presidential snowball

[31 janvier 2009] <--(i'm doing this because blogger keeps screwing up the dates of my posts...)

don't have much to say right now. lately, i've just been hanging with the IES newbies, showing them around the city, eating food, watching dexter. you know the drill. but my friend elizabeth is in town (she went to depaul with me for a year or two, now goes to school back home in ohio, but is currently studying in bordeaux. and she has a blog), so i'm hoping to spend some time with her while she's around. oh, and you know how i thought classes were starting next week? i was wrong. they don't start until feb 9th. so i have another week to just "be" in paris. which is pretty awesome. it's the neverending winter break. and speaking of breaks: ellen and i are currently planning what could possibly be the single most catholic spring break of all time. i'll keep you posted.

until next time, here's president obama having fun in the snow. enjoy:

superpoop.com

flying under the radar

What's that you say? Cody has disappeared for over a month? Why, that's absurd! Why would he do such a thing? Yeah, sorry about that. I suppose I've gotten lazy. Or maybe my initiative has totally run dry. Either way, I guess I've treated this long break from school as an equally long vacation from the ol' blog. But fret not, I'm here. And we've got some catching up to do.

In the interest of saving time and space (and unnecessary work, I suppose), I'm going to do something here that I normally wouldn't dare: I'm going to cheat. You see, I was about to bore you with a bunch of long-winded posts about my amazing trip with Will to Italy and Ireland, but then I remembered that he already did the work for me, on his own blog. Ah hah! So now I present to you, in his own words, Travels with Liam:

Day 1 -- Roma

Day 2 -- Roma

Day 3 -- From Roma to Galway

Day 4 -- Galway and Dublin

Day 5 -- Dublin

Ok, now that that's out of the way, on to the rest of my winter break thus far:

As you may have guessed from my last post, I spent a good part of Christmas day alone and bored. My host family took off early Christmas Eve for Bretagne, leaving me high and dry in Paris. I did have a nice holiday dinner with friends, though. The parents of three of my friends here all flew into town to celebrate Noël, and they invited me to share an excellent meal with them. It wasn't the same spending Christmas without my family, but my friends made me feel welcome and kept my mind and stomach occupied. We even had home-made mulled wine, which was delicious.

My dad arrived the next day after a long flight from Kansas City, including layovers in Atlanta and Dublin. After waiting over an hour at the baggage claim of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, Dad was informed by the Air France staff that his luggage couldn't be accounted for. They had records of his belongings up until Dublin airport, where they apparently disappeared somewhere in the ether. Rightfully annoyed, Dad joined me in the airport lobby, where we proceeded to procure a taxi and make our way into the city.

The rest of Dad's visit was excellent. We managed to finagle our way into a cheap hotel near the Bastille for the entire length of his trip. This required several room changes, but at least we were able to stay in the same building. With Dad (the Paris newbie) at my side, I made like a tour guide, trying to give him a taste of what life is really like in the City of Lights.

Highlights from the visit include : A) Getting an incredible view of the city from the dome of Sacre-Coeur Basilica. B) Waiting over an hour in line for the catacombs, having awkward conversations with American tourists, getting the door of said catacombs shut in our faces because we were late, returning to said catacombs the next day, making new friends in line, and finally seeing the bones. C) Searching high and low for used bikes at the Marché aux Puces (Flea Market). D) Narrowly escaping angry mobs, and as a result, finally getting a chance to taste tear gas in the Métro. E) Eating. F) Eating. G) Spending quality time bonding with my dear father. H) Eating.

Since the trip, I've basically been flying under the radar. I switched back from "American Tourist! Yeah! OMG it's Paris!!!1!" mode to "Incognito, Laid-Back Resident of Paris" mode. Despite earlier plans to meet friends in Berlin or Bordeaux, I haven't left the city. Which is nice, because I've gotten a wonderful opportunity to explore the world of subtitled cinema. I think I've been to the movies at least 5 or 6 (or 7 or 8) times this month -- a few of those screenings were part of a 3-euro "Best Films of 2008" deal the UGC chain had going on. I've also fallen prey to the dangerous world of Dexter (a Showtime series about a Miami Police blood spatter specialist who moonlights as a serial killer -- let me know if you want to chat about it). It's actually based on a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay. Luckily, Caroline gave me copies of the first two books (in French) before she left for Rhode Island last month. So even if I run out of new episodes to watch, I can still continue dreaming darkly with the books.

