courtesy of Martin Galilee.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099090&id=13308828&l=e632b718be
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
all tuckered out!
just got back from Besancon and the national collegiate ultimate frisbee tournament. in summary of the event, i'd say that we did pretty well! more specifically, we had a (1) nice solid victory and gave it 110% all eight games. furthermore, i'd say the optimistic wording i use hear pretty accurately reflects the attitude of everyone on the team (though i must admit i personally was discouraged at moments), which is what counts anyway.
either way, we all got along incredibly well and had a blast. one of the girls on the team, Lola, recorded a bunch with her video camera, so i look forward to revisiting the good times, maybe even in a form i can share with you people.
on the bad news side: i just got word from Pomona about the research proposal i sent in last month, and it was rejected. so suddenly i don't know what i'm going to do for work this summer, and am thinking i may need to leave europe earlier than planned to find a job, which is a crying shame because i have been starting to put together some really exciting travel plans. either way, i'm just really disappointed to not get the grant, as i felt pretty eager to do that research.
to end on a good note, i was appreciating today where my french has been these days. i feel completely comfortable with it now, to the point actually where i struggle sometimes turning it off when i talk to anglophones. but my comprehension is quicker than ever, and i'm feeling pretty comfortable with humor, which is tough, and i feel like i'm absorbing new vocabulary more quickly than before. so anyway. that's a good thing that's happening.
thanks for reading and have a good day.
either way, we all got along incredibly well and had a blast. one of the girls on the team, Lola, recorded a bunch with her video camera, so i look forward to revisiting the good times, maybe even in a form i can share with you people.
on the bad news side: i just got word from Pomona about the research proposal i sent in last month, and it was rejected. so suddenly i don't know what i'm going to do for work this summer, and am thinking i may need to leave europe earlier than planned to find a job, which is a crying shame because i have been starting to put together some really exciting travel plans. either way, i'm just really disappointed to not get the grant, as i felt pretty eager to do that research.
to end on a good note, i was appreciating today where my french has been these days. i feel completely comfortable with it now, to the point actually where i struggle sometimes turning it off when i talk to anglophones. but my comprehension is quicker than ever, and i'm feeling pretty comfortable with humor, which is tough, and i feel like i'm absorbing new vocabulary more quickly than before. so anyway. that's a good thing that's happening.
thanks for reading and have a good day.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
crunch time?
WELL, i just got back from a nice long weekend at the beach with my friends from school (Alexandra, Nico, Silver et Lea) and am looking forward to getting down to business with a paper for my Paleo-Environment class this week... after all, i'd like to get it done before Ali (from Pomona) comes to visit (in 9-ish days) then after that, we embark on our big-cities-of-western-europe tour, as i believe i mentioned before.
anyway, plenty of stuff going on before then anyway, including the french national collegiate ultimate frisbee tournament! check it out:
http://infodisque.net.free.fr/ffdf/08_09/inscrip_champ_univ.pdf
and besides that, some more photos. wish i had the ones from this weekend, but my camera is crap, so i'll have to wait for the ones other people took. enjoy anyway.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098218&id=13308828&l=53f23f4102
à+!
anyway, plenty of stuff going on before then anyway, including the french national collegiate ultimate frisbee tournament! check it out:
http://infodisque.net.free.fr/ffdf/08_09/inscrip_champ_univ.pdf
and besides that, some more photos. wish i had the ones from this weekend, but my camera is crap, so i'll have to wait for the ones other people took. enjoy anyway.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098218&id=13308828&l=53f23f4102
à+!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
ULTIMATE WEEKEND
well the weather was glorious this weekend at La Grande Motte, a beach not too far away from montpellier. no clouds, warm sun, almost no wind - inCREDIBLE! a couple of FULL days, 7 matches total. boy am i tired! i've never had sore TOE muscles before...
it was a really cool experience to be out there playing real matches. our team, Les HeraUltimates (representing Montpellier, in the department Herault... its a play on words.), was composed mostly of newbies like me, and the difference showed. we lost all three games the first day. sunday, however, we started getting a little organized field play together and won 2 of our 4, including one against a team that had beat us the day before.
anyway, i learned a lot, had a great time with a bunch of laid back people barcelona to Nice to all over the south of france. and now i see even more clearly how much work the Paul-Valery University team has to do... yikes.
