December 16th

Waking up early is a pain, recall that I become a demon child when the sun rises, but today it wasn't so bad. I really wanted to just return home, yes home, to Le Havre. I love Paris and I enjoy travelling, however I also enjoy being a lazy sloth on Sundays. Good news is that I would be able to sloth away in the afternoon. Bad news is that the train for Le Havre left at 8:40 am. We made it, don't worry. I just hate doing anything before noon is all. Ha, MareBear problems. At least Kate and I enjoyed a coffee from Starbucks before we left. She had a holiday salted caramel thing and I had a basic latte. I also had an encounter with a homeless bum. There I was, innocently sitting in Starbucks waiting for Kate to return from the bathrooms with sleaze bag decided to enter the café. He went up to a few parties of people and begged for some money. He then thought he'd try his luck with me. Dumbass. I used to work at convenience store and a handful of my customers were Iowa City bums. Why would I give anyone tax free money so that they could buy booze or cigarettes? Simple, I wouldn't and I don't. I instinctively clutched my purse when he slunked over to my area, natural reaction. One never knows what a desperate person might do. This one decided to call me and a girl to my left a couple of selfish bitches. He said that it would be our fault if he died of hunger later that night. First, you're mean. Second, you're still a dumbass. The girl turned to me after slimy slithered out of Starbucks empty-handed and said, "he's terrible." I agreed, but gave her a smile. Sometimes there's nothing you can do if someone decides to be a jerk like that except stand your ground, let the moment pass, and smile that it's over. Audience, I realize the man looks to be in a horrible situation and he probably is. But that's his situation in which he should take proper means to solve of which begging is not a part. No, bums have none of my sympathy because they've given up on being functioning humans. Of course I'd sing otherwise if I were a part of their choir, but I'm not. So audience, in my defense I did the correct thing. Also I am too cheap to part with a euro. The train ride back was wonderful, so peaceful and Panic! filled. I realize how odd that sounds, but Panic! At The Disco songs invoke both happiness and a clear state of mind in me. I often listen to The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel when I travel, but today I was in the mood for Brendon Urie. He did not disappoint my eardrums. The rest of the day was spent writing blogs, editing chapters, creating packing lists, slothing in the docks, and even cleaning dishes. What a misadventure, what a fun misadventure.

December 15th

I coughed up a storm last night, sad. I woke up on time and was ready to go at 8:40 am, good. Kate and I made it on our train with no problems, very good. We arrived in Paris had some sushi at Galerie Lafayette, aw yeah. We then hopped on the metro lines to the Eiffel Tower for their Christmas market, great. After some hot spiced wine we found Jonathan, kick ass. Then the day started. Due to length of this blog I am going to crunch it into chunks for clear and concise consumption. C's rock, here we go!

Morning/Day. Kate, Jonathan, and I, the current "we", took several pictures around and of the Eiffel Tower. I'm never sure why we always do this, but somehow the Eiffel Tower has to be the backdrop of tons of photos when we're in Paris together. It was a lot fun, especially for Kate. Jonathan happened to bring his nice, and by nice I mean expensive, camera with him this time and allowed Kate to use it. She snapped probably over twenty pictures, that might be an understatement, in the Eiffel Tower area alone of both Jonathan and me, though mostly Jonathan. She was like a kid on the first day of summer, just running around with giddy giggling glee and fancy camera. Besides pictures we did actually browse the markets. I found, and am proud of this, a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a frog. I have a feeling the reason I bought it was because of my subconscious love of frogs or frog-like creatures. Namely bulbasaur. Remember when I was sleep deprived after pulling an all-nighter for a French essay? I drew a frog/baby bulbasaur on my arm for no apparent reason besides the fact that I wanted it there. Well this cookie stood out to me and I felt an uncontrollable need to have it. It was without a doubt my best purchase of the day.

Afternoon. We, still the troublesome trio of Anglos, moved on to another area of Paris. Notre Dame. Every time I look at that building I flush in the face. I cannot help myself, I'm just in love with the place. How I always wish that I could time travel to when it was solely a cathedral and not a tourist trap. Back when it was sanctuary with all of its glorious bells ringing in the towers. Sigh, I'm only able to visit that Notre Dame in my dreams. At least I can gaze upon the real thing. Luckily for us there was a market right by Notre Dame. I picked up some final Christmas gifts for my slew of chums back in the States and admired some of the various merchandise. My favorite stand was one that sold garters. That's right, a garter stand. And they were expensive too! Twenty euros for a garter, pretty steep guys. Although, these garters were by far the most eccentric, exciting, and elegant that I have ever seen. I've been garter shopping before, prom happened for me audience. These were definitely wedding class with all their lace and ribbons. Too much for prom, a least my prom. Truth be told I didn't spend more than five dollars on the garter that I wore for prom; two reasons, it was prom and my date wasn't worth that expense. Ouch, I'm cruel. Moving back to the present, now. That wasn't the only "interesting" stand at the Notre Dame market. Right next to the garter shop was a corset booth. Ah France you are funny. Little children running around with candy in hand and Christmas in heart and you still sell sexy lingerie that has nothing to do with the season as though it were part of the holiday spirit. This is why you amuse me France, this is why.

Late Afternoon. Worst part about this section of the hemisphere, sunshine in the morning with heavy rain hours later. Great. Ah well, water won't hurt a handsome man or something like that. Sadly our little group had moved on to the Odéon area in the hopes of seeing the Luxemburg gardens. The sad part is that the gardens now close at 4:30 pm due to sunset being earlier. We arrived at the gates right as the clock chimed 4:32 pm. Crap. We decided that we would just head over to the designated restaurant for dinner, we were hungry after a day of market browsing, but were stopped by a text message. You see audience, the plan for today was to meet Paula in Paris. She had arrived in Paris the night before and stayed with a French friend overnight. Kate and I had presumed that Paula would be spending the day with us at the markets, we presumed wrong. She slept in until around one, and became ready around three, informing us at 4:37 pm that she will meet us for dinner at 6:00 pm. Would've been fine, sept for the location. You see the restaurant that we were going to eat at has two locations in Paris. We were close to one, she was close to the other. Guess which one we ended up at? Yeah the other which turned out to be a pain in the ass to go to since the Metro decided to clog itself with people. I must say, although harsh it is hilarious to see people squish onto the subway at the very last second only to have their hand caught in the automatic door. Harsh, of course, but slapstick hilarious.

Evening. We made it to the restaurant, which is in the red-light region of Pigalle Paris, at 6:23 pm. We rushed too, but it was alright. Paula wasn't there yet, and would be about twenty minutes late from our arrival giving us some time to settle down. The name of the restaurant was The Indiana Café. No audience, it was not decked out in IU hosier attire or Cults banners. Rather it had pictures and trinkets of Native Americans to appeal to its southwest style. And the French think that we're stupid. Well we are, not all the time but America we fluke a lot especially with other cultures. However, France flukes just as bad if not worse. You need only to look at a map of the United States to see that the state Indiana is nowhere near the southwest badlands; it is Midwest farms filled with hosiers. Plus let's tack on the fact that there aren't any Indians, sorry Native Americans, in the state of Indiana. No reservations, no tribes, no prominent Indian history. True that the name of the state is derived from the word "Indian", but so are almost all the others. Illinois is an Indian rooted name, apparently it’s the French version of an Algonquin Indian word for "warriors" or "tribe of superior men. Indiana along with many states had its name coined from what the old tribes described the land as. Yes Indians lived all over the states back in the day, but the idea of southwest Indian tribes that hunted bison and had guerilla styled battles with cowboys is nowhere near Indiana. This restaurant in short, completely rules. The food is fantastic, they have that down fine. I had a very American and very "uncouth" dish as my dinner, barbecue ribs and wings with potato wedges and coleslaw. Hell yeah. Jonathan said something along the lines of, "your dinner is bigger than you are!" I of course laughed at this and devoured my meal, all of it. Paula made it before I finished my meal and commented on how well suited it was for me. Yay the "we" has finally turned into four! It was good to see her and her reaction to the restaurant. Pretty confident that she loved it, yeah confident. After my amazing meal I had a lightish dessert of hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. That also kicked ass, but not as much as my meal. Why? Well hot chocolate and cream are two things France does very well. It's no surprise that the hot chocolate was wonderful, thus not as kickin'. Pictures were taken, menus were stolen, and hands were scrubbed clean. Second best meal of the semester*, and it wasn't even French.

Late Evening. Ok, here's where we, and by we I mean me, screwed up. So the plan was to spend the day in Paris and take a train back to Le Havre the same night. I had thought that there was a later train than 8:20 pm that left St. Lazare for Le Havre. I thought wrong. Yeah, I really screwed that one. You see audience I made the mistake of reading the arrival board rather than the departure board. Sure there were trains from Le Havre arriving in Paris after 8:20 pm, but none of them were going back until the morning. Crap! Paula, Kate, and Jonathan somewhat freaked out in their own ways. Paula called her French friend to see if she had a solution, Kate stood silently in shock, and Jonathan leaned on the railing with a frown on his face. Internally the word "fuck" was going through their minds. What did I do? What was my reaction? I went to the bathroom, call of nature and whatnot. I actually was very calm in the situation, the word fuck only went through my mind maybe six times which is low for bad situations. I decided to call my parents and tell them what happened because I was going to rent a room for Kate and me in Paris for the night. After explaining what happened to my mother she gladly told me that staying in a hotel was fine, no issue. Sweet, that was resolved quickly. I told the group the good news and everyone did a sigh. The only snag was where we were going to stay. Jonathan assisted with that one. Not too long ago he stayed in a hotel in Nation called Hotel Cosy that was both reasonably priced and rather nice. Again, sweet that was solved rapidly. Unfortunately every situation, even when fixed, has its somber sides. Kate wasn't feeling too hot, possibly from dinner or the amount of cotton candy that she had eaten earlier, and need to reach a bed for some R&R. Thus we, now back to the three, all said goodbye to dear Paula before departing for Nation. We made it to the hotel in due time and had Kate in bed soon after check-in. The beds at Hotel Cosy are amazing. My opinion of mattresses is skewed due to the sheer awfulness of my bed in Le Havre, regardless these beds were plush and flexible. Finally I will have a good night’s sleep, it's been too long. However, I didn't go to bed right away, oh no. It was too early and I was thirsty. Time for a fruity drink.

