Adrienne Abroad

I'm home.

2007-06-20T20:04:00.000+02:00

It's so weird.

They left one of my bags in DC so I still haven't showered, and my connecting flight was delayed for four hours so I got a nice mid trip nap on the DC airport floor. But I'm home.

It will be fine.

2007-06-18T14:49:00.001+02:00

So, my 24 hour journey home begins in 14 hours. I'm packed and kind of freaking out. I'm going to be in Indiana again in 38 hours. After 10 months. And it feels like nothing.

Oooohhhhhhh Sarko.

2007-06-12T18:29:00.000+02:00

The announcer introduces the segment by saying (more or less), "President Sarkozy commences the start of the G8 summit with a press conference after a long meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, apparently he had been drinking nothing but water."

It's not going fast enough.

2007-06-08T12:15:00.001+02:00

I am finally done with all my finals. I never again have to go to the Fac, sit through the longest classes of my life, and then take one completely abitrary exam to determine my entire grade for the semester.

Tonight all my friends and I are getting together for a last dinner before we start parting ways, then I have five days of nothing, then Jess is here for four days, then a day of packing before my 24 hour travel adventure to return home begins.

God bless the New York Times.

2007-06-06T13:28:00.001+02:00

The Frugal Traveler is finally in Louisville!!

Third post of the evening!

2007-05-30T23:17:00.000+02:00

For anyone who has heard of the saga of the failures French Poste and the UK's Royal Mail and their lacks of ability to actually deliver mail, I was just notifed by e-mail that my internship application package arrived today in Hartford, Connecticut. Thank god, finally!

TO ALL OF MY FAMILY

2007-05-30T22:39:00.000+02:00

Okay, whenever I complete school (whether it be at the end of this next year or another two years after that if I do grad school, which I probably will since I'll need some time to save money to pay for this big extravazanga) I'm going to do something BIG to celebrate. So, options:

- 2 week South American extravaganza (Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Peru)
- 2 week Asian extravaganza (Thailand, New Zealand, Mongolia)
- 2 week Indian extravaganza (Goa, Mumbai, New Dehli, Jaipur)
- get a French bulldog

My vote is for the puppy.

I kind of hate tweens.

2007-05-30T22:11:00.000+02:00

Quote from the article "The New Generationa Gap" by Steven Heller:

"But there is no underground anymore. Everything is on the surface—America survives by absorbing rather than rejecting. This is also why the new generation is so hard to see and also why it is so profound. It takes place in a new social arena that only certain people, notably those who grew up with computers, are aware of. It’s like that high-pitch sound that people over a certain age can’t hear anymore."
- John Carlin, president of Funny Garbage

Sometimes I really really consider how my life would be different if I had been more five years earlier or later than 1985.

The funny thing I just realized too... my generation is not getting overwhelmed or numbed by the amount of information being thrown at us, not in the least. Partially because we know no other way, but mostly because we're not required to retain anything anymore, anything can be searched for in a half a second or less given we're within reach of a computer. That brain power once used for retention is redirected to sorting, noting, and bookmarking the information in case needed at a later date. It's like we've turned our brains into reference files as opposed to scrapbooks. My only real concern is how this affects my generation's ability to synthesize information. Basically, can a reference file analyse and form an opinion?

Dieu reunit ceux qui s'aiment

2007-05-30T13:16:00.001+02:00

You know you've been in France too long when you can't hear an Edith Piaf song without getting teary eyed.

28 days later!

2007-05-29T16:09:00.000+02:00

Just to note, it's exactly four weeks until leave Aix, effectively beginning my two day long journey back to American society.

Being healthy again, PRICELESS.

2007-05-28T22:35:00.001+02:00

I'm seriously so bloody annoyed with public healthcare at this point I'm never going to vote Democrat, EVER.

The United Kingdom (1 pound equals two dollars)
- Doctor's visit = 40 pounds
- Test results from my stool sample which I got back in 3 days = free
- 2 sets of antibiotics = 5 pounds a piece

(Okay, I have nothing bad to say about the UK really, I'm just using them as a monetary comparison against France. The UK doctor was totally nice, diagnosed me properly, gave me an appropriate medication, changed it when I needed it changed and that was that. Yeah, 50 pounds, but it was worth it.)

