Travels, SXSW, an Internship

March has been kind.  
I took a trip to Lower Normandy and Brittany, music has been way above par, I've had more time and better weather for running, and I found a summer internship.
Here it goes

Travels
At the beginning of the month was our first spring break, and I was lucky enough to spend a few days seeing Mont St. Michel, Cancale, Dinard, St. Malo, and Dinan.  The architecture was very different from the rest of France, and the landscapes reminded me of Ireland.  It was cold, but great.  
I also got to stuff my face with crepes.

Inside Mont St. Michel

Along the coast of Brittany

Dinan

Music
NPR Music's The Austin 100                   74095405 lovely cheese pizzas just for me (or you)
Just before the festival last week, NPR decided to spoil its Internet nerds with a mix of 100 songs from artists featured in South by Southwest. Do yourself a favor:
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/01/147637518/the-austin-100-a-sxsw-mix

Dormarion by Telekinesis                                                                     439347 Ethiopian coffees                                                             
Dreamy but edgy.  The first song blew me away.  I found myself earbuds stuffed-in, beat-nodding in the middle of the library.  The stares indicated that I gained a few fans with the performance.  And Telekinesis gained at least one in me.
You can stream the whole album on First Listen.  This should be done immediately.

Mala by Devendra Banhart                                                         87 wheels of Tomme de Savoie
This guy is a weirdo, but a very talented weirdo.

The Next Day by David Bowie                              366 Bowies (there are no comparable units)
It's like Bowie never left.


Running
So, I read on Life Hacker that scientists had found the tippity-top, most fastest ever way to mega burn calories.  I am not a scientist, but I've been doing interval work along these lines lately, and I've noticed more of a burn at the end.  (I think my long distance runs have gotten a bit faster too).

Summer
I've managed to dig up a pretty cool internship here in France for the summer.  I'll be working at a 3-star camping facility, not too far from my university.  3-star means all of the amenities, but also wine and cheese tastings, bike trails, canoes, and mini-festivals.  It's also pretty eco-conscious with zero pesticide, solar panels, composting, etc.  And: I'm not going to be shackled to a desk in a sad Paris banlieu. WIN!

Learning?
It's nearing the end of the semester, so I'm trying to prepare for finals.  I've decided to try to make my French practice more enjoyable by writing about things I care about, rather than just academic crap.  I plan to translate some of these posts onto my foreign language blog. If you feel like paining yourself along with me, you may do so here: ÉtrangèrErica.


À suivre ...

Back again

I've been a shame of a shame as bloggers go.  I blame wanting to be the best-est of graduate students and pure laziness the rest of the time.  At any rate, my effort seems to have paid off well enough in my GPA, and now I'm hoping to scale back some of the frenzy and take time for something I actually enjoy.  It's hard to know where to pick up again--so I guess I'll move in wide circles.

1. Physical activity:
My Christmas break taught me that skiing is mega hard when you're a 25 year old beginner, but that doesn't preclude its being super fun.  (Ski food also makes it well worth the effort.)
Any sunshine in Région Centre means pack up whatever you're doing and go outside for a run.  Unfortunately, the rest of the time I've had to work on moving around the apartment.  
I realized I was developing noodle arms, so I started a self-initated weenie push-up routine, and now I've moved on to "The One Hundred Pushups Training Program".  The creator spells out how to increase endurance by small increments, and when one week's a bit shaky, I just redo it until I'm feeling ready to move on.  It's slow going, but I went from not being able to do one full pushup, to being able to do several sets at a time.  My arm also ceased "keeping the greeting going" for so long after I'd stopped waving.  
I also just started this "Daily Workouts" App.  I don't think it's a revelation, but it's good to have a timer and a little motivation when you're doing repetitive stuff.

2. Movies
The big stuff: Django actually brought tears to these eyes of mine. The Hobbit was awe inspiring.
Weirdo movies: The Master was a real work, and it was good to see Joaquin back.  The Celebration, a Dutch movie from 1998.  It was made according to "Dogme 95"'s principles.  Very, very moving.  I don't want to say much more because I think it really needs to be watched.
French fluff: Le Corniaud.  It's a 60s classic comedy.  A "sucker" gets conned into driving a Cadillac stuffed with drugs and stolen gems through Southern Europe.  Road trip antics.
Le Vilain.  Real silliness in the French style.  A prodigal son returns to his mother's house, fleeing a long history of crime.  The mother discovers his wrongdoing and seeks to right his evil deeds...
Astérix et Obélix was a really fun film based on the comics. 
Populaire was another light little entertainment well worth the time.  
8 Femmes is another noteworthy one.  As much as I hate musicals, each character has a tiny song that shows a bit of her personality, and it really works.  (Like I said, the songs are so short you're not left nauseated.)