Night. Once Kate was settled in the room, which was equipped with twin beds, Jonathan and I left to go have a drink. Fortunately Hotel Cosy has Café Cosy right next door, easy access and easy return. Good work guys. Normally I'd have a beer or a basic vodka and coke, but I was feeling American that night. Thus Pina Colada was served to me. Jonathan's face when I ordered it, totally priceless. Hey, we all have our moments when we just want a taste of home. I was concerned when the drink arrived for it had a glow stick in it. Yes the glow stick was sealed and yes I wasn't poisoned. But it's still a tube with toxic chemicals floating in my Pina Colada. A bit uncertain if you ask me. Besides the poison stick that loves to illuminate the world with its green presence, I enjoyed Café Cosy. Jonathan and I, the writing prudes that we are, discussed literature over our drinks. I know, how dull of us. But why do you care audience? You weren't forced to sit in on our dialogue exchanges, only forced to read my sentences recalling the event. I'm glad I have a nerdy/remarkable friend like Jonathan; it makes grammar, book, and blog chats both mutually interesting and entertaining. True friendship right there.

Sleep. Although I coughed throughout a good chunk of the night, definitely best sleep of the semester. Yeah, our dorm beds suck that much. Tis all audience!

*The best meal was the dinner that Madame Racadot cooked for me.

December 14th

Aight it's Friday, and it totally blows. Why? Because I'm still sick damnit! Man audience, you need to lay back on the question asking. Truth be told, about this Friday not you, it was only the morning that sucked. In the afternoon, when I finally woke up, I received a call from Kate. She wanted to know if I needed anything since she was out on Cours de la Republique. Normally I would have politely refused due to my nature of not wanting to be nurtured by those I consider equals. It's not that I don't appreciate favors and proposals, it is just my pride as a Scale* to refuse coddling. But, this wasn't a "normally" situation. I was sick, very sick with a probable upper respitory infection. Thus, I said sure to Kate's kind offer, plus I was running out of orange juice. She bought me a fresh bottle of orange juice, pulp included of course, and a hot Rome panini. I had not eaten all day, another thing gear grinder, and sick MareBear needed some sustenance. I love Rome paninis, but this one was like eating a sandwich coated in angel dust. So delicious, so fantastically delicious. After I scarfed my panini down, followed by a mug of orange juice, Kate and I watched some films. I guess that's what you do on a sick day with a friend, watch Anglo movies with French subtitles. In total we saw three flicks; Where the Truth Lies, Mother and Child, and The Deep Blue Sea. I liked Where the Truth Lies the best out of the three, Kate preferred Mother Child. I enjoy dramas such as Mother and Child, it was a great film, but I can't watch them again. Dramas to me are best viewed once, at least sad dramas that take place in a universe of realism. Why do I say this? Well one of my favorite movies, A.I., is a drama but also a sci-fi. It has the special effects, humor moments, and small dosage of action shots; aka it is not a typical drama. I don't know why I don't enjoy "regular" dramas a second time around, but I often find myself bored rather than interested. Now action or suspense films I love rewatching. Where the Truth Lies is a great suspense, in my opinion, and I will gladly rewatch it in the future. How was The Deep Blue Sea? Terrible in truth. It didn't have an interesting story-line  just consequences to an affair and pending divorce, and no character development. Sadly pretty actors are only a section of the basic equation of successful film making. The best scene in the entire film was when a man was singing "Molly Malone" during a sky bombing of London. It's such a classic song and the singer had a pure melodic voice. Yeah, it was the best scene. Once we were done watching movies Kate and I parted for some shut-eye. It is key that I am in better health tomorrow for we are returning to Paris for some more Christmas Market shopping. Sleep, please don't be riddled with coughing, again. Please?

*Ladders now and forever

December 13th

Phlegm is not supposed to have blood in it, ugh. Yup I am officially sick and it officially is a pain in the ass. Why? Well, sick children are allowed to stay home for fear of infecting their fellow elementary comrades. However, sick adult-children are not allowed to stay home and must attend classes regardless. What? The sick adult-children might spread disease to other college students? Nah, couldn't happen. Why? Simple, all the other college kids are also sick with some sort of virus. Pleasant environment no? Under the assistance of Dayquil I survived class today. There weren't many cogs turning in my brain, but such is my state when my fluids are mixed with spots of blood after coughing fits. I know, I am that attractive. Regardless of being under the weather, I was able to attend the international student event this evening. I wasn't especially energetic, but I did enjoy myself. This party was that of a pot-luck; many students brought different desserts from their countries in order to spread culinary culture. Paula and I bestowed an American classic upon the other foreign students, puppy chow. That's correct, we made puppy chow for everyone. Turns out, they loved it. Then again there are very few who don't enjoy Chex-like cereal covered in melted chocolate with dusted powdered sugar on top. Again, classic. Besides the puppy chow success, the rest of the party was relatively normal. Although, there was an unexpected entertainment that was performed to the delight of us students. Our teachers, more specifically Erich Martel and Michael Hauchecorne, were dancing among us. Oh boy, life is so good. Martel is apparently really into dancing which I must admit isn't too surprising; he is on the "who cares" fringe of life. Michael, or Mama Duck, was the real surprise. But hey, they were having fun and the rest of us were having fun taking pictures. Although at the moment my health is in question of being stable, it was a great night and worth the risk of increasing my decreasing well-being.

December 12th

Medieval history, why are you incredibly dull at times? Today's lesson was about the different structure styles of lord houses. Yippee, I can barely contain my excitement. At least I understand the lectures, though at this point for the sake of my brain tissues leaking from my ears I wish that I were deaf. Aight, that's a bit harsh, but we all have these moments. Mine happen to occur during lectures on middle aged architecture that is based upon the use of three wooden poles, literally. After class Paula and I swung by Mickey D's for some well-deserved sodas. I have a complaint though, heh what a surprise. My issue is the price of a medium coke in France. It is 2.20 euros which is about $2.80. Sure, that doesn't seem like a lot, well it wouldn't be a deal at all if the size were correct. I know that my country has an obesity problem, but let's put that thought on the back burner. If I pay about three dollars for a drink, it had better be about a half a pint's worth. This cup's volume is less than the American small. What the hell France?! I give you three bucks you give me a happy meal size. Well, as many classic characters have said throughout cartoon history, "get bent." Moving on from the overpriced drink issue. Ahem, the rest of my night was fun. I had a massive dinner of pasta, probably around three portions worth. I know, I'm reflecting my country's weight issues. To be fair I hadn't eaten anything else all day except for an apple sauce, breakfast on-the-go, and the medium coke, such a rip-off. I am allowed to gorge on spaghetti this one time. After my feast of noodles I joined a German-esk party hosted by my friend Natalie. She made all of us this spiced hot wine which tasted of Christmas and grapes. Delicious, simply ravishing. Pretty damn good. The party was nice and small, around ten people total, which made socializing far easier. It was a great ending to a somewhat flipped day.

December 11th

No more Littérature Comparée! Although it sucked last week, it feels awesome now. So glad that final is over, thank you literature classes you really came through for me. Oh yeah, the final exam system here is completely screwy. To give you an idea audience, most professors don't know when their final is let alone drafted a rough sketch of the test. It is fun experiencing these little surprises. Apparently for some literature classes, such as my two, they take their final exam before winter break during the class time since they actually have time to take it. Three hours should easily suffice for in-class essays. The rest of the departments wait until after winter break for their final exams, which by the way span about two-three weeks. Yeah kiddies, instead of one week of hell they have drawn it out here. I will take my 7:30 am finals over three weeks after break if it means one week before I go home for the holidays. Sadly France is never going to adopt the idea of final exams before Christmas break, not fully. This is, according to my awesome theory, due to the month of August. For France August is vacation month. Their entire economy revolves around this concept, literally towns shut down for that month since everyone is off somewhere. Their school semesters don't start until the middle of September in order to correspond with this vacation time. Thus in order to make the fall semester longer they hold exams after winter vacation, otherwise the semester would be even more crammed. Pity, but oh well. I only have to deal with this "after break" system one more time in life. That's right DGS*, I'm glaring at you. What else did I do today? Well I saw my adorable children of course. They were, as always, adorable. Actually Anne and I reviewed "the wish" in English. Oh goody, this sucks for French students. You see in French the wish or desire is often expressed using their Subjunctive tense. Guess what is no longer used in English? Rather we use a complex, two part, past form to express wishes. For example, first in French, je souhaite que tu ne sois pas un crétin. Translation, I wish you weren't a dumbass. Crude, crude Marebear. This non parallel drives French students, like Anne, crazy from frustration. Sorry buds, but we English speakers told subjunctive to kick it a long time ago. If it makes France feel any better, French subjunctive is bitch for us. I then returned to my dorm for some fish, spinach, and rice accompanied with Dead like Me. Maybe not the best show for digesting food, but it's better than a Jackass eating contest or almost any stunt performed by Stevo. Oh Johnny Knoxville, you rock my world.

*DGS was the high school that I attended in my former youth.

