An announcement. Location: Paris.

Ahem ahem... I am officially marriage material! I believe that with this past week, I have truly stepped up my candidacy as an excellent Indian bride. 

On Tuesday, for the first time I prepared a full Indian dinner for my host family as per my host brothers' request (read: pressuring). It seemed like a good time to do it, even amidst my insane amount of tests and papers and presentations, as Friday was my host father's birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. He and my host mother were so tickled at the idea of the dinner that he went out and bought a magnum of champagne for the occassion (1.5 liters) and she couldn't stop taking pictures of all the food on the table. I made chicken curry, potato bhaji, cucumber raita and roti parathas. My host brother helped me out by making mango sorbet and chocolate cake for dessert. It was all quite a feast and I was exhausted by the end of it (especially since my hours in the kitchen followed a full day at school including an oral final and a 3-hour sociology final). I've made some dishes on their own before for me and my friends so I was able to make it all without having to stare at my grandmother's recipes, but the whole deal all together was totally new. I certainly have a new appreciation for my mom and my grandmother who I've seen slave away at enormous and complicated meals my entire life. I suppose they will have to be my next audience! I'll see if my host mom can send me the pictures she took for you all to see. 

Since this past weekend our last full weekend, Hal and I tried to fit in some more special Paris things. All semester we've spent a lot of time in our neighborhood, Belleville, which has been great, but it's been nice to explore a bit more of the areas people really come to Paris to see. Saturday we saw the catacombs which were totally awesome, particularly after learning about them in my architecture class. A brief history for those unfamiliar with them: Paris has been a disgusting city for most of its existence, largely due to a lack of sewer system until relatively recently, and also because of the lack of space for the millions of Parisian tombs. In the 18th century, it was finally decided (after Parisians experienced milk curdling in their basement and bodies appearing in their homes due to cave ins) that the mass graves all over Paris would be transfered to one huge grave deep underground to improve sanitary conditions. Paris, in fact, has a huge underground system of streets with different layers thoughout. Really, there is a city beneath the city with streets paralleling the streets we walk on. In class, we learned how there are cataphiles- people who go underground here illegally and do things like paint graffiti, practice flame throwing and have dinner parties (bizarre, I know, but also kind of cool). So anyway, the catacombs are a legal way to see some of the underground, including mining areas and the mass graves. They're a little creepy at first, but after a while, the sheer number of bones you see is desensitizing.

An architect arranged the bones like this all throughout the underground passageways. They seem to go on forever. 

Another very Parisian thing (though veryyy different thing) that we did this weekend was have dessert at Ladurée! I went with my mom when we were here a few years ago, but since Hal had never gone, I put it back on our to-do list. We had a delicious salted caramel puff pastry and a couple of their traditional macarons. 

Tomorrow night my host family is all excited to show us Cyrano de Bergerac, which is a classic French play in entirely classical French... apparently the language is beautiful. We'll see what percentage of it I'm able to understand. Lots of tests this week and loose ends to wrap up. Just a few days left... more on that later. 

Love,

Anj

Thanksgiving. Location: Paris.

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Last week was actually filled with Thanksgiving-related activities for me. Even though it's not a super important holiday for me, it was fun to get in the spirit. On Tuesday, Hal and I went to a store in the Marais strangely enough called "Thanksgiving" to buy the makings for pumpkin pie. Some people on my program are fond of this store, but there's something about it that I find sort of gross and creepy. It's a store that essentially is there to profit off of Americans' homesickness as you can find just about every packaged American food product there for absurdly high prices. The women who work there speak English to their customers and pretty much as soon as you enter the door, you feel like you're in an alternative universe. Since Paris is one of the places in the world with the best food including incredible baguettes and cheese and wine and fresh produce, it's weird to imagine someone really dying for a Twinkie or a can of Dr. Pepper... and yet, the store is always full of Americans marvelling at the fact that they can get their over-processed, artifically sweet and fatty foods all the way across the world in a place as charming and cultured as Paris. Even so, I do have to admit that it was a useful store for this particular occasion as many Parisians have never even heard of Graham crackers, let alone a Graham cracker crust. So Tuesday afternoon Hal and I made 3 pies: one for his host family, one for my host family and one for our American friends on Thursday. Wednesday evening then I had dinner with my host family which was lovely and they did seem to enjoy our pie. My host mom has since told me that she's expecting me to make her another American specialty that she's baffled by like yams with marshmallows or pecan pie. 

