feeling like an american

So I promise I'll get to the Normandie post soon. If nothing else, I'll put a link up for some pictures. You will see. It's amazing.

Anyway, I've mostly been doing class stuff this week. Homework, buying books, "reading"... you know the drill. Wednesday night, I went to dinner with Caroline at a little restaurant called "Le Petit Marcel," just down the street from Beaubourg (Centre Pompidou to the non-locals). By the time we left, we concluded that we could probably never return to the restaurant without wearing some kind of disguise. Apparently, it's rude to ask a waiter who isn't your waiter for l'addition (the check). They'll just give you a weird face. And I'm not sure what the official rule is in French society, but I don't think shattering a wine glass on the sidewalk and proceeding to scamper away without saying a word to the management is looked upon nicely. Who knew?

My course on the European Union was canceled this afternoon, so I took a political sabbatical today after translation. While downloading the final debate between Obama and McCain on itunes, I filled out the local section of my absentee ballot. I decided to wait to darken the oval next to my choice for president until I had seen all of the debates. I have for sure been leaning heavily towards Obama for quite a while now, but I wasn't quite convinced yet. The debate was definitely interesting. It was really obvious that they were both trying really hard to convince all those non-committed voters out there watching. It always feels good to watch things like the debates online here. I'll admit it: I've been missing America lately. I like feeling like I'm still connected somehow -- like a real American.

So I made my decision, filled in the oval next to my candidate (No, I won't tell you who I picked. It's an anonymous ballot, you know?), sealed the envelope, and dropped it in the mailbox at the post office down the street. Honestly, though, I had a little bit of voter's guilt afterward. Did I make the right choice? Being so far away from home, is there anything I've been missing? I kind of felt like it was unfair that I had to cast my ballot so early. But I really had no choice, as it has to get to the Douglas county clerk's office before election day, or my vote won't count. Anyway, it's all done now, and all we can do is wait and see what happens come November.

After doing my patriotic duty, I went down to Gibert Joseph to buy a book on the European Union and a grammar text for my new Arabic class (which I think will go pretty well, despite the fact that it's in St. Denis -- fondly referred to by my host brother as "the ghetto"). Then I met up with Caroline, Monica, Melissa, and her friends from U of C to visit Nôtre Dame. I'm happy to report that I actually went in this time. Being a thursday evening in the middle of October, there weren't near as many tourists lurking around as there were when I last visited the cathedral. Next, we visited the Tour de St. Jacques (where pilgrims embarking on the Chemin de Compostelle used to gather), grabbed dinner in the Latin Quarter (again), and went to our favorite haunt -- Le Who's Bar. There was a duo playing tonight that did a sweet acoustic cover of "Time is Running Out" by Muse. Killer.

Reason to Love It : French university students. So far, they seem really cool. I talked to a couple of them in my Arabic class on Wednesday. They seemed intrigued by the fact that I'm an American studying Arabic in a French setting. Hopefully, I'll be able to make some friends this way. You never know.

Reason to Leave It : Commuting to class and/or my internship every day. It's a big city, so it takes a while to get anywhere by Métro. It really makes me miss having an actual campus to live on.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

Also: Don't forget to click the links to some of my friends' study abroad blogs in the left-hand column. There's some compelling stuff there, I promise. And remember-- just like nutrition, commenting is a force multiplier. Show me you love me, baby...

time is money (unless you're an unpaid intern, that is)

i know it's been a while since i've written, so i wanted to give a quick update. it's going to be short, however, because i'm in between classes right now. granted, i've got a couple hours to kill, but i should actually be doing my homework for my next class. time is money. or something like that...

anyway, only three big things have taken place in the week or so that i haven't written:

1) i started my internship at Ni Putes Ni Soumises.

2) i took a trip to normandy (to which i will devote an entire post in the near future. for now, let's just say it was incredible)

3) i saw a couple familiar faces, if only for a few hours.

ok. so my internship. it's awesome. i explained in an earlier post that NPNS is an activist group that works to counter violence against women and inequality between the sexes. they host a lot of conferences, organize marches, launch ad campaigns, etc. to get their message out. the organization is made up of two networks: one within france, the other international. i'm working for Mar Merita in the international network. mainly because i'm an international intern who happens to speak english.

