New Years Resolutions

Last year, I started out my New Years post by saying "this is the new year and I don't feel any different" (a line borrowed from my absolute favorite band DCFC). This year, I cannot say that.

I feel different. Not so much that it's the New Year, more because a bunch of different aspects of my life are coalescing around the New Year. Which makes the New Year a good target to center my feelings around.

I'll be starting the last semester of my undergraduate degree on Wednesday. I am learning more about myself now than I have ever consciously considered before. I feel like this New Year is the start of a new me, a new phase in my life, a period of new spiritual discovery and intellectual growth. This New Year is the beginning of the rest of my life. :) And I'm ready to embrace it. The good, the bad, the ugly, the divine. I'm ready to face what I have been afraid to really confront before: myself, in all my light and dark and all shades of colors and grays.

And therefore, my resolutions this year are a bit different than the last but before we get to them, let's review last year's and evaluate :) because evaluation is key to success. My resolutions for 2009 were:

1. Go to a class at my school gym at least once a week.
2. Dress up each day that I go to my internship or work
3. Keep my room clean
4. Write Blake regularly
5. Budget

I didn't go to a gym class EVERY week but I definitely improved. Especially last semester, I started going to a rock climbing class on Wednesdays and had a Tennis class on Mondays. I also started taking pole dancing lessons. It felt good to exercise regularly. I didn't do much in December but I plan on getting a membership to a dance place and regularly attending classes there.

I did dress up for my internship and started doing better for work as well.

My room clean? ha ha ha, big fail on that one. But I cleaned it up for New Years and intend to keep it that way.

I did start writing Blake more regularly and then he came home in February. Unfortunately, Blake and I broke up in October. I miss him a lot and hope he is doing well.

Budget, yeah, didn't really do that one either lol but it is hard when all of your money goes to tuition. My study abroad to France didn't help things but I wouldn't trade that for anything. I'm ending up having to take out another loan for school but it will lead to a better quality of life for me and help me not be so frantic at the start of every month when I don't have enough money to make my payments. I figure it will help me more in the long run anyways, because then I will actually be able to learn how to budget instead of having every cent go to tuition.

My resolutions this year focus more on character development and relationships. They're a bit more vague but I hope that they will continue to make me into a better person and influence my long-term future for the better while improving my quality of life and the lives of my friends and family. In no particular order:

1. Continue to take care of my physical body. Exercise regularly, eat well, and present myself in a way that reflects how I feel about my body (which I love) and the situation.
2. Be honest. With myself. With others. I have a tendency to avoid conflict. It's just part of my personality. But sometimes that tendency gets in the way of being completely honest with myself and others. I will learn to be honest while being tactful and respectful. In this way, I will avoid conflict later on by addressing problems as they come up in the most ethical manner possible.
3. Improve my relationships with family. My little sisters are growing up and it is so weird to see. But it is wonderful, too. I feel like we are starting to relate to each other as adults and friends in addition to sisters. I want to treat them kindly and with respect to show my love for them. I will extend this effort to my father, mother, and little brother.
4. Improve my relationships with friends. I will keep plans with friends and be on time. I will show sincere interest in their lives and make an effort to spend quality time with them to get to know them better. In this way, I will communicate that they are important to me and be the kind of friend that I want to have.

To be sure that I will be successful in these goals, I will make a list of ways to do implement the changes and review my efforts monthly. I will need to organize myself and be proactive with the small day to day stuff in order to focus on more important things, so that is kind of a resolution as well.

Happy New Year everyone! I wish you success in your resolutions (if you make them) and in your endeavors of 2010. :)

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Questions

The Faithful Dissident is a blog I've found in the Bloggernacle (see wikipedia for a definition of that term). I am a fan of said blog and particularly was interested in FD's post from yesterday, Orthoprax Mormonism.

My personal experience resonated with the history related and it touched on some topics that have occupied my thoughts of late. And although not directly on topic, it resurfaced some questions I have been struggling with. For instance: Is it wrong to be part of a community when you don't necessarily hold the same beliefs of that community? How do you stay true to yourself within that community while not offending others? And will said community ever truly embrace you as a member while you hold estranging beliefs?

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Margaret Merrill Toscano

As I have been contemplating religion, Mormonism, feminism and my place (or lack thereof) in all three of those areas, I have discovered a Mormon history I never knew about. This history includes Margaret Merrill Toscano. She is a wonderfully intelligent and well-spoken woman whose strength of testimony and character is admirable. I'll let you find out about her yourself if you feel so inclined but I wanted to share some of her words that resonated with me.

First is a talk of hers given at the Sunstone Symposium in August 2006:
"Are Boys More Important Than Girls? The conflict of gender difference and equality in Mormonism"
This quote from about halfway through the entire talk is one of the problems I see in Mormonism that I can never fully articulate to my member friends and sisters:

Men define doctrine, policy, and practice. They define normative behaviors. They create the moral context for all departments of Mormon life. They literally hold the keys of the kingdom on earth and in heaven.

The second thing I wanted to share is an interview she gave to PBS for the documentary "The Mormons."
I think the interview is a good summary of her history with the LDS Church and her subsequent excommunication.

I wonder how I never knew there were (and are!) people -- women more specifically -- that had the same concerns I do now. It is a comfort to find them. But the question I struggle with is how to act and react, and where to turn in the future. This is a troubling mess of its own and one too big for me to get into right now, so I'll save it for another day.

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Brandon's Holiday Dinner

While I'm posting pictures, I might as well tell you about this weekend's game night. Brandon got a turkey from his work, so he wanted to have a potluck like dinner party. The only problem was he just randomly decided that it was going to be last night.

He texted his roommate Aaron to put the turkey in the oven to reheat and then told Tashi and I to get some guests and bring some food. It was random and crazy but we pulled it together (mostly because of Aaron's willingness to go to the grocery store 3 times in the course of an hour). I made a butternut squash puree from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Tashi whipped up some instant potatoes and we had corn, green beans, and stuffing. It was all pulled together in about an hour, ha ha, just in time for when Brandon got home.

For dessert, we went to Baskin Robins then went back and played some games. We played "The Game of Things" and laughed a lot then played "Bang!" It was an enjoyable evening.