Thursday, Elizabeth organized a big Thanksgiving potluck at her dorm and it was super fun to meet new people and eat a ton of food. We really did have sooo much food. And, if possible, even more wine than food (guess which one we ended up finishing...). Here's a picture of all of us before we dug in.

November has been a busy month, but I suppose in a different way than October. I haven't had a ton of events or travels or anything, just a lot of work and running around the city. It's nice to feel like I really live here now and as much as other people's travel plans sound fun, I love not feeling like I'm wasting a day in Paris if I spend it just studying at my favorite café. That said, I am pretty bummed that in my last 3 weeks here I have so many tests and papers and presentations keeping me from savoring being here. I'm trying to make a list of things to do and see before I leave, but it's becoming difficult just from looking at websites like Timeout and other guides. I really have seen almost everything a tourist could possibly be advised to see! It's actually a point of pride for me in some sense that now I get to just revisit things I loved or see things really off the beaten path. One thing that I hadn't thought about before but Hal is really jealous of me for is that I've taken every metro line in Paris (he has yet to take the 10 which he reminds me of almost every time we plan a metro route). It's kind of sad that just as life is feeling so normal here I'll be off and running again soon. At least I know Paris is somewhere I'll revisit in my life, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

For now, I don't have any big plans coming up, just a lot of big tests. I'll try to post again sometime soon, though, with at least something interesting I've been up to. 

Love,

Anj

Travels! Location: Paris.

I have a tonnn of work to do, but I'll spend a couple minutes procrastinating here with a post.

Hal and I got back Tuesday early in the morning. We had a really wonderful trip but coming back to Paris was great too. Prague was beautiful. Around every corner was another gorgeous building, often not even a famous one, but just a beautiful government building or house not significant enough to be on our tourist map. The city is very small and it doesn't seem like many Czech people actually live there. Unfortunately, it was incredibly touristy, so our 48 hour stay was a good amount of time to see all the celebrated monuments and not much else. We did quite a bit of walking and gave ourselves a pretty nice tour of the city.

The Astronomical Clock and Notre Dame de Tyn in the background. 

 Old Town Square. 

The altar at the incredible and baroque Church of St. Nicolas.

Hal sitting on the river.

Czech is sooo confusing and it was a bit weird to in a place where communicating in the local langauge is impossible. Luckily most people there spoke English so we got around without any problems. Key phrases I did learn: Nejim Maso (I don't eat meat), Prosim (please/excuse me), Pivo (beer). The greatest thing there (other than the beautiful architecture of the giant clock, the beautiful cathedral, the huge castle and the countless other beautiful buildings) was how cheap it was! A pint of beer, which is 5 euros at a moderate cafe in Paris, is only 1 euro there.

Breakfast! (The traditional Czech way)

We ate really well with drinks for around 6 euros every night (or 150 koruna). I thought eating would be a problem there with how much meat they eat, but I was able to find a vegetarian risotto, pizza or potato dumplings everywhere we went. Our hostel in Prague was nice and we met a couple cool groups of people including a group of French guys.

I was really glad we did Prague first because it was fun, but everything in Berlin was fantastic. The city is amazing. The young culture and the artistic culture there make just about everything there cool; all the restaurants, cafes, and even bagel shops have great ambiance and decor. The energy there is just really vibrant and cool. Unlike in Paris where buildings (like Hal's) have squatter problems, the squatters in Berlin are amazing artists who the city supports. Another really interesting part of Berlin, of course, is how Germans are dealing with their history. The first day we were there, we went on a free walking tour of the city to see some of the historical sites (Berlin wall, museums, checkpoint Charlie, etc.) and get a refresher on what's happened there in the past century.

 Berliner Dom- The Berlin Cathedral. 

 The Berlin wall. Only about 10 km still exist as it was not a protected monument until quite recently. Before, Germans thought that protecting the wall would be somehow condoning or supporting what it represented.

 The Jewish Memorial.

From the inside of The Jewish Memorial. The abstract nature of the memorial makes it really personal and haunting. It really does feel like a place to reflect.

Checkpoint Charlie. But fake! The site is not protected so instead, the men in the picture holding the flags are actually porn stars doing their day job. No, really. You can go take pictures with them for tips...