after watching a short video and being introduced to the NPNS staff on my first day, i got my first assignment. Mar told me about a new network that NPNS is in the process of organizing for women throughout the mediterranean basin (i.e. north africa, the middle east, and parts of southern europe). because of the civil rights issues and sexual inequality throughout the region, NPNS is really serious about creating a strong organization to ameliorate the situation. Mar was contacted by a group in portugal that wanted more information on this new network. this is where i come in: my job was to translate the pamphlet of info about the network from french to english, so the portuguese group would be able to read it. which is a pretty difficult task. but i was up to it, so i took it head on. i spent the remainder of my first day, and about half of my second day finishing up the translation. in the end, i was really proud of it. i mean, my work is going to help create an organization to fight for women's rights on an international level. how cool is that? for the rest of my second day, i scoured the internets for cheap flights from islamabad to paris (not for me -- for a couple people coming to a NPNS conference next month), and started assembling some fiches d'état for Mar. i have to gather political and societal information on several mediterranean countries, so she can stay up to date on the status of women around the region. pretty interesting stuff, non?

as for those "familiar faces" i mentioned earlier, i was visited by a couple friends from the states this weekend, after i returned from normandy. brianna (who's studying in belgium this fall) and dustin (who's studying in austria) spent a romantic weekend together in paris. i wasn't able to meet up with them until sunday night, when we planned to have a picnic dinner in the luxembourg gardens. but alas: the supermarkets and the gardens themselves were closed, as it was a sunday night. while they dined on chinese take-out, and i on a baguette, we strolled around the montparnasse district, close to my school. we stopped for some amazing gelato, then headed back to our respective sleeping quarters. it was a short visit, but much-needed. it was really nice talking to people i really know, and who i feel close to. it was refreshing. which makes me really excited to see my other friends throughout europe this year. and i'm especially excited for spring semester, when even more depaul kids will be studying with me at IES. woot.

i think that's all for now. i've got to get to my homework... bof. like i said, look out for my normandy post coming up very soon.

Reason to Love It : living so close to amazing places like normandy. seriously awesome. traveling in europe is incredible.

Reason to Leave It : my crappy european phone.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

La Nuit Blanche, or 7 Euro Bonbons? For Real?, or Why One Might Question the Sanity of the French

Last night was Paris' annual Nuit Blanche (White Night). Like I mentioned in my last post, Nuit Blanche is an all night celebration of art, culture, music, and performance. Churches, Métro stations, gardens, museums, and parks all throughout the city hosted events from sunset to sunrise. Boy, was it interesting...

After enjoying a home-made dinner of crêpes with my host sister, Nolwenn, and two of her friends, I made my choice about where to spend the evening. Based on timing, proximity to my family's apartment, and Caroline's preferences, I decided to go to the Centre Georges Pompidou (the inside-out building, remember?). The Center would be keeping the doors to its modern art gallery open all night long. This is where things got interesting. I arrived at the center quite a bit before Caroline was to join me, so I decided not to step into the huge line for the art gallery just yet. Starting to wander around, I came across a strange, almost airstream-like trailer with a bright neon sign on top reading, "Chambre(s) d'Hôtel" [Hotel Room(s)]. Nothing was really going on around it, so I didn't think much of it and continued on. But this unassuming little trailer will make another appearance in this post...

I then found my way to Église St. Merry, a church right next door to the Centre Pompidou. The church had been decked out for Nuit Blanche with lofty works of art, eery lighting, and various performers. When I first walked in, a dance group was just finishing up. I have to admit, it was a bit strange seeing hip hop dance in a centuries-old church. Up next, an awesome poet/actor/dancer(?) stepped into the spotlight. I'm not sure what to call what he did, but it might be similar to a French version of slam poetry. Anyway, he concluded his set with this soul-shaking quote:

-- "Moi, je suis Henri Marche. Et vous -- vous aussi -- Vous êtes Henri Marche..."

-- "Me, I'm Henri Marche. And you -- you as well -- You are Henri Marche..."