Brandon making a toast

Eating pictures are a must, this is Tashi

Robbie

Kaylynn, she was starving and wouldn't look up lol

As close of an eating picture for Aaron as we could get

The dinner, see my squash puree? :)

Brandon's cat, PepperJack transformed into a gangster with a hoodie and blue ponytail

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Pictures from the Lady Gaga Bday Party

So, here are a few pictures from Tashi and I's Lady Gaga themed birthday party :)

No one else got as into is as we did, so we are the only ones really dressed up lol but we had fun. Tashi has some good shots of our full outfits. I'll see if I can get them from her later.

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My Fabulous Weekend

This weekend was great. I really needed it, too. I've been going through a rough time emotionally and feeling depressed for about a month. So this weekend really helped pull me out of the dumps and made me happy so I thought I'd share some of it with you and remind myself about the good things in life.

This post is really really long. So in summary, I went to "New Moon" on Thursday with my good friend. Friday I was hanging out with Tashi. Our original plans fell through but we ended up getting Ben & Jerry's and watching "Brokeback Mountain" at her place. It was a sad movie but good sister time.

Saturday I had AMP which is something I look forward to every month. And later that day, I went to my friends' house warming party for a bit then went to Wendover with Brandon and Tashi. It was my first time there and I feel pretty lucky because I borrowed $20 from a friend and left with $50 in my favor.

Sunday was good too (with the exception of church which I will talk about later), my family had a birthday dinner for me and Tashi. My dad made a delicious vegetarian meal and a red velvet cake for me and a white cake for Tashi.

For a more detailed description along with an overly deep discussion on Twilight, read on :)


So it all started Thursday with my Art History presentation. My group has been great to work with first of all and I've made some friends in the process. Which is pretty awesome considering that sometimes at the end of group projects you end up hating your group members. Our presentation was on the importance and influence of canons in Egyptian and Greek art and the connection between the two canons.

We dressed up in togas and to open our presentation, we did a short interpretive dance showing the evolution of art from the Egyptians to the Greeks. I love that class. The teacher is so great and fun. She was laughing and really engaged. She told us that we "wouldn't get penalized" if we used power point lol but she discouraged it.

It made me think of a project I did once in Jr. High where we had to create something to show our understanding of a Greek myth/god instead of writing a paper or presentation. I made a stop motion video using illustrations I had drawn on the computer. It was so much fun and I wish school in general was more open with artistic presentations and alternative ways of presenting what we have learned. Sorry for the tangent but I just think art and creativity are so important and a great way to learn about things and to learn about ourselves.

So, back to my weekend. After my classes ended that evening, I went to "New Moon" with my friend Kelsey. For those of you who know Kelsey and my other girlfriends from High School, you will appreciate the back story here. Kelsey's cousin's friend (ha ha) had rented out an entire theatre for the opening show and given tickets out to her friends. Kelsey didn't ask for any tickets for us girlfriends because we are known to poke fun of Twilight during our annual summer camping trips. Kelsey is a big fan so she doesn't really appreciate our teasing. The other thing is that most of us are Jacob fans and Kelsey is in the Edward camp, which also leaves her standing on her own during our Twilight discussions.

She ended up having an extra ticket, however, and decided that I could be invited because by myself I couldn't tease her too much or make too much fun of the movie. Kelsey's family all came in shirts and sparkles (so they would be like the Stephanie Meyer version of Vampires in the sun). And the theater was full of young girls and middle aged moms in similar get up. When the movie started, the room was filled with screams which continued throughout the film everytime a key character appeared for the first time or whenever a boy removed his shirt.

Overall, I thought the movie was enjoyable. It's almost just fun because of all the hype around it. It is cute, too, despite and maybe even because of the cheesiness and bad acting. I am firmly, however, rooted in the Jacob camp it's time to get a little bit Twilight geeky here which gives me a small amount of shame to admit).

I have too many mixed feelings about Edward. Yes, his connection with Bella is interesting and intense and we all love the idea of true, invincible, eternal love that pretty much knows no limitations but he is also emotionally controlling and capital C creepy. Stalking her and watching her sleep? CREEPY. Telling her that she is the only one who can hurt him and that he only lives for her (where she to leave his life would be meaningless), then turning around and leaving her by lying and saying she isn't good for him, all in an attempt to 'protect' her, and then attempting to kill himself because he thinks she is dead, while slightly romantic and endearing in a vampire kind of way, is, I think, emotionally abusive and controlling.

Is Edward really the kind of guy that teenage girls should be fantacising about? I think Jacob is a much better pick. He's a real guy. He has hobbies and other interests. He has a sense of humor that extends beyond the morbid irony of his relationship with Bella. He makes Bella laugh. He makes her happy. And, honestly, can you really say that Edward is hotter? I don't think so, not after seeing the bare back and smooth chest of Jacob compared to furry pale Edward coming out of the Vulturi strong hold. Jacob's hair is also a million percent better than Edwards, long or short. He also smiles instead of having a pained, sulking face on all the time. And with that I'll get off my Jacob team rant lol.

In other Twilight news, a communications professor at Westminster, Christy Siefert wrote an interesting article about the books for Bitch Magazine called "Bite Me! (Or Don't)". She's getting a lot of attention recently because it was selected for an anthology of writings about sex (which is kind of ironic because the article is actually about abstinence).

Twilight is a fun series and I will see the other movies that come out but I think it's a little scary when people go crazy over it (ha ha, like I just did). I think the huge impact it has had on popular culture deserves some critical attention. But, like I said, I did have a good time and generally enjoyed the movie.

O geez, I am sorry, this whole Twilight rant could have been a post on its own.

So, finally moving to Friday... :) My sister Tashi and I have been taking pole dance lessons. No, it is not a stripping class. Nor is it skanky. It IS a lot of fun, hard work, requires strength, flexibility, stamina, etc. just like any other excercise. We learn a lot of cool tricks like the following:
Fallen Angel (also called the Butterfly)
Scorpio
Gemini (very similar to Scorpio)
Chopper

But we couldn't afford the class for November but we knew of a bar in Odgen that has amateur pole contests on Friday night and we decided to go to bet some practice in. However, our plans were thwarted when I realized I still haven't renewed my liscense. They wouldn't let us in because they thought it was a fake. Lame.

