Cheated by France

You know, I tried several times to sit down and write a post about my experiences in France. Everyone keeps asking me how it was, and I never really know what to tell them. France was good, I guess. I feel kind of spoiled, to be honest. I feel kind of spoiled in the sense that it wasn’t really “the time of my life” and I never really had that whole “I still can’t believe this is real” thing going on for me. France wasn’t Japan, and I guess that might have disappointed me or something. It’s weird because I wasn’t disappointed that Japan wasn’t Shanghai too. Maybe I just couldn’t relate to France or something. Maybe it’s because I was itchy for the last half of my trip. Maybe it’s because I didn’t even really interact with any French people.

I don’t know what it is about the trip that makes me so… like this. I feel very ungrateful, but I can’t help the way I feel. France was good. It was fun, like the Bastille Bal and the Fireworks on Monteparnasse. I took tons of pictures (over 2,000) but then I realized that I took even more in Japan (over 3,000). I told myself I wouldn’t and couldn’t compare the two, because you simply can’t, but I guess one of the things that really bugged me about the trip was how much of a tourist I really felt. You would have thought I had felt more like a tourist in Japan than I did in France, seeing as I was actually living with a host family the entire time whereas Japan, that was not the case. However, going to France and researching all those study abroad programs beforehand while writing my essay on studying abroad really made me realize how lucky I was to have found and luckily stumbled upon EIL, choosing them without really doing much research into what exactly their program was about.

For me, France just couldn’t achieve the same magic that Japan did for me. By the last week, I was so itchy, so ready to come home, so wanting to jet off to China or UCLA instead. I came back for a day, then left for Hawaii with the family, and then suddenly it was like France never happened at all. A distant memory, or something of the sort. Nothing special in particular. I actually don’t have much desire to return to Europe at all, let alone France…

I guess I feel kind of cheated. Like I expected France to be so much more but it just wasn’t. It was just expensive, dirty, and itchy. Very itchy. I didn’t even make many great friends – only two I really want to actually try keeping in touch with. I mean, sure, I met people, but it’s just like my experience overall – fun, but not anything really special in particular.

So I guess that’s my ISA France blog. I actually came here with the intent to write about my experience with UC Riverside Bay Area people today, and how by the end of it, all I really wanted was my UCLA Bruins I met at orientation… I don’t think I’ve ever been this spirited about anything, but I really love UCLA.

08/28/08 Edit: I finally finished uploading all of my pictures from France! Although I do have quite a few albums on Facebook, I held off uploading a lot of my pictures, and uploaded them ALL onto Photobucket instead, so if you’re interested in seeing the uncut version of my photos from France, here it is.

Photobucket Album

It’s all organized by place too. Enjoy! Tell me what you think, if you’d like I know that Photobucket doesn’t entertain comments, but I certainly do, and so does my blog! Actually, the last set of my photo prints that I ordered from Shutterfly came today. I’m excited for the first two. And I’m also excited for my school textbooks, haha.

I Hate…

I am really mad at a lot of things right now. Grrr. I currently hate…

-UCLA scheduling, because now all my Math 31B classes are FULL. ALL of them. Which I need to take in order to start taking my econ classes like Econ 11, and before I forget all the material that I learned from calc last year since I’ve already learned the material. I can’t believe I got a lousy 4 on my exam, btw

-Macs, because my computer now no longer starts up again without freezing every time I reach the apple. It only starts up when I’m in safe mode, and then I can’t do anything because, well, it’s safe mode.

-My thumb, because it hurts and is infected and there’s shit on it that won’t go away!

-My complexion, because I got lazy and decided I don’t really care what I look like at the moment and now I have all these pimples

-My lack of exercise because I’m getting fat now with my same diet as I had in France but now I no longer have the metro and the need to walk everywhere I go and climb up a million steps.

-My toe nails because they’re long but I’m too lazy to cut them

-Hawaii because there’s nothing to do in Kauai and they have really bad cheese and bread that’s nul compared to what I had in France.

I’ll get around to that France entry. Or maybe not, I don’t know. I’m not as excited about France as I was about Japan. I guess it’s just kind of like those things where “we didn’t click.” Since my laptop doesn’t work anymore, I’ve been frantically backing up my pictures from France, but I have 3.91gb of photos and only a 2gb memory stick. So anyways… maybe I won’t write that entry. I don’t really have the desire to.

This is such a random entry. I don’t even want to have a wordpress right now. I kind of wish that I had stayed at LJ or something

Things I Need

Like… right now T_T

- Crêpes, SF styleeeee. Or just any crêpe man. Just get me a crêpe!
- Mexican food, preferably Chipolte, since Steph made it sound so amazing!
- A bagette, with good frômage. Or Rivolli that the stupid Customs people threw away!
- To see Wall-E. I need to.
- Christine to answer her phone

Things I need in general:

- White bras
- Underwear, haha. I’m only thinking of these things cuz I’m on VS right now
- College stuff
- My new laptop (ordered yesterday! Eek!)
- Jeans
- Rainbow flip flops! Hehe, or Havannas
- A small purse
- Another navy hoodie. I think I freaking left mine in Paris T_T Gahhh

There was more but I forgot. I’ll post something up about Paris later, maybe. I don’t know, haha.

