib's apartment. Adib was wonderful and got a café with me to help keep me awake, which I did!! (until about 8 pm at which point I passed out for 14 hours).
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Location: 14e Arrondissement, Paris, France

19 September 2012

Old Ming, New Mission


 Well here I am again. I have tried to re-start this blog multiple times but I don't really know how to introduce what I'm doing or even know what I want to say, but I feel the need to write something now to get myself motivated to keep this blog for the next seven months.  I don't really feel like discussing what coincidence/act of God led me to this place in my life, nor do I feel like anyone wants to hear me retell the last year and half of my life post-Grenoble/pre-Angers, so I will just proceed with my goal list segue that I thought was pertinent and relatively amusing.

As I was packing yesterday, I ran across my school supplies from when I studied in Grenoble, and therefore also found.....MY GOAL LIST.  My goal list for Grenoble is kind of funny to me because I'm not usually one to lay out specific goals for myself.  I'm not entirely sure why I felt so inspired to start one when I was leaving for France but.... ANYWHO, as you can imagine, not many of these got accomplished, but here they are:
              
                1. Ride on the back of a Moped
.....REALLY? This was my NUMBER ONE goal?!  I think in my fantastical little mind I was picturing myself as a brunette version of Lizzie riding around Rome clutching to my wonderfully semi incognito Paolo (if you don't get this reference, you don't deserve to be my friend). Needless to say, it didn't happen, and therefore will remain on my list.

                2. Have a dream in French
I've heard before that if you have a dream in a foreign language, that means you'll never lose your ability to speak it. Well, about halfway through my semester in Grenoble, I DID have a dream in French.  Unfortunately, the dream entailed my host mother calling me stupid but ERRONEOUS.....I understood it. ACCOMPLISHED.

               3. Kiss a French man
Although I'm a little hesitant to call anyone around my age a "man".......ACCOMPLISHED.

               4. Be classicly "French" somewhere (wear a beret, hold a baguette, smoke a cigarette)
What was I even going for with this? Not accomplished.

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