2003-09-11
The Conclusion of the Great French Novel, Part V

5:09 p.m.

It is hard to believe that two years ago today was 9/11. It was the day after I started full-time at JSC. So much has happened in the ensuing two years. It is still haunting to look at the New York skyline and not see the twin towers, and even more so to see TV show reruns and movies that showed the skyline with them. It was never something that I noticed before, but I definitely notice them now. It's hard to imagine what life would be like if 9/11 had not happened, since its effects have penetrated every aspect of life as we now know it.

Anyway, enough philosophisizing about the past. Here is the rest of my report of my first few days in France.

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Strasbourg, my flat, 8/8/03

Nick and I had a pretty good day. Well, I did, but Nick is going to make himself sick if he keeps letting himself become so frustrated over this housing. He shouldn�t worry, he�ll find something, eventually, but I can understand. He�s living out of his suitcase and would like to just find something, anything. For him, the most important thing is an internet connection. I joke that he would live under a bridge if it had Ethernet, but it really is half in earnest.

We walked around a part of town that we hadn�t been to before. We went searching for the electricity company, and we did find it, but the line was long so I am going to go back tomorrow morning and hopefully it won�t be so long. We then went over to Gare Centrale to check out the train and bus schedules and try to figure out trips, mainly, one to Italy. Unfortunately, it only seemed to advertise local trips. I was all talked out and did not feel like pushing my French any further. Nick is like an uncoiled spring. I really am just along for the ride with this one. Let�s do this, let�s do that. We finally decided that we�d go back and try and figure something out and then maybe ask Amandine in the morning. Nick then decided that we were going to England on Ryan Air, since you can get tickets for very cheap. I suggested Frankfurt, since it�s only a three-hour bus ride away. Especially since we met up with the girl from England who said that it�s not as cheap if you try to make reservations on the day that you want to fly out. I told him that when he goes to ISU tomorrow morning, he can get on the internet (assuming that it�s working) and figure something out. Whatever he figures out is fine with me, and that�s what we�ll do.

After the train station we went to Petit France. It is really cute, very romantic. There is supposed to be a museum there that has a lot of artifacts that show the effects of World War II. I should very much like to see it, and plan on going back and trying to find it. It is not that far from here, but then, not much really is, as we are discovering.

Dang it, it�s started to rain. So now I have to close the window. It is going to get very stuffy in here. Definitely getting that fan. And candles, too. I really do not like the smell when I first come into the apartment. I can�t describe it, but it�s very unpleasant. Wow, it�s really raining hard. Nick went back outside to do some more sketching. Maybe not, since his sketchbook is here. I don�t know what he�s doing, but he took my keys. I imagine that he might be back soon.

We were out earlier because we wanted to see them light up the Cathedral. We wanted to get a glass of wine and just sit out front and he was going to sketch the Cathedral and I would write postcards and look through tour books. Unfortunately, we couldn�t find any wine and although Nick bought an ice cream from one of the places, they wouldn�t let us sit at an outside table, even though there was barely anyone there and there were a ton of tables. They said it was because we had �take-away� and that it was for people sitting in only. So, we sat on the ground. I took a couple of pictures, wrote a couple of postcards, looked through my guidebooks, and Nick sketched. It was very peaceful, and I just looked around and thought, Wow, I am in France. We were sitting in front of this huge, centuries-old cathedral, people walking by speaking French, and there was singing down the street. Ahh, France. The whole time, even after being accepted to ISU, receiving the fellowship, and the frantic preparations to come here, I never actually thought that this would really happen. Yet, here I am. Amazing.

There were two street performers who had some briquette-things on the end of strings and the briquettes were lit on fire and they swung them around. I took a picture, and like all of the others, will put that up ASAP. Fortunately, they didn�t see me take it. They saw Nick take some, and tried to get him to give them money, but the pictures didn�t turn out so Nick deleted them and by the time that the guys came over, he didn�t have the pictures. They kept pestering him, so he gave them 25 cents. Then, it became too cold and it turns out that they light up the Cathedral at 10:15, anyway, so we came back here. Nick grabbed a sweatshirt and headed back out again. I guess that they will not light up the Cathedral tonight as it is really raining quite hard now. He doesn�t have an umbrella; I should have given him mine. Hopefully, he�s taken shelter.

I think that my French is improving. Not that I am necessarily learning more (that is going rather slowly), but I am becoming more confident in what I do know, if that makes any sense at all. I understand more, and my basic French is flowing easier. I try to speak French wherever I can, and most people are pretty nice about it. Nick says he can understand it, but he cannot speak it AT ALL. I have taught him how to say �Je ne parle pas francais�, but he keeps saying �Je ne parlez pas francais�, which is just as well, because then it shows that he really cannot.

Well, I am very tired, so I am going to go take a shower and go to bed. Bon soir.

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