One of the most interesting things that our guide said was that, unlike in France (where a horrendous law was nearly passed requiring an emphasis on the positive effects of French colonialism on Northern Africa in history classes), Germans are taught about all the awful things their people did. They then leave the classroom with an accute sense of needing to contribute constructively to their society. I'm sure this was another thing that added to the energy there. Both Hal and I noted near the end of our trip that neither of us have found many cities we'd like to live in and not only would we like to live in Berlin, we'd consider learning German in order to do so. Our hostel was also really awesome. Thanks to Elizabeth's recommendation, we stayed in Circus hostel, which is not only hip and modern looking, but has a cafe and a bar with cool drink specials every night. So each night we'd head into the bar to meet new people from around the world and go out with them from there to another bar or club. We met some interesting groups... plenty of Americans studying abroad, of course, but also an Australian guy who was cool. One night we went on an "alternative" pub crawl which took us to a bunch of bizarre bars in Berlin including a ping pong bar and a goth bar (I don't really recommend the crawl). There, we met a group of French people- 3 girls and a guy- who we ended up having a great time with.

At the beginning of the pub crawl with our new French friends!

 Learning to throw up the West Coast sign.

What's funny is that the whole time we were travelling, we were more like French tourists than American tourists. Everywhere we went people gave us French brochures after seeing our student ID cards, and then when we were out with the French kids, we actually got made fun of on the metro for speaking French. I'm not complaining at all. It was awesome to practice more there since the people we hung out with spoke minimal English and I loved being able to relate more to French people than to some of the obnoxious Americans we met. A couple of the French girls and the Australian are coming to Paris in the next few weeks so it'll be fun to have some lasting connections.

By far my favorite thing that I did on the trip though, was the Mauer Park Flea Market we went to on Sunday. It was a huge flea market of antiques and clothes and jewelry plus, in the afternoon, there was public karaoke! It was hilarious to see people lining up to sing horrible songs to a crowd of around 1,000 people. It was so fun to see this kind of community event and enjoy singing along with bad singers and cheering them on with the rest of the onlookers. A lot of the people who sang were young women, but one guy was older and obviously a regular. I took a super short video because I just couldn't resist sharing a few seconds of his awsome performance.

Since Tuesday I've been recovering a bit and trying to get back into the swing of things. This weekend was nice and low key. Just glad to be able to get some rest and enjoy not being a tourist again.

Okay back to work now. Gotta draft a 10 page paper about the architecture of bridges over the Seine, write a response to a movie about Muslims in France and study for a vocab quiz!

Love,
Anj

Quickest recap ever. Location: Prague!

I know it's been forever since I posted so I just wanted to give a quick recap (this might be incoherent).

In the past two weeks I've celebrated 2 birthdays (not just mine- also Hal's), taken 4 midterms and shown dad and Erik all around Paris. It's been absolute insanity- half miserable and half super fun. There are quite a few things I want to post about, but I just arrived in Prague and I'm so hungry. Sometime in the future I'll write a post about Hal's birthday dinner out and another post about dad's visit... For now, here's the deal for the next few days:

Wednesday, October 26th- Friday, October 28th Prague!

We're staying in a great hostel on Wenscelas Square. It's much nicer than I expected and even though we didn't pay for an ensuite bathroom, it's literally one step to a single person bathroom across the hall. So far it doesn't seem like a ton of other people are here but it may be because everyone's out having fun. Hopefully tonight we'll meet some new friends. We took EasyJet here from Paris and it was actually really easy and really great. The one hour flight went by quickly and we got here to the hostel without any problems.

Friday we take the train to Berlin so Friday, October 28th- Tuesday (bright and early at 9 AM), November 1st we'll be there, staying in another hostel.

Okay off to eat and explore! As I mentioned, I'll do my best to keep updating... Hal brought his computer so I'm on email too.

Love,
Anj

P.S. Czech is the craziest language! Now all my email buttons and everything has been translated... We're struggling a little bit, but at least everyone important speaks English.

Food, wine, repeat. Location: Bordeaux.

This weekend CIEE took us to Bordeaux! It was super fun and a great vacation away from the city (an odd idea, isn't it? a vacation away from Paris). The trip was fully included and planned in every sense so for the most part, it was stress free. Just as in orientation, I definitely got frustrated with constantly traveling in a large group, but it was nice to do cool things without thinking about the cost. 

We took the TGV high speed train to Bordeaux Friday afternoon at 2 PM and from the moment we arrived all I did was eat and drink. Every meal we had included 3 very rich, very delicious courses (appetizer, main course, dessert) and every meal we had included bottles and bottles of incredible wine. The first evening we got there we went on a night bus tour of the city. Bordeaux is actually a lot more  cosmopolitan than I expected and I really liked what I saw of it. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to wander around on our own, so I'd love to go back some day and spend more time there. 

