February 2011
63 posts
thedailydoodles asked: I really like your Tumblr-- it's very thoughtful and fun to read. I loooove Paris, so it's nice to live vicariously through your adventures.
Good luck with school, and have a great time abroad!
--DMC
Good luck with school, and have a great time abroad!
--DMC
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In Keeping With the Theme of Embarrassing Social...
So a few days ago I was walking in a park near La Muette when I see this family walking towards me—a mom, a dad, a grandma, several children, the works—pushing a stroller and enjoying the one sunny day in two weeks.
The little boy, about three years old, was running ahead of them and throwing a little fit, pouting and being super French. Despite his attitude, he was the picture of...
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Perhaps My Best Work Yet
Sitting in a Starbucks after class working on my laptop (I’m noticing a theme in my life), I notice the guy next to me wants to plug in his computer and is looking around for an outlet. Knowing this Starbucks far too well, I ask him if he’d like to use the one that is behind my chair. I say:
“Voulez-vous vous branler?”
What I thought I was saying:
“Would you like...
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Les Stoners
I think I have come upon a realization that will drastically change the way I look at social interaction in Paris from here on out. A large percentage of people my age, certainly amongst my own social circles, are stoners. And I think that it took me almost two months to fully appreciate this, to really understand it, because Paris is a city that requires an almost-constant level of some form of...
Anonymous asked: what is your favorite french curse word
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I will date a man who lies, condescends, demeans,...
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In Talking About International Politics (Roughly...
Me: It's insane how these people have all been completely indoctrinated--
Florine: No. No. You do not know the word indoctrinated in French. How do you know that word?!?
Me: I wish I was that talented. It's the same in English. I just said it with a French accent.
Florine: Oh, thank God. The other day I was speaking English and couldn't remember the word "spoon," and you're in my living room using words like "indoctrinated." It's not fair. Why do I never get the cognates? Cuillere [spoon] with an American accent doesn't work. Kwee-yerr. Kwee-yerr. See? It doesn't work.
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“This song should be sent to space in a capsule to prepare aliens for the...”
– YouTube comment on the song “Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus” by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.
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"I'm Nothing Special."
Just had one of the most inspiring conversations of my life. I was in a Starbucks (still am, I AM SO AMERICAN) over by La Motte, looking for somewhere to plug in my laptop as I pretend to be doing something worthwhile. The Mediterranean-looking man sitting on the big lounge chair opposite mine across the tiny table asks me, “Are you looking for an outlet?” Assuming that he may have heard my light...
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“And Johnny Depp, if that asswipe puts on another scarf…he just gets...”
– Adam Carolla
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(Rant Unrelated)
Listen, kids. Stop posting stupid, quasi-political blurbs on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, 4square, YouPorn, Wordpress, Yahoo!Reviews, JDate, TheForum, 4chan, Reddit, LemonParty, or whatever other stupid website you frequent. (Mom, Dad, if you’re reading this, don’t look up Lemon Party—okay, you know what, go ahead).
This summer I had the soul-sucking task of going door...
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You Know How You Keep Up With Current Events In...
You Google the flag(s) that the people banging drums and screaming throughout the metro are holding this week. Today it was Libya and Tunisia. This is also effective for seeing who’s playing the World Cup on a given day, as being here this past June taught me. I will always remember fondly the time I was walking through the Latin Quarter this summer and there was practically a full-fledged...
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The Customer Is Always...Grating and Unnecessary
I feel that dining in Paris, in almost all of its forms, is a true example of some of the unintended consequences of socialism. On the Scale of Surly, on which all Parisian waiters/bartenders inevitably fall, you have everything ranging from slightly-irritated ambivalence to searing, bitter hatred. I have been lucky enough to usually encounter the former, but I have certainly been faced with my...
Went grocery shopping today and, of course, got the one wonky cart that pulls so far to one side it basically tries to roll in circles. But by the time I realized it, I didn’t want to go all the way back out front to get another one, so I spent the whole hour correcting it as I pushed. It was oddly reminiscent of my love life.
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My Dad Has A Book Signing at the Barnes and Noble...
Why don’t I have a book signing at the Barnes and Noble today?
Questions
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I must address this issue. I’ve been getting a lot of questions that are rather technical/logistical about living, working, and studying in France. As much as I’d love to think that everyone enjoys reading about the ins and outs of visas, resident cards, and registrations as much as I do—I’m sure they don’t.
So, if you are one of...
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Because Nothing Goes Quite As Well With Being...
You’ll excuse the indulgently long title, I just can’t think of a more succinct way to express my disdain for this particular situation which seems to arise on a regular basis.
For those of you who have not been to Paris, “busking” (the pretentious name generally only used by those who practice it, more commonly known to the general public as “that talentless...
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I Wish
…that the part of Paris that I love most—the old butcher smiling and smoking a cigarette outside his shop as he talks to the baker next door, the children running through the parks and spilling out into streets like fizzy lemonade—was what the whole world was like. I want to wrap myself in the beautiful architecture like a warm, fuzzy blanket and live in a blur of luxurious...
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Oh My God, Prague Is So Beautiful. Like, There's...