December 10th

Last civilization class. Man this sucks, or as Martel would say, "it sooks." Damnit why are all of my favorite classes finishing before my un-fun classes? Karma, you really don't like me sometimes. And here I thought that we were finally becoming friends. Although I'm sad, no crap, that civilization is now done it's not that depressing. Why? It turns out that I will have to take it along with language again second semester. No I didn't fail the classes, rather they are the only French as a foreign language courses offered by the university and I am supposed to take such courses each semester while I'm here. What this means is that I will have an easy ride in civilization and bitch of time in language. Again, you ask why audience? Well civilization is taught by Martel and language by Ardouin. Sigh, another semester with Ardouin, something I wasn't planning at all. I guess that worse things have happened in life, again no crap. It was a very mellow Monday otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, what is with me and the word "again" in this post, I'm not craving excitement. That usually bites me, and it's always hard. Adieu audience! 

December 9th

Today's blog will consist of eight sentences that will begin after the magic words "clam chowder" are shouted by someone. Why? Cause my fingers are dead from writing/formatting/uploading crap tons of blog posts! Tis all.

Nowells shouted, "Clam chowder!" before performing 40 oz to Freedom (This didn't actually happen).

I need new headphones for the plane ride home. Guess I'll buy some now, no time like the present? Hmmm where are the headphones...oh that looks about right. Let's go white this time, don't want to mix up the old with the new. DVDs, second floor I suppose...and bingo! PAL version, meh Rikki reads them fine. Horrible Bosses, seeing as I saw this film five times in the theater when it came out I assume that it is one of my favorites. I'll take it.

December 8th

Today was the day of the Paris Christmas Markets! I'll say this now, it was freakin' awesome!!!! Exclamation points to the max!!!!!!!!!!! Kate, Paula, and I grabbed the 9:11 am train, met our friend Jonathan at St. Lazare, and headed off to the La Défense Christmas market. I like that part of Paris, a lot actually. I could live there because it resembles a city. There are skyscrapers made of glass and steel. Not as beautiful as the Chicago skyline, obviously, but it was a refreshing view. The Christmas market also reminded me of Chicago because it looked like German fest. The only thing missing was a Vienna Beef hotdog stand. Sigh, home I will see you soon enough. Right now, it's shopping in Paris!!! The markets did not seem to end. They had such a variety of merchandise there literally everything from candles and ornaments to fast paced pitches for cooking  utensils. I nabbed some gifts for friends and family, but wasn't able to satisfy my quota. Luckily, I am again saying something in advance, our train tickets were not marked by the conductors. This allows us to use them again. We are going to use them again this upcoming Saturday to visit more markets. Today we only, and I say only loosely, explored two markets. They were just absolutely massive. The only flaw to the day was the fact that no one knows how to walk in a crowd. People, on crowded sidewalks it is necessary to form rivers; a stream East/North and a stream West/South. That ensures that traffic moves. Do not scuffle about at random paces. It makes Mary frustrated. That is always bad. Besides the ignorant crowds of people who clearly are not from cities screwing up the sidewalk paces, the day went smoothly. There was a wonderful highlight as well. Paula and I rode a huge Ferris wheel at the end of Champs-Elysée together. Paula had never been on a Ferris wheel before, what a first time. We were able to see so much of Paris during a sunset no less. It was breathtaking, literally breathtaking. I am just, I'm not sure, blissful? Yeah, blissful that we were able to do that together. Paris you aren't Chicago, but you're definitely a beautiful city.

P.S. All caught up on blogs suckers!!! Love, MareBear

December 7th

Today was my last day of Arthurian Literature. It made my so very sad. Unfortunately we had a pop-quiz, super, but apparently it was hard for the French students. Pretty sure that my professor will take it easy on me. I did try though, without a dictionary too. After the quiz was a lecture, then a speech, then a lecture. I understood the lectures close to perfectly. Not bad. The speech not as much, I followed bits but the students need to work on the monotone. In English I have trouble following robotic class speeches, they are just too dull. Still I felt a ping of sadness when my teacher wished us all a good winter break and luck on our final exams. She also spoke with me and asked how long I was staying in France. I told her probably July. She said that it was fantastic that I was staying and that she hopes I enjoy Le Havre. GAH! Now I'm sad. I really liked that class, it sucks that it's now over. Oh well, all good things must come to an end. That was the bittersweet part of my day. The following event was tragic. I cannot believe what I did, how stupid I was. Here I thought that everything would be fine, what could wrong? Well this must be karma or something biting me in the ass coupled with pure stupidity. My Blackhawks, I am so sorry. I gravel at your skates and kiss your blades in forgiveness. Believe me I didn't mean to dye my Blackhawks blanket pink! I thought that my red sheets would be fine with my red blanket, but I forgot one thing. Cheap sheets bleed color regardless of temperature. I am so so so SO very sorry. I still love my blanket, although it is now a light shade of pink. At least it wasn't my Toews jersey. Still, of all the colors, pink. Surely this is punishment enough for whatever bad deed that I committed. All I can do is look on the brightside. Crap, there really isn't one.

December 6th

Remember all those annoying doctor appointments I had earlier in the semester? Do you also remember how when I tried to finish the whole French insurance process they didn't have my medical certificate? Well I am happy to say audience that it is all over. That's right, it's over. I found a note on the schedule bulletin board reminding me to visit the student center at 9:00 am on December 6th, second floor (third floor in the States) of course. I was there, on the dot, and no one else was. Turns out that on the dot is early in France, I should've remembered that, so I was the first one in line. Sweet. The woman asked me to sit down and I did. Wow, how unexpected. I was nervous, afraid even, that my medical certificate was still somehow missing. Or that something else had possibly gone wrong. I had with me my medical folder that held all the results of my various exams. It was my proof that I had indeed gone to every appointment and was a healthy candidate for insurance. After ages of waiting, the woman had forgotten some supplies downstairs or something, she finally began the process. My file had my medical certificate. I had my passport and a photo. She had a sticker and stamp for my visa. I was done. This is a Rocky moment of life. Sweet victory, it's finally over. Score for Mary!!!

December 5th

I love hilarious moments. Today's hilarious moment was when Paula imitated Kirby during Medieval History TD. Some background information as to why this happened. It is becoming cold in Le Havre, such is the season of Winter. My black pea coat provides the right amount of insulation from the ocean winds that whip across the docks and the harbor. I'd say it is an appropriate coat; it keeps me warm and is fashionable. Paula doesn't have a particularly fashionable winter coat. It works, it keeps her toasty, but is obnoxious. Her coat is a fluffy marshmallow hot pink zip-up. I absolutely love it. She refers to it as her "Kirby coat". Now, who is Kirby? How can you not know audience? He is the most adorable pink puff ball of a video game character. Q-Bert isn't even as cute as Kirby. Kirby goes around Dreamland saving the day from various villains by absorbing enemies and copying their powers. For example if he swallows a Fire-Spit Kirby can breathe fire. He is completely rad. Well, during Medieval History I drew a small image of Kirby in my notebook during a student speech. It wasn't a bad drawing either. I tapped it and whisper to Paula, "Hey babe it's you." She smiled and then sucked in a bunch of air. A loud whistling noise occurred. I lost it, just lost it at my desk. Everyone looked at Paula and me, probably as though we were crazy, but I didn't care. I just had to let the laugh out. It was just hilarious. She tried to imitate the sound Kirby makes when he sucks up his enemies. It was possibly one of the happiest moments of France. Paula makes an adorable Kirby which makes Medieval History that much better.

December 4th

Ever have one of those days where the world just doesn't like you? I think this is my fourteenth one in 2012. Crap. Well what went wrong you ask audience? A whole lot. This morning was another in-class essay, however it was an in-class essay that I had forgotten about. Oops. I had a feeling that I would need my dictionaries so I brought them to class, just in case, and they save my ass. I had to write in French a rhetorical analysis between two different excerpt of text. Crap, crap, crap! I am pretty sure I didn't do that well. I tried, I did that. I tried my best to write and convey the similarities and differences between the styles of writing, character behaviors, and purposes of the authors between Pride and Prejudice and Letters Written from Lausanne. My teacher did provide the original text for Pride and Prejudice, aka English, but Letters Written from Lausanne was 100% French. Again, I tried. And to be fair I am a foreign student whose biggest barrier is language. The ideas are there, the words just aren't quite present. In English, I would've be a-ok, seriously I'm decent at rhetoric and symbolism crap. I just don't care about them is all. The second wave of the world dumping crap into my lap was the language quiz. If you recall audience I was not going to see the kids today because I had a quiz at the same time. I think I lost all of my French when I walked into that room. Nervousness is unfortunately something that bites me quite often. I studied a decent amount too, I just wasn't prepared for two things; passé simple and song lyrics. The passé simple is a French tense that I haven't studied extensively. Why? Well I have no purpose for it unless I want to write novels in French. Literally, that's the only time they use it, according to all my French professors. So when I had to conjugate it for an excerpt from Les Misérables, well it wasn't the prettiest. The other part, the song lyrics. What kind of jackass of a professor puts song lyrics on a quiz and expects his students to be able to fill in the blank areas? M. Ardouin. Dude, you're an idiot. How is knowing the lyrics to a song which we've heard twice testing our level of French understanding? Here's the answer, it isn't. Ardouin, we have a French civilization class taught by M. Martel, who is totally awesome. We don't need you to try, and fail, at culturing us in French during a language course. Your job is to teach grammar, try to stick with it. So yeah, that was my tumbling day of French exams. I am going home for some carrots and applesauce. Possibly some South Park as well.

December 3rd

My film presentation went alright. I believe that M. Martel enjoyed it, I was nervous as all hell, but it went smoothly enough. I spoke about the differences that I had found between French and American cinema. I focused on three genres, comedy, action, and drama, and discussed differences between two films in each category. However, I started the speech with a brief history of film. I really made it brief. It covered no genres, no Oscars, no Hitchcock, just major events that changed film. Film was born in France so I began with France. It then was rapidly adapted and changed in the States. I then switched to the Stars and Stripes. I actually showed the very first film made by the Lumière Brothers, the one when the train arrives at the station. It isn't much, but it's cute to show. After my history lesson I compared the various films. These were the pairings, as follows from drama to action to comedy; The Graduate and Paris Je T'aime, The Transporter and Batman the Dark Knight, Brice de Nice and Anchorman. I concluded that French films tended to lean towards artistic and moral beliefs, meaning characters have a change of heart and it ends in a better situation or at least a solved situation. American films do whatever the hell they want and have so much variety it is almost incomprehensible. My final slide said that regardless of what I found, if you really want to know just watch some films. Everyone clapped and I ran back to my desk. All is well that ends well with power points.

