Yay, verily, I have been lax...
But only in this. The book is almost done, and will be available on lulu.com next week, I hope. PM me if you want more details, or to buy it; only $17.80, I think.
Friday May 29, 2009
A few things I have learned thus far: 1. I am a klutz and should not be put around things that will spill. 2. Both things that can spill and things that one wants to protect should be wrapped in plastic if possible. 3. Even though I am INTREPID EUROPEAN ADVENTURER I am happier when the teachers are taking charge, if only for a bit.
So now, just about everything smells like wine...not necessarily a bad thing. I totally doused my purse strap and the straps of my diary and my money belt this morning with part of a glass of cheap rose I was going to throw out. Of course because of the sugar content, its also a bit sticky which is rather a disappointment.
I just caught Prof. A up on my day, so at least that's as normal. This morning we leave for Lille and later have lunch w/ Prof. D. Prof A says we will have time to change. If it's warm enough, perhaps I'll wear my new clothes.
GAAH! I went to the WC to change in the Gare du Nord and they charged me 1 euro just to use the tiny stalls and for all I changed out in the open because there was a HUGE line. However, I HAD to change--the day turned strangely hot.
So we're on our way to Lille on the TGV--Train a la Grand Vitess. The countryside is quite lovely--not much like My State--more hills and the buildings are not so depressed looking.
I had my first metro annoyance yesterday. Actually, 2 of them. The first, a boy kept elbowing me in the kidneys, I think he was repeatedly trying to pick something up from the floor. I was trying to remember how to say, Monsieur, if your son does that one more time I'm going to smack him, but I didn't recall it in time. Then (it was apparently rush hour) this woman was elbowing me forward to hurry me off the metro, and at the same time she was STEPPING ON MY SKIRT!
Prof. J. says that Prof. D should be able to take a look at my letters. How cool is it to have one from during the war and one from 1838!
If I don't look back at earlier entries, I almost don't remember how much I miss Friend. Or how badly it hurts.*
One thing noticable about the French countryside; whereas My State has less than 200 years of history, France has small village churches older than that. Everything contains the feeling of immense age. The stones which make up the buildings are so large that there are no quarries to take them out of any more of the same quality.
I thought this was non-stop to Lille, but some passengers are getting ready. Hmm. I wonder if we aren't there already?
11:20pm-Lille-We were, in fact, there already.
Prof. D met us at the station, which was really sweet. Then we repaired to the hotel which was a blessedly short walk (and, um, I could have changed here...grr), with all my stuff still stinking of wine. I could get drunk just off the fumes.
So. I thought lunch was going to be free...and at that point I had about 6 euro left. For two days. So I chose not to...well, that's a lie, I tried to order a hot dog but they were out and the woman didn't tell me. So I just had tea and at that point Prof. D came in and asked, v. concerned, "You're not having anything for lunch?" I had to quickly make up an excuse saying that I felt a bit hot and tea, even hot tea would help. He nodded like he understood. Then we went to our reception w/our e-pals** and C is fabulous! V. chic and glam. Also sweet, which is really good. Some people were not so lucky, but I'm very happy with her. I think I might make the effort to keep in touch after the trip. The reception was lovely, coffee, tea and sweets wich rather made up for lunch. However, then we went out for drinks and I used another 2 euros 50 on tea as it would have been bad form not to have anything. And it has been a truly flirty afternoon! I wore my new white skirt w/pink flowers, and the 2 white tops, one of which I had to take off half way through the afternoon (and didn't HE give me a nice look!) because we had moved to the courtyard into the sun. Wore makeup and felt v. sexy. There was plenty of hand touching when passing my camera back and forth; also when we went for drinks, I sat next to C and he had already set down his beer next to my place. And when he sat down, he rather leaned into my leg a lot. I think it's a very good thing that temptation is on this side of the Atlantic. A very good thing. Good looking, v. intelligent, charming, attentive, has this way of making you feel like you ae the only person on his mind. V. compelling. He really wants me to send him My Magazine and put down his address for me to use. I'm going to exercise extreme amounts of self control and not include w/ the letter the phrase, "would that I could include myself" cause that would be wrong, Whiskers, very wrong indeed. And as I told him, I know how to accept an experience for what it is and not seek to keep hold, or to grasp it. I will write him a letter to go with the magazing, and if he wants to correspond...well we can do that, and if not, okay, that's fine too. I am, of course, experienced enough to know when I'm being flirted with, but it certainly doesn't have to be more than it is. He said that accepting an experience for what it is, was a very important lesson to learn, and I replied that I agreed even though it had taken a lot of pain to learn it, (thanks Friend, you bastard!) Prof. A forced me to borrow 20 euro from her so I could go to dinner with everyone else.
*by this time I'd developed quite a crush on Prof. D, and spent less and less time thinking about Friend. The simple uncomplicated care and affection I experienced in Paris and Lille, plus a few episodes of mild flirting w/physical closeness were enough to remind me that there are really nice people in the world who don't want only to sleep with one, or turn everything into a bloody damn soap opera.
**Part of our assignment was to be in e-mail contact w/ a student or two from Prof. D's class in Lille. I was assigned C. and Am., but only C was at the reception.
