Tacoma Girl in Paris

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Jean-Marie Le Pen is a sensitive subject for the F...
2007-05-01 22:07:00
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a sensitive subject for the French. To most of the population, he?s a dinosaur ? a racist xenophobic extremist whose existence on the political scene is a disgrace to the country. But for a shocking 11 percent of the voting population, he?s a revolutionary ? a martyr whose destiny is to make France French again. Le Pen founded the Front National in 1972, a far-right political party that wants to return France to its traditional roots, distance the country from the European Union, reinstate the death penalty and basically deport all immigrants. Le Pen?s daughter Marine is a party executive and the popular pick for the FN?s candidate for the présidentielle once Jean-Marie leaves the scene. Because Jean-Marie is such a polarizing figure, Marine is seen as the hope for the future of the party. According to my vie politique professor, Marine is a much more dangerous figure than Jean-Marie, for just that reason. She?s softer, less extreme and was never convicte...
More About: French politics , Paris , Jean , Sens

Here's a French music video to amuse until I write...
2007-04-30 22:05:00
Here's a French music video to amuse until I write about the annual Front National parade tomorrow morning ? it's in honor of Joan of Arc and Jean-Marie Le Pen. Should be a disturbing and interesting time.Mick est tout seul ? La clé des chants
More About: Video , Music , Music Video , Write

Being at Sciences Po between the two rounds of the...
2007-04-27 01:08:00
Being at Sciences Po between the two rounds of the French presidential election is like being thrust into a hub of political hyperactivity. The dueling Sarko and Ségo camps have hung up jeunes pour Ségolène Royal/Nicolas Sarkozy flags in penîche (main hall) and spend every free moment trying to turn another young French voter and professors have cancelled classes to go off and debate or campaign for their preferred candidates.Actually, the mood has been electric since mid-February, when François Bayrou crept up from behind to challenge to two main contenders for the Élysée (the Palais de l?Élysée is the presidential residence ? basically the French White House) and turned the fairly predictable election into something much more interesting.The way the French présidentielle works is by a run-off system. Each political party has the option to present a candidate who must gather 500 signatures from elected officials in at least 30 French departments (regions). The only other require...
More About: Bein , Round , Being , Ween

News of the shooting is on the front pages of all...
2007-04-17 22:51:00
News of the shooting is on the front pages of all the French dailies today. All over the world people are mourning with Virginia Tech . Here's a link to the article in Le Monde.Compte rendu: ScotlandAfter two trains, a night on a bench in the Glasgow airport, a plane, a bus and a metro ride, I am finally back in Paris. I landed at Paris Beauvais airport at noon yesterday still wearing my polar fleece and wind breaker from the chilly weather in Edinburgh to find temperatures in the 70s and bright bright sun. Needless to say, I stripped down quickly.View of Edinburgh from the Camera Obscura in the Old City:It?s weird to be back ? I?ve traveled from Paris before, to Munich and back, to visit Christina in Nantes, to Barcelona last November, back to Tacoma for Christmas, and all around France in a car with my mom, but for some reason coming back this time felt different. Maybe because I?ve been here for 8 months now it feels more like coming back to school and routine than just con...
More About: News , Shooting , Front , Pages

It?s starting to feel like the beginning of the en...
2007-04-06 08:17:00
It?s starting to feel like the beginning of the end. Today I spent half an hour looking at the new Ikea catalogue with Paul and Ella, the three of us trying to pick out the prettiest bed for me to buy for my apartment next year. We settled on a dark metal bed frame ? I knew this was the perfect girly pick when E started making indiscernible cooing sounds and pointing out the matching bedside tables, while P started making fake retching sounds.I still have nearly four whole months left in Paris , but I?m already planning for the fifth one. I finally bought my ticket home a few weeks ago, which was a 900 dollar blow to my bank account. Apparently it is not cheap to fly one-way from France o the West Coast at the end of July. My flight arrives at SeaTac Airport at 4:45 pm on July 27th, and on July 28th, there?s a concert I want to see in Renton. August 11th we leave for the annual family beach trip to the Washington Coast, and my brother and I are crusading for a family date to se...
More About: Tart , Like , Feel

It turns out that it is not that easy to date some...
2007-04-03 14:56:00
It turns out that it is not that easy to date someone who lives on a different continent from you. First of all, there?s that word ? dating, the very nature of which implies that you have someone with whom you go out in the world and do things. You?d think dating someone you?d go out to dinner, see movies, go to parks on nice days like today (it?s 60 degrees out and gorgeous), but when the two of you are on opposite ends of not only the Atlantic Ocean, but the North American Continent, all bets are off.I didn?t expect it to be a problem when we started ? yeah, it?s a ?long-distance relationship,? but there?s still the phone, email, skype and even La Poste. Maybe we won?t get to see each other every day, but I?d rather be a girlfriend than not, and I?ll be home by August anyway. Besides, I have all of Paris to distract me.Right. The situation is not so easy breezy when you?re having a bad day and all you want to do is see your boyfriend ? but you can?t, because he?s 10,730 kilo...
More About: Skype , That , Easy , Turn , Some