December 2nd

I bought the tickets! Yes I have the means to return home again. Again, sweet victory. Nothing much happened today. I lounged about, did some Reaver yoga, entertained with Youtube, and studied for my upcoming French quiz. I did some laundry, which was necessary, while I watched Rio Grande for the second time. I love classic western films, they just have this rustic charm to them. My favorite is Son of Paleface. It is more of a comedy than a western, but regardless it has cowboys, Indians, guns, and a damsel in distress. Paleface just has song and dance as well as a moose spitting gold. Sweet film I know. Speaking of films, tomorrow is finally my film presentation. I am nervous but more so anxious to have it done and over with. It is just too much waiting! I only have so much patience and with that presentation it has run dry. Oh well I suppose, just need time to pass. Wish me luck audience!

December 1st

Phone update, I have minutes again. It turns out that the Relay/Tabac store in the Le Havre train station sells Lycamobile minutes. How would you have that for luck? Best part is I just give them cash and they give me the voucher. No verified by visa crap. Although, I experienced some verified by visa and mastercard securecard issues today. They had nothing to do with my phone. Oh no. I was trying to buy train tickets for December 21st and January 4th. Why? Well those are the dates when I leave/return to the United States. I need to go to Paris in order to fly back home thus I need train tickets. I was trying to buy them online, like I have before, but wasn't able to because of verified by visa and mastercard securecard. Damnit all. I was nervous when I saw that the SNCF website was proud to have "these wonderful security programs" enable on their site. Sure enough, none of my cards went through. I am instead going to have to buy the tickets in person tomorrow. Fortunately I have the exact times that I want, this saves some of the process. I wasalso supposed to buy the train tickets to Paris for next Saturday for Paula, Kate, and myself. Why are we going to Paris? Christmas markets of course. It is a cultural experience that I am not missing out on. So no tickets today. I also has some issues with Skype. Sadly the internet at Les Docks blows ass when it comes to bandwidth. The video quality is next to none when I try to talk with family, namely Peter, on Skype. I need to find another site that uses more secure internet. The library would be great if it were the Iowa library aka open almost 24 hours a day with multiple levels and lounge areas where speaking is allowed. The Le Havre university library and public library close around seven each night and are silent libraries. Damnit. Next semester or maybe near the end of this one I will try to find a better wifi zone. 

November 30th

What's better than one lecture on Friday? Two lectures for the same class followed by an in-class essay in Medieval Literature! I thought I was going to die of starvation today. Not all the carrots in the universe could satisfy my howling stomach. Why was I so hungry? Well running late I sorta skipped breakfast and just grabbed a few carrots for lunch. Since my American Culture teacher decided that today we were going to make up our missed lecture, I wasn't able to have lunch. Why? Because it was from 12 to 1 audience!! I then had my in-class final exam essay in Arthurian Literature. That, well that was a fun one. I had two dictionaries with me; my French to English and my French. They were so useful. Not actually for looking up translations or definitions, but rather spelling. I wish on in-class essays in history and some English courses people were allowed to have a pocket dictionary. Obviously not on tests with vocabulary questions, but just on essay exams. When I am nervous as all hell, which I often am with tests, my spelling goes out the window. I already am not a strong speller, never have been, so I can't afford to lose anymore words. A dictionary would prevent that and give me more confidence on an exam. And none of this bullshit that you should always know how to spell a word regardless of the situation. Scientists forget formulas and are able to reference them any time they like. In fact, it is necessary that they do to insure that they are correct. Writers use dictionaries to ensure that not only are they using the word correctly in a sentence, but that they also have it spelled correctly. Spell checker is nice, but it flukes about 40% of the time. Therefore, I think that it is perfectly plausible to allow students a pocket dictionary on essay exams. Or at least have the option to use one. This is my request of the world. Please audience, won't you shake a lost speller's hand? The in-class essay went better than I thought it would. Of course mine was much shorter than the other student's, no surprise. But I am curious to know their level of English. Kids whom I believe to have decent English skills can't write worth crap. It's not just their vocabulary, that is forgivable since there are way too many words in every language, but their grammar is unruly. Here I thought I sucked in French. Compared to the average French student in English, I'm pretty good at French writing. My biggest mistakes are prepositions, and that will never quite leave me. Sadly prepositions are, in my opinion and Stev's* opinion, the hardest part to every language. After all, different word formations demand different directions or prepositions. It doesn't helps that the French have three different words for "in"; En, dans, and à are murder for me at times. Well despite my constant errors in French, I have improved some from the beginning of the year. Hey, maybe I will have some fluency by June/July. Fingers crossed audience. Now it is time for tacky reality TV. Laguna Beach, let's go Stephen!

*Stev is a TA at Iowa and was my first university French teacher.

P.S. He is French.

November 29th

The ISEP interviews, similar to those on Tuesday, continued and ended today. Kate joined me too. Although she isn't American, her program is Erasmus, it is useful for the French students to hear different accents. There are plenty of them in the states to worry about. Sadly these interviewees weren't so hot. All four of them hadn't travelled much outside of France and hadn't ever been away from their families for extended periods of time. Two of the girls still lived with their parents in Le Havre. Mama Duck, Michael Hauchecorne my coordinator, and I told them that Erasmus, the European program, might be a better option since they would still be close to their home and could participate in the program over the summer break. The last girl did not like this suggestion. I must say, she was spunky. I've never heard someone speak French so quickly. She can almost speak French as fast as I can speak English. Oh, you don't believe me audience? Ask my mother, my brother, Nay, Suzy, and Brian. Actually I also have video proof of my English speed. I had to make a video in 8th grade with my friend KC and neighbor Aubrey for an English project. It was something that combined Hershey Kisses, Orbit gum, and Crayola crayons. I don't know why, but it did. Anyhow, I had to play three different roles in this little video, and one of them was an obnoxious girl scout. My job was to speak incredibly fast; I did my job well. No I do not know where that footage is. Even if I did, why would I give you that gift audience? Anyways, back to France. So you know how I actually go to my classes. I had a problem with that back at Iowa for during a Spring and Fall semester, mostly the Fall, but I straightened out that issue. In France I have been very good about attending my classes. Well what do you do when you show up for your class, but the wrong class is sitting in your classroom? You say, "Oh pardon Madame," close the door, walk away with a blushing face, check the schedule board, and swear because there is a note that says CM is canceled in Medieval History for this week. Damnit all. Well this does mean I can goof off for the remaining afternoon. Normally I would have language class today, but that is also cancelled. Instead, we're having a quiz this Tuesday; sadly it's when I normally see the kids, but I education rules out. So literally I have the entire afternoon to do whatever I want. Guess what I did? If the answer was Plants versus Zombies then you are correct! Ah what a simple tower puzzle game, yet so addicting. Don't worry audience, I did actually participate in the world today. My friends and I went to a party called, and this is me quoting, "Fuck la Mode" or "Fuck Fashion". The posters around campus had a picture of Steve Irwin on them to make their point. Kate, Paula, and I all decided that it would be fun to go a party again and that we deserved to have a celebratory night nearing the end of the semester. Thus we all dressed in a mix-matched way. I had two different shoes on, two different socks, black tights, a fake denim skirt, and my red American flag shirt. The icing was my lime green Sublime necklace. I can definitely pull off slash create tacky fashion. I was always an active volunteer of Wacky Day back at Fairmount*. Kate and Paula also looked ridiculous yet fantastic in their skirt, sweater, boots combos. It was a lot fun. Most of our friends from the international group were there too. Plus, the club gave out glowstick bracelets. Sweet. We all walked home together, power in numbers, and collapsed in our separate rooms. What a random slew of events that made up today. Oh well, tomorrow looms around the corner.

*Fairmount is the name of my elementary school

November 28th

I often read

Reading varied books

Books about IT

It is strange

Stranger than most

Most tastes flow

Flowing isn’t me

Me, I’m different

Different is good

Good is Dickens

Dickens has tales

Tale of Two Cities

Cities in history

History is fascinating

Fascinating stories written

Written by Dickens

Dickens’ novel of Oliver

Oliver Twist entertains

Entertaining is the ending

Ends with a Twist

Twist is Cinderella

Cinderella in rags

Rags to riches

Riches are better

Better than thieves

Thief isn’t Oliver

Oliver is kind

Kind isn’t Fagin

Fagin is a bastard

Bastard like Sykes

Sykes killed Nancy

Nancy tried escaping

Escape she couldn’t

Can’t erase history

History always repeats

Repetition is useful

Useful for memory

Memory is strong

Strength enables quotes

Quotes from books

Books are read

Reading I love

Love rereading Dickens. 