3. Music
Jake Bugg's a young little twerp who knows his stuff.  
Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Foxygen are exciting (JagJaguar).  
Check out Tame Impala too.
NPR's been winning lately with their "First Listen" album streams and 5 Heavy Rotation songs.  New stuff from Jimi Hendrix is actually sitting over there at the moment.
I found a streaming service called Deezer to use outside of the US.  It's still growing so it's not as well crafted with 'Likes' and 'Thumbs downs' and whatever else, but it has a pretty broad catalogue, and it introduced me to French rap, which in itself is intriguing.  

4. Books
I know every literature teacher, and probably every well-educated English speaker, will gasp when I say this, but: Paradise Lost is crap.  Read the summaries and save yourself time and grief.  I'm not linking it.
The Count of Monte Cristo was long, but a fun distraction.  (It was one of the audiobooks that kept me company on public transit this semester.)  The site's also good for teachers because it has texts sorted by reading levels.
Life of Pi was a super good read, now I've just got to get around to watching the movie.
I finished The Hunger Games series.  Overall, it was a decent work.
I found something else on the edge of teen lit, but it's way better than the usual stuff.  (It's simple enough grammatically that I can read it in French, but the action and themes are really cool.)  It's the Tales of the Otori series, a sort of coming of age saga set in feudal Japan.  

5. Now for some photographic highlights from my absence:

Villandry

Chenonceau

Super Sauze

J'habite en France.

So, I am returning after a 3 month hiatus.  
This lapse was caused by a move from Spain back to the homeland, and subsequently starting suckfest*.
This resumption of blogging is thanks to yet another move, this time: France.

I saw a movie or two this summer.  Heard a little music.  Some were new, some were just new to me.
I also dabbled in manufacturing my own kitsch stuff.  So hipster.

Movies of note
The Dark Knight Rises                                                   2308402398402830 rock-your-face-offs.
That's all.

Safety Not Guaranteed                                                                  485944932 obscure kids' treats
I bought in.  It was a fun movie.  Cute and quirky. The soundtrack fits it almost scarily well--read Garden State. And similarly to Garden State, its indie-ness is thickly palatable, nay campy?  I think it's something to watch if you're a little bummed out, or if it's dreary outside. 

Music. I'm just going to make a list here.
BOY - "Little Numbers" EP. You can check out their debut video on YouTube.
Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel... (just don't bother with the title)
The XX's Coexist.  Thanks NPR.
Nerve City.  "Sleepwalker" EP.
The Fresh & Onlys have released some new stuff!
Dark Dark Dark.  I have the EP "Bright Bright Bright".  Although a theme carried to far makes me cringe, it's great stuff.

"Projects"?
Updated my sad, fake boat shoes with a permanent marker and some masking tape to make at least a more fun version of them.

I used an old frame, a piece of a tree branch, some cork board, wire, and fabric to make a little wall decoration with a place to post pictures, notes, etc.

*suckfest may be used to describe my experience serving tables at a well-known national chain which shall remain nameless.

Tours, Chinon, and Orléans

Hooray for Orléans!  Hooray for Quizlet!  Hooray for finally having enough time to write again!

209384028340 updates in the world.  This post will be about some of my recent travels and a useful language learning find.  I'll be posting more in the next day or so about my running and reading, and following that, a meh-schmeh grumbly response to some other books.

I recently had the great fortune of seeing an entirely unique region of France: Le Centre.  There are the rolling hills covered with vineyards, orchards, and canola fields, and a distinctly different style of architecture from what I've been accustomed to seeing in the south.  It has a much more northern Europe/Germanic feel.  (And it was much kinder to my skin than the Mediterranean sun.)

Azay-le-Rideau and Chinon

Orléans

 My future university!

My language learning tip: Quizlet.  
I don't really know why it took me so long to find it, but it's pretty spiffy stuff.  You can build and share sets of flashcards with pictures, sound clips of pronunciation, etc.  I've downloaded an app, Flashcards+ on my phone that works with the Quizlet platform, so I can use my sets when I'm bored and have some down time.  I scouted around for some word frequency sets in Spanish and in French, so I saved a lot of time and sapped off of some other poor soul's time and effort.  They have the same for other languages I'm sure.  
There are also resources for subjects outside of languages--anatomy, art history, on and on... and for special exams such as the SAT, GRE and so on.

A little article from Lifehacker has some other helpful tips.

So go out and conquer the world with your lightning-rapid response to foreign vocabulary.  

