First soccer . . erm, football match?

I was invited to tag along to a soccer match between Paris St. Germain and le Mans by my French buddy Edouard at the beginning of December; it was . . . cold. I had fun, although I doubt I'll repeat the experience any time soon. Paris won 3-1.

The French buddy system was set up through the Center for the Americas, and I was assigned two buddies. Edouard is really great about inviting me to various events. The other gets nervous when he sees me in the hall (he's a bit younger), so we avoid contact as much as possible.

Here the guys are preparing for the match. I don't know if you can qualify McDonalds fare as sustenance, but they seemed to be re-energized by the experience.
Maxine, Alexandre, Samir & Hannah (David's American buddy)


Here I am bundled up for the match. Brrr!


David, Sylvain & Edouard (my French buddy)

You gotta love a guy in glasses . . .

How could anyone prefer Fred Astaire to Gene Kelly? Honestly?



I love this scene with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, but Cyd totally steals the scene. I don't know of anyone who managed to steal a scene when Gene Kelly was dancing.



To be fair, we'll even compare the two dancing with the same woman.



Can I just add I love Gene Kelly's glasses? I just love a guy in glasses.

Random thoughts . . .

. . . on working:
I've come to the conclusion that my intentions to work this evening are completely futile. I'm babysitting, so at least it's a restful evening. I'm afraid of getting worn down and falling ill just as I head back to the US. Victoria fell asleep 15 minutes after I arrived, so it's been a peaceful few hours of reflection (and chatting with Stephanie).

. . . on hot chocolate and Christmas decorations:
I went for coffee with a friend today. I love how coffee can turn into a three hour event in Paris. Of course, I think I managed to have a few two-hour coffees in Iowa City. I had a steaming hot chocolate, which was just what I needed on a miserable rainy day such as today. Afterward, we wandered about enjoying the department store Christmas decorations and trying not to get trampled by the mob swarming outside of Printemps and Galeries Lafayette.

. . . on plans for the future:
Many of the conversations I have these days focus on making career plans for the future, more precisely the uncertainty and anxiety that accompanies this grueling process. I've decided to stop worrying; it may be easier said than done.

. . . on blatant generalizations about dating:
I am concerned that my perceptions of the opposite sex have been warped by my encounters with the French. French guys don't hold back when it comes to feelings. If anything they express feelings they don't even have, just to have something to express. If a French guy is interested in you, it's usually quite clear. Other nationalities do not necessarily share this approach. They might actually take the time to get to know you (what a novel idea) before making any sort of move; unfortunately, my experiences with the French have conditioned me to think that if a guy doesn't overtly hit on you in the first 24 hours, you must be meant to remain friends. Additionally, any perception I may have had of nuance or subtlety has been completely lost.

A tale of two cities

Of course, my perception of New York is not quite as romantic as that of Woody Allen's, but I can see how Gershwin's music encapsulates the throbbing pace of the city.

The following trailer for the film Paris by Klapisch (director of L'Auberge Espagnol) is a rather accurate representation for how I see Paris right now. Spring in Paris is another story, but right now it's gray, rainy and quite depressing.

For those of you who thought all I did was study . . .

Stephanie, Elizabeth & Sarah in the Bastille area (the night I defended both Stephanie's AND Matteo's honor)

my "projet co" group for the Model UN simulations; party at Spencer's

It looks serious, but we were actually discussing the mystery of the missing scenes in the French version of Beauty and the Beast.

Stephanie, Ingunn, Judith, Elizabeth & Sarah (I was in full-on homeless mode at this point. I was lucky enough to borrow Stephanie's sweater to avoid being seen in the same outfit 3 days in a row.)
Elizabeth, Matteo & Stephanie.

Floriane, Sarah, Emilie & Gaelle at the BCBG party organized by the Sciences Po BDE

Emilie and I try not to laugh in this photo as the boy to the left trys to dance at us.

Babysat a cabbage patch kid

Wednesday night I had my first paid babysitting engagement since the age of 17. My landlords had me watch their one-year old daughter, Victoria, who bears and eerie resemblance to the Cabbage Patch Kid shown above. It was the easiest babysitting job of my life.