How true, how true... After this revelation, I did some more wandering. As fate would have it, I found myself back at the trailer. This time, I was in for a treat. Whatever company that was responsible for the presence of the trailer had begun their show for the evening. A large window on the side of the trailer that had once been obscured by a white curtain now revealed 2 women and a man inside, moving and dancing about with blank expressions on their faces. This, ladies and gentlemen, was my first experience with "performance art." From what I gathered from the abstract acting and trance-like music, the piece was about some sort of prostitution ring, or maybe domestic violence witnessed by a hotel cleaning lady, or maybe murder as a result of a love triangle? Maybe? It's hard to say. All I really learned was that the French might be nuts. Here's a short clip of the performance. I'll let you decide what it's about:

Just about the time this finished up, Caroline called to let me know she had arrived. I found her in the swaying crowd of drunk Frenchmen, and we headed to the line for the modern art gallery. Just then, a man from the center came out and told us the doors would be locked at 1 am. It was about 12:55. So we wisely chose to cut our losses. We explored the area a bit more, then I took Caroline back over to Église St. Merry, where we watched another dance crew. Yeah, more hip hop in the church. But they were good, so it was worth it.

Deciding it was getting too dangerously close to the time when the Métro would stop running, Caroline and I wound our way back to the station. Along the way, I found a huge stand selling amazing-looking candy. It was just too much to resist. I asked the worker how much the candy cost. "2,90 € for 100 g." Contemplating what 100 g of candy might feel like, I filled my bag with delicious sweets. Satisfied, I handed the bag over for weighing, praying that I hadn't stuffed it with more than 5 or 6 euro's worth. Well, it turned out to be 7 euro and some change. I wasn't too terribly upset by the price, so we continued on our way to the station. While we waited for our train, we decided to see if the candy was worth it. Alas, the bonbons were sub-par. Naturally. I got home about 45 minutes later, clutching the bag of sweets and feeling ready for bed.

I now leave you with a treat of your own: Love It or Leave It.

Reason to Love It: The architecture. The buildings here are absolutely beautiful. And old, man. It's hard to imagine that most of the churches in this city have been around longer than the United States...

Reason to Leave It: No Chicago style deep dish pizza in Paris. Nuf said.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

1 down. 8 to go.

(Warning: super long post dead ahead)

Today makes 1 month since I've been in Paris.

1 whole month. I can hardly believe that. It's strange, but it feels both like I've been here forever & like I just got here yesterday afternoon. So much has happened. I've seen so many things. I've met so many awesome people. Yet, to quote Steve Miller: Time keeps on slippin' (slippin' slippin') into the future. I'm 1/9th of the way through my time in Paris. Let's hope the next 9th goes as well as the first.

A lot has happened in the last week. I celebrated my birthday on friday, saw some sights over the weekend, trudged my way through classes during the week, and even had a couple interviews sprinkled in here and there.

First up: 21 Jump Street

Friday was my birthday, y'all. 21 years old. Woot. Going into this day, I had been thinking about how being in Europe does two things to a 21st birthday: 1. It pretty much negates the coolness this birthday has in the states, as no one really cares how old you are in France -- anyone can drink. But 2. It makes it sooo much cooler, as you can say to all your friends, "Hey, you stumbled around Chicago on your birthday? Well, I stumbled around Europe on mine." Right?

Anyway, after a pretty mediocre day, I met up with a group of IES friends at the Oberkampf stop on the Métro. We found a nice establishment at which to spend the evening. After a few hours of shenanigans, we decided that we really wanted to go watch the live broadcast of the presidential debate. With the time difference, it started at 3 am in Paris. So we found our way to the pub down by the Louvre which had advertised the debate. It was pretty crowded with fellow Americans and Europeans interested in politics. It was definitely an interesting experience. It was pretty clear that the crowd in the pub leaned way to the left, cheering Obama on and laughing off McCain's comments. But I had a great time. It was exactly what I needed.

That weekend, I decided to do some serious sight-seeing. On saturday, I met up with Caroline & Monica from IES (as well as Monica's sister, Melissa, and her friend from the U of Chicago group in Paris) for a trip to the Conciergerie and Ste. Chappelle. They're both located in the Palais de Justice on Île de la Cité. The Conciergerie is a former prison, acting as the final stop before execution for many unfortunate French convicts, including Marie Antoinette. The museum has done a very good job maintaining the feel of the prison, even mocking up cells with creepy mannequins.

Next, we headed over to Ste. Chappelle, a beautiful church renowned for its gorgeous stained glass. There are two main chapels in the church -- one on each of its two levels. The lower level doesn't have any stained glass, but its painted walls and arches are definitely impressive. The upper level is the real knockout. When you step out from the staircase tucked in the corner of the room, the huge stained glass windows lining the walls are almost too much to take in at once. Incredible. There are chairs along the perimeter of the room, allowing tourists to sit and gaze at whichever side the sunlight happens to be filtering through. It really is an amazing sight. 

