Travels of a Histrionic peripatetic

Hi everyone! I will never be done telling you I am sorry for not writing as much as I wish I could have during my time here. Really, it is only difficult to do so when I work full time and I have class-- and this memoire. Now, I only have not even two weeks. I am so extremely sad about it too! I never imagined that I would fall in love with this city the way that I have. Partly, I think it is due to the fact that I had the opportunity to work with some great people- people that have now become my friends. They are going to be what I miss the most-- that is of course aside from all of those great coffee shops, the rush hour on the metro where you get up-close-and-personal with any and every stranger. Life here has been wonderful, even with all of the work that I have (and have not) done. Sometimes, I imagine myself not returning to the US, but then that would make absolutely no sense since I want to finish my degree. My parents have asked me plenty of times if I am ready to come home,...

Hi all! So I figured that it was about time that I caught you up. As you know, I have been interning for almost a month now. The reason I have been unable to post anything is for that same reason. I get up every day (except today since it is a holiday here) at 7:30A—sometimes at 7:45—to get to work by 9:30A. From then on, until about 1 in the afternoon, I take an hour to two hour lunch, since it really depends on with whom I eat lunch. Afterwards, I keep on working until about 6:30P. That is of course from Tuesday to Friday, otherwise on Mondays, I have class from 5P to 7P. At work, I keep up with any and every article that mentions us- from advertising our event to complete stories; I have pretty much seen it all. I translate for the newsletters, I translate for others in Spanish and English, and I make phone calls in French. When I first started out, it was a bit difficult to wholly-integrate myself into my work place. It was about trying to find the balance between getting to know...

Hi everyone! Sorry i have been unable to post. As you know, about two weeks ago I was in Madrid having the time of my life. No really, I mean there was not a night that I did not sleep before 4AM- of course that was because I was out with friends AND making friends. I think that Madrid will always have a special place in my memories- for reasons that I can and cannot disclose (because I feel as though some are more personal and also because I feel like I can't quite express myself in the way that would be fair to those emotions or memories). I made some Italian, Spanish, French, Mexican, Russian, Eastern European, American, and I don't even know what other kinds of friends. It was great too because I got to speak Spanish, French, and English simultaneously while listening (and understanding) people who speak Italian. At this moment, I am leaning towards making Italian the next language I learn. The rest of that week was just crazy! It was not until that Saturday that I forced m...

Saludos a todos! (Greetings to all) I hope that life is treating you as well as it is treating me. For some reason or other, I still cannot fathom that I am in Madrid. I never really knew how much it changed my life until I left and explored some more. As the moment, I am sitting at my hostel on one of the busiest streets at night in Madrid- especially for the young'uns. While I am writing this, the television is on and there are music videos playing. Well, I don't have a television in France, so while I am sitting here and typing this, I am fascinated by all of the music and the videos currently playing. Just to let you know what I have been up to these past couple of days- to summarize it neatly- eating, drinking, walking, observing, hardly sleeping. No kidding! I am exhausted at the moment, but I am enjoying every second of my time here. I went to eat yesterday at my favorite restaurant, and let me tell you, it is as though we never left. They still treated my friends an...

So at the moment, my emotions are running amok. I mean it in all sincerity. Now, it's not that I don't like Paris, because trust me, Paris is an amazing city, full of so much history- small yet stuffed to the core with culture, history, food, bread, nouggats, life. But (of course there is a but), it is not until now that I have realized just how much Madrid has meant to me. Not only was it the first time that I studied abroad in a country similar, though not really to my own culture, but it is also a place that holds many treasures in my mind. To this day, I appreciate the work we had to do to get our servers' respect at la Cafeteria Calvin. It really was all about building relationships. To this day, I thank Humberto for organizing the program the way that he does. We got to know Madrid quite well because that was what was expected of us, and in doing so, we also enjoyed it. Here, I don't have the facility of going out and getting lost on a bus or going to a different ...

You know we are everywhere! I say this because, first of all, I am here with a Gilman Scholarship. It is a scholarship from the federal government meant for students who receive the Pell Grant and who want to study abroad. Today there was a college fair for French students looking at American colleges and universities. Well, here they have both Fulbright and Gilman Scholars and they had a couple of go so that we could explain to them a bit about the educational system- the process, the financial aid, etc. I volunteered to be at this college fair from 1:30P to about 5P. Definitely met lots of parents. It reminded me a bit of when I was in high school looking at where I wanted to go. But I will say that it was interesting looking at it from an international point of view- I mean we had it easy because we live in the US but they had to go into the whole process in a completely different manner. Point is that there I got to meet a Carleton alum from the class of '04. She was a hist...

Hi everyone! So I know that it has been quite a while since I last updated you- frankly I have some very good reasons. Yesterday, Thursday the 23rd, we finished our five-week-intensive course program load. These weeks have been filled with the stereotypical French "grève" (strike) that so often fill history textbooks. The transportation has been hard to manage as there are so many more people. Meetings with internship directors, class visits outside of regular class time- we have had it all these past couple of weeks. That does include the sporadic weather conditions that we have been having lately. Before that, on that Monday, we had a Dissertation which is the French take on the essay. I decided no that I appreciate so much more English essays! Perhaps it is because writing a strong essay comes with years of practice and here we are trying to dive head-first into one. The week before that, by Wednesday, I had agreed to translate my host-mom's speech. At the moment, an...