We decided to just kick back after that. We got some Ben & Jerry's and watched Brokeback Mountain at her apartment. It is a sad movie. Kind of slow moving and doesn't get deep enough into the characters I thought but it still tugged at your hearstrings for all of the characters.

Saturday morning I had an Alumni Mentoring Program (AMP) meeting. AMP is a program at my school that sets students up with alumnis working in fields they are interested in. The students in the program also meet once a month to talk about personal development. I love AMP. It's like group therapy for me. I don't even know the people in my group on a personal level but I would be willing to share nearly everything about me with them. It's a safe place where we all care about each other and talk about things that you just don't really talk about regularly. Any weekend with AMP in it is a good one.

Saturday night, I went to a housewarming party for my friend Sage and his roommate Ryan. Sage and I met through my best friend Tara. We started all hanging out (me, Sage, and Tara) when we all lost our significant others within three months of each other. Sage and his long time gf broke up and Tara and I periodically lost our bfs to missions. So ever since then, we've been hanging out and supporting each other. Our situations have changed. Sage has a new gf and I lost my love for real, but we still understand each other in ways that other people don't. So it was good to celebrate with him and Ryan and friends and see their new place.

After stopping by for the party, I left for Wendover with my twin sister and her bf. We went to the Rainbow and met with some friends. I don't really have any money, so I borrowed a twenty from a friend. At the end of the night, I left with 50 bucks in my pocket. It was definitely luck. I got some really good hands in black jack. But it was so much fun playing. I could see how gambling would get addictive. Especially if you lost a bunch, because then you'd always be looking to get it back with a bit of luck and the rush of a big win.

Brandon, Tashi and I were all to tired to drive back that night so we stayed in the cheapest hotel we could find. Brandon affectionately nick named it 'crusty sheets'. Gross. lol but really, it wasn't bad.

We drove back Sunday so I could be back in time to go to church with my friend. I will talk about that in a separate post because it was kind of upsetting and will detract from the rest of the weekend.

That night, we had Tashi and I's birthday dinner (only like a week late lol) but it was good. My dad made a yummy vegetarian meal with a great lettuce wrap appetizer. We had cake and ice cream and sat around the table playing games and exchanging birthday wishes (each member of the family wishes something for the birthday girl for the next year). Good times, that. :)

Well, we made it through. I am impressed if you managed the whole thing.

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Of Birthdays and Moms

My twin sister and I were born a month early, which isn't unusual for twins. But because of this, my parents had only attended one class of many that teach new parents about the birthing process. Since my mom and dad didn't really know what they were doing, they decided to just hang out for a while (lol why? I have no idea)before heading to the hospital. My dad began calling his family telling them we would soon be on our way.

When they got around to calling the hospital, they were told to get there quick! They called my mom's parents as they were heading out the door. My Grandma Maddie and Grandpa began the drive from Logan.

Last Tuesday, Grandma Maddie called me to wish me a happy 22 birthday. She said she knew the moment I was born. My mom explained that while Grandma Maddie and Grandpa were on their way to Salt Lake, Grandma had a sudden, sharp pain in her stomach that caused her to buckle forward in pain. When she arrived at the hospital and found that Tashi and I had been delivered by C-section, she discovered that the pain happened at exactly the same time my mom was being cut open.

I love when my mom tells the stories of how her children were born (as happens on our birthdays in a tradition of sorts). In the stories, I sense the spiritual power of life and motherhood. It has given me a desire to learn more about my matriarchal history. I wish I knew more about my Grandma Jar. I wish I took more advantage of how close I live to my Grandma Maddie and even more so, my Mom. God knows I was difficult to her in my teenage years. I think sometimes it was because Tashi and I had each other so we didn't need her as much.

I thought about my mom a lot on this birthday, because she was my age when I was born. Also, because I spent the night with her at the movies. My friends were all working, busy, or are married. My sister was out at dinner with her boyfriend. In my recently single state I felt doomed to spend the night alone after a long day of work and school. But my mom made it special. And even though we don't talk very much, she somehow knows just what to do, which is why I will remember this birthday as one of the best.

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New Moon trailer spoof

If you've seen the New Moon trailer, this is bound to make you laugh. The guinnea pig part is dumb but looking past that, Devon delivers another great performance as "Bella."

Guinew Moon from Electric Spoofaloo on Take180.com

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Mother Eve

So, I haven't spoken to many people about this, but I have been going through a religious upheaval. (Is that the correct spelling?) I've decided to "come out of the closet" and talk to people about it here.

I have a lot of questions and many more doubts about things I have been taught as Truth as well as things that are more implied/socialized than taught under the same category.

One of the things I struggle with about the LDS church is the role of women. I label myself a feminist. I think men and women are equal. I believe the church would claim that as well but I think in practice, there are some discrepancies between what is said on the surface and what is actually done or expected of both men and women.

Being under the impression at an early age that my religion was flawless and guided by the direct influence of an all-knowing God, I was disappointed to find flaws and inconsistencies. I still struggle to reconcile what can be considered revelation and what are simply the feelings and (presumably good) intentions of old men.

I'm starting to get a little side-tracked so I'll try to focus again. One issue I have struggled with is the story of Adam and Eve. I had become frustrated with the Creation story found in the Bible and the contradiction of the two commandments. There also is a dichotomy with Eve. LDS people say they honor Eve for her forsight in the garden but then also say she was punished for it, even though it was right. Eve's power and intelligence were never made clear to me until I read this article.

In Copper Woman, Old Woman says that women from all corners of the world have bits and pieces of the truth that we once had about women. There is Truth in Copper Woman and there is Truth in that article. I am just starting out on my journey to find my spirituality and truth again. I wanted to share the revelations I found with you.

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Some Recommended Reading

Daughters of Copper Woman:

I don't even know where to start. I am not finished with this book yet, I'm just a little more than halfway through. Already it has made my heart sing with gladness, challenged my old ideas about creation and Time, made me angy and cry bitter tears, and made me cry tears of sadness and compassion. The stories are mythical and magical and they hold Truth that we have forgotten. It celebrates women and their sacred power, magic, and love. I can't wait to finish so I can start reading again.

