Good Morning Good Morning

Stumble into kitchen.
Fill the electric kettle and press the button.
While waiting for water to boil, put two tablespoons of coffee grounds into french press, and place piece of toast in toaster.
Once water is done boiling, pour two cups into measuring cup, then pour into french press and stir with spoon.
Turn toaster on to one and a half minutes, wash spoon with water.
Get yogurt from fridge and stir muesli into it with spoon. Then lick spoon clean.
When toast pops up, take it out and spread jam onto it with spoon.
By this time, coffee will be done brewing.
While pressing down on french press, lick yogurt/jam spoon clean.
Pour coffee into cup.
Pour milk into cup, then splenda. Mix with spoon.
Skillfully bring full coffee mug to table without spilling a drop.
Then bring yogurt with muesli, toast with jam, and vitamins to the table.
Enjoy while watching the last half of Friends on channel 28 and then BBC news on channel 80.

It's an art form.

p.s. Does anyone have any tips for getting the smell of garlic off your hands?

"Elle ne parle pas du français"

Most of my time in Paris was spent watching people talk, trying to understand through body language. I would just stand there while Karina and her friends conversed with cool-looking French people, then the French person would motion to me and say something -- probably along the lines of "what's up with your mute friend?" -- and Karina would say, ""Elle ne parle pas du français." I heard that phrase in my sleep. All the French university students I met were incredibly sweet (nice French people?!) and tried to speak to me in English. And I kept thinking of that line from Henry V -- "Come, your answer in broken music; for thy voice is music and thy English broken."

My favorite conversation from my Paris trip, with Shakespeare-style French accent:
French student: Vere are yoo from?
Me: I'm from California.
French student: Ooh lala! (They said that a lot) Yoo go to school in California?
Me: (Thinking just say "yes") Uhhhhh no. I go to school somewhere else.
French student: Vere?
Me: Um... in Wisconsin?
French student: OH VISCONSIN! That ees vere I go at end of zeh world!

It turns out that in the new apocalyptic movie 2012, they end up in Wisconsin. That was an interesting conversation in relation to my usual one.

But now I'm back in England, drinking tea, eating biscuits, learning about The Troubles, watching X Factor, still giggling when someone says "bloody hell."

Today, I made a sandwich with roasted eggplant, Camembert, and chutney, which was really yummy... but I miss French food. Eating on Mondays is a problem, I have a jam-packed schedule, complete with class from 11-12:30, then 2-5, then I have rehearsal from 6-9. Oh I don't think I posted this, but I am officially the dramaturg for the Shakespeare society's production of All's Well That Ends Well, which I'm so excited about. It's basically exactly what I wanted to do.... lots of research, reading far into the text, and then I get to go to a high school and lead a workshop. I like being appreciated for my nerding-out capabilities.

Pictures are up! Laurie and Mark took me to a market and to a really cute old village with pretty mountains around it. Seeing mountains after being in England for months was a strange sensation.

Oh yeah and there's the Eiffel Tower....

I left Paris yesterday and got to Lodeve later than expected.

Hannah's Tips for Missing Your Train Out of Paris:
1) Don't have any knowledge of the French language. I highly advise this. The less you know, the harder it is for you to understand the signs in Gare du Nord, which are only in French. Plus, there are pretty much zero cognates when it comes to transportation lingo.
2) Don't be on time. Also very important. It doesn't matter why you're late ... maybe because you slept in, you couldn't catch a cab, or in my case, you couldn't understand how to buy a metro ticket because the damn machine was only in French.
3) Go to the wrong train station. Gare du Nord and Gare Lyon should be interchangeable in your mind.

But I made it, and that's really all that matters right?

Paris was AH-mazing. I got there on Friday afternoon and Karina and I had a picnic in the park by the Eiffel Tower, which consisted of wine, baguette, three kinds of cheese, pate, flan and some blueberry tart thing.  Other yummy eats included: hot chocolate with a croissant for dipping, mussels, chicken plate with fries at 5am, crepe with goat cheese, ham and mushroom at 1am, falafel from the Jewish quarter.... yeah. Life is good. We went to the Centre Pompidou for some culture and met up with some of her friends at night for some fun.

Now I'm in Lodeve with my cousins who are feeding me even MORE delicious food. I go back to Paris on Thursday afternoon and then I'll leave for England on Saturday.


New discovery: it's possible to be homesick for somewhere that you didn't even consider your home until you left it.


More thoughts, stories, pictures, etc. to come once I get back to the island....