November 27th

Today was an awesome Tuesday. First awesome part was that I was allowed to miss class. I emailed my professor and she responded that it was fine. Sweet. Why was I missing class? Well Mama Duck, M. Hauchecorne, emailed me last week about how he was having interview sessions with some French students about studying abroad with the ISEP program aka in the States. He asked if I could join him and perform the English speaking area of the interviews. I asked my professor first and then promptly told Mama Duck that "I'd be happy to help" once I received my prof's a-ok. Well today is the day of the interviews! I found the room, after some help from Martine, and made myself comfortable. Mama Duck was soon to follow, he was a little delayed due to his daughter being sick. The first interview went wonderfully; the girl was just fantastic. She had exceptional confidence and had experience living away from home, even in a foreign country. Both Mama Duck and I approved of her. The other interview candidates were not as strong as her, good thing too. Out of seventeen options we had to pick seven. Talk about pressure! Hey this wasn't in the email, Mama Duck tricked me. Oh well, it was interesting to see what ideas of the States these kids had. One girl wanted to study in Mississippi. I was more than shocked about that choice. She didn't seem to grasp that although yes the culture is very different there than other "typical" areas of the States, the accent is near inaudible. Another girl loved to dance and had her heart set on L.A., her backup plan was New York. I had a lot of fun doing the interviews, it was neat to work with Mama Duck that way. Actually I learned that Mama Duck does not like the word "cake". I have no idea why but to him it sounds very harsh and not tasty. Guess the cake really is a lie, least to him. After the interviews I chilled at the library until it was time to leave for the Racadot residence. This session went well, but there was a surprise at the end. I had brought my camera and was able to take some pictures of my adorable tutor children. Something else that happened today was Lycamobile. Oh how I laugh and shake my head. Lycamobile is my cellphone service provider. I currently have no credits on my phone, zip, so I am unable to communicate with anyone. It is very one-sided I must say. Mary, audience says, why can't you just buy more credit? Well I've tried, I really have. Every time I try to buy credit online, or today over the phone, my card doesn't go through. Mary, audience says, why not use another card? Does using four different cards, different providers by the way, count as using more than one? Aight Mary, audience says, surely you can have your parents try with one of their cards. Tried it, their cards were blocked too. On the phone the woman was shocked that all of my cards were blocked, even the French one. I finally figured out why as well. The genius that I am realized that every time I try to buy credit, the website redirects me to verified by visa, master card secure card, or LCL online security. The redirection depends on which card I am trying. Well, once I am redirected a blank screen stares and me before telling me that my payment did not go through. What's the problem here? The fucking redirection keeps blocking my cards and nulls the transaction. I swear I am going to kill whoever started this process. By the way, I tried to register a card on Verified by Visa, sorry I didn't try all of them but I'm a bit suspicious of these types of "security" websites, and it rejected it. The site said that it "could not accept this card" or something along those lines. I really was hoping that I would be able to "Top-up" over the phone too. Guess it wasn't meant to be that way. My last shot is to find a tabac that sells Lycamobile minutes. Great, another wild goose chase of an adventure. Whatever, it is time for bed. Fingers crossed for a more relaxing Wednesday.

November 26th

Le Havre has a lot of construction going on. Some examples are the tram tracks, St. Nicolas residence, and a bridge near Les Docks. This bridge is very important because it has the potential to cut an extra five-eight minutes off our walking route to school. Sadly it was not completed for a long time, until now. Finally I have an easier route to school! I honestly hated walking all the way around the docks, it's very empty and there's usually a lot of dog crap. Now my path is nice and shit free. Also it goes right by the station meaning if I want a little snack I can easily drop in and grab a bite. Class was odd today. This was the Monday when I was supposed to do my presentation on the differences between French and American film. However, I wasn't able to do it. I was going to go last, but Kate wanted to do hers. I was a bit shocked when she went to the front of the room, I even said, "Kate what's going on?" She told me that it was fine and gave her presentation on British and French cuisine. She was able to convince most of the class, especially M. Martel, that haggis was a creature with four legs, one that is shorter than the others, that runs around the hills of Scotland. Joy to ignorance. It's alright that I didn't go, I'll just be the first one next week. I hope I don't lose my nerve, giving speeches isn't exactly my strong point. The French aspect doesn't help either. Oh well, like Mrs. Bennet I have poor tired nerves. Have you all no respect for them?

November 25th

Two movies in one day again? Hell yeah audience! Kate and I had an encore of Singin' in the Rain, why not? The movie is even better a second time primarily because we know more of the songs. Also you tend to pick up on secondary characters more as well, for instance Zelda. She is a jealous actress, literally that's her role. I hate it when the name Zelda is used that way. Zelda should always be used in a proper princess or dignified setting. For example Sabrina's aunt Zelda is a classy witch with strong education and common sense. The Zelda from Singin' in the Rain is a dimwitted actress. Meh, why screenwriters why? The name Zelda has a lot of weight, especially since 1985. Couldn't you have foreseen this in the past? Oh well, worse things have happened in history besides a bratty character being named Zelda. The next movie was a Marilyn classic, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I really enjoyed this one, though I often enjoy Marilyn flicks. The character of Piggy was a bit too old-fashioned for me, I'm just not into the sugar daddy persona. Besides him the characters were a smash. My favorite, besides Marilyn, was her best friend Dorthy Shaw. This girl was sassy and more interested in true love rather than money. I agree with that statement, money isn't everything. Although I also agree with Marilyn, diamonds are a girl's best friend. Well for me it's emeralds, more suited for a Taurus, but precious gems do have a charm to them. Movie nights, they really bring out the strangest sides of me. Time for bed though, tomorrow brings a Monday.

November 24th

Guess what audience? Hmmm, you're answer is "what?", well that's not an answer that's a question, I'd rather not play the question game, aight? Ha ha contradictions. Right, now guess what I did today? I went ice skating with my friends and it was kickin'! These mysterious people whom I call "friends" were Kate and Demetrius. We met at the town center and took the funicular or Funi up the Cliffside of Le Havre. Ok it's more of a giant hill, but cliff is a more badass word. From there we walked in the rain, I walked under an umbrella, to the ice rink. Demetrius was convinced that we were lost even though we were on the correct road. He insisted on asking a random woman on the street. I'm smug to say that she ran away from him. Demetrius you are a random dude and random dudes are scary to girls thus she ran away when you approached her. We found the ice rink perfectly fine and through the use of a map. Take that Demetrius, who needs local help? Once there it was hilarious and wonderful all in one. Kate hasn't skated much before so she was pretty nervous. Actually she hugged the wall for a good twenty minutes before switching to a small training rail. I would take her hand and skate with her in order to help kill the fear of falling. Fortunately I was the first one to fall and fortunately for my pride it was not my fault. I was standing on the ice nearish, about seven feet, to the wall of the rink waiting for Kate when two young boys crashed into me. Actually it was pretty comical since we all fell to ice in unison. My first reaction was to help the boys up, I even asked in English "Are you ok?" They seemed shocked that I wasn't yelling at them. Hey, they're kids and just lost control of their speed. It happens. Unfortunately I was injured slightly more than I initially realized. My right wrist had landed on either the ice or one of the kid's skates, regardless it was deeply bruised. Ah internal bleeding, charming. Better me than Kate. She actually did wonderfully and was able to skate in the open rink after a little while. Demetrius and I were so proud of her. Once we had skated for about two hours we decided it was time for a hot chocolate break. In the rink cafe we found out that there was going to be a hockey game around six. Since my Blackhawks aren't allowed to play in the locked out NHL, I was down for watching some stick action. I have been deprived of the beautiful violence that is hockey. There aren't many sports where it is legal to smash someone into a wall and where brawls are an expected part of play. Kate had never really seen hockey before and Demetrius was interested. Thus, the three of us stayed for some hockey, French style. It was satisfying for sure. Sadly our team lost 2-4 in the third period, but they played well throughout the game. Of course if I was their coach they'd be way more aggressive and have better stick control, but not everyone is blessed like the Blackhawks to have coach MareBear Scale on their side. The game was a pleasant surprise to an already pleasant day. Next time, we will crush our opponents with HAC glory.

November 23rd

What do you do on a lazy Friday spent in the library? Well you go to the docks afterwards for pizza of course! I am so glad that margarita pizzas exist here because not only are they my favorite but they are also made with mozzarella cheese. Delicious melted mozzarella how I have missed and longed for you. Screw "gruyère", it blows in comparison. Kate and I, Paula is currently in London for a short vacation, enjoyed the Italian dishes at the local pizzeria in the Docks. Well, Kate sorta enjoyed her dish. She had a salad, trying to ease into the no gluten diet, and it unfortunately came with green peppers on it. I love green peppers, Kate does not. She was able to eat it though, after she scraped the peppers to the side. Once dinner was finished we were supposed to go home, but we decided to see a movie instead. At the movie theaters. In French. Oh my gosh! Ha, well the film we picked was not especially difficult since it was the latest Astérix and Obélix live action installment. All in all, it was pretty good. Completely cheesy and very stereotypical on its interpretation of the British, but somehow it had a charm to it. Though, Kate and I tended to laugh a lot more than the rest of the audience. I suppose we just couldn't believe how stereotyped the British characters were. The obsession with tea and the inedible food were only  part of the icing. Still, we laughed and enjoyed ourselves. Yay, I finally saw a French film in a French theater in French! That's three for three. We then returned home, but the movies did not stop there. They stopped for Kate, but not for yours truly. You see audience, I love Hitchcock films especially the psychological thrillers. Thus why I rented Psycho from the public library. Kate refused to watch it with me and I consented, after all horror is not for everyone. But, that did not stop me from watching it. Actually I created the perfect setting too; all the lights were off, a lone candle was lite, and I was cuddled under my blanket. Perfect for thrillers. I must say, I loved the film. Anthony Perkins did an amazing job as Norman Bates. Although the film is old, I still became completely absorbed in it. The all string orchestra, the mis-en-scene, the shower montage, just everything blended perfectly into an amazing movie experience. Hitchcock, you did well once more. Anyone up for The Birds or Rear Window?

November 22nd

It's turkey day!!! Though not really. Today I celebrated Thanksgiving by giving thanks for my friends; they've always been there for me and had trust in me for which I am thankful. How was that Linus? Pretty sure that grants me sincerity, even though I don't have a pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin. My dinner was sadly turkey free, but at least it wasn't cold cereal, toast, popcorn, and jelly beans. How I love the Peanuts. No, I had spaghetti with homemade garlic bread and green pepper slices. Kate and I decided to make it a movie night as well. Tonight's feature was "Singin in the Rain". Moses supposes he know-is his toes-is but Moses supposes erroneously, best song ever. After the movie my family called my phone, I'm currently out of credits, so that I could speak with my godparents and my godsister. Unfortunately the call was dropped, due to unknown reasons, and I was only able to speak/listen to everyone for about fifteen minutes. Darn it. Sadly they didn't call back, remember I couldn't call them since I creditless, so my holiday ended on a rather blank note. Oh well, I'm thankful for having a good time anyhow. Besides, I'll see everyone at Christmas and that is right around the corner. Happy 2012 Thanksgiving. Gobble gobble.