Mistborn:

This book was recommended to me by my past boyfriend, Blake. It was a captivating read. I spent an entire Saturday just reading it (which was not good -- I had a couple of midterm projects I should have been working on; which is why I'm putting off starting the second book until I get caught up). The characters are interesting and dynamic. The heroine, Vin, is awesome. She starts out a strong and clever but beaten down girl living on the streets and at the end she is the most powerful awesome woman, unafraid to love and fight for what is right. Kelsier is Vin's teacher and he is amazing, too. He totally kicks a$$ in this big fight near the end. It's got some good underlying thematic questions as well about equality and ethical use of power.

The FOB Bible:

I haven't read the whole thing because I don't own it yet (I intend to order it when I have money. At the moment, I'm completely broke). But there are some excerpts online at this site. It is a collection of literary works re-examining and re-imagining the Old Testament. I particularly liked "Blood-Red Fruit" and "Abraham's Purgatory." I think B10 Media put it best, "At once irreverent, whimsical, sexy, feminist, and poignant, this ain’t your mama’s Bible, and you sure didn’t learn this in Sunday school." The stories are insightful and even spiritual. I'd love to discuss these with you if you read them. Leave a comment about what you think or which one was your favorite/least favorite.

Same for the other books. If you've read them, let's chat :) I love discussing literature.

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A wish

Tonight, my sister and I were driving home from our weekly (in theory at least) game night at her boyfriends house. At an intersection, we saw a woman get out of a big white truck. She was halfway out of the truck with the door open for a while like she was gathering her things. Then she started walking away in the direction that we had come from. We thought it was a bit odd so we kept an eye on her when our light turned green. The truck made a U turn and followed her to a gas station. The driver was aggressively following her, he even pushed her to the side with his truck.

We turned around. When we got back to where she was, the guy in the truck had sped away and she was walking on the sidewalk in the dark. It was probably around 1:30 am. We gave her a ride to where she needed to go. She cried a little but was strong. I hope that we helped her in some small way. Actually, I am certain that we did.

I thought about the incident on the whole way home. Women, girls, we need to look after each other. There are so many creeps out there. Let's take care of each other. Not only with bigger things but in small things, too. Let's love each other and be kind to each other. Women get abused all the time, we as their sisters cannot support or continue abuse in any shape or form, under any title or definition.

If we all just made a more conscious effort to love and care for the women in our lives; our mothers, sisters, lovers, friends, neighbors, aunts, nieces, any woman you meet; if we shared with them our strength when they feel weak or oppressed, think of what a difference that would make! I know that many of us feel this is important already, but reaffirming this conviction will make it stronger and will make women stronger.

I hope that young woman to whom we gave a ride can get a big hug tonight from her mother/best friend/sister/anyone who truly loves her. When she does, I hope she feels my love and Tashi's love in it, too.

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The Dirty Dozen

Here is another healthy eating pointer from Meatless Mama, the Dirty Dozen. These fruits and veggies are normally loaded with pesticides and residues. So if you can, always buy them organic. It will make you and the planet healthier :)

The Dirty Dozen

1 Peach (highest pesticide load)
2 Apple
3 Sweet Bell Pepper
4 Celery
5 Nectarine
6 Strawberries
7 Cherries
8 Kale
9 Lettuce
10 Grapes - Imported

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Healthcare Debate

I just wanted to share this lovely blog post about healthcare reform. I agree with this woman 100% There is an interesting article in the NY Times as well. The link is on my fb page, so check that out as well if you are interested.

Anyways, just wanted to share that with you all. :)

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le 4 et le 5 aout: Au Revoir London et Paris

We left London Tuesday morning after having breakfast with Marilyn at Pret again. We got it to go and walked through a bit of Hyde Park which was beautiful. Not as impressive or groomed as the French gardens but it was still pretty.

She saw us off before she went to work at the V&A and we had a comfortable ride on the Eurostar back to Paris without any hiccups this time which was nice. We got back to Paris and picked up our big luggage bags from the train station where we had been storing them for the week. We luckily only had to take one metro line to get to our hotel but we did have to walk a little ways. Carrying gigantic bags on the metro is the worst thing ever and we were pretty tired by time we found where we needed to go.

Our hotel was kind of in a sketchy area. Lol, it is kind of a funny story. One of our assignements in Photo class had to do with an Atget photograph. Each student was given one of his photographs and we wrote about the scene as it appeared in the photograph then found the spot in Paris and photographed it as it was today, then compared and contrasted them. It was really cool actually but my photograph was kind near the peep show district and it was a little shady when we were walking around trying to find it. When Brittany was booking our hotel online in the ISA office, she was joking saying that our hotel would be okay as long as it wasn't in that sketchy area where we had found my photo spot. Well, guess what? Our hotel was like exactly in that spot lol. Our hotel window looked directly out to the little square (more like a triangle though) in my photograph. Pretty ridiculous. It was ok for the night though and Cody, a guy from our program who also stayed longer in Paris, was nice the other days Brittany was there without me and made sure Brittany made it back safe.

We dropped our bags off and got dinner in the Latin Quarter. I had a Croq Madame. It was a good final meal. Not very fancy but French. We walked for a bit around the latin quarter and were going to take a Batteau Moche but we still had to go back to Kaitlin's to pick up our carry on bags so we didn't have enough time to get back to the hotel at a decent hour.

So we got our luggage and got back to the hotel. I repacked my bags so that they could both be checked in the weight limit and stuffed a bag I had bought full of stuff that wouldn't fit in my bags. I swear I didn't buy that much stuff. I don't know why it took up so much space. I had a couple bottles of apple juice from Normandy and a bottle of wine for my aunt and uncle that I wrapped in clothes to make sure they would be safe. Those took up a lot of space and weighed a lot so I think that's where most of my troubles came from.

Anyways, it all worked out and we went to bed. I got up early the next morning. I had to catch my shuttle at 5:45 am. I woke Brittany up just before I left to say goodbye and went to the street to wait for the shuttle. Paris is beautiful in the morning. I wish I had had my camera out so that I could take a picture but it was packed away. It was rosy and peaceful, I will always remember that moment. I thought I might tire of Paris and it's busy streets the way I got tired of New York after a week but I didn't have enough time there. And even though I was glad to be home, if I had the chance to go back to Paris tomorrow, I would. Someday she will see me again.