Saturday we went to Saint Emilion, a ridiculously old town about an hour away from Bordeaux famous for its intense wine production. We saw catacombs there and visited a winery for a tour and tasting. 

 The town of Saint-Emilion.

 Me and Caroline.

Me and Hal at the winery.

Last night we had free time after dinner so Hal, Lizzie, Tyler and I went to the carnival in town and some bars. It was really nice to enjoy a fun night in a new place with cool people. That sounds so silly and simple, but it was great to do something so stress-free. 

This morning we woke up (too early) and went to a food and antiques market in Bordeaux. Again, we didn't have a lot of time there... like I said, lots of reasons to go back!

The marché. 

I'm not sure if I've written about my program before, but if I haven't, some information is necessary in order to understand my experience here. CIEE is kind of a bullshit program. The staff for the most part is sweet and helpful, but the difference in effectiveness between CIEE and Tufts in Madrid is striking. For example, I've already met with the director of Tufts in Madrid to discuss what kind of host family I want, what kind of cultural activities I am looking for and what kind of nonprofit I would like to volunteer at. When I'm in Madrid, my program will specifically direct me to art classes, yoga classes, dance classes and anything else that I might be interested in as well as reimburse me for all costs. CIEE on the other hand, has one volunteer opportunity that I'm not interested in, and has been totally unhelpful in facilitating my search for dance classes. You get what you pay for clearly because CIEE is definitely a cheaper program. So that's the framework I'm dealing with. Then, there are the students in the program... a whole other story. I swear, CIEE draws the weirdest people that go to American colleges. I wish I could describe some of them for your amusement, but I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt over the internet and honestly I wouldn't be able to do them justice anyway. Hal, our friends and I have all experienced numerous out-of-body moments when spending time with these people where we ask ourselves, "who are you people? where the hell am I?" Most of the time it's pretty hilarious and then there are times when it's embarrassing and frustrating. All of that said, this weekend was still pretty fun.

October is the craziest month... this week is about to be soo busy with my birthday then Hal's birthday and dad arriving. Then next week I have 3 midterms in 3 days then the following week I go to Prague and Berlin! I'll do my best to keep updating about all my adventures...

Love,
Anj

Homesickness. Location: Paris.

This is a subject that I hesitate to write about because often dwelling on it makes it worse. I also would never want to worry anyone, but it is a part of the study abroad experience so I figure it deserves a little attention.

This was the first weekend since I've been here in Paris that I got fairly homesick. I've been sick recently and frustrated at some of the people on my program and generally, when things aren't going quite right, homesickness is an obvious side effect. I missed my family a lot this weekend especially when I realized how long it will be before I see them again. I also missed Tufts and my dance company and being in really great sociology classes and being involved in some sort of service work and the Bay Area and Mexican food and New York and the Brooklyn DA's Office and dim sum and chicken corn soup and my friends from Tufts and my friends from home and my cats and my car...

Homesickness for me has changed so much since I first left Mill Valley for Medford. In a way it has gotten easier as I'm more and more used to being away from people and places and things that I love. And in a way, it's just gotten more complicated because now there are more people and places and things that I love so there's a lot more to miss. There were points this weekend when I felt so frustrated with it that I was really questioning whether or not I want to go to Spain next semester. It's hard not seeing my family every 6 weeks and it's hard to feel so disconnected from the Tufts community. In the same way, though, I know I picked these experiences for this year for really good reasons. I also know that these feelings are a part of my lifestyle that I have to get used to. Unless I plan on staying in one place forever and never challenging myself or being independent, I'm always going to be a little homesick. In a few months when I leave Paris, I know I'm going to miss it here too. I'll miss my host family and the friends I met here and the delicious food and my favorite bar and café. It's inevitable. The best I can do is reflect on it and then make myself some of my grandmother's chicken curry. Having people I love around helps too.

Hal and my friend Lizzie at my place last night for chicken curry and cucumber raita. 

Tonight, my host family is making moules frites for dinner and they invited Hal to join us again. It's been a long day of classes and now I have a bunch of work, so it'll be a really great treat. Off to do some reading now...

Love,

Anj

Something fun from the weekend. Location: Paris.

I'm pretty wiped out, but I thought I'd write about something I did this weekend that was particularly fun before I go to bed.

