A moveable feast...

This is my last night in Edinburgh, a city I honestly did not enjoy very much. I’ve had far too many bad club nights, far too many arguments, and far too many mixed feelings about my relationship— all of which I believe was exacerbated by the malaise that was my malcontent living in this city.

Don’t get me wrong, Edinburgh, like all cities, is not all bad. But it is just not for me. I won’t explain for fear of sounding overtly critical— suffice to say, it’s not the place I hoped for.

Paris. To be honest, I was bound to never like Edinburgh simply because my desire to return to Europe was fueled by a desire to return to the City of Lights. I wanted the mysticism of Paris back, the naiveté of two years ago back, my liberation back. I thought it wasn’t simply the sensation of being in France that made that time so great, I thought it was just being in Europe in general. Gross, and very stupid, misunderstanding. Plus, it was easier to do graduate school in the UK. I took the easy way out, avoided language tests, although my French is fairly good, I just wanted to be out of Texas again. In that sense, Edinburgh served it’s purpose. But I quickly realized it wasn’t for me and instantly had a longing again for France. The result? I return tomorrow, not to Paris as it’s a tad too expensive for me, but to it’s northern city-mate Rouen. Less than an hour away by train? Yes, I can deal with that.

I went to France a month ago to apartment hunt. Found a place in Rouen rather easy and returned to spend a nice day in Paris before flying home for the last time. Just walking in the city gave my goosebumps, it gave me butterflies— it was like I was there for the first time feeling the summer heat and the moving people. I felt as if something was breathing into me, breathing exhilaration and inspiration into my lungs and beckoning for my hasty return. If I was unsure if I should come back, I was certain at that moment that I had made the right decision.

I can’t wait to begin again, I just hope that I don’t end up disappointed

Veil ban in France

This is a response I wrote to someone's comment and support of the veil ban in France.... I didn't bother posting it because I thought it would go to waste... so I'll recreate it hear (add references later so you'll know what the hell I'm referring to):

'I really don't agree with what you're saying at all and it's a bit weird to use the word 'modern' to describe muslim women who don't wear veils. According to my Palestinian friend who was born in the US and wears a scarf (not hijab, not a full face veil), it was her choice when and if she would wear it... she wasn't 'imprisoned' or 'forced,' just like another friend of Egyptian descent chose not to wear one. I think it's wrong to criticize people for their religious choice and make a blanket assumption that all women who wear veils are oppressed and brainwashed, that's not true (and yes, I am aware that in some cases this most certainly is the case).

Now, if you were making the argument that it makes sense for France to require people not wear the veil in public places for safety reasons(which I don't agree with entirely, in banks/government buildings, ok, but its pushing it for a person not to be able to wear it walking down the street), then I might be able to understand your point. Moreover, reading two books (1) about Somalian women suffering due to extreme beliefs (which, as far as I know date back to the BC era and are not related to Islam) isn't really grounds for deciding a whole group of people in a country should not be able to dress the way they want (plus I don't this has anything to do with Islam in France). I don't see why women wearing veils are 'brainwashed' while non-muslim women who dress/act/think a certain way because society, using whatever medium, tells them to are not considered as such.

Also I have no idea what the correlation is you're making between the legislation in France and the abolition of slavery in the US. I don't think all muslim women are forced to wear a veil in France (which is probably why they are protesting now) and even if they were wouldn't come close to being forced to be someone's slave... it doesn't come close to it (2).'


1) She mentioned the books Infidel (Ayaan) and Desert flower (Waris) as reasons why she supports the ban
2) Reference to a comment she made about the legislation being as obscure as the legislation which banned slavery in the United States.


So what do you guys think? I welcome your opinion!

Lazy blogging...