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le 3 aout: Londontown

We woke up in the morning, bright and early so that we could get the most out of the day and so that we could eat lunch with Marilyn. We went to Pret a Manger which is like a french breakfast chain in London. I have never seen one in Paris lol so I was ok with eating there. It was really delicious. Everything was made fresh and it was all eco friendly and stuff with recycling bins and all this stuff about being green which was super cool. I had hot chocolate and a parfait mmmm. Brittany had a cappucino and they did this awesome star design with powdered sugar on it, you will see the picture.

After breakfast, we headed to where we thought we were meeting my friend Jenna, who was in Europe for July doing a study abroad thing with her interior design program at USU. We went to the wrong square and got a bit lost and almost missed her. We had agreed that if we didn't find each other by 9:30 am we would go our separate ways. Luckily, the British are very helpful and we were pointed in the right direction a couple times and we found Jenna and her friend.

We went with them on a whirlwind tour of London's top sites. I'll let the pictures do the talking. However, I didn't get very many pictures of the Tate Modern, the modern art museum there because the people stopped me. I got two pictures before they caught on to me lol but it was SO cool. Like the coolest museum I have ever seen. I really wanted to buy something from their gift shop, too because every thing was so awesome. There was a black and white umbrella that turned colors in the rain, like it was black background and then like white paint splatters and the splatters turned colors when it got wet. But like all of London, it was tres tres chere. Like the museums and stuff were cool because they were free but to take tours of things was always in the double digits.

We had a wonderful day of sightseeing and museum visiting with Jenna and friend. Then Brittany and I spent some time with Marilyn having tea at Harrod's before leaving her to see Wicked at London's broadway with Jenna and friend (gosh I feel terrible that I can't remember her name!). It was incredible. The cast was amazing and I was really surprised at how good it was even after every one talking it up so much. I loved London. It wasn't as romantic as Paris of course but I would have liked to stay there longer.

And now, the pictures will tell the story of our day:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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le 2 aout: Rodin Museum and the Eurostar

Sunday morning, we had tentative plans to get up early and go to church somewhere in Paris. I was still interested in seeing mass at Notre Dame and most of Brittany's friends wanted to go to an American church in Paris that was similar to the church they attend at home. I want to say Protestant Church of America but don't quote me. But what ended up happening was that we all slept in pretty late. I was actually the first person to get up which never happens.

Kaitlin made us crepes for breakfast and we ate them with some yummy honey. We missed our intended train back to Paris so we had some time to wait for the next one. Brittany and I decided to leave our carry on bags which we had been taking with us at Kaitlin's and we'd pick them up when we got back from London.

When we got to Paris, we went to the Rodin museum. It was beautiful and the gardens were surprisingly large. They were very pretty and had sculptures throughout. The inside of the building which must have been a large manor back in the day was filled with sculpures as well and smaller models and mock up statues. I was pleased to find a few rooms filled with sculptures by Camille Claudel. Her work is even more amazing than Rodin's and filled emotion. I first heard of her in a open French class during Women's History Month put on by this amazing girl named Emma at Westminster. Anyways, I am a fan and was happy to see her work.

Poor Brittany, though forgot her passport in her carry on bag at Kaitlins. She was stressed out and understandably so. She left us at the museum to try and get back to Paris on time to catch our Eurostar to London. What a day it must've been for her. Poor thing. I had a little Eurostar drama but nothing compared to what Brittany went through.

Kaitlin, Marilyn, Rosie and I sat down at a little cafe, Cafe Florio, it was kind of fancy looking and just wasted a few hours there sitting and talking and people watching before Marilyn and I went to the station to go to London.

So this is where the fun began. First, I tried to get my ticket from the ticket machine but it wouldn't print my ticket because it said that I had already printed the ticket. I hadn't but thought I had, because I had sent the ticket in an email to the people at the ISA office and asked them to print it for me but they printed the email and not the enclosed ticket. My bad for not realizing this before hand but it was frustrating because then I had to go into the ticket office and explain the situation to the girl working there. Luckily, she spoke English because I was getting flustered and my train was leaving in a matter of minutes. She was helpful however, and printed me out another ticket but after I got that and ran back to the line to check in for the eurostar, they closed the check in for that train!! I was going to pass out lol like I was freaking out about missing it. Marilyn was on the train that they closed and Brittany and I were supposed to be on it. I ran back to the ticket office and told them what happened and the lady was able to put me on the next train (without a fee! I was so happy.). So then I went through the customs and like landing pass stuff, it was very thourough. They didn't do any of that for Belgium. Someone said it's because of the EU or something that they don't check between EU countries. Anyways, so I sat down on the train and called Brittany to see how things were going. She had made it back to Versailles just fine and got her passport and was nearly to the station when I spoke to her.

She was able to get on a train just after mine but what I didn't know then is that the poor girl had to put down a lot of cash to get on it because the only open seat was in first class. She was also on a super tight budget like me but luckily her parents were able to help her out and put some more money in her account.

But we all arrived safe and sound and had our first dinner in London at a pub near the underground station. I had fish and chips and Brittany wasn't too hungry because she had some food on the train (benefits of riding first class).

Pictures:

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le 1er aout: Paris again

We slept in Saturday which was heavenly. We were always going a mile a minute it seems like so finally taking our time was nice. We stopped at Versailles on our way to Paris. We just went in to see the gardens. It was rather expensive because they were having a fountain show that day but luckily Brittany and I got a student discount. Poor Marilyn didn't get one. We had breakfast in one of the gardens. We just got crepes and sat down to eat there.

Versailles really is very pretty. It would be fun to live there I think and spend the day in the garden sometimes just relaxing or renting a row boat. There are some sections of the gardens that are free. We didn't know where those were though, and I think mostly only locals do. Kaitlin does but she wasn't there to show us unfortunately.