November 21st

I have finally risen. After one hundred years of deep sleep the spell has been broken! Who is the knight that has rescued me from my sleep? Surely he is fair and noble. Ah it is Brendon Urie, there could be no else. What's this? He has a bouquet of beautiful blue tulips for me. It looks as though they are bleeding and his tie seems to be an upside down raven. Makes sense! Plus there are hamburgers everywhere. Hold up, these hamburgers don't have pickles on them. What kind of hell have I woken up to? Oh crap, I fell out of bed again. Now I am awake. Time for medieval history class, joy. After my famous thirty minute prep montage I arrived on campus ready for class, sorta. Today there were just speeches, no lecture whatsoever. It was as if my eyelids weighed fifteen pounds each; keeping them open was more than just a struggle for me. Crap! Gotta stay awake and listen to French students mumble about old medieval poetry and its significance in history. Or, I could space out? Hmmm that seems to be the practical option. Yes let's space out. Ok what to think about. Hmmm what do I want to eat when I go back to the States? Friday's and BWW's definitely. Also have to have some spinach. Oh and hobo wine and cheese with a slurpee cup of ice water. Sweet. And for breakfast some poptarts and maybe a banana strawberry smoothie. God is it me or does medieval history always make me hungry? Damn, the kid wrote something on the board. Ok time to decipher his handwriting. Is that an "a" or an "r"? What is that word? Why can't any of them use power points! Times New Roman and Ariel were made for this problem. Screw it, probably a name or something. Back to food. Actually food thoughts make me hungry, who would've guessed? How about Skyrim thoughts? Heh yes. That new DLC is coming out and will only be available for x-box for at least a month. It's times like these I'm happy that 360 is my Skyrim system; sure the graphics are crap compared to PS3 and PC, but it does mean that I am able to have the DLCs first. Totally worth it. What? Oh class is over. Nice.

November 20th

The Next Day...

I finished the essay on time, but didn't sleep at all. Ok that's a slight lie since I had a thirty minute power nap at 2 a.m., but after that no sleep. It was familiar but insane. I became so frustrated with writing that I actually did some laundry at four in the morning. It was nice that no one else was there to use the washing machine, but it was still crazy. Well I felt like a champ when I entered that classroom and slapped my paper on my teacher's desk. I then prepared to do a Rocky pose and screamed, "yeah!!!!" at the top of my lungs. In reality I quietly handed my teacher my paper and slid into my desk. It was when class started that I noticed the world seemed different. Oh boy, here comes the real insanity. Laughter is supposed to be the best medicine, not when it's manic laughter that causes everyone to think that you're tripping on acid. Is it bad that music doesn’t stop playing in my head? No that's normal. So is smiling, smiling is very normal. So normal that when I do it all the time no one will even noticed that I'm there. Huh, my teacher looks like a coffee bean. A coffee bean with pilgrim shoes. And my left arm has a frog on it. OMG how could I have not noticed this before? Those freckles are totally its eyes and that skin is his body. Hey there mister frog, no wait. You're not a frog...you're a bulbasaur! Only your bulb is underneath your belly. Hmmm a bulbunsaur! Ha ha the world is so funny this way. Wait, I have to stay awake until seven thirty or whenever I return home? That's nothing it i-s d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y n-o-t   s -l -o -w -i -n -g   d - o - w - n...crap. Stay awake Mary. Happy thoughts, just happy thoughts. Alexis good thing that you are so adorable. I'll read you this storybook because you are so cute. I want a nap, an eternal hibernation from this world. Finished, bus, home, shoes, bed. Why hello Blackhawks blanket, you sure look dapper today. I'm going to snuggle under you and just...close...my...zzzzz.

November 19th

Let's start with anger today! Not that starting with anger is out of the blue for me, it isn't, but let's make a point at starting with it today. Whoever keeps crashing the internet in the library is going to be strangled by yours truly with an Ethernet cable. It took me two hours to finish my presentation because the hotspot website kept going down. All I needed were some graphics, just pictures really. Two hours! Two freakin' hours!!! This is part where everyone in the library pauses for a moment before the power is cut and all hell breaks out because Mary has turned into a demon and is murdering everyone by smashing their faces into computer monitors. Kate says I have an overactive imagination. Do I? Huh, well after the two long hours of playing red light green light with the wifi I finished my lovely power point presentation. If only I had been able to actually present it! Since we had endured many absences over the past two weeks in French Civilization, many projects were not presented and were therefore delayed. Well today was when all the delayed presenters decided to show up with their power points. I was bumped to next week. I should feel happy about this, but instead I'm really ticked. Had I known this outcome I could have spent yesterday and this afternoon focused on the essay instead of the presentation! Why world why? After class I prepared for the night, the long night ahead. Have any of you pulled all-nighters before? It seems silly to do for a French essay, but when you have to finish a French novel and then compare it to two other novels all in French before nine am, the all-nighter doesn't seem so crazy. Two monsters, orange juice, full stomach, and Chelsea Dagger on loop. Yup were ready to not sleep. 

November 18th

Still sick, meh. Good thing I changed my opinion about orange juice because I am chugging the stuff for vitamin C. I made sure to wear plenty of layers before braving the outdoors. I also decided to open my windows and clear out the trash. Some fresh air definitely won't do my room any harm and is possibly the reason why I suddenly became sick. That or Karma. Personally my money is on Karma. I committed myself to plenty of research on film and making a cute little outline along with the sketch of the power point. Should be a good speech. I'm leaving the graphic bells and whistles for tomorrow, when the presentation is scheduled, since the class is at three-thirty and I have another project to work on. Ok go ahead audience, bite my head off about procrastinating. Tomorrow my presentation is due and Tuesday an essay is due. In the States this is fine; I somehow keep forgetting when I am though, which is difficult, since I never realize until the last minute that everything has to be in French. Ah, crap. The paper is a double edged sword too. Not only is it in French, but it is a comparison between three books one of which I need to finish that is due at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. This is my own fault/bad luck. I procrastinated, again. Sadly I'm good at procrastinating, which means these next two days are going to be very fun, for no one. As a good procrastinator I always finish my work, usually on time, but sacrifice a lot of necessities such as sleep and food. If only I would not procrastinate, then all of that would be avoided. Well this time it was procrastinated so I have to pay the price of the consequences. Cheers to tomorrow, it probably won't end.

November 17th

Optimism, when a bright open perspective on the world is held; however when Mary tries to be "optimistic" such as believing that her luck will change, the world dumps a big pile of unfortunate out comings onto her lap. Sigh, what did I do to earn such bad luck? I'm fairly confident that I did not break any mirrors recently. Even if I did it wouldn't matter, that one is reversible. I also did not spit on any elderly people, I didn't see any black cats, I didn't open an umbrella indoors, and I haven't walked under any ladders. What did I do? Hmmm maybe it's this blog? I do rant quite often on the blog. Perhaps all this negativity is causing my karma to be out of whack. Well regardless, more bad luck surrounded me today, on a Saturday no less. Today I was supposed to, and did anyways, work on research for my speech on cinema in France and the States, but my research was cut short due to a sudden on come of sore throat, headache, and dizziness. The runny nose would also be a symptom for any normal person who's not susceptible to the weather. Thus around six post meridian I left Les Docks to sloth in my dorm room. I still have work to do, sigh. Maybe I should invest in some clovers or burn some sage.

November 16th

Friday was Friday today. I don't know why, maybe more bad luck in the air, but I had very little life in me today. Everything seemed to rush by in a blur. Not a good perspective to have on life. But, there was a small saving grace to the smudged outlook on the day. Remember that package that I never actually received? Well if not too bad, it's in the blog so should know it. Ha, sorry for the rudeness, on with my story. Ok so that package never made it into my life and the company, My American Market, felt really bad about the whole thing. So they refunded my purchase, including the shipping fees, allowing me to reorder if I so desired. Neat. I did place another order, without TNT shipping, and it arrived yesterday at an antique shop for pickup. Neat. Today, this exact Friday, I went to that antique shop and was handed my package. Petite. Ok petite doesn't make sense but meh, Addams Family rules. I opened it as soon as I arrived in my dorm and ate some Mike and Ikes. They tasted so delicious. It looks like we will be able to have a Thanksgiving celebration in Le Havre after all. Thank you My American Market, your pumpkin pie filling will be used. Time for this lifeless, but happy, college student to play some Plants versus Zombies since the next few days are going to suck. Such a forward thinker I am.

