So we are finally in paris! I am sat at a little wifi cafe right now having a glass of wine with my roommate emily. Things are better with my friends than the last post, and I am feeling very positive about them. I am living in the 9th arrondissement in Paris and it is very lively an diverse. My room that I am sharing with emily is very big and we have more than enough room for the both of us. We each have a full bed, but unfortunately we do not have access to the kitchen and we only have a little fridge and a microwave. It feels like I am still in the dorm rooms at Emmanuel. We should be getting WiFi in my room by the end of the week because my "Madame" feels that us students need internet access. She is a very nice woman but I do not think she has ever house AIFS students before because she is not custom to some of the rules that they set. Such as giving us breakfast every morning. Instead, she has stocked our fridge with bread and jam. However, she has had plenty of students stay with her because she has a very strict set of rules.
Classes start next week, but Tony is coming to Paris for my 21st birthday this weekend and I am really excited for that. I actually have to find a hotel for him to stay at, so I am going to get on that right now. More about all this soon! A tout a l'heure!!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Orientation
I have been in Cannes for the past week and a half, and it is a beautiful day out. It is over 60 degrees!! Although it has been beautiful staying in the south of france, I am getting really anxious to go to Paris and settle down. So far we have just been going, going, going, and then doing absolutely nothing. So far we have gone to Nice and Monaco. Both have been beautiful and much more interesting than the smaller town of Cannes. The pictures are of me and the friends that I have made and just a beautiful picture of the yachts in Monaco.
The friends that I am meeting here are great, but sometimes I am not too sure how I feel about them. Or how they feel about me. I feel like I am back at my freshman year of college trying to make friends and get people to like me. As much as I enjoy meeting new people. It is exhausting trying to find people you can trust right off the bat since I will be traveling and living near them for the next few months. With the girls that I have met, I feel like our group of 7 has separated into 2 groups. One group of 2 and one group of 3 and with me and another girl being pulled in between the 2 groups. It is really hard to figure out where I stand and even if I actually want to grow a friendship with some of them. I knew I would be meeting new people, but I didn't realize how much it would distract me from obtaining my real goals of studying abroad.
Speaking of studying, we have been having french classes each morning for 3 hours. It is great to be constantly speaking french and I have started to realize that I comprehend French much more than I thought that I did. My only problem is that I get nervous when I have to speak and I end up messing it up or taking a very long time to respond.
I think that I need to build up my confidence in my life in general.
Monday, January 14, 2008
So right now I am in Cannes, France and it is absolutely beautiful! After Portsmouth, I made my way up to London where I met up with my group. The first group of people I found in the hotel were ironically all from Boston! I am really getting to know the people in my group and it is great because I feel that many of them have the same goals as I do in regards to living in France. Right now I am extremely tired because I have not stopped going since I got to London, so I will update a lot more later this week as I have internet access here in Cannes! A tout a l'heure!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
First stop, Portsmouth!
So I have been in England for three days now, and I am enjoying every minute of it! It has been great to be around Tony and his family. We went to Hayling Island which is a touristy island near Portsmouth, where Tony lives. It was such a beautiful day out and we got to walk on the beach. A wonderful change from the piles of snow back home!
For New Years, we are planning on staying in Portsmouth, might drop by a friends place, but Jemma (tony's sister) is planning on having a small house party, so we will just probably just stay in and hang out at the Taylor household.
It is really weird to think that I will not be returning to the State's until June... I don't think it has really quite hit me yet. Maybe it will when I receive my last "pre-departure" packet from my program.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Aurevoir Theory
So this is my last post on theory in this blog. It was a fun ride, but it had to end at some point! When I first came into the class, I was very intimidated with the material before me. The first few weeks it felt like I was drowning in a sea of theory. As we progressed through the semester, everthing started to fall into place for me, and now I feel like I have a better grasp on things. I look at things in a different light than I used to. This is why I feel that theory can never really die. When we learn even the smallest bit of theory, you begin thinking about things differently. This also has some thing to do with our final as well. The student in the onion article has applied theory to everything in his life. Although this may eventually drive you mad, it is not a bad thing. Seeing things in a way different to others is always some thing special.
