Sacrificing for the future

I'm almost done with one semester. Law school? I don't love you. But, I don't hate you. I love not working and having plenty of time to lay around. But, sometimes I fell useless. What is my life's purpose? Especially here. I have always felt like my purpose has been clear, but here it does not feel like that. Sometimes I think about leaving. Especially after a night spent sitting in the lounge because my roommate has her boyfriend over. It really makes me lose perspective. I try to think about why I came and remember that this is for a purpose. And, I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to move away from home and try my hand at starting over again. I have made some good friends. I have gotten to learn new things. But, I really thought that I would love it here. And I don't. I recently went home to Nebraska and my dad asked me if I was happy. All I did was cry in response. But, is it important for me to be happy all the time? I think I can sacrifice for my future. It will be worth it in the end, right?

For Jessie

On her birthday, after some hard partying. She looks like she is going to kill me, normally she is smiling. I was not afraid of her. Her bf in the background, I don't know what he was doing. Check out her blog. She posts much more often than I do.

Life as a student

Here are some things that I have learned about myself since I returned to school:
1. I am only interested in doing the minimum amount of work I need to do to get by, and I get annoyed when I don't know what that is.
2. I sometimes imitate accents, which is gross considering the accent I am imitating is the Long Island one.
3. I have to sleep A LOT.
4. I don't know if I want to be a lawyer.
5. I would rather talk about ideas than learn facts.
6. I miss home.
7. It's not that interesting to stay awake all class (I used to sleep through class a lot in undergrad).
8. Using the internet during class is AMAZING. Chatting, reading gossip, blogs, shopping...all while learning about mental states.
9. I miss working.
10. I miss having fun places to study, like coffee houses or the pj lounge.
Here are some pictures:
Tea and law school sympathy
Enjoying the Mountain Goats
Pretty NYC

New York, New York

I've been in New York for a week now...it seems so much longer! I took my first trip to the city on Saturday. Hence, the picture of Times Square. It felt so good to get into the city and be excited about being here. My week prior had consisted of lectures and homework for law school orientation and seeing the sights of Hempstead (not the most beautiful or exciting city). A new friend and I took the train in and walked all over until we were hot and sweaty. We ate in Little Italy for lunch and Chinatown for supper. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and I kept playing that song from the old show "Brooklyn Bridge" in my head. Anyone else watch that? We also went up 6 flights of stairs in Chinatown to look at some knockoff purses. It was weird. Central Park is huge and was full of runners and dogs out enjoying the day. I heart NYC.

the start of good-byes

I am saying good-bye to my car when I move on Sunday. My parents and I are going to donate it. It has been mine since I was 16 and before that was my grandpa's. It has survived 8 years of my crazy driving in Lincoln, the mountains, on road trips. It has transported friends, family, clients, their babies. It will be sad to let it go...

Updates

Hey everyone...I wanted to give an update on my life for those of you who still check my blog. I'm moving to Long Island on August 18th to go to law school at Hofstra. While there I am going to blog my experiences and pictures of what I am seeing and doing. My connection to technology should be better than it was in France (let's hope anyways). I hope not to disappoint.

I'm back

Hey everyone. I got a new wireless card!

I am a failure

I never blog. I have failed my audience. What do you do when you don't have internet and the wireless card on your laptop broke and had to be thrown in the garbage? I feel so guilty blogging at work. So, I guess I shall continue to fail.

Hi...I'm home! (for 3 months)

As you can see, I never blog, but under pressure of my youngest brother, I am adding a post. So, I live in Lincoln now, and work, and life is good. I am raising my right hand and saying, "I will try my hardest to obey by the one blog per week rule." end of pledge, but I think Matt has some unresolved grammar issues.

Long time

Hello to the faithful who still check this blog! I am still in France, working as an assistant, and time has really flown. Only one more month of teaching and a little traveling left, and I will be back in America. Just to give you a quick update on what has happened since I last posted...
During a weekend in January, I went with my friend Carrie and her 2 children on a little road trip to see the beaches of Normandy where D-day happened and Mont St. Michel, a cool abbey on an island. I had 2 weeks off in February and was lucky enough to get to travel with friends. I went to Dijon with my friend and fellow English assistant, Chelsea, for one night. We got to see where the Dukes of Burgundy used to live, and of course, taste some mustard. Then, I went to Arles with my roommate, Erika, who is the Spanish assistant at my school. We got to see cool Roman ruins and many of the places where Van Gogh painted and spent some of his last years, plus a little day trip to see the Mediterranean. The last week of vacation, my friend Kate, from Nebraska who is also an assistant, and I went to Sweden. I know this is cheating...but she has her pictures from our trip posted online, so if you are interested, just click on the link that says Kate. It was a wonderful and relaxing trip. We got to see many cities and some beautiful nature. I also tried ice-skating for the first time in my life!
These last couple of weeks were full of good times with my friends Rachel and Julia from home. They came to see me and we had such a great time together. We got to eat dinner on the Eiffel Tower, travel to London, and they came and taught with me one day and got to enjoy the fabulous life of an assistant (sometimes we are treated like celebrities)! Rachel and I also got to go to Barcelona...she unfortunately got sick while we were there. But, we still enjoyed the warm weather and got to see some cool things. They have both gone home now, but I feel so blessed to have had them here!
This morning, I woke up to chanting and drumming outside my apartment. I live on the grounds at my school, and the students blocked the gates of the school in protest of something called the CPE. So, there were no classes and right now in Paris students from high schools and universities are gathering to make their concerns known. It is so interesting to me because I don’t think that this would ever happen in the USA. But the students here want to make their voices heard, and France is very much a culture of doing something about problems. So, if you want to strike, you can. I got to sleep in since I didn’t have to teach, and enjoy a very French experience.
So...I am still so thankful to be here and am enjoying my time. It will be fun to be home, but I will miss it here. I am so lucky to have this experience....