As I've mentioned and as you can see from pictures, the little street I live on is pretty damn cute. The people who live here are also incredibly neighborly and Rue Emile Desvaux is definitely a community. This past Friday night, my block had a movie night outside. All the neighbors got together and organized it- someone got a huge screen to project on, someone brought a bunch of benches, everyone brought a ton of wine. Of course, no one has real backyards because we do still live in Paris and not the suburbs, so they blocked off the dead end in front of my house for the evening. When Hal and I first got there, everyone was hanging out and talking and drinking while Looney Tunes played for the kids with French subtitles. I would have loved to watch Looney Tunes out there all night, honestly, because I didn't understand a whole lot of the movie. Around 11:30, they put on a classic black and white French movie comparable to The Little Rascals. Hal and I stayed for about half of it before we decided it was freezing and we were barely able to understand all of the kids in the movie with their slang and mumbling. The evening was trop gentille, though, and enough to keep me around here rather than going out clubbing with friends. I love living here because of how incredibly diverse my neighborhood is and how accessible things are in the city. But it's also really nice that the block I live on is super safe and a real community. Especially since the language and culture here are still pretty foreign to me,  it helps to be having such a wonderful experience with my host family and such a warm home. Most people in the program aren't nearly as happy as I am with their host families for one reason or another. I definitely got lucky. This Thursday my host father actually invited Hal to join us for dinner. It's things like that that are absolutely not required of them, but my host family does anyway to make me feel welcome.

Okay off to bed now.
Love,
Anj

A day in the life... Location: Paris.

I'm totally exhausted, but I realized I haven't posted in forever and it's because I have crazy days like today allll the time. To show you exactly how little time I have to post, here's what I did today:

8 AM: wake up, get dressed, make lunch, jump on the metro to go to class

9:30-11 AM: French grammar class

11 AM -12:45 PM: watch L'Italien, a movie for my class Muslim Presence in Europe

12:45-2 PM: eat lunch, catch up with friends, take the metro to Ile de la Cité

2-2:40 PM: wait in line at Sainte Chapelle with every single idiotic American tourist in Paris

2:40-3:40 PM: visit Sainte Chapelle, draft an essay about Sainte Chapelle inside, sketch Sainte Chapelle for my Paris Collage architecture class

3:40-4:15 PM: scramble to the metro to go to the Louvre, get lost at the Louvre and be 15 minutes late for my Issues in 19th Century Painting class

4:15-6:15 PM: tour Classicism and Rococo painting sections of the Louvre with class

6:15-7 PM:  sit outside the Louvre with a friend eating pain au chocolat and resting feet

7-7:30 PM: metro home

7:45-8 PM: frantically write Sainte Chapelle essay and finish labeling Sainte Chapelle drawing

8-10:30 PM: dinner with host family, Pauline (French student next door) and young Chinese opera student/family friend of host family

10:30 PM-12:30 AM shower, finish up some homework, book plane tickets for October break

12:45 AM: bed!

Although today was slightly crazier than usual, it certainly was not extraordinary. This weekend I'm trying to give myself some more downtime so perhaps a real post with photos and what not is on its way... Until then, bonne nuit!

Love,
Anjuli

A very busy week. Location: Paris.

Okay I know it's been a while since I last posted but things have been busy!! I'll try to give a quick recap of last week but so much has happened I barely know where to start...

Sunday night my host family returned from a wedding they were at in the countryside and Tuesday I had dinner with them. They're really wonderful and I feel so lucky to be placed here! Tudy, the father, is indeed as loud and welcoming as I heard he was. He speaks nearly perfect English, but he only uses it with me when it's absolutely necessary because I don't understand something important. Annie is very sweet and she doesn't speak any English. Their son, Arthur, is really goofy and has been equally welcoming, which is great considering how used to having students here he is. I'm something like their 15th student so by now, they know how to give students independence as well as make them feel welcome. For dinner Tuesday we had delicious asian noodles made by Annie and an apple tarte that Tudy made. We had great conversation and I got to know more about them, including the fact that they love spicy food! What a great match. Tudy told me all about a great Indian restaurant close by that makes very spicy curries and Arthur suggested we go together last Friday. It actually did end up being pretty good- no dosas or anything, but I'll take what I can get. I met Arthur's girlfriend that night too and got to practice French a lot over dinner and then drinks with them and my friends. Part of what makes Arthur so goofy is that he really likes practicing his English with me, which isn't quite as good as his Dad's. He spent some time in Australia so he does speak a considerable amount, but sometimes the way he puts things is just hilarious and adorable. Overall it's been a smooth transition moving in with the Berniers and it's hard to imagine anyone else got as lucky as I did.