En France

Les endoits que j’ai déjà visité:

-Hôtel des Invalides
-Musée d’Orsay
-Musée Rodin
-Musée Picaso
-Jardin des Plantes
-Le Tour Eiffel
-Jardin du Tuileries
-Le Louvre
-Versailles
-Normandy
-Mont Saint Michel
-Montmarte
-Montparnesse
-Place du Tertre
-Saint Germain des-Prés
-Galeria La Fayette
-Au Printemps
-Champs-Elysées
-Arc de Triumph
-Le Bastille

Les endoits òu je veux aller:

-Notre Dame
-Le Pompidou
-Marché aux Puces
-Loire Valley

Est-ce qu’il y a des recommendations? Je pense que je suis assez muséed out, et j’ai seulement peut-être quatre jours encore pour faire les choses que je veux.

#1 thing I’ll miss from France: les bagettes =9

Budgeting Myself

Je dois budget moi-même parce que la semaine dernière, j’ai depensé presque $350. Fuck. So yeah. Je dois un budget. Implementation commencera tout de suite. À ce moment.

Ways to Budget Myself:
-Ne mange plus du petit-déjeuner
-Ne mange plus le dîner avec Stephanie, sauf dans les excursions
-Ne depense plus que 6€ pour le déjeuner (ce va changer dans l’aveneur)
-Boire de l’eau. N’achete jamais les boissons.
-N’achete pas les choses à l’école
-Ne vas pas aux boulongeries
-Arrêter d’acheter les choses pour ma mère
-Souviens toujours que je n’ai qu’une baggage quand je retournerai chez moi

The last reason might not do me any good, but it would mean me spending extra money to also buy a new suitcase, and that would just be ça va pas T_T Gah. Mais le plupart de mon argent est pour mes nourritures, et c’est à cause de ma mère que j’avais mangé beaucoup beaucoup en France. C’est très très mal, pour ma santé aussi, parce que maintenent, je mange trop. Il faut que j’utilise ces methods lorsque je reste en France. L’Europe est très très cher maintenent.

And the List Goes On

In order to ensure my sanity for the next week or so, or maybe just today since I’m feeling extremely stressed, I need to make a to-do list of all the things I have to do. I can’t believe that I’m leaving for France in less than 1 week – so insane. I can never manage to wrap my head around these things. Even once I land there, it still probably won’t really hit me. I have so much to do though. I’m suddenly really stressed, or maybe I’m feeling this way because I only got 5.5 hours of sleep last night and am exhausted. That’s not the mention the many times I’ve stayed up till 4/5 for the past week. Gah. Stupid. I did this prom night too, and was dead tired the next day. Thus, I’m extremely cranky right now. I seriously canNOT interact with anyone for a few hours now, cuz every time I hear my parents talking to me or my brother making some kind of annoying brother noise, I flip out. GAH. GAH. I CAN’T STANDDD THISSS and it’s not even like I can just go back to sleep either cuz I’ve tried and I am so SO… *breathe* Okay. List.

To-do before Paris:
[x] Pack for Paris (06/27)
[/] Buy a birthday gift for Christine (this might not get done)
[ ] Pack desk stuff (yes I’m separating these so I can later feel accomplished)
[x] Sort through shoes (06/22)
[x] Sort through clothes (06/22)
[ ] Pack stuff in bedroom
[ ] Pack remaining clothes
[ ] Pack everything else (you’d be surprised)
[x] Take TKD picture (06/22)
[x] Print TKD picture (06/22)
[ ] Send transcripts from COM
[x] Send stuff for BruinCard (06/22)
[x] Buy games for iPod (06/27)
[x] Download songs for iPod (06/24)
[x] Pack carry on bag (06/27)
[x] Find a notebook for classes (06/25)
[x] Find cell phone charger (08/27)
[x] Buy gift for host family! (06/25)
[x] Take AlcoholEdu class (06/19)
[x] Submit Hepatitis B thing (06/19)
[x] Send HS transcript (06/22)
[x] Buy Victoria’s Secrets goodies (06/25)
[x] Select photos to print for college (08/27)
[x] Print photos for college (08/27)
[x] Buy UCLA Den Pack (07/03)
[x] Pay UCLA Housing Fee (07/07)

To-do before College:
[x] Buy bed stuff (08/27)
[ ] Figure out how to decorate my room
[x] Buy laptop (07/31)
[x] Figure out classes to take (07/07)
[x] Figure out possible extra major (07/07)
[ ] Separate stuff I want to bring
[x] Buy desk lamp (09/01)

There’s probably a ton more to do before I go to college, and probably things I left out for before I go to Paris too, but this is all I can think of for now, and you bet you I’ll be coming back to update this with progress. Maybe I’ll even add in dates when I check things off, just for shits and giggles. Ya know.