"the days get longer and the nights smell green. i guess it's not surprising but it's spring and i should leave*..."

so the end is coming very very quickly...i spent my last weekend in france sleeping off my last night out in lille...friday i went out with olivier, adrien, fabien, sebastien and their friend anaïs...we hit mcewan's (of course) and finished up the night with a bit of dancing at the network cafe....for once, i didn't mind the techno crap they always play...we had a blast, and didn't make it home untill 5am....saturday i said goodbye to the frenchies and went home to get some rest...i've gotten everything packed at this point, but i have no idea how i'm going to actually get the suitcase on the bus/metro/train....it weighs a ton....i'm sure i'm over the airline's weight limit, but oh well...what are you going to do, eh?

today i had lunch with a teacher from the school at a very nice restaurant and i've been all over town buying last minute presents for friends...i should probably stop since i don't have much room in my suitcase left...

after several days of beautiful, but incredibly hot, weather we're back to the cold and rain...i'd like to think that france is crying at my departure :)...it's quite fitting, in fact...it was cold, gray and rainy when i got here and it's cold, gray and rainy when i leave...somehow it makes it easier to go...i think if it was still sunny and gorgeous i'd somehow get lost on the way to the airport and i'd just go live in jardin vauban for the rest of the summer....

there are lots of things i'm going to miss here:
- the friends i've made here, the frenchies and the other assistants....especially my partners in crime; miriam and carolyn
- the food: pain au chocolat, crunchy baguettes, yogurt (oh my god, it's just not the same at home), really good chocolate (see yogurt), the beer (a speciality in the north of france), the fries (see beer!!!), CHEESE!!!!!!
- speaking french all the time...at first it was intimidating and annoying...every social interaction required mental preparation...you run over the dialogue in your head a few times before you approach the lady at the counter....think of all possible vocabulary words you could need....but now i've gotten so used to it, i don't even notice when people switch between french and english...i just understand!!!!! how f-ing cool is that????
- sitting in cafés for hours at a time...i'll definately miss morel et fils
- giving bisous...really i think the french just like to kiss as many people as possible...but i must say it's quite nice that the first time you get to meet a cute boy, you get to kiss him!!!!
- the guapa bar (the best-worst bar in lille)...they play the same 15 songs every night, but at least you can dance to them and they're not techno
- mcewan's...because it's always full of cute boys and you always meet someone interesting in the co-ed bathroom...
- being unique...we assistants definately had it easy...everywhere i went i was known/introduced as "the american" or the "the texan"...it's definately an icebreaker and makes it really easy to meet people...plus, it's fun feeling exotic
- running into people you know on the street...it's hard not to feel at home when you see people you know all the time...
~the bakery next to eglise st. maurice who sells fresh pain au chocolate at 3 in the morning...
~h&m...i realize this isn't specific to france, but after unpacking, i've realized just how much euro i dropped there....

but of course there are some things i'm not going to miss;
- dog crap EVERYWHERE!!!! clean up after your dogs, people...
- giving bisous...yeah, it's also in the first list, but when you go to party, you have to kiss EVERYONE and it takes FOREVER...sometimes a handshake or just a nod is more effecient
- the weather...this texan is vitamin d deficient after eight months in the north...i need sun, tanktops and flip flops asap!!!!!
- hearing "hey, you're not french" or "you're not from around here, are you"...yeah, i know i said i liked being the "unique, exotic, american", but this pick-up line get's really old...
- everything being sooooo damn expensive...it will be nice to pay $6 for a decent meal and only $15 for a cd...
~the way people in france can't wait in line...it's one after the other, folks...same goes for exiting a metro/elevator...you let the people inside come out, then you go in....they prefer just to push their way on....
~the fact that everything not in french is dubbed....even the commercials....
~cellulite cream commercials everywhere...french women are cellulite obsessed....

i know there are many more things i'm going to miss, but i just can't think of them right now...i'm sure as soon as i've been home for a few days new things will pop up...

ok....so a last goodbye to everyone who's made this stay so enjoyable...it's sad to go, in fact, i'd really like to stay but hey i guess it's better to end it while it's still fun...i'll keep updating the blog for a little while longer, to let everyone know how adjusting to life back on the other side of the atlantic goes....

gros bisous!!!!!!


