music.

Oh how I love music! I forgot to mention that one thing that made my LIFE the other day was when my friend Wilson and I discovered how many great bands are going to be playing here in the coming months. Here's a list of the bands I might be spending too many Euros to go see:

02/10/08- Bon Iver
28/10/28- MOGWAI
03/11/08- Built To Spill + Okkervil River
07/11/08- Nada Surf
12/11/08- MGMT
14/11/08- The Dodos
15/11/08- Sigur Ros
16/11/08- Hot Chip
17/11/08- CSS
23/11/08- Death Cab
24/11/08- Ratatat
29/11/08- Cold War Kids
10/12/08- The Notwist

(The French put the day first before the month. It's definitely something I have to get use to!)

Another observation I've made in last the week here is that the French don't know how to choose background music for their TV shows/commercials/segments (thank you Fuel).My grandpa watches (falls asleep while watching) TV all day long and all I hear in the background is 90's/early 2000's top 40 hits playing behind a segment about the Olympics or whatever news they're reporting at the time. I'm sorry but listening to old school Jack Johnson while watching a track race, or a commercial about the Monoprix (a wanna-be French Target) does not work. It's tres bizarre!

We had our first sun-filled day here in Paris yesterday! It was gorgeous out!


Today, on the other hand, not so sunny. In fact, it was cloudy and rainy all day long. I've been inside all day slowly going down my life to-do list. At least it's Sunday when everything is closed anyways. I slept through the Olympic Closing Ceremonies though. I'm bummed!
...
Well anyways, back to yesterday. Met up with the girls at the dorms. Today we were joined by Cayenne and Cassandra, both of whom are great and definitely some of my favorite in the program. We took the metro over to this area called "Le Marais". It was definitely the Silverlake equivalent in Paris. It was a combination of Silverlake hipsters and Melrose shops. I think it's my favorite place in Paris so far, aside from the area that I live in. We spent the day strolling through the streets and checking out a few vintage shops. We stopped for a quick breather and sat down at a cafe (of course).:

Julie and Cayenne

Cassandra

Megan and Allie


I've been really good about not spending money on clothes so far! Although, I'm sure that will change as the weeks continue. It's hard not to want clothes when you're in a city known for it's fashion.

Last night, we had planned to go on a pub crawl. The girls ended up going, but I decided that I wasn't ready to pay 12 Euro to go out and not really drink. I ended up hanging out with some other kids in the program. We went to this bar called La Fleche D'or. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was free to get in and had live music! It's an old train station that's been renovated to look like a Troubadour in LA almost! It reminded me of home. The music....not so good... but I never really complain when I'm around live music. After the last band played, a couple of DJs deejayed some music. It got oh-so-hot inside, so we left! Got back to the dorms. I ended up staying there that night because I didn't make the last train home. Woke up this morning and took the walk of shame... or well bus-ride of shame, back to my place. Here's a picture of the group at the bar:


I talked to my aunt in Berlin today. I'm planning on going to visit her in October. I'm so excited. As some of you might know, I have a lot of family here in Europe. One of the reasons why I chose to come to Paris was because I could visit all my family here. I'm so excited to see everyone and can't wait! Fuel's going to be in Hossegor this week filming a surf contest. I really want to go and visit but after looking at the ticket prices today, I don't think thats going to happen. :(.

I think Sundays are going to be very nice days to sit and blog. Everything is closed. Everyone's doing homework. Its a good day to just chill out and hang out with the grandparents. I need to figure out when a good time to run is. Having class everyday, all day long, is not going to make the running schedule easy. Make it work!

Thats all for now.

Oh! I have a number here in Paris now. Its 06.45.36. 37.17. The country code is 033. Get Skype, call me, or text me! I would love to hear your voices.

Until next Sunday, or maybe earlier...

Bisous!

observe.

Everything in Paris is small...and really expensive

-showers
-food portions
-(alcoholic) drink portions
-water heaters
-yogurt cups
-water bottles
-coffee
-toilets
-rooms in general
-kitchens
-cell phones
-pipes/drains

the list goes on. feel free to add.

Today was a good day. We had our first day of French practicum. It was actually really refreshing to be in a learning environment again. My professor's name is Veronique. She is so precious and basically is a second mom. I've been really impressed with all the employees of the Accent Center and the UC Center. Everyone I've met that works with the program has been extremely sweet and helpful. I'm really grateful for the next 11 day French practicum. I can already tell that my French has gotten better, even after just one day! In 10 (school) days, I'll be a pro (not)!