January Holidays

New Year's Eve was quite a night.
I traveled to a little village near Roquefort (like the cheese) and spent time with a large group of friends. Dinner lasted hours because there were quick breaks for dancing after each course.
The meal began around 9:30 with a pastis toast. Pastis is an anise-flavored liquor that usually kicks off big meals. There were five courses to follow our apéritif: Small savory pastries and other hors d'oeuvres opened; homemade foie gras, shrimp, and salmon came next. Duck breasts and baked apples were the main course, then a nice variety of cheeses was passed around. For dessert: champagne and galette des rois à la frangipane. I was a maniac.
I went to bed at 5:30 the next morning, and I was the first to leave.

Aix-en-Provence a few days before the New Year.

Kings' Day was the next big celebration of January. Here in Spain, it's the day that families open their presents together, not Christmas.
Of the several King Cakes I've tried over the years, everyone seems to do something a bit different. I've seen/consumed three different kinds in France, a few more here in Spain, and countless others in New Orleans. I've also noticed King Cake season seems to be just a few days here in Spain, about 2 weeks in France, and the whole season from Kings' Day until Ash Wednesday in Louisiana.
However, the same basic rules apply to each. If you find the hidden goodies, you get the crown and some luck, but you have to buy the next cake.

Two styles of King Cake and some other French favorites including Bûche de Noël below.

Just in case you feel the need to bake a little something sweet, I'm including some festive links!
For a galette des rois à la frangipane recipe, you can check out Piratage Culinaire in French, or Lost in Austen for an English translation.
For one version of roscón de reyes you can look at the I love tortilla de Patatas! blog.

Music...
I also want to recommend Bill Ryder-Jones's interesting new album If... NPR's First Listen has a nicely written article by Bob Boilen, and you can stream the entire album for free. First Listen: Bill Ryder-Jones, 'If...' .

I've returned!

After a wonderful winter break spent in the South of France, I've returned to my beloved Fregenal (and internet access).

On vacation I did a lot of reading, watching movies, lazing about, and cultural exploration. I'm going to pass on some memories and pictures of Christmas in this post; New Years and some reviews and recommendations will be coming later.

Christmas Eve was a quiet evening with family. There was a small present exchange (I was pretty spoiled), then a very nice home-cooked dinner. What made this dinner incredibly French for me can be summed up with side dishes and dessert. With the salad with had foie gras.  As a side with the main course, we had green beans and (wait for it....) chestnuts--cooked like any normal bean or potato. Really, really good.  We had a variety of cheeses of course: goat, blue, brie, sheep's milk. And for dessert: a French cake called gâteau Castel.  I've found another blog with a recipe and pictures, Multiple: THE Castel, but I'm pretty happy to let a real baker take over until the fork-part comes in.  
The only bad thing about this meal is that I'd not yet gotten my shiny new camera to take pictures.

Christmas Day: More presents, more people, a lot more food, and some photos!  This was a very uniquely French meal throughout.  We began with a salad with olive oil (from the trees surrounding the house) accompanied by scrambled eggs with morels.  The next course was vol-au-vent (which literally means "fly in the wind"), a hollow little pastry with something similar to a beef stew poured inside and around.  Main course: venison and more chestnuts!  Another assortment of cheeses, and a brief respite before dessert.  This is when I got the chance to really test out my new photography equipment...  After coming back in, a wonderful series of desserts including champagne, the homemade black nougat of Provence, a bûche de Noël (what we'd call a Swiss cake or a "log" at home), choux (puff pastries with cream inside), and a variety of nuts, fruits, and chocolatés as part of the 13 desserts tradition.  

The village of Montfort

Notice the formations in the distance on the right. Local legend's given them the name "Rocks of the Penitents."

Olives!

Although I was away from my family, it was a beautiful day which I am happy I could share with others.

Région Paca

I am currently writing from the South of France.  Mountains, sea, and sun.
I spent some time in Le Vieux-Port de Marseille Saturday, and walking in Les Préalpes yesterday.  The bread and cheese here are fantastic, and I really enjoyed my dinner of scallops; bouillabaisse, and a raspberry-chocolate tart by the Mediterranean waters.  

The little villages and cities here are decorated for Christmas with lights of course, and the traditional Southern European crèche (French) or Belén (Spanish).  Children from the community work together to gather materials from the woods around their houses, and in combination with clay figurines, recreate the landscapes of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus's birth.  Though I personally think the Belén created by the students at the primary school where I work is more impressive, this French Wikipedia page has some good examples from the same departement in France as the one I was in yesterday, Les Alpes de Haute Provence.

I am also taking some time to read a modern classic of American literature, A Confederacy of Dunces.  This book is everything that makes me love and miss the city of New Orleans.  It's also one of the few contemporary American works that has resonance with me.  Quirky, hilarious, and uniquely NOLA...