Attention Americans:
You look like utter idiots (and it’s mostly women who do this, but men are not excused) when you meet someone in America from another country and say, “Oh! I totally speak [insert language here]!” And then proceed to utter the few stilted, mispronounced, grammatically incorrect pleasantries that you managed to retain from 7th grade. The foreigner will likely be nice and nod...
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Things I Want Right Now That Are Cruelly...
Popeye’s fried chicken. And all of its trimmings. I’m talking depressed woman-bucket-size. Also, spicy, not mild. Choosing mild over spicy fried chicken is the kind of decision people sometimes make that I just simply cannot justify. I’m not saying that mild people are inherently cruel or untrustworthy, I’m just saying I wouldn’t leave them alone with children.
The...
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]]>lethalforthecity replied to your photo: So I am easing myself slowly into wearing…
Okay I hate the cut-offs + tights combo, but my roommate does it REALLY well. Probably because she is African and has an afro and is therefore cooler than the rest of us.
Yeah. I do, too, but it’s EVERYWHERE here. I’m bad with peer pressure (see: smoking). Also, black girls with huge...
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Anonymous asked: Are you studying to become a writer?
What's that expression about playing with fire?...
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France Is Making Me Even More of A Moral...
I used to think that the way the French people glorified Edith Piaf’s relationship with Marcel Cerdan was disrespectful and morally wrong. Cerdan was married with children, Edith, a glorified mistress. And yet, here, I feel a much more palpable understanding of that relationship. Not in the mistress sense, but in the broader sense of love extending beyond our puritanical social norms.
...
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I think I realized today the essential truth of fluency in a second language: the acceptance that there is no such thing as a literal translation. There may be concepts that overlap, definitions that very closely resemble one another, or even a very accurate depiction of an idea. But never, never, are two languages going to fluidly transform into one another in a translation. Impossible. The...
uptoolate asked: Your comment about racist jokes has me wondering: how racist are the French, in your opinion of course, compared to Americans? Which races get the brunt of it?
I love hearing about your experiences in the city, but the issue is one that casts a pall over it. At least for me.
I love hearing about your experiences in the city, but the issue is one that casts a pall over it. At least for me.
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Saint Valentin
Spent Valentine’s Day in Paris. And, as it fell on Monday, the preceding weekend (which was just as much of a spectacle). I must admit, I was morbidly curious from the get-go as to how such an utterly saccharine holiday would be in the city that seems, at times, to be a paper mache dollhouse made entirely out of old love letters. The city itself acts as more of an aphrodisiac than all of...
Qu'est-ce qu'elle est bonne, mais qu'est-ce...
Anonymous asked: Are you going to turn this into a book? It would be utterly amazing.
Anonymous asked: What sparked your interest in French culture/music/food/language?
God damnit, France, either stop letting such...
“Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of...”
– Rosemary Urquico (via kblitz) (via timeismakingfoolsofusagain) (via ravenclawdia)
All of the above really fucking pisses me off. A) It’s almost as bad as that thing that was getting reblogged a few days ago that was like “I’m a girl and I play video games and go to concerts” and I didn’t even need...
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Being in Paris on Valentine’s Day weekend is like arriving at a really sweet house party at 4 AM. There are empty wine bottles everywhere, all the cool people have already left, and everybody is getting to third base on the couches.
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This Literally Happened
Last night, I had to run to the little upscale specialty food shop one block down called Le Notre to grab two bottles of champagne. I was wearing a black dress under a beige trench with nude patent leather stilettos and a simple brown scarf. On my way back, holding these ornate little purple bags with champagne in them, I had a full-frontal view of the Eiffel Tower over the Seine as it started to...
Anonymous asked: Beaux gosses?
You should watch this movie : http://blog.inthetardis.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/324536176-les-beaux-gosses-enfin-une-grande-teen-comedy-francaise.jpg
I'm reading your blog, and I'm french.
Sometimes I'm not sure if you really love France or not, if you really understand french people or you just focus on the worst of us (like we do...
You should watch this movie : http://blog.inthetardis.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/324536176-les-beaux-gosses-enfin-une-grande-teen-comedy-francaise.jpg
I'm reading your blog, and I'm french.
Sometimes I'm not sure if you really love France or not, if you really understand french people or you just focus on the worst of us (like we do...
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Les Beaux Gosses
Things France makes well:
bread, cheese, wine, pretension, smokers, rustic ambiance, and
God, I love this city.
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Price Gouging? Kinda?
I can officially say that I have no idea what the basis is for the pricing of various items in this city. There are some things, like high-quality meats, fresh vegetables, chocolate, wine and bread that cost nothing compared to the States yet are infinitely more delicious.
And then you have things like hairspray, which cost—no joke—twelve Euro a bottle. I’ll do the math for...
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“All TV is, is really: ‘Don’t you want to be this? Aren’t you...”
– Adam Carolla
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I Have Seen God, And He Is Brown. And Filled With...
Putain, les Kinder Bueno. I have to say, in all of my culinary exploration throughout this incredible city, (and I’ll admit, it hasn’t yet been that extensive, but I get around) I have yet to find something that provides as simple, pure, and utterly magical a pleasure as the inimitable Kinder Bueno.
According to Wikipedia, this unspeakably delicious candy is made by Ferrero, the...
