Paris, OR Land of the Incredibly Small Hotel Beds

Yeah, so that's where I went over Spring Break. The hotel room was ridiculously small, though the housekeeping was nice...but seriously, when you have two hotel beds smaller than your college mattress, and half a foot of room between them...it makes me gain a new appreciation for my personal space. And the bars of soap? I wouldn't be surprised if somebody confused it for a white chocolate mint and ate it, because it was miniscule.

I was immensely disappointed that Paris drives on the same side of the road that we do back in the States. However, traffic in the city was bad enough that my disappointment quickly gave way to relief that being a pedestrian downtown was slightly less dangerous than in DC, because at least there people will stop for you (DC drivers are the worst I've ever seen, and to steal from Dave Barry, "DEATH BEFORE YIELDING" Seems to be their motto).

However, once I got over the strange quirks of Europe, and the porn being sold on every other street, and the physical adaptation one has to endure in which one's body derives energy from Nicotene rather than oxygen, and that apparently pedestrians share the sidewalks with the occasional moped, sedan, and a rare six-wheeler, it was amazing.

No, really; the trip was wonderful, so don't let my skepticism fool you. Our hotel was about 4 blocks away from the Eiffel Tower (We were on the Left Bank), the Metro had a stop less than two minutes away from us, and hey--it's PARIS. You can go to buildings that have been around for centuries, not just generations. The metro, though complicated at first, is amazingly efficient and easy. I know the Paris metro better than the DC metro. You get to EAT FRENCH PASTRIES. Actually, I don't ever think I ate a pastry more exotic than a croissant. But there are like patisseries on every block of the city, which makes for a nice window-shopping experience.

If you get to go over there, be warned: Parisians don't believe in hydration. They believe in lots of wine and carbonated beverages. Water fountains don't exist. But you can get by pretty easily; Just drink a lot of water and orange juice and stuff in the morning, (my hotel had amazing breakfasts) drink lots of fluid at meals, and you'll be good to go. This is, of course, assuming you're taking the same rigorous approach to France that the group I was with did.

We went all over, but naturally, we went to the Louvre, Notre Dame, Versailles, and we also went out to Chartres to see its cathedral (magnificent, better than ND, I think), Montmartre to see Sacre C...Well, I don't know how to insert the character that would let me spell "Heart" in French, so "Sacred Heart" and, because of COURSE there were girls in our group who wanted to see it, The Moulin Rouge. We saw the Orsay Museum, some old French neighborhoods, the Latin Quarter...twas awesome.

Best Part: Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night and hanging around near it until 3ish AM. Just awesome to get to know some of the folks in the honors program better.

Worst Part: The Louvre. On Ash Wednesday. So...fasting combined with lots of walking, small beds and sore backs combined with lots and LOTS of standing...all of it culminating in getting to eat some fish burger thing at a restaurant in the Louvre food court. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome seeing the art and sculptures (yes, saw the Mona Lisa...nice, but not the crowning point of my life), but it was just kind of painful. But I'd do it again in a minute, because that week was awesome.

I realize this is sort of lackluster, but I started out trying to avoid doing a paper, and I very quickly realized that I need to get it done so I can start and finish ANOTHER paper by Friday. Take care, guys. Those of you on Spring Break: enjoy!

I Woke Up in a Car

Hey ho children, it's been awhile.

I am writing this to tell you that, 24 hours from now, I will begin my spring break adventure on the East Coast. This will consist of:

1) Driving to Virginia and New York City
2) Hiking around some hills
3) Trying not to get killed in Inner City Philadelphia
4) Meeting up with Nancy at UPenn
5) Sleeping in a car because my friend Kate has a very small house and cannot fit me in it
6) Eating a Philly cheesesteak
7) Getting my heart restarted after the cheesesteak stuffs up my arteries
8) Sleeping not much
9) Eating a lot

I will post pictures of my weeklong adventure when I get back into town next Sunday. It should be tres sweet. Hope everyone has a safe and restful spring break!

Come See "Getting Out" at UP, SAT and SUN!!!

If you happen to in portland this weekend for spring break or whatever, you really should come see the play that I am in at the University of Portland, Getting Out. I portray "The Doctor" and am a really mean guy that beats up on the main character. It it deffinatly not a feel-good play but its fun and its only 10 dollars. Anyone who can come really should. The basic outline is that the main character Arlene has just been released from prison after 8 years and has to confront her past in varieing ways, whether it be her former pimp, her mother, or the series of flashbacks that take place in which she is portrayed by a different actress. The acting is very intense and I highly recomend it to all of you. So tonight and tommorow are our last two performances (Sat the 4th at 7:30 and Sun the 5th at 2:00) and I appologize for not posting earlier, but I have been quite busy. I hope anyone who is in town can make it.

Fiery Furnances

I'm not sure if any of you besides Nancy have heard of them, but they are a indie rock band. I'm sure Shakeer has, but other than that... Anyway, concert was tonight. I am far too tired to review them properly, but I figure I might as well give it a shot now instead of waiting longer and then not doing it ever. If there is anything this blog doesn't need, is another day without a post. Anyway, The first opening band sounded like any opening band. Guitar was too loud to hear the vocals, which were okay, the usual. The second opening band was better. I had actually didn't know that they were not the fiery furances until the girl I was with told me so. But she didn't know until most of the way through herself, so I don't feel that bad, but still. Anyway, I think that made me to enjoy them much more. Anyway, on to the fiery furnaces. They started off with a bunch of stuff off of their earlier cd's, which was cool, 'cause I knew the songs and could still here. They were much more mainstream in concert than they are on their cd's. They are a fairly typical rock band live. A lot of the weird, indieness comes from editing and really, weird lyrics, which you really can't always make out with really loud music. The guitars pretty much took the place of the random instruments and sounds that they usually have with their music, but the guitars were really good, so made up for sounding normal. I sounded like an pretensious indie asshole there, and I apologize. So overall, the concert was really great. There were also only like 200 people there, so it kinda felt like coffee house, which y'know, is sweet. Oh! There was this crazy hippie couple there, too. The guy was like 60 something, and they were just in their little world, dancing, spinning, totally lost in whatever it was that they smoked before the show. It was really funny. Oh, Ithaca, you and your crazy hippies.

PS: I just found out that Ben has heard of them, too. So... sweet...

It'll be our Woodstock, except with candy for drugs and Twister for sex

So basically God said to Jesus, "Hey, you know that Ben kid? Yeah, let's put together all his favorite bands at one music festival and make it within driving distance over a weekend he can definitely attend. That'd be nice of us."

(Click link about now)

I was already excited for Sasquatch this year, but when I read who was in it (a full week after it was announced, the ND server must have stopped the mailing list thing from getting through) I would have soiled myself, had I not just come from the lavatory.

So Rocinante will definitely be driving up there, dibs on seats start...NOW!

{I have four seats, but will find a way to cram you in if Ken is the only alternative. Legally I can take six. This is going to be awesome, don't let me go up there by myself. Okay, Friday might not look great, but Trail of Dead is actually pretty good and I'm sure the surprise will be good. Plus some people might have to work that day anyway.}