It also rained really hard today; And me being the ridiculous person I am, decided to wear my TOMS because I had a green jacket on and they matched. In case you didn't know, TOMS are adorable canvas shoes that when you buy a pair, the company donates a pair to a child in need. Well, these TOMS definitely were not smart for the rain. By the time I got to school, my feet were soaking wet! So after class from 9-12, my friends and I went to ERAM, a store across the street, and bought rain boots! I got an amazingly sleek pair of black rain boots that are incredibly hard to get on and off. It's seriously like a work out trying to get them off!

With my new rain boots, the rest of the day was SO much better! After our classes, the UC program has little excursions planned for us. Today we went to a little museum near the Louvre called Musée du Jeu de Paume. The museum housed a Richard Avedon exhibit. I can't even describe how ridiculously happy I was walking through the exhibit. It was so amazing. Richard Avedon (www.richardavedon.com) is a really famous fashion photographer that also did some other spectacular pieces. I am so happy that we went to a museum today, AND that Paris is filled with SO many others. Being among such great pieces of classic and contemporary art is such an honor and so fulfilling. It really makes me think about being an Art History major (but that won't really happen).

SO skip forward about 5 hours...Julie, Allie, Megan and I went to the Eiffel Tower for the first time since we've been in Paris. The highlight of the night was when we were approached by 3 French guys that told us they thought we were cute. We didn't know what to say but ended up making up fake names and chatting a little. They took pictures with us and then gave us their phone number. We talked to them again an hour later in a different location. It was quite amusing, and you can call me Erin for the night.

(pictures of the day to come)


It's almost been a full week since I first arrived in Paris for my four month stay! It's going by very quickly, but I'm quite content with my life here thus far. I'm really fortunate to have so much family here in Europe, especially in Paris. I've saved a lot of money by staying with my grandparents, and feel like I've gotten to know them SO much better. My cousin Toan was here for a little bit too. We met up with my aunt and another cousin the other night for drinks!:







































Here's a picture of the view from my room at my grandparent's apartment!


















I've been spending most of my time with 4 girls: Julie, Megan, and Allie. They are so much fun and I am so happy that we can all experience Paris together!





























That was a VERY long blog... enjoy!


Miss you all and would love to hear from you! Email me (mailanpham@gmail.com) and update me about your lives please!!!

(currently listening to: Hot Chip)

bisous!!!

relocation.

hi everyone!

well I've finally made it to Paris. Getting here was such a long process. My flight from Orange County got delayed because of thunderstorms in Houston. Once we took off, I was suppose to get to Houston 10 minutes before my next flight. Once I got to Houston I ran over to the next gate. I had my skateboard and my really heavy duffel bag with me, so it was definitely not an easy run; THAT and it was really really far away. Anyways, I ran over there and found out that the plane had JUST left five minutes earlier. I just about DIED when I found out. So after about 5 minutes of freaking out and a 2 minute long frustrating conversation with my mother, I talked to the travel agent. While talking to her I met two other people that had missed the flight. One of the guys I met, Chris, was a 60 ish year old man from Laguna and the other was Pierre, a 30 ish yr old professor from UCSB. Chris, who i'm pretty sure is gay, was awesome and very fatherly. He was really helpful. Pierre is a French 2 professor for the program that I'm attending here in Paris! It was such a coincidence! I couldn't believe it! So from Houston, we were originally suppose to take a morning flight to Paris, which would have meant we would have had to stay over night at a hotel. Luckily, we got on a flight to Heathrow, and then from Heathrow to Paris. Heathrow was really confusing. On the flight to Paris, we met this other guy that came from the states. He was really funny and gave me his mom's phone number in Paris and told me to use it if I ever needed an emergency bail out of jail number. It was so great. In Paris I found out they lost my luggage. Thankfully Pierre was there to help me translate. It's coming tonight!

I got to my grandparents place and passed out. It felt so good to sleep.

Woke up this morning around ten. Hung out with my grandparents. My cousins Vinh and Toan are here too, so I hung out with them for a bit. After that, I met up with a friend that's also in the program. We found the place we're meeting the rest of the program at and then we walked around Paris. We stopped at a cafe for a bit. It so nice to be able to live here finally. Most of you know that I've visited Paris many times before cause of my family. Its nice to actually live and not just visit now. After that I walked back to my grandparent's place by myself!

Now i'm just sitting at my grandparent's place waiting for my luggage. Gonna take it slow tonight I think. Updating the blog and getting in touch with people from home.

I'm so happy to be there, and even happier that I'll get to meet people tomorrow that are from the States. The next four months are really going to be life changing. I know its cheezy, but I'm hoping to learn a lot about myself and hopefully get really comfortable just being by myself. I'm so use to such good friends around me that I think I've gotten too dependent on it. I need to get comfortable just being by myself and alone with my thoughts.

Nonetheless, everyone needs to download Skype so I can keep in touch! My Skype name is mai-lanpham.

and cause I miss FUEL so much:






love you all!

PEACE.