besides that, life is good. the school is still blocked off and on strike, so academics are a pain in the neck (extra work to justify getting credit for the semester, irregular schedules, etc.) but all is well here at the homestay and such.
anyway, i gotta run - wouldn't you know it, to my tuesday night ultimate practice. love to all and happy st. paddy's day.
it was a really cool experience to be out there playing real matches. our team, Les HeraUltimates (representing Montpellier, in the department Herault... its a play on words.), was composed mostly of newbies like me, and the difference showed. we lost all three games the first day. sunday, however, we started getting a little organized field play together and won 2 of our 4, including one against a team that had beat us the day before.
anyway, i learned a lot, had a great time with a bunch of laid back people barcelona to Nice to all over the south of france. and now i see even more clearly how much work the Paul-Valery University team has to do... yikes.
besides that, life is good. the school is still blocked off and on strike, so academics are a pain in the neck (extra work to justify getting credit for the semester, irregular schedules, etc.) but all is well here at the homestay and such.
anyway, i gotta run - wouldn't you know it, to my tuesday night ultimate practice. love to all and happy st. paddy's day.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
a good day (continued)
i just have to add that i just got to run around savage and beat up my feat, eat a 7 course dessert (if you count the cheeses) after an i-dont-know-how-many-course dinner, and now i am going to play hockey. there is a good thing going here for sure.
see today's post below.
see today's post below.
la vie en rose
what have i got goin right now... i turned in a paper today (that ruined my day yesterday) but turns out is not due till next week. nice to have that off my chest. i am really happy with my couple of french friends i've been hanging out with - good caring people. today i played guitar in montpellier and (long story short) made 18 euros in an hour and a half. got some new ideas for street-performance tactics... got home in time to lay in the front yard in the most glorious sunshine i've felt in so long. this place is really going to be a paradise this summer.
on the rare occasion, i do feel a lost sensation. a sad song or something i miss (yesterday it was strawberry-banana, a flavor i don't see here!) will trigger it - i will feel out of place and just wish i could go back to last semester or live with my brother.
but my family here is great and i am finding happiness and meeting everybody i can and as the weather starts to change here, i can't deny i come across little pockets of heaven now and then.
an update on my near future which is beginning to take shape:
- the 26th and 27th of this month i'll be playing in the national university ultimate frisbee tournament in france
- in my 2-week break in april, i will be traveling with some great friends to Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London.
- i still hope to be doing research this summer on organic viticulture in southern france
- i am thinking i will stay in france AT LEAST as long as my visa permits me, then i'm thinking about a couchsurfing tour of eastern europe (and maybe visiting new friends in portugal or belgium) with my friend Katie Rowbottom
whew. miss and love you all. :-)
on the rare occasion, i do feel a lost sensation. a sad song or something i miss (yesterday it was strawberry-banana, a flavor i don't see here!) will trigger it - i will feel out of place and just wish i could go back to last semester or live with my brother.
but my family here is great and i am finding happiness and meeting everybody i can and as the weather starts to change here, i can't deny i come across little pockets of heaven now and then.
an update on my near future which is beginning to take shape:
- the 26th and 27th of this month i'll be playing in the national university ultimate frisbee tournament in france
- in my 2-week break in april, i will be traveling with some great friends to Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London.
- i still hope to be doing research this summer on organic viticulture in southern france
- i am thinking i will stay in france AT LEAST as long as my visa permits me, then i'm thinking about a couchsurfing tour of eastern europe (and maybe visiting new friends in portugal or belgium) with my friend Katie Rowbottom
whew. miss and love you all. :-)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
the rest of italy
i feel the need to emphasize how bummed i am that my camera lost some of the pictures i took. i had to put the stinking thing together all over again each time i decided to take a picture, so you can imagine that all the shots were fairly well thought out. i think most of them survived. here's the link to the rest of them: florence and venice!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096354&id=13308828&l=a1845
love sky
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096354&id=13308828&l=a1845
love sky
Luttons ! Grevons ! Boooo, Sarkozy !
I am writing this from the front lawn because there is a beautiful moon tonight with the biggest halo around it I’ve ever seen. So I’m lying on my back with the laptop open 180 degrees in my lap doing a no-look blog entry. Enjoy.