*-the world at large, modest mouse
~added on 6/1/05

last word associations from france....sniff sniff

1. Crowd:: crowded
   
2. Hamburger:: hamburgler
   
3. Choker:: choke by chuck palahniuk
   
4. Lights:: camera, action
   
5. Tinsel:: the christmas story
   
6. Testament:: new testament
   
7. Best part of the day:: midnight
   
8. Election:: election
   
9. Clarinet:: oboe
   
10. Cake or death:: have your cake and eat it too
    

back to france for a few more days....

so i finally made it back to france...we spent our last morning in stockholm at millesgarden...it's the home and grounds of sculptor carl milles...pretty incredible park and luckily the good weather continued so we had a great morning...after lunch we hit the road again towards karlskronar...along the way we stopped in tuna, the little town where my other great great grandfather was born...

the next morning we drove through the glass region...we drove around the region and watched them blow glass...very cool..i was suprised about the lack of protection they provided visitors...there's no barrier between you and the blowers...you just walk into the factory and walk around freely....workers go flying past you with fresh pieces, still radiating heat from the fires...in the united states, that would be concidered a HUGE liablilty, a lawsuit waiting to happen...it was really cool to see how they made all the peices you saw for sale in the shop...we saw johansfors, kosta, pukeburg, afors and nybro....pukeburg was by far the coolest, and of course the most expensive...we then met up with one of my dad's friends for dinner...the next morning he drove us out to a little factory in the country where this guy makes handmade wood products...some of his stuff was so amazing...

the next morning we started the drive back towards denmark...this time we stopped in odense at one of beveryl's friends...they were the nicest family....so hospitable...they drove us all around town the next day...we saw the hans christian anderson's birth place and museum and in the afternoon we visited jens galchiot's studio...he's done several sculptures of h.c. anderson but the rest of his art is a bit more controversial but absolutely incredible...he's done several protests around europe with his "inner beasts" and he showed us some of his latest projects...it was really cool to see the process he goes through to make a sculpture...i had no idea there were so many steps involved...it was by far my favorite part of the whole trip!!!!

yesterday morning we left odense and started the 10 hour drive back to lille...we got in around 6:30...i was so happy to be out of the car...we went out for dinner and of course, after only being in town an hour, i run into olivier and adrien...i'm meeting them tonight for a last hurrah in town...i got everyone safely to the train station this morning and on their way to the airport...i came home and immediately started packing...i sent one suitcase back with my dad, but i still think i have too much stuff...it looks like i'm going to have my huge rolly suitcase, my little rolly suitcase and my big backpack...i don't know how i'm going to get all this stuff on the bus....i guess i'll have to figure something out...

ahhh...too much to think about...i'm going to try and get all the spain pictures downloaded today....and i'll try and get all the sweden pics downloaded this weekend....hope everyone is doing well, i'll be home soon enough... :)

greetings from sweden

hej! (that is "hi" in swedish - pronounced "hey")...we made the drive from lille to stockholm in two days...the first day we drove all the way to køge, denmark...the next day we crossed the huge bridge into malmo, sweden and began the drive towards stockholm...we made a pit-stop in älmhult and saw the church where my great great grandfather was baptised and my great great great grandfather was supposedly buried (i say supposedly, we looked for his gravestone but we never found it...it was a pretty big cemetary)...luckíly the weather has been pretty nice but a bit chillier than normal they say....i guess i got a little spoiled with all the sun in spain...

no celebrity sitings so far...however, south san gabriel is playing tonight (a side project of one of my favorite bands, centro-matic, who is from my hometown - denton!!!)...crazy weird, but i'm not going to the show....i'm just toooo tired....

yesterday we went to the vasa museum...it's an entire museum dedicated to a ship built in the 1600's...it was huge and really extravagant....it sailed out into the harbor on it's maiden voyage a big gust of wind came and knocked it over...it sank to the bottom...it stayed there untill the 1960's when they hauled it out, perfectly intact and preserved it in a museum....pretty incredible....grace and i then went and saw star wars episode three....holy crap...i was prepared for the disappointment but it was fantastic....can't get over the special effects....

today we walked all over town...first we hit gamla stan (the old city, located on this little island)...we watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace, which was suprisingly really cool....they had a visiting army band from norway who did one of those crazy rifle tossing presentations...after lunch we headed to skansen...it's an "open-air museum"...it's a collection of historic buildings all moved onto the same spot and turned into a kind of amusement park (i use this term lightly)...the closest thing i can compare it to is silver dollar city - minus the rides...if you have no idea what i'm talking about, don't worry...but if you're ever in branson missouri, check it out....hehehe...