Wednesday the student living next door to me moved in. It turns out she isn't American, but rather, from the coast of France. She doesn't speak any English, which a lot better for the sake of my French. She's here for podiatry school for the next few years and this is actually her first time in Paris. I haven't gotten much of a chance to hang out with her because we've both been busy, but tonight we're going to have a drink at some point. I like the people on our program, but I'm also really happy to have some young French people to hang out with.

Classes started last week too. For the most part they're okay. Here's my schedule:

Lundi: 9h30-10h55 Grammaire
Mardi: 11-12h25 Conversation, 12h30-15h25 Muslim Presence in Europe
Mercredi: 9h30-10h55 Grammaire, 15h30-18h30 Issues in 19th Century French Painting
Jeudi: 11-12h25 Conversation, 14-15h25 Paris Collage
Vendredi: rien! hurray!

I LOVE my grammar prof. She's hilarious and amazing at teaching grammar. To counteract the torture of a Monday morning grammar class she constantly tells us, "vous etes jeunes...vous etes a Paris... La vie est belle!" (You are young... you are in Paris... life is beautiful!). Paris Collage should end up being cool, as it's an architecture class in which every class we take a field trip to discuss the buildings of Paris in person. My other classes are just alright except for Muslim Presence which is currently a little terrifying since my prof acts like an Israeli general. Hopefully she'll calm down as the semester progresses, but for now, 3 hours of her at once is a little intense.

If you know me at all, you know that the one thing I don't do is procrastinate. This week, however, I found out that studying abroad is a whole new game. I think for the first time in my life I waited more than a few days to start homework. I'm definitely not in the school mode and it's difficult to be considering how much there is that I want to see and do here that isn't homework. I'm sure I'll find a good balance eventually, but until then, sacrificing an evening in a great café to read 40 pages about Jacques-Louis David is not high on my list of priorities.

Something really fun I did to avoid homework was go to Fashion Night Out on Thursday with a bunch of friends. Fashion Night Out is a night all over the world hosted by Vogue when couture houses open their doors to the public (with an invitation from the September Issue) and offer free champagne and deliciously expensive shopping. I went with a bunch of friends and had champagne at Ferragamo and cosmos at Chanel for a very fancy and totally free night of fun. It was so great to do something out of the ordinary and feel like a part of this high society (consisting of the most fashionable people from the most fashionable city in the world).

 Champagne at Hal's apartment with Miranda and other friends before heading to Champs Elysees. 

Another cool thing I did this weekend was see an exhibit at the Pompidou about India and France. The pieces in the exhibit were extremely diverse ranging from a movie about the experiences of hijras and transsexuals in France, Dehli and Bombay to a pieces critiquing the relationship French people have with Indian culture. This was the first museum trip for me since I've been here. I'm honestly waiting to see a lot of them because I'll be going with classes or with my dad I'm sure when he and my brother visit.

The exhibit poster.

Okay. Enough for now. I'll try to post more often so these aren't so rambling. 

Love,

Anj

More of my neighborhood. Location: Paris.

I took a few more pictures on the street where I live so you can get a sense of it. It's totally weird because there are like 3 blocks that are like this and then afterwards there's nothing similar at all. It becomes a lot less quaint very quickly, not that I don't like the other streets too.

The house in the middle is my house. Yes, all of it. The very top left window is my window. 

 This is the view down my street. (You can click the pictures to blow them up)

 My street. 

Yesterday was a fun day of running around with friends. I met some people at the Jardins Luxembourg which was totally beautiful especially on a sunny day like yesterday. 

Then we took a walk to St. Michel and the Latin Quarter to get some Amarino ice cream (I know my mom's jealous!). We poked around some of the shops there and then just hung out on the Seine for a bit.

Today I think we're going to the Marais for some shopping and falafel and tonight, my host family finally arrives.... Hopefully they're nice! I'll keep you posted.

Love,
Anj

Ma maison dans le 19eme arrondisement. Location: Paris.

Well, I'm finished with the language intensive week and all moved in to my host family's house! They're not here this weekend because they're at a friend's wedding, but a couple of their friends are staying here until they get in Sunday. I'm not sure if they're a couple, but the friends are these two women in their 40s and they're super sweet. Neither speaks English but they're very into making me understand their French which is great. They had a couple friends over for dinner and drinks so I sat around with them for like 4 hours talking. I'm pretty wiped out but I managed to make conversation in French that whole time. It's a little weird that I'm not getting to know my host family, but I feel lucky to be here finally especially because there's still 5 students who have to stay in the hotel for a few more days until their families get back from vacation. It's a good feeling to not be living out of a suitcase and finally be able to ground myself in my home for the next 4 months.

