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The rest of my weekend in Paris was tons o' fun.  On Saturday, Jed and I visited Galleries Lafayette - he was the only one who bought anything, Mom, don't worry!  He then went back home to work on his Russian flashcards, and I soldiered on through the rain to do a little more shopping.  (The Euro, by the way, is weaker against the dollar than the pound; I had to take advantage!)  All the stores I went to have branches here in London, but - I remember this from my séjour in Paris in 2007 - every city in Europe has different stock.  It was a very productive afternoon!  Jed and I made a pilgrimage to Chez Omar, my favorite Moroccan restaurant, for dinner on Saturday night, and then I went to see Vicky Christina Barcelona on my own.  (It was good, not great, but I enjoyed it.  Plus, there's something very luxurious, I find, about going to the movies by yourself.)

I sang at the American Cathedral on Sunday Morning; it was so great to see everyone again!  The music we did was less than thrilling, but it was nice to be singing anything again.  Afterwards, ten of us went out for a five bottle lunch; obviously, we had a fantastic time.  It was so good to catch up with everyone and hear the gossip - I felt like I'd never been away!  Sunday afternoon and evening Jed and I did homework together in a café, and then I had to crash early as I had a 6:43 am Eurostar to catch the next morning.

So no, I did nothing touristy, nothing cultural, but I still had a lovely weekend in Paris.

Speaking of singing, though, I think that this past weekend was the last time I'm going to be able to walk into a church and sing with a choir; I'm just not a singer anymore.  Not that I've gotten bad, but I've gotten rusty, and because I'm not singing regularly I'm not oiling my gears.  I think it's time to accept the fact that I used to be a singer, and now I'm just an ardent supporter of the Anglican liturgy.

Anyway, I'm back in London now, and it does feel like being back home.  It's reading week, and I've got a presentation due Monday, so I am actually being productive.  (I also have a paper and a dissertation that I should begin working on, but no matter; I'll get to them.)  Today, tomorrow, and Thursday I'll be babysitting all afternoon, so I won't get up to many shenanigans, but if I do I'll let you know!

En Visitant Paris

Bonjour from Paris!  I'm here for the weekend, bumming around the city and visiting my friend Jed.  I arrived yesterday morning, after taking a 6:55 am Eurostar which was delayed by 45 minutes (apparently there was a fire in the Eurostar tunnel a few weeks ago which is still screwing things up).  Friday is Jed's errand day, so I was left to my own devices while he occupied himself with housewifely chores.  (He wants me to assure all of you that he is the epitome of masculinity regardless!)

I met up with Ludo for lunch near the Hôpital Necker; Ludo and Harry used to work together, so we've become friends, too.  He invited me to a traditionally French restaurant - "il m'a invité" literally means that he took me out to lunch.  I had the most delicious lapin; you know you're in Paris when a normal lunch at an unassuming restaurant involves things like rabbit!  Later in the afternoon I treated myself to a crêpe with nutella and banana, which was one of the three foods on my list that I have to eat while here.  (The others are Moroccan at Chez Omar, one of my favorite restaurants in the city, and a croque-monsieur.)  Having woken up at the crack of dawn to catch my train, after the lunch and walk I was zonked, so I came back to Jed's to take a nap.  In the evening we created a little picnic for ourselves of bread, five different cheeses, paté and saucisson, grapes, apples, and wine.  We then traipsed down to the Cité Universitaire to meet up with some of Jed's school friends before going to a birthday party outside of the city in Villejuif.  (The first time I was introduced, I was asked from I came from.  I totally spaced, and said I was English!  Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it definitely means that London has gotten under my skin!)  The gathering was fun, but I wimped out of the party after not even an hour.  I haven't spoken French since December, you see, and a whole day of it was totally draining.  I didn't expect it to be so much mental work!

Speaking of class friends, I've been having tons o' fun with mine.  Here's a photo of some of us medievalists - well, it's all the girls; Jeff and Pete, who also come out with us, aren't in the picture.  (From left to right we are: me, Rachel, Fiona, Michaela, and Colleen.)  In December, Michaela and Colleen and I are going to go to Dublin; Fiona went to university there, so she's going to show us around.  I can't wait!

Also - because it's cute and I can't help myself - here's a photo of me and Jon, my boyfriend.

Ta for now!  I'll write more when I've returned from Paris.

Gopnik Revisited

Those of you who read my previous blog, B is for Betsy, will remember the passionate affair I had with Adam Gopnik's writing.  Long dormant, it has awoken again, inspired by a piece on Babar that he wrote for the September 22 issue of The New Yorker called "Freeing the Elephants".  My interest was especially piqued by this comment about how literature reflects the temperament of three cultures and their corresponding great cities, cities I have come to consider my own.

He writes:

In London, in children's books, life is too orderly and one longs for the vitality of the wild; in Paris, order is an achievement, hard won against the natural chaos and cruelty of adult life; in New York, we begin most stories in an indifferent city and the child has to create a kind of order within it.

The rest of the article can be found here; I highly recommend it.

Take Two

When I was in middle school, the theme - or inspiration, if you will - of one of NCS' Writer's Day cathedral services was "Take One."  Curled up in piles around the cathedral, our skirts tucked around our knees and our bare feet pressed against the relieving coolness of the marble floors, floppy bluebooks and number two pencils in hand, we girls wrote stories and poems and scribbles about Take One.  Most entries, I believe, touched on movies or the theater.  One memorable finalist story had to do with the sign over a bowl of Halloween candy.  I can't remember what I submitted; it's likely that, as I'd done before and would sheepishly do again, I didn't turn in my bluebook and, instead, crumpled my scratchings in my hand, embarrassed by what I had committed to the page.

Many of you read my Parisian blog - the account of my exultant, breathtaking, whirlwind seven months in Paris as a student and explorer.  (For the curious or nostalgic, here it is: B is for Betsy.)  That, my friends, was Take One.  This is Take Two.

For those of you who haven't been in the loop, welcome; let me catch you up.  In late January 2008 I decided to begin looking into graduate programs in England.  It was contrary enough to everything I had said I wanted that it took me nearly a month to tell family and friends that I had, in fact, applied to four Master's courses at various universities in the United Kingdom.  Four months - and one very frustrating application complication - later, I was admitted as a MA student to University College London in Medieval Studies.

I don't know much about the program; I haven't received information beyond what is listed online.  I do know, though, that I am thrilled to go back to school to study what has always interested me most.  Obviously, I'm also over the moon about being in London for a year.

My accommodations are still up in the air, though I know I'll be living with two other girls, Emilia and Jess.  Emilia and  I did several choir exchanges ten years ago, and reconnected via Facebook.  She responded to the desperate "Help!" message I emailed out a few weeks ago; it turns out that she and her friend Jessica were looking for a third for their new apartment - sorry, flat.  We're hunting in northwest London, relatively close to UCL's campus, and we're trying to be close to Paddington.  I'll let you know what we - well, they - find!

So.  Take Two.  A second European city, a second degree, a second amazing experience.  Wish me luck!