France (1 euro equals $1.35)
- Normal doctor's visit = 21 euros
- House call doctor visit = 70 euros
- All perscriptions prescribed by the doctors = 35 euros
- Test results from my second stool sample which I got back after a week = 89 euros

Listen up France, you land of national health care, land of not being able to buy Tylenol over the counter, land of going to the doctor for anything that even potentially ails one's beleaguered French body. (Why are they beleaguered? Because they're French! And if you are beleaguered, what do you do? Go to the doctor!) Well look, when Americans who are genetically predisposed by their insurance companies to not eat doctor's visits like bonbons walk into your office and say they're sick, they mean it. And they don't mean it in a week, or last month, they mean NOW. I'm so done with the entire lackadaisical ridiculousness that is French healthcare. Nothing should ever, ever take a week and then cost me 89 euros. I was healthy again before I even got my results back! God, if anything is going to keep me healthy this last month it's going to be my pure hatred of the French healthcare system*.

* It should be noted that as a student studying abroad, I am covered by French social security so approximately half of all medical expenditures are eventually reimbursed. But that still means I've spent over 100 euros in medical care in the past week. And I know like, if I was a real adult and paying insurance that would probably be the price of my insurance per month or something, but I'm not an adult and I'm extremely annoyed at how much money I've paid in medical bills in the past week.

I'm sick, AGAIN.

2007-05-24T16:02:00.000+02:00

Okay, seriously never going to Africa again. Seriously never leaving the United States again for a very very long long time. I have some sort of viral infection, they don't know what kind yet, my test results won't be ready for a few more days. It worked out just perfect, I didn't start feeling horrible until just after my final on Monday, and I don't have another final for two weeks which means two weeks of bed rest. Let's just hope I'm better in two weeks, who knows how long my body will take to fight this off.

Turducken or a chuckey?

2007-05-20T20:55:00.000+02:00

Quote from the New York Time's article "The Zero-Energy Solution:"

"It is one thing to extol or doubt the cost-effectiveness of solar panels, the primary component of the solar-hydrogen house, but what about the hydrogen? It is unfair, for instance, to mention the Hindenburg disaster, the fiery destruction of the hydrogen-filled dirigible over Lakehurst, N.J., in 1937. Although new evidence suggests that hydrogen was not the primary cause of the disaster, the Hindenburg’s spectacularly filmed crash cast a long shadow in the public mind over hydrogen as a dangerous and tricky material to handle. Is adding hydrogen to solar power a complication of an already complex idea — the technological equivalent of stuffing something tasty like a turkey with a duck and a chicken and adding, for good measure, a stick of dynamite? Arguments about efficiency losses, cost-benefit analyses and the like are more or less beside the point if hydrogen is a substance that might blow you to smithereens."

I think it's funny, don't get me wrong, but when did it become okay for the New York Times to reference turduckens in rather serious investigative journalism pieces?

I'm still a journalist, I just took a year long break.

2007-05-18T18:13:00.000+02:00

Things that makes me scared for the world. Global net censorship growing

I know I'm supposed to love Web 2.0 and 3.0 and user generated content and citizen journalism, but in truth it really scares the crap out of me. Scared for my future (mainly my job prospects, but also just the future in general), for the ability to form an opinion from objective information, global mass hysteria, misinformation, etc etc. Ultimately, I blame a good chunk of it all on journalists. We didn't.. we just didn't move fast enough. And that's not our fault per se, but it's our fault that we've let it get so out of hand and now the journalism industry's approval rating is probably lower than Bush's.

Methods of transportation.

2007-05-14T18:50:00.000+02:00

Okay, I want one of these.

It's the e-Solex, the electric version of the old VéloSolex's that still roam all around France. I wouldn't mind an old one either, but I'd still have to pay for gas. It's impossible to find them for sale in the States, apparently? The only one I can find is on eBay and it's not in working condition. I could get one here, but then I have to get it shipped to the States, at which point I would have spent all the money made from selling my car (which would be neccessary to afford all of this). And ultimately, it's totally impractical because I will still be living in a place where the weather is not good enough to render a Solex useful year round.

So instead I think I'll just get a normal bike for now. But my dad just told me getting a normal bike is a bad idea. Maybe for Bloomington?

Six weeks left.

2007-05-13T20:29:00.000+02:00

Alright, a few points to make:

I am officially not sick anymore. But, I've been busy, so I'm still a bit exhausted. I have literally spent all day today on my bed, reading, watching tv, eating ice cream, talking on the phone. I even stretched on my bed.

Our program took us to Nice this weekend and it was cool so I think I might go back and go visit Monaco next weekend as well. Or not, since Lindsey and Amber just proposed a cheaper, closer outing of wandering around nearby villages and hopefully eating at the French attempt at a steakhouse: The Buffalo Grill.