After we got back to Paris, we headed to the Pompidou, the modern art museum which I was very excited to see. It was so cool. We went up to the top floor of the free exhibition area and started there. They had a special exhibition going on called elles@pompidou downstairs and upstairs to go along with it, the rooms marked with a red doorway had art from significant women artists who have been historically overlooked. Their work was amazing. There were some prints from photographers we had talked about in photo class as well as some new ones that were just captivating. They had quite the variety of works there. There were paintings, photographs, some sculpture, mixed media pieces, and furniture and home design pieces as well. It was a very cool museum.

On the lower level was the main part of the elles@pompidou exhibition. It was all about women and I LOVED it. I wanted to spend more time in it but I had to hurry so we could meet Kaitlin and Rosie at the train station. I bought a little book about it. I really wanted the full book with information about all the works on exhibition but it was like 50 euro so I just got the 9 euro super condensed version.

We left the Pompidou and quickly found a boulangerie where we bought sandwhiches for our hungry tummies. The pastries looked amazing. I don't think any dessert in America can compare to the pastries in Paris both visually and tasteally (lol what is the word for what I am trying to express?).

We were going to pick up another friend of Brittany's (how random, right? Like how many friends can you have in Europe at the same time by coincidence?) named Rosie. She had recently moved to Germany with her husband who is in the army. She was very cool as well, very sweet and mature.

Kaitlin picked her up and we luckily found them at the train station. It was worrisome because neither Kaitlin nor Rosie had a phone so if we missed them it was going to be very very hard to find them. We went to a very famous cafe called Les Deux Magots. It was a favorite haunting place of several intellectuals and writers and surrealist artists of Paris.

After our very French afternoon, we went for a walk through the Tuleries. Brittany and I had been there before but it was fun to see them again. We walked through a lot of Paris after that. We were heading towards the Eiffel Tower to sit down and eat but we had to go to a grocery store first to get some food. We went to the Champs-Elysees and went to le drugstore. It's like a super fancy everything-you-want type of store, but very cool and not too expensive. It was a little more pricey than your standard grocer on the corner but still less expensive than a restaurant for a full meal.

After we bought our food, we had to walk a ways to sit down and eventually just decided since we had already walked so far, we might as well walk back to the Eiffel Tower to sit there and eat. It was beautiful as always. I seriously still can't believe I just sat and ate dinner under the Eiffel Tower several times. It's been a dream since Jr. High. Dreams really do come true :) Lol, here I am getting all nostalgic, but finishing up these posts makes me miss it.

We caught the last train to Versailles but had to get a taxi back to Jouy en Josas because those trains stop earlier. It wasn't badly priced split between five people. We all slept in Kaitlin's adorable apartment. I really liked all of Brittany's friends. I wish I could get to know all of them more. They were really fun, good, sweet, open minded, and genuine women. Brittany, if you ever read this, you have good taste in friends if I may say so myself ;)

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le 31: Back to Paris

We got up for breakfast at the Hotel du Congres. It was just like a french hotel breakfast, cold cuts and scrambled or boiled eggs, toast/croissants/pain au chocolat, yogurt, cereal, juice/coffee/tea, etc. Brittany wasn't feeling very well because she felt a migrane coming but she ate a little bit and we got her some water to drink and that helped a bit. She used to get really bad migranes a few times a week but she was on medication to keep them away. It apparently works because she didn't have one any of the time we were in France and the one she started to get didn't come on full force which was good.

We thought our Belgium adventure had wrapped up nicely when we had a shakey experience in the metro. We went to buy our tickets and realized we were short some money with the coin euros. And the ticket machines didn't take bills. Or American credit cards. And there were no ticket windows with people in them open. We were starting to freak out because we had to catch our train back to Paris, especially because we were going back on this student deal and couldn't transfer our tickets. If we missed the train, we would have to buy all new ones. We had already dealt with that nightmare in Paris and didn't want to have that happen again.

So, this man came down into the metro and I went to ask him if he knew where a ticket office was. He was like there are machines you can use and I tried to explain our predicament to him but he didn't really understand. We should have just hopped on the metro but the we ended up getting one ticket with the coins we had and then the man bought one with his credit card and we gave him the rest of the coins that we had which were pretty close to the cost of one ticket. I think he thought we were just retarded and couldn't use the machines but then he realized that we were short and seemed a little put off that we couldn't pay him back all the way but he got over it quick. We thanked him profusely and felt like idiots lol.

But good news, we made it to our train on time! And even better, we were riding first class. It was a crazy awesome deal we found online and so on our return trip it was cheaper to ride first class than second. The train was pretty empty but we somehow weren't sitting next to each other. I think there were four other peopl in my car. Brittany and I should have just sat next to each other but we didn't know it was going to be so empty I guess. Anyways, we got served a lovely breakfast and the staff serving were so nice and accomodating. I was surprised when they wheeled the cart by with the croissants and rolls and held them for you to take one that you got to take both and then they came by later and let you get seconds. I of course did lol and was like "Oh! Vraiment? Merci!" and the lady holding the croissant basket laughed at me ha ha.


We were meeting Brittany's friend that day who was also coming into Gare du Nord so we stayed around the area, I went to the atm for my last withdrawal and we went to pick up Marilyn. By time I met her, I felt as if we had met before because I had heard about her so much from Brittany. I was happy to meet her. She was interesting and funny in a subtle sort of way, and I was very impressed with her life plan. She wants to be an art historian focusing on jewelry art. She has a double major in English and Jewelry Making and was doing an internship in London's V&A Museum (which has an amazing collection of jewelry) under one of the pioneers of the jewelry art movement and one of the first to write about jewelry conceptually while not being a jewelry crafter. Don't know if that makes sense. But Marilyn like set up the whole thing herself. She called this guy after reading is book and was applying for a grant to do an internship and asked if she could work with him. She didn't get the grant but she got the internship. I thought it was impressive.


After we picked up Marilyn, we went out to eat. We went to St. Michel in the latin quarter and walked towards Notre Dame. There is a touristy restaurant called le petit pont nearby where we sat down to eat. It was hilarious. I just ordered a crepe and it came with like a sparkler on it. Then some people down a little ways from us had this giant drink with like a legit firework stuck on it lol. It was pretty funny. Marilyn likes English literature almost as much as Brittany so we went to the Shakespear and Co. Bookstore. After wandering there for a bit, we took a leisurely stroll along the Seine until we came to the Jardin des Plantes. I realized when we got there exactly where we were in relation to Madame's house and felt with great sadness that I was about to leave Paris just as I was getting to know her.