after that we headed back towards our hotel for some dinner (sushi, yum) and some good 'ol mtv...good lord, how i've missed mindless programing!!!!

ok...a huge impatient line is forming behind me for the one comupter in the hotel...i'm heading back to the room....i need more newlyweds....hej da! (goodbye)

back in lille...for a few days...

ok...so the rest of our time in spain was well spent...our second day in barcelona we went to the chocolate museum and did a lot of shopping...in one store, my sister was trying to decided on a purse when i noticed this guy walk in...i thought to my self "hmmm, that guy looks like ty pennington from trading spaces"..."wow, that guy really looks like ty pennington"...."i mean he REALLY looks like ty pennington"....needless to say it was!!! i should informl my readers at this point that i used to be quite a trading spaces addict, thanks in part to their tasty carpenter...so he left and gracie was still in the process of buyting her purse and he disappeared into the crowd...plus we decided that he was on vacation and probably didn't want to be bothered...besides, we didn't want to be "one of those people"....so we kept shopping and about 15 minutes we run into him again...ok, once is coincidence, twice is destiny!!!!! i went up and asked for a picture and it was quite obvious that he was annoyed but he politely posed...i'll post the pic later....yes folks, i am "one of those people"....

we headed out the next day figueras...what is in figueras, you ask....one frickin' huge salvador dali museum....we spent several hours there...incredible!!!! we also went to the toy museum, which was cool but not worth the 4€ (the one in edinburgh was better) and san ferran castle...we took the night train back to paris on sunday night...we got a first class couchette for half price and it was definately worth the extra cash....i think i got my best night's sleep that night...or maybe it was just the dramamine....

we met up with my dad and step-mom in paris and took the tgv to lille...yesterday we walked around vieux lille and the citatel....today we're picking up the rental car and heading out to gondecourt...tomorrow we're off for the long drive to sweden....that's right kids, sweden....we'll be stopping in denmark along the way and amsterdam on the way back if we have time...grace and i have never been there and neither of us are sure what to expect...we both agree that we envision sweden as one gigantic ikea...i hope we're not disappointed!!!!

more updates to come...sorry these are a bit dry...but there's a lot to fit in...

word associations from figueras spain

1. Grandma:: granny smith apples
   
2. Pet:: my addi pie!!!!! how i miss my little weiner dog!!!
   
3. Desolate:: desert
   
4. Backspace:: delete
   
5. Common ground:: uncommon ground
   
6. Storm:: thunder
   
7. Dark:: the dark side....star wars, baby
   
8. Water bottle:: the reason my back hurst right now....carrying around this frickin huge water bottle
   
9. Training:: training bra
   
10. Dot coms:: dot orgs
    

update from spain...second try

the little sis finally made it in on tuesday....yes, she was supposed to make it to paris on monday, but thanks to a techincal delay in dallas, the poor dear had a 22 hour delay...in her absence, i had a nice goodbye dinner with aaron, sophie, and olivier...we had an appero at morel et fils and then went to chez loulou for a late dinner...unforutnately i had to get up super early to get gracie at the airport (4:30) so i got to spend the night at oliviers...i made it to charles de gaulle airport about an hour and a half after her plane got in (the first train wasn't untill 6am!!!! damn sncf!!!!)...luckily i found her and after a train ride to brussels, bus ride to charles le roi airport, a plane ride to girona and another bus ride we were able to make it to barcelona...all the transfers make me question ryan air's fabulousness, especially concidering that the flight was one big flying commercial...announcements every five minutes, attendants up and down the aisles constantly, selling food, selling scratch-off game cards, selling duty free....all we wanted to do was sleep!!!!

barcelona has been a blast so far...first day we crashed immediately at the hostel (only after a killer falafel for dinner)...yesterday we went to the market and bought breakfast (fruit salad and smoothies) then headed on a little walking tour of the gaudi monuments...we started with a tour of casa batlló, checked out the sagrada familia and then headed to park güell...we ended the day with a great dinner at les quinze nits...

today was quite exciting...and well, weird...but i don't have time to recount all now....but soon my pretties...hope everyone is doing well....

adios

thanks to my knowlege of french, i can't listen to this song with a straight face...

"blame it on the web but the spider's your problem now
language is the liquid that we're all dissolved in
great for solving problems, after it creates a problem
blame it on the tetons.
god, i need a scapegoat now
everyone's a building burning with no one to put the fire out
standing at the window looking out, waiting for time to burn us down
everyone's an ocean drowning with no one really to show us how
they might get a little better air if they turned themselves into a cloud."
-blame it on the tetons, modest mouse

word associations on a rainy sunday...