Apparently my host family is made up of a couple, Tudy and Annie, and their 26 year old son, Arthur, who lives downstairs.  They also have a 30 year old daughter but she lives in another country...not sure where. Tudy works for some French company and I've been told he's very large and loud but also very welcoming. Annie is a pharmacienne which is super great because I know I'll be taken care of if I get sick! The house is beauuuutiful. I got pretty lucky I think for a lot of reason. The house is like 4 or 5 stories with a ton of bedrooms and it sounds like there's constantly people coming and going. That said, I'm on the top floor and my room has a little kitchen area in it as well as a table and chair and a bathroom next door- plenty of privacy. There's a room next door to mine where another American student will be living too. She's supposed to move in next week and I don't know anything about her. Hopefully she's nice and as interested in practicing French as I am. I haven't seen a ton of the neighborhood here yet, but the street I live on is super quiet and charming. It actually feels like I'm outside of Paris, but then I can walk literally 3 minutes and I'll be in the middle of the bustling city again. There's a metro stop super close that will take me right to the center of Paris in 10 minutes. 

 I love my sunflower bedspread!

 The little kitchen in my room.

The view outside my window.

Another reason that I feel super lucky is that Hal is a 15 minute walk or so away. We had both told Lucie, the woman in charge of housing, that we're dating so she could factor that in when placing us and clearly she did. He got really hooked up in terms of housing too. He has his own studio, but his family also sounds super warm and interested in getting close with him. It's a little weird to be here without my family, but I'll meet them soon and I can't complain. Tomorrow I think Hal and I are going to explore our neighborhood a bit and maybe picnic in the Jardins Luxembourg with some friends. Gotta enjoy this weekend since classes officially start Monday! I just found out also that I was placed in language level 3b, which is one higher than I've been in this past week... Totally bizarre. I think I'll show up on Monday and see how it goes, but I have no idea how that happened! I don't feel very competent at all in French, although people are impressed when they find out I've only taken a year of it. It's frustrating because I have sooo much catch up to do. Even if I get the grammar right, there's a vocabulary level that's hard to reach if you haven't been around a language for a least a few years. I don't know how to say the dumbest things like "fork" and "pencil." I guess that's what immersion is for. 

On another note- I took some pictures this past Wednesday during French class. We went on a field trip to this family-run fromagerie for cheese tasting and then to a bodega for some wine tasting. Then I went back to school for a rendezvous with my professors for the semester so we could ask them questions about classes. And, of course, we had more wine with them. Needless to say, doing my homework after that afternoon was a little difficult... Maybe school isn't so bad!

That's my adorable teacher Veronique in the back!

Okay, I'm wiped out now. Miss you all! 

Love,

Anj

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

Self care methods. Location: Brooklyn.

I'm exhausted from not enough sleep and a rough day and this is the only thing that can make it better: 

cuteoverload.com for your viewing pleasure. Now if only it brought me these guys in real life...

Nooooooooooo. Location: Brooklyn.

Are you kidding? Day 2 of weather from hell. I spent yesterday outside most of the day at Hal's sister's camp chorus concert. Somehow I survived. Today better be an indoor day...

Quote of the day. Location: Brooklyn.

"She had a mid-life crisis and went back to school for social work." -one ADA to another ADA


Also I found out that social workers at my office make $40,000 a year as their starting salary. And that's with a license in social work after getting a masters... Shit.


Love,
Anj

To trial! Location: Brooklyn.

I don't want those of you reading to expect posts every day because that really, really won't happen. But since I'm a little excited to have gotten this blog all ready and have a minute now, here's 2 for 2. 