November 15th

Hey bad luck, wouldya knock it off? I call break up! Gah, I think it worked, since the rest of my day went smoothly after ten AM. What happened before ten AM? I'm so not glad that you asked audience. Remember way back when at the time of doctor appointments for the magical French health insurance? Well those were over with, but the final meeting was this morning at 9 AM. I actually didn't show at 9 AM since I still had to print out the OFFI stamp that I had bought online on Monday. For some reason, all the printers in the library were not functioning yesterday. So, I wasn't able to print the stamp. Thus, I visited the international office at nine to have it printed. Worked fine, they didn't mind. Cool. Went to the student building, there was a huge line. Cool, I'm not late. I had everything ready to go on the check list, I quad checked it. When it was my turn I could practically hear the choir of angels singing. I was almost done with this crap! Ha, yeah right MareBear. You're never going to be done with this crap. Wanna know why? Hmmm, do I? Yes, it's because karma hates you until ten AM this morning. Damn that sucks. So you mean when the woman was looking through the files and said that she didn't have my medical record it was a bad thing? Yup. And that she blamed me for it even though I went to every appointment? Yeah. And that she told me to return on the frickin' 3rd or 6th of December since she wouldn't listen to my idea that it was possibly in my dorm in the folder that the nurses had given me? Oh my gosh, you're so right MareBear. Thanks, it's a talent. So, that's what happened before ten AM. I walked into the office and was told that my medical record wasn't there for an unknown reason only that it was most likely my fault. Plus, they spelled my name wrong. No not Scale, that was surprisingly correct, they miss-spelled Mary. France, there is a difference between Marie and Mary. I know for you they are the same name. But, I'd really appreciate it if you spelled my name correctly despite the fact that you think there is no difference. It's on my passport as Mary damnit! Phew, ok we're good. Fortunately I left with a smile, it wasn't a happy smile, but a smile is better than a frown. Actually I think I looked rather scary since I had my "angry eyes" on. I always pack them just in case, along with some play dough, a random key, and a crayon. All necessities. After ten AM was a relaxing day of fried chicken and homework in the library. Crunchy Food Chicken, a restaurant that serves deep fried chicken. Review, it was average, not bad. But they need better ketchup and some barbecue sauce on their menu. Plus don't season the chicken guys, that's what the dipping sauces are used for. Just study under Chick Filet for pointers. My homework wasn't that bad, in fact it was kinda fun. Literally it was Fun. Ha ha, anyone? Oh I'm alone on this. Well the assignment was to translate song lyrics into French. I did two translations of the popular song "We are Young" by the band known as Fun. Why did I make two? Well I wasn't sure if our professor wanted us to translate it literally and not match it to the beat, or figuratively where it rhymes correctly and fits the rhythm. Tough I know. So to be safe I did both. My figurative one is interesting, since the first part doesn't quite sync to the original lyrics. It falls behind due to the word sunglasses. In French it is les lunettes de soleil. That's seven syllables right there, aka about one line. In English it's three and in French it's seven. This why literal lyrics often don't work. Still I enjoyed this project, especially since I just listened to the song while I did it. Class itself wasn't too bad. Though, I found out the song is actually due next week. Whoops, well least it's done. As Dale Gribble would say, "shish shish shaaa!" Later bad luck you have to "sko sko sko."*

*Check out Dale highlights from King of the Hill. If you're disappointed I don't care.

November 14th

I used up all my good karma yesterday, whoops. Right from the start the day did not like me, I knew it when I saw the sunshine. On my way to the cafeteria, I don't have class until three on Wednesday, I thought that it would be a good idea to take my coat off. I mean hey, the sun is shining, it's really warm, I don't do well with hot weather; it seemed like a good idea. It was until my lunch card, which is what I use to purchase my lunch, flew out of my glove, over the railing, and onto the railroad tracks. I admit I had a moment of stupidity where I considered jumping over the railing to grab my card. Obviously I didn't, otherwise I'd be writing this with a pen from a hospital bed or be pushing up daisies. I made it to the cafeteria, late, and had to tell the woman in the little crous booth that I had lost my card. She asked where on campus and which day. I told her that I had lost it walking to school this morning. Her reply, "oh." That's the universal "well you're screwed" response. Tony, I'm not feeling greeeeat about this. I had to then fill out a card form and show her my student id only to be told that my new card wouldn't be ready til Friday. Not greeeeat yet. I sighed and slinked up the stairs into the cafeteria and paid in cash. Yeah I was THAT girl today. Damnit all. Class also took a crap on my lap, sort of. Elina and I sat in the very back, as usual. It was easier to sit there  since then you can see everything and you don't have the evil old woman who hates Anglos staring at you. That's not my teacher, my teacher is a sweetheart. No there is a mean old prune taking medieval history that loves to point out after class that the foreign students haven't absorbed the entire lecture. Oh, and she refuses to help us she just likes to jab us with observations. No crap we don't  understand the whole lecture lady. French isn't our native language and we've only been here for two months! People who claim it's not that hard are on heroin. I'd love to ship so many people off to the States, this lady deserves Mississippi, just to have a flavor of the difficulty. That's why sit in the back, to avoid all that. Well, turned out to be an awesome decision since two guys were already sitting there. Elina and I both simultaneously said, "whatever", and kept our seats. I was hoping that these two guys weren't smartasses, they weren't. They were dumbasses. Maybe twenty minutes into the two hour lecture, I received a piece of paper/a note from the French besties. It read, something along the lines of, "Do you girls want to go to Vermont state with us? I'd be cool since we're French guys." Ok, what the hell? I turned to dumbass number two and said, "Vermont? Really?" They retracted the note and left me alone after that. But seriously let's think about this, out of all the States in America why Vermont? I know it has ski resorts during the winter, but during the rest of the year it's pretty plain. The rest of class was weird since dumbass number one and two kept whispering and shuffling pieces of paper between each other. Girls back home, I hate to disappoint but all men are the same worldwide; they're some kind of ass. 

November 13th

Lucky thirteen, well it's lucky for me. Actually is, dunno why. Oh you see that audience, I used dunno instead of don't know oh my gosh! That officially makes this blog unofficial. Nanner nanner Danny Tanner. Yeah I have no idea why Full House was just mentioned, moving on. Right after this, "How Rude!" Ok seriously done with the cultural references. Ahem, so Tuesday was normal then awesome. Class for three hours, though I do wish I could change that. My attention span in the States is about twenty-four minutes before I start to slip in my own universe of thought. In France, aka in French, it is about twelve minutes. This makes taking notes, more so reading the unreadable chalkboard, very difficult. But, I have found a solution to it all. No not liquid poison or energy drinks. Although I do use that when I need to wake up for something. Anyhow for class I simply just slap myself in the face. Not viciously, that would cause a scene, but lightly just to wake myself. I often do this during speeches since French students tend to perform their speeches in monotone. Super happy fun time! Obviously class was not the awesome part of my day, it was the normal part. No, rather the awesome part was when I tutored my little French chillins after class was out/when I was done using Rikki at the library. On a regular Tuesday I don't bring Rikki with me since my laptop is rather heavy and the walk to the Racadot residence is an uphill hike for me. But today was different, mostly because I was behind in my work and had to order a stamp for the French insurance online. I also ran into Toine, though not quite. In fact Rikki ran into him, while he was sleeping. Such a hypocrite. He had given me crap last week for sleeping on my laptop in library in-between classes. "If you're tired go home." If home were closer and had a wicked soft mattress maybe I would, but neither of those things exist in reality. Besides, Rikki's keyboard is so cozy and warm. How can anyone resist sleeping on it? Today though I found him in the library asleep on his computer. Hypocrite. So I did the only thing possible, I woke him up by jabbing him with Rikki. Ha, he sure looked shocked. Oh well, it was for his own good. I'm pretty sure he has classes in the afternoon, all the French students seem to have morning-night schedules, so most likely I assisted with him going to class on time. And that's the gospel truth. Why is it whenever I say the word gospel my throat is scorched? Kinda similar to how I whenever I touch a cross my skin becomes charred. So strange. I remember John Proctor once saying to me, "All liars go to hell Mary," but I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. May his bewitched soul rest in peace. Wow, that became off-topic. Moving onto the awesome part of my day. Remember it wasn't bugging Toine, it was my lil' French chillin. Alexis, the five now turned six year old, is the most adorable kid on the planet. I swear he's like a little doll. Every time I show up he runs to door to say, with a huge smile, "Hello!" Just precious. This lesson with Louis and Anne went very smoothly. I helped Anne with formulating sentences using "although" "in spite of" "because of" and "because". We also worked on "whose" which is always a fun one. She's picking it up rather well, though her pronunciation could use some work. The lesson ended and I did not leave, not right away. This was the night Mme Racadot invited me to dinner. Ok, I'm a college student living in a dorm that only has two burners as a means of cooking. Home cooked meals equal heaven to me. Doesn't hurt that Mme Racadot is a fantastic cook. This meal included a favorite dish of mine, quiche. This was real French quiche too. I was a bit worried at first when she said it was a Normandy specialty, they like their goat cheese, but there was no trace of the stuff in this ham and cheese quiche. Reverse Catholic blessing. I had to control myself since my appetite can be rather large for my size. I was the one who finished the pumpkin soup, yummers, and had two slices of the quiche, and ate the rest of the salad, and helped demolish the remaining fruit from the fruit salad. I would have finished the quiche, I easily had room, but I didn't want to seem too pig-like. Heh, I only eat like a starved wolf around certain types of people; my friends, my family, and boys I have possible affections for. Yeah I'm not a petty eater when I'm taken out, if I'm not touching my plate it's because I don't like it, and despite traditional norms of girls being coquette with their meals, I have received many adorations for actually cleaning my plate. They also like it when I order food  that isn't a salad. That's right tomboys, men like it when you do in fact eat what you ordered. Damn off track again. The dinner, besides the amazing spread, was a lot of fun as well. They spoke to me completely in French which was great practice. In truth, when I tutor the kids I have to speak in French since they're shy about their English. I feel so happy that I'm able to experience having a meal with a genuine French family. That was definitely the awesome part of my lucky thirteen day.