Along with beginning to like theory this semester, I have also become fond of my blog. And since I am studying abroad in Paris next semester, I thought it would be an interesting idea if I kept my theory blog and changed it into my travel blog. So for those of you who want to see where I go and what I think of this Europe place, keep checking out my blog next semester! Along with Paris, I will be in England and Greece, and I am hoping to go to the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and hopfully the Czech Republic. Any one have any other suggestions?
Thank you for the great semester, I really feel like I expanded my knowledge on theory, and I have learned things I will deffinitally keep with me!
Along with beginning to like theory this semester, I have also become fond of my blog. And since I am studying abroad in Paris next semester, I thought it would be an interesting idea if I kept my theory blog and changed it into my travel blog. So for those of you who want to see where I go and what I think of this Europe place, keep checking out my blog next semester! Along with Paris, I will be in England and Greece, and I am hoping to go to the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and hopfully the Czech Republic. Any one have any other suggestions?
Thank you for the great semester, I really feel like I expanded my knowledge on theory, and I have learned things I will deffinitally keep with me!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Being naive ain't half bad
I remember that when I was younger, I felt like saying that I was a feminist meant I was this modern, amazing female who was way ahead of the rest of my classmates. My aunt Karen was this modern day hippie that kept her last name when she got married, does yoga and is a masseuse and a vegetarian. She always tried to teach me to love the fact that I am a woman and that I should be proud. She was in no way this man-hating, stereotypical feminist that most of society thinks of when they hear the word feminist. My impression of a feminist was a strong woman that understood the world around her. I felt a strong connection to my aunt and I immediately wanted to know more women like her.
In school I studied the different feminist waves, and in third grade I had to dress up as Amelia Earhart, and do a biography on her. I became obsessed with her and the fact that she defied the image of what people thought of women. She did the unthinkable in her time; she showed she was an independent woman that could conquer the great feat of flying across the Atlantic alone. She did exactly what a man did, and she showed she could do it just as well as he did.
In the 6th grade we studied the suffrage movement where I did a project on Susan B. Anthony. Through learning about her and the whole idea of suffrage, I became more proud to be woman.
The next year in 7th grade, I have this specific memory of getting into an argument with a boy in my class. I cannot remember exactly what the argument was about, but I know that it had to do with the equalities and inequalities between men and women. I remember standing my ground so strongly that I ended up completely shutting this boy down. He shamefully started to walk away, and then he turned around and called me a stupid feminist who probably didn’t shave her armpits. I ironically was wearing an orange tank top that said “Boys Lie” on the front of it, and although I did not really understand why he said I probably didn’t shave my armpits, I threw my arms up and shouted, “I am just standing up for what is right!”
It wasn’t until that moment that I learned about some of the bad stereotypes that are associated with being a feminist. I wanted to be known as a feminist, but I did not want people thinking I was a man-hating feminist, especially since I was in middle school! Soon I lost the reason of why I wanted to be a feminist and I was afraid of being categorized in the feminist social construct.
Now, I am not completely sure how to categorize myself in the feminist spectrum. I stand up for myself when confronted with sexism, but I don’t shout it to the world that I am a feminist. Although I enjoy doing things for my boyfriend like cooking for him, I am still fiercely independent in many aspects of our relationship.
I have realized that when I was young, I held true to the ideas of feminism and did not care about what the social stereotype was… I didn’t even know what the word meant. All I knew was that I felt it was important to be independent from men in order to understand myself as a woman. Somewhere along the line of growing up, I lost that idea and it hasn’t been until just recently that I have started to throw the stereotype out the window; I fell that I have come almost full circle.
In school I studied the different feminist waves, and in third grade I had to dress up as Amelia Earhart, and do a biography on her. I became obsessed with her and the fact that she defied the image of what people thought of women. She did the unthinkable in her time; she showed she was an independent woman that could conquer the great feat of flying across the Atlantic alone. She did exactly what a man did, and she showed she could do it just as well as he did.
In the 6th grade we studied the suffrage movement where I did a project on Susan B. Anthony. Through learning about her and the whole idea of suffrage, I became more proud to be woman.
The next year in 7th grade, I have this specific memory of getting into an argument with a boy in my class. I cannot remember exactly what the argument was about, but I know that it had to do with the equalities and inequalities between men and women. I remember standing my ground so strongly that I ended up completely shutting this boy down. He shamefully started to walk away, and then he turned around and called me a stupid feminist who probably didn’t shave her armpits. I ironically was wearing an orange tank top that said “Boys Lie” on the front of it, and although I did not really understand why he said I probably didn’t shave my armpits, I threw my arms up and shouted, “I am just standing up for what is right!”