Other than that, two more weeks of classes then all my finals are during one week so it's free time in France after that. Beaches, reading, and movies galore.

Ouch.

2007-05-06T01:07:00.000+02:00

I'm back from London. Food poisoning from Tunisia has reared its head, I'm on round two of antibiotics, the flight back was awful and delayed so I missed the last bus and had to pay for a taxi. At least I didn't have to walk home from the bus station.

TUNISIA - Tuesday and Wednesday, April 24 and 25

2007-04-27T19:40:00.000+02:00

We finally decided we would attempt exiting the confines of the Tourist Zone (that's what our town was called on street signs, no joke) again and ventured to the next nearest town, Nabeul. We had a MUCH better time this go around, mainly because we stayed out of the market and Nabeul is a much nicer town that Hammamet. Nabeul is known for its traditional hand painted pottery. Amber and I found this dark blue and black pattern we both liked a lot so we each bought two bowls and two plates, but unfortunately my plates broke during the trip home.

Nabeul is also well known for its oranges, so there's this Orange Fountain in the middle of town. Weird.

Wednesday, our last full day in Tunisia. We made full use of the breakfast buffet then headed out to the beach. We attempted to build a sandcastle but gave up, so Amber and I played tic-tac-toe on the tops of the towers we had built.

After our last fantastic dinner buffet, we packed and got to bed early. And Tunisia is over.

TUNISIA - Saturday and Sunday and Monday, April 21 and 22 and 23

2007-04-27T19:15:00.000+02:00

Saturday, the weather finally perked up so Saturday was spent between the beach and the resort. We read, we played darts, we flopped around in the sand, we sunned ourselves, and that was about it. We had some italian couple take our photo, behind us is the south side of the Mediterranean. Below the photo is the video of us on the beach, basically acting like idiots and me sounding like a fool.

Sunday, we did... the exact same thing as Saturday. it's a beach vacation, there isn't much more to do really than lay on the beach or throw around a frisbee. God bless beach vacations. We didn't lay around all day though because we had signed up to do the cheesy most touristy thing ever: ride camels.

They're two hump camels so you have to like, sit behind the humps on the camel's behind. My camel is named Jacqueline, we're the one in the middle.

Upclose camel face!

Monday was the exact same as Saturday and Sunday, minus camels, plus an accidental nap on a lounge chair without sunscreen. Ouch.

TUNISIA - Friday, April 20

2007-04-27T18:42:00.001+02:00

We got up, had our showers and caught the tail end of breakfast (we're on demi-pension so we got breakfast and dinner included). After breakfast we had a meeting with our travel agent person then we grabbed a taxi and headed into the nearest town, Hammamet. We really didn't think through going into town or what we were do there so we just told the driver the city center and hoped for the best. The city center is the market, so we jumped in. After about one street we accepted that to stop getting accosted the three of us girls had to walk behind Michael at all times and never really take our eyes off the ground. The market was a maze, we got lost, frustrated, annoyed with the sellers, I just never took off my sunglasses and didn't speak a single word the entire time.

Eventually we made it out the other side of the market onto the beach. We walked along it and then went back into town, searching for some place for lunch. We found this little cafe and all ordered the couscous royal (except Amber, she's a vegetarian so she got the couscous with only fish) which was basically a bowl of couscous, chick peas, a lamb chop, a chicken wing, and sausage links. We also had brik, which is this Tunisia thing where they basically fry an egg in a crepe with some meat or vegetables. It was hands down the best meal I had in Tunisia, brik and couscous are the greatest food inventions ever. The photo below isn't mine, but I just wanted to show you what a brik looks like.

After lunch we caught another taxi back to the hotel. Guess what he was playing on his radio? That new Beyoncé and Shakira song. I commented on it and I think he thought I didn't like it so he changed it to the tape he had in his tape deck which happened to be Bob Marley. I'm on a different continent in a third world country and I still can't get away from American Top 40 pop music and reggae. I don't get it.

We got back to the hotel and played petanque until dinner, had some drinks, went to the show that evening (the animators of the hotel conduct a cabaret type show every evening for entertainment, it's pretty lame but a lot of fun so we ended up there practically every night). There were eight animators and they clung to us like puppies because we were their age, and also because Arabs love Michael for some reason, Lindsey has blonde hair and Amber has a beautiful smile. I enjoyed their company from time to time (like when I wanted to play petanque) but otherwise they were just annoying me while I was trying to read.