In my eyes, the only real fault of Ste. Chappelle is the fact that it is no longer a real church. It is simply a pretty tourist attraction. On the lower level, instead of pews or even any type of seating, you are greeted with a long bank of stalls selling books, pictures, postcards, etc. It's purely commercial. It's sad, but at least the building is being maintained and protected.

On sunday, I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and made the long trek out to the Château de Versailles. To get there, I had to take the RER (a train mainly used for Paris' suburbs, like Chicago's Metra). After the hour+ trip, I stepped off the train and walked up to the château, about 10 minutes from the station. I waited in the ticket line, then toured the palace, opting to forego the headsets offering a detailed tour. I figured I could appreciate the palace without them. Man, Versailles is beautiful. Very epic. The rooms are meticulously kept, and the art is astounding. One downfall: There is an exhibition running through December of work by Jeff Koons, a contemporary American artist. His stuff is pretty cool, and I could definitely see myself enjoying it maybe in a modern art gallery. But it just feels out of place in Versailles. The palace is very well put together, and in the style of classicist art, it is complete. Adding to or taking away from the palace throws it off. So needless to say, I didn't enjoy most of the huge balloon sculptures or wooden statues sprinkled around the château. It kind of felt like theft. I won't even mention the statue titled, "Michael Jackson and Bubbles." Seriously...

However, stepping outside the walls of the château, the huge gardens were incredible. I only scratched the surface of the Jardin, but it was a moving experience. The fountains, the manicured trees and plants, the paths, the canal, the birds in flight all around, the setting sun. It was perfect. Like the stained glass at Ste. Chappelle, it was almost too much beauty to handle. It's certainly too much to faithfully describe in words, or capture in a photograph. I definitely plan on returning soon to do some exploring.

The rest of the week was split between classes, meetings, and a few outings. Classes are all still going pretty well. They're picking up, as we're moving past the introductory stage, but they're only getting more interesting. I've noticed that the number of students is dwindling in the more difficult courses. Naturally. On monday, I found out my official placement for my internship this year. I will be working with an association called "Ni Putes Ni Soumises" --translated as "Neither Whores Nor Submissives" -- in the international section. It's an activist organization that works to counter violence against women, and to promote gender equality. I don't know exactly what my job will entail, but it will be an eye-opening year, for sure. I'll let you know more as I find out.

On wednesday night, Caroline and I took advantage of the free theatre tickets at the IES office, going to see a play called "La Folle Allure." It was a one-woman show. In French. So it was pretty strange. But well done. I guess. It was tough to understand a lot of it, but I got the gist of the story. The actress was definitely skilled, not to mention a real gymnast. At several points in the show, she suspended herself (sometimes with one leg, sometimes just a hand) from a metal swing set bar. Let's just say she was upside down a lot. Gotta love the French.

Friday, I had a meeting with the director of IES to talk about the Arabic class we're still looking for. If I can't find one in the end, I plan on taking a religious studies class at the Institut Catholique de Paris. We'll see how that turns out. Afterward, I met up with Caroline, Monica, and Melissa once more for a bit of touristic fun. We decided to head to the Louvre, using our awesome cartes louvre jeunes to gain free access to the museum. As it happened, we chose the right night to go. There were actors and musicians sprinkled about the wing we found ourselves in. Dressed in black or white, the actors gave monologues and duets about particular paintings or artists featured in the rooms. It was a very cool -- and very French -- way to learn a little bit of art history. So classy.

Today, I've just been chilling at home, watching videos of the debates. Interesting stuff, I tell you. Really, I'm just resting up before the big celebration tonight: Paris' Nuit Blanche 2008. It's the all-night cultural festival that inspired Chicago's Looptopia. From sunset to sunrise, the city will be host to musicians, artists, filmmakers, and speakers from around the world. There's so much to do, I don't have a clue where to start. I guess I'm just going to play it by ear. I'll definitely fill you in.

And finally, Love It or Leave It.

Reason to Love It: The cheese. I love it all, but chevre (goat) is my favorite. Delicious...

Reason to Leave It: The French idea of "customer service." Sometimes I'd just like a waiter at a restaurant to be... uh, nice to me, you know?

Happy Travels

-- Cody

Photos galore

Hey.

I discovered Picasa Web Albums today. It's way less complicated than what I was using before, and it has a much larger capacity. So I'll be using Picasa from now on. You can find the links to all my pictures to the left, under Mes Photos.

