Ever since a week after the international students arrived, I have been sick with stomach problems. I had spent too many nights hovered over the toilet, ejecting my dinner. I was starting to get worried why I was all of a sudden very ill for many weaks and not able to keep food down. But my symptoms were odd, I was sick off and on, with no apparent reasoning behind my apparent food poisoning until today! One of the international students (who is a self-proclaimed expert on everything) was washing the dishes while I was in the kitchen and I caught him putting dishes away that he did NOT rinse off with water.

For my birthday, I decided it was about time to have some Swedish girl once again attack my head with scissors. This time I had to pay 300 :- which is getting closer to $50 due to the decline strength of our dollar. Now you all know why my hair is usually long. My friends decided that I should go for a younger look, so I gave in and let them tell the hair dresser what to give me. Well, I guess it was a good decision because when I was done my friend said something along the lines of what a huge difference (she said it all in Swedish, but you don't need to know the details of everything she said) at anyrate, her words were very strong and it caused everyone in the salon to laugh and I think they were more surprised that I actually understood exactly what she said.... to make a long story short, she turned red and was quite embarrassed. The hair dresser also mentioned to me that I looked like a hunk, I think she was impressed with her own work.

Every time I sit down to talk with some french students, or even students from other countries, they all want to talk about the same thing. They want to ask me about the war and talk about it. I also get the feeling that all of them have the same mindset. So far all of them have told me that their news-media is telling the truth and that our American media is spreading nothing but lies. This makes me upset because how in the world would they know what is truth and what is lies? Also, they admit to me their lack of participation in viewing American media. So again, how do they know our media is spreading lies when not only are they not watching it, but they aren’t there watching the war unfold before their very eyes.

Sunday, 10 July 2005

We stayed at a youth hostel last night in the small town of Granville which is located on the coast. It was a nice place to visit with a large dock full of sailboats you could rent to take out in the ocean. The town was nice and the locals also seemed nice. One of the local bar owners was very nice to us, giving us free candy bars, but I think it was an attempt at getting one of the girls interested in his son. Later that night some of us went swimming in the ocean, it was a little cold but not as cold as the Oregon Coast, I stayed in for about 45 minutes. In the morning we got up and went to see where Christian Dior lived, I didn’t really care about it but he had a lot of nice flowers. I was actually more interested in the wharf we walked down to get to his place. The sunlight there was perfect for a morning photo-shoot which would have gone perfectly because there was a very nice Casino in the background as well as the beautiful blue ocean. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time and I left my cameras on the bus because we were going to a museum. We walked by a realtor and I noticed that the price of some very nice cottages was pretty cheap for that tourist town. I thought it would be a nice area to buy a house and rent it out to people, I bet it would pay for itself in a few years.

Saturday, 9 July 2005

We visited the cemetery today at Normandy. I did not realize that this cemetery is now property of the United States of America. The French government apparently gave us this land to hold our service members. Currently no new Americans can be buried in Normandy. If an American soldier is found the remains will be sent back to the United States of America for the family/government to place in a cemetery. Before we went to the cemetery we visited a D-Day museum which was very moving. There wasn’t a lot of exhibits about the holocaust but it was mentioned and there were a few pictures.

I had some meetings today with the director of International Relations at the Institut National Des Telecommunication (INT) about the attempted flag burning incident. We learned that the individual involved was not a student at the INT but the niece of the caretaker. Disciplinary steps have been taken and this girl is no longer allowed in the buildings nor is she allowed to engage in conversation with myself or the other international students. Had this girl been a student at the INT she would have undergone many levels of discipline including immediate dismissal from the school. I was very pleased to hear that they considered this to be an absolute disgraceful act and that the faculty and students were very disturbed by the incident.

I think it is about time for me to leave France!!!!! We were celebrating the 4th of July here on campus at the Institut Nationals Des Telecommunication where the French students have invited us to party with them because of our Independence day when one of the French girls decided it was neccessarry to throw the American flag on the ground. I quickly picked it up and put it back in the proper place, then about 15 minutes later she grabbed the flag and was about to burn it with her cigarette lighter. I grabbed the flag and immediately walked out of the bar on campus and came to my room. I do not want to be here anymore! I will demand a formal and public apology tomorrow from the school tomorrow for her actions and I will inform HPU of the incident! It is cicumstances like this which makes me very angry at the French and makes me want to leave this country as fast as possible.

Bonjour,

I'm still in ev'ry, and the weather has been at a constant 30 degrees C. It never really cools off and the mosquitoes here are vicious. They keep us really busy here at INT and I found out that INT is a Grand Ecola. Grandes Ecoles are the very best institutions of French higher education. To be considered as a "Grande Ecole", a school must be a member of the "Conférence des Grandes Ecoles" (www.cge.asso.fr), an association that was created in 1973. If one gets a degree from a Grand Ecola it is better than a Masters and you will get a job within 4 months of graduation (I have been told that Grand Ecola's are viewed higher than Oxford University).

This is just a quick hello and update for everyone to read. I made it to Paris safely, but I had a little trouble getting my bags. My flight to Amsterdam was late so everyone missed their connecting flights. Luckily they rebooked me for free on AirFrance, but my baggage didn't make it. I finally had my bags delivered to me yesterday evening and boy did they search it good in Amsterdam, also I think they dropped them in a pile of dirt because both bags were covered in dusty dirt. Well the only thing they took was a bottle of Conditioner, maybe the baggage guy needed it? Oh well.... I was told that they always confinscate laundry detergent (which they call conditioner over here in France), but ya, we can't figure out why they took my hair conditioner.