It was 2 days ago that the “blockage” of my university started. I was in class when it stated - a couple guys poked their heads in to say that they were shutting all the buildings down. My paleoenvioronment professor (who I like a lot) told them he would actually be continuing, and so of course they argued for about 10 minutes before the two left. Just a few minutes later though, about 15 striking students came in and everybody erupted into debate. Students were yelling at each other and debating with the professor and everything.
Basically, the president of France is reforming the university system, pushing it a little closer to privatization. Students, professors, and other leftists (and anyone who appreciates nearly-free higher education) are upset, so they’ve been on strike for a few weeks. The next logical action they’ve taken is to keep everybody else from having class by blocking doors to all the buildings with chairs and tables and standing around to make sure nobody gets in.
Anyway, I found these interactions between students extremely interesting. I’ve never seen students get so fired up before about defending their education before. I guess in the states we couldn’t really get any more privatized than we already are… either way, it felt really cool to be involved in a totally different system, to watch it changing, and to watch everybody get really fired up about it.
Another thing these students are doing is occupying night and day an amphitheater on campus. I didn’t really know what all that entailed, but I decided to go get involved.
It was a party. Not too big (I mean, 75-ish people in a giant amphitheater doesn’t seem like that many), but a bit rowdy. The drinking didn’t bother me but the new no-smoking-in-public-buildings law was apparently out the window, and the place was so filled with cigarette smoke I could feel myself contracting second-hand lung cancer. Apparently, ALL FRENCH PEOPLE smoke (except for my host family thank heaven).
I though it was going to be a much more interesting political gathering. I mean, right around midnight they tried to open up a debate, but everyone was too drunk to respect that happening. I hung around for a while but decided not to pull out my sleeping bag and crash there. I guess I didn’t feel too comfortable with all the drunken students (and random non-students, of which there were a lot, including a couple homeless I think). Luckily I friend that lives next door to campus. It was just tricky to scale the giant gate to campus with my backpack and guitar and a bit of wine in me.
Besides this cultural experience, all is well (not that it was a bad experience). I have had my favorite French song in my head all day, which has been a pleasure. I played ultimate this afternoon, and I just had a wonderful dinner. So I’d say that’s all and thanks for reading.
It was 2 days ago that the “blockage” of my university started. I was in class when it stated - a couple guys poked their heads in to say that they were shutting all the buildings down. My paleoenvioronment professor (who I like a lot) told them he would actually be continuing, and so of course they argued for about 10 minutes before the two left. Just a few minutes later though, about 15 striking students came in and everybody erupted into debate. Students were yelling at each other and debating with the professor and everything.
Basically, the president of France is reforming the university system, pushing it a little closer to privatization. Students, professors, and other leftists (and anyone who appreciates nearly-free higher education) are upset, so they’ve been on strike for a few weeks. The next logical action they’ve taken is to keep everybody else from having class by blocking doors to all the buildings with chairs and tables and standing around to make sure nobody gets in.
Anyway, I found these interactions between students extremely interesting. I’ve never seen students get so fired up before about defending their education before. I guess in the states we couldn’t really get any more privatized than we already are… either way, it felt really cool to be involved in a totally different system, to watch it changing, and to watch everybody get really fired up about it.
Another thing these students are doing is occupying night and day an amphitheater on campus. I didn’t really know what all that entailed, but I decided to go get involved.
It was a party. Not too big (I mean, 75-ish people in a giant amphitheater doesn’t seem like that many), but a bit rowdy. The drinking didn’t bother me but the new no-smoking-in-public-buildings law was apparently out the window, and the place was so filled with cigarette smoke I could feel myself contracting second-hand lung cancer. Apparently, ALL FRENCH PEOPLE smoke (except for my host family thank heaven).
I though it was going to be a much more interesting political gathering. I mean, right around midnight they tried to open up a debate, but everyone was too drunk to respect that happening. I hung around for a while but decided not to pull out my sleeping bag and crash there. I guess I didn’t feel too comfortable with all the drunken students (and random non-students, of which there were a lot, including a couple homeless I think). Luckily I friend that lives next door to campus. It was just tricky to scale the giant gate to campus with my backpack and guitar and a bit of wine in me.
Besides this cultural experience, all is well (not that it was a bad experience). I have had my favorite French song in my head all day, which has been a pleasure. I played ultimate this afternoon, and I just had a wonderful dinner. So I’d say that’s all and thanks for reading.
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