One sunny Sunday morning in February, Rachael and ...
2007-04-02 12:46:00
One sunny Sunday morning in February, Rachael and I began by setting out for a regular run around the jardin des Tuileries. Somewhere between the triumphal arch and the carousal something about the beautiful weather, the hordes of people filling the park and the endorphins shooting through us turned us a little silly.Bored of running, we took up a spot near the Southeastern corner of the park and began doing crazy exercises ? partly for our own amusement/fitness and partly because we?re both apparently big show-offs. Maybe a little too tickled by the fact that we were leaping around like crazy girls in the middle of Paris, we took turns picking activities and ended up bolting through the gardens pretending to be football players, skipping around fountains, and just being generally quite ridiculous. As goofy as we were, we were both nearly too sore to bend the next day, and pleased with the apparent efficiency of our workout, we began to get very into the idea of forming a workout...
More About: Morning , Sunday morning , Sunny

Nowhere is the French reverence for all things cul...
2007-03-30 23:42:00
Nowhere is the French reverence for all things culinary more apparent than in the canteen of the Sciences Po blood drive. Rather than the typical Tacoma blood bank fare of saltines, prepackaged oatmeal raisin cookies and array of juices, French donors are offered a selection of sandwiches, yogurts and fresh pastries.The food isn?t the only thing that?s different about donating blood in Paris ? for one thing, the required abstention post-tatouage is a mere 4 months, compared to the year-long wait in the U.S., and there?s no minimum required iron level ? in fact, they don?t even check.I tried rather half-heartedly and unsuccessfully to figure out if I was allowed to donate here at the beginning of the school year, but gave up or forgot or was just to lazy to follow through. I?d completely forgotten about it until I checked my Sciences Po email yesterday and discovered that SciPo was hosting a blood drive today.Still not sure whether I was even eligible to donate in France, I showed ...
More About: Here , Ever , Things , Thing

I think it?s safe to say that it?s spring in Paris...
2007-03-26 21:23:00
I think it?s safe to say that it?s spring in Paris . The sun is shining, it?s warm enough to walk to class without a jacket, and every spare patch of grass in the city is filled with smoking sunbathers ? no really. They lay on their backs with their pants and shirt hems rolled up, one arm across the eyes to block out the sun while the other hand brings a cigarette up for a drag every few minutes. Only in Paris, right?With the onset off a new season and the beginning of a long run of the warmer months, it?s definitely time to reassess French fashion. Get ready with a pen and paper because here are my notes for must-have clothing for anyone currently living in the city of light, or wishing they were.First and most important is the mini trench. We already knew that the trench was French, but as the months get warmer and dryer, the hems get higher, the colors brighter and the fabrics lighter. Styled exactly like a full-length Carmen Sandiego, but cut to fall at the hip, the shoulde...
More About: Spring , Think , That , Safe

I love coming home at night to the smell of burned...
2007-03-21 02:48:00
I love coming home at night to the smell of burned out candles. It?s a smell I?ve always loved ? it used to remind me of birthdays, but now it reminds me of my apartment in Paris . The candle smell comes from my neighbors on the first floor (reminder, in France, the first floor is the first floor above ground level) who are a male pair of interior decorators who do quite a bit of entertaining. Every time they have a dinner or party or festivity of any kind, we enter and exit the building by candlelight. Tonight I got home after the candles had been blown out, and the only reminders of the evening were the still-smoking white candles lining the courtyard and first floor staircase. I was coming home from a movie, trying to make the most of the Printemps du Cinéma promotion that ended today. For whatever reason, the Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Français organizes this three-day period each spring (possibly beginning just last year), during which all movies at all theatres all ...
More About: Love , Home , Night , Smell

Usually I spend my days collecting stories and ide...
2007-03-14 20:43:00
Usually I spend my days collecting stories and ideas to write about as I walk, run and metro through the city. These are a few little life in Paris anecdotes that I couldn?t quite stretch into full stories on their own.Autobus, ligne 39Last Monday, Ella and I had been waiting at the Richelieu-Quatre Septembre bus stop for about 20 minutes before we saw the notice taped to the glass wall of the stop. Thanks to yet another protest, the bus line we take to the Académie for her dance class each Monday would once again be interrupted. From 18h to 20h that evening, there would be no busses running between Richelieu and Gare du Nord. As it was only 17h20, we were a little confused about why there was no bus. After mulling it over for a few minutes, we decided our best bet was to hike down the few blocks to Palais Royal, where we could catch the bus at an uninterrupted stop, just in case the line had already been disrupted.After about a block and a half, I looked back to see none other...
More About: Stories , Arts , Stor , Days

