2 things

Well hi. Long time no see, huh? Since I've been back home in the States for a good seven months now, I figured it'd be appropriate for a QUICK UPDATE and an ENTICING LINK.

QUICK UPDATE: I'm in Chicago and I love it. For the first time in my DePaul career, I spent my entire summer break in the city. I lived with my good friend Kelli in the fantastic Lincoln Square neighborhood all the way until Fall Quarter started in September. I now live with Mark, a friend from the great state of Wyoming, in North Center. I'm really digging apartment life. Classes went very well this fall, and I'm now working toward a minor in Public Policy. I'm also working at a local coffee shop called Siena Coffee. I really love it. I'm on break now, just working until classes start back up in January. Other than that, I've just been living life the best I can and loving the people around me.

ENTICING LINK: If you want to stay updated with what's going on with me now that I'm back in the US, you can! I just started up a new blog over on Tumblr. It's brand new, so I haven't posted much, but you should definitely check it out here.

Thanks for following me during my adventure abroad! Catch you later!

Happy Travels

-- Cody

my brush with celebrity

So let me tell you about how I met Carla Bruni and Eve Ensler...

Monday afternoon I got a call from my Italian coworker, Ginevra, asking if I would be available tuesday evening after work. There was apparently going to be some sort of meeting about the work NPNS does with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and all the interns were invited. And there would probably be stuff to eat. Eager for free food, I said I'd be there.

So yesterday I go into work. All is cool. I spend the day working on the grant proposal for a women's rights project in Guinea. In the afternoon one of the other interns mentions that they think Carla Bruni, the first lady of France, will be at the event. I get excited. I'm also invited by my boss, Mar, to another meeting about the Congo that will be happening at the NPNS office wednesday evening. Ever polite and eager for new experiences, I oblige. Anyway, the evening draws closer, and our official time at the office ends. Pauline, Ginevra and I grab a quick dinner and head to the museum where the event is being held. As we get closer, I find out the Rama Yade, the French secretary of state for human rights, will be acting as host for the event, and that Eve Ensler would be there. As many of my friends know quite well, Eve Ensler is the author of the Vagina Monologues. So I'm thinking this is freaking sweet and I'm loving my job right about now.

Well, we get to the museum, walk past Rama Yade on our way into the building, then slip past Eve Ensler on our way up the staircase (whispering to each other, "Was that...?" "Yeah! I think so!") and into the theatre where the presentation is happening. After a quick introduction by Rama, Eve comes on stage with Carla Bruni. The three proceed to discuss the situation in the Congo -- war, mass raping of women, unspeakable horrors -- and then Eve talks about the project that her organization, V-Day, is working on to help the Congolese women.  Next, they screen the brand new V-Day movie about the Congo. And finally, several other important people in charge of human rights organizations (including Sihem Habchi, présidente of NPNS) take the stage for a round-table discussion on the topic. This is all very interesting stuff, and really eye-opening.

After the presentation, the audience is invited to go back out into the art gallery to enjoy a "cocktail dînatoire" (just a fancy way of saying "cocktail buffet" -- but with French wine and real hors d'oeuvres). This would be an appropriate place to mention that I felt entirely out of place during this whole event. Apparently it was a kind of private event, only meant for leaders of NGOs, business people, and members of the press. Everyone was wearing nice suits and sensible dresses. I was wearing jeans and a checkered shirt. I was obviously only there because of my NPNS connections.

Anyway, the whole reason NPNS was at the event is because we're joining up with V-Day's campaign in the Congo to raise awareness and help the women suffering over there. Which is why the second meeting -- this evening -- took place. Eve Ensler, along with her V-Day team, and other representatives from several Congo-based NGOs came to the NPNS office for a planning meeting. Again, all us interns were there, and we got to sit at the big table with everyone else. So I was literally across the table from Eve the whole time. The meeting itself was interesting, but it was really just logistical mumbo-jumbo. But it was still an awesome experience. Afterwards, we had our own small NPNS-style refreshment buffet: Coke, orange soda, chips and assorted nuts. Classy classy.

(That's Eve on the far left)

Soooo... yeah. I just thought that was pretty dang cool. These past two evenings have made me realize how connected and truly influential Ni Putes Ni Soumises really is. And how lucky I am that I get to work with them while I'm here. On a side-note: I'm pretty sure my French accent is way better than Eve Ensler's... just saying.

So click here if you want to learn more about the V-Day campaign, and here for some background on the atrocities they're fighting against in the DRC. Please. And then tell your friends about it.