Well hi everyone! I am sure you missed me from the last time I decided to post something. This time I will talk to you about how crazy these first five weeks are going to be. To put it as simply as I possibly can- these first five weeks are going to be crazy and full of work. My first impression of Paris To begin with I hope to tell you about my first week here. Last time I finished by talking about the fact that I was at the airport in Amsterdam. Well, once I boarded the plane there at around 3:30P (around 8:30A CT), all I knew was that I was getting on a plane to my final destination for four months. Exhaustion can only hardly describe what I was feeling at that moment. At most, the flight was about an hour long. All I remember before that hour was getting onto the plane, getting ready for takeoff, closing my eyes (and somewhat waking-up to the departure) and then nothing. I really did just capitulate to the ongoing war of sleep; though I was quite pleased I did- I was just too ...

It took me forever to finish this essay. Please! As you can tell, I have finally finished this dreaded assignment. It has been a while since I have not felt so uninterested by the subject-matter at hand. Really- normally I can do well with the assignment. With this particular assignment we were supposed to make a choice between two questions- one about the ideals of a Republic before the 20th century; so that would mean that I would have to talk about the original concept of a republic- something that would have been much easier to explain in terms of taking up at least four pages. Unfortunately, I decided to go with the second question which was about the weaknesses of France after WWI- regardless of its perceived victory. Well, I believe that I answered the question as thoroughly as I could. I did not use any quotations or outside sources, as earlier I had asked one of our directors if we should. His response was that if we felt like we could write based on our notes from class, some...

Cleaning? Working? Studying? Having fun? Eating? (Not)Sleeping Hey Everyone! So as my title suggests, while I would like to be doing those other activities- I should be working on my paper for Monday. But as all things, procrastination overcomes my greatest desires to work. I just wanted to let you know that I will be posting a series of, well, posts about my time up until now. I now I am a little behind, but I think that as soon as I finish this 4 page, 1.5 space, 12 font all-in-french paper about the effects of WWI in France, I will be able to update you quickly about my time here. Last night I did go out, but that is and entirely different story that requires so much more attention that I will be able to give it at the moment. I know this is quite short, but here are some pictures from this week's trips to Hotel de Ville, and the Senate here in Paris. Take care and I hope to post soon! Inside the Hôtel de Ville- Amazing architecture!       ...

My observations thus far? The Amsterdam airport is too amusing to observe. Already I have entered into a world in itself. This is literally like a little city- shops, cafés, restaurants- the whole deal. And as is found in all cities, we have our personalities. The short man with the tall woman, the family of ten, people from all over world, the mysterious guy who sits alone contemplating who-knows-what, the girl - who is probable my age- who keeps coming back-and-forth on the moving pathway, and of course, the tourist. Obviously I have not named every type of personality, but those are some of the few that stood out to me. The plane ride was long and boring. I left the Memphis airport at 7:30P only to arrive about nine hours later at roughly 4:00A (11A in Amsterdam). This was not a full flight, which meant that we could move around. I was in the middle row with an aisle seat, but of course i prefer window seats when there is not a full flight. Well, the lady next to me had left her s...

Although I studied abroad in Madrid and Bamako last year and found out just how exhausting traveling can be, I have to admit that it did not stop me from doing it at least one more time. This year, for a fall semester, I will be standing and interning in Paris! Honestly, i cannot believe that I am doing this once again- and this time for four months! Excitement, anxiety, stress, a myriad of emotions embodies me in every moment until I get to my final destination. I will explain to you a little about the program and about the Visa process. To begin with, I will be in France (thanks to Carleton of course) with the IFE program- Internships in Francophone Europe. This program is for a total of 18 weeks: 5 weeks of intense coursework, studying Parisian society as well as french history (exams, papers, assignments included), 1 week of vacation, and 12 weeks of and every Wednesday we have a class. I cannot wait until my internship begins. During my stay in Madrid, Humberto really taught us ...

Well hello everyone! I know that it has been awhile, and trust me, I am working on some posts to describe the rest of my Spanish and Malian experiences. All I can say is that not a day exists where I don't think about both experiences and how they've transformed me. Even the subtlest of things remind me of either experience. When others mention that studying abroad creates unforgettable experiences, they weren't kidding. Just sitting here trying to figure out what to write, I can't help but think of when I was in Madrid in my bedroom trying to decide what about my day was more important, or of when I was in one of the little coffee shops reflecting on customer service and the unspoken roles of that culture. The reason that I am updating this blog is not only to fill you in on other details, but also to let you know that I will be traveling once again. As a matter of fact, I will be traveling quite a bit within this next month up until December. What do I mean? Well, n...