It wasn’t until that moment that I learned about some of the bad stereotypes that are associated with being a feminist. I wanted to be known as a feminist, but I did not want people thinking I was a man-hating feminist, especially since I was in middle school! Soon I lost the reason of why I wanted to be a feminist and I was afraid of being categorized in the feminist social construct.
Now, I am not completely sure how to categorize myself in the feminist spectrum. I stand up for myself when confronted with sexism, but I don’t shout it to the world that I am a feminist. Although I enjoy doing things for my boyfriend like cooking for him, I am still fiercely independent in many aspects of our relationship.
I have realized that when I was young, I held true to the ideas of feminism and did not care about what the social stereotype was… I didn’t even know what the word meant. All I knew was that I felt it was important to be independent from men in order to understand myself as a woman. Somewhere along the line of growing up, I lost that idea and it hasn’t been until just recently that I have started to throw the stereotype out the window; I fell that I have come almost full circle.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Mantissssssa
First of all, I want to say that I enjoyed Mantissa. It really helped me pull together all of these theories we have been talking about. The way Fowles presented the theories in a jesting way helped me figure out how to pick theories out of any text.
One scene which I really enjoyed reading was the first part of the book when he first wakes up and has amnesia. As I opened the book, I started reading it looking for the authorship of the book because I knew that is what I wanted to talk about in my class discussion. I found something that I felt had to do with that right away. However, at first glance, I did not quite understand how it was related to authorship. On page four when the being that we see the point of view from realizes, “ it was not just an I, but a male I” I know that we spoke about this quote in class, but I just feel like it is so important to the book. Not only as a quote of identification, but also as a foreshadowing of the personality of this “I”.
When we first read this quote, we think about authorship. The narrator is identifying itself as a male. There, we found the author, he is definitely not dead yet. Then, when we look closer at the quote, we see “male I”. Is this a coincidence or a pun that Fowles has creatively slipped in? Considering that in the rest of the book, the main point of view is from a male gaze, I would think it is the latter. We are always seeing Erato from this sexualized male view of women, and we never see Miles being sexualized. As a matter of fact, we hardly get a description of him! Once the author identified himself, the only depiction I could think of for Miles was the picture of John Fowles on the back of my book, with his graying beard and his blob of a sweater.
The last thing that I really liked about this part of the book was that it was identifying the book as a book about theories. Although it does not blatantly say it, this part of the book shows the reader that there are going to be many different theories intertwined in the plot, and that the author is going to make it fun.
I think that Mantissa is a book that was written to be picked apart and analyzed by any theory, and I liked that about it. It was like wax in my hands; I felt I could apply it to any theory I could think of.
One scene which I really enjoyed reading was the first part of the book when he first wakes up and has amnesia. As I opened the book, I started reading it looking for the authorship of the book because I knew that is what I wanted to talk about in my class discussion. I found something that I felt had to do with that right away. However, at first glance, I did not quite understand how it was related to authorship. On page four when the being that we see the point of view from realizes, “ it was not just an I, but a male I” I know that we spoke about this quote in class, but I just feel like it is so important to the book. Not only as a quote of identification, but also as a foreshadowing of the personality of this “I”.
When we first read this quote, we think about authorship. The narrator is identifying itself as a male. There, we found the author, he is definitely not dead yet. Then, when we look closer at the quote, we see “male I”. Is this a coincidence or a pun that Fowles has creatively slipped in? Considering that in the rest of the book, the main point of view is from a male gaze, I would think it is the latter. We are always seeing Erato from this sexualized male view of women, and we never see Miles being sexualized. As a matter of fact, we hardly get a description of him! Once the author identified himself, the only depiction I could think of for Miles was the picture of John Fowles on the back of my book, with his graying beard and his blob of a sweater.
The last thing that I really liked about this part of the book was that it was identifying the book as a book about theories. Although it does not blatantly say it, this part of the book shows the reader that there are going to be many different theories intertwined in the plot, and that the author is going to make it fun.
I think that Mantissa is a book that was written to be picked apart and analyzed by any theory, and I liked that about it. It was like wax in my hands; I felt I could apply it to any theory I could think of.
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