Oh, and I almost forgot : I'm heading down to Bordeaux bright and early tomorrow morning to visit my friends Elizabeth and Colin (who both used to go to DePaul with me) for a few days. They've been studying down there in wine country this school year, and I've been wanting to visit them for a long time now. It will be nice to see some old familiar faces. I'll be back sunday afternoon, so let you know how the trip goes.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

"Laser"

So, remember that "laser-light show" from Chantilly I mentioned in my last post? Were you intrigued? Well, you're in luck. I remembered today that I took a video of it.

Prepare to be amazed...

spring has sprung

[19 mars 2009]

Things I have learned so far this spring :

1. Sun-soaked parisian boulevards may rival Kansas prairies in beauty.

2. Un pez no es una persona. Un pez es un animal.

3. Nothing ruins a deliciously plump clementine faster than biting into it and finding out it has seeds.

4. Nothing ruins a sweet, rose-colored Fuji apple faster than slicing it open and finding out it is completely rotten. [Insert philosophical meanderings about the shallowness of beauty here.]

5. Un sombrero no es un alimento. No es un tipo de comida.

6. The French absolutely despise jello. Their hatred for the jiggly stuff will not be swayed.

7. The boulangerie down the street from my apartment makes the best pain au chocolat in the history of France.

8. It doesn't matter how long I stay in Paris -- I will always love winding my way through the museums and strolling through the city's parks.

[Side note: The vast majority of that list is in some way related to food. I may have to loosen my belt if the spring continues in this way...]

Anyway... it's been a while, my darling internet. How have you been? I've missed you dearly. I hope you're not too sore about my apparent neglect for your interest in my life. Not that my life is all that interesting. Honestly, this semester has been nothing but class, work, and long stretches of free time. I have gone on one trip with IES to see a castle, but that's about it.

Ok, now I'm making it sound like my life is boring here. Which it isn't. My internship has continued to be fun and varied, and I'm starting to become good friends with the fellow interns at the office. It's funny: I don't really remember a single day last semester when I was truly excited to go to work. It was all pretty monotonous. But this spring has been so much better. The projects I've worked on seem like they'll actually be useful for me in the future, such as writing grant proposals (in English and French), working on press releases, (successfully) interpreting for victims of violence who don't speak any French, and talking talking talking to random strangers to invite them to NPNS events. It actually seems like I'm making a difference for the association, and not just taking up space. This is the kind of work I was hoping to do when I started in the fall. The kind of work that just might translate into a real job when I graduate and decide what I want to do with my life. I'm starting to feel really lucky to have this opportunity.

Speaking of things I've been starting to feel lately: It's totally dawned on me that my time is tick tick ticking away. As I'm writing this, I only have two months left in Paris, give or take a couple days. TWO MONTHS... that's nothing. I feel like I've been here for so long, and I'm ready to go home in so many ways, but I know I'm going to miss it like crazy. I'm going to miss the bakeries and crêpe stands. I'm going to miss being so close to so many world-famous landmarks. I'm going to miss the seemingly thousands of museums spread throughout the city. But knowing that this is all temporary -- and having known that from the start -- has helped me to keep my head on straight and appreciate this adventure. So I'm going to take these last two months and live them for all they're worth...

Before I go, here are some quick highlights from the past month or so:

Chantilly : A few weeks back I went on an IES excursion to the Château in Chantilly, a little town just a couple hours from Paris. Despite what most people said about the trip, I had a great time. The château is quite impressive on the outside, but the inside is really more like an art gallery than what you'd typically expect from a castle of this kind. Seriously, it's right up there with the Louvre. Because of that, though, the tour we got was verrry long, and I think our guide could tell the everyone was spacing out. After the tour, we sat down for lunch in the château's restaurant (delicious), then headed over to a museum that houses all the equipment to pump water to the castle's fountains. This is where it got worse: Half the tour was centered around what used to serve as the laundromat for nobles living in Chantilly. Seriously. An 18th century laundromat. But the tour ended well with a giant water wheel and an awesomely bad laser-light and techno music show. Well done, Chantilly.