It?s been so sunny in Paris lately that I?ve been ...
2007-03-12 20:45:00
It?s been so sunny in Paris lately that I?ve been waking up early. When I got up this morning, a perceptible haze had set in. The sky was bright and there wasn?t a cloud in sight, but to the North and East, the sky was thick and brown.It?s actually been remarkably warm here the past few weeks ? I?d been warned all autumn what a terrible time February would be in the city, but the month passed in blue skies and sunny days. Today it was so warm that I didn?t need a jacket walking to class ? a tee shirt and thin cotton cardigan were more than sufficient. With beautiful days that stretch longer and longer by the week, comes the annual revelation that yes, Paris is a beautiful, but dirty and polluted city. Indeed, the view from the top of the basilisque de Sacre Coeur is a breathtaking panorama of the city, but more often than not shows a rather hazy view, with the outer arondissements fading into nothing.This is about as good as it gets:The most polluted street in the city is rue d...
More About: Sunny , That , Lately , Late

How to spot tourists in Paris (a few simple tips a...
2007-03-01 19:19:00
How to spot tourists in Paris (a few simple tips and guidelines):10) Look for couples ? it is my estimation (and I have absolutely no evidence or any way to back this up) that 60-70 percent of the lovey-dovey couples wandering through this city are from out of town. Paris is pretty high on the list of romantic vacation spots for couples and frankly, most Parisians are just too cranky to be seen showing any sort of public affection. If 60 percent of the couples in Paris are not from Paris, 90 percent of the couples kissing on, walking hand-in-hand over or gazing over the railing of a bridge are foreigners too.These people, for example ? there is no chance that they are natives:9) Look for anyone carrying a Starbucks cup (or any sort of food for that matter) ? this is not a country where people eat on the go. In fact, even going into a Starbucks you?re likely to be pegged as a tourist ? the one time I bought coffee at the avenue de l?Opéra Starbucks, the barista started speaking ...
More About: Tips , Spot , Tourists , Simple

I remember the first time I saw the movie Amélie. ...
2007-02-12 00:02:00
I remember the first time I saw the movie Amélie. It was New Year?s eve before any of us had our driver?s licenses, and my friend Rachel?s dad drove us to the Grand Cinema to see a movie.I?m not sure why we picked Amélie, but aside from a few moments of discomfort ? the kind that stems naturally from being 16 and hearing the word ?orgasm? while sitting next to a friend?s father who also happens to be a pastor, we loved it.I?m not sure I know anyone who has seen the movie and didn?t enjoy it, actually. We loved it because we were 15 and it painted such a magical picture of Paris . Freshman year living in the dorms at UW we had an ?Amélie Night? in the third floor lounge to share the movie with those hapless Honors students who had somehow escaped falling in love with Amélie thus far.It?ll always be one of my favorite movies, but these days the name Amélie Poulain carries a bit more weight for me. Tacomans and Seattlites watched it for Paris and its mystery and romanticism. Parisi...
More About: Movie , Time , The Movie , First

I?ve been terrified of my European Union final sin...
2007-02-07 23:13:00
I?ve been terrified of my European Union final since the first lecture of the semester. After sitting through one Cours Magistral, I realized that it was completely pointless for me to be in the lecture ? not only was the class held for two hours at 8 in the morning, I could not, for the life of me, understand the French of Professor DeWost. Going to my conférence only confirmed my assessment ? none of the other international students got anything out of the lectures either. The man just mumbles, and there?s nothing to be done about it, aside from filling out less than favorable course evaluations.Fortunately, the teacher of my conférence was very knowledgeable and a clear speaker, so I figured I?d get more out of paying good attention during her section classes on Monday afternoons. All was well until we found out that at Sciences Po, completely unlike the system at UW, you receive two separate grades for each course ? one full, five-credit note for the conférence and one full,...
More About: Final , Terri