Hello everyone! I know that it has been quite a while since I posted. I know that I mentioned my intentions on updating this after coming back from all of my study abroad opportunities. Well, as a college student you know that time is scarce. Honestly, I cannot fathom the fact that this school year is almost over. In this post, I will try to update you just a bit on what happened after those couple of weeks that I already talked about in Madrid. The last thing that I had talked about was my birthday week and the week after. So now I have the pleasure of talking about Toledo. Toledo is wonderful place in terms of the history and the area in which it is located. This is one of the (if only) places where three very well-known cultures were able to live together peacefully, if only for a moment. We had to get up early in the morning to get there because we were taking a bus, and although I lived close to the center, it wasn't as close as other people. Unfortunately by this time one ...

Hi everyone! So the days are numbered now.....I leave in less than a week- Thursday morning to be exact. In other words, it's crunch time! Now is all about finishing assignments, packing, making sure I have everything people asked me to get, and well everything else. I can't make this too long since I still have some work to do, my host mom is making lunch for ten people because it's one of her daughter's Saint Day (Día de su santo..not sure how to translate that), and we have our last walk in Retiro Park as a way to close our trip since it was the way we began it. However, I did want to let you know that yesterday two good friends and me decided to take a class on....CHOCOLATE! Yep, chocolate. And it was wonderful. When I was younger, I enjoyed waking up early; now not so much. This class was at 10A on a Saturday, and I admit it was worth waking up early. All I had for breakfast was a cup of coffee because I was running just a little late. I am glad that it was all I a...

Hello once again! Now I will talk about the week after my birthday, which was last week. Well, this week was all about getting my work done for midterms...which wasn't so much about exams rather turning in a compilation of the work we had been doing. This meant that I had to turn in the diary that we were supposed to have kept......As many of you may know, I'm not much of a writer. I love going out, meeting people, and talking about everything- not so much writing. At least, I do not like to write if I know that I HAVE to do it; I like writing if I know it is optional, and it is then that I write my best work (in my opinion of course). For the first four days of the week, Mon-Thursday all I was doing was writing endlessly. Some of the activities were pretty amusing but I guess that I am just the kind of person who likes to do it, think about it, and talk about it, not so much write about it. But it got done eventually, and I have to say, my diary looks pretty "Isabel...

Hi everyone!!! First of all- I am so sorry I have been unable to keep up with you all. It's actually quite harder to maintain than I first suspected. However, knowing that this term is almost over, I doubt I am going to be able to say much in these next two weeks. As a matter of fact, I have less than two weeks now before I return home... time flies by and I am glad that I am enjoying every moment of it. Yesterday the entire group got back from our trip to Cordoba and Sevilla, and like always, of course I have stories to tell. I have to say, they have some beautiful men in those cities! I know I am silly, but might as well look and indulge while I can. Like I said, I doubt I will have much time to be able to recount all of my stories in a timely manner, therefore, I decided that I will continue writing about my experience when I return home. Besides, I am going to have a little more than a month before I leave for Africa. Until then, I have an essay, two presentations, and two di...

Hello once again! As I promised, I am going to write about my past weeks (in which I have miserably failed to post). For this post, we shall talk about my birthday week. To start off, Monday we did not have any classes because the professor decided to let us rest since we had just gotten back from our trip on Sunday. Therefore, Monday was completely dedicated to doing homework for the next day. All I did was go to a coffee shop with a friend; we tried to do homework but the music was getting to soft and was making us want to sleep, so we left to our own homes and continued to do homework. Tuesday we had class. I love classes with Prof. Huergo. He just has such a different manner of teaching. He uses more gestures and goes off into rants that, if you were to walk in would make no sense, but if you were paying attention all (or most) of the time, then you could follow him perfectly. Afterwards, Heather, Alyssa and I go to the Cafeteria/Restaurant downstairs. Remember earlier I had mentio...

That's how you say hello in three different languages- English (of course), Spanish, and Galician. As you can tell, I am back from those fours days of fantastic travel. Galicia is absolutely wonderful; it is nothing like the Spain that we all imagine. Imagine New York and then compare it to, say one of the greenest places in the US (it was hard for me to figure out what was even comparable to what I saw). It is more of a spiritual area. It is the home to the end of "the Road to Santiago." As some of you may know, every year hundreds of people travel the road for a spiritual rebirth so to speak. ....So to tell you the truth, I started to write this the day I got back- October 4th. Unfortunately, since then so much more work has piled up that I have been unable to write as often I would have wished. Keeping that in mind, within these past two weeks SO MUCH MORE has happened! So what I will do is recount those stories in a series of posts. I still remember everything prett...

Sitting down you see some of the most interesting people. I think the most interesting that I have seen is that of children of about 5 or 6 years sitting in a baby carriage- their parents pushing them around. How crazy and abnormal is that??? Definitely not used to that- then again I’m used to children running around, screaming at the top of their lungs. Although I have not been coming in as much, it is nice to know that those who work here still remember you. They actually talk with you and ask you about, for example, your weekend. Once that friendship is really established, then they ask you why you have not called them in order to go out that weekend (I should know; it happened only a couple of moments ago). Oh the differences in cultures around the world- how lovely! Again..I will finish later as I have little time. Until next time.