Au Musée : I've been making near-weekly visits to art galleries this semester with my History of Modern Art class. It's been awesome. We study different movements of modern art, along with their important artists, then go to museums to look at the works first hand. I definitely couldn't do something like this in Kansas. It's a real treat. My favorite museum so far has been the Musée Gustave Moreau. Moreau was a key figure of the Symbolism movement, and before he died he decided to turn his home and workshop into his very own museum. The museum is jam packed with his paintings, along with cabinets full of sketches and figure studies, and has also preserved his living spaces. So you can see both sides of Moreau -- the man and the artist. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

An International Fiesta : Last weekend I took Ellen to a house-warming party at the apartment of one of my coworkers, Pauline. It was truly an international experience. Pauline is French, but she has a Canadian boyfriend, whom she met while studying abroad in Norway. Canadian boyfriend now lives and studies in Belgium, where he became friends with a guy from Chicago (who happened to do his undergrad studies at DePaul), and who he brought to the party as well. One of Pauline's roommates is also Canadian, but he lives in the apartment with his Chilean girlfriend. There were also two friends from Mexico and one from Colombia (I think...?) at the party, but I don't remember how they're involved. And a slew Pauline's French friends were there as well. It was exhausting keeping this all straight and remembering when I could and could not speak French, but I had a great time.

Georgia Preach : This week is the "Semaine du Marais Chrétien" (the week of Christianity in the Marais district), so there have been lots of free concerts, expositions, and conferences going on. I decided to check out a concert at a nearby church this past Sunday. I saw a choir who sang traditional polyphonic chants and folk songs from Georgia (the eastern European country, not the state). This sacred Georgian music is well-known for its very tight harmonies and generally melancholic tone. It's beautiful, but haunting and sad at the same time -- even if the content of the song is happy. There was one song that is traditionally sung after the birth of a child, but you might mistake it for a funeral ballad if you're not careful. I walked away from the concert with a very cool melody in my head that I wanted to use in a song I've been working on, but it slipped out my ear while I wasn't paying attention...

St. Pat's at the Park : After work on Tuesday my fellow interns, Pauline and Ginevra (an Italian), and I decided to celebrate St. Patrick's day in a nearby park. So we stopped into Monoprix to grab some Guinness, apple-stuffed beignets, and dark chocolate Petit Ecolier cookies. The park we went to, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, is absolutely beautiful. It's a huge mass of rolling hills, winding paths, and waterfalls -- all man-made, by the way -- on the north side of Paris. I've been wanting to go there for a while, so I was pumped when Pauline suggested it. Once there, we picked a spot on a hillside facing the mountain-top temple and the setting sun. Just before dusk, I looked up at what I though were oddly-shaped birds, but I soon realized they were bats. So with the flock of chauve-souris circling above our heads, we drank to St. Pat and shared stories about home. What an evening.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

{Also: Look up there on the left! It's my new feature, "Quoi de Neuf? the micro-blog". Check it out to follow me on Twitter and get a more regular peek into my life in Paris.}

a very long post

[15 février 2009]

First things first: Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

I hope you ate chocolate.

Anyway, have I got something special in store for you! That's right, I'm going to recap this last week or so! How exciting! Seriously, a lot has been going on. I feel obliged to give y'all the lowdown. Before I start that, a side note: I have a project this weekend. I'm going to start uploading my pictures from last semester / winter break. Seriously, I just realized that I haven't put any pics online since probably November. I suck at this...

Ok here goes:

VENDREDI (friday) : The day of the suburb conference. I spent the day in Dreux, a small-ish town about 2 hours from Paris by bus. Getting there was quite fun. I had to be at the NPNS office at 6:30 am, because that's when the bus was supposedly going to leave. I should have known better and realized that when the French say "We're leaving at 6:30" they actually mean "We're leaving whenever we damn well feel like it because we're French." We didn't even load onto the bus until around 7:30. But I just chilled and napped on the office couch, so it's all good. Once we got to the conference hall, Jef (aka Jean-François) handed us all our guest badges and led us to the "Association Village", where we breakfasted on croissants and café. The conference was divided into two parts: a big hall where the debates and speeches would take place, and the "Village" where each association had a booth set up kind of like an involvement fair at DePaul. I had the choice of either chilling at the booth and schmoozing or watching the debates. Hoping to see some first class arguments, I chose the debates. Since the whole conference was about "Espoir Banlieues" (the suburban development program I talked about in an earlier post), the debates focused on social issues in the suburbs. It was a pretty cool set up. A panel of experts sat on stage, fielding questions, while a pair of real life TV personalities called on audience members and asked for testimonies, suggestions, questions, etc. It felt kind of like a big talk show. Pretty interesting. After the debates, Fadela Amara came on stage to give a super long speech about the program. It was interesting, but I honestly didn't learn much from it. I had already done quite a bit of research on the program for NPNS, and Fadela's speech wasn't much more than a summary of what they were doing -- lots of generalities, vague promises of "change", hope for the future (Ring a bell, anyone?). Anyway, then we got lunch, waited around for a while, shook hands / schmoozed with Fadela, and got back on the bus. All in all I had a really good time, and it seemed like the NPNS team had forgiven me for my disastrous first days back at the office. Woot!