I should also note that a few BIG things have happened recently :

Hope, etc. -- "Change has come to America." Barack Obama. You may have heard of him?

Coupe -- After nearly five months and several inches of beautiful flowing locks, I finally decided to get a haircut. I also figured out that my beard trimmer is not, in fact, broken. So I now come in "Well-groomed" mode as well.

Bienvenue -- The new arrivals got in yesterday, so IES has been restored to the hub of activity it was during fall semester. Among the huge group of spring students is a gaggle of DePaul girls. With this kind of representation, we are poised to take over the city with Vincentian Values and Socially Responsible Leadership. (Also, Laura brought me an awesome beanie embroidered with the word "Detroit". Gotta represent the Ghetto D.)

Aaaaand I think that's it for now. I'm sure there's a lot more I could be writing about (the pros and cons of French cinema snack bars, for example), but I've got plenty of time for that in the coming months. Speaking of which, I've got less than 4 months left before I make the trip back home. So it seems as though I'm on the downward slope. Kind of scary. But class and work are about to kick back into gear, so I'm just going to focus on that for now...

Happy Travels

-- Cody

Joyeux Noël!

I'll post about the trip soon. I promise.

Until then, enjoy this extremely serious little ditty.

Merry Christmas!!

free at last

I'm sitting in Dublin Airport at the internet kiosk between O'Brien's Gourmet Coffee and Handcut Sandwiches and McDonald's. To my left, I can see a bay of check-in desks, ticket counters and giant paper snowflakes through a huge window. In the bottom corner of this browser window there is a little timer telling me exactly how long I can stay online before I will be asked to put in some more change. As I'm cheap, there isn't much time left. So this won't be a huge post.

If you've been checking here recently, you've no doubt noticed how the ol' blog has been frustratingly barren the past fewweeks. That doesn't necessarily indicate that my life has been the same. Noooo. In fact, it's been quite the contrary. You see, I've just finally finished fall semester. I didn't write on here for a couple weeks because of several papers that were due and a final exam that I needed to study for. The end of the semester was basically hell. But it's all over now, and I'm free free free at last. That translates into two things: one bad & one good.

First, the bad: Because the vast majority of my friends were only enrolled at IES for fall semester, I had to say lots of goodbyes. That's always sad. I took part in some final weekend festivities, but when it came time to say aurevoir to some of my favorite people, I had a hard time. They know who they are. For a few of my really good friends, I just didn't want a definitive goodbye, so I opted to stay in with my host family wednesday night, the final night. I feel kind of bad that I didn't spend the evening with the friends, but I know I'll see them again.

Second, the good: As you may have guessed from the first line of this post, I've been doing some traveling. I flew out of Paris early thursday morning, heading to Rome to meet Will. His semester in Dublin had already finished, so he had already spent a couple days in Barcelona. I decided to join him for the final leg of his journey. We had a couple awesome days in the eternal city, then we flew up to Ireland. We took a bus from the Dublin airport straight to Galway, a big little city on the west coast of the island. We took the bus back to Dublin sunday afternoon. I've had a really great time with him.

But now I'm here, sitting in the airport with several hours to kill before my flight back to Paris. Will has already left for his return to the states. Like I mentioned before, I'm cheap so I don't want to spend too much on this internet. So I'll give you a little bit more detail on the trip to Italy and Ireland when I get back to the apartment.

Happy Travels
-- Cody

culture

WELL: I finished my Kerouac novel last night. I really enjoyed it in that kind of "whoa this crazy beat novel makes me want to go hitchhike somewhere imaginary and try hallucinatory drugs and be misogynistic" way. Yeah, it was a fun ride.

THE ONLY THING IS: I quit reading the only real "classic" French novel I've ever attempted (Le Capitaine Fracasse) to start on my Kerouac journey. So I guess that's not too good. I should probably be reading in French to keep my immersion level to a maximum, you know?

THUS: I started my decent into 17th century French comedy today. I grabbed an anthology of plays by Molière from the family bookshelf this morning. I decided to begin with L'École des Femmes, as I briefly studied it in my aesthetics class earlier in the semester, so I have a vague understanding of the plot. I like it so far.