After my sudden revelation of direction within the lovely city, I was able to lead us to Rue Mouffetard where we sat down at a cafe and ordered Orangina which was probably the most expensive drink I have ever had and it's just orange soda!!! It was like four and a half euro. I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew it was going to be that much but they didn't give us a menu when we sat down because we were just getting something to drink. Sheesh, I will never make that mistake again lol. But it was good memories I guess. There was this crazy musician guy standing across the street with his guitar and singing loud for us. I don't think he was French because he was singing all English songs but they do listen to American music a lot so I guess he could have been.

We headed back to Gare du Nord where Brittany and I reloaded our luggage. (The lockers had a 48 hour maximum time) and then we went to Montparnasse where we got on a train to Versailles and thence to Jouey en Josas, where we were staying with Kaitlin for the next couple days. Kaitlin was spending the night in Paris so she met us there after she got done with work and then headed out to meet her friends there. Marilyn, Brittany and I went to the local grocery store called "Simple" and bought some picnic foods. We sat out on a little patio that Kaitlin shared with the people who's backyard apartment she lived in. It was so picturesque. I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, like in some cute little French town. Oh, I miss it.

And, as always, pictures:

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le 30: Belgium

Brittany and I left Madame's over an hour before we had to catch our train to Brussels but we still managed to miss the train. It just took too much time carrying those gigantic bags in the metro which is horribly inaccessible for those with large and heavy suitcases or other impediment to climbing innumerable stairs really (isn't public transportation supposed to be accessible???).

But really what it came down to was the huge line at the train station at the ticket office and only 4 people working. One thing Americans do well that the French lack is efficiency. Really? Four people in an international train station on the eve of France's month of holidays and vacations? We put our larger suitcases in train station lockers and coughed up some extra euros to get tickets for the next train.

We had a decent ride there and arrived in Brussels with no idea of what to do next lol. We realized that we were quite unprepared. We only had a vague idea of what we were going to do based of an itinerary my friend who studied in Brussels had written for one of his friends who came to visit.

After walking around the station for a few minutes, we found a place to buy tickets to Bruges. The tickets were substantially more expensive than we had anticipated but not terribly unreasonable so we coughed up those euros too. We ended up buying this youth train pass that the lady told us was cheaper than the regular tickets and if I happen to be in Belgium, I can use the pass I bought again (highly unlikely that that will be the case but who knows what could happen).

On the train ride to Bruges, a little girl Clara sat in front of us with her grandmother. She kept turning around and playing with Brittany and I and we tried to talk to her in French but sometimes she was hard to understand. I don't know if that was because Brittany's and my French was bad or if she had a funny accent or if she just couldn't prononciate well being only about to turn 4. Or a combination of those options. She had a little Goofy doll she was playing with so I got the doll I bought Gretel out of my bag and played with her for a bit. Clara loved the doll and was sad when I put her back in my bag.

We got to the Bruges train station and went to the information desk to make sure we the train times for coming back to Brussels and stowed some stuff in lockers there. We got a 50 euro centime map of Bruges and headed out the door. To our surprise and pleasure, we found out that Bruges is a small city, and very easy to walk. We ate some pricey waffles that tasted more like cake than breakfast but I was ok with that :) . Waffles are more of a desert in Europe, sometimes they sold them at crepe stands in France with nutella or fruit.

We saw a shop called DIDI and I had to buy my sister something from it because that is her nickname. Then we found the main square with the Belfry tower. I felt like I was at Disneyland but it was real life. It was mostly funny to me and I exclaimed in disbelief, "What is this?" Brittany was like, "This is Bruges." We just stood there for a while taking it in and spinning around in the middle of the square to take in all the colors and architectural details on the Gothic buildings.

We decided to climb the stairs to the top of the Belfry. I am glad that Europe has discounts for students and youth because it was like eight euro normally which would have been a rip off but for those under 26 it was only four! It is motivation to go back to Europe in before I get past my mid twenties for sure. It is much cheaper that way and the cheap way is still assez cher. But anyways, the Belfry was pretty cool. The stairs were very narrow, windy, and steep. I felt like I was basically crawling up them at some points. The view from the top was beautiful and we stopped on a level to see the giant music box like contraption that plays the bells every 15 minutes. On some special occasions, the bells are still played manually.

After our descent, we wandered through streets looking in chocolat shop windows. They were all different and yet the same. Some were cute and whimsical with chocolat ducks and shells and others displayed their impressive selections of pralines. Some had pretty displays dressed with boxes and bows like jewelery stores. On our way, we decided to impulsively take an hour boat tour. There is a river/canal that goes through the center of the city (it seems pretty like the cool thing to have in your city in Europe ha ha, of course because that is how civilizations developed, around water but anyways, it is something different and charming). Our tour guide spoke English, Dutch, and French and said all his informational blurbs and jokes in all three. Pretty impressive but I could see it getting really old for him after two boat tours lol. Brittany and I loved it.

After our lovely tour, we went to the Church of our Lady and saw Madonna and Child by Michaelangelo. They had a lot of really cool art in that church and even a small museum with admission fee. We just stayed in the free part of the church and admired the workmanship as Brittany explained some Catholic beliefs and ordinances to me. It was all pretty fascinating actually.

We wandered through a few more chocolat stores and I bought some chocolat gifts and we decided to head back to the train station. We made it back to Brussels around 7:00 and were once again completely clueless as to what to do next. We had a hotel reserved but didn't exactly know how to get there lol. Luckily the girl at the tourism booth was extremely helpful. She gave us excellent directions and we took a short metro ride and walked less than five minutes to our hotel.

The hotel was surprisingly nice and had free wifi, something we didn't notice when booking so that was a pleasant surprise as well. We checked in and relaxed for a while. We had a rough morning so it felt good to just lay on our beds for a few minutes and check email.

