Real Life

So I feel like my real life is almost starting. I've been in orientation mode for quite a while now, but the official SLC schoolings started this week, and so my days and schedules have been changing. Lecoq still hasn't started yet, so I only need to go to SLC (reid hall) 3 times this week, which is pretty dope.

On the other hand, I was planning on visiting a certain Zombie bff in Florence, but SOMEONE had to go on a stupid trip this weekend. So, no I have a three day weekend, we'll see what crazy things I get into!
Speaking of crazy, I saw the MOST amazing feat of humanity on Saturday.

It's called: Techno Parade.

Which is exactly what it was. There were probaby 10 - 12 trucks filled to the top with speakers, and DJ's on top, of the DJing live while mass crowds followed the trucks around down the road. So much walking and dancing and jostling, it was crazy. There were all these high school age kids dancing on top of the bus stops, they looked as if they were going to break, but they stayed pretty solid while we were watching.

See, we (Megg and I) wound up at this parade because the bus we were on to go to the Ballet with our school had to stop because of the massive parade taking up super main roads (from Deferent Rochereau to the Bastille, that's HALF of paris btw. From the south end to on the other side of the seine.) So we got out, get confused, we didn't really know where we were, and just started walking to try and get out of the mass peoples, but it was too much. All these roads were closed down, and there were all these cops in FULL swat gear, it was terrifying, so we just gave up and enjoyed the Parade.

It was so much fun. People were selling beer from shopping carts as they followed the trucks, everyone was drunk and dancing, hanging from street signs, traffic lights, on top of bus stops, garbage cans, cars, anything to get noticed.

There was this super bad ass DJ who wore a shiny metallic body suit, she had beautiful long blond hair, and she played her violin LIVE as it was plugged into her turn tables, and mixed it into her crazy techno music. It was incredible.

Besides that, everything is still pretty peachy. Provence was super beautiful, we stayed in Aix-en-Provence, which is the capital of Provence (which is in the south of France). We took day trips to Marseilles, Avignon and St. Remy (which is where Vincent van Gogh lived). We got to go into his house, look out his window..etc, pretty cool. I got post cards. I will be sending some out, but I would love to write all of my blog friends and fans. (lol. fans)

So email me your addresses, unless you're at SLC (then duh). So I'm talking to you everyone else.
Email address is: cmoser@gm.slc.edu

But if you'd like to write me a beautiful letter, i'd love to read it! You can write to me at...
Chloe Moser
Sarah Lawrence College
4, rue de Chevreuse
Paris, France 75006

Alright, miss ya'll tons!

Paris - it has happened.

Hey blog family. 

Sorry I’ve been so bad about updating and what not, I’ve just been pretty busy. France has been really really great. My mom and I got here, and went straight to Cité Universitaire, where I live, to drop off my stuff and then head over to my cousin’s house. They were so great, they made dinner, and we played with the kids, and I ate meat!!

Yes, while being here, I’ve decided to start eating meat again. If I’m going to be buy all my own food now, as I’m not on a meal plan, I don’t want to be stuck eating pasta and breads every day. So I have jumped right into the world of meat again, and man…it’s soooo delicious. I forgot how great salami and ham are. So most days I get a baguette on my way home, make a sandwich with meat, some kind of stinky delicious cheese, and an avocado, with pesto. Its kinda been my go to meal for the past two weeks. I then save the other half of the bread, and make another one for lunch the next day.

My school is also going really well. Orientation has started, and we’re there every day in these super loooong meetings, which are pretty boring, but then we also have French class, which is more fun. My teacher’s name is Dominique – which she asked us to call her; which is very strange, because normally you have to be super respectful to French professors, but she’s really nice. Everything is completely in French too, so I’m really getting used to hearing it and using it all the time.

I now have a cell phone AND a bank account here, which is really nice. It’s crazy, but the simplest things, like opening a bank account, are the most terrifying in a foreign language. But one of my teachers, Natalie, who is our “cultural expert”, went with us, and helped translate the terms into easier French – still with no English!!!

I have been hanging out with Ms. Megg Farrell (for those of you who aren’t SLC folks – she’s from there) and she has a bunch of French friends, who are really nice and fun to hang out with. We went to Versailles the other weekend, which turns out is FREE for all French students and students staying in France for a “long time” – their words not mine! So I just show them my passport with my Visa in it – and I get in. Super easy.

Versailles was beautiful, and we went with two of Megg’s roommates and another one of their friends. Turns out two of them are art history students going to school AT the Louvre. So as we walked through all the rooms, we got this amazing art history lesson, all in French! It was really fun, and I was surprised, but my comprehension is really improving. I understood so much of what everyone was saying.

But, my room is really nice, and it’s only two stops away from my school (SLC). I went to Ikea when my mom was here, and we got some really cool stuff, like poppy flower wall decals…

My Leqoc classes haven’t started yet, and they won’t until October 3^rd, but until then I’m still just hanging around and doing orientation stuff. My SLC classes really start on the 27^th, and until then we just have these endless meetings ... I’ve also decided what seminar class I’m going to take at SLC, which will be History of Art in the 19^th century. I’m actually really excited! There is a time marked off for class every Friday for when we go to museums and actually go see the real art. It’s so cool, I figured that if I’m going to be living in Paris, I mind as well take it. The teacher also seems really nice; she gave us a lecture yesterday about art in Provence…

…Which we are going to tomorrow! We leave tomorrow morning, really early, and we take the train to Aix-en-Provence.  We’ll be staying Friday night and Saturday night at a hotel there, and during the day traveling around the city, and also to Avignon and Marseilles. It will be fun, because it’s all paid for, except for like…the lunches of each day.

Anyway – I miss all of you SO much, and I hope that we can skype/talk soon. My skype officially works, my name is cmoser90, and I’m normally online in the evening-ish.

I’m really starting to feel like this is a place I can live. I feel like a real adult here. I have to budget my money, go grocery shopping, pay for me cell phone, go to school, take the metro all on my own in a foreign country…and I’m really loving it! I think I’d really like to stay as long as I can. It’s even starting to feel like home. I can like, take pride in living here. I mean with New York I felt that way after a while, but it was different; here I felt it almost instantly. I’m just so excited for the year to come.

See y’all on the flip side.