I realized that on this blog I don't know how much to share about my work. Not because of confidentiality, because criminal case info is all the public's right to know, but rather, because of tertiary trauma. In social work, there's such a thing as "secondary trauma" which can be a consequence of listening to traumatic stories and doing trauma counseling all day. It's something I have certainly experienced in the form of emotional exhaustion and intrusive imagery based on the cases I'm hearing about. Being traumatized secondarily is my choice, however, and I have to recognize that most people wouldn't choose it. So I have to be careful when I tell people about my work. I've noticed that it's really nice to recap what I've been doing with friends for the same reason it's nice to talk about your day no matter what your profession is. However, not everyone is so interested in hearing about my days when they include what they do include. My roommate, Ryan, for example, just told me that he's going to have to stop asking about how my day was because he really doesn't want to know about my cases. While to some degree he was joking, I know too that it is hard to hear about what horrendous things happen to people on a daily basis, even if it's not a first hand account. Hal is so wonderful for always letting me talk about my cases, but I worry too that I'm subjecting him to tertiary trauma because of how much he hears. Anyway, I bring this up because I don't want anyone reading my blog to read about things they don't want to know about. I won't be posting my most horrific stories, but it's all relative and I'm getting used to seeing some real shit. I'm open to suggestions and requests for more censorship if necessary. 


The reason I'm thinking about this right now is because I did see something very interesting at work today that I'll try to share. I don't consider it one of the worse cases I deal with, but we'll see what you all thing. The head of VSU asked me today to go to escort a boy at criminal court while he testified as the victim in a misdemeanor trial. The boy was molested last year, when he was 14, by a family friend he had known for years. I waited with him and his family this morning for him to be called to the witness stand and then sat in the audience so he could see me for reassurance if he needed it while he testified. I watched him testify for a good hour and a half to questions posed by the ADA on the case. These were the nice questions, coming from his "side" of the trial. And it was still brutal. Literally every single detail was scrutinized, from what kind of underwear he was wearing to the exact words he said to his family after the incident. He was great and stayed really strong throughout until he left the court room and completely broke down. It was fascinating to watch this process that we only really read about in books or see in movies. I can't imagine sharing such intimate details about such a traumatic event with complete strangers, especially at his age. Luckily for him, his entire family was there to support him, including his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings. But many such victims are alone or, even worse, disowned by their family for their innocent part in a crime. 


I was really frustrated because I had to return to the office for a 2 PM counseling appointment with a family I've been working with all summer (who, by the way, didn't even show up). So I didn't get to see the rest of the boy's family testify or see the cross examination. I heard from another intern I sent over to sit with them for the rest of the day, though, that it was really interesting and really hard. The defense attorney spent another hour and a half going over most of the same details as the ADA along with accusing the boy of all sorts of things. He produced photos from Facebook of the boy playing beer pong and accused him and his parents of being alcoholics. He practically yelled at him, asking why he didn't try to stop the defendant from molesting him either by telling him to stop or running away What the defense was getting at was that this boy didn't really mind being molested at all. Earlier the boy had established with the prosecution that he was scared because this man had never treated him in any inappropriate way before and he had no idea what he was capable of- especially because the defendant was more than twice his size. This is when it becomes really interesting being on the DA/victim's side of things as someone who is much more interested in the criminal's side of things...


At the beginning of the summer, I wondered how my internship would affect my great interest in prisoner and defendant rights and rehabilitation. All of my clients are going through very challenging, traumatic things because of the defendant on their case, and it is hard not to be angry at the defendants for their behavior. However, instead of becoming cynical about criminals as many would predict that I would, I am even more interested to know what has caused their behavior and how their behavior could have been prevented in the first place. Because of this, I continue to be interested in the other side of things even more than victim rights because I feel that the best way to help these victims is not to work with them after the arrest, but to prevent the behavior leading to the arrest from happening altogether. That means working with the defendants, but in what capacity is the question. 


Today's experience of hearing about the defense and even contemplating defending the creepy man sitting at the defense table in the face of this boy's story feels crazy. I still feel that defense attorneys are incredibly important, particularly because the lack of good ones out there leads to wayyy too many innocent people behind bars. But when it comes down to it, defense attorneys can only work so hard within the kind of system we have to ask for rehabilitation for their clients in the plea bargaining process. There just aren't enough rehab programs and aren't enough good programs to reduce recidivism and actually be effective in helping defendants turn their lives around. And then in a trial like this one, the whole point is proving not that the defendant needs help, but that he did nothing wrong. 


What all this comes down to at this point for me is that yes, I am still very interested in working with defendants, criminals, prisoners and ex-prisoners. But no, I am not interested in re-victimizing innocent people in the process of keeping someone out of jail. And no, I am not interested in getting people off the hook for the awful things they did. People who actually do bad things (meaning not the people who are only prisoners as a result of our shitty system) need to be held accountable for those things, but in such a way that is actually productive for both them and the rest of society. That's the kind of system I want to work for and work towards.