As our need for rest gave way to our hunger, we decided to head out in search of Belgium's traditional meal of mussels and french fries our as the French say, Moules Frites. We saw some places very close to our hotel and didn't feel like walking to the center of the town because we weren't exactly sure how far that was in addition to the fact that we were very hungry so we sat ourselves down and orderd a moules frites to share as per Madame's recommendation that the dish is large and perfect to split. The moules were great and the fries even better. We ate them with mayonnaise instead of ketchup and I think I will do that forever. It was good. I know it sounds disgusting and fatty but trust me, just try it. Maybe get some European mayonnaise first though... I don't know if french fries and Miracle Whip or Best Foods would yeild the same taste. (I just have to have a disclaimer in case you don't like it :-P)

After our yummy Belgiun dinner, we walked towards the Grand Place, the center of the city. Luckily the city was tiny and so it took us like five minutes even though looking at a map you'd think it was like a twenty minute walk. Brussels is pretty at night and pretty quiet until you get to the Grand Place. There was a light show on it with music, and I got the impression that it is a regular occurance. I wonder if they do it every night. Brittany got some ice cream and I bought a waffle and we sat down to watch the show. After the show was over, we walked through some more central streets. It was a lot more lively there and there were more restaurants and greater selection of cheaper mussels so we were kind of upset that we hadn't walked down here earlier. It was a lot more happening and there were people actually out and about walking through the streets through the colorful shops and restaurants.

We didn't stay out too late because we had to walk back to our hotel alone but we actually felt very safe. We didn't really see any shady people or anything really and the streets were very lit up. But we were also tired and needed our rest.

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le 29 juillet: Goodbye Madame

Wednesday was a sad day. It was our last french class which wasn't too sad lol, especially because we got out early because it was a holy day for Catholics and the school had a mass at 10:30. I took a picture of my French class:

I really liked my French class. It was a good experience to have so much diversity. The students were from various countries like Hungary, Ukraine, Korea, Japan, China, England, USA, and others I can't remember all of them. It was good because it forced us even more to communicate in French although it was sometimes hard to understand some of the student's accents.

We met for lunch one last time with the girls and Brittany and I printed off the picture of us with Madame. We went home and just worked on packing and getting everything ready to go for our travels.

Madame was so sweet for our last meal she made this gigantic bowl of spaghetti and was like you have to eat all of it lol because she was also leaving the next day and she knew that we probably wouldn't be eating as well because it would be expensive so she wanted to give us a really good last meal. We had a good salad to go along with it that had little bits of turkey in it.

For dessert, she gave us chocolat pudding and the last of her chocolat ice cream and strawberry ice cream, and little dessert cookies. She was also telling us what to eat in Belgium and London. She told us the Moules-frites are the best in Belgium and they are inexpensive. She warned us about the pound being even stronger against the dollar than the euro and cautioned us to pay attention to that and that sometimes fruit was more expensive there.

She also told us to be careful of speaking French in Brussels because of political tensions in Belgium between the people who speak French and those who speak Flemmish. They apparently dislike the French speakers and so she told us it is best to just use English and they will understand that we are tourists.

She was really sweet and genuinely concerned about us. We were very sad it was our last dinner with her.

Brittany and I made her a little card to go with our photo. It was just like a hand made thank you card but she loved it. She was like a mom who said she loved it even more because we made it with our hands lol. She was like it warms my heart and she gave us bisous :) She really loved Brittany's illustrations of us. She drew me holding a baguette and eating a ton and the drawing of herself had like chocolate ice cream. The drawing of Madame was holding Moustique and Gala was at her feet. She loved the cats lol and was laughing at the drawing with joy.

We were happy that she liked it so much.

Earlier in the day, Brittany and I finally took pictures of her house while she was gone lol, so here is a tour of Madame's house:

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I was really stupid and didn't ask Madame to get a picture with her the night before but she was fine with the picture of her still in her nightgown lol, she was like "C'est la vie" and saying how I could tell everyone that this is Madame Lemberger in the morning and still pretty lol. I was like "C'est vrai"

I will miss her. She is one of the sweetest women I have known.
He he, look how little she is! Oh Madame, I wonder what she is doing now.

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le 28 juillet: Farewell Dinner

Tuesday was our last day of photography class. We had our final critique at the ISA office. For lunch we mixed it up and went to this place like a deli that sold pasta salads and things. I got a vegetable salad with zuchinnis and potatoes and some other stuff it was pretty good and then I stopped in a boulangerie and bought a roll. The eating is so nice there. Like having so many options of places in such a short area and the fresh bread everywhere is awesome. I am going to miss it.

So for the final critique, we used some old pictures and some new. We could reuse pictures from our past critiques or pick photographs that were from the past days but that we didn't choose to show. Here were my 15: (ok, actually there are 14 here because I accidentally deleted one and am too lazy to put it back in lol)

My professor was overall pretty happy with these pictures. He said they have an enigmatic quality about them, especially my people pictures that he likes. But he said that he was curious what would happen if I started engaging people directly. He encouraged all of us to keep photographing when we get home and I definitely want to, so that will be a good place to start taking pictures of people more in my comfort zone and so I should be able to engage them more directly.

After the critique, Brittany and I ran home to change and then we headed out to the farewell dinner. We decided to try taking the bus because its path was more direct than the metro and that way, we could actually see the city as we were travelling. I wish we would have tried to use the bus more I think it would have been helpful in getting more familiar with the city. The metro is a lot faster and sometimes more convenient but the buses would have been cool to see the city with. But unfortunately, we got on a bus going the opposite direction than we wanted to go so we were like half an hour late for the dinner but it wasn't a big deal.

We ate at a place on Rue Mouffetard called "Mouffetot Mouffetard" a play on the French words "tot" and "tard" meaning early and late. It was a cute little place and the owners are close friends with the ISA directors. They came with us on our trip to Normandy even. The dinner started with a salad and then we had a choice for our main course. I chose the leg of duck which was very good. We also got dessert which was a slice of apple pie and some type of merengue pie and a scoop of ice cream.

We were all getting a little sad that it was our last nights. We took pictures and talked in front of the restaurant for a long time and then walked up Rue Mouffetard and got some gelato at this funny place that had a sign in English boasting the "Best Glace in Paris." They did flower shapes like Amarino but it wasn't as good as Amarino's glace. We said goodbye to everyone and promised to all keep in touch.

Here are some of our goodbye photos:

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