Settling in. Location: Paris.

Hello hello!

It's my second day of the intensive language week and I'm doing pretty well. I actually have lots of homework partly because they need to see if I'm in the right level of language class. There's a range of levels in my class right now (from slightly worse than me to Hal haha). We'll see what happens! This past weekend was filled with a lot of fun activities both program related and not so I guess now it's time to work.

Saturday CIEE took us on a day trip to Vaux le Vicomte- the chateau that inspired Versailles. We spent a few hours wandering around inside of the castle, touring the jardins, enjoying the view from the very top of the castle and then eating an incredible 3 course meal provided by the program.

 The castle

 Inside the castle with the creepy figurines

 The view of the gardens from the dome

 More of the castle as seen from the dome. 

Our meals with the program have mostly been delicious and such a treat considering how expensive it is to eat out here. I think that lunch was the last one provided by them which is a bummer. A few times I've gone out with some friends to the monoprix and bought baguette, cheese and wine and ate dinner on the seine. Honestly, not too shabby.

Last night I went out with some classmates to a section of Paris near school with lots of different types of food. There was an alley with all Indian food so we stopped at an Indian restaurant! I was super skeptical with reason considering the pre-fix menus and lack of Indians around. Sure enough, it was just okay. The end was especially odd because the menu had said we'd get gulab jamun and they brought some weird cake. I told him I wanted gulab jamun and he promptly removed only my cake and brought me coconut gulab jamun (also weird). Clearly they didn't think we'd have any idea what anything was! Lesson learned that in Paris I'll stick to good Chinese food, Falafel and typical Parisian food.

The little Indian alley.

Okay bedtime! More later.

Love,

Anj

A parisian evening. Location: Paris.

Just got back to my room from a very full 24 hours. Last night Hal, me and a couple people from school went to see Diplo, the dubstep DJ, at a very fun club. I met up with Elizabeth from home there and some of her new friends which was so fun, especially since I hadn't seen her in 4 months. We danced a ton and got home around 4 AM... just in time for 3 hours of sleep before orientation began again! Good thing the sessions today were not very important.

I'm really liking the staff at CIEE, especially Lucie, the director of my section of the program (the intermediate, Language and Culture section). She's super sweet and encouraging and the perfect person to have her other job as the 24 hour help contact. I'm not sure if she'll be my language teacher, but I know I'll be seeing her a lot since she's in charge of our "bien etre" (well-being). Another great person on staff is a graduate student who did CIEE last year and is helping out with the program. After the program ended today he took me and Hal and our friend Trisha to an awesome Chinese restaurant for dinner and then we got drinks with him and a friend of his from Switzerland. The neighborhood we were in was super funky, as a bunch of artists squatted the empty buildings there and there's a lot of ethnic diversity. It was really nice to explore a new neighborhood and do something as classically Parisian as sitting for hours outside with friends over drinks.

Trisha, Tyler (the grad student) and Hal outside the bar before dinner

The rest of that street

Tomorrow we're going to Vaux le Vicomte, the palace that helped inspire Versailles. It's supposed to rain, though, so let's hope it's not too bad!

Love,
Anj

Phone! Location: Paris.

Bonjour!

Things have been crazy busy since I got here so I haven't had time on the computer or phone. I'm actually posting from orientation right now because I probably won't have any other time. We're constantly in information sessions or taking walking tours of the city. I'll update more later but I wanted to post my phone number since I got a phone yesterday. You can dial my number just like this from the US (I think):

011 33 6 49 12 64 71

from France it's 06 49 12 64 71. I got a cheap phone and it's pay as you go. There's texting and it doesn't cost me anything to receive texts, but apparently it's super expensive for me to text the US and cheaper for me to call. I'll let you know if that changes. For now, it's unlikely I'll answer any phone calls since I'm always in orientation so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that it'll cost me minutes to check voice messages, so if you call and I don't answer, I'll see I have a missed call and call you back. You can also always email me and I'll try to answer as soon as possible, but please don't leave a voice message unless it's really necessary.

Back to class!

Love,
Anj

Je suis ici! Location: Paris.

Well I'm here finally! This will have to be a very quick post because I do not have much time before dinner. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm here safe and doing well! I'm super wiped out right now from traveling since I barely slept on the plane and I've had a full day of orientation since I got here. Still getting settled with things in terms of logistics a bit. Getting a phone tomorrow with some sort of phone plan... in a 2 room double with a roommate now which I thought would be great but we'll see how she turns out (already some odd behavior)... they accidently put me in the French speaking track (imagine my surprise to be in the same group as Hal and some fluent speakers!) meaning I'd be taking content classes in both French and English instead of just English. I was nervous at first but the more I talk to them the more it seems like they recommend my taking a content class in French. I'm only being spoken to in French and I understand it all without them speaking a slower pace- it's just my speaking that isn't quite there yet. After the intensive week of French courses, I'll see how I'm feeling. All the people on my program seem nice so far. LOTS of girls and 5 or so super nerdy guys.

Okay gotta go!

Love to you all
xoxoxo
Anj

A change is gonna come (and come, and come...) Location: Mill Valley.

I'm in the Bay in the middle of my week here between New York and Paris. It's been a frenzy of doctors appointments, errands, family dinners and outings with friends since I got home. My grandmother asked me a couple days ago how I was feeling about all the stuff that's going on and I guess I really don't have a straightforward answer. I'm just taking things as they come. I'm also not sure how I feel about the fact that I don't have a lot of time to reflect right now about all the things going on in my life. I suppose I could make that time if I really wanted to, but for now, this feels right. Things are sort of wooshing past me and I'm trying to grab on and save as much substance from all these experiences as possible without forming attachments. 