I showed up at 8. The landlords live on the first floor of my building, so transportation wasn't an issue. They showed me the ropes, she and I hung our for half an hour, and then it was her bedtime. She'd already been fed, bathed and put in her pajamas. I spent the rest of the evening doing homework in the living room except for the one time when she cried and I changed her diaper. Between Victoria and my tutoring kids, I've really lucked out in terms of dealing with nice, easy-going kids.

And the money kept rolling in.

Discover Andrew Lloyd Webber!

This is for all of my bank homies:

My hours of haggling, harassing and being a general pain have finally paid off! First of all, BNP (my French bank) is reimbursing me for half of my Zoom flight! For those of you that haven't read since the beginning, my flight to France was canceled in September when Zoom Airlines went bankrupt. BNP tried to make bogus claims that I hadn't followed procedure. The reimbursement will cover about 2/3 of the last minute flight I had to get from Toronto to Paris. Yay!

Secondly, my second French bank (Société Générale) is reimbursing me for the legal insurance they "accidentally" set up in my name as well as for the 43 euro overdraft charge that I just didn't want to pay.

I actually had a decent excuse. My BNP card becomes a credit card as soon as I go in the red. Société Générale cuts you off at 100 euros, and then they call to transfer money for you and charge you for the "intervention" even though I could just get online and transfer it.

What lesson have I learned from this? Be persistent, complain a lot, and keep a close eye on your bank. Not all banks are as trustworthy as Guthrie County State Bank!

All you need is "punkin" pie

We celebrated a belated Thanksgiving this Saturday at Stephanie & Elizabeth's apartment near Bastille. The whole event was just such a treat. I was especially fond of the pumpkin pie, stuffing and sweet potatoes. (I was in charge of the garlic mashed potatoes).

Sarah & Stephanie

Clement, Elizabeth, Stephanie & Khalid

Elizabeth, Stephanie & Clemens

Spencer, Matteo & Sebastian steal Stephanie's move

Update on plagiarism:

My partner, Hassatou, informed me that she would retype her part of the paper and send in our work before the deadline. I covered myself and beefed up my section to be more of a paper by adding the into, conclusion, etc. (the parts Hassatou was supposed to be responsible for). I sent it to our instructor saying that I would be willing to present our work to the class together if she turned in the completed paper on time, but that in the case that she didn't, here was proof that I hadn't been slacking. I had already sent her documentation of what I had done saved at three different stages of the work process, which proved that what had been done up until then was all my own work. I also volunteered to do another paper on my own to prove that I could respect deadlines and was willing to work.

Hassatou sent a long e-mail at 12:30, 30 minutes after the deadline, acting like a martyr in the whole situation. She explained that she understood how her story sounded suspicious but that she wished I had been honest with her and told her about my accusations in advance. ME be honest with HER!!!!!!! To top it all off, after her long self-righteous e-mail, she declared that she didn't even want credit for the paper and that I should get the grade for the paper she was sending. There was NOTHING attached to the e-mail. I e-mailed her within 2 minutes saying she forgot the attachment. The professor e-mailed the same thing 30 minutes later; no response. Well OF COURSE I should get credit for what had been done because it was ALL MY WORK!!!!

My instructor (I won't even call her a professor because she's barely older than I am, has not gotten her PhD and doesn't know how to teach) did not reply to ANY of my e-mails. She simply sent an e-mail to the both of us saying that the situation was regrettable but that we should use this opportunity to learn to work as a team and turn in a paper by next Wednesday. I've sent e-mails to the girl twice now (I refuse to call because I want everything documented) and she has neither replied to me nor to my professor.

I've documented my work, the e-mails I've sent to Hassatou those I've sent to my miserable excuse for TA. The class delegate (never knew why we would need one until now) has been really helpful. I'm keeping him abreast of all new developments and he's ready to intervene with the TA and the administration if I don't get credit or receive a very poor grade.

These two girls are ruining my Sciences Po experience. I know I should just let it go, but I have to deal with them (not directly since they never reply) every day as I try to get this sorted out.

I've been plagiarized

I've never been so filled with rage. My partner tried to present my work as our group work and when I confronted her, she claimed to have lost the version with all of her work. She also failed to turn the paper in which she was supposed to do last Thursday, and which I couldn't do because she never sent me any of her work due to "technical problems". To top it all off, the teacher doesn't want to hear about my "personal problems" and wants us to finish the paper by tomorrow which makes it 9 days late.