Enjoy
-- Cody

Call me a chameleon...

Greetings from the land of cheese, baguettes, and mimes. Oh, and berets. And wine. And Gerard Depardieu -- can't forget him. Well, I guess one could say that France is known for many things. Though surprisingly, that classic "French laugh" that we all know and love (you know: hon hon hon!) doesn't really exist here. Le shocking. And I guess the French don't necessarily appreciate the stereotype, either. Whoops.

I've finished my first week of classes. Generally interesting, midly frustrating, and most certainly tiring, my courses cover a pretty broad range of subjects. My first course of the week is my internship seminar, which doesn't actually start until the week after next. So for now, I've got a hole in my schedule. My first real class is Traduction (Translation). I can already tell this is going to be difficult. It's tough trying to translate idioms and very specific turns of phrase from my native English into my not-so-native French, but I am bound to learn a lot from it. The next course on my academic menu is called Questions d'esthétique, or Questions of Aesthetics. Depsite having to study 18th century operas, I enjoy this class immensely. Our professor is very knowledgeable, entertaining, and not too difficult to understand. And finally, there is my course on Institutions et vie politique de l'Union Européenne (Institutions and political life of the European Union). My professor is an energetic, young Italian man with an Italian accent to match. His is probably my toughest course. I've only studied a small bit of political science and economy at DePaul, so I've got my work cut out for me. But this is also probably my most important course in terms of relevancy, as A) I'm currently living in the European Union, and B) France currently holds the presidency of said union.

I've heard a lot of other students grumbling about their professors or courses in general, which is normal at any school, but I don't really see their reasons. Ok, I admit that some lectures might be a bit disorganized, but that has pretty much been my whole experience with this trip. Everything seems a bit vague, a touch last-minute-ish. So I've made the necessary adjustments and continue on with life. It's all a question of adaptability. Some of you may know that I pride myself on being adaptable. Call me a chameleon.

Speaking of adjustments, I've noticed that it's getting a whole lot easier for me to comprehend large amounts of the French language all at once. Class lectures aren't quite as mentally taxing as they once were. Newspapers don't look quite as much like minefields of unknown words as they used to. And my host family doesn't have to slow down their speech quite as much anymore (I think). While I am by no means fluent, it's definitely getting easier. All this suggests to me that total immersion in a language really does breed understanding. Which makes me very happy that I chose to study here for a whole year.

Apart from my classes, this week has been decent. I've gone on a couple outings, shared meals with good friends, and gotten to know the city a little better. Last night, returning from yet another trip to Place St. Michel for dinner, my friends and I stopped to watch a dance group on the sidewalk. They had set up shop right next to a Métro station, drawing a formidable crowd. They were supposedly "break dancers," but I wasn't too terribly impressed. A couple of them were very good. Literally, only a couple. The rest (all 5 or 6 of them) had dance moves only slightly more complex than if I were to become their choreographer. Still, they entertained the crowd, so they've got something going for them. We didn't stick around too long, wisely slipping down the stairs to the Métro just before the dancer holding his upside-down hat could ask us for money. I would feel bad if the dollar were a bit stronger. Maybe.

And now on to a new segment in my blog I like to call, "Love It or Leave It." Here, I will give one reason for which I adore Paris, and one for which I might find myself tempted to leave this city. I'll try to do this as often as I can. It might be interesting to see how my opinions change throughout the year. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, here it is: Love It or Leave It.

Reason to Love It: All the random musicians in the Métro. Guitars, accordions, mandolins, harps, keyboards -- you name it, I've seen it played on a train or in a station.

Reason to Leave It: Feeling so out of the loop concerning American politics and news in general. Yeah, I usually complain about the petty arguments in campaign ads at home. And yeah, I find local news reports tiresome and depressing most of the time. But damn it, I miss it all.

(ok, I know I can read the news online and whatnot, but it's just not the same...)

With that, I bid you adieu.

Happy Travels
-- Cody

Wesh, mon frère

Creepy, huh?

Well apparently, the catacombes underneath Paris hold the bones of millions of people. That's a lot of skeletons. And nightmares. Like I said: creepy. I thought it was a very interesting part of French history, but I definitely would not advise those with weak constitutions to venture down into the skull-lined tunnels. If you enjoy morbid quotes, however, I strongly recommend a visit. There are plaques all around the tunnels with sayings from several authors. Here's one of my favorites:

"Pensez le matin que vous n'irez peut être pas jusques au soir et au soir que vous n'irez peut être pas jusques au matin."

or:

"Think in the morning that you might not make it to the night, and at night that you might not make it to morning."