I'm realizing that I have two ways of dealing with things and they're ways that parallel the two ways that I found peace when I was on my Vision Quest. One way that I deal with things is to reflect on them, look at them from every angle and write about them until my emotions make sense. I filled a crazy amount of pages with musings when I was alone in Death Valley trying to make sense of all that I was going through. The other way is to take it all in and let it pass through me so that I may be unwavering and at peace regardless of what I face. Some of the meditations I did in the desert were like this, where I would close my eyes and say lists in my head in a stream of consciousness way about all of my senses without any judgment of them ("I feel the sun on my arms, I hear a bird chirping, I feel the wind on my eyelashes, I smell the dust of the desert, etc.). This latter way is how I'm dealing with all the changes I'm facing right now. I often get down on myself about not practicing meditation and mindfulness enough, but usually that's when I find it's been a while since I've journaled and reflected. In a way I see now that this second way is also a form of practice, if slightly less conscious. According to Buddhism, to be free from suffering, one must be free from attachment. In a way, that's what I am now. I'm not attaching myself to visions of my life in its past or potential future forms because I know that my life is constantly changing. I'm doing what I can to not look backward or ahead, but deal with each moment individually. Because of that, I am at least somewhat able to maintain a sense of balance and groundedness and not worry, plan or be overly nervous about what's to come. 

That said, I will acknowledge some of the many things that I am feeling. 

-It was really hard to leave New York because my life this summer so closely resembled the life that I want for myself always. I was independent in a wonderful job, surrounded by great people (for the most part...) and in my favorite place in the world. It sucks to not know when I'll be back. (I guess this is the attachment trap- I suffer because I have such an aversion to being removed from that city, in that lifestyle. Oh how the Buddhism is clicking...)

-It's nice to see friends and family here and have some sort of check in with my roots. Seeing my best friends and my family are always a good reminder of where I've been and why I'm doing the things I'm doing.

-For the first time I got excited about Paris the other day talking about the semester schedule with Hal. To a lot of people that sounds crazy, but the experience has been a long time coming with a lot of planning so it's been easy to only see logistics. I've also been living in the moment so much that I honestly hadn't thought too much beyond my time in New York and my time here in the Bay. In the same way, I can't even think about my semester in Madrid yet. One thing at a time. 

As I've said, for now, I'm doing my best to live in the moment, at least as much as that's possible while I pack and determine all that I'll need for the next 3 and a half months. 

3 days, 7 hours and 47 minutes until I leave for Paris. Woosh, woosh, woosh. 

Love,

Anj

Dun dun dun. Location: Brooklyn.

That's supposed to be an ominous sound in the title. That's the sound of me realizing I'm living in Paris 2 weeks from today and I don't speak French. Oops.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at VSU which is really sad. We had a pizza party today at lunch to say good bye to all the interns and that was sweet. My supervisor has been wonderful and since he's out of the office tomorrow, today was our last day. It's weird to be parting because of how integrated I've gotten into the office. I've gotten to know my supervisor, yes, but I also am not anonymous in the office the way most interns are. Since I've been there 350 hours this summer, a lot of the Assistant District Attorneys know me as do the Domestic Violence Bureau Chiefs and the DV Police Officers. I've made good friends even if they're just from casual work interactions. I'm really going to miss checking in with Officer Willy whenever I need an Order of Protection. I'm going to miss the feeling of complete competence that comes from conferencing a case with a Bureau Chief and getting the plea offer that will best serve my client. I'm going to miss Milly and Telsie, the front desk receptionists who know to always come to me with a walk-in intake. There's a lot of people in the DA's Office that have made my summer what it is. It's hard to leave it all. But, adventures are ahead!

Tomorrow evening after work, Rachel is coming in from Boston to visit for a couple days. It'll be great to see her after so long and do extra fun things with her around the city. Her visit is a good excuse to do a tour of my favorite things that I've discovered here... We'll see what I end up planning.

Off to bed early now in the hopes of being rested for my last day on the job!

Love,
Anj

Almost over. Location: Brooklyn

It's becoming more and more real to me now that this summer is almost over! It's definitely bittersweet. I love New York so much and it's hard not knowing the next time I'll be back here. I can also tell how hard it is going to be to say good bye to the Victim Services Unit and all of the DV staff. A week from tomorrow is my last day, two weeks from today I'll be back in the Bay Area and 3 weeks from tomorrow I'll be on my way to Paris! Time has been flying. 


This past weekend was really fun. Hal's friend Danny from college was visiting so we did some cool things to entertain him. Friday we went to Williamsburg and hopped around to different bars then ended up down by the water looking at the Manhattan skyline. Saturday we went to the Yankee game vs. the Orioles because Danny is an Orioles fan. I'll still say Oakland 'till I die, but it was so much fun to see a team actually getting hits! Yankee spirit is intense too. When the Orioles scored a home run the whole stadium was yelling to the fan who caught the ball to throw it back and when Orioles fans came into our section, the whole section booed. We had pretty good seats too, even though they were the cheapest. You could see everything well and we weren't in the sun which was important given that it was over 90 degrees. 

 That's Danny and Joe and Hal under Hal's favorite!

That night we had some people over to hang out and play pong in Hal's backyard. Ryan brought his speakers out and we lit a bunch of candles because we couldn't find the light switch out there so we had some sort of bootleg ambiance for the evening.  


It's been really nice to live in Hal's house both because it's great to spend time with him and because it's just nice to live somewhere nice. His house is a little far from the train stop, but it's closer to work distance wise so it works out. 


In other news, I just picked up poop for the first time, making me the best girlfriend ever. I have avoided walking Hal's dog Kiwi until today, but tonight I had to in order to be able to get to dinner on time. Hal and I are meeting his friend from across the street and her boyfriend for dinner. First double date? 


Love,
Anj