So I am, at the moment, very bad at consistently blogging. Mainly because I'm writing an endless supply of papers, suppose to be dissertation writing, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, as I type away bored out of my mind on my last paper for the term before I start working vigorously on my thesis, I'm thinking about escaping away back to the wonders of Franceland *queue joyous choir music* At the moment I'm job hunting through a temp. agency, I went for an interview today to work as a work placement liaison and left completely uncertain if I'd really feel comfortable doing it. I mean, it's a part-time, temp. job, but it sounds like so much work I'm not sure I'd really be able to do it all in only three days (and am not interested at all in having to work on things outside of work time). So... I don't know. Plus I doubt I interviewed well enough to get it anyway, back to the freaking job search again!

Soo... I had the great fortune of finding a marvelously cheap DU program in Rouen (only an hour from Paris, YES!) that starts in Sept. and ends in May. I think Rouen will be a great choice primarily because it's cheap, it's close to a city a love, and it apparently has a awesome rock music scene. I'm super excited simply for the fact that it's in France though... and I will be able to have those things I love dearly (namely the marvelously smooth language and the delicious baguettes that no one in the UK seems to be capable of replicating). Oh yes... can't wait until August!

Is this the worst?

Ok, so the taught portion of my course is coming to a close and I have to say... I'm really disappointed. Not that it's ending-- I'm ecstatic about that-- I'm disappointed in my classes. Well, really, most of them have been decent enough and predictable... and bearable really in their mediocracy. But one... oh dear god... has been horrible. I do mean horrible. Life coaches coming in to talk to Masters students, forty minutes of class wasted on CUTTING PAPER (literally, we had to cut paper...) and so on and so forth. It's been so bad that I've completely stopped going because even when there were lectures they were sooo boring. Either in the sense that I'd heard it before or I just didn't care... I mean, sometimes we'd be kept three hours because a lecturer wanted us to talk about papers we were writing in other classes... yes, it was so boring that she resorted to asking what our other papers were going to be about... for an hour. How ridiculous is that? I had high hopes for this class but it's literally deteriorated into a pool of pointlessness that the lecturers attempt to make important (last class they decided to apparently 'attack' the 90 percent of the class that didn't attend by sending everyone an email demanding an explanation). I wonder if they ever ask themselves if maybe they're the culprits for a low attendance rate? What do you expect when you never take attendance anyway?

I do believe, out of all of the HORRIBLE classes I've taken (including in high school), this is by far the worst of them all.

Returning to France?

I haven't posted in ages, not so much because I've been busy though (funny enough, I'm taking a break from working on one of four papers due in this month because I'm so bored/stuck at the moment).

So, I'm more than half way finished with my second and last semester of classes before I start working hard on the dissertation. I will likely be working full time during three months of it, as the SNGMA where I'm interning (unpaid) is hiring for a temporary, three month position as a cataloguer. I'm hoping I will be a shoe in for this but you never know.

Anyway, my time in Scotland and way too frequent trips to Ireland (only one so far, but honestly that's enough) has instilled in me a unwavering desire to go back to France. I'm not into the UK, at all, there's nothing wrong with it... it just doesn't hold my interest and I don't think moving to expensive London would help that. To be honest, the thing is I am just longing for Paris... I need that city... I breathe that city... and I don't think fighting off my love for it anymore is a good idea.

So, I've hatched a plan that has a lot of 'if's' in it, but will be set into play:
if I don't find a museum/gallery job in the UK (or US, or wherever, I'd prefer, seriously, to stay abroad)
if I am able to pass this blasted language entree exam for Paris 3's program (can you believe a DU program requires you to be a minimum of B2, which I probably am in writing and reading, in speaking and listening I'm probably more like B1)
if I don't come up with a better, cheaper option
if I actually have enough bread to go in the first place

Any suggestions on programs cheaper than 750 euros for the year would be much appreciated. The program I'm interested in doing is the DUEF 1 at Paris 3 (http://www.univ-paris3.fr/51196777/0/fiche___formation/) and, for some reason, this seems to be the only cheap program say for one I saw in Toulouse, whose deadline I missed by a day. All the other courses, including one at the university of Versailles, are ridiculously expensive (I'm talking 2500 euros for the same course Paris 3 has for 750).

