zoot alors

zoot suit: A man's suit popular during the early 1940s, characterized by full-legged, tight-cuffed trousers and a long coat with wide lapels and heavily padded, wide shoulders.

zut alors!: shucks, dang, shoot.

This is the first time I have had to write an entire essay in one night (very unusual given the fact that its my 3rd year as an arts student). I am writing about the social significance of the zoot suit, and while it is an interesting topic, I would rather be celebrating the fact that today i delivered a 15 minute oral presentation in French arguing that Fascism does indeed have an ideological basis. And then was interrogated on the topic in front of the class.

This song makes it better: reminds me of something familiar in a way that I can't quite explain.

The sky is falling

The sky hates me. Evidence:

Today I walked to school early, pretty chipper about my work motivation, when I felt something SPLATTER on my backpack and sweater. Yes, a bird had pooped all over me. There is something cosmically unjust about getting suddenly hit  from above.

Later on in the day I decided to take a jog to celebrate the amazing weather when out of nowhere the skies erupted into a torrential downpour. Twenty minutes after I had skipped out my door I was trudging back past the whistling men, this time completely soaked.

Tonight I will be dancing to this and forgetting about the falling sky:



I am also currently on a facebook strike, so I have been reading the news much more then I normally do. Health care, yay, Sarkozy dropping his climate plans, definite nay.

Evenings and Weekends

Sometimes you want to check out a trendy new restaurant. Sometimes you want to stay up late drinking red wine and smoking hand rolled cigarettes (if you smoked that is). Sometimes want to take long meandering walks around Paris, stopping to eat flaky pastries in a garden or by the river. Or sometimes, you want to watch movies, get your homework done, and eat lots and lots of pancakes.

This weekend was pancake weekend. We made ours from scratch thanks to good Old Canadian living recipe book and ate them with lots of real maple syrup and good company. It was lovely.

However with that said, I did go to Yeasayer on Friday which was AWESOME despite missing the first half of the set.(Parisian concerts begin awfully early)I tried to post a video of it and failed, but there was lots of bouncing around and the band was giving their all in neon patterned jumpsuits.

Next weekend I have fun arriving on a train from Germany - I am pretty darn excited.

It's a Fresh Spring so Let's Sing...

Spring has arrived in Paris. I have never been someone who really lets the weather affect their mood, but now I realize that is  because I have never lived in Paris. I had forgotten how different the city is when everyone switches to bikes and drinks their expresso outside. Within a matter of 3 days, the city has transformed itself and I love it.

In other news, I have been very busy lately. I spent my "winter break" going around central Europe which was a really amazing experience. Too much to say to sum it all up, but some of the highlights were the outdoor  mineral baths in Budapest and  going ice skating in sunny Vienna.  I was initially worried about traveling with with 6 people but it ended up working out better that I could have imagined. We also managed to pick up a straggler or two in every city, so we switched up the group dynamic a bit.

The following weekend was a visit to Lyon to stay with a real french girl and to go to the Florence and the Machine Concert. Hightlights - getting on stage and dancing with Florence, and biking around beautiful calm Lyon.

Now I am back in Paris, and while I have to finally deal with all the school work that has been pilling up its not so bad because I can study outside. I have also realized how many visiters I will be getting in the next couple months and I can't wait.