SAMEDI (saturday) : The day of welcome. IES organized a welcome lunch at the Atelier Guy Martin -- a pretty well-known cooking school / restaurant. The welcome lunch was originally supposed to be on a boat, cruising along the Seine, but one of the students had an internship at the Atelier last semester, and she suggested doing the lunch there as a way to "bond" and "have fun" while "cooking". She's obviously never seen me in the kitchen. I mean, don't get me wrong -- I make damn good macaroni. Just don't ask for anything much more complicated than that... Anyway, we scrubbed up, donned white plastic aprons, grabbed some knives and veggies, and went to work. We ended up making some kind of vegetable risotto (maybe?) stuff with really juicy chicken. To top it all off, we had chocolate soufflé for dessert. Amazing. And you know what? It kind of made me want to start cooking for myself more often. It's kind of nice. Later that night, my friend Kamila invited a bunch of us IES students over to the apartment she shares with her Polish cousin. Apparently, the cousin just recently became a naturalized French citizen. So they decided to celebrate the occasion with a fête. It was a really great time. I met lots of Kamila's Polish cousin's cousins, French friends, and even some of the IES newbies. Great times were had by all.

DIMANCHE (sunday) : The day of rest. Seriously, I didn't do anything. Ok, I watched some Seinfeld, but that's about it. But I needed it. I was tired starting to get the sniffles... more on that later...

LUNDI (monday) : The day of classes starting! The day began with a course on the history of modern art. We're starting with the impressionists and working our way up through the 20th century. It seems like it's going to be a big repeat of a lot of what I studied in my Aesthetics class last semester, but I have a feeling it's going to be more in depth. We actually have quite a few museum visits planned for the course, so it should be pretty cool. Next up: Lectures de la Bande Déssinée, aka Comic Books Class! I've been pretty excited for this one. Comic books in France and Belgium are pretty darn important. Plus the professor (who I also had last semester) is hilarious. It should be a great time. Finally, my first real class in a French university -- Christian theology and inter-religious dialogue. It's going to be tough, but it's a very interesting topic, so I'm not too scared. Anyway I've got Ellen in the class with me, so if anything it will be entertaining.

MARDI (tuesday) : The day of "Back in high school for a day!" This was a fun one. I woke up extra early, blew my nose for probably 10 minutes straight, got dressed, and headed to the Gare de l'Est train station to meet Mar and Jamila from NPNS. Tuesday is usually my full day in the office, but Mar called me the night before to see if I wanted to go with her to talk to a bunch of high school students instead. I obliged. So we took the train out to Chelles, another small-ish town outside Paris. We set up shop in a class room, then welcomed our first group of students. We gave them a 2-hour presentation of what NPNS is, what kind of work we do, why we do it, and what they can do to help stop violence against women and promote respect at their school. It went pretty well, and I actually enjoyed it. I was starting to feel a bit ill, though, and found myself blowing my nose about every 5 seconds. Not so great. Anyway. After the first presentation, we got to eat lunch in the cafeteria, amongst all the students. We had the option of eating in a special room with the teachers, but we declined. Gotta be with the people, you know. After lunch, we gave another presentation to another group of kids. Then we eventually made our way back to the station to hop a train back into Paris. By this time, I was thoroughly enjoying myself, but you wouldn't have known it if you looked at me. I was feeling pretty under the weather. Mar noticed, so she told me that if I was still feeling crappy wednesday afternoon, I could stay home instead of coming into the office. Once I was back home, I did some reading for class, then went right to bed.

MERCREDI (wednesday) : The day of brewing maladies. Not much to say here. I went to class despite my continued ailments, pockets stuffed with kleenex. And oh did I use those tissues. Faucet-nose is not one of my favorite feelings. After my Bande Déssinée class ended at 2, I was still feeling gross so I decided to take up Mar's offer of staying home for the afternoon. She sent me an email, though, asking if I could still do some work on a new project. She needs me to write up fact sheets about some of the tenets of NPNS. Since I wrote a huge paper last semester on Laïcité (secularism) in France, she asked me to start there. So I told her I'd work on it that night, then send it to her thursday morning. I spent the rest of the evening watching Seinfeld, working on the fact sheet, and sleeeeeeeping. There's nothing better when you're not feeling so hot. I still refused to take medication, though. I just drank some tea and let my body work everything out.