My only issue with Paris 3 is the minimum of B2 requirement... I don't really get the point of it if the diploma courses get you at the level of B2 and/or C1. I don't think it'll be hard for me to prepare for B2 though... so I'm really not too worried about it. I think this is a worth-it move considering I really want to work in France in a museum/gallery position, and there's no way I'll be able to do that if my French isn't to scratch.

Anyway, we shall see... back to writing about Gauguin!

please.... no more snow...

I've found a new annoyance about being in the UK (you'd be surprised at how many I have at this point). It's actually a pretty big one when the weather is bad and one has a trip planned.... there's no accurate weather forecasting!

I know, I know. Most news stations have bad weather forecasting, they get it wrong a lot of time when you'd wish they didn't. But here, they take it to a new level. I mean, take the BBC for instance: On their main live news program they talk about the weather, hardly mention Edinburgh, and only give a same day to next day forecast... ALL THE TIME. What's worse, you can actually watch a BBC weather broadcast for Scotland, but for some bizarre reason they two NEVER EVER match. So you go to the the uk weather channel website, they have a completely different forecast to both of them. It seems like the only way to figure out what the weather is going to be is to stare out the window!

Normally this wouldn't bother me. But I'm a bit annoyed to wake up in the morning, having been forecasted either to have sleet or sunny skies (an example of how the BBC can't even keep up with it's own weather forecasts) and what do I see? SNOW! Not light snow, but heavy freaking snow. The airport is closed. This is so frustrating that I'm praying to Chuck Norris and the powers of Grey Skull to come and intervene (I'll take a round house kick or evil anti-thundercat maneuver to the face of this snow any day!).

I must get to Amsterdam. It's the new place I've decided I must visit. After it I can move on to Prague, Lisbon, anywhere in Morocco or the south of France. Please.... let me go snow, ppllllleeaaassse.
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On a side note, we have a mouse problem. It's gotten pretty ridiculous at this point, to the level that I, a vegetarian, have suggested cruel and unusual punishment for these rodents that dare enter our domain! Well, not exactly, but I'm getting to the point that I'd sticky pad the whole kitchen to get rid out them. We've killed seven at this point and K has finally decided/accepted that we're fighting a one sided battled-- we can kill them as much as we want but because we live in an flat complex they're going to keep coming. So, he emailed the landlady to tell her to have her 'builders' come fix this blasted gap under the oven where they've been coming in. It's a good thing too because we got up this morning to find one of our fancy two pound plastic mouse traps vanished. It's more than unsettling to think what it caught last night, obviously something big enough to get caught and then walk away with it.. Arghhh!

I had not realized how long ago my last post was so here's a new one!

I am, of course, in Edinburgh which is a lovely city. The cold, I hope, has taken a way some of its excitement, so I'm looking forward to the Spring already. Anyway, what I've been up to since my last post (from LA or on my way to Dubby? can't remember):
I went to Spain, Barcelona was soo beautiful and warm and cheap. Had a good four days there and then headed down to Malaga for K's sister's wedding in the mountains. To be honest, Malaga or Gaucin or whatever was not, in any way shape or form a southern copy of Barcelona, it was more like an evil opposite to it whose mission was to dampened my fun as much as possible during the wedding (with the help of the literal assholes that were invited, you would not even believe... -_- ).

But anyway, after that we came back to Edinburgh and here we have stayed. Classes have been fairly easy, actually exceptionally easy, with only two essays due at the end of the semester (one done, now I've only got half of the other to write). The semester ends on December 3rd, soo early I know!

The most exciting thing though is K and I will be going for a wonderful three days and four nights in Amsterdam and Brussels a week after the semester ends. I'm so excited, so happy to finally make it to Amsterdam. I'm hoping to see my friend who's in Brussels at the moment as well, and maybe I'll be able to smuggle some magical Dutch chocolate over the border for later enjoyment. Haha! HOORAY FOR THE END OF THE SEMESTER, TRAVEL, AND THE NEW YEAR (I know, getting ahead of myself there but it's only a little more than a month away) !