Journal Entry: 3 - 9 (Septembre) - 88: Well I'm in Paris. Actually I'm in a tiny little hotel room. I hate blue pens which is why I'm so psyched that this pen is black because it's in a blue container. We almost didn't make the flight because of the goddamn travel agent in Ithaca: it turned out that we weren't even booked on the flight (ever) and we had to fly standby. We got off the plane and Rebecca's friends picked us up (Claire, Olivier and Serge). They were pretty cool. They fed us lunch and then I took a cab to this hotel. French people don't eat with the bread on their plate. French word for hangover: 'hors de service' (out of order). I haven't met any of the other students yet (besides Rebecca) but maybe I will tomorrow. I bought a sandwich tonight. I walked around Paris for about 2 hours -- I didn't even get that lost. I'll be psyched to move out of this hotel I think and into a situation where I am surrounded by French-speaking people. This room is all peach. It kind of makes me want to puke, but the building is cool even if the name of the hotel is 'Sunny.' Surprisingly, everyone does speak French here.
9-7-88: I'm still in Paris and I will be for quite a while, except that I'm now in an even smaller room. If I wasn't in Paris, I'd say I was living in a really dumpy place. However, ma famille est gentille and it's not bad. I try not to spend any time pendant la journee ici so I don't start thinking about home. I always feel just an ounce uncomfortable here. Today, I waited in line for about six years for a cash advance on my VISA. I thought that they thought for sure that I had stolen the carte and the police were going to come and cart me away. Je suis trop fatigue.
9-8-88: Today some old piece of shit was so drunk that he fell on me in the metro. And then he acted insulted when I couldn't understand him that well. It made me want to puke. Yesterday, I heard Part II of a famous conversation that took place in Ithaca.
First, Part I:
Meg: Rebecca said that she wants to seduce you.
Part II:
Rebecca: Meg said that everyone said that you had a big crush on her. Is it true?
I ate dinner with Bruno and Marie. French news is much more comprehensive than Amerique.
la tendence: tendency
d'occasion: used
se tromper (de): to be mistaken
9-12-88: Alison always meets strange people. While waiting for her friend Susu, some guy came up to her and asked if she was French. Wanting to turn him off, she said 'no.' It turned out that the guy was American and his name was John Tangent and he went to college with Alison's roommate's father.
une couch: diaper
une gamme: musical scale
une prise: outlet
une machine: machine
Sept. 13, 1988: French bureaucracy is the most frustrating thing ever. I stood in line for about ten years today. First, this stupid bitch wouldn't accept a slightly older than three-month bill and she was like (in French) you only have 500 francs? And do you have this other letter? and then she wouldn't accept it without a French translation. It totally sucked. So then I go back to the apartment and finally get the right bill and I found a 'traducteur' who was cool enough to do the translation even though he did manage to act like a total butthole about it. So then I get back to the place and I made it past the first window and I finally made it to this woman who filled out a million forms and made me go get copies of various stuff. Of course I didn't have single francs so I had to go buy a peach and then a lollipop to get change. Finally I'm all set, but some machine broke and I have to go back tomorrow. Doesn't that totally suck?
la courage: spirit, courage
un coin: corner
se reposer: to take a break
un perrochet: a parrot
9-15-88: Ate dinner with Bruno and Marie, Bernard and his wife, Anne and Marie-Claire. They talked a lot of French but it was a good experience. I learn a lot when I'm forced to deal with the language.
9-16-88: Today in French class, we had to ask everyone a question. Mine was: 'How would you like to die?' Of course everyone said in their sleep but I made up a couple of answers. Met Anne at the Musee D'Orsay and Marie-Claire at a cafe. C'etait super!
vachement: really
dingue: crazy
9-18-88: Today I blew off Abby (sorry) Rose and went to l'Acadamie Francaise and l'Opera with Marie-Claire. Then I met her friend Helene and we went to a movie. In the metro tonight, I danced a bit to a reggae band. Oh, also went to the top of Notre-Dame. I'm still glad to be spending only a semester in France, a year would be way too much. I'm not one to live in big cities all the time. I caught Abby's cold, which sucks.
cul: ass
culottes: underwear
[John Tangent hesitated and then turned around to look back at the sky, still dark and solid as the first snow began to fall.]
"How would you like to die?" So funny...
Posted by: zuzupetals | 09/12/2009 at 10:32 PM
Thanks, Zuzupetals!
On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 10:32 PM, wrote:
Posted by: Matthew Gallaway | 09/12/2009 at 10:53 PM