JEUDI (thursday) : The day of redemption. By the time I woke up on thursday, I felt muuuch better. I was still a bit congested, but I could actually focus on work. So I finished the Laïcité worksheet, sent it off to Mar, and grabbed some lunch. Ellen sent me a text telling me that I'd gotten a package at IES, and I needed to meet with the staff anyway, so I took the métro to the center. The package turned out to be the amazing Valentine's present from my mom (thanks again!). Next I just needed to talk to Marie in the IES library about fixing up my schedule. Apparently, the Institut Catholique decided to cancel my course on Judaism, so I needed to pick a new one to replace it. Unfortunately, Marie was nowhere to be found. So I just chilled in the computer lab for a while before heading back home. After dinner with the family, Ellen and I decided to hang out at the Louvre. We met there a little after 9:30, so the museum was closed, but we just wandered around the outside and admired the building itself. It was nice to just hang out and discuss whether or not the pyramid belonged there.

VENDREDI (friday... again) : The day of... not much. Now that I sit here trying to remember what I did on friday, I'm drawing a blank. I'm sure I did something during the day, but it's really not coming to me. It must not have been very exciting, I guess. Anyway, I ate dinner with the family, as usual, then afterward we all sat together in the dining room and watched Persepolis on the family computer. It's a movie based on the Bande Déssinée of the same name, written by Marjane Satrapi. It basically tells the story of her life -- growing up in Tehran, Iran, during the revolution; going to high school in Vienna, Austria; moving back to Tehran before finally settling in France. It was really cool, and I've been wanting to see it for a while now, so I was pretty happy. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be studying the BD in my class later this semester. I guess a head start doesn't hurt.

SAMEDI (saturday... again) : The day of love. This was a fun one. I met up with Genna, Kamila, John, Emily, and Alex at the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) for some wandering and chocolate-eating. It was a beautiful day, and I could think of nothing better than strolling through a park, making snide comments about statues, and eating Twix and Toblerone. Perfect. After the park, we made a stop at one of our favorite (read "cheap") bars in the area -- the Gentleman. It was pretty packed, and the TVs were all playing the France - Scotland rugby match. I'm sure this is something important, but as I don't follow the sport, I'll have to fill you in later. I'll ask Jillian. Anyway, after a couple drinks, we headed over to Kamila's place to make some dinner. We originally planned on having shrimp alfredo, but we couldn't find any suitable frozen sea creatures. So we settled on veggies -- a nice alternative. Next, the girls were all planning on heading to what I think was supposed to be a "girls night" at Brittany's (another DePaul student) apartment, but John, Alex, and I decided to tag along anyway. And it was great. Very classy.

DIMANCHE (sunday... again) : The day of... well, today. I haven't done much, as I usually just chill on sundays, but I did make the trip up to Montmartre. I spent most of the afternoon up at the Sacré Coeur Basilica. After chilling and reading for a while outside on the steps, just looking at the city stretched out in front of me in the sunshine, I went inside the basilica for a vespers service. Very nice. And full of nuns, which I love. And it was surprisingly exciting. They have a "no photo" policy, so every five minutes or so, a worker has to reprimand someone sitting in the pews, or walking around the aisles, for snapping illegal pictures. I even saw one guy get chased outside by a worker trying to take his camera. Hilarious. Other than that, I've just got homework, dinner, and sleep on the schedule for the evening.

Well, that was exhausting. And probably really boring to read. Seriously, if you've made it this far without falling asleep or forgetting your name, I salute you. If I could give you a high five, I would. Seriously.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

NEWS FLASH!!

THIS JUST IN : I have the best mom ever!

Thats right. Hershey kisses, candy hearts, Pop Tarts, chocolate hearts, HOME MADE COOKIES, and Spider-Man valentines. Does it get any better than that? I love care packages.

IN OTHER NEWS : Frequency of stomach aches expected to rise dramatically in the next few days.

i work with these people...

so this last week has been pretty wild --  a conference, new classes, a bout with an unknown sickness, IES drama, high school cafeteria lunch. i'll fill you in soon, probably later today or tomorrow morning at the latest. i've got some unexpected time on my hands...

i just wanted to drop a quick link to the awesome new Ni Putes Ni Soumises website (in case you forgot, NPNS is the association for which i do my internship). since their site is totally in French, i'll go ahead and remind you that NPNS is an non-governmental organization working to stop violence against women, promoting equality, and educating people on what "respect" really means. anyway, the new site looks great. even if you can't read it, check it out! (and click around a little -- the pictures change!)