I made the trip to the "empire of the dead" this past Thursday with a friend of mine from class. We had already eaten lunch, but I still had a couple hours to kill before my academic meeting with the IES director. So knowing the catacombs were only about 5 or 10 minutes from the IES center, I suggested a trip.

This is pretty much how the past week has gone for me. With my days of free time slowly slipping away before the start of classes, I tried to get out more and see the city. I've probably been down to Place St. Michel and the surrounding district four or five times now, but it's just such an interesting area. My host father told me he wasn't surprised. He said it's kind of like Picadilly Circus in London, only better (because it's in Paris?). Place St. Michel has a great big fountain and lots of pubs and restaurants that tourists adore. It also happens to be located in the famous Latin Quarter. So you can't go wrong with a visit here.

On Friday, all the IES students and staff met for an official welcome lunch at the Eiffel Tower. It's really hard to describe in words or capture in a picture just how huge the tower is. It's incredibly impressive. I had seen it off in the distance many times since I arrived in Paris, but I waited to actually visit there until the welcome lunch. And I'm definitely glad I chose to do so.

After snapping some obligatory "on top of the world" photos, I headed down to the street with a group of IESers to take a tour of the city on one of those big, red, double-decker buses. It was nice to be able to see so many sights without lifting a foot. Just sit back, relax, and take in the city. Also, the head phones they gave us let us listen to the tour in not only English or French, but also Spanish, Japanese, and Russian. Which always makes things more interesting, right?

Sunday was the "Journée de la Patrimoine" (or something like "Heritage Day"), so just about all the national monuments and museums in Paris were open for touring. I hit up the Place des Vosges, only a 20-30 minute walk from my apartment. There, I visited the home of Victor Hugo, world famous French author. If you've seen the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, you know his work. It was pretty interesting. I mean, it's a house. So I don't know how interesting it can be. Granted, it was in an awesome area of Paris, and Victor Hugo was an amazing author. But I can only handle so many historically-acurate sitting rooms and parlors.

Which must be why I proceeded straight to the Musée Carnavalet, located in an old palace in the Marais district. In case you're wondering, this museum is pretty much the same as the Victor Hugo home, just with fewer pictures of Mr. Hugo, and more portraits of the aristocracy. So needless to say, I didn't stay long. I did, however, manage to take quite a few pictures at both places. And to prove to you that I actually went there, I made it a challenge for me to take as many self-portraits as I could in the many mirrors lining the walls of the museums:

Left: In the Maison de Victor Hugo.

Right: In the Musée Carnavalet

Before my adventures in old-living-room-land, my host brother taught me my new favorite phrase in French: Wesh, mon frère. It's the equivalent of "Yo, my brother" in English. But, as Nathou put it (in French), "If you happened to be in the suburbs in the 80s or 90s, you might have heard people saying this." Apparently, it sounds ridiculous to the French today. Which is why I made a vow to use this expression as often as possible. I greeted the family with a jolly wesh this evening before dinner, and my host mother told me I sounded very French. Score.

I officially started my classes today. Woot woot. My schedule says I should have had my Internship Seminar this morning, but since the internships haven't actually started yet, that was not the case. So after arriving at the IES center nice and early, I found myself with about 2 hours to kill before my only other class. So I sat in the lounge, eating pain au chocolat, drinking apple juice, and reading a Lucky Luke comic book. And let me tell you: Lucky Luke may have been written in the 50s, but it's damn funny. Or at least as funny as a French comic book about a cowboy in the Wild West can be. I finished the tale of Lucky Luke and the bandit Phil Defer, then headed to class. The subject: Questions of Aesthetics, or the Philosophy of Art. It should be pretty darn interesting.

The rest of today, I've just been catching up on some writing -- in my journal, on here, and on some post cards. I'm going to try to hit the hay early tonight, as my Translation course starts at 9 am tomorrow. Oh, and my only other class tomorrow -- Political Life in the European Union -- doesn't start until about 4:00, so let's hope I find something worthwhile to fill my time with.

I'll be putting up some pictures of the past week sometime soon. And yes, there will be more skeletons. And more self-portraits in 18th century mirrors. Stay tuned.

Happy Travels,
-- Cody