January 22nd Tuesday

Adrienne got up and went to the U.S. ambassador’s residence for a talk. I was lazy about my reservation email so I didn’t go. I woke up at around 9:00 and did some more readings for class. I had a yogurt for breakfast. I even got to talk to Tom online before I took a shower to get ready.

Adrienne arrived back from the ambassador’s residence. She told me all about what it looked like and what they talked about. The whole thing was in English. The invitation was through the transatlantic masters at Sciences Po. It’s not the same as our TAM program. It’s more just people who specialize in transatlantic relations.

My roommate not only brought back stories, but pain au chocolat as well. We ate those together.

We did some more class reading and I made a lunch for myself. I had some lettuce with cucumber and tomato. I made my own dressing out of balsamic vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, and shallot. It was very good. I knew a salad couldn’t completely hold me over so I had some bread with ham and butter on it. I’m picking up the worst habits.

We went to class which took place in a new classroom. I walked in and almost ran back out thinking I was in the wrong place. On the two side walls facing each other, there were large mirrors and fake fireplaces. It almost looked like one of those rooms in a château but with white walls and tables shoved in. It was pretty sweet. Then I found out what wasn’t so sweet about the new room. The professor started talking and I could not understand him at all. The acoustics were awful. It was sad that I couldn’t understand him because apparently he was complimenting me on my choice of research topic. I had wanted to look at how the EU affects public opinion of French presidents.

We had class and I tried desperately to understand what he was saying. He used to be one of the two that I could understand before. I was sitting in the back too. I’ll have to sit closer to the front next time. I really dislike the way sound behaves in that room.

After class we walked toward home, buying a baguette along the way. We ate a tiny snack because we planned on heading to the store next and we didn’t want to shop hungry. We went to Franprix with our suitcases in tow. I was determined to get ingredients to make crêpes and luck was in my favor. The crêpe flour was on sale as well as the pans! I got myself a cute little blue crêpe pan complete with wooden spatula. I feel that I should write a poem about my wonderful new kitchen utensil. Maybe later…

We packed up our suitcases with various food items and dragged everything home. I made some dinner for myself out of some of our purchases. I had a simple hamburger patty with melted cheese on top. I also made some fried rice for a side.

After dinner I sat in bed on my computer for a bit. I was able to talk to Maya a little. She told me the news about Heath Ledger passing away. I was very surprised. Just the previous night I was describing Brokeback Mountain to Adrienne and showing her pictures. It was quite a blow. I spent a while looking up news stories and trying to figure out what happened. I was sad for much of the evening.

I got to talk to my parents on the phone and that made me feel a little better. It always cheers me up to talk to them. After we hung up I tried to concentrate enough to finish reading for my class. I fortified myself with yogurt and cookies. I also made some hot chocolate with the cocoa powder I’d bought that day. I mixed the powder with sugar and added boiling water and some milk. It was very yummy but I felt my mistake later when I was in bed at 2:00am and felt rather awake. I didn’t stay awake for very long though.