MAN, AM I CULTURED OR WHAT?

hello winter

Well winter's here, and it doesn't matter if I like it or not -- it's made up its mind and is planning on staying a while. It's been pretty cold recently (So cold, in fact, that I've even started wearing my scarf. Now I'm not usually one for scarf-wearing, but it keeps me warm, and people tell me it makes me look infinitely more French. So I don't mind much). I have to be honest, though: French winter is not too terrible compared to the arctic months I've endured in Chicago. Here, it hardly ever snows. The clouds are content just spitting out half-frozen rain drops onto the Parisian rooftops. So until the spring awakening comes, I'll just have to tighten my coat, slip on my gloves, and brave the frigid spit spat drizzle.

While I was in Brussels last weekend, I had a bit of an epiphany. Well, I can't really say that it was my doing at all. It came in the form of an email from a dear friend of mine, Mark Tumbleweed Pedri. You see, I've been feeling kind of like I'm not making the most of my time here in Paris. The end of the semester looms on the horizon, so I'm starting to see how quickly the time passes. So I wrote to Mark, confident that he could show me the light. He wrote me a simple little morsel of advice he learned down under this semester:

"Write in a journal every night and do something everyday worth writing about that night. That's what I did and I don't have a single regret about anything."

Pretty simple, huh? And yet I couldn't seem to figure it out on my own. Well, I value the Tumbleweed's input, so I took the advice to heart. Over dinner with Caroline last week, we discussed this whole issue and decided that we'd better do something about it. So we wrote a list of things we still haven't done (or that we want to do again) in Paris, intending to cross every item off the list before the end of the semester comes and steals Caroline away back to the land of the free and the home of the brave. Since then, I've been trying to do something every day that is worth writing about. It doesn't have to be anything earth-shattering -- just something that I might want to remember ten years down the road. I'm feeling pretty good.

Here's an abridged list of some of the highlights from the week:

-- Pondering the hidden meanings behind the Galleries Lafayette Christmas windows

-- Amassing a large collection of French hip-hop and spoken-word/slam poetry albums, borrowed from the IES library

-- Heading off to explore the Cimitière du Montparnasse (Montparnasse Cemetery) only to spend the afternoon chatting with a completely random frenchman who claims to be a famous singer/actor/brother of Jacques Villeret

-- Exploring the Mantegna exhibit during yet another visit to the Louvre -- you can't see it all in one semester, I swear

-- French "Thanksgiving dinner" with all the other IES students. It wasn't terrible... I'll just leave it at that

-- Bad ass ukulele & banjo jam session along the banks of the Canal St. Michel with Joel after said Thanksgiving dinner

-- Getting to keep my sweet chest x-ray from the medical visit required for my residence permit (Let me know if you want to see what I'd look like with no skin on)

-- Bar hopping in the ever so softly falling snow

-- Sitting in on a random Chopin concert at the Eglise Ste. Merry

So there you have it. As the sky becomes a wintery shade of gray and the temperature outside starts to drop, I'm feverishly stoking the fire in my life. Just like the notes flying from a piano or the words escaping out of your mouth, I know time is fleeting. It's already the last day of November. With finals, winter break, and lots of traveling coming up, I know it will be spring semester before I know it. Let's just hope I can live it up while it lasts.

Happy Travels

-- Cody

Hustle & Bustle in Brussels

So, look at me: I've only been back in Paris for a little over an hour and I'm already updating the ole blog. How daring!

Well, Brussels was pretty darn sweet. Like most people will tell you, it's not quite as beautiful as a lot of other cities throughout Europe -- like Paris or Vienna, from my experience -- on account of its strange mix of architectural styles, but it is still a nice place. There are lots of old old buildings downtown, but then there is a decent amount of modern, industrial almost-skyscrapers. Honestly, there were times when I really felt like I was back in Chicago. The city had a very similar feel to it. The general feeling was not quite as "European" as I was expecting. but Brussels still has its charm. I definitely enjoyed my time there. Despite the crappy weather (snow!).