Here's a photo of us playing petanque. It's this game with these heavy balls that you throw at this little ball and the aim is the be the person whose ball is ultimately closest to the little ball. It's really difficult and addictive and we played almost every day.

TUNISIA - Thursday, April 19

2007-04-27T12:31:00.000+02:00

Me, Lindsey, Amber and Michael catch the 5:45 bus to the Aix train station, then we catch the 6:20 train to Lyon, then we catch the 8:30 bus from the Lyon train station to the Lyon airport, finally ending up at the airport at 9:15 a.m., 15 minutes ahead of schedule. It's scary how smoothly everything went. We were all so tense just waiting for something to happen, so finally it did. While going through customs control, the guy didn't stamp Lindsey's passport. At first we didn't think anything of it, but the longer we sat there the more worried we got, so she finally went back out and knocked on the glass booth the guy was in and made him stamp it. A minor problem that could have been a huge problem upon entering Tunisia is fixed.

The Tunis Airport looks like a casino. It's all gold accented, wood paneled scrolled molding glory. They also don't give a damn about security, we slipped through customs and metal detectors without a single hassle. A shuttle picked us and a bunch of other travelers with our travel company up at the airport and spend the next two hours depositing us at our assorted resorts along the coast. There are some absolutely amazing resorts, but we're poor so we stayed in just an amazing one, The Hotel Le Zenith near Hammamet. French and Arabic are the two official languages of Tunisia, everything is it both languages, even hotel signs.

We check in, drop our stuff and practically run to the ocean. It wasn't sunny when we got there and the ocean has been rough lately so the water was black and the beach looked awful. Who cares, we're in Tunisia. We headed back to check out the hotel and wandered around until dinner time. In spite of worries of getting sick, we said to hell with it and ate everything on the most amazing buffet I have ever experienced in my life. Tunisian food is so good and spicy, plus they had a grill and a pasta bar and a dessert bar and a salad bar as well. We completely stuffed ourselves the first night, had a few drinks, played some card games and went to bed.

Lindsey, Amber and Michael on the beach our first day in Tunisia.

Spring break!

2007-04-17T14:15:00.000+02:00

Spring break is moving along too fast but still fantastic so far. This past weekend was wonderful due to a visiting friend, it's always lovely to have company. Thursday the group of us leave for Tunisia for the week, and then the week after I'm off to London! I can't believe it's less than three months left. I'm going to say that a million more times until I finally say that I can't believe I'm catching my flight home. It's the final stretch folks, let's just hope I don't go broke before I go home.

SARKO.

2007-04-12T14:38:00.000+02:00

I'm saying this here because there's no one in France I could admit this to without getting into a huge fight about it, but if I could I would vote for Nicolas Sarkozy in a heartbeat in the upcoming Presidental elections. I understand why the French people are so affronted by him but he would be so good for this country, any country for that matter. I wish the French people could realize that he's just what they need to stop drowning globally because of their stupid socialism.

Wiki: Nicolas Sarkozy

Not the best article about him, but the newest one from the BBC.

Totally random, but Johnny Cash's house burned down. Nice quote from one of the Oak Ridge Boys at the end of the story.

More important news than flying Diet Coke?

2007-04-10T22:33:00.000+02:00

Did anyone (from home) notice that the guy who they finally decided fathered Anna Nicole Smith's baby is a Louisville kid? They met at the Barnstable Brown Gala in 2004! Random.

Larry Birkhead: Wiki article

BBC BREAKING NEWS: We know who the father is!

IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.

2007-04-10T22:18:00.000+02:00

So, it's Tuesday, therefore it's Lindsey & Adrienne's Tuesday Night Date Night. I don't know how it happened, but she just kept inviting me over on Tuesday nights and now we just can't stop. Well this Tuesday night, we met at Monoprix to pick up some groceries before dinner. Once we got back to Lindsey's we were putting stuff into the fridge and ran out of room. It's not quite cold enough anymore, but Lindsey said why not go and just put the 1.5 liter of Diet Coke on the window ledge like we have all winter. Somehow in the process of sitting the 1.5 liter down on the ledge, I dropped it and it fell out of her third story window. Not only did it fall three stories, but it hit the second floor ledge thus busting open in midair so it sprayed her building and the building across the street before actually hitting the ground where it did the fizzing spinning thing before finally resting in the gutter. Amazingly enough, there was no one on her street at this moment! This all happened without covering a single French person in Diet Coke! I took photos with Lindsey's camera, I'll post them as soon as I can.