1. Android:: not quite human
   
2. Revenge:: is sweet
   
3. Knight:: kingdom of heaven...oh my bf is sooooooo cute
   
4. Stranded:: lonely
   
5. Weakness:: weak in the knees...for my cute bf
   
6. Greed:: who wants to be a millionaire
   
7. Walter:: cronkite
   
8. Dense:: "i am your density...." - back to the future
   
9. Sheep:: "sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell" - cake
   
10. Propane:: gasoline
    

espagne here i come...

just two days till little sis gets here...she's coming in on monday and we're leaving tuesday morning for brussels and from brussels to girona (near barcelona)...we're planning on spending a couple days there before heading to figueras, the home of dali and more importantly a mess of dali museums...

it's been a sad week...lots of goodbyes...wednesday aaron, ana and i saw miriam off to paris...i don't know how she did it, but somehow she made it from gare du nord to her friends apartment with two backpacks, a huge suitcase and a bag of stuff...maybe she has super powers that she's kept hidden all this time...hmmmm...anyways, she's kicking it in germany for a while before spending her last two months in paris (lucky girl)...she says she may come back for my last weekend in town...i hope she does...(i miss you too miriam!!!!) :'(

tomorrow it's another sad goodbye to our sensei, carolyn...i don't know if i can stand it...

oh...in other news...i saw kingdom of heaven yesterday...quite good, even if it was a bit too much like gladiator...i spent the first half of the movie trying to figure out where i saw this actor...yeah, it's lupin from harry potter 3...and the rest of the movie drooling over by bf orlando (yeah, he's my bf, he just doesn't know it yet)...

the previews got me seriously pumped for this summer...war of the worlds, star wars episode III (the first preview i saw online didn't do much for me, but this new one...i think we're going to be on our way to sweden the day it comes out...we might have to make a pit-stop for this one!!!)...there's just too many good movies coming out...
****************************************************
what i am to you is not real
what i am to you you do not need
what i am to you is not what you mean to me
you give me miles and miles of mountains
and i'll ask for what i give to you
is just what i'm going through
this is nothing new
no, no just another phase of finding what i really need
is what makes me bleed
-volcano, damien rice

open letter to credit card companies everywhere...

stop increasing my credit limit...please...

i know what you say, but trust me, i don't deserve it...

you're forcing me into a uncomfortable situation and i can't be held responsible for my actions...

so i'm begging...just take it back...i don't want it...

sincerely, natalie

on that note...i'm going shopping...peace

word associations on a lazy monday

1. Texas:: home
   
2. Scholarship:: yes, please!
   
3. Runner-up:: miss america
   
4. Mustang Sally:: all she wants to do is
   
5. Jones:: indiana jones and the last crusade on M6 tonight!!!
   
6. Hard to get:: playing games
   
7. Jewish:: einstein brothers bagel's tasty turkey sandwhich on a challah roll...no tomatoes, please...sorry...i'm really hungry
   
8. Crew:: cut
   
9. Cable:: oh how i miss cable....
   
10. Assistant:: ME!!!! well, not anymore, technically
    

counting down...

final week of work is over and done with...it was relatively uneventful...most of my classes were canceled because of the bac blanc (practice tests for the big test coming up in june)...one class of premieres gave me a nice book and cd and a group of seconds gave me a card and a tart tatin (yummy!)...saturday we finally had our bbq at our little apartment...and this time the weather cooperated...saturday was the warmest day so far (over 80°!!!!!!!)...we had some yummy shish kebabs, potato salad, guacamole, and carolyns killer brownies...check out the pics...

saturday night it was dinner with brandon, aaron and his gf, sophie...the restaurant left something to be desired (and left me with a belly ache) but it was great to see them, as usual...after it was an evening out with carolyn and miriam...our last evening together in lille...the "best, worst bar in lille", the guapa bar, was closed...so we spent our last evening at some cafe near the wazemmes...sunday M picked me up and we took a walk around gondecourt, all the way to the little forest between gondecourt and seclin...we got all the way there, saw the big signs saying "keep out", "area booby-trapped", turned around and went back...it was a nice walk, anyways...

the goodbyes have officially started...i bade alicia, raoul and brandon "au revoir" this weekend...sniff sniff....with all the traveling i'm doing with my family i have two weekends left in town...so much to do, so little time...