My return to France

It has now been a week since I got back from the USA. It was hard to adjust back to life here. I think that it is always hard to leave home. There is a set of problems you can escape when you leave everything and everyone you know to start a new (temporary) life. When I came to Paris, I became detached from relational issues by mere distance. But, I have decided that however painful relationship problems can be, they are worth it because relationships add so much to life. We are relational people.
I got an ipod for Christmas, and it has already changed my life here in Paris. It is great to walk down the street listening to my brother sing Christmas songs (even if Christmas has passed). There is also something really beautiful about listening to pensive music while riding the metro underground and watching the lights fleet from one station to another, or walking through Paris in the rain with a soundtrack. I love it.
I got to meet my mom’s cousin while here for the first time in my life. It is so fun to meet people you are related to in a foreign country. Thanks for lunch and the wonderful chat, Linda and John!

Bonne Annee! Happy New Year!

May 2006 bring great things for all of you!

I'm in Lincoln!

Hello everyone! I got into Lincoln last night, and after 24 hours of awakeness, I am feeling good :) Can't wait to see you all!

French poetry

A poem written by one of my classes on the subject of Thanksgiving:

This is a good party!
Holiday; we are happy.
All people are thankful.
No violence this day.
Ketchup and mayonnaise on the turkey,
Sweet!
Great party.
Indians give meat, we have peace.
Victory of peace and fraternity!
Now we say,
Goodbye!

I think that it’s pretty good and pretty right on. My students are great here and they love America!

Live life and always be true...

Every Wednesday, I become a babysitter for a little French girl. The goal is that she learns to speak English. We spend the day together doing the regular playing, just in two languages. It is fascinating to me that sounds that mean nothing to her speak volumes to me, while she understands the world in a completely different set of sounds. I cannot wrap my mind around it. There are other differences also, such as the necessity of slippers, that I never really considered. In France, in the house, everyone (or most people) wears slippers. I also have realized how informal American culture is, in many aspects. We write our letters and numbers differently, in more modern and easier fashions. We don’t greet each other and say goodbye to each other with kisses. We don’t think of yogurt or fruit as dessert (I don’t know if that is a part of a more informal culture...). As I live in a different culture, I realize how ingrained my American mentality is. I can appreciate differences, and enjoy some of them, but I measure my life in the parameters of the culture that I understand. I think that most people probably do, I just have never been confronted with my Americanness so strongly at any point in my life as I am now. I innately know that today I should be eating turkey in Nebraska. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I think that I’ll go buy some slippers.

Email Problems...

Hotmail is not working for me. For these past two days, I have tried to access my email, and it won't open. I am not meaningfully neglecting anyone who has written me. I am going to try later at an internet cafe; maybe the problem is the computers at the school.

The French Response...

Thank you for providing me with stereotypes, my students liked them. The girls want everyone to know that they do shave their armpits...they were very emphatic about that. Something that French people apparently don’t do, however, is floss. I love to floss my teeth. I think it started at Love Hall when Rachel was around and would floss her teeth. Now, I have to floss everyday or I feel like my teeth are really dirty. I went to the store here to get some, because I ran out, but there wasn’t any. I went without for a week until I was at a store with Kate and she found some. It works, but it’s not minty.
Here are my students’ stereotypes about Americans:
They are patriotic
They eat pizzas all the time
They don’t like the French
They are alcoholics
They are egotistical
They are eccentric
They are religious
They are fat
They have good movies and singers

What do you think?

Reflections on Life in France...

It has been over 5 weeks since I first arrived in Paris. I am getting adjusted to my life here little by little. My paperwork is nearly finished and I am getting situated in a new apartment. I want to give a brief rundown of what has happened since my arrival here. When I came, I had no idea where I would live. I stayed with a friend for the first few days and found out that my school would house me for free, which is a huge blessing. The school is under construction and so a new apartment was built for the assistants and I just moved in a couple of days ago. It is wonderful! I started teaching my second week here. I work about 12 hours a week in 12 different classes. The students are excited, for the most part, about learning English, and it has been fun to teach them. I have quite a bit of free time, which has been really nice for getting settled and visiting Paris. I am excited to really get to know the city and to feel like it is my home. It is such a beautiful place. My French is getting better every day, I think. :) I feel like I understand more and am much more comfortable having conversations than I was when I came. I have a pretty good life here. And, although I am northwest of Paris, so far I haven’t seen anything as far as riots are concerned. I hope that there will be a solution, but unemployment is such a huge problem here, I don’t know what will remedy it. I miss my family and friends at home, but am so thankful for this opportunity. What a great way to spend a year!

Coming Soon...

Hi Friends! Thank you for your help with my assignment. I will let you know what my students think. After 2 weeks of 10 hours of work each week, the French department of education found that a 10 day vacation was in order. I agreed. I have just returned from traveling to the Loire Valley, Normandy, and Brittany with my friend Kate. I will update you all on this trip with photos and stories soon!!
A heads up for all of you now: I am planning to come back to Nebraska for Christmas; so I hope that I will be able to see everyone. And, anytime you want to come to France, just let me know!

Hello Friends...

Well, it is finally here! The long awaited blog has arrived! This blog is going to be dedicated to my 7 months as an assistant it Asnieres, just north of Paris. I am teaching high school students English, and for my first post, I have a question for one of my lessons: what are stereotypes that Americans have against French people? Please give me your ideas!! I will post more soon!