November 12th

Mondays are so lame. Least this one wasn't too lame, in fact I was the lame one. But, as always, it's not my fault. Here's a little secret about the beds in St. Nicolas, they suck. I mean are comparable to cardboard cut outs of beds. My back, front, sides, and the rest of me don't like to sleep on cardboard. In fact, I rather despise it. As of late I'm been having more problems than usual with sleep. I've tried to move my pillows around for more back support, but since I move a lot in my sleep the pillows are essentially useless. Last night it wasn't just my cardboard bed giving me back pain though. Last night was filled with nightmares, one repeating nightmare to be specific, that kept me from sleeping peacefully. Do you want to know what it was? I'm sure you don't, but I'm going to tell you anyways. Congratulations audience, you're about to have a behind the scenes look into the mind of Mary. Please keep your hands and feet inside the tour bus at all times and please, no flash photography. We wouldn't want to aggravate the beasts that live within my imagination now would we? The dream begins with me walking down a plain empty corridor. There's nothing special about it; tiled floors, fluorescent lights, and the occasional over-sized potted plant. Perfectly simple and business like. Then I stop walking and stand for a moment. The white walls of the hallway begin to melt around me. I look down and see the tiles falling into a thick black liquid. I turn to run, but the tiles beneath me disappear and I plunge backwards into the black liquid. At first it feels like water crashing around me. However, I then realized that it's not water but rather scales slithering over me. Pythons to be precise, huge terrifying pythons. I want to scream but can't. I cannot scream because my chest is being crushed by the snakes. Then my throat starts to tighten. I close my eyes, and BAMN! I wake up gasping for breath. I chugged so much water after that dream, it was that disturbing to me. Best part is I kept having that dream over and over throughout the night. Thus why it was no surprise that I finally "woke up" around noon-ish/one-ish. The price for an active imagination isn't pleasant; the nightmares definitely keep you scared. Anyways the reason I was lame is because I let the morning slip away from me, darn. Oh well. I have class at three-thirty so no big deal. Class was 2/3 interesting 1/3 boring because there were three speeches. The two interesting speeches were done by my German friend Natalie and a Chinese exchange student. Natalie discussed champagne and even had some media clips thrown in for pizzazz. The Chinese student discussed the differences between French and Chinese cuisine, down to the chopsticks verses forks. The second of the two made me hungry, she included photos, because who doesn't love Chinese food? Boring people, maybe. The uninteresting/boring speech was done by our Russian exchange student. It was a drag for two reasons; firstly her topic was French economics, and secondly she made the power point that morning. Oh doll, you need to prepare more. Take it from a professional procrastinator, the night before is the time to do the last minute projects never the day of. Oh well, I think M. Martel enjoyed all three of them, and hey we were let out of class early. I won't say it was a great day, rather it was a grey day. 

November 11th

Waking up at noon is so niiiiiiiice. I wish I could do that every day for the rest of my life. Wake up at noon and take two hours to become ready. Sounds fantastic, something out of a fairytale though. Still, on Sundays I am able to live in my fairytale of taking my time and not worrying about the passing minutes. The two lovely hours of eating lunch, organizing my weekly agenda, showering with new body wash, trying a new hair parting style, and just relaxing while I sipped some orange juice was all humbling. After my preparation was complete, I made my way to the docks for some facebook chat and skype time. This afternoon held a pleasant surprise, Brian was online. Brian, or Bri-Bear or Noey or Freshie, is a very close best friend of mine. I've known him since Junior year of high school and have always been in sync with him. He's like my little brother, except ginger. Anyhow, he was online today! I hadn't spoken to him for a few weeks due to the time difference and our own schedule differences. In fact, we actually started video chatting on Skype. Funny thing about that, the whole conversation was started because I wanted to flip Brian off, in a good way. I suppose there is no go "good way" to show the middle finger, but between friends it can be taken in the light hearted sense of comradery. Brian and I mostly talked about video games, no suppose there, but France and Nebraska were mentioned from time to time. I also spoke with my darling little Suzanne and Tim, aka Timmy, on facebook chat. It was so refreshing to see Brian's face, read Suzy's thoughts, and laugh at Tim's jokes. I love my friends here and I do enjoy France, but that doesn't stop me from missing my home. I'd like to say that I only spent an hour or two at the docks online with my friends across the Atlantic, but then I'd be lying to you audience. No, I spent around five hours with them, mostly Brian, and am proud of it. I work relatively hard here and a small break like that is not extravagant. Once it the docks started to shut down, I closed my chat rooms and piled a million goodbyes onto my three friends. I really do miss them, and more. Kate and I returned to the dorm, shortly joined by Paula, to watch the film "Memoires of a Geisha." I had seen the movie before when I was a junior in high school, sophomore year Miss Bruce played a scene as an example of light usage on a stage which introduced the film to me, but was more than happy to see it again. What a great movie. I love the scenery, more than the actual story. The acting isn't bad, not amazing but the use of costumes, scenery, and props just sells the film. My favorite character is actually an antagonist, H-something. I didn't really connect with the blue-eyed narrator so I turned my attention to a villainess. She is mean! I love her though, just because she is who she is. I completely believe that her jealousy and temper are nature and not an act. That's how acting should be. That women did a fantastic job, she was the best actress of the cast in my opinion, and should be cast in more films. Alright, I'm tired and have classes tomorrow. On that note, time to use Rikki as a pillow and my desk as bed.

November 10th

Saturdays! Thank you for being Saturday. And yet, damnit all! I have so much research to do today. Of course it is all my fault since I procrastinated until this weekend to do my work that is due next week. Seven bucks says I stop researching before twenty minutes has past. Ha, now all of you owe me seven bucks, preferably euros. I stopped researching after seventeen minutes. My attention span is incredible. Well sucks to be me I suppose. Good thing that poison (monster) and pain au chocolat (pain au chocolat) exist in the world. They make the perfect combo snack for the docks. Not for research, obviously. No they are perfect for the days of facebook and youtube and napping on my keyboard. Crap! Not again!!! Why I do keep falling asleep on Rikki? Oh, that would because my bed sucks and Rikki's keyboard in nice and warm. So snuggly.  nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Meh, huh? Crap, face-typed again. Ahem, after sleeping on my electronic pillow and softening my brain with youtube, I returned to the dorm in order to become ready for a party. Yes, haven't gone to one of those in a long time! The party was at the containers or the Brazilian quarters. They aren't all Brazilian, just most of them are. The party was alright, not especially lame not especially cool. Oh c'mon, don't give me that look audience. In order for a party to be cool it has to achieve certain goals. Since I am such a kind person I will list them for you.

            1. Music (that doesn't suck like K-mart)

            2. Well dressed girls (lots of queens)

            3. Attractive men who are quiet yet brilliant (Raymond)

            4. Organized snack area (maple syrup on the table)

            5. Attractive men who smell good (Charlie)

At this party only two of those five requirements were met, thus the party was not cool. It wasn't completely lame either, two goals were met, but when there are no attractive guys it might as well be an ice scream social at parent night. The snack area was also not organized/none existent. The after party was decent though, I had a lot of fun. My friends, minus Paula and Kate, and I went to the club. Coyote club to be exact. Wanna know what happened there? Mary danced for hours and it was awesome! I only danced with my friends and just enjoyed myself. I had some offers from random French boys, but I wanted to pass the night away with my friends. Those boys, they were rejected, Chicago style. I don't know what that means actually, probably bluntly? Cause I just told them "no" while smiling like a jackass. Ah I love me. Sometimes it's good to just have a night with wholesome fun such as dancing with your friends. Around two Lucas, a foreign student who lives in my dorm, and I walked back to the residence. Remember ladies, always have an escort home, never journey alone. Although I fall asleep on my keyboard frequently, it does not disable me from having a good time.

P.S. Rain Man is awesome.

November 9th

What do you have when you combine some converse sneakers, flare jeans, and a university of Iowa hoodie? A really American looking Mary. This was a day of not caring, and I mean not caring at all. It was Friday and I wanted to be a sloth. Big baggy sweatshirts are perfect sloth attire, especially with the hood up. I basically drifted through the morning, I barely remember American Cultures. At the library I was supposed to write some pages of a chapter and edit blogs; I did neither. Actually I became so relaxed that I fell asleep on my keyboard. It was a bit embarrassing, not because I was sleeping in public but rather because of how I wake up. When I fall asleep in a lighted area usually a noise wakes me up at I have a comical reaction. Sometimes it is as minor as the pitch change on a song that is playing or the sound of a door being locked. I don't know what it was this time, probably a backpack zipper or something, but I woke up like a meekat. I jolted upright, looked around quickly, and slipped back behind my laptop screen. Heh, Mary the meerkat. I would have probably drifted through Middle Ages Literature, except a rather exciting event occurred. Today's class was special because it was when our essays on Lancelot becoming a hero were given back to us. I had my fingers crossed that I would receive a passing grade, that's all. In fact I did pass, which is pretty awesome. My teacher graded my paper on the same level as the French students. My only issue which she said was "pas grave" was my grammar. No crap. I'm not fluent. Worked for me though, passing equals a credit. But, my very relaxed and accepting viewpoint is not adopted by everyone. Primarily a girl in my class. Apparently she received an eleven or a twelve on the paper. That sounds low, but it's on the French grading system. An eleven and a twelve are passing grades, just passing not super special but still not fails. Everything is graded out of twenty in France and has nothing to do with percentages. What I mean by that is there is no 90% = A, 80% = B, and so on. It is 18-20 impossible, 16-17 outstanding, 14-15 awesome, 12-13 good, 10-11 pass, 9 and below fail. Why they have it out of twenty rather than seventeen is beyond me, but that's the system. This girl did not have a good grade, in her eyes. What did she do? Well first she tried to convince herself not to cry. Second she started to cry. Third the hyperventilating commenced. Fourth she banged her desk and screamed at the professor for picking on her. Fifth she exerted so much energy that she became dizzy. Sixth Mary was snickering not because it was funny, though it was, but because Mary understood a good amount of the French shouted. And seventh, the girl was escorted out of the room by a paramedic. Yeah, medieval literature just became more thrilling. Poor girl, she's going to have to deal with that little episode forever. Take it from a girl who broke down over a low grade on a calculus project her senior year of high school causing her teacher and friends to gather around hugging her while she sank to the floor in tears. Not my best day. For me though it was alright, the grade was altered since two typos were to blame. It became a B, but I had to deal with everyone knowing that I had a mental breakdown during fourth period until graduation day. The moral of the story, freak out senior year; that way you don't have to deal with the aftermath for as long. Sadly for that French girl, this is only her second year of college.