I got into Bruxelles (as the French call it) around 10 friday morning, found my way to my hostel, checked in, and then headed out for sightseeing. Of course I went straight for the Grand Place, Brussels' historic district. Descending ever so slowly into the tail end of November, workers were already out preparing the Place for the upcoming Christmas Market -- a European specialty. People were working feverishly among the old-as-centuries buildings, some attaching straw to the roof of a manger soon to hold the holy family, and some stabilizing the huge evergreen tree standing in the middle of it all. The Grand Place is always full of tourist, and rightly so. The buildings are incredibly detailed, covered in gold leaf and statues. Restaurants can be found just around just about every corner, but they all seem to cater to the tourist crowd -- tourists with wads of cash in their pockets, that is. I was not to be tempted. I found lunch in an out-of-the-way restaurant: salad, meatballs, and fries. Delicious.

For most of the afternoon, I simply meandered from historic sight to historic sight, keeping an eye on my whereabouts with a map I picked up from the hostel. I saw Manneken Pis, la Bourse (stock exchange), St. Michael's Cathedral, St. Catherine's, the touristy restaurants lining Rue des Bouchers, and the Galleries of the King and Queen, among many others. The whole time was filled with side wonders and lots and lots of chocolate shops. There's quite a bit to see and do in Brussels, and it's all very pedestrian-friendly. After dining at a pizzeria and exploring some more, I decided to call it a night. The weather was just not friendly at all. Rain rain rain. It was a good night to slip into bed a little early. Before sleep, though, I took the time to send off some postcards and a letter or two.

I woke up nice and early saturday morning, and made a game-plan for the day. I decided to follow a walking tour outlined in little crow's feet on my map. It started at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Congress Column just a couple blocks away from the hostel, so that's where I headed. When I got there, I saw lots of people milling about in military uniforms. Deciding to stay and see what was up, I soon heard what sounded like a marching music. Then, around the corner came a band, followed by four regiments of young men and women decked out in fatigues and rifles. I asked someone standing by me in the gathering crowd what was going on. It was apparently a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the Military Academy in Brussels. Just before the ceremony started, and as snow began falling, a very important man (general of the army? maybe?) stepped out of a discreet black car, wearing a long trench coat and blue military beret. He presided over the events.

After the ceremony, I started off on my walking tour. I didn't finish, though, as the half-way point was my real item of interest: the Parc du Cinquantenaire. I wandered around the park and headed towards the Royal Army Museum, from where I could (supposedly) climb to the top of their Arc de Triomphe. Along the way, I saw a large makeshift building advertising a special exhibit. I went inside to find a collection of beautiful photos and information about Michelangelo's Pieta. It was very interesting to hear about just how perfect the work is -- he apparently made vast use of the Golden Ratio while carving the work. It really is fascinating. Next, I made it to the Army Museum, where I unfortunately could not climb the Arc. I did, however, find a very cool Aviation exhibit -- lots of airplanes, helicopters, and hot air balloons.

After a quick lunch at a nice little restaurant (the waitress was totally flirting with me, by the way), I went to meet up with Brianna and her friend at the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart. We toured the inside of the HUGE church, and then rode the elevator to the top, where we climbed outside to admire the view from around the enormous dome. While we snapped photos and caught up with each other's lives, the snow began to fall again. It was a very picturesque moment. Next, I headed out to see the Atomium, a 100-or-so meter high steel replica of an iron crystal made for the 1958 World's Fair. I had read that it's not quite as cool as it may seem, so I wasn't too disappointed when I arrived 15 minutes after closing time. I took a few quick pictures and headed back downtown for dinner. I did some last major sightseeing in the historic district, including the famous Delirium Tremens bar, and made my way back to the hostel. I sat in the hostel's Babel Bar for a while, sampling some more Belgian beer (so good), before hitting the hay.

This morning I woke up around 7:30, grabbed breakfast, and checked out. I made the rounds of the city one last time, then headed for the only site that was open and standing between me and the Brussels Midi train station: the Porte de Halle. It's an awesome tower that was formerly one of the only entrances penetrating the stone walls around the city. I toured the museum, climbed the huge, spiraling, stone staircase, and took one last view of the city from up high. Beautiful. I ended my time in Brussels trying to find the entrance to the train station among the HUGE flea market that apparently springs up on sunday mornings. That was a cultural experience in itself. I caught the train, and the rest is history.

So there you have it. I'm off now to do some homework before grabbing dinner with Caroline later. Oh, and I had some serious reading time on the train, so I'm getting deeper and deeper into my latest Kerouac novel. It really is incredible. Life-changing, really. Let me know if you want details. Until next time.

Happy Travels

-- Cody