Something I?ve noticed a lot, living in Europe, is...
2007-02-04 14:42:00
Something I?ve noticed a lot, living in Europe , is the fact that as a people, we Americans are really quite conservative. After five months in France, I?d like to think that I?m mostly used to the freedom of sexual expression that is so different from the taboos and behavioral expectations back in the United States ? but every once in a while I?m still caught off guard.The first thing you notice in France is the pub, or advertising that is often blatantly sexual and is pretty much everywhere. From naked women on billboards, to a TV spot for instant coffee that borders on soft core pornography to the infamous egg billboard, sex is everywhere you look, with a hand in nearly everything you buy. You can turn on the TV at 16h and see naked people (which you definitely can not in the U.S.), sex in movies is more frequent and less of a deal, and posters advertising porn websites or hotlines fill the windows of most tabacs and presses.Sex in France isn?t limited to the media ? stroll acr...
More About: Living , Notice , Something , Thing

As I often lament, for all my obsessive printing o...
2007-01-29 15:35:00
As I often lament, for all my obsessive printing out of entire fashion week schedules, ?casual? walk-bys of the Ritz, the Georges V hotel, and strolls up and down the rue Saint Honoré (a celebrity-sighting hotspot for all the high-end shopping), I am really not very good at celebrity stalking.Every fashion week, I study and print out the fashion week schedules, and wander around the outside of the École des beaux arts near Sciences Po or the Grand Hôtel near place de la Madeleine, hoping to spot, if not celebrities, than some really tall chic models. R and I compulsively check Pink is the New Blog to find out which celebrities might currently be wandering around Paris, and lurk around the nicest hotels and most expensive designer boutiques.Last weekend it was Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy, here for the French premiere of the movie Dreamgirls. Last week it was Victoria Beckham, Katie Holmes and Anna Wintour, here for the haute couture shows. For an International Studie...
More About: Lament , Inti , Printing , Lame , Amen

Getting dressed this morning, I chose my outfit ca...
2007-01-27 16:46:00
Getting dressed this morning, I chose my outfit carefully. I don?t have huge plans for the day ? just babysitting, doing a little apartment cleaning and then meeting some people at a bar in the 11ème for drinks and couscous. While the bar is chill and nobody really dresses up to go there (well any more than French people usually dress up just to live their lives), it is still a Parisian bar ? which means you?re likely to be sitting in a cloud of stale smoke for upwards of an hour or two, which in turn means choosing your clothing wisely.Even when the temperatures are measuring below freezing, I won?t put on a sweater ? sweaters are a pain to wash and the wool sucks up the smoke like a vacuum. Some places aren?t so bad ? clubs, for example, are still smoky but most have fairly high ceilings so it?s not a big problem. Chez Georges is one of the worst places for smoke ? you won?t stop reeking until you?ve showered at least twice and you probably won?t stop coughing for at least 24 ...
More About: Morning , Esse , Hose , Outfit

Today I watched a girl climb out of the metro at É...
2007-01-20 01:50:00
Today I watched a girl climb out of the metro at Étienne Marcel to the soundtrack of the Clash (album: London Calling). She was in my subway car, and I noticed her first for her extremely chic and Parisian coat before I ended up following her out through the turnstile and out of the station.I was listening to music on my headphones, and thinking only of what I?d make for dinner later as I exited the metro, not paying a great deal of attention to my surroundings. But as this girl reached the top of the staircase, she broke into a huge grin as she spied what she?d been looking for and flew into the arms of her waiting boyfriend. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), their reunion did not erupt into that infamous spontaneous Parisian make-out session. Instead my girl from the metro recieved an enormous hug that engulfed her, lifted her chic French feet right off the ground and said ?I am so glad to see you. The sweetness of the scene put me into quite a good mood. It was kind of like th...
More About: Today , Metro , Girl , Climb , Limb

Yes, it's been rather windy in Paris the past few ...
2007-01-19 13:55:00
Yes, it's been rather windy in Paris the past few days. Though I just thought I was hearing particularly loud gusts because I live at the very top of my building.
More About: Past , Windy , Indy , Rather

So it?s two weeks before finals start at Sciences ...
2007-01-16 23:28:00
So it?s two weeks before finals start at Sciences Po ? and nobody has any idea what?s going on. For the past several weeks we?ve been asking our conférence teachers to explain our finals to us, but after half an hour of explanation today by one of them, none of us (in the programme international) is any closer to understanding.This is what we?ve got: each Sciences Po class is apparently worth 10 credits rather than the five any U.S. university would assign to a course that consisted of a lecture and a conférence (similar to a quiz section). The scary part is that rather than have a grade that?s an average of the work each student has done over the semester and their grade on the final exam, each grade sheet will reflect two separate grades ? one for the conférence, where notes are cushioned by exposés, dissertations and class participation done throughout the past five months. One grade, however is based entirely on the final exam. That?s right, five entire credits are